That Home slice is getting WAY TOO BIG. We ended up making another credit purchase at Lowe’s. This time to heat the basement. We got an entertainment center/fireplace. It’s really pretty and it heats the family room well. None of the baseboard heat works in the basement except for the kids’ room, so a heat source was needed, but we’re causing ourselves problems.
The spending increased between the time periods, but the net worth increased too. We both got paid last week though, which is probably the reason. I got a ‘regular’ paycheck, but the next check will be lower.
I’ve used my time waiting for projects to really step up looking for a part-time job. I applied for one yesterday that I applied and even interviewed for last year at this time. It was the worst interview ever, so if I do get another interview, I will step up my game. Try to leave the verbal vomit in the car.
I have also been opening up gigs in Fiverr to bring in extra income. Nothing yet, but it’s something. It makes me feel productive.
Hubs decided that he’s going to give up his part-time job in March after they receive some sort of a bonus check. He didn’t receive one this year because he hadn’t worked there long enough.
We’ve also decided to look into whether a home equity line of credit or second mortgage would help us out of our situation. Right now, I don’t even know what all we have in unsecured debt, but it’s weighing heavy.
I had a project I could’ve worked on today, instead, I decided to start MINIMIZING! YAY! The kitchen was especially annoying, so I thought it deserved my wrath the most.
Wrath. Laughable. More like polite rearrangement.
I started in the tea cupboard. This is a lonely little cupboard that is stuffed with, yes, tea, plus bread and various spreadables and baking stuff and other consumables without dedicated homes. I decided to take a picture of what I felt sure was to be a productive day.
As I pulled everything out, I started having… feelings. The whole reason I started drinking tea in the first place was to have something in common with my mother-in-law. A tea drinker and avid teapot collector, I wanted to have an assortment on hand for when she’d visit since I knew so little about it. I fell kind of in love with the varieties and various methods of preparation and before I knew it, I had a lot of tea. Too much. Now that Betty is gone, I’ve noticed that all of the loose leaf teas that she preferred and gifted, have expired. I ended up throwing most of it away. My daughter and I went through the bamboo tea bag case on the second shelf. We tossed the flavors we tried and didn’t like, but kept all of our favorites plus the common teas that others do like: Earl Grey and Chamomile. It was surprisingly emotional.
This is what the cabinet looks like now:
Not really a whole lot different from before (where did those Kisses cookies come from?), but more manageable.
From there I went through a storage bowl drawer, a utensil drawer, pots and pans cabinet, bakeware cabinet, and our glasses, plates and bowls. I got rid of rubbermaids without their lids and things that I’ve allowed to mismatch for years. I got rid of extra coffee cups, water bottles, and glasses. BUT SO MUCH MORE CAN GO. I didn’t even make it through the entire kitchen. What can I really use?
I can really just use the stuff in our kitchen camping pack. If I could only get away with it…
When I first started thinking of going through stuff, I wanted to take more time. Now I’m going through it too fast. Am I afraid of letting stuff go? Why?
I really did not want to have two Financial Friday posts in a row. This blog is not intended to highlight our disastrous financial situation. I mean, not ONLY highlight our disastrous financial situation. I’m going to do some work on that this coming week. Starting tomorrow (the mantra of every procrastinator).
The spending donut looks very similar this week to what it looked like last week. The only real difference I see is that some of our food bill from travel has dropped off. Please note that Mint keeps some color consistency from largest slice to smallest, the labels will then change accordingly.
Our net worth took a downhill turn, but that might just be a natural thing since the screenshot was taken when our total cash was pretty low (day before payday). It’s going to look pretty interesting next week too, since I just paid as much quarterly tax as I could today, still about $1300 less than recommended. I missed the June payment, too.
Aye caramba.
Well here it is kiddos. The pictures for today. This doesn’t show the current checkbook balance, which is about -$8.51. I say about because I get a monthly donation from a friend that covers some business expenses, but I don’t want to rely on it (although I obviously do.)
Breaking it down: We usually spend about $1,100 on home, but this month we added a renovation to the downstairs bathroom. What was a leaky pipe turned into a new bathroom vanity and a fresh coat of paint. All on credit. SMH. The other big expense was Health (I’m not even going to add & Fitness, because, really). The kids needed their eyes checked before school started and while Sas is fine, Bud’s eyes got worse (a surprise to exactly no one). The eye exams were $220 since we don’t have any vision insurance to speak of and Bud’s two pair of glasses were, gulp, $640. That’s transitions, polycarbonate, and some other expensive thing that I can’t think of because my ears are ringing… Crizal? Is that a thing? All on credit again. Auto is higher than normal, but we’re getting done with all of our cross-state travel so that should go down. Food & Dining is high also due to cross-state travel. We spent A LOT this summer, which has really made our Net Worth go in the wrong direction.
Net Worth. That number, -$52,662, includes everything but our outstanding medical bills and tax bill for 2016. House, cars, student loans, credit cards, retirement. A winning lottery ticket or a generous relative would be the best chance for our own retirement, but we also learned this month that we’re down to the lottery ticket only. Net Worthless.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that the credit score is still over 700. The credit use percentage is way over the 30% they recommend, but we have to, y’know, make sure our son can see to brush his teeth in a new sink.
Hello again. It’s been awhile, but I’m still taking it one day at a time. Even if that one day was about 10 days ago. I let the gravity of life weigh me down and immobilize me a bit. I’m trying not to borrow tumult by looking at what’s happening in Texas and the US as a whole, but I fail more often than I succeed.
Today’s topic is to simplify. I really liked the 52 Obtainable Ways to Simplify article on Erica Layne’s blog. From the beginning of the article, most of the ideas were so simple and common sense that I found myself thinking, “Well, duh Erica.” By the end of the article, I shook my head and thought, “Well, duh Lori.”
Of the five daily challenge options, I NEED to choose the morning routine option the most. I’m already fairly organized when it comes to bill payments and utilizing an online calendar, but when it comes to mornings, especially school mornings, we are CRAZY PEOPLE AROUND HERE.
Timely enough, tomorrow my kids go back to school and mornings are difficult for them, which becomes difficult for me. We are going to start our mornings the night before, beginning with picking clothes and sorting homework. Both caused big delays with my son. My daughter, the little mama that she is, would become stressed too.
This next week will be a challenge as we figure our way around waking up earlier, trying to eat three bowls of cereal in under five minutes (he’s got a hollow leg), remembering to take our pills and getting out the door in time. All without crying (me).
But it’s not just about the kids and their routine. For so long I’ve wanted to do some things after I put the kids on the bus and before I set down at the computer for the next nine hours. Most of it has to do with self-care. Sit with my planner and drink a cup of coffee. Do sun salutations. Take my dog for a walk. The kids get on the bus by 7:15. There’s no reason I can’t get at least one of those things done by 8.
Thanks for reading. -LC
This is going to be a feeble attempt at playing good cop/bad cop. The Liam Neeson/Lego Cop kind. Please use your higher inner voice if you think it helps.
Good Cop: If we moved into a smaller home (I’m thinking modular, like a fifth wheel or a tiny home on a flat bed?), we would be able to get rid of so much stuff and save SO MUCH MONEY!
Bad Cop: Then we’d get rid of stuff that we might need one day and have to buy again. And whoa, whoa, whoa, TINY? You remember there are two adults and two teenagers in our perfectly ok 1800 sq ft house now, right?
Good: Yes, tiny! Wouldn’t it be great to get those teenagers to really appreciate what they can do without the distraction of too much stuff? They could spend more time outside!
Bad: You’ve met our kids, right? They don’t do “outside.” We have a reasonably priced mortgage right now and it will be paid off in 11 years. We’ll do the 5th wheel once the kids are out of the house and we’re retired.
GC: We don’t have any retirement savings, remember? If we sell the house, all our stuff, and both cars, we can buy a modular and something obnoxious to pull it with. We might be able to pay off our credit cards and medical bills too. That leaves us with the student loans and monthly bills like lot rent and utilities.
BC: Then I want a (something obnoxious to pull the trailer with)! And speaking of student loans. Remember when you said going back to school was a great idea and it would boost our income and life would be better and blah blah blah? Since you’ve got over $100,000 left to pay on yours, and I’ve only got about $2,000 left on mine, maybe you think a little harder on this because you got us into this situation in the first place? I need to go to my second job now.
Me: *sits down*
Thanks for reading. -LC
Not to brag or anything, but my social anxiety/introversion has allowed for a lot of margin in my life. I don’t feel hurried in the same way a lot of other people do, in the day-to-day. My margin is a lot smaller in what I should’ve accomplished by this point in my life, savings/retirement-wise (is there such thing as negative margin?).
But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t use help in day-to-day planning. I’m getting better at distraction (squirrel!), but I find that I’m looking up minimalism/capsule wardrobe stuff when I should be, y’know, working. I have been writing thoughts and to-dos in my bullet journal. Heaven help me if I ever lose it. Heaven help whoever finds it.
But one thing I couldn’t help but think of during today’s reading was about how short life is and how fast time is flying. I know I’m not living the life I have idealized in my head. It’s hard to imagine expressing it to my partner without sounding like a crazy person.
Thanks for reading. -LC
YAY! CAPSULE WARDROBE DAY!!
Yes, I want a capsule wardrobe. Sign me up. Pick out the clothes, find what looks best, slap them together, mix and match, all the things. Just the thought of nice clothes makes me happy. Why? I’m tired of being, well, a slob that doesn’t know how to dress, so she borrows from her husband’s extensive graphic t-shirt collection, and is beginning to look, well, not-well-put-together.
I realize that this is the opposite of frugal and definitely not in the budget right now. But I want a capsule wardrobe, so I feel pretty for a change instead of not even a little. At the same time, I realize that clothes will not fill a hole that’s obviously there.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned before that I hate clothes shopping for myself. I have the deflated body shape of a woman who just had twins. Which is true, but that was over 13 years ago and I can’t blame it on them anymore. I describe my body shape a “top-heavy lumpy apple”.
I don’t have a lot of clothes right now. I work from home, so I don’t even wear business casual (I do not wear pajamas, a common work-from-home misconception). I have maybe five pairs of jeans, two nice pairs of Lane Bryant pants (black and gray) and zero dresses. I have a few blouses, but it seems they’re reserved for funerals and interviews (which I go to with the same amount of gusto). I have no scarves, accessories, heels, etc. I wear knock-off Toms in black if I need to dress up.
But since the daily challenge is to consider a capsule wardrobe, and possibly get a friend involved, I will concede this: I will go on Pinterest and work on my Capsule Wardrobe board. I’ll also look into my Cladwell subscription a bit closer and see if it’s something that I can actually use, or if it’s something I should let go. I can ‘shop’ that way and come up with a solidified game plan while the rest of me is in transition.
Thanks for reading. -LC
Hello again. Back from family reunioning. Before I get into the looking forward of today’s (rather, Saturday’s) challenge, I’d like to share a little of how our path has changed even before this month began.
One of the challenge options was to make the decision to travel lightly. Gather round, it’s story time.
Back in 2014, we made the trek to Texas so I could participate in my hooding ceremony and commencement. Houston isn’t far from the city I was to graduate in, so we decided to make a long weekend of it, cramming as much vacation as we could into our time together. Big Sister, my biggest educational cheerleader, bought a plane ticket to join us for as much of the funtivities as she could.
For two adults and two 10-year-olds, we checked two suitcases and took on board four carry ons. For four days. Yep, that’s DAYS, not WEEKS. What did Big Sister bring? ONE carry on. And she was flying from Houston to Minneapolis for a conference right after, so her travels exceeded four days. It was the same singular carry on that she had used for her two-week study abroad. Legend.
I figured that over-packing meant that I was well-prepared. I didn’t consider the weight of the clothes, how I folded them, washing anything, or the fact that we’d probably buy souvenir clothes. Our flight out of Houston was embarrassing. We had to pack and re-pack our suitcase right on the airport floor because we had made one last stop at the Johnson Space Center that morning. I vowed that if we were to ever vacation again, then it wouldn’t get that bad.
Traveling has gotten much better, and I thank compression bags, blog research, and taking a moment to fold things thoughtfully. When we took our lovely eight-day vacation this year, we had one suitcase (for two adults and two 13-year-olds) to check, four personal item bags with us, and that was it. We did ship home the souvenirs that we bought, but we’d anticipated that. It was great. Even taking a sightseeing break to do laundry was nice. We doubled our vacation and halved our luggage. And we didn’t even use everything I’d assumed we’d need.
So, toot toot goes my own horn.
What will my challenge be then? I am already a big fan of making lists, incorporating Franklin Covey methods with Bullet Journal organization. My ‘nest’ is relatively clutter-free. I love traveling lightly. Creating a capsule wardrobe has been on my minimalist to-do list for awhile. That leaves eating healthfully and focusing on my wellness.
I’ve been a big fan of fitness trackers for awhile and currently wear both the UP24 band (my husband’s, after he abandoned it) and a Bellabeat Leaf tracker. I like both for different reasons, but the Bellabeat is great for mindfulness, meditation, and stress awareness.
The more that needs to be done are as follows: regular exercise, time in nature, quiet, whole foods, creative expression. I’m going to make a pretty poster to remind me that self-care is important.
Thanks for reading. -LC
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