Decluttering Challenge- Week 1 complete

So Carla picked a Personal Space challenge for week 1.  I chose our Master Bedroom.  Now, there is alot wrong with our bedroom in general.  You can't tell very well from the pictures, but it is a small room, and we have large furniture.  Since we had the furniture before we bought the house, we dealt (and still deal) with it.

The room is actually green, but looks more gray in the picture.  The funny thing about that...is we want to paint the room gray!  It has been over 10 years since we painted in here, and it is time.  Floor....it needed to be refinished 10 years ago, but never happened.  I want to put carpet in the bedroom eventually.  The rug that we have under the bed is NASTY.  It is so worn and dirty.  YUCK.

We have to make due with what we have.  The furniture itself is nice, but it is just so big for the space.  Plus, we like darker furniture now.  Anyway....on to the cleaning!!

Area 1:  My dresser and small space between my dresser and G-man's dresser.   We have various junk, socks, my sewing kit.  That box on the floor is shoes to go to Goodwill.  The laundry basket is full of miscelaneous junk.

Look at how pretty it is now!!!  All clear and clean.  I dusted, wiped down the mirror, and the floors got swept and washed.


Area 2:  My side of the bed/behind the door.  Alas, you really don't see this area when the door is open, but that is why there is a pile of $hit there.  Nice pampers box.....my kids are 9! 

But now if you look to the right....it holds the vacuum.  Not perfect, but I didn't have anywhere to put it!





 Area 3:  Floor near the windows.  That box is full of clothes from the kids that they have outgrown.  I was waiting until I had a full box before taking it to Goodwill.  Um...I think it is full.  The basket...more junk.

And through the magic of the internet.....it is gone!!!!  The clothes (and the shoes from above) are in my car, ready to be donated.  The junk has been tossed.

Area 4:  G-man's side of the bed. See that stuff on the floor...that is Sassy's box of Christmas decor for her room.  Never made it back to the attic.  If you look closely, you will probably see a few glasses, a magazine, other stuff.  The space is very small....no room for a side table (or at least we haven't found one).

And......all clean!!!  The floors don't look half bad in the pics, but trust me, in person...they really need to be refinished.


Area 5:  Our bed.  In the first picture, I obviously hadn't made the bed yet (I have to make the bed everyday...it bugs me if I don't).  G-man has this thing right now that he wants all sorts of covers.  So there are at least 3 covers on the bed.  One is a twin...one is a full.  The gray one (see right), is a queen, but it is a SMALL queen.  None of them work for us.  Plus, a picture fell off the wall, and it stayed there for at least a month.  Notice a cat that needed to be a camera hog....












Once again...through the magic of the internet...the bed is made.  I just noticed that it shifted and is not centered now.  Oh well.  It is too heavy for me to move alone.

So there ya go....challenge 1 accepted and accomplished.  We also did the mini challenge, and donated several items to the local food bank (via girl scouts). 

Now on to week 2 challenge....the family space challenge!!!  This coming week I will be cleaning out and reorganizing the kitchen pantry.

Taking Advantage Of The Situation

Oh, I am a rotten mother.  I know I am.  Yeah, I love my kids, and would fight to the death for them.  But today....I am just rotten.

Bossy is sick.  No idea what is the actual ailment.  He was a mess last night, up off and on all night.  So he is home from school today.

G-man offered to stay home (not because he is a dedicated father....just because he didn't want to go to work!), but I said I would stay home with small sick boy.  He then offered again this morning, with the idea that we BOTH stay home and just lay in bed all day.  Um, no.

But the reason I am a rotten mom.....since I am home today....I am going to totally KICK IT in my decluttering challenge!!!  Bossy is tucked in tight on the couch, and just laying there like a lump.  He will probably remain that way most of the day.  Of course I will check him, make sure he has enough to drink.  Rub his head.  But mostly I will be in my bedroom kicking butt and taking names!!!

Might as well take care of it today....the weekend is already full.  And it will feel good to have my bedroom back again.

Decluttering Challenge Outline

As you know (and alot of you are already participating in), Carla is hosting a Decluttering Challenge for February.  I will be honest....even though I need to do this, February is a rough month for me to take this on.  I have Bookfair, Winter Break for the kids, emotional stuff....but then I realized they are just excuses.  Time to put my big girl panties on (and yes, they are still big...weight loss is a struggle!), and JUST DO IT!

Since I agreed to do my updates on Mondays....I thought I would just share with you the outline for the coming month: 

Week One: Personal Space Challenge

This will run January 31-Feb 6.  I decided that this is going to be our master bedroom, aka "the place everything lands that doesn't already have a home."  I have several boxes of stuff in there that just need to be purged.  And it needs a good cleaning!!!  My personal challenge in this one is to NOT buy new stuff for the bedroom (like replacing the HORRIBLE rug).

Week Two: Family Space Challenge

This will run Feb 7 - Feb 13.  *sigh*  This week is bookfair, so I am going to be running like a mad woman.  But  again....JUST DO IT.  This is going to be cleaning out the food pantry (which is really just a few cabinets in our kitchen, as we don't have a real pantry), and getting rid of the "crap catcher" in the kitchen.

Week Three: Productivity Challenge

This will run Feb 14 - Feb 20.  Now, just as an added "bonus" in here...there is a chance that the kids and G-man will be going to visit his mom for the weekend...leaving me ALONE for 4 days!!!  If that happens, I might be able to get to number 3!!!  If not, then #1 is the main challenge.

1)  Home office make over. This was on my personal goals 2012, so it is serving double duty.  Love that!  Once the home office is more organized, productivity will naturally go up, right?  And the idea that I might be alone to do this and really clean it out....OOOOHHHHH.....I may need to excuse myself....is it hot in here??

2)  Bulk cooking of pancakes, green chili, rice, and something else that is TBD.  I am going to try and think of recipes that use some of the same ingredients (chop once, use twice!), just to make it easier.  I am also planning on having the crock pot and the stock pot going.

3) (BONUS, baby!!!) Work on clearing out the attic for a minimum of 3 hours.  It got messy again!!!


Week Four: The “Dreaded” Challenge

This will run Feb 21 - 29.  Since it is dreaded....I gave it 2 extra days.  :)  Plus, if the kids and G-man are still gone, I have a leg up on this one.  My rules!!!  I haven't officially decided on this one.  It is either going to be the coat closet (our house is over 100 years old, so closets aren't plentiful in our house), or the shelves in the basement.  Still mulling this over.  Hey, do I get double points if I do BOTH???

Looking forward to the mini challenges as well, and of course, seeing everyone else's before and after pictures.  I will admit....I am not looking forward to sharing some of the "before" ones, but it is all for a good cause.  Life is messy!!!

Look out house, here I come!

Some people just naturally draw other to them.  And alas, Carla is one of them.  Seriously, she is a very cool chick.  So I decided to jump on the bandwagon and join the February Challenge for decluttering!

Part of the challenge is to show you the pictures of the projects (no problem) and update you all on the progress (which I will do on Mondays).

I am looking forward to this!!!

Another Edition of.....JUST DO IT!

C'mon people....we all know that there are those nagging things that we put off doing because 1) they aren't fun, 2) we think it will take too long, and/or 3) we don't have all the "stuff" we need.

This list just grows and grows because we aren't willing to just break down and DO IT.  Each time I have done this "challenge,"  I tend to find that whatever I was putting off isn't worth the amount of energy I was actually putting into PUTTING OFF.

So here is today's JUST DO IT list, to be accomplished by bedtime tonight:

1)  Write letter to try and get my last month of Weight Watchers fee reimbursed. (95% DONE....need to call and confirm a date, then it will be ready to go.)
2)  Bring blankets up to attic. (DONE!  2 minutes)
3)  Rearrange fridge so I can find stuff.  (DONE!  About 20 minutes, including cutting up a watermelon)
4)  Wipe down fridge inside door. (DONE!!!  Took about 10 minutes)
and
5)  Call credit card and try and lower interest rate!!!  (DONE...but unsuccessful.  Boo.  Took about 5 minutes)

So....I challenge you to JUST DO IT.  Pick 2-3 things that you have been putting off and just take care of it.  Make that doctor's appointment....schedule the car oil change.....bring in that box of stuff from the car....whatever!!!  JUST DO IT!

Update 5:00pm - making progress!!!! 
Update 9:15pm - Done (minus one quick thing!)

No-Eating Out Challenge - Pseudo Fail???

Just once, I want to shout from the rooftop that we did it!!!

The damage:

$4.97 - Taco Bell, when I was starving
$36.00 - Friendly's, when the car broke down
$12.72 - Subway, lunch for me and G-man on one of the crazy car days

Total - $53.69

Horrible....no.  Great....no.  We will try again another month....and will do it that time!!!

Another Rainy Day here....

It seriously needs to stop raining.....

The pool liner is STILL on hold until the weather clears.  Not like it really matters....the temperature is no where near pool weather.  Considering that we are approaching July, and by the end of August we are done with the pool....the $700 we are spending on this seems comical.

Sassy Girl has been having a rough go of it.  She is a sensitive kid, and is just needing a little extra time.  She and I are supposed to have a "girl date" tonight.  I am feeling much better, but she is a little under the weather.  Hopefully she will be better later.  She wanted to go to mini golf, but the rain put an end to that.  So we will go to the movies (Mr. Popper's Penguins....her choice). 

The rain makes me very introspective.  And overwhelmed.  Like....we still have over 64 THOUSAND in debt.  That number makes me sad, and scared, and anxious.  I know we are working at it...maybe not Dave Ramsey Gazelle Intense....but I just don't think that level is practical for us. 

We are missing goals left and right....I doubt we will make the under 60k goal by August 6.  I had wanted to pay off 10k this year (really 12.....), that one will be close.  Food budget is still wanky (although our no eating out challenge is going ok...minus one $4.97 slip up).

I wish I had figured out this stuff sooo much sooner.  What a different life we would have.....

The Continuing Pool Drama

First off...thanks to all the commenters yesterday.  As my day continued to turn into a big pile of poo, it helped to know someone out there has my back.

On to the pool....I really don't get how these companies stay in business.  Pools are a luxury item, and I have to think that over the past several years their business has declined.

Company 1....we called, no return call.  Called again (because something was off with their voicemail system), nada.  Call 3, if we don't hear from you by COB, we are taking our business elsewhere.  What do ya know...they called.  Said they would have the pool crew call and schedule.  Nada.  He did call a week later, but by then we had moved on to....

Company 2.  Seemed on top of things, until they got our contract.  They wanted a $400 deposit before they would schedule the job.  We said the job was only $450, and they said ok...we can do $300.  We agreed (at this point I just wanted the stupid job done).  Well...they charged $400 to my credit card.  And still couldn't schedule the job.

G-man called them AGAIN about the schedule, and said since we are having problems getting it schedule, the mistake on the charge...would they knock the final $50 off the bill.  The schedule girl said she had to talk to the boss.  Go ahead honey....go talk to your boss.  She called back and said no.  G-man asked to talk to the boss.  He wasn't there.  OK, have him call us.

So yesterday schedule girl called us back and said "boss is too busy on appointments to talk" and he said "either we pay the $50, or we can just cancel the whole thing and refund the money."  WHAT???  The boss is TOO BUSY to talk to a customer who is having an issue???

At this point G-man and I talked, and we said, forget it.  Let's find another company.  He called back and said 1)  We want the refund, and oh by the way...technically you made an unauthorized charge because we authorized $300 not $400, and that is illegal.  2)  The boss can't talk to us?  Not acceptable.  3)  We are reporting you to the Better Business Bureau.

The girl was all flustered and was trying to defend the mistakes.  Don't care.  Give us back the dough.

So we are waiting to see the refund back on my credit card.  This was 5:00pm last night, so I am hoping that it will show up today.  And now...we have to find another company. 

Oh, and in the middle of all of this, I was dealing with a pre-sale yard sale person ($20!!), and G-man burnt dinner.  We ALMOST ordered out....but we didn't.  Our June No-Eating-Out Challenge is still in tack (half way there!!!)

Financial Goals 2011

I know that some of these are a stretch.  I also know that some of these are a little subjective.  But here we are!!!  We are set to kick some major butt this year.

In order to have some perspective, as of January 1 our current debt total is $68,685.37 broken down to:

• Credit Card -  $35,065.23
• Student Loan -$29,225.79
• Car-                 $4,156.35
• Medical -             $208.00

1)  Pay off car early.  It is scheduled to be paid off December 2011/January 2012.  I would like to have it paid off earlier.  I am not setting a deadline (but August is the one in my head!), but I just want it done ahead of schedule.  DONE!!!

2)  Pay off $10,000 in debt (not including the retirement loan).  OK....really, I want $12,000 which is about 30% more than we paid off in 2010. But I am setting the bar a little lower in the hopes of SMASHING this goal, and then motivating myself to get to the REAL goal of $12,000.

3)  Side Hustle $2000.  This will come from blogging money, selling items, odd jobs (including my new gig as a ChaCha guide!), etc. This will be a combined Mysti/G-man goal, but it also includes 1/3 of the hustle money to be "mad" money.  See the new tally on the side bar to help me keep track.  We aren't setting it up as $1000 each, but I am hoping that G-man gets motivated since he will get to keep 1/3 of it to "play" with.

4)  Open ING Christmas Account.  Let's not have a repeat of 2010.  *sigh* DONE!!!

5)  Continue to work on zero-based budget.  This is still hard for us!!  But we are getting there.

6)  Curb food spending.  Eating out has gotten out of hand.  Processed foods are too plentiful in the kids' diet.  Better food planning should help on both accounts.

7)  Get life insurance.  We have been irresponsible on this.  I know that we can't afford what we really should have.  But we have to start somewhere.  We can always modify the amount and type later...but right now, we just need to do it.

8)  Make will.  The biggest reason we haven't made a will....we really don't have a guardian for our kids.  No one is the right decision.  But we have to bite the bullet and just do this too.  Not planning on kicking the bucket, but need to make sure the wee folks are taken care of.

9) Resume retirement savings.  We stopped contributing so we could increase our cash flow.   I am hoping as the balances continue to go down on our debts, we can start contributing again.  At least to get the employer match of 5%.

10)  Find one "free" family thing to do per month.  It might be a picnic, a school event, or something I haven't thought of yet!  No one says you have to spend money to have family time.

Don't forget to check out my blogging and personal goals too!!!

So, this is totally not working for me

Using my CC for purchases I have the money for.

1)  I just didn't like the feeling of using it at all. 

2)  I can see where it can get out of control.  No damage done yet, but decided that the risk is too great.

3)  I will lose track of purchases....I did yesterday.  Again, no damage done....but I am not going to let it.

Additionally note about all of this .....

I checked the statement, and even though I paid the 10k balance, I was still left with $73 in interest!!  I didn't account for this at all.  So with my yesterday purchases (again....I have the cash for all of them) and the interest, I am up to almost $200 on this card.  NO!!!!!

So I will pay the charges, and before the next billing cycle ends (sept 13), I will pay off the interest.  But this interest just gets me....I don't understand how people don't pay interest when they pay off their bill.  I still got charged interest.  Unless this is just for new purchases, and I am still paying the penalty for previous indiscretions.

I am still going to use the card for specific LARGE purchases....like one I am making on Wednesday.  But that is it.  No day to day purchases, even if I have the cash.  One day doing this has taught me that I am not responsible enough yet. 

I promised you I would be honest with you.  And this one gets a C+/D- in the implementation category. 

A bit of danger....but I think we can handle it

Last week I accidentally used my credit card.  I pulled the wrong blue card out of my wallet.  PURELY an accident.  As soon as I realized I did it, I paid the balance (since I had planned on using my debit card, I knew I had the cash).

The thing I didn't think about until later was the points that got credited to the rewards program.  As I stated yesterday, we are getting the kids a Wii for Christmas with points.

After getting the Wii, I have about 4100 points left.  At 6000 (or 6500, I have to look again), we can get a $50 GC to Lowe's, which will help pay for paint for the hallway, and allow us to get the 2 lights we didn't have enough cash to get.

So, we need about 2000 more points.  Then I read this post about paying for your mortgage with a credit card (ok, I have searched high and low and can't find it again....so sorry dude, no link love for ya!!).  One month, plus one other purchase we have planned (and have the money for) and I would be there!  Then I would get my gift card, cancel the reward program and hop on down the bunny trail.

Except our mortgage company won't accept a credit card payment.  Bummer.  But I am not letting it get the best of me.  I am planning on using my credit card in HIGHLY CALCULATED situations to get the points, and it will take me a little longer, but I will still get there.

I know what you are thinking.....Tsk, tsk, Mysti.  This is a gateway to problems.  What are you thinking, girl????

I am thinking that I know that I have a $600 purchase next week, and that will be 1/4 of the points I need.  I am only going to use the card for purchases that I have the cash in hand to do.  Not, I will have the cash next week.  If I have the money that I could take to the store and hand them in cash, then I will use the card to get the points....go home, and pay the bill.  There won't be a balance.

I just think we are close enough to get the gift card that it would be a waste to not use all the points.  I could get a gift card to a restaurant.....but it wouldn't even be enough for all of us.  So it really isn't an incentive.  Now, getting the lights for my hallway.....THAT is an incentive!

Thoughts???

A few updates

Credit Cards:

Did you notice some minor changes to our CC totals???  We completed a balance transfer offer that took $5,000 from CC1 (at 19.24%) and put it on CC4 (at 5.99% for 12 months, and 9.24% after). We decided against trying to open a new card and get 0% for a few months.  Ultimately, we were concerned about dinging our credit.  We are thinking about applying for a peer to peer lending to pay off CC1 and CC3, and trying to get the best rate possible....so dings won't help our cause there.

The totals will be updated later this week after I pay the bills for the week.

Snowball #1 - Hospital:

Part of G-man's and my big talk the other day was this bill.  I budgeted to have it paid by the end of August (the kids' birthday).  This is the last of the bills related to their birth, and Bossy's subsequent surgeries and hospital stays.  We have been paying this bill for 8 years.  Yes, EIGHT years, and I need it gone.  So, in a bold move....we decided to pay it off in July.  Taking the $410 that I budgeted, plus $200 from our savings account, and $200 from our "extra" emergency fund (Dave Ramsey says to have $1000....we have almost $1450, so we will still be above the $1000).  Throw in an extra $5, and it is GONE.  Emotionally, this is a huge victory for us.

The next bill we will snowball is Student Loan 2, which should be gone in about 3 months.  This bill is the last of my student loans that are in both my and my father's name.  I was 17 when I went to college, so legally all the bills were listed as me as the co-borrower, even though my parents didn't pay the bill.  My dad did a lousy job on my loans, and because of the way he did the loans, I was unable to consolidate them or do anything, with them.  One loan had an interest rate of over 10%!  So this bill just needs to go....c'mon, I graduated in 1996!!  The Student Loan 1 is my Master's Degree.

There after, we decided to veer from Dave and go in interest order.  Currently that would be CC1, CC3, CC2, CC4, Car, Student Loan 1  We decided to leave the Dentist out of it.  If we do a peer lending, this is subject to change a bit.

July Challenge - No eating out

Today is the 11th, and except for a minor slip up on G-man where he bought a soda (he forgot about the challenge), we have not had any take out, coffee, water, soda, or fast food.  Grocery budget is still doing ok and meal planning is really helping.  I will be heading to the store later to restock for the week.

Blogging Realizations:

When I added the progress bars, I realized that when I update totals, I just write over the previous total.  I keep forgetting to make note of the starting balance!  While I have the balance of our debt when I started this blog (my blog-anniversary is just a few weeks away!), I have lost track of a few things.  Like the hospital bill....I couldn't tell you what the balance was a year ago, or even when we started snowballing it. I could probably figure it out, but that would be more work than it is worth.  So now, I will make an effort to note the starting balance of the snowball.

Anyone up for a CHALLENGE?

G-man and I are challenging ourselves to NOT eat out at all for the month of the July.  No coffee, no fast food, and no takeout.

All food needs to come from the grocery store (and yes, we know we could cheat and run to the grocery store).  We are trying to do better at meal planning, and cutting down on the number of trips to the grocery store, and of course, the overall amount of money.

Who's in???