Can I just say how happy I am that I decided to follow the Stress Free Holiday Series from Household Management 101? I feel so on top of things, it's ridiculous.
My Halloween decorations were put away within two days of Halloween passing. I'm the only one in my entire neighborhood who has taken decorations down. The decorations went straight into a new storage container that was promptly labeled and put on a shelf in the garage, where it is sitting pretty for next Halloween.
Even though I don't host for Thanksgiving, I always contribute a few dishes. Those are now planned, so I can be ready to whip them up and take them to my in-laws for the meal. Planning this out was especially important since we'll be out of town right before Thanksgiving and I didn't want any last minute scrambling for what I needed to bring to dinner.
I can't really believe I'm talking about Christmas yet, but I know November will fly right by me. Half of the Christmas presents are already purchased (although I am still waiting on most of them to actually arrive). This is huge. I don't know when I last shopped for presents before Thanksgiving.
And, to make it official, I just ordered our Christmas cards. They'll arrive before Thanksgiving and be ready to go in the mail on December 1st.
Starting this challenge has been the best thing I've done for our family (and my mental health) in a really long time!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
The Garage
Last night my husband mentioned that he really needs to start parking in the garage. It's getting colder and we've had to scrape the windshield the past few mornings. It takes between 10 and 15 minutes to get the car warm enough for all the windows to be clear. And he feels that all this cuts into his work day. (Of course, if he would wake up on time like a nearly 30 year old man should, this might not be such a big issue....) But I agreed with him. He does need to be able to park in the garage so the frost and ice isn't a problem for getting going in the morning.
But this meant something would have to happen that I'd been avoiding: We must clean the garage. <insert horror movie scream here>
Since the rain had yet to start this afternoon, I took the kids outside and had them ride bikes around the driveway while I attempted to work on the garage. I think I mostly just shuffled stuff around. It's the thought that counts, right?
Obviously, in terms of organizing and simplifying, the garage is the biggest problem area. It's better than it was at the beginning of the summer in terms of how much stuff is in there, but due to going through boxes and moving stuff around, it LOOKS worse. And all the sawdust that covers every inch of the garage from when my husband made bunk beds for the boys isn't helping.
I did purchase a bunch of storage bins so I could move holiday decorations from various cardboard boxes. I'm all for keeping the spiders out as much as possible, plus if I ever flood the garage again through our central air system (long story), our items will be better protected in the plastic containers than they would be in cardboard. I didn't know how much would really fit into them, but I was able to fit all Halloween decorations into one medium sized bin and all Christmas decorations into one large bin. All in all, I did away with five big cardboard boxes (clearing two whole shelves) just from using those two bins. Unbelievable! I was so excited and, I'll admit it, just a tad proud of myself for saving so much garage space. I foresee my storage bin/system addiction getting worse....
There's still a TON to do, but after clearing away five boxes and finally taking some pictures of larger items that we've been wanting to sell, I felt like I made some progress today. And the more progress I make in the garage, the more room it gives me to toss out more stuff from the house. Hmm? The car? Better stock up on ice scrapers, honey.
But this meant something would have to happen that I'd been avoiding: We must clean the garage. <insert horror movie scream here>
Since the rain had yet to start this afternoon, I took the kids outside and had them ride bikes around the driveway while I attempted to work on the garage. I think I mostly just shuffled stuff around. It's the thought that counts, right?
Obviously, in terms of organizing and simplifying, the garage is the biggest problem area. It's better than it was at the beginning of the summer in terms of how much stuff is in there, but due to going through boxes and moving stuff around, it LOOKS worse. And all the sawdust that covers every inch of the garage from when my husband made bunk beds for the boys isn't helping.
I did purchase a bunch of storage bins so I could move holiday decorations from various cardboard boxes. I'm all for keeping the spiders out as much as possible, plus if I ever flood the garage again through our central air system (long story), our items will be better protected in the plastic containers than they would be in cardboard. I didn't know how much would really fit into them, but I was able to fit all Halloween decorations into one medium sized bin and all Christmas decorations into one large bin. All in all, I did away with five big cardboard boxes (clearing two whole shelves) just from using those two bins. Unbelievable! I was so excited and, I'll admit it, just a tad proud of myself for saving so much garage space. I foresee my storage bin/system addiction getting worse....
There's still a TON to do, but after clearing away five boxes and finally taking some pictures of larger items that we've been wanting to sell, I felt like I made some progress today. And the more progress I make in the garage, the more room it gives me to toss out more stuff from the house. Hmm? The car? Better stock up on ice scrapers, honey.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Grocery Challenge Month #2
What a strange month. With everything that was going on (mentioned in my previous post), it was quite difficult to stick to anything. Having just gone over all the receipts from October and looking at our financial records, I have to admit that I'm confused. Here's why:
We went over budget again; in fact, we went over $52 more than we did in September. We spent more on food, but less on household items. Food cost $450 in October! Apparently my desired food budget of $300 does not include candy heavy months (thanks, Halloween) or stress-induced cravings. Blah. And yes, I can almost guarantee you that that additional $150 was spent on candy and snacks that we probably didn't need. However, even though we've been over budget for the past two months, the amount of money we have left in the bank account at the end of each pay period is steadily increasing. Um, what?
I haven't looked closely enough to see what might be making the difference, but I have some theories.
1) Even though we've been over our desired grocery/household budget for the past two months, we are still spending less (anywhere from $50-$200 less) each month than when we weren't actively trying to stick to a budget. So that's awesome.
2) We're spending less in other areas. We've essentially stopped eating fast food, except for once or twice in the past couple of months, so our dining out expenses have dropped big time. It's good for the wallet AND for the waistline. Plus, we're just not buying as much stuff as we used to. Trying to limit our possessions has made us all think twice before purchasing anything: "Do we REALLY need this?". Trips to Target (oh, what a problem store for shopaholics!) have decreased immensely, with me not even setting foot in a Target for nearly two months until mid-October when my six year old needed new clothes.
3) I'm selling our crap. I haven't looked at how much I've made since I started selling the stuff we don't need anymore, but I will bet you anything that it's over $600. That money has been going right into the bank account (except for the past two weeks, when I built up some money to spend on ebay for Christmas presents).
All in all, it's been very interesting so far to see what happens when we make lifestyle changes. I don't think we're doing anything super amazing or drastic or revolutionary, but I'm hoping that by making positive changes in our life, I can encourage others to do the same.
We went over budget again; in fact, we went over $52 more than we did in September. We spent more on food, but less on household items. Food cost $450 in October! Apparently my desired food budget of $300 does not include candy heavy months (thanks, Halloween) or stress-induced cravings. Blah. And yes, I can almost guarantee you that that additional $150 was spent on candy and snacks that we probably didn't need. However, even though we've been over budget for the past two months, the amount of money we have left in the bank account at the end of each pay period is steadily increasing. Um, what?
I haven't looked closely enough to see what might be making the difference, but I have some theories.
1) Even though we've been over our desired grocery/household budget for the past two months, we are still spending less (anywhere from $50-$200 less) each month than when we weren't actively trying to stick to a budget. So that's awesome.
2) We're spending less in other areas. We've essentially stopped eating fast food, except for once or twice in the past couple of months, so our dining out expenses have dropped big time. It's good for the wallet AND for the waistline. Plus, we're just not buying as much stuff as we used to. Trying to limit our possessions has made us all think twice before purchasing anything: "Do we REALLY need this?". Trips to Target (oh, what a problem store for shopaholics!) have decreased immensely, with me not even setting foot in a Target for nearly two months until mid-October when my six year old needed new clothes.
3) I'm selling our crap. I haven't looked at how much I've made since I started selling the stuff we don't need anymore, but I will bet you anything that it's over $600. That money has been going right into the bank account (except for the past two weeks, when I built up some money to spend on ebay for Christmas presents).
All in all, it's been very interesting so far to see what happens when we make lifestyle changes. I don't think we're doing anything super amazing or drastic or revolutionary, but I'm hoping that by making positive changes in our life, I can encourage others to do the same.
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