A Few Updates And Some Random Thoughts

Just a few updates here.

I had a no spend day! Yeah! My first in ages-no grocery store, no gas station, no post office, no coffee/tea stops.  It's the things like needing two onions or postage because I ran out of stamps that breaks the no spend day cycle.

My elderly friend is in deep denial about her medical condition, she has been in and out of hospital and a rehab facility for just over two months.  She can not live on her own and has tried (unsuccessfully) to live with other friends. She got upset with our mutual friend D and myself when we suggested that we all look for an assisted living facility. She now refuses to move back in with D because D and I (and to a certain point elderly friends MD) agree she may be better off in assisted living, at the minimum, she needs a professional caregiver around for most of the day. The situation is not good.

I think I have a permanent home for one of elderly friends dogs.  Poochie 2 has found a new home, it's a family with two children around the ages of 8-10. So far, so good, keep your fingers crossed and keep happy thoughts for this Poochie.  Just having one dog out of the house has changed the dynamic and the others are happier. Poochie 1 and Poochie 2 really don't like each other and it was interesting setting up a feeding/walking schedule to keep everyone safe and me sane.  Plus Poochie 2 needs a family to love her, she was just not getting all the love she so deserves at my house.

I've decided that even with my job situation I am way overdue for a vacation to the UK to visit my friends.  I am going to find a frugal and sensible way to make a trip happen in either March or April.  I am going to really focus my energy and thoughts on making sure this happens. I've usally been very lucky finding decent airfares to the UK.  More on this in another post.

My effort to sell a bunch of books and CDs on half.com went well. It was not so much about the money as it was for me to work on a little decluttering.  I probably would have left those items on my shelf, but my reduction in hours spurred me to spend the 10 minutes it took to update my inventory. I only have a few items left to sell and if they don't sell by Christmas, I'm packing them up and donating them to a charity shop.

I will finish my 90% of my Christmas shopping on Tuesday.  I have a couple small things to pick up, but can do that a few days before the holiday itself.

The whole wheat pasta must be growing on me. I ate it for dinner last night and it was not so bad. OR it could be that I was hungry and just ate the food anyway.

I'm almost "caught up" on all my laundry. I have a bunch of jackets and blankets that are coming wth me to the second job this weekend. I am going to get everything washed and dried.  I will also probably donate a couple of the jackets I'm no longer using/wearing to a Charity shop as well. It's part of the decluttering process. These are not trendy or stylish coats, but they are warm and practical and if someone else can use them, great. They get a new life with someone else and I get space on my limited hanging rack.

Less Clutter, Better Mindset

True to my word, I did a small de-cluttering of the house. I set up the new to me computer, tidied my desk and made it usable, filed some papers, organized some tax receipts (gasp-getting ready for NEXT tax season so soon!), reclaimed my kitchen table as a place to sit down and eat at instead of it being an additional desk, did a dump, laundry, returnable run, got the propane tank refilled for the grill, did a small grocery shop, cleaned the garbage pails I use for returnables and recycleables, did the ironing, put the clean clothes away and managed to get a hair cut fit in. All that on Saturday and I naturally spent Sunday being a lazy slob watching a coup DVD's and some re-runs on Fox. I think I deserved a day of doing nothing, osrting through my clothes to see what can go to Goodwill or the consignment shop can wait a few days.

I just could not take the mess anymore. As I said before, having all the clutter around and on my counters made it so I was tempted just to pack it in and buy my meals. I have lots of food in the cupboards and I want to get rid of the freezer reserves. I also like the fact that I can sit down at my table for dinner. I feel more in control of my life.

The weather is improving here in New England and my mindset is getting better as well. I plan on using the nice weather to do some spring chores that are not inside ones. Sweet.

My House is a Disaster Zone~But Can I Go Clutter Free

It's official, I have crossed the point of no sane return. I've had a couple busy days as work, a couple busy things to do after work and in the interim, my very small house looks like a disaster zone.

I bought a new toaster oven at Target the other day, my old one caught fire and had to be laid to rest. I still have the box for the new toaster oven sitting in my small space because I wanted to use the oven two or three times to make sure it worked. I still have the old toaster oven as well. Of course I walked into the grocery store to buy a frozen pizza to try out in this oven (the oven says it can hold a 12 inch pizza). $20 later (what the heck did I buy?) I waltzed home to cook said frozen pizza. Yup, the oven does hold the 12 inch pie and it actually toasts bread products. I'm hoping to get rid of the box and the old toaster oven ver soon.

My desk looks like I tipped a couple bags of papers on it and I have been given use of a desktop computer since my laptop is slowly dying. My small desk is awash in computers (2), papers, and DVD's (I have a stack on the desk that I keep meaning to put on Half.com). I have to rip apart my desk to redo all those dammed electrical cords.

My bedroom is a mini disaster. My neighbor found a scratch and dent bathroom vanity and sink at Home Depot for me and right now, the unit is in a box in my bedroom, along with my laundry basket of clean laundry to be ironed and my basket of dirty laundry, and my small mini vacuum. My bedside table has two empty water bottles and a pile of books on it. Redoing the bathroom is not a project I planned on doing until late June.

Plus I pulled out all the heavy winter blankets, I am planning a trip to the laundromat to use the big washer and dryers to wash and dry the winter blankets and store them for the spring summer. Those are sitting on top of the storage hassock, I was too lazy to put them back in to hassock. In my defense I had planned to go to the laundromat on Monday, but spent the time in the ER with my bleeding forehead.

I live in a rural area, I have to take my garbage to the town dump, the dump is open on the weekends. Guess what I am doing on Friday night and Saturday-

1) Bagging up the trash and recyclables for a Saturday AM dump run
2) Bagging up the returnables for a run to the redemption center (at least I'll get some $$ back, enough for my weekly lotto fix!)
3) Putting the laundry in the car and driving to the laundromat with the ultra big $6 a load washers.
4) Hitting the Target, Wal Mart or K-Mart for those storage bags that you suck air out of to store the cleaned blankets in for the summer.
5) Cleaning the kitchen and living room and probably make another dump run to get rid of the trash.

The rest of my weekend will also be spent fixing my fence (the dogs found a new way to escape this morning), putting together the computer to see if it still works, cleaning the house and giving some serious consideration to trimming down my closet and my clothes that I don't fit into.

What has this got to do with personal finance. A lot. Since my small kitchen looks like a disaster zone (counters are full up, kitchen table is serving as desk #2), my inclination this AM was to just skip packing my lunch and buy it. I bought dinner last night (the mediocre frozen pizza), I was thinking about Chinese for dinner tonight and I almost hit the local coffee shop for breakfast this am. I'm sort of wondering what I will do for dinner this evening since my kitchen is not 'user friendly" at this moment. Just eating out for one day could set me back $25.

Having a clutter free zone will enable me to cook my dinner, plan my lunch for tomorrow and not just waste money when I have a cabinet full of food to be cooked and eaten.