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Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning has been the theme of the month. With the kitchen out of commission, I haven't been able to can anything. So... I've been cleaning and tossing, and sorting and tossing. We've been in this house for 11 years now. It's time to purge a few things and get rid of the last traces of crap that my in-laws left behind when they moved out.
For the past couple of years, I've kept a written list of my resolutions, and posted my monthly progress towards meeting my goals here on the blog. It's kept me honest and on track, and I've accomplished most of my goals every year since I began doing this!
Here's the HIGHLY optimistic look at what I thought I could accomplish this year:
1) Remodel the Hall Bathroom.
Yeah, I thought this was going to happen this year, but then the kitchen fell apart. You can read the progress on the kitchen repairs here:
One step forward, two steps back.
It Only Looks Like We're Not Making Progress
Progress of One Kind and Another
2) Improve My Health
Looking beyond the numbers on the scale, I am going after the big picture numbers that add up to an overall look at my body chemistry and how my body is functioning as a system. This led me to three separate categories:
a) Lose Inches Off My Waist
My goal for this year is 3 inches. Still not at 3, but I have lost over 2! HOORAY! Slowly working towards 3 inches.... very slowly.... so many crunches... so many planks.
(Hey, I can hold a plank for a full minute now. Who-Hoo!)
YES!! 120/60! No lecture from the doctor this year, instead I got a hearty "Keep up the good work!"
This time last year, my blood pressure was at 140/80. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger!
For me, this is pretty phenomenal!
3) Restart my Vegetable Garden
This spring has been so wet, everything that I put into the ground was drowned. For now, this is just not going to happen. My herb pot is a success, though! We went from too wet to super hot with no transition in between. This is going to be an epic fail.
4) Learn to Pressure Can
SO, we have a glass top stove. Pressure canners do not work on a glass top stove because they can't consistently keep the temperature up high enough. This one might very well be a wash. Another epic fail. If I ever do put in an outdoor kitchen, I'm going to make certain I have a propane or gas stove so that I can pressure can - and I'll be able to do it outside and keep the heat out of the house.
5) Daughter's Quilt
I've tracked down all of the fabric, the Girl Scout bandanas and the old t-shirts that I'm going to use. Everything has been run through the wash. I found the fabric stabilizer at Hobby Lobby for the t-shirts. Progress, of a sort.
The kids did this for me when they were all home the weekend after Mother's Day. Thanks guys!
4 or 5 days every week. Even better, I'm now keeping a hard copy journal with me when I go. It's an old composition book that daughter had used in school. She had written in maybe 3 pages? I confiscated it before it went out to Goodwill. I keep track of what I've done, how much weight I'm lifting, and how many reps. My workouts have gotten more effective now that I'm no longer guessing how much weight I lifted the last time I did that particular exercise. #progress.
Originally, the goal was to clean out 23 things a month. Then I changed it to 23 things a week. For the entire 52 weeks of the year, that would have required me to get rid of 1196 things for the year. I met that goal in May. Good thing the house is cleaner! It means we had room to shift stuff over to other places when we had to tarp off the kitchen!
I sent 215 things to the thrift shop.
I gave 32 completed scarves to the church for the Christmas Bazaar.
Odds and Ends of crafts to go to the craft group at church: 50
I finished up & donated 10 crocheted blankets to Project Linus.
Little crocheted baby hats to go to the NICU: 40
I donated one completed Prayer Shawl to the church.
Total number of items out of the house this month: 348
Items out so far this year: 1668.
I'm beginning to wonder if I'll hit 5,000 items by the end of the year.
9) Participate in the NoSpenduary Challenge.
Thank God I did this, both in February and in March. It has literally saved our asses as things continue to break and fall apart at an alarming rate. I originally found this challenge on the Frugal, Debt Free Life Blog. Bless your heart, Lydia. Because of this challenge, we have not yet gone down the rabbit hole of massive credit card debt with the huge expenses we've had in 2016: 1 abscessed tooth requiring a root canal. 1 crown for said tooth. The van needing huge repairs not once but TWICE, (once for the a/c, once because it just stopped working late at night when husband was on his way home from choir practice.), AND 1 leaking, moldy mess under the kitchen sink. No idea how that much is going to run, but I am really glad that we have construction and rebuilding experience from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity over the years. That will help cut down on some of our expenses.
10) Visit one Place on My Bucket List
Phase One: Completed (We know where we're going.)
Phase Two: Finished
(Everyone will be capable of going. Vacations have been requested and approved by everyone.)
Phase Three: Reservations are made.
12) Scrapbooking
I need to catch up. I know I had years that I didn't do this. I went through all of the albums and found the years that I have not yet finished. These are the years I am in search of:
2006
2009
2010
2011
2012
2015
I'm chugging along on this! I've been using Shutterfly, which has a powerful tool for digital scrapbooking. I've then been holding onto the albums until they offer a deal on pricing, and then I order the books. I love Shutterfly! (In the interest of Full Disclosure, they are one of my Affiliate Links, but I was using them LONG before I even began blogging.)
13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails
The challenge has begun! The first trail has been explored.
Note to self: take more water next time - twice the amount you'll think you need, carry one bottle with you, keep extra in the car for when you get back. Those trails are not as shaded as the woodland trails in the State Parks.
Now that the rain has stopped, we need to get back to this. I also need to get away from the onslaught of crap that is going on in our house.
We hiked up on Catoctin Mountain this past month, but that's not a rail trail. We need to get out and do another trail this month. We're falling behind!
The NCR Trail
14) Pay offthe big debt and one smaller one-
The big debt is gone. It's nice to have one monkey off my back! Before I go to work on the smaller debt, we are desperately working on rebuilding the emergency savings account. With all of the financial emergencies we've had this year, it feels like we're bleeding money. Something breaks, We spend, we scrimp and save, something else breaks, we spend, we scrimp and save... repeat. I'm so glad we've had money in the emergency account. Maybe not as much as I'd like, but it's been enough. Seriously people, if you don't have an emergency savings account with at least $1000 put aside, don't wait another day. Do it NOW. Just do it. Don't make excuses. Doing the NoSpenduary Challenge is a great way to start. I know it's inconvenient, but it's summer. Public Libraries are open, with free programming available for children, and there are concerts and free movies in parks and community areas everywhere. This is a great time to take a break from spending and find out just how creative you can be while keeping your kids entertained.
15) The Recipes Tab
I nicely fixed up the recipe tab so that it is easy to find recipes that I've posted on here before. For me, this is my online recipe book. Some of the recipes are my own. Some, I posted direct links to other sites. You might or might not choose to use it, but I use it on a pretty regular basis, and I've found out that one of the boys does, too. He likes the fact that most of what I've listed is food he already loves and that everything is fairly easy to make and budget conscious. (Hey Kiddo! Glad you stopped by for a while!)
So how are you doing on your resolutions for the year?
I donated one completed Prayer Shawl to the church.
Total number of items out of the house this month: 348
Items out so far this year: 1668.
I'm beginning to wonder if I'll hit 5,000 items by the end of the year.
Thank God I did this, both in February and in March. It has literally saved our asses as things continue to break and fall apart at an alarming rate. I originally found this challenge on the Frugal, Debt Free Life Blog. Bless your heart, Lydia. Because of this challenge, we have not yet gone down the rabbit hole of massive credit card debt with the huge expenses we've had in 2016: 1 abscessed tooth requiring a root canal. 1 crown for said tooth. The van needing huge repairs not once but TWICE, (once for the a/c, once because it just stopped working late at night when husband was on his way home from choir practice.), AND 1 leaking, moldy mess under the kitchen sink. No idea how that much is going to run, but I am really glad that we have construction and rebuilding experience from volunteering with Habitat for Humanity over the years. That will help cut down on some of our expenses.
10) Visit one Place on My Bucket List
Phase One: Completed (We know where we're going.)
Phase Two: Finished
(Everyone will be capable of going. Vacations have been requested and approved by everyone.)
Phase Three: Reservations are made.
12) Scrapbooking
I need to catch up. I know I had years that I didn't do this. I went through all of the albums and found the years that I have not yet finished. These are the years I am in search of:
2006
2009
I'm chugging along on this! I've been using Shutterfly, which has a powerful tool for digital scrapbooking. I've then been holding onto the albums until they offer a deal on pricing, and then I order the books. I love Shutterfly! (In the interest of Full Disclosure, they are one of my Affiliate Links, but I was using them LONG before I even began blogging.)
13) Walk or Bike a portion of at least 6 Rail Trails
 |
| A Lime Kiln on the NCR Trail. |
The challenge has begun! The first trail has been explored.
Note to self: take more water next time - twice the amount you'll think you need, carry one bottle with you, keep extra in the car for when you get back. Those trails are not as shaded as the woodland trails in the State Parks.
Now that the rain has stopped, we need to get back to this. I also need to get away from the onslaught of crap that is going on in our house.
We hiked up on Catoctin Mountain this past month, but that's not a rail trail. We need to get out and do another trail this month. We're falling behind!
The NCR Trail
14) Pay off
The big debt is gone. It's nice to have one monkey off my back! Before I go to work on the smaller debt, we are desperately working on rebuilding the emergency savings account. With all of the financial emergencies we've had this year, it feels like we're bleeding money. Something breaks, We spend, we scrimp and save, something else breaks, we spend, we scrimp and save... repeat. I'm so glad we've had money in the emergency account. Maybe not as much as I'd like, but it's been enough. Seriously people, if you don't have an emergency savings account with at least $1000 put aside, don't wait another day. Do it NOW. Just do it. Don't make excuses. Doing the NoSpenduary Challenge is a great way to start. I know it's inconvenient, but it's summer. Public Libraries are open, with free programming available for children, and there are concerts and free movies in parks and community areas everywhere. This is a great time to take a break from spending and find out just how creative you can be while keeping your kids entertained.
I nicely fixed up the recipe tab so that it is easy to find recipes that I've posted on here before. For me, this is my online recipe book. Some of the recipes are my own. Some, I posted direct links to other sites. You might or might not choose to use it, but I use it on a pretty regular basis, and I've found out that one of the boys does, too. He likes the fact that most of what I've listed is food he already loves and that everything is fairly easy to make and budget conscious. (Hey Kiddo! Glad you stopped by for a while!)
So how are you doing on your resolutions for the year?
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