I said I would be accountable to you all this month, so I thought I'd share what I have and haven't done and why on my goals for the month.
Week 1: Kitchen
Clear and clean, declutter and organize the casserole/appliances cupboard.
Sort out the chiffarobe in the kitchen. This means deciding once and for all where to store the odds and ends in one drawer and matching lids to containers and jars in the other two drawers. I might do a little re-organizing of that space altogether. It's better than it's been but not all it could be.
Yes...In fact the chiffarobe is empty save a single drawer of vitamins and plastics needed to use in the kitchen for leftovers and such. All the other stuff is somewhere...and I'm not altogether sure if it's in the house or in the shed! All the glass jars have moved into the cabinet where I'd been storing quart jars anyway. I am seriously considering moving this piece out of the kitchen and into the guest room where it will be far more useful to me. BUT I have to figure out what I'll use in it's place. We will still want a spot for plastics, medicines and such. It requires some thinking. I think I might swap it and the little armoire from the guest room but that remains to be seen at the moment. In the meantime it's empty enough that we can move it should we find we're getting flooring anytime soon.
Week 2: Living/Dining/Front Entry
Clean out the buffet and wipe down, organize, sort.
Clean out the buffet and wipe down, organize, sort.
Yes...I've removed all from the buffet save the pretty pieces on top and the needed napkins and placemats for our dining table. All the rest is packed away and stowed in a bin under my sewing table or in my guest room closet.
We removed the dresser a bit over a week ago that sat in the entry way. Now the toy box from the living room side is sitting there. It's not my ideal at the moment but it's the best I can do. Because you see the place has been like an upturned fruit basket and things are sort of just everywhere. Oddly moving out that toy box made John suddenly decide he'd like to hang the TV on the wall. We did that yesterday and this morning we pulled the fern painted cabinet from our bath and the little swivel rocker from the kitchen sitting and created an extra seat in our living room. Gone is the old made over entertainment center...
All the books have been removed from the room as well, packed into TEN boxes...The bookshelves were moved, vacuumed under and set up as three separate standing shelves instead of pushed together as a wall unit. It takes up more space, but looks oddly fresher somehow.
And all the pictures on the living room side were removed from the walls. Next to go will be the mantel and the bookcase next to my chair. I don't know how all our things will end up when we're done because we're very much still working away!
Vacuum the perimeter of the room (that little edge I can't really reach with the vacuum, so I'll use the attachment).
Yes...very much so. It was so awful under the bookcases (and our bedroom dresser) that it clogged the vacuum. Lots of vacuuming this week.
Week 3:Beds/Baths
Clean out from under the guest bath cabinet. Line with paper, organize in a nicer way.
Clean out from under the guest bath cabinet. Line with paper, organize in a nicer way.
It looks very nice. The paper I have is not the tackiest sort of vinyl contact paper but it's pretty.
In the guest room closet, I have my auxiliary pantry. I want to add some better organization to the pantry shelves. I have a lot of space between shelves that I can use if I find suitable ways to utilize it.
I did empty one whole shelf which is now stacked with coffee table sized books from the bookcases. It gave me an opportunity to do somewhat of a pantry inventory and this kept me from buying more corn this week which seems hardly necessary. I'll focus on other items instead.
In the guest room closet, I have my auxiliary pantry. I want to add some better organization to the pantry shelves. I have a lot of space between shelves that I can use if I find suitable ways to utilize it.
I did empty one whole shelf which is now stacked with coffee table sized books from the bookcases. It gave me an opportunity to do somewhat of a pantry inventory and this kept me from buying more corn this week which seems hardly necessary. I'll focus on other items instead.
Week 4:Outdoors
Go over both porches and remove excess items, prune plants, clean clean clean.
It might not have looked as though there were a lot of extras on either porch but boy when you start removing them you learn how much stuff you've allowed to accumulate. I left, on the front porch, the plastic swimming pool that I'd been using to paint the dining room chairs in. Otherwise, lots of stuff left that porch.
Go over both porches and remove excess items, prune plants, clean clean clean.
It might not have looked as though there were a lot of extras on either porch but boy when you start removing them you learn how much stuff you've allowed to accumulate. I left, on the front porch, the plastic swimming pool that I'd been using to paint the dining room chairs in. Otherwise, lots of stuff left that porch.
Get that back porch cleaned for fall/winter. Paint the flooring.
I cleaned the back porch railings and rafters but still need to do the outside of the railings. I also need to remove a few items that made it to the back porch and is meant for the shed. I was just too tired at the time to head that way. I'm not sure about painting the flooring this month. I'll see how that goes.
Tasks I hope to get done this month:
Finish that gallery wall in the living room. It's been in limbo for months now and I'm ready to have it settled.
Tasks I hope to get done this month:
Finish that gallery wall in the living room. It's been in limbo for months now and I'm ready to have it settled.
I took it all down for the time being. I broke a frame so the whole of it is all in limbo again until I find a new one. It's going to go back up eventually, but again, it's a clean slate to work with now. I even took down the nails and picture hangers in the wall so I'm not tempted to hang things in the same spots all over again.
All dining room chairs sanded, primed, painted.
I got three chairs finished. The last one was sheer blessing as I had two half cans of paint to finish off the color and the first two chairs took a can and a half. I need to buy more primer and more paint to do the last chair. Hopefully I can pick that up this weekend.
Paint the table between our chairs in the living room.
I do not have sandpaper and I think it's probably going to take a palm sander to be honest. I think chalk paint might work best to cover the flaws in it but I don't have what I need to make my paint chalk paint...I think I'm going to shelve this plan until I have a little more to work with.
Other goals:
Restock the pantry. I've started a list of what I want and in what quantities. I'll be watching hard for good sales on these items this month and purchase as much as I can.
This month I have added six cans each of green beans and whole kernel corn, matches, oatmeal, peanut butter and something else I can't recall at the moment.
We have planned a family day mid-month. I need to get a menu plan together and check with the girls to see what ideas they have or if they just want to come visit and John and I provide the meal.
I have a plan. I had to alter it due to things that weren't available but I think we'll manage just fine with my alternates. It turned out to be fairly inexpensive which was a nice thing.
I went through my list of possible savings and determined which tasks I'd try to implement towards savings this month. I won't be tedious and list them here since it's basically just a repeat of what I've already said. I'm not trying to do ALL of them this month but simply to get a good running start on trying to cut our outgo. One item on my list this week is to try to make one NEW item here at home. I haven't determined what that item will be but I'm thinking either bagels or English Muffins.
I checked what our cable bill will be...It's going to increase only $10 and for football season we'll stick with what we've got because football makes my husband a very happy man.
English muffins haven't been attempted yet, but I am making soft baked pretzels this weekend. I thought it would be a fun thing to add to the menu and it sounds simple enough.
Cut grocery expenses to as near $300/month as possible. That's an allowance of about $75/week.
I managed to come in right at my grocery budget for the month and that includes money spent on stocking the pantry. I also stayed out of grocery stores in between times. On the two occasions I had to go in, I was especially careful to buy only the most needed items. I let tempting sales go, because let's face it: sales are going to keep right on happening. I'll buy when my grocery shop and funds and the sales all coincide or as need actually arises. I'm so done with the overspending and I mean that sincerely.
Save all $5/bills. I've been trying to the $20/week savings but that's a lot harder than I imagined it might be. $5 bills seems far more doable.
I am doing just fine with this. Since I've committed to staying away from the store not too many $5s are coming my way. I saved $25 last month.
And there's my update. I wasn't even aware of how many of these items I'd actually made progress in. We've been busy moving things about in the house, emptying cabinets and bookcases and such and it really has taken a lot of time. So I'm pleased to see I've actually been mindful of goals this month and have accomplished as much as I have.
I may not do another follow up this month but I'm definitely going to do this for October as well!
4 comments:
You have been very busy. It seems like you have accomplished quite a bit. Way to go!
I feel like such a slacker. :) I still need to get the bedding washed and beds remade from our new carpet project.
We found our great flooring price and quality through a contractor friend. Maybe you know someone who can point you the right direction. We would have never gone where our flooring came from in the end without his recommendation. I can tell you that the answer is not Lowes or Home Depot and those free installation promos they have are kind of a scam. The 'free' carpet installation deal they had came back with $1800 to install carpet on our back stairs. WHAT???
Wow! What a productive month you had.
I think your setting monthly goals and record keeping is a great way to stay on track. I'd like to copy you for October.
I'd be interested to know how you make chalk paint. I took my first class & redid a table not long ago. I bought paint then, which was pricy even with the 20% student discount. The paint won't be enough for everything I have in mind, though, so a less expensive version would be nice. I stayed out of the grocery store this week as well, because we really didn't need anything, and it really does save money. I made soft pretzels one time. I loved them, but it seems I remember writing on the recipe that it was time consuming. Hoping yours are a simpler version.
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