on relocation

I've been kind of lax on keeping up with the postings (again) but it's because we're getting ready to move (again). The place we've been staying in belongs to a very dear friend of mine who was kind enough to rent it to us until we found somewhere else or they moved back into the state, whichever came first. We've been so blessed to be able to live here because, although smaller than our last home, it has cost us decidedly less to maintain also. This has allowed us to pay off all ALL of our not inconsiderable debt months before we thought we could. That means when the opportunity came along for us to rent a larger, newly renovated house we were able to jump at the chance. 

finding the fun

My days are occupied with things that must and have to be done. When I do find a few minutes of me time, I usually don't even know what to do with myself. I don't want to spend my "fun" time doing things that aren't fun for me. It's about time I figure out what I enjoy. 

digging deep

Where did all of my money go when I was single? Probably to clothes and such. Yeah, definitely clothes. How about when we were married without a child? More clothes? Eating out? Vacations? Definitely not savings. I wish I could go back in time to smack myself upside the head and say "Listen, you don't need more shoes. You need to save and not put things on credit." Because here I am, however many years later, relearning everything my parents taught me about saving and debt. By this time next week we'll be completely out of debt, except for Jason's student loans, for the first time in 7 years. Seven years and who knows how much discretionary income thrown away. Gosh we were stupid! But better late than never as they say. And since life is under no obligation to give us what we want (Margaret Mitchell), I'll just have to make the changes for myself. Which is why I'm going to start doing something I told myself I just didn't have time for. Ladies and gents, starting now, I will begin price matching and couponing. Le sigh. 

taking back the garage

One of my resolutions last month was to de-clutter the house as a whole but the garage in particular. The house we're currently renting is a tad bit smaller than our previous house (okay more than a tad) so many of our possessions have remained in the garage as we just don't have any other place for them. What made it in from the garage are mainly essentials and decorating wasn't a priority since we didn't know how long we'd be renting here. This left many, many articles stored in boxes heaped haphazardly against the walls of the garage; needful, obsolete, aspirational and outgrown clutter alike. I like to categorize things into these four groups because then I know what I'm dealing with. 

march's resolutions

I'm not sure how it happened, but before I knew it, February was over and it was March. Which is fine, I just wasn't really prepared for it. It seems I can barely get the hang of a month when it's over. Oh well. New month, new resolutions. On we go.

progress

I've been a little MIA the last couple of weeks. Like one of my Secrets of Adulthood says - it's easy to get excited about a big project but harder to stay excited during the day to day maintenance. And that's what happened. All my good intentions flew out the window when life became a little too hectic. Being bipolar, I don't deal with stress very well. It seems to bring on either major depressive or manic episodes, or in this case, one right after the other. So I cut out blogging for a time. And since we cannot start over, all I can do is begin now to make a new ending (Zig Ziglar). So I will put the past little bit aside and begin by taking stock.