It's Ebay selling time!
Hi everyone! I had another good week in terms of saving and productivity.
1. Groceries: We spent $27.81 at Kroger this week. Not going to lie; most of it was junk food, minus $7.00 worth of avocados, parmesan cheese and bacon. One of the perks of eating cheap is that one week of junk won’t break the bank. I harvested swiss chard, kale, endive, spinach and parsley from my various gardens. I also noticed a giant pear on our pear tree, but it was at the top of the tree. So I dragged a ladder out of the shop, and picked the pear. It was pretty much a perfect pear. I also picked some stray apples out of the orchard.
2. Made a “free” $8.00 photo book on Shutterfly. They were running a special this week, so the night of the deadline I sat down and put together a baby book for our Princess. Of course you have to pay for shipping, so that's where the $8.00 comes from.
3. Sewing: I put new velcro on a pair of toddler shoes, repaired two pairs of toddler pants and one sweater for myself. I also fixed a basket liner that I made earlier this year.
4. Worked on a weekly schedule: I reinstated Laundry Day (Thursday) and Cleaning Day (Friday) this week. Before the craziness of our house project started, I had a wonderful weekly schedule that kept my house running smoothly. Since May, that schedule gradually deteriorated until I did laundry every other day “when needed” and cleaning almost never.
I forgot how wonderful line-drying indoors can be. I was able to wash and hang three loads of laundry before noon on Thursday, and had the afternoon to rearrange our living room for the new couches and put together the bar stools that came that day. All of the new furniture is wonderful!
Friday was likewise awesome, even though it was mostly cleaning. I pulled all of the inspection stickers off of the doors, put little screw plugs in, and generally deep-cleaned the kitchen. Then I vacuumed the whole downstairs so everything was nice and clean for the weekend. It felt SO GOOD.
5. I listed a lot of vintage patterns on Ebay. October and November is the time to do it! My patterns already have a bid, and the auction doesn't end until Sunday.
6. Money books: I read a little pamphlet this week called Myths of the Great Depression that I got at a garage sale for free. You, too, can read the whole thing for free here. I also listened to a fantastic book called Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley, author of the bestseller Millionaire Next Door. This book was a more in-depth look at millionaires and multi-millionaires; even more stories and (sometimes sarcastic) commentary from the author. Oh, man. This book was SO GOOD. I was going to put some thoughts in this blog post, but it ballooned into a rambling book review. So I will probably post that later this week.
7. Reviewed some of our financial statements in preparation for the end of the tax year. I found an issue that might have cost us $1500.00, and also found a significant amount of fees that can be eliminated. Both of those things will need more work before I can claim them as an "accomplishment", but if resolved, in coming years they will pay big (as Trump would say, "YUGE") dividends.
I think that’s about it for now! I hope you all have a great week!!
-Bethany
1. Groceries: We spent $27.81 at Kroger this week. Not going to lie; most of it was junk food, minus $7.00 worth of avocados, parmesan cheese and bacon. One of the perks of eating cheap is that one week of junk won’t break the bank. I harvested swiss chard, kale, endive, spinach and parsley from my various gardens. I also noticed a giant pear on our pear tree, but it was at the top of the tree. So I dragged a ladder out of the shop, and picked the pear. It was pretty much a perfect pear. I also picked some stray apples out of the orchard.
2. Made a “free” $8.00 photo book on Shutterfly. They were running a special this week, so the night of the deadline I sat down and put together a baby book for our Princess. Of course you have to pay for shipping, so that's where the $8.00 comes from.
3. Sewing: I put new velcro on a pair of toddler shoes, repaired two pairs of toddler pants and one sweater for myself. I also fixed a basket liner that I made earlier this year.
4. Worked on a weekly schedule: I reinstated Laundry Day (Thursday) and Cleaning Day (Friday) this week. Before the craziness of our house project started, I had a wonderful weekly schedule that kept my house running smoothly. Since May, that schedule gradually deteriorated until I did laundry every other day “when needed” and cleaning almost never.
I forgot how wonderful line-drying indoors can be. I was able to wash and hang three loads of laundry before noon on Thursday, and had the afternoon to rearrange our living room for the new couches and put together the bar stools that came that day. All of the new furniture is wonderful!
Friday was likewise awesome, even though it was mostly cleaning. I pulled all of the inspection stickers off of the doors, put little screw plugs in, and generally deep-cleaned the kitchen. Then I vacuumed the whole downstairs so everything was nice and clean for the weekend. It felt SO GOOD.
5. I listed a lot of vintage patterns on Ebay. October and November is the time to do it! My patterns already have a bid, and the auction doesn't end until Sunday.
6. Money books: I read a little pamphlet this week called Myths of the Great Depression that I got at a garage sale for free. You, too, can read the whole thing for free here. I also listened to a fantastic book called Stop Acting Rich by Thomas Stanley, author of the bestseller Millionaire Next Door. This book was a more in-depth look at millionaires and multi-millionaires; even more stories and (sometimes sarcastic) commentary from the author. Oh, man. This book was SO GOOD. I was going to put some thoughts in this blog post, but it ballooned into a rambling book review. So I will probably post that later this week.
7. Reviewed some of our financial statements in preparation for the end of the tax year. I found an issue that might have cost us $1500.00, and also found a significant amount of fees that can be eliminated. Both of those things will need more work before I can claim them as an "accomplishment", but if resolved, in coming years they will pay big (as Trump would say, "YUGE") dividends.
I think that’s about it for now! I hope you all have a great week!!
-Bethany
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