Preparing for the Future

It’s been almost a week since I posted.  There are so many things I need to do but my energy level has been low.  Last week I felt “cruddy.”  I was tired a lot. Actually I think I had a mild case of the flu and so I didn’t push it too much and rested.  This is the luxury of being home in my opinion.  I can lie down on the couch when I don’t feel well and take a nap. 

Last week my husband was offered an opportunity to change jobs.  He wasn’t looking for a job as he is very happy with where he is working right now.  Sometimes though opportunities come along when you aren’t looking for them and then you find yourself trying to make a life decision – one you hadn’t asked for.

So last week we spent a few days trying to decide what was best for him and our family.  He would have to work in a community that is about a 30 minute drive from our home.  The salary and benefits are better.   If you looked at it from a financial view, you would immediately think that the obvious choice would be to take the new job. After all more money and better benefits translates into more money to pay off bills and our mortgage sooner.  It also means more money for retirement.

But it also means working in another community which means you can’t walk to and from work anymore nor come home for lunch.  My DH has a tremendous amount of flexibility with his job which is why he is also able to coach cross country for the local high school.  This is something he would have to give up.

So in the end the decision my husband made was to stay right where he was at.  Sometimes you can’t put a price on the non-monetary benefits that a job can offer you. 

The one thing that I have always worried about is that in light of what has happened in the past few years, job security is a thing of the past.  Companies can close or be bought out and employees can be laid off through downsizing.  My husband and I have never talked much about what would happen if he found himself out of a job when he is in his late 50’s, until this weekend. 

My husband is 53 years old and I am 52.  We talked about the scenario of being out of a job in his late 50’s and what we would do.  How would we pay our bills?  We came up with a plan which involves continuing to be careful about our hard earned money.   Our credit card debt will be paid off between January and March of 2012.  What a relief.  And what comes next – the mortgage.  Think about it – what would your life be like if you had no credit card debt, no car payments and no mortgage?  Without those bills, my DH could work a job that pays considerably less money.  We talked about all the possibilities. 

The key is that we live simply and will continue to live simply.  Nothing will change. 

I have a goal in the next year or so to start my own business.  It won’t be a big money maker, but I do hope that I can at least net around $300 a month.  I want to make bar soap, lotions, lip balms and lotion bars to sell.  It’s something I have always been interested in doing.  At the very least I could start out by making these as gifts to give to my family and friends on special occasions.  It’s a hobby that could be transformed into a modest money maker.  I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has ever started a "cottage" business.

I started this blog as a way to keep track of my new lifestyle and how I could cut back on expenses to live on one income.  Now I am realizing that this lifestyle is the way we will continue to live for the rest of our lives and that is so freeing.  My husband does not need to work a job that pays more money just so we can buy more stuff.  That is not freeing.  It is far more fun to live on less and enjoy the freedom that it brings to become debt free.

Does your spending change as you pay down debt?

We paid off our car in July and we made the final payment on my husband's truck this week.  It's a good feeling.  Two years ago I looked ahead to this time as I knew that once these two vehicles were paid off, it would jumpstart the further reduction of our debt and also enable us to put more in savings. 

There's something about having extra money in the budget each month to put on the remaining bills or put in savings.  It's just a little bit of piece of mind.

We are not yet to our final goal of paying off all consumer debt and then the mortgage.  I have been thinking about the psychology of this scenario.  When you've become accustomed to a smaller amount of money to spend on food or anything else for that matter, what happens when you pay off debt and have more money you can spend?  Do you relax the purse strings and spend money? 

Yes and no. 

With my getting busier as I am doing more volunteer work, I have added some money in the budget so that we could eat out once a week if we would like.  Now when I say eat out, we are not big spenders in restaurants.  We go to Subway, Wendy's or out for pizza.  We eat at better restaurants for special celebrations such as our anniversary.  Other than that, nothing else will change.

What I am experiencing is satisfaction that we have met a goal of getting two major bills paid off.  Living consciously of where our money is going, of how to save more money out of our budget has definitely become a new way of life to me. 

I'll never go back to the way it used to be.  I'll never be irresponsible with our hard earned money. 

When you start out looking at a mountain of debt and you are on a limited income, it is too much to look at the big picture.  The worst thing you can do is to think it is too much to face so you give up.  Take it one bill at a time.  Stick with it and in time, yes it takes some time, you will see your hard work and your "stick with it" attitude paying off.

Hang in there.  It will happen. 

Shopping at Goodwill and Dealing with Paxil

I have been to our Goodwill store here in town twice.  The first time I didn't find anything I needed.  The second time I found a perfect woven table cloth for my dining room table. 

While I was attending a church leadership seminar in Kansas City last week, I noticed some of the clothes that the presenters were wearing.  Later in the hotel I would write down what I saw and what I liked and I was determined to find some of the same "looks." 

I have never had a jean jacket that I truly loved and after seeing the jean jackets being worn by women with various outfits I decided that I wanted a jean jacket.  Now, the one thing I am determined to do is that when I buy an article of clothing, I must get rid of something in my closet. 

On Saturday I went shopping at our local Goodwill store and I found just what I was looking for.  In fact I found a couple of really nice sweaters that I bought also.

Here is the jean jacket that I bought for $4.00. 

The following items I have had in my closet for over 5 years and I wear them off and on.

The skirt is lacey.  Here is the jewelry that I already had. 

Look what happens when I open the faux pearl necklace and wear it long.  The silver chains will be hidden by the collar on my jacket.  Then I add the rest of the articles of clothing and I get this. 

Here's the jacket close up.

Here is a crocheted skirt that I have had for at least 6 years.

Here it is with the jacket for a slightly Bohemian look.  I like both looks.

Now I am on the hunt for a knee length coat to wear with jeans and pants.  I made a major mistake when I went to Goodwill on Saturday.  As I came in the door I saw a coat that was a good possibility but I bypassed it and went looking for jean jackets.  I should have put the coat in my cart to try on after I found the jean jacket as someone else bought it before I could.  Oh well, lesson learned. 

Tuesday is a good day to shop at Goodwill so tomorrow I will take a break from my work to go and see what has come in on the latest shipment.  I'm hooked. 

While at Goodwill I didn't only purchase clothing.  I have been wanting old style canning jars for years and look what I found at Goodwill. 

And now on to Paxil.

Last week was week three of being weaned off Paxil.  Well, I hit a brick wall while I was in Kansas City in that I suddenly started suffering the side effects from going off this drug.  I could handle it for the most part but after I got home it got worse.  Migraine type headaches along with nausea, vertigo and "brain sparks."  These are like zaps or jolts in the brain.  Why I was doing so well only to be sidelined on the 21st day is beyond me. 

I couldn't cope with the side effects so I chose to go back on Paxil and leave weaning off of it for another season.  After talking to my doctor about what I experienced it sounds like when I am ready to try weaning off Paxil again I will need to decrease my dosage very, very slowly instead of what normally works for everyone else. 

While in Kansas City I went to bed a lot earlier and I am continuing to do so.  As long as I get at least 8 hours of sleep at night, I am good during the day.  I'll leave going off Paxil for another time. 

I would love to hear from any of you about your shopping experiences at thrift or Goodwill stores.  My rule remains the same of buying only what I need and at a good value.  The fun thing is that with the prices of thrift stores I can come up with a look that is all my own -- I guess the best way to describe it is I like to dress a little "funky" sometimes with a Bohemian edge and I love doing it for a small fee.

I'm back from Kansas City

My day today is filled with laundry, picking up around the house and updating my calendar and organizing my volunteer work.  I had a wonderful time in Kansas City.  Here are glimpses' of my post that will be published tonight:

1.  Went to Goodwill and found a couple of additions to my fall wardrobe.  No more department store shopping for me.  I loved the treasure hunt.

2.  I hit a brick wall with my weaning off Paxil and I am back on it.

3.  I'm still tired from my trip but strangely I am energized to get stuff done at home and at church. 

Missed you all and hope all is well with your families.  I will "talk" to you tonight.

Poppy Seed Bread and Plenty More

I found this recipe in an old church cookbook and gave it a try this weekend.  I take breakfast breads such as muffins, coffeecake, quick breads along with fresh fruit to church for some Adult Education classes.  Along with baking muffins for my DH's cross country team, this gives me the chance to try some new recipes.

I have some poppy seed bread recipes that start out with a cake mix but I don't always have a cake mix on hand.  Also, I wanted a recipe that wasn't lemon.  The amazing thing about this recipe was that I had the three flavorings in my cupboard.  It was truly delicious and moist and what was left after Sunday School was taken to the youth group and they finished it off. 

Poppy Seed Bread - Makes 2 loaves

3 cups flour
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (I use powdered milk reconstituted in the water)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons butter flavoring

Combine the flour, sugar, poppy seeds and baking powder in a mixer bowl and mix well.  Add the milk, oil, eggs and the extracts and flavoring.  Beat for 1 to 2 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally.  Spoon batter into two 5 x 9 inch greased and floured loaf pans.  (HINT:  I cut a piece of parchment paper to fit in the bottom only of the loaf pan and then I butter the paper.  This makes it so easy to get the bread out of the pan without tearing the bottom of the loaf.)  Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour.  Cool in pans for 5 minutes. 

I didn't do the next step as I wasn't sure how sticky it would make the tops of the loaves and I also thought the bread was sweet enough. For those who want to try it, here are the rest of the instructions.

Combine the following in a bowl and mix well:  3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup orange juice, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon almond extract and 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring.  Drizzle over the tops of the loaves. 

I wasn't sure if the sugar would dissolve well enough and perhaps I will try this the next time but I will use powdered sugar instead of the granulated sugar.

Now as to what I have been up to:  DECLUTTERING!!  I have more to do, but that will have to wait for another week.  In the meantime I am leaving tomorrow for Kansas City to go to a church conference and will be back Friday evening.  I have been doing laundry and some cleaning in hopes that my home won't look like a disaster when I return. 

When my son asked what he and my DH were going to have to eat for dinner when I was gone, I simply said "your dad will take care of it."  No way was I going to spend time thinking about this.  My DH's response is that he will fire up the grill and they will have hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken.  I told both of them that there were plenty of things to eat from the freezer and my DH's reply was "we will be fine." 

My husband is the best.  He doesn't worry about meals when he is home alone as he is pretty self sufficient.  He isn't much of a cook but he can grill meat, make eggs, pancakes and French toast along with a few other things.

It is unusual for me to be gone for 3 days and I am looking forward to being with friends from church and to also make some new acquaintances. 

This morning's newspaper reported the high numbers of those living in poverty and also individuals receiving assistance from food banks.  I started thinking about what it would take to come up with 3 days' worth of groceries to give away.  I've thought about this for a long time as a possible "missions" project at our church.  I am pondering items to put into 2 brown paper bags or even one brown paper bag that would be enough food to make meals for 3 days for a family of four.  In the brown bag could be recipes and instructions of how to make those items into meals. 

These meals would definitely be low cost meals as we would want to be able to make up as many brown bags as possible.  I envision any meat being kept in a freezer in our church that we could drop into one of the bags when someone needed food. 

Food banks are being stretched to the limit and although several churches in our community provide 3 evening meals at the end of the month for anyone in our community, I keep wondering about what else we can do.  I worry especially about children during school vacations and holidays and for that matter weekends, when they are not receiving school breakfast and lunches.  No one should go hungry.

I'll be back blogging Friday or Saturday.  If anyone makes the poppy seed bread tell me how you like it.  Also remember that we are coming into the "holiday" season with Christmas only 3 months away.  Many of you may be like me looking for possible recipes for food gifts to give away.  This poppy seed bread fits the bill.

My Biggest Mistakes in Getting Organized & Cleaning

Mistake 1.  I purchased books and e-books or I spent time reading library books to tell me how to get organized and how to clean or set up a cleaning schedule.

I have a shelf of organization and housekeeping books.  The books I refer to the most are the ones that are more the advice type of telling me how to get out a particular stain and so on.  These are the old Home Ec style books.  The others are books that give advice on how to set up a cleaning or organization schedule. 

You might as well save your money.  We are all different and everyone has a different housekeeping style.  It set me up for failure to try to duplicate what someone else was doing.  While I could glean some tips, the bottom line was that what works for someone else didn’t necessarily work for me.

I remember when the first Sidetracked Home Executive books came out in the early 1980’s.  I read them because they did address the side tracked issue but I couldn’t keep up with their card system.

A better use of your time would be to sit down with a tablet of paper and ask yourself these questions.

a.  How much time do you have to spend on cleaning?

b.  Are you a “clean a little bit at a time each day person” or are you a “deep clean once a week kind of person.” 

c.  Can you delegate some of the tasks to other family members and do you want to do that OR would you prefer to do it yourself to your standards?

From these questions I could see what was realistic for me and what was unrealistic for me.  My goal was to have an uncluttered home and relatively clean home that I could maintain. Yes, that is right, that I could maintain and what was realistic for me.

Spending some time writing down a plan that was tailored to my personality and my needs was the best use of my time. 

Mistake 2.  I went out and bought a bunch of plastic containers before I started doing anything. 

You know what it is like.  You wake up one day and think “this is the day I will get organized.”  So you get in your car and go to the Big Box store and buy a bunch of plastic bins and containers to put stuff in.  Save your money. 

As you put things away, you will find out very clearly what you need or if you need anything at all.  Many times just clearing things out of closets and throwing and giving things away will clear up space.  After doing that you may need some plastic bins and tubs and you may find out you don’t need as much as you thought. 

Mistake 3.  I tried to tackle everything in one day.

I would get “Gung Ho” about cleaning and organizing.  You know what it is like, you make an announcement because you are at the end of your rope and decide that you will get your house in order that very day.  After an hour you begin to grow a little weary, you lose focus and you start to wane.  Many times you are left with a bigger mess because you leave things all over the place (piles that you are going to organize) thinking you’ll get right back to it later.

You didn’t get into this mess overnight and you aren’t going to get out of it overnight.  It’s great to be motivated, but don’t go overboard.

Mistake 4.  I tried to clean and organize at the same time. 

This is much to do at one time and again, it is too overwhelming.  It was much better for me to put things away in their proper place and then clean the house.  When the house was clean and in order, I could then start to sort through closets and drawers and de-clutter and organize. 

What has worked for me?

Again, remember, everyone is different.  I cleared off an area of the dining room table for me to work at so I wouldn’t be too distracted by my surroundings.  I sat down with a tablet of paper and a cup of coffee and I wrote down my ideas for getting things done.  The goal was to have a clean house and maintain it.  Then the second goal was to spend time going through all the stuff in my house and decide what would be kept, what would be tossed or given away and what I would need to organize and maintain the stuff. 

I cannot do a lot all at once not only because of my chronic back pain, but also because I lose interest.  So I came up with a plan to get things done by doing a little bit at a time and delegating things out when I wanted to.  Yes, I like things done my way, but there are some things that I don’t mine passing off on someone else. 

One thing I have quickly found out is that if I can pick things up at night in the main living areas of the home and then when I get up in the morning everything looks good enough that I feel motivated to get my work done.  Even if I need to clean, it is much easier to face it in the morning when everything is put in its proper place.

We are all different and we have special gifts and talents.  Time is better spent coming up with your own plan based on your personality and your style of living than to try to replicate someone else’s plan. 

It may be frustrating at first to sit down amidst the mess to make a plan, but it will help you out in the long run.  You will have a tailored made plan just for you. 

Here is my best cleaning and organization secret that I will give you for free.  Yes, I could go on t.v. and offer this for $9.95 plus shipping and handling, but today it’s free. 

What is this amazing tool?  A wire bound notebook.  Yes, a 1 subject wire bound notebook that you can get at Walmart for 15 cents during the back to school sales is my secret tool.   Keep this notebook in the room that you are cleaning or organizing in order to write down anything that you are remembering to do while you are working.  This will free your mind to stay on task because you don’t have to worry about remembering other things.  For example, while I am cleaning I will think of things such as the need to fill my prescription for my thyroid medicine or I will think of a gift to give someone for Christmas.  When I quickly write these things down in a notebook, then I can stay on task knowing that these thoughts are written down in a wire bound notebook that won’t get lost while I am working.

The Path to Frugality is two years old

I have come a long way from when I started this blog two years ago.  I remember back then I fretted more over the fact that I didn't know how to set up a blog than I should have.  Blogging is fun and it has become my journal of what I have gone through over the past two years. 

I've been reading some of my posts from two years ago and it takes me back to a newness in my life.  Back then being home was so new and fresh.  I was rejoicing in my newfound freedom I had to my daily life.  My schedule was my own and I could pick when I wanted to do any household project. 

The first few weeks I started my day with a cup of coffee on the back porch while reading the newspaper.  Then it was on to a quick shower, doing my hair and makeup and deciding what I would do that day.  Reading those older posts helps me to stay grounded and on track to my goals.  I have strayed over the past two years and have spent money when I shouldn't have and each time I pull myself back on track.  When you fall, you get up.  Making one mistake does not mean throwing in the towel and giving up on everything. 

Two years later I still enjoy the freedom being at home has brought me.  My schedule is still my own.  I have added volunteer responsibilities to my daily schedule but I still choose when I want to do them. 

I have the same concerns that I did have back then as to if I could really make it living on one income as I am by nature a spender.  I've learned what pushes my "money" buttons and I've tried my hardest to stay away from temptation to spend money on frivolous things. It's hard to stay on track. But it was also hard for me to work a job and never have time to myself.  It's worth the trade off.

Tomorrow I will sit on my back porch and sip a cup of coffee (Green Mountain Nantucket) and instead of the newspaper I will be reading a book on my Kindle.   

Thanks to my followers and those that comment and read this blog.  You have become my friends and I value your comments and critiques.  I do my best to follow your blogs too.  I consider all of us "family" doing what it takes to survive in this economy and helping each other along the way by giving advice and great helpful hits.  Thank you my friends.