Home Work

I've been busy of late, so it's taken me a while to get an update together. So here it is.

I've been painting the house, I started and finished the living room as well as the dining room. which is a little bit darker of a gray then in this pic, I added the cove molding too. Now I just need to do the ceiling , but thats going to wait till the whole first floor is painted.

I still haven't fixed the hole in the kitchen ceiling and to be honest I may pay to have it done. I tried twice now and had to remove both attempts due to it looking like a drunken 3 year old did it, I have a real joint compound abuse problem... Besides it's nice looking right there above our stove. And yes, that IS a sewer pipe.




Today I woke up at 2 p.m. because I wanted to get a jump on the stairway before going to work. So I woke up let out the animals and started taping off the stairs. It takes a while to tape off stairs. It takes two hours... Mainly for the banisters....

Tomorrow I am planning on priming the trim, or at least starting to, one of the problems I keep running into is the crappy painting skills of the last owner. I am assuming the stage painted the house in a hurry and in doing so they managed to splatter, drip and drop paint on every hardwood surface in the house. So as I paint I need to carry a scrapper around with me to lightly scratch off the old drips, trying not to remove the woods finish. Not an easy or fast chore. But it's getting better, slowly... I discovered that he didn't even bother to tape off the bottom of the banisters so I need to scrape the entire length, I'm going to have to refinish those I just know it... I REALLY don't want to have to do the floors anytime soon, it runs about 900$ a room to have them done, thats a lot.

So thats the update. Not a lot going on, well not a lot thats exciting to anyone but me I guess.

Cheers!

A Plan

After my last rant about impatience and lack of control over the money in my life, I've been doing a little introspective analysis. I do believe that I lack control over more then just the purse strings, but I also am beginning to see just how much stress is generated by that gaping hole in my wallet and how that influences my stress level and therefore all my other decisions.

So in an effort to regain some composure I've been trying to come up with a few simple and effective rules to enhance my will power, save money and reduce my nail biting levels of stress.

After a week of perusing the internet and contemplating, I've come up with these ideas:

Make my debt visual, put it out in a bar graph or in monetary denominations so it scares me into not spending more on things like a fancy wine opener.

Start using the 20/30 rule. in other words, when in a store (most likely a grocer) and I've picked up a super fancy block of 4 year old Parmesan, give myself at least 20 seconds to think over if I really need that 10$ block of cheese and maybe I can make do with the cheepo pre-grated type. And for those larger purchases? That’s the 30, take about 30 days to think it over and then at the end of that 30 if it really REALLY makes sense and is affordable then reconsider. That is if I haven’t forgot all about it by then.

Always ALWAYS make and take a grocery list.

Get rechargeable batteries and keep replacing old light bulbs with energy efficient ones.

Coupons, coupons and more COUPONS!

Eat out no more then once every two weeks.

Completely stop using those evil credit cards.

These two are the really tough ones...

Less wine, though I am hard pressed to see any benefits in this one.

Stop smoking. Yes I know all about smoking but you try to get rid of an invisible monkey that’s only made stronger by resistance!

I've noticed that there are a lot of books and such out there on the subject but I think that most of us are smart enough to know what needs to be done, it's just will power folks, so why have to work the cost of a book into my new budget. Besides this is just the start, I'm sure I'll come up with more crap'ola to add to the plan over time, maybe even some things to make it more... Diabolical. I've always wanted a diabolical plan.

The hard part is putting a well developed and intelligent (or so I think) plan into action. I am beginning to see the worth of perspective, though it's still hard to change it to see not going to my favorite pub (The Royal Mile is awesome!) as saving cash for things I need (like not having debt) as opposed to just missing out on the best Ruben in town. But I also think it is time I paid off that dinner out I put on credit 5 years ago before I add another.

On that order I need to prioritize the holes my wallet pukes into.
Mortgage
Food
Monthly Bills
Credit
Savings
and then and ONLY after this savings step can I even consider something that is "fun" like dinner out.

As boring as all that is it feels good to read over it and try (try being the operative word there) to be excited at the challenge and prospect of being debit free! well not all the way, I don't see the mortgage going anywhere fast.

More boring crap to come.

cheers

I guess...

Instant Gratification

For the last week I've been doing as little as possible and getting away with it, until today. I've come to realize that doing very little to nothing just doesn't agree with me all that much, it makes me fell much worse then when I keep fairly busy. So today, in an effort to get back on track with the things I need to get back on track with, I woke at 2pm (early for us night workers) and got busy. Got busy prepping the dining room to be painted, cleaning and doing some much needed maintenance to the fish tank. Not that I was really behind with the fish, I would feel too bad for them, but they were due for a water change.

As I sanded the walls, spackled the divots, and caulked the trim I got to thinking. Mainly I was thinking about time, the time it takes to paint a room. The living room took me about a week from start to finish with the prep, trim and paint. I suspect the dining room which has been at midpoint now for about a week will take another 4 or 5 solid day’s work being that there is more trim and 2 tones of paint to deal with. But all that time invested just makes me feel better about doing it actually. It's far from the instant gratification that seems to me to be pervasive in the world these days. And that's what I dwelled on for quite some time.

It seems to me that good has become a little too synonymous with instant. Unfortunately everything is being affected by this desire for instantaneousness. The polls are saying that Obama's popularity is down 19% already, did anyone really expect an instant fix to our countries problems? Come on folks, it's been like three weeks! Give the man at least three months before the whining commences.

Then there is the economic pickle we're in. Seems to me that a lot of the problem was brought on, yet again, by the need for instantness. Can’t afford that 72 inch plasma tv? CHARGE IT! Can’t afford that 8 bedroom 4 bath house? No problem will give you a 4% ARM that will be 85% in 5 years! and who cares that you don't make enough, we'll give it to you anyway! All about being instantly satisfied. Now, a couple of years down the road after the cost of a house was blown way out of proportion and everyone was issued multiple "free" credit cards and bought themselves into happiness, here we are... Unhappy.

Why? Well I think that the old adage "good things come to those who wait" we need to relearn how to hold off that desire for instant happiness and work and save for the things we want. I know I need to re-ingrain this into my noggin, because like the rest of the world I seem to have gotten myself into this big pickle too. It's hard to save and focus on paying off those things you already have. Come to think of it I bet I'm still paying off things I bought years ago on those damnedable credit cards. So I've decided to save a little less in order to save a little more, put less in the retirement plan in favor of dumping into that credit abyss, before they decide that interest rates are more acceptable to them at 99%.

And it's not easy with the good old gov now telling us that the only way to get out of debt is to spend more. Come on? Really? So you WANT me to go out and buy buy buy? Sounds a little fishy to me... Unless I get a signed letter from the Treasury stating that I am promised a federal bailout once I get in so far that it would be impossible for me to pay off what I owe, then I'm not buying it. Besides it will feel better buying it when I don't have to let visa pay for it and then I pay them twice as much as it actually cost them, for crying out loud I am betting that charleston chew I bought back in 99 cost me about 150 bucks by now!

And that’s that, now if I could gust hold back my inexplicable need to buy the inexplicable.

And after all that thought I decided to look and see where exactly I do spend all of that extra cashola. What did I learn? I was quite surprised to see that I don't actually spend all that much on stuff. I have no iphone, no 50 inch tv, no designer fancy pants (all outlet mall stuff really, in fact the shoes I'm wearing now are 13 years old!). No where I go a little too far is food, well food and wine, well food and wine and eating out (a double whammy). I need to drop the fancy wine (come on I can do better the 16$ a bottle!) drop the fancy cheeses (damn you whole foods! damn you!), drop the organic tomatoes (last seen for 3$ each... really 3$ for one tomato... and no I did NOT buy it I bought the red but yet still rock hard and covered in whatever chemical they had on hand kind). I've really stepped up the coupon clipping too, in fact I actually really enjoy clipping them on Sunday mornings with my coffee and raisin bread (good lord I need a life... No wait that’s too expensive).

So now I just need to deal with the fact that going out to the pub has to be a once or twice a month event and deal with it.

It may not stimulate the economy but I know it will alleviate my stress level, at least it will eventually just not instantly....... only a good steak and beer at the pub does that.

DAMN IT!

cheers