Two down!

Another debt paid off!

One DOWN!

We paid off our Taurus today!

Emergency Fund - Check!

We have our $2500 emergency fund in place.

After looking at our budget more closely, I think we will be out of debt by May 2019.  I hope to cut that number down with comissions, and hopefully with Jared's side business.

Dave Ramsey Goals

We are enrolled in a 9 week Financial Peace University with Dave Ramsey through our ward.  Our goal is to get through baby steps 1-5 by the time I turn 40.  It would be a super bonus if we also had baby step 6 - Pay off your house - but that may be a bit ambitious in 5 years.

1. $1000 in our emergency fund - THIS WILL BE DONE 3/10/17

2. Pay off all debts (including car loans) Goal is by 6/2018

3. Finish emergency fund (3-6 months income) Goal by 6/2019

4. Invest 15% (This one is actual easy as we can do it through Jared's paycheck automatically) With our debts paid off and an emergency fund, we will have more money to be able to put it away. Goal 6/2019

5. College Savings (We will start this in 8/2019) - Paul will be starting 7th grade - so it will give us 5 years. Crazy!

6. Pay off house early - I think we can get this done 12/2024

Well, that went well...

I really did de-junk a lot in 2016!

I cleand out my pantry - plus re-organized it so that things aren't stacked, or hidden.  Peggy helped me to make a plan so it will stay organized with bins and turntables. It helps that my dad and Jared built a nice big pantry in the playroom for food storage.

 

 




While Paul was gone to Utah for a few weeks in the summer, I went through all the toys, got rid of a ton, including his train table.  Everything now fits in two rubbermaid sets of drawers, and two bins that fit under the air hockey table.

I pulled out all the bins from the attic, and gave away more of Paul's clothes, as well as toys etc.

We donated the bunk bed to a family that needed it in December, which created more space in the playroom too.

I spent one night going through our bathroom counter, and got ride of three grocery bags full of expired medication, and other garbage.  I organized what was left so I can actually find stuff.

I organized the files on my computer too, though I'm not sure that counts.

I gave our little kid games to Lucy to play with her grandkids.

Today, I pulled out my craft bin, and pulled out the material I'm never going to use.

Before I put the Christmas stuff away, I'm going to donate or throw away broken or stuff we haven't used in a couple of years.

I'm organizing a clothing/toy/household item exchange for our ward members at the end of January, and my goal is to go through the guest room, my clothes and shoes again, and pull out more things from the kitchen. (pans, silverware, plates, and mugs are the priority!)

Simplicity Sister

My goal this year, inspired by my dear friend Shellie, is to leave something behind in 2016.  As much as I would like it to be 40 pounds of me I leave behind, my plan is to get rid of as much from my house as I can.  I'm going to keep track on this here blog (in theory).

So far this year I have:

• Cleaned out 10 baking things from my cupboards (pans I don't use, baking tools I have never used)
• Finished cleaning out Paul's 7 year old clothes

These things I did in 2015, but I'm still counting them

• Cleaned out the guest room closet, gave away 2 boxes of books, threw away a garbage bag full of stuff, and donated another garbage bag of stuff
• Cleaned out and donated all of the clothes that are too small for Paul.
• Gave away 3 garbage bags of clothes/shoes from mine and Jared's closet

On deck:

• Clean out expired food from my pantry
• Move stained, ragged towels from bathrooms into rag cupboard.
• Move the long shelf over to the corner, get rid of the two small bookshelves

Food Storage