Home Management

Have you ever thought of managing your home as if it was a business?  And the very parts of it as if they were departments within that business?  And those that live inside aren't just there to loaf and freeload.  They have jobs and responsibilities.  Kind of like employees, but they don't get paid.  While they may not draw a salary, what they do get is a nice place to live.

I am the CEO of our home therefore it is up to me to make sure we are successful.  And like any good CEO I want to make sure our home is managed well so it can prosper and grow.  There are many facets to managing a home.  To look at it on the whole the prospect can become quite overwhelming, however if you break it down into smaller pieces it becomes much more manageable.  Therefore I have different "departments" within our home that I manage.

As the year goes on I will be focusing more on each of these "departments" and sharing with you more in depth how I manage our home.  Like Food Management, Home Management is equally important.  Our home is more than where we sleep at night it is our sanctuary, a safe haven.  It is also an investment and it needs to be kept up and cared for so that investment grows in value and we get a return on that investment.  Taking good care of our home ensures that it will continue to remain strong and provide us with adequate shelter while updating and improving our home adds additional value.  I manage all of this so things are taken care of in a timely, efficient and cost effective manner.  Just like a business.

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday morning I awoke to a sunny, but still cold first day of March.  I was up with a hot cup of coffee and did some writing.  Then worked a couple hours on the eBay sales getting sold items ready to ship and new items listed.  Then I showered, dressed and was ready to really begin my day.  I had five sales and I listed five new ones.  I also relisted what didn't sell with hopes it does this week.  I run my eBay auctions Sunday through Sunday.

eBay sales ready to go to the post office

I did a quick trip to Cash & Carry for some items I like that they have such as red curry paste, Asian seasoning sauce and mung bean noodles.  They have a great Asian section.  They also had cream on sale.  I've never had a gallon of cream in my refrigerator before, but I won't be able to say that again.  I bought two half gallons.

Coconut Curry Soup

I decided the rest of the week we would eat from our freezer, pantry and what is already in the refrigerator.  The hens have started laying again so we are getting eggs once more too.  We have quite a bit of food in this house.  I made a big pot of Coconut Curry soup, which we love, and that was a terrific way to start off the week.  Eggroll In A Bowl also hit the table as well as breakfast for dinner a couple of nights.

My little haul from Fred Meyer & Walgreens

Saturday was my errand running day.  I was up early and making my final plans so I could get this done quickly and efficiently without wasting fuel or time.  I mapped out my route in a loop so I was able to get to each place without back tracking or having to go out of my way.  It worked out really well.

All of these items were FREE!

I kept my grocery shopping quite minimal purchasing only a handful of sales items and picking up quite a few free and extremely low cost items..  We have quite a bit of food in our house and I am trying to work with what I have on hand so now is a good time to focus on acquiring sales items and store incentives.  I was pretty excited about the items I was able to get without spending much $$.

I brought home some boxes from work to use for shipping eBay items
Jack inspected them to make sure they were adequate

I worked quite a bit of overtime last week which means another nice paycheck next time around.

I had coupons so I got the shampoo and laundry detergent for 99¢ each,
both bags of chips for $1.35 and the 1# bag of baby carrots for 89¢

We gave a big bowl of kitchen scraps to the chickens making them quite pleased.  They've been averaging three eggs a day for us.  Thank you very much ladies!  I sold two dozen eggs to a friend.  I set the money aside to put toward their next bag of feed.

My favorite free offer was this coffee, my youngest likes the Ranch dressing

As the week progressed the weather improved and warmed up quite a bit.  I decided to turn the main thermostat down a few degrees and see how we faired.  So far the house has stayed quite nice at the lower temperature.  I'm hoping to continue to dropping the thermostat in the next few weeks as we approach spring.  I am very much looking forward to turning it off completely.

Sirloin steaks for $2.99/lb and toothpaste for 79¢ each
Two of the toothpastes will find their way into Easter baskets

I downloaded free tickets so my daughter and I can go visit our newly renovated history museum on Museum Day.  I can hardly wait to go!

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - wiped down washer & dryer, vacuumed floors.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned dining room chairs.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned microwave, cleaned freezer, scrubbed sink.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - two loads of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry.  Swept front porch.

How was your thrifty week?

This Is A Good Year To GYST

2020 seems like a really good year for me to seriously get my sh*t together, how about you?  And it is a goal I am taking really seriously.  The biggest part of that, as I have already shared, is to get rid of some lingering debt.  Last year I thought I had it handled, but we had some setbacks when my daughter became ill on two separate occasions.  We were blessed that the hospital wrote off a big chunk, but I was still left with lab bills, radiology bills, doctor bills, specialist bills, pharmacy bills, etc.  On top of that, last year she finished up her orthodonture and had her wisdom teeth removed via an oral surgeon.  And then she had some complications from that.  It was a steady stream of doctor visits and procedures.  God bless her, she really went through the mill last year.  This year so far, knock on wood, she seems to be fairing much better.  The previous two years before that it was me with the medical bills and I still have some of that leftover as well.  NO MORE!!  I want it gone!

Needless to say, making headway and cleaning up that medical debt last year, as I had planned, did not happen.  Instead it grew monumentally and I was less than pleased.  This year I am determined to get it taken care of, once and for all,  along with my 0% interest car loan I have.  I'm tired of making that payment each month too.  Makes me crabby.  Ha, ha.  Enough, enough, enough.

Times a tickin'!

In my mind the best way for me to GYST in 2020 is to eliminate my debt, hit some pretty significant savings goals and be well set up to make my retirement goals.  I also want to make a concrete retirement plan and set those wheels in motion.  The time is rapidly approaching and I have to get busy.

As the year rolls along I will keep you updated on my progress and let you know how it goes.  In two months I've made some pretty significant progress already and I've already done quite a bit this month as well.  I'm eager to share with you what I've done so stay tuned for that update.  Fingers crossed and I should be able to hit one of my debt goals really soon.

Keto Bread!

Finally!  I've searching high and low, even went to Whole Foods looking for a loaf of Keto bread.  Nope, they didn't have any.  I had heard it was out there, but hadn't found any at the stores.  And then....  There it was!  There on a special display in the bread aisle.  Ahhhhhhhh.  Was there a crazy woman doing a happy dance in the middle of the grocery store in Boise, Idaho that evening?  I can neither confirm or deny that may have occurred.  Anything is possible.

My bread options have literally doubled now

The ingredients seem pretty good, it is loaded in fiber so the net carb count is zero.  I figure it isn't going to be something I eat every day, but still a reasonable healthy option that opens up a whole new set of culinary possibilities.  My head began to swim.  In the past two years that I've been doing Keto I have eaten one slice of bread that I toasted and topped with two poached eggs.  Poached eggs on toast is my comfort food, I just love it.  And I was missing it so I indulged.  Now I can just have it.  Whenever I want.

Ladies & Gentlemen, the almighty grilled cheese sandwich

I decided my first meal, however had to be something really special so you have to know a grilled cheese sandwich with a bowl of tomato soup was the only meal special enough for this bread.  And it did not disappoint.  In fact, it was so good, I ate it twice that week. Oh yeah!

Does it get any better than this?  Really?

Thank you Franz bakery for providing me with this over priced loaf of Keto goodness.  Thank you!  My life is now complete.

Food Management - Cut The Crap

The best decision I have made so far is to cut out the crap we used to buy.  Now I'm not going to say I've managed to cut out all of it because that would be a lie, but I have cut out most of it.  I am comfortable saying that 95% of what I now buy is good and only 5% is still crap.  And we can only improve.

The majority of what I buy at the grocery store is pretty much whole foods.  Meats, fruits and vegetables, oils, nuts, butter, cheese, cream cheese, cream, sour cream, some yogurt with pretty clean ingredients and cottage cheese.  Even a lot of the carbs I do buy regularly are single ingredient carbs like rice and potatoes.  I have a teenage daughter that is working on better eating practices buy there are a few items she does like that I continue to buy such as bread, tortilla chips, tortillas and pasta.  I do check the ingredients on these things and try to make good choices with these purchases as well.  We've swapped regular tortillas for low carb healthier options and I read the bread labels.  Recently I found Keto bread for myself and I have to say, I'm rather impressed with it.

Pasta remains one of the items with my least favorite ingredients listed in it and recently my daughter decided to dramatically reduce her consumption of pasta.  This is a HUGE step for her because this girl loves her noodles.  However, she doesn't like how she feels after eating pasta and how it affects her so we are going to be eating other pasta options like zoodles, spaghetti squash and mung bean noodles.

Eating cleaner healthier food options is not only good for our bodies, but very good for our wallets as well.  As a mama with two growing teenagers I've been keeping this family well fed on a very minimal budget.  I've shared my monthly shopping lists and totals with you for years so I have more than proven healthy eating can be done and done well on a budget.

The greatest impact you can make on your life is to properly feed your body.  If you want to improve on your food management, your health and your financial health then cut the crap.  It's that easy.

Minimizing

I am on a three year journey to continue minimizing my possessions.  That is the time I've allotted for myself as my youngest finishes up high school and heads off to college.  Hard to believe that we are nearing that phase of life already, but it is rapidly approaching.

This pile has all been purged and combined into the one black binder

We continue to go through our things and select the items that are meaningful and useful.  The rest we are letting go.  Since we have the luxury of time right now we are placing some of these items up for sale while the rest is bagged up and headed off to be donated.  As we work we are also purging papers and organizing the paperwork for long term storage.  So far I have the important papers tucked away in a binder and one large expandable envelope.  I've pretty much let the rest go.

Once again I find myself amassing a collection of empty storage bins our in our garage.  We'll be using those to organize and eventually pack up items for moving, whether it is to a dorm room, an apartment or a new home down the road is yet to be determined.  So for now I am stacking them up until I know for sure.  I've made a tremendous amount of progress over the years and still have much to do.  Especially with what is now stored in our garage.  I'll be focusing a lot on clearing out that space this summer.  It is long past due and I'm beyond ready to get it done.

Minimizing our possessions as been a very freeing and liberating process, although it can also be rather emotional at times too.  Sentimental items are definitely the most difficult to part with, but I'm rather proud that I've been able to part with quite a bit of that as well.  Along with tackling the emotional side of minimizing I find the liberating part to be even more empowering and far more enjoyable.  I feel as though I can breathe better and I am much less stressed by having fewer material possessions.

The bonus to having less stuff has been that I have more time available and I work around the house a lot less.  Our evenings and weekends used evolve around chores, housework and managing our stuff.  We don't do that anymore.  It is much easier now to keep things clean, neat and tidy.  What we have left is now organized and functional.  We are better able to use our home and it is much more enjoyable to be in.  I spend far less time cleaning and maintaining our home and it stays that way.  I no longer feel panicked about company coming, or heaven forbid, unexpected guests arriving.  Our home is always company ready.

Any items we bring into the house are coming in with intention and thoughtfulness.  Thankfully the days of impulse shopping are long behind us, not that I was much of an impulse shopper, but I did have my moments on occasion.  Now I don't want to bring in anything into our home we don't need or won't use so a lot of thought goes into each purchase before it is made.  I like that.  Better decisions make for better actions.

Money saved is another result of minimizing.  We need less, we want less, therefore we buy less.  We have less therefore we spend less to take care of and maintain our things.  Because we aren't overwhelmed by the sheer volume of our stuff we are able to be more clear minded about how to take care of our possessions and since we have more time available we are able to do most of our maintenance ourselves rather than needing to hire it done.

Minimizing our possessions down to what is most important to us has been a very positive and life changing experience.  I have yet to meet anyone who has gone through the same experience tell me "Oh, I wish I hadn't done that."  Quite the opposite.  Like me, they wish they had started minimizing much sooner.

The key to successful minimizing is to maintain it and so far we have done that and we will continue to do so.  Nowadays I find myself looking around on a regular basis and thinking "What can I get rid of?" or "Do I need this anymore?"  I even find myself doing this at work.

What are your thoughts on minimizing?

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

Sunday was a nice day.  I spotted my first tulip poking up through the ground which excited me and gave me hope that warmer temperatures are straight ahead.  I am more than ready to let go of winter and get into spring.  We did have a few nice days last week peppered with rain and wind, but overall not a bad way to end the month of February.

Our Sunday dinner of roasted veggies & cheeseburgers

Sunday we stayed home and really enjoyed our house and some much needed downtime to recharge our batteries.  I puttered about the house a little bit, cooked a great supper and made a wonderful dessert to celebrate me doing Keto for two years.  Hard to believe it has already been two years and amazing that I have been able to keep it up too.  I'm super proud of myself and so grateful that I've been able to make this work for me.  It has been a great journey so far and I will definitely continue with my healthy Keto lifestyle.

I made the girls some roasted potatoes to go with their burgers

I cleared out the crisper drawer in our refrigerator, chopping up all the leftover veggies I had in there.  I was able to fill up one of my big Pyrex baking pans with quite the assortment of veggies which I seasoned and tossed with some Avocado oil.  It made for a delicious pan of roasted vegetables and we had that to eat with our meals most of the week.

Right now we have a four week hiatus from dance practices and performances and as you can imagine I am absolutely thrilled about it.  It has been a lot of work getting up so early to take her to practice each morning and attending all of the performances and competitions as well getting her to all of the football and basketball games and then pick her up.  I do believe I've earned a break.  And some time to myself.

I made a lot of quick & simple meals last week

It was really nice to just get up and go to work and then come home afterward with nothing pressing.  My daughter was able to work on homework and I was able to relax each evening after a busy day at work.  I worked a few more hours of overtime as well.

I found this small casserole and itty bitty pie plate

By the time Saturday rolled around I was ready to get busy and work on something.  I slept in until a little after 7:00, got up and dressed for the day.  By 8"30 I was headed out to do some thrift store shopping.  I was looking for treasures and I found a few.  One of the treasures I found is a vintage casserole dish in the hard to find smaller size.  I found the lid at one thrift store and the bottom at another.  I also found a smaller pie plate to replace the one I broke several years ago which made me pretty happy.  Both the casserole and the pie plate are the perfect size to fit inside a toaster oven or use in a small microwave.  They would be pretty handy.

Perfect size to fit in a toaster oven

I found a few items to resell on eBay while I was out thrifting.  I sold some of the items I had listed on eBay the week before and relisted those that haven't sold yet.  Then I listed several more items for sale on eBay and am hopeful they sell.  I've made some pretty decent money so far and will make sure those funds are used wisely.

I round these cute ramekins to resell

Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors.  Wiped down washer & dryer.  Daily swish & swipe.

Dining Room - vacuumed floor.

Kitchen -  vacuumed & mopped the floor, cleaned under the kitchen sink, wiped down appliances.

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Daily swish & swipe.

Other - one load of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry, cleaned mirror.  Swept front porch.  Raked the yard.

How was your thrifty week?