March To-Do List.....Update

I have pared down my monthly To-Do Lists.  Between being ill for 2 months this Winter and not feeling much energy to "do" I felt it was better to have a smaller list and actually feel like I was accomplishing something rather than facing a long list of items I didn't get to when the month was over.

With that said, here's what I wanted to get done in March.........

*  Pay Bills  DONE  If nothing else gets done, this does.  I paid two irregular bills early/for the year and earned a small discount off the price of each bill.  Every little bit helps, right?

*  Read 1 Book  DONE

"Twain's End" by Lynn Cullen

This author is making a career of writing historical novels(taking famous folks and writing about their lives in a part historical/part fictional way).

Cullen is a very astute writer and this tome was interesting and enjoyable and dare I say-a page turner.  Having studied Samuel Clemens life a bit myself it follows pretty closely to whom he actually was.....an insecure, narcissist borderline megalomaniac in his later life  as reported from first hand accounts of the people who knew and/or loved him.
This tale is told from the perspective of his personal secretary(Isabel van Kleek)and her relationship with Mark Twain.  It's apparent after reading this book that one of the most beloved popular American authors of the 19th century was a personally tortured man who made those around him miserable.
I recommend this book.

I wanted to read two books and had the time to but after I got started on the second book in March I lost interest in that one temporarily and picked up a third book to read.  Then this month I took a different book to see our eldest son so now have three books started but not finished yet for April. lol
I forsee lots of reading this month.  ;-)


*  Purge Coupon Inserts  DONE   

 I went through my inserts and pulled ones that were 1 to 4 months old and had mostly expired Qs in them.

I clipped any non-expired Qs but only if they were for items I might use before their time was up.

And I tossed what was left.

On the last day of the month I also make a habit of purging the coupon envelope that I take to the stores when I go grocery shopping so that got gone through on the 31st.

I try to purge the inserts every third month or the things just pile up badly.
It's a good habit to get into, to purge the old paper on a regular basis.

*  Sell Stuff  DONE  I sold 2 items on eBay in March....it wasn't much, but I'll take it!  I need to get things going on the local F/B sale site now that the weather is better.  I have shampoo and diapers to get sold. 8-)

*  Relist House in LA  DONE  The house went back on the market in early March.

*  Sell House in LA  IN PROGRESS  If everything goes as it should we will no longer own this house before April is done. 8-)))))

*  Hold Giveaway  DONE

*  Mail Giveaway  DONE  Marie won the box and I am sure the chocolate is all gone by now. lolz

*  Redo Passwords Book  IN PROGRESS  I did start on this but didn't get too far into the process.  It's just a tedious chore but long overdue.  Cross my fingers I get it completed in April!

*  Do Taxes  DONE  Actually Hubs did most of this.  He's taken over this chore since he's retired now.  He insists that we file electronically as he thinks that filing a paper return now sends up a red flag(as most people file electronically nowadays).  Not that we have anything to fear from an audit but you don't want to stick out like a sore thumb and get smacked with one if you can help it. lolz
Anyway, the taxes are done, filed and we've received a refund from the Feds.  Had to pay local taxes and state taxes in PA AND LA plus the cost of the software and filing fees(UGH)but even after these costs we came out ahead for 2017 $5K and change.  I was shocked it was so much but I'll take it. lolz 

*  Plan possible 2018 Travel  IN PROGRESS  Well we went into 2018 wanting to do a couple of trips(big ones)but they involved other people's plans/lives and things haven't worked out to allow us all to travel/see each other at this point.  So we are making alternative plans.  I have been in a funk this Winter and not much wanting to go anywhere far away.  We are working on a trip to the Canadian Maritimes(already been to New Brunswick)but I am still not "feeling it" as they say.  We'll see what we figure out.......

*  Work on 2018 Goals  IN PROGRESS  You would think that by now(a quarter of the way through 2018)we'd have our goals set for the year.
Ummm, no. ;-)
It's still a work in progress.  We've got lots of balls in the air around here.  Selling that LA house, College Boy graduating next month and what is plans are, Daughter still here for another year, where to live in retirement, etc.  We are still at a crossroads of sorts and still figuring stuff out.  Maybe I'll sit down with Hubs this week and narrow down some "life stuff" so I can make some plans or nix other plans.

That's about it for March so let's put that month in the books and forge ahead into April and all the possibilities in store.

What things did you get to in March that were on your To-Do List?

Sluggy

My Goals in 2018...Not 18 Though

Everyone and their brother seems to be doing an "18 Goals in 2018" deal.  For the life of me I can't come up with 18 Goals but here are the areas I want to concentrate on this year so far.......

*  Sewing-I want to get 5 sewing projects completed.  I have identified 2 of them.....1 is finishing some canvas tote bags.  I bought canvas and webbing many many years ago to make tote bags.  It's sitting by the bedroom door staring at me every time I go in that room so they need to get made.
2 is to make a table runner for the top of my new dining room buffet.  I had Fall and Christmas ones but now it's nekkid.  For now I've got a quilted hexagonal topper on it that was gifted to me on the road trip this past Summer.
I've got quite a few pieces of batik cotton fabrics so I am going to make a table runner(or buffet runner rather).

*  Continue to drop some weight.  I've gotten back into some bad eating habits(it's Winter and the only thing I want to eat is comfort food)so I need to make it a point to keep the comfort foods to a minimum now and get back to more veggie eating.  I really don't want to eat salad when it's -2F outside but I can roast root veggies, right?

*  Cull more of my toiletries stockpile.  This shouldn't be too difficult a goal but will take most of the year to make a big change in what I have.  I have already started--I spent last Monday in the toiletries stockpile stored in Hubs man cave/the spare room.  I went through every Rubbermaid tub(and all the stuff from the last 3 months of 2017 that hadn't made it into the tubs yet)and made decisions about every single item.  Some things already got pitched, other things got separated into either a food bank pile or a "fill a year's worth of Giveaway boxes" pile or give to relatives during 2018 when we see them.  With the next system at Rite-Aid I don't foresee me pillaging there as much so once my Plenti Points are used up I won't be bringing home as much goodies as before.

*  Make a new Passwords/Log In Book and a new Address Book.  I keep a small spiral bound notebook with all my computer account information.  It, along with my physical address book are so old and out of date and have so many items scratched out it's getting hard to find the current information in them.  I picked up a new spiral bound notebook so I need to cull all the current info and copy it into the new notebook.  I also need to find a new address book that doesn't cost much money and put all the current addys/phone numbers into it.

*  Deal with the house in Louisiana.  Now Daughter says she may move back to NW Lousiana/NE Texas.  Her BF got a raise and a promotion and it looks like he's going to stay at his current employer long term so once she gets her degree so now we are thinking about keeping the house for them to rent from us.  We are going to have to dump money into this house to get it sold otherwise.(BF and his father redid HALF the kitchen when Daughter owned the house and now this is the main reason we aren't getting offers on it because nobody wants a half done kitchen. lol)  So we keep and rent it out in a year to Daughter and BF(on the condition they don't move his parents back in with them and 9 cats)or we finish fixing it up and move into the house ourselves once we sell the house in PA.
We at least need to make a decision on the LA house this year and start implementing a plan.

*  Sell more stuff.  I got a few things sold on eBay and through the local Yard Sale site  in 2017.  I just need to ramp that up more and get a minimum of 4 Rubbermaid tubs of items sold.  I also need to earmark what I make from those sales toward something.  At this point I am thinking of putting it toward work on the PA house.  Which leads into the next goal...........

*  Start putting together a punch list of things to address in the PA house in preparation for putting it on the market after next Spring once Daughter graduates.  We still need to figure out where we are going to live once we leave here but we need to start the plan for getting this house ready to sell. sigh.

*  I need to put all my genealogy stuff into a family tree software program.  Other than the few things I have printed off and stored in my computer my extensive family tree is on Ancestry dotcom.  I don't like that if they ever go away(not likely to happen as they make money hand over fist with that site)or for some reason I can't access the site I don't have most of my info.  If anyone out there does genealogy and uses a family tree software program that you like, let me know about it.  Thanks!

*  Other areas we need to ponder are gardening and traveling.  Not sure yet what is going to happen in those arenas for 2018 as it's still early.

That's all I have so far.  I'll keep pondering goals to add.

Have you got any lofty goals to accomplish in 2018.
Tell us about it, won't you?

Sluggy

2nd Quarter Update on my 2010 Goals

Since we are more than half of the way through 2010 I thought I'd update my list of Goals for 2010 from this post Here.

1. Put more money into savings than was put away in 2009.
--$23,865.36 was banked in 2009.  I will be shooting for $30.000 in 2010, barring any unforeseen personal economic crisises.  
IN PROGRESS/ON SCHEDULE...We are still plugging away on this one and are currently ahead of schedule for the year at $19,782.91.

2. Pare down the stuff I need to eBay by sending more of it to the Thrift Store or sell it on Craigslist.
--Get off my rump and get stuff SOLD!  And what I can't readily sell, send it off to a Thrift Store.  I have had enough of boxes of crap hanging around my living room.  It's time to actually USE that room in the manner it was intended.
IN PROGRESS/ON SCHEDULE...I worked on this goal fairly diligently for 2 months this past quarter by selling some things on eBay and I sent 6(yes I said SIX!)loads to the Salvation Army last quarter.....3 in April, 2 in May and 1 in June. That's 213 items donated to charity!

3. Get rid of my last storage unit!
--This goes hand in hand with #2 above.  If all the crap goes, I won't need to pay for a storage unit any longer.  I went from 2 to 1 units last year.  It is time to let this one go as well.
UNDONE!
I threw the extra toiletries that didn't sell at the flea market in May into the storage unit.  #2 son and I repacked things into smaller boxes and organized so that come Sept it will be easy to load it all into the van and head to the flea market.  We also moved all the paper goods stockpile into the garage.  Once the weather cools down I can go back over there and work on whittling down the stash some more.



4. Plan and implement my garden better so I have a chance for it to be more productive this summer.
--Last year's garden was lame.  I need to be more proactive and get things planned and going earlier this year for it to be successful.  Every bit of work you put into a garden will pay dividends in increased health from eating better and  money saved on food spending.
DONE!!!
I did succeed in getting #1 son and DH to help me with getting the gardens up and running in May.  We've been pretty successful with how it's doing this summer, knock on wood!

5. Do the taxes and complete paperwork for #1 son's schooling.
--This will be the first Hope accomplished as is needs to be completed by mid February.  It could also be a big PITA as we have added tax implications for 2009 due to an estate/inheritance issue.
DONE!!! 

6. Decide on and install a hew heating system for the house before the rate cap expires and heat is needed this fall.
--This one is VITAL and it must be completed by September!  

UNDONE!
Ok...I am way behind on this one and it won't get completed in time.  Actually, this goal has changed due to changes in the BIG PLAN for our life so this goal needs modifying.  To be explained in a coming post.

7. Rethink how and how much I coupon/rebate and reorganize my freezer/pantry/stockpile.
--With my 1st year of extreme couponing and stockpiling over, now is the time to step back and see what I did well, what I need to improve upon and what needs to go. 
DONE!!!

8. Continue to meal plan and retool our diet, including cooking from scratch/semi-homemade.
--This will involve making better choices with food, will depend partly on how successful  #4 is, and will  require all of us to change some old habits.  It's probably going to be the most difficult Hope to accomplish.
DONE & IN PROGRESS!!!

9. Decide on and complete 1 major house remodel project.
--Once we decide what it will be, it's just a matter of pulling the trigger on the job, as the money is there waiting to be spent thanks to our savings challenge of 2009.

UNDONE!  
We are still wrangling over how much to spend/what to do.  At any rate, we are not under a weather deadline as whatever we do will be an inside project.

10. Complete all the unfinished craft and sewing projects!!
--This Hope is my own personal one that doesn't involve any other family members directly.  I need to just put my head down and plow through all these started projects OR make a decision to release them to someone else who wants to complete them.  This should take a good part of the year to accomplish.
UNDONE!
I have gone as far as uncovering the storage tub with some unfinished projects inside.  Ugh!  This is SO far from done....lol

In closing, I've got 3 Goals DONE and 3 Goals IN PROGRESS & 4 Yet to be Tackled.
Not great but not awful.  I'd rate myself a C+....


My Plan of Attack for the rest of August & Sept.--
I'll be doing some additional organizing in the garage as well as preserving food by canning and freezing.
As the weather dictates I'll attempt some more cleaning out of the storage unit and sending stuff to Salvation Army or setting aside to donate to a local fundraiser. 
I'll be going back to the flea market to sell more of the excess stockpiled toiletries in Sept. plus I'll be getting back into eBay again.
DH & I need to re-evaluate Goal #6 & #9 so those are on hold. I'll expand on this in a later post. 
Along with all this, I'll be keeping up with the garden, keep putting money away into savings, and continuing to cook more from scratch.

How are you doing on your Yearly Goals?
Let us know what you've finished or started so far this year.

Sluggy