Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 4

I'm purging 41 items from the last 13 days with a total of 247 items for the month. That makes 2906 items for the year.

My purge pile:

You may be interested in:
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 1
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 2
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 3

September 2015 Reading List

Heritage of Lancaster County by Beverly Lewis
The Shunning
The Confession
The Reckoning

Unstuff Your Life by Andrew J. Mellen

Living Well Spending Less by Ruth Soukup

Annie's People by Beverly Lewis
The Preacher's Daughter
The Englisher
The Brethren

Our Financial Wins for September

My husband and I have spent the month of September talking about our finances and getting them organized. We organize our household files, organized our bill box, organized our debts paperwork folder, decided to start using our debt snowball toward paying off car loan, made a list of the bills that cover the 4 Walls, made a list of all our debts so we know who we owe and how much, paid our 4 Walls up to date, opened and redirected $200 a month into a savings account for our $1,000 BEF (Baby Emergency Fund) which we plan to eventually be our FFEF (Fully Funded Emergency Fund) of $40,000, deemed one checking account for our debt snowball to be funded with ebay sales, talked to our retirement account advisor, researched how to do a Will ourselves, figured out our net-worth is +$50,000, joined several facebook finance groups for support, used our flex medical account to pay a few medical bills before the end of the year.

As we are heading into October, I borrowed a few finance books from the library.  I got a mix of audio and books, I hope to listen/read them by the end of October. On my book list: Living Well Spending Less by Ruth Soukup, Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley, Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, and 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell. I’ve read several finance books before but none of these besides Total Money Makeover but I wanted to read it again. I started listening to Living Well Spending Less by Ruth Soukup. There are 5 discs, and I listened to 1 of them so far. We are doing a No-Spend October Challenge that we plan to use for our Emergency Fund. My husband and I along with our daughter and her husband are starting Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey starting October 6th. 

How did you kick debt in the teeth this month? What did you do to move closer to your financial goals? Let's celebrate together!

Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 3

I'm purging 6 items this week with a total of 206 items for the month.

My purge pile:

You may be interested in:
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 1
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 2

My Project: House

I keep a project list about my house in a folder that I call Project: House. My Project: House is coming along nicely. We’ve been doing home repairs, improvement projects, redecorating, and purging excess possessions for the last 5 yrs. This is what happens when you buy an old house and your children grow up. You have time for projects that you didn't feel you had the time or the money to do. My husband and I have enjoyed spending time together working on our house. Our home is a do it ourselves low budget project. I’m hopeful we will be able to finish the house within the next 2 yrs.or so.

We’ve redone the family room, the front porch, and 4 bedrooms and are about to start on the 5^th bedroom that will be an exercise room. We just finished redoing the bathroom and my little office this summer. We spent many hours working on the bathroom painting, doing trim, installing a new toilet, hanging a medicine cabinet and shelf. We spent many hours removing everything from my little office, painting, redoing the floors, organizing, and moving everything back. We did the outside of the house last summer such as painting the trim, painting the doors, repairing the sidewalks, and redoing the front porch again. We have a few things to finish outside but they will wait for another summer.  On the list to do but not scheduled is my husband’s little office, the laundry room, living room, and the kitchen. We will redo the family room and 3 of the bedrooms again at some point too.

I started purging excess possessions 4 yrs. 8mon. yrs. ago. I've spend the last 2 yrs. mostly doing storage spaces. I plan to be completely finished with possessions by the end this year. I will do a once a month purge on the 1st of every month to combat accumulation. I do not want to have to do such as big purge project again.  I’m cleaning and reorganizing everything as I go about purging. Our home is looking great. 

You may be interested in my completed projects by viewing under my Label for My Home Tour.

Daily Focus: Family Day

Saturdays – Family Day

• Movie at Home with Popcorn
• Family Board Night- Board Games, Cards, and Puzzles
• Crafts or Cooking Project –Seasonal
• Seasonal Outdoor Fun- a picnic in the park, pumpkin farm, sledding, bonfire in the backyard
• Recreation- movie theater, bowling alley, roller skating
• Field Trip- Museums (Science, Art, or History) or Factory Tour
• Yard Sale days or Flea Markets
• Family Dinner
• Birthday Parties and Celebrations

Daily Focus: Errand Day

 

Daily Focus: Errand Day- Friday's

• Grocery Shopping- Kroger, Aldi, or Wal-Mart
• Household Shopping- Cleaning Supplies, Toiletries- Wal-Mart
• Home Repairs- Home Depot
• Drop off  Donations and Shop- Clothes Closet or Goodwill
• Pick up Prescriptions- Kroger
• Doctor & Dentist Appointments
• Library- Pick Up/Returns
• Visit with Friends
• Post Office
• Fill car with Gas Unload and Clean Car
• Check oil weekly

Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 2

I'm purging 74 items this week with a total of 200 items for the month.

My purge pile:

You may be interested in:
Clutter Busting Challenge September 2015 Part 1

Daily Focus: Home Office Day

Thursdays – Office Day

• Clean and organizing my office 
• Organize Desk 
• Purge Magazines
• Purge, File, Organize Papers 
• Plan in and organize my Notebooks 
• Plan in my Planner 
• Organize projects and make a supply lists
• Plan Date Night and Family Fun Time 
• Checking prescriptions and call for refills 
• Make appointments and phone calls 
• Write letters, cards, and wrap gifts 
• Pay bills and clean out bill box 
• Do Checkbook and review Bank Account
• Work on my Blog
• Prep for Errands/Grocery Day
• Prep for activities 
• Put holds on books at the Library and gather returns 
• Pack lunch and fill water bottle
• De-Clutter purse have money for Errand’s 
• De-Clutter car & put a trash bag in car 
• Put donations in car 
• Put activity bags in car 
• Clean the fridge before grocery shopping 
• Take trash to curb

Daily Focus: Pamper Day and Date Night

Daily Focus: Pamper Day and  Date Night- Wednesday's

Pamper Day:

• Curl up with a good book
• Read favorite magazine’s
• Take a long hot bubble bath
• Do my Nails
• Hair and Skin Care Routine
• Wardrobe planning
• Quilt
• Holiday Themed Craft
• Cross Stitch 
• Papercrafting

Date Night:

• Watch a favorite movie
• A walk in the park
• Have fun exercising at the gym
• Dinner/Dessert
• Talk 

Daily Focus: Kitchen Day

Tuesdays - Kitchen Day

• Clean Kitchen
• Clean refrigerator and freezer
• Organize pantry
• Menu planning and grocery list
• Organize Cookbooks and Notebooks
• Organize recipe box
• Collect new recipes to try
• Bake a dessert
• Bake bread
• Prep meals
• Freezer Cooking

Daily Focus: Cleaning Day

Daily Focus: Cleaning Day- Monday's  

I do my Daily Chores, Weekly Chores, and my Zone Cleaning. I spend about an hour doing my Weekly Chores and another hour doing my Zone Cleaning.

Weekly Chores:

• Dust
• Sweep/Vacuum
• Mop
• Wash Windows
• Clean mirrors and doors
• Purge Magazines
• Empty all trash cans 
• Wash Bedding
• Cleaning Zone

I do one Cleaning Zone each week and rotate through them. I do basic cleaning, pickup, and clutter control everyday throughout my home. I do my Detailed Cleaning based on my zone for the week.

(Follow the Detailed Cleaning Lists for each Zone.)

My Zones:

• Zone 1: Porches and Storage Areas
• Zone 2: Kitchen/Dining Room and Laundry Room
• Zone 3: Bathroom and Offices
• Zone 4: Bedrooms and Closets
• Zone 5: Living Room and Family Room

I'll list my Detailed Cleaning for each room in a separate post.