Semi-made Home

I know I’ve been away for a few months. With the quarantine and covid-19, life got away from me. Here’s a brief update on everything that’s happened. My children’s schools closed mid-March, and I was furloughed shortly after. But thankfully with the unemployment benefits, I was able to pay off 3 credit cards, and build up $5000 savings. I invested in a new iPad Pro, and some art supplies to occupy my time. Flash forward 3 months to mid-June, I was called to return to work. My truck had died from not being used often enough in the time I was home, and it turns out I needed an engine replacement! I have to count my blessings, though. I was home when it happened (not on vacation in Florida last year), and thanks to not working, I had the money saved for the emergency! All of this reminds me how fortunate I am, and brings me back to why I started this online journey of retelling my stories to you. Anything is possible, and you CAN achieve anything you put your mind to!

It’s the third day of the second month in the twentieth year of this century; and I have nothing to show for my own almost 41 years. I woke up this morning, knowing that I’m not working this week, but not how bad that really is. I’m scared. It’s finally become a reality to me how uncertain my job stability is. He tells me not to worry, that he’ll take care of us. How can I not worry? For 40 years, I’ve been the sole provider, the rock of my tiny family; I’ve been the one they depend on. Now I’m supposed to turn that responsibility over?

While I relish the idea of not having to actually go to work everyday, I still realize I need to be productive and contribute somehow to our household. Lately I’ve been searching for ways to work from home and earn money online. After weeding through all the apps and games and survey sites, I found something lucrative. But there’s one problem: I need a bachelor’s degree. <sigh>

Now my attention has turned to higher education. I need low- or free-tuition, grants and scholarships to get there. I guess back to the drawing board I go.

Wow, 2020. Where did the time go? So I’ve been on this blog for two years, and it’s been almost as long since I’ve actually posted something. I guess I’ve been too busy living life to actually write about it, as I’m sure most of you can relate. My main focus for this blog is living beneath your means, and with that comes budgeting. I’m going to be honest here, I suck at budgeting. I basically get my paycheck, pay the bills that are due before the next paycheck, and then panic that I won’t survive the next two weeks on what’s leftover.

I currently have $3,500 in credit card debt that I am chipping away at, plus a car loan, insurance and the usual monthly expenses. My income is roughly $1,200/month, and living with family is saving me from housing expenses. But with the use of the following apps, I’ve managed to save over $1,500.

I’ve procrastinated writing more because I am embarrassed to admit that I have no real clue which direction to take this blog. I’ve been reading and researching, and overwhelming myself into such a frenzy that I have forgotten to just write. The best advice I have ever been given is simply “Write something every single day.” As it is after 2 a.m on a week night however, this will be a short, sweet post. I may edit later.

It’s still too early for spring cleaning, but I am in desperate need of some consolidation. Currently, my daughter and I are sharing a 9’x10′ bedroom at my mother’s house. Needless to say, things are cramped at best. The girl is almost seven years old, and outgrowing her toddler bed. She’s been complaining about it for a while now, and I’m finally getting around to fixing things. I did some online searching and found a full-size bed that should work for us. This frame has a 13″ floor clearance, so I can use full size storage totes underneath. I had considered bunkbeds, but it just seems too juvenile, plus unsafe for either of us.

My first order of cleaning out the space is to get rid of some of the boxes, especially since tomorrow is paper recycling day. I did a lot of online shopping over the holidays, for myself, plus i run a direct sales company out of my home. I have yet to find a system that works well, but that is on my list of things to accomplish this year. I only managed to empty a couple of boxes today, but i did get rid of a lot of paper waste: bank and credit card statements from 2016, kids’ school papers, random other things.

I had previously been storing my bills and statements in an old shoe box. I know, great idea, right?? Well ive realized there is a much better way to organize them than that. who knew?? I sorted the contents of my shoebox by company and from there I removed everything from the envelopes. I saved any return envelopes and threw away all the advertising. Any bills from 2016 went into a box labelled “Shred” and all statements from 2017 were saved in chronological order. My bank is kind enough to send statements that are hole-punched already, so those went straight into a binder. I don’t currently own a holepunch, so all other statements went back into one envelope for each company, in chronological order. I wrote on the front of each envelope “2017 statements”. Those envelopes, plus the empty return envelopes went back into the shoebox.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering what im saving the return envelopes for. Not long ago I watched a YouTube video by Jordan Page explaining her super simple budget envelope system. Basically, she reuses one of these free envelopes, and keeps her spending money inside for the month. on the outside she records every purchase, and the receipts go right inside the envelope. At the end of the month, the envelopes get filed, and since they are all labeled, finding receipts is super easy. You can watch Jordan explain her system here. I have some free time tomorrow before work, and 2 days off after that. I’m hoping I can get the majority of the clutter removed this week.

So, everyone keeps saying things like “New year, new you!” and “Stop planning, start doing!” Well here I am, the new me, I’ve started planning, and started doing. This is the year I am getting on my lazy butt and making things happen! I bought my very first EC planner for myself for Christmas, and have been having fun trying to come up with how I’m going to fill my day. Before I get into that though, I guess I should tell you a little bit about myself. I am a single mom with 2 kids: Michael 8 and Renee 6. We currently live with my mother, and I work fulltime at a local department store. I’ve always had huge dreams of getting out of here, and back on my own, but have yet to find the means to do so. Only recently have I realized that I’m not going to find the means, I need to create them for myself. This is where my journey begins; I hope it’s a successful one, and I hope you come along with me.

Now, back to my planner. I don’t have a lot of appointments and extracurricular activities, or even bills to keep track of, so you may be wondering why I would even need such a planner. My goal this year is to become more organized. I need to stay focused and driven to keep my life goal in sight and obtainable. This planner has already been a lifesaver for me. I use the monthly calendar pages to outline my work schedule, and note when bills are due, as well as paydays. Since I’m starting this blog, the planner will also help me keep track of posts I want to write, and what content/projects I need to develop. My future goal is to open my Etsy shop; and between that and the blog, be able to quit my day job…but that won’t be for a while. I just hope by the end of this year, I have a plan underway. Who knows, this could be the year I go big!

Over the past year or so I’ve been collecting ideas on my Pinterest boards for the business I’m going to open on Etsy soon. I don’t want to say much about it yet, but being Etsy, it has to be handmade or crafted, and Its definitely something I have a little bit of a background in. I’m so excited to start creating again and sharing it with all of you!