6:55am
Yesterday I said I was getting
worried about rising gas
and food prices. So what
can top that? I heard on the news
this morning that if the government
shuts down, people will still
be required to file their taxes
BUT they may not get a tax return!
If they do allow tax refunds they could
be delayed. And earned income tax
credits could be delayed or taken away.
At the moment this applies to people
who haven't filed their taxes or might
be waiting a return. But they say they
don't know how long it will last so
who knows if it will go into next
year's tax season.
The last government shutdown
was in 1996.
--------------------------------
No painting for me today.
Hands aren't feeling the greatest.
Last night I took ibuprofen and put
a homemade rice pack from
the freezer on my hands to help
the swelling and throbbing.
I didn't want any cramping in them
during the night. Which to me feels
like having a charlie horse in your
forearm. I'm gonna try to work on the
diaper cake today. I have a hard
time holding things for a long period
of time like paint brushes or pens
before my hands lose feeling and go numb.
-------------------------------------
9:25am
Diaper cake is done! Woo Hoo!
Swivel chair pad does not go with it.
I just used it for decorating
the cake.
---------------------------------------
Golf bag garden caddy.
Reuse an old golf bag to store
your rakes, shovels & hoes in.
Use the small pockets for
things like spades & gloves.
Find one with wheels to make
it much easier to move around the yard.
-----------------------------------
4 ways to pay off your mortgage early.
I try to make close to three extra
house payments a year. I do not
do it in one lump some as it
is better to divide it up and pay
on it a little each month.
I apply it to the principal.
Some mortgage companies
will offer to let you make bi-monthly
payments to reduce the time
it takes to pay off your loan.
While this sounds great, I do
not like commitments.
By making extra payments on my own
I chose how much extra I want to pay
each month. If for some unforseen
reason I may need that extra money
that month I have the option of
not applying it to my mortgage
and can use it elsewhere instead
of being in a binding contract.
So far I have not had to do that
and stick with the goal of
paying off a 30 year mortgage in
17 years.
We've had our home 2 years
and 10 months and have already
applied $8871.67 to it by doing
it this way.
If I hadn't of made any extra payments
we would have only paid $3170.97.
In this economy people want to
own their homes faster and be
free and clear of any mortgage.
They won't have to worry about any
foreclosures.
Plus I want to have it paid off
before or by retirement age.
What average American now a
days can afford to have a mortgage
on what you get from social security?
By the time you pay taxes & insurance
on your home, insurance on your car,
taxes on your social security,
pay for medicare, a supplement for
medicare and pay for
utilities, food & car gas and maintenance
there's not going to be much leftover!!
And those are just the basics to
get you by!
We are a one income family of four
doing this. I have only worked
11 years and the rest I have been
a stay at home mom.
If I can do it, then I am sure most
of you can do it as well.
My biggest goal is to pay off
a credit card and to quit smoking.
Not saying that would be easy
but if I could do just those two things
and apply that extra money to
our mortgage I could have the house
paid off in 7 years instead of 14
more years.
So give yourself a goal.
Even if it's just something simple
as packing your own lunches
each week. Then take that money
you are saving and apply it to
your mortgage for that month.
$5 a day to eat for 25 days a month
could mean having an extra
$125 a month to get that house
paid off sooner!!
Here is a mortgage calculator.
Type in your mortgage amount,
length of loan
interest and when you bought your
home. Then you can type in
any extra amounts you would want
to apply to your loan to see
when it would be paid off.
Anything helps, even an extra
$10 to $20 a month can
knock off 2-3 years off your mortgage.
--------------------------------
3:50pm
I finally got the curtain brackets
installed. I hung my curtains
5 to 5.5 inches above the window trim.
By hanging them higher gives
the illusion of taller ceilings.
And by getting (or making) curtains the
same color as the walls gives
the illusion of a bigger room.
I still need to take the steamer to
them to remove all the wrinkles.
You can see in the photo on the
right that I haven't finished painting
that part of the wall.
Total cost for curtains- $4.98
curtain rod free,
brackets free,
fabric to make curtains $1.99
curtain clips $2.99
4:50pm
Got out the Shark steamer and
got all the wrinkles out of my curtains.
5:00pm
Going to work on supper now.
Having fried sauerkraut with
sliced potatoes and sliced
up Italian sausage.
I add splenda to the sauerkraut
to tone it down. And I use light
Italian dressing to fry it all up in.
can of sauerkraut $1.00
1/2 pkg italian sausage .70 cents
4-5 potatoes .75 cents
Italian dressing- free
splenda .10 cents
green bell peppers- free
yellow bell peppers- free
onions- free
dried tomatoes- free
mrs dash seasoning
Total cost: $2.55
Serves 4 @ .63 cents a serving.
Kids don't like sauerkraut so
will have leftovers from yesterday,
pasta and spaghetti sauce with
ground maple sausage.
Still are going to require them
to taste what we're having though.
-------------------------------------
In desperate times what would
you do to dramatically cut
back on something?
This here would be something I
would possibly consider.
Other than your main utilites
like running the air conditioner
or gas heat another thing that
uses a lot of energy in your home
is the water heater!!
Actually it's about 15% to 30%
of your gas or electric bill to use
depending upon the size.
buy a solar shower for about $10.
Bring it in at night
and hang in your shower.
You could also use a second one
to warm water to do dishes with.
By doing this you could turn down
your water heater dramatically
instead of letting it running
all the time.
As for washing clothes you can
always use cold water.
They even make cold
water detergent!
Then dry your clothes on
a clothesline.
Or if you can afford it I would
go with a solar powered hot
water heater hybrid.
A hybrid is one that will work
like normal when it's cloudy out
and use the solar when it's sunny out.
To make an easy outdoor solar
shower stall you can get
an umbrella, open it up, hook the handle
to a tree branch and hang it upside
down. Hook an old or cheap
shower curtain around the tips
of the umbrella.
9:25am
Diaper cake is done! Woo Hoo!
Swivel chair pad does not go with it.
I just used it for decorating
the cake.
---------------------------------------
Golf bag garden caddy.
Reuse an old golf bag to store
your rakes, shovels & hoes in.
Use the small pockets for
things like spades & gloves.
Find one with wheels to make
it much easier to move around the yard.
-----------------------------------
4 ways to pay off your mortgage early.
I try to make close to three extra
house payments a year. I do not
do it in one lump some as it
is better to divide it up and pay
on it a little each month.
I apply it to the principal.
Some mortgage companies
will offer to let you make bi-monthly
payments to reduce the time
it takes to pay off your loan.
While this sounds great, I do
not like commitments.
By making extra payments on my own
I chose how much extra I want to pay
each month. If for some unforseen
reason I may need that extra money
that month I have the option of
not applying it to my mortgage
and can use it elsewhere instead
of being in a binding contract.
So far I have not had to do that
and stick with the goal of
paying off a 30 year mortgage in
17 years.
We've had our home 2 years
and 10 months and have already
applied $8871.67 to it by doing
it this way.
If I hadn't of made any extra payments
we would have only paid $3170.97.
In this economy people want to
own their homes faster and be
free and clear of any mortgage.
They won't have to worry about any
foreclosures.
Plus I want to have it paid off
before or by retirement age.
What average American now a
days can afford to have a mortgage
on what you get from social security?
By the time you pay taxes & insurance
on your home, insurance on your car,
taxes on your social security,
pay for medicare, a supplement for
medicare and pay for
utilities, food & car gas and maintenance
there's not going to be much leftover!!
And those are just the basics to
get you by!
We are a one income family of four
doing this. I have only worked
11 years and the rest I have been
a stay at home mom.
If I can do it, then I am sure most
of you can do it as well.
My biggest goal is to pay off
a credit card and to quit smoking.
Not saying that would be easy
but if I could do just those two things
and apply that extra money to
our mortgage I could have the house
paid off in 7 years instead of 14
more years.
So give yourself a goal.
Even if it's just something simple
as packing your own lunches
each week. Then take that money
you are saving and apply it to
your mortgage for that month.
$5 a day to eat for 25 days a month
could mean having an extra
$125 a month to get that house
paid off sooner!!
Here is a mortgage calculator.
Type in your mortgage amount,
length of loan
interest and when you bought your
home. Then you can type in
any extra amounts you would want
to apply to your loan to see
when it would be paid off.
Anything helps, even an extra
$10 to $20 a month can
knock off 2-3 years off your mortgage.
--------------------------------
3:50pm
I finally got the curtain brackets
installed. I hung my curtains
5 to 5.5 inches above the window trim.
By hanging them higher gives
the illusion of taller ceilings.
And by getting (or making) curtains the
same color as the walls gives
the illusion of a bigger room.
I still need to take the steamer to
them to remove all the wrinkles.
You can see in the photo on the
right that I haven't finished painting
that part of the wall.
curtain rod free,
brackets free,
fabric to make curtains $1.99
curtain clips $2.99
4:50pm
Got out the Shark steamer and
got all the wrinkles out of my curtains.
5:00pm
Going to work on supper now.
Having fried sauerkraut with
sliced potatoes and sliced
up Italian sausage.
I add splenda to the sauerkraut
to tone it down. And I use light
Italian dressing to fry it all up in.
can of sauerkraut $1.00
1/2 pkg italian sausage .70 cents
4-5 potatoes .75 cents
Italian dressing- free
splenda .10 cents
green bell peppers- free
yellow bell peppers- free
onions- free
dried tomatoes- free
mrs dash seasoning
Total cost: $2.55
Serves 4 @ .63 cents a serving.
Kids don't like sauerkraut so
will have leftovers from yesterday,
pasta and spaghetti sauce with
ground maple sausage.
Still are going to require them
to taste what we're having though.
-------------------------------------
In desperate times what would
you do to dramatically cut
back on something?
This here would be something I
would possibly consider.
Other than your main utilites
like running the air conditioner
or gas heat another thing that
uses a lot of energy in your home
is the water heater!!
Actually it's about 15% to 30%
of your gas or electric bill to use
depending upon the size.
buy a solar shower for about $10.
Bring it in at night
and hang in your shower.
You could also use a second one
to warm water to do dishes with.
By doing this you could turn down
your water heater dramatically
instead of letting it running
all the time.
As for washing clothes you can
always use cold water.
They even make cold
water detergent!
Then dry your clothes on
a clothesline.
Or if you can afford it I would
go with a solar powered hot
water heater hybrid.
A hybrid is one that will work
like normal when it's cloudy out
and use the solar when it's sunny out.
To make an easy outdoor solar
shower stall you can get
an umbrella, open it up, hook the handle
to a tree branch and hang it upside
down. Hook an old or cheap
shower curtain around the tips
of the umbrella.
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