31 Days to Clean – Day 17

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My husband is on call today so I decided I would progress with the 31 Day Challenge. Today’s task is to clean the laundry room.

I have a tiny laundry room that I access by stepping onto our patio. It contains a stackable 3/4 size washer and dryer, the hot water heater, and a tiny trashcan where I throw all of the lint from the dryer. It didn’t take too long to wipe everything down but it really needed it! I can’t believe how much dirt and grime had accumulated on my washer. Now I don’t have to worry about letting my clothes touch the machine as I transfer them to the dryer. Ick.

My contract work is nonexistent today. I was hoping for a couple hours but that’s ok. I’ve been catching up on all our laundry and reading a library book. Hubby and I also walked over to Walgreen’s to pick up a Redbox movie. Even in September, it’s not a good idea to take a half hour walk in the middle of the day! I felt faint when we returned to the apartment. I can’t wait for cooler weather!

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This week’s step toward freedom

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$1,521.38 starting balance
– $30.00 contract paycheck
– $2.00 online survey reward

= $1,489.38 current balance

According to bankrate, we’re now down to 57 months until payoff. We eliminated a month from our payoff in one week and have paid off 6.3% of our initial balance. We’re making progress, though I can’t really see how we’re going to pay off this balance by November 30th. Thankfully I have some bigger paychecks coming, starting the 15th of this month.

I love statistics. I should figure out how to calculate the amount of interest we’re saving by paying early and often. Interest over a period of 57 months is huge, even when your APR is only 10.24%!

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31 Days to Clean – Day 16

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“I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don’t have any clean laundry, because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life?”
Source unknown

Day 16 of the cleaning challenge is all about fighting laundry piles. I have to admit, the above quote is pretty accurate! If I only do things that are fun, laundry would never be complete. Thankfully, my husband needs clean clothes to wear to work each day and thus my dirty laundry pile stays fairly tamed.

In an effort to lower our electricity bill, I’ve started line drying some of our clothes. Our apartment complex doesn’t allow clotheslines on the patios so I am forced to be creative. Instead, I hang all of our shirts on hangers and leave them hanging on the shower curtain bar. This has been working really well, as long as I remember to fold or iron the clothes after they are dry. Our electric bill went down $16 last month!

This month, I am going to attempt to hang all of our laundry and eliminate the need for the dryer. I’m going to visit the dollar store to see if they carry clothes pins. If not, I’ll check Walmart. I’m going to try pinning the clothes to regular hangers and leaving them in the bathroom to dry. I’m not sure if the clothes pins will fit around the hangers but I believe that’s my only option for hanging work pants and jeans. If I’m lucky, our electric bill will drop again this month.

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Work, work, and … cookies

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Today has been all about work. I had intentions of getting my ironing caught up but ended up with five hours of contract work instead. Praise the Lord! I’m hoping for another great paycheck this month.

I baked peanut butter cookies this afternoon, though I’m not sure I want to recommend the recipe. I didn’t realize until I started mixing the ingredients just how fattening this particular recipe is! All that margarine, sugar, and peanut butter. I don’t even want to know the fat and calorie content of a single cookie. I haven’t tried the cookies yet; I’m waiting until hubby returns home from work before tasting them.

Speaking of cookies, this is the first recipe that I’ve managed to bake as many cookies as the recipe claims it yields. Usually, a recipe says it will bake 24 cookies but I’m lucky if I end up with 18. I guess I make each cookie too big, though it seems like they are normal sized. Oh well!

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Vegan Pumpkin Pancakes

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I found and adapted a great recipe for pumpkin pancakes. It’s almost the season for pumpkin but I was impatient and couldn’t wait until October.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups soy milk (will probably work with rice milk)
1 cup pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
1/2 cup applesauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix the soy milk, pumpkin, applesauce, oil, and vanilla until smooth.

2. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin and stir well. Batter will be very thick; do not thin with additional milk.

4. Let the bowl sit for 5 minutes. Do not stir.

5. Spray a frying pan with olive oil and heat to medium low. Use almost 1/2 cup batter for each pancake. Spread batter on pan with a spoon, but don’t spread too thin.

6. Cook both sides until brown and serve.

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Moving toward financial freedom

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$1,589.25 starting balance
– $26.79 Half.com sales
– $41.08 August snowball

= $1,521.38 current balance

Bankrate: It will take you 58 months to pay off your credit card.

In one week, we paid off 4.3% of our balance and advanced our scheduled payoff date by two months!

This upcoming week, I will be concentrating on working as many hours as possible. My contract job pays on a 30 day schedule so the pay period ending tomorrow will be paid out the first week of October. I wish it was more immediate but at least I should be receiving a paycheck soon for work completed at the end of July!

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31 Days to Clean – Day 15

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Dost thou love life,
then do not squander time,
for that’s the stuff life is made of.
Benjamin Franklin

I’ve spent the past week pondering today’s assignment for the cleaning challenge. Do I want to set up a strict schedule for my days? Can I set up a strict schedule? How much emphasis should I place on work versus cleaning? Am I allowed to schedule personal reading time for myself?

I finally decided that our lifestyle isn’t conducive to strict schedules. Hubby works from most mostly but his time at client sites is rarely scheduled in advance. My contract hours vary drastically. Today I was assigned only an hour of work but yesterday I completed three hours, and four hours the day before. Hubby had to work all day last Sunday and thus has a three day weekend starting tomorrow.

Instead of scheduling each hour of my day, I created a list of what I need/aspire to complete and how much time I will commit to each:

  • 30 min. of personal Bible study
  • 20 min. of Bible study with hubby
  • 45 min. of writing  – morning pages and blog
  • 30 min. research for National Novel Writing Month
  • 1-5 hours of contract work, depending on assignment
  • 1 hour cleaning
  • 30 min. personal reading

Now I can fit everything into whatever work schedule hubby or I might have on any given day. I know I need to complete certain tasks and will organize everything around work. The times listed above are estimates and may change in the future. I think I read more than half an hour each day and sometimes I will only write for twenty minutes. But this rough estimate makes a great starting point.

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Deliver yourself like a gazelle…

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What will it take to pay off my credit card?

Credit card balance: $1,589.25
Interest rate: 10.24%
Minimum payment: $33

It will take you 60 months to pay off your credit card.

“Give no sleep to your eyes, nor slumber to your eyelids. Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, and like a bird from the hand of the fowler” (Proverbs 6:4-5).

CHEETAH!
Hubby and I have been following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps for three years but suffered from several job losses as well as a temporary lack of discipline. Sorry, Mr. Cheetah. This gazelle has woken up and taken off running!

Our goal: to pay off the entire $1,589.25 balance by the end of November.

Ambitious? Yes. Doable? Yes. With much scrimping, a ton of contract hours, and some dedication, we’ll be waving goodbye to Mr. Cheetah. Sorry, but we’re no longer a willing dinner!

Motivation courtesy of bankrate and Dave Ramsey.

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All work, no play

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Today was all about work. I completed 4.5 hours of work on my contract assignment. I’m also feeling slightly under the weather so that was all I accomplished today.

I’m going to attempt to make progress on the 31 days to clean program tomorrow. I really want to finish cleaning our house but work comes first right now. Because my contract work is either feast or famine, I have to embrace the hours when they are available.

Praise the Lord for providing my contract work!

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Scottish Folds and 31 Days to Clean – Day 14

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I finished reading the most delightful little book – The Cat Who Went to Paris. The author is given Norman, a Scottish Fold kitten. The pictures are adorable, the stories are hilarious, and the book is a very quick read. Thankfully, our library carries at least one more book in this true life series about an adorable and very intelligent cat!

Today was mostly about cleaning and budgets. I puttered around the house most of the day, picking up after our weekend. The day was not exciting but I was content in my activities. The only things I have left on my agenda today are half an hour of research and then Bible study.

Day 14 of the cleaning challenge is all about time management. For a few days, I’ve been paying attention to how I spend my time. While I rarely leave the house during the week, my days aren’t all alike. I spend some days doing a lot of contract work, up to 5 hours each day. Other days are spent cleaning and organizing. And a few days here and there are spent mostly reading once my daily housework is complete. I have read a lot of books in the past month.

Last week, I spent way too much time watching television. We don’t own a television but there are a multitude of (legal) shows and movies available online. When I realized how much time I was wasting watching television, I was disgusted with myself. I was watching up to the equivalent of a movie a day. While I was still being productive, completing all of my housework and devoting hours to my contract job, I felt my time could be better utilized. I made myself a promise – I will spend more time with my Bible every day than I will with television or movies. It’s sad to realize that I was spending more time watching television than reading God’s word. Over the last three days, I have kept my promise. Each day, I have spent more time reading the Bible than watching television.

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