Why am I Here?

This post is somewhat related to my previous post on my Scheduling Issues.

Melanie from Dear Debt gave her perspective on busy-ness with this post: Being Busy Isn't the Same as Being Productive.

Melanie really hit the nail on the head as far as expressing how I feel and how I've felt pretty much my whole life with this: "I feel uncomfortable if I am not busy. I wonder who I am, what does my life mean?"

I have always been a busy person. In high school, I joined lots and lots of clubs and activities. Not only did I join, but in my senior year I was president or captain of every single activity I was in. I also always had a plan of where I was going to go to college, what I was going to study, and ultimately what career I wanted to seek. Of course, my plans changed over time, but the point is, I always had plans.

In college I took way more hours every semester than required, I was able to graduate in 3 years because of this, plus I worked 30+ hours a week and wrote for the paper. I also had big plans for what I was going to do after graduation and "after things calmed down".

Now that I'm done with school, I'm still busy. But, I currently have no "life plans". I've bought a house. I have a job. I go to work, go to my activities, and go home. I can't stand not being busy, but even though I am busy I have lately been questioning what does my life mean? Is there really nothing else to look forward to after this? I have always been one to be looking forward, but now I'm not sure what to look forward to. Of course, I do have goals: some of which I shared with you in December and I do look forward to becoming debt-free of course, but I don't feel like that is an answer to life's biggest question:

Why am I Here?

Thing Thursday 2/27/2014

I will be for-going the budget check tomorrow, as I will just be posting a full fledged February review early next week. So tomorrow, look for a regular post.

It's time for another Thing Thursday. See here for the origins on Thing Thursday!

This week's thing is my second pair of black dress slacks the same size as the ones from my first edition of Thing Thursday. Needless to say, they have the same description as the first ones as well. They are equally too big and shabby. These just finally made it out of the black hole that is my laundry room. These are gone!

March 2014 Budget Plans

Here is my planned budget for March:

Category	Monthly Total
Giving	$10.00
Saving	$20.00
Mortgage	$754.65
House Repairs	$15.00
City Bill	$110.00
Gas	$82.62
Cable	$77.88
Internet	$51.87
Phone	$102.20
Food	$140.00
Transportation – Gas	$40.00
Car Repairs	$15.00
Car Insurance	$93.44
Clothes and Hair	$30.00
Pets	$30.00
Household	$20.00
Personal	$20.00
Crossfit	$80.00
Cleaning	$72.00
Debt	$688.99
TOTAL	$2,456.65
TOTAL INCOME	$2,448.46
DIFFERENCE	-$5.19

I  will be working until mid-March to come up with as much extra as possible to go toward my escrow shortage. The income from my second job will be used the escrow payment, along with the amount I allocated from my year-end bonus. Income from my second job after the middle of the month will be used for savings and/or debt repayment. I will also be sharing the final tally on how my year-end bonus was used soon.

There aren't a lot of changes to this month's budget, but some of the numbers are moved around. Ask if you have any questions or concerns and please let me know if you have any suggestions on my budget! I am still learning as I go :)

My Weekend Away

This past weekend was my first weekend out of town since I started my debt-free and clutter-free journey. I think it was successful overall, at least compared to weekends away prior to my wake-up call.

Friday evening, I stopped on the way for a quick snack, paid for with cash, and a car wash, taken from my bonus. After arriving, we went to dinner at one of my favorite places and I paid for that out of my bonus. We went to Bed, Bath and Beyond, where I got a couple household items which came out of my bonus.

Saturday, we went to a quick breakfast which I paid in cash. Then, while at the mall, I purchased a couple of gifts for my family for up-coming birthdays and mother's day. I paid for them out of my bonus. The only thing I got for myself at the mall was 3 workout shirts which came out of my bonus. (Note: I said this was full-disclosure :) We did go to the mall, mostly to browse and she needed a few new outfits for a new job with a dress code different from her last job) Lunch was a treat from my friend. Supper was my treat to her and her hubby, I paid with cash!

Sunday we slept in late and then ate at Panera. YUM! They paid since supper the night before was kind of expensive. We chilled out at her place since it was very cold Sunday. Then we went to a quick lunch at a deli, which I paid in cash, and then I was on my way home.

Overall, I spent:

$42.35 on gifts
$76.36 on gas
$9.00 on a carwash
$34.84 on household items
$18.00 on food (from my bonus)
$32.64 on 3 workout shirts
~$89.56 on food and misc in cash

Total spent: ~$302.75

Thankfully, it is her turn to visit next time! I think I will try putting away some of my "extra" income from my second job to fund my next visit, as I won't always have a year-end bonus to fund my trips!  We also ate out more than usual on this visit as schedules were just pretty full with a trip to the next city over from hers, a visit with her niece, and an tax prep appointment. Hopefully, we'll get back in the habit of having fun at her house with cooking, baking and such on the next trip!

Organizing Food: Part 2

Last week, I discussed my ranch dressing emergency and how it lead me to clean out, sort and re-organize my "pantry". I took all the food out of the food cabinet in the kitchen, sorted it and put most of it back. A few things got moved to the office pantry.

Today I'm going to share the second half of my food organization journey. I took this:

And turned it into this:

Basically, it took me about 20 minutes max to take everything off the shelves (except the cereal stash on the top) and re-organize it, putting like with like. This eliminated the need for food to be on the floor and on the bottom shelf.

I turned the bottom shelf into storage for dishwasher detergent and other cleaning supplies. My closet feels much more roomy now and part of this is due to re-organization but it is also due to one of my 2014 goals to eat away at my food stash. This project also helped me to keep use by dates in mind and I promptly used up a few things from these shelves after this project was done so they wouldn't become "expired" or bad.

In just a few short minutes, I changed the entire look and feel of the office closet and made it easier on myself to find things in the process. Now, to do this to the rest of the house ;)

Note: Tomorrow I will be disclosing the results from my first weekend away since I began my journey to become debt and clutter free!

Budget Check 2/21/2014

Only 1 week to go for February! Here is my budget so far this month:

Category	February (includes January leftover $)	Spent (As of 2-21-14)	Remaining
Giving	$10.00	-	$10.00
Saving	$20.00	$20.00+	-
Mortgage	$754.65	$849.65	-$95.00
House Repairs	$40.00	-	$40.00
City Bill	$110.00	$103.16	$6.84
Gas	$82.78	$82.78	-
Cable	$94.49	$16.61	$77.88
Internet	$51.87	$51.87	-
Phone	$102.20	$102.20	-
Food	$150.58	$61.02	$89.56
Transportation – Gas	$67.00	$42.00	$25.00
Car Repairs	$15.00	-	$15.00
Car Insurance	$93.44	$93.44	-
Clothes and Hair	$30.00	-	$30.00
Pets	$25.00	-	$25.00
Household	$20.00	$2.00	$18.00
Personal	$25.00	-	$25.00
Crossfit	$80.00	$80.00	-
Cleaning	$108.00	-	$108.00
Debt	$691.10	$691.10	-
TOTAL	$2,571.11	$2,195.83	$375.28

I have increased savings by $89.53 in February. I only budgeted $20 to go to savings this month, so I am currently ahead. I am still hoping to increase savings by at least $19.42 to hit the halfway point to my current EF goal.

I paid an extra $100 toward my mortgage (escrow shortage) this month. This extra was covered by income from my second job. However, I shared here that I got a letter from my home mortgage company stating the total amount owed for my escrow shortage is $699.44. No matter how much I pay, my mortgage will be going up at least $75/month... I am planning on paying at least half of the shortage which should put my new monthly payment somewhere around $860ish. I have until mid-March to come up with this extra payment.

As you can see, I haven't yet used any of my personal or clothes/hair fund money. I am going out of town for the first time since I started this debt pay down process. I am going this weekend (leaving tonight!) to see my BFF and I will be using that money then. I tried to be really good the rest of this month so I could have some fun while I'm gone, hopefully without messing up my budget too badly. I'll share the results of my weekend away early next week.

Do you have any big weekend plans?