1. Pay Down the Mortgage
We were able to knock 3 payments off our contract this month {1 regular payment and 2 “principal” payments}. I am setting aside my “rug hooking money” to go towards paying extra on our February payment.
2. Buy Nothing New for 1 Year.
I really wanted to buy this Seek and Find pendant I spotted on Etsy. But I didn’t.
3. Track Spending and Figure Out New Ways to Cut Spending Even More.
Some of the big and small things I did this past week that saved us money:
- I Just Said No to stamps and set up our gas bill to autopay. This will save $5.76 this year.
- I used plastic shower caps to cover rising bread, darned one of my favorite wool socks Lucy the trouble puggle nibbled on, requested books from the library, and took advantage of Amazon Prime Movies.
- I canceled our trash service. Say what??? By doing so we will save $420.30 this year and give the neighbors something to talk about. {I’ll talk more about this in another post}
4. Try 52 New Recipes.
This morning I’ll be making Shirley’s cinnamon raisin bread. The recipe calls for potato water {which I’ve never used/done before} so I am a little nervous. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
This Mexican Chicken Rice Soup is next on my list. I think it would go great with a chunk of No Knead Crusty Dutch Oven Bread and a generous pat of butter.
5. Keep My Grocery Budget Under $100 a Month.
So far this month I’ve spent $84.28 out of pocket.
6. Go on 52 Dates with the Handsome Husband
With being sick and trying to catch up on a few projects we decided to just head to Panera and use one of the gift cards I recieved for Christmas for our date day. Panera never disappoints.
So far this year we’ve gone on 2 dates and spent $0 out of pocket on our “dates.”
7. Turn My Wool Stash into $5,000.
I had another good week. I sold 5 of my mini hooked rugs and one “make do.” 5 items on Ebay and 1 on Etsy for a total of $159.94 {before fees and supplies were factored in}. I’ll do a tally at the end of each month to see how much profit I actually made.
So far in January I’ve sold $1089.23
8. Get Rid of 1,000 Things.
The decluttering has begun and it’s all about the little stuff this year. You can see all the things I found a new home for HERE.
Year to Date Totals
Donated: 2 items
Kept: 43 items
Recycled: 24 items
Tossed in the Garbage: 59 items
Yard Sale Pile: 188 items
9. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
This week I’m reading The Organic Artist and learning about alternative ways to make my own paint and dyes without spending a dime. 😉
10. Track Hours Spent Working on My Vegetable Garden and do a Cost Analysis at the End of the Year.
My seed order from Botanical Interests arrived! Wahoo! Now I just need to sit down and map out a plan for my 2016 vegetable garden.
So far this year I have harvested 1 pound 2 ounces of red potatoes.
Time spent working on Vegetable Garden in 2016: 30 Minutes
11. 52 House Projects in 52 Weeks.
I started out with plans to just paint the trim around the office doors but then I ended up painting not only the trim around the office doors but the family room entryway, the banister, and the landing next to the stairs.
12. Make all Birthday and Christmas Gifts This Year or Acquire Them for Free.
How freakin’ cute are these crazy patch bird potholders???? I made them with my buddy Zoë last week and I’ll post a tutorial on them tomorrow so you can make some too. Guess who I made them for? C’mon, guess!
Have a great day everyone.
~Mavis
How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2016? How are they coming along?
Read About My 2016 Goals HERE.
Beth says
Way to go Mavis! Very inspirational.
Melissa says
Love how much you’re making on your rug hooking. How much time do you spend on it per week? How much time per project?
Mavis Butterfield says
That is a good question. I have no idea. 😉 I hook in the evenings, on the plane, in the car {when someone else is driving} and while I’m waiting {practically anywhere}. If I’m not blogging, gardening, cooking, or working on other projects I am hooking. I am usually able to complete a table size runner on the plane when I fly to and from the east coast {about 10 hours}.
Leanna says
Pot holder for “the girl”. In our area you must have trash pickup….even if you are not living there.
Deborah says
Is that a darning egg you are using to darn your sock? I’ve wanted one of those for a while now.
The pot holders, if made smaller, would be awesome coaster, too. I can’t wait to see the tutorial for them. I am making gifts this year.
Cheri says
For the “girl who thinks she’s a bird” and likes to cook! How adorable and meaningful! Love seeing what you are coming up with. Thanks for the inspiration and tips.
Elizabeth in Upstate NY says
When we purchased our house over ten years ago, I talked with all the trash companies that serves our street. The best deal I could find was $32 a month for bi-monthly pickups. We live 2 miles from the trash collection point, and county residents could deliver their own trash for $3 a bag. And they didn’t specify/enforce the size of the bag. Easy decision! We make a trip about once 2-3 weeks with a 55 gallon bag full and a car full of recycles. New this year is a specific box to collect books. Now purging our huge book collection will be easier. Most are so old that not even the library wants them for resale.
Denise says
You are doing great with your goals! I’m on target with mine, so far. I adore the potholders…maybe you could sell those along with your rugs. I would love to buy some for myself and gifts!
Margie Hudgins says
I just bought 2 pair of pot holders from ZOE’s etsy site. Love them so much; I don’t sew anymore and don’t know how to quilt, so am content to help support sites like Zoe’s.
Mavis Butterfield says
She’s pretty rad and her potholders a so fun!!
Denise says
Thank you so much!
Deborah from FL says
I’m sure your daughter will love those! I know I would!! 🙂
And The Organic Artist looks intriguing. I would love to know what you think of it. Maybe even share a tip or two?
I had to laugh at how your project “got extended”… That happens to me all the time. I start a simple project and I just keep on going, over and beyond. Glad I’m not the only one. 🙂
Melissa says
This post is motivating! I need to get my rear in gear!
Tiffany F says
Agree! Very motivating!
Sue says
I’m irrationally excited to read about your cancelling your trash service! (I’m the commenter who suggested a few weeks ago that one of your new projects be about minimizing the amount of trash your family creates. I don’t know if that’s what you are doing or not but either way I’m so intrigued! PS — the reason I’m so interested in seeing your take on that is because you make anything you take on seem so easy, and it’s something that =I= want to do and will enjoy feeling inspired by you! And also because I’m always happy to see people move away from processed, packaged stuff to home-made, bartered, thrifted, etc., which I know you’re already into in a good way.)
Christie says
Curious – what is a “make do”?
Deborah says
To me, “Make Do” means you find something else that works. There is an old saying that says, “Make do, or Do Without”. That is what I’ve had to do a lot of times when I was single mom of three. I didn’t get child support regularly, so we had to make do with what we had.
Colleen says
I have told my girls, and even made them a framed saying…….use it up..wear it out…make it do…..or do without.
Deborah says
I need to make a saying of this and frame it for myself.
Kathy says
I love following along with your yearly goals. The only one I would have a problem with myself is not buying anything new for a year! I yard sale shop and thrift store shop a lot. I’m probably addicted and I don’t want to give it up. LOL I’m especially glad to see you paying off on the principle of your mortgage. It makes a huge difference in how fast you can pay a mortgage off to do what you are doing. I rent now but I hope that it will inspire others to do that.
Becka says
I’ve always been curious about how your daughter got her nickname. Does she sing a lot or whistle? Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂
Stacy Bowen says
While I normally love all of your suggestions and crafty ideas, (and I have been irrationally enjoying your epic battle with the Snoopervising committee) I must say, this time seeing your idea about cutting out the stamps hits me at home–my husband is a postal worker. The internet is killing the mail carriers.
Ashley says
I don’t want to second guess you, but aren’t the mass amounts of packages a compensation for the loss of money in stamps? My mom works for the p.o. and is overwhelmed by internet orders and constantly amazed by how things have changed in the last 10 years.
Sandy says
I could do a cost analysis on my gardening, but if I enjoy it and it feeds not only me but my grown children and their families, figuring out how much I “earn” an hour seems counterproductive and maybe even discouraging. Same with my quilting and knitting where items made are usually gifts. Are you doing cost analysis on your rug hooking?
Mavis Butterfield says
Yes.
Debbie N says
I love the pot holders! I am also curious how you are going to deal with no trash pick up. I am looking forward to your upcoming posts.
Lisa Millar says
Looking forward to seeing your extended post about your Rubbish! I wonder if we can cancel rubbish collections here?
That’s one thing we save on and I didn’t even realise it until I compared our yearly rates to my Aunt’s.
We don’t get a rubbish collection out here – we burn ‘burnables’ compost what we can or feed to chickens (Who are great little garbage disposals in their own right) We can take recycles down to the tip for free anytime and it takes us about 3-4 months to fill the two bins with everything else before we need to take a trip to the tip – we also get given tip tickets with our rates so we don’t have to pay extra to drop rubbish off.
PS Love the potholders!!!
Laurie says
Love reading about the goals. I started 12 goals this year and so far, so good. It’s funny to read about trash pickup. We just moved to a small town in NH and there is no pickup unless you want to pay a for private pickup. Now we take the trash to the dump. Saving us money for sure.
Freya says
Hi
We have 4 garbage cans and 4 recycling garbage cans (glass,cans,plastic and paper) we go to the dump every 6-7 weeks. Our cost is usually around $10-$12 and recycling is free. We have a little trailer that we use to haul everything. Any food scraps are fed to our chickens, cats or dog.
AlysonRR says
We’re about the same. I really want to build a predator-proof trash area outside the garage, though — I don’t like parking in a stinky garage after 6-7 weeks, but we can save money by going that long. We can recycle anytime, though.
Jennifer says
I find your goals and achievements very inspiring, too! Great job! One question–if you know you’re going to miss everyone in the next few years, what’s the merit in paying down the mortgage? Doesn’t it just mean you’ll get that money back when you sell? If so, it sorts serves as a savings account, but then, you could just put the money in the bank. I’m just wondering if there’s something more to it so I’m not missing out!
Lisa Millar says
Interest? I know what we pay in interest per month is quite substantial so anything extra we can chuck on the mortgage is worth while – with the added bonus of being able to take back any ‘overpaid’ excess if we have a big expense.
I know here, any savings account has less interest coming in on it that what is going out interest-wise on the mortgage. So best for us keeping it on the home loan.
Lisa says
Yes. Out of my $800 mortgage payment, only about $145 of it is principal. The rest is interest (mostly) and escrow (for insurance and taxes). I’ve been inspired to add an additional principal amount to each payment. Hopefully I can keep it up. We’re bout 9 years into a 30 year mortgage, so if I can keep it up for about 10 years, we should have it paid off about 10 years early. And hopefully we can pay more someday.
AlysonRR says
Questioning this, too. My parents had paid off their mortgage but got another (smaller) mortgage on the primary residence to pay for the secondary residence, in part because the tax deduction on a primary residence mortgage interest payments decreased their taxes by more than enough to cover the cost of the secondary residence.
I’d love to be mortgage-free when we’re retired, but if we have any significant capital gains or taxes on the disbursements from retirement accounts it seems like there might be a benefit to having at least some mortgage interest fees for tax purposes.
Taxes should be easier!
Kari says
You are still better to be debt-free with no mortgage. For example, if you are in the 25% tax bracket, you would only save $25 in taxes for each $100 you are paying in interest on a mortgage. I’d rather keep the other $75 for me, rather than pay it to a mortgage company!
Tamara says
No one will ever accuse me of being overly intelligent (however my HH is!), but our home has been paid for a number of years. Yes, our tax refund is reduced. However, our monthly income is “greater” because we are not making those payments, nor are we expecting Uncle Sam to “save” for us. More of our money is available for us to decide how to use AND we will not lose our home to a recession or loss of job or other debilitating event. Making extra payments is the key and they don’t have to be whole payments. Start small, ten dollars extra if that is what you have, and gradually increase them. Paying your house off is never a bad idea in my book!
Mavis, I really appreciate your site and how you inspire people to be creative in living their lives.
Jennifer says
We started taking our trash to the dump ourselves a couple of years ago. HUGE savings in our area. With composting and recycling, it takes my family of four about 2 weeks to fill a tall kitchen bag….meat packaging can’t stay in the kitchen that long!! We have a drawer in our freezer where we put the empty packages until it is time for the bag to go out to the big can.
Becca Gordon says
Thank you so much for these posts!! I have found them so motivating over the years. Started my first Goal List this year, and am very pleased with how it is keeping me focused this year. Reviewing the goals each month and documenting what I did or didn’t do towards the goals has been an eye-opener and definitely is helping to keep me accountable.