1. Pay Down the Mortgage
I went outside yesterday to grab the mail and I noticed a rather large {and beautiful noble fir} Christmas tree leaning against the garage. Knowing full well the HH or I didn’t order one I was a little confused. Luckily I noticed a tag at the top of the tree with a neighbors name on it. What a beauty though.
For the third month in a row we were able to make 7 additional principal payments towards the mortgage for December thanks to no dental, medical, car, clothing, vet, unexpected or other major bills.
2. Buy Nothing New for 1 Year.
When we got out of bed on monday morning the internet was out so I spent the early morning hours at Starbucks {HELLO, free wifi} and then moved on to Mrs. HB’s house to work. She asked if I wanted to take home two tins of tea. She had sampled them not realizing they had caffeine and asked if I wanted them. YES PLEASE!! In fact those Tazo tins of tea where the same ones I was drooling over a few weeks ago. It was hilarious. I don’t drink caffeinated tea often {maybe once every 2 weeks or so} but now I have some for when I do. See, if you just wait long enough… everything works out. 😉
3. Track Spending and Figure Out New Ways to Cut Spending Even More.
Over the past week weeks I have ordered a few gifts off of Amazon and each time I ticked the box asking if I wanted no rush {5 day} shipping in exchange for digital items to use by the end of February. So far I have accrued $7 and I plan on using the credit for a couple of movie rentals that are not included in our Amazon Prime or Netflix subscriptions.
I also paid our insurance premiums in full {saving the monthly service fee} listened to music on Pandora, packed lunches, kept the heat at 65 during the day and 63 at night and baked lots of holiday treats instead of buying them.
4. Try 52 New Recipes.
I tried a new salmon dip recipe this week and it was a total hit. I also tried out a new baked bean recipe but the reviews were mixed. Hey, they all can’t be winners.
5. Keep My Grocery Budget Under $100 a Month.
If you are a local, Fred Meyer {and maybe your Kroger store too} has Barilla Pasta on sale for $1.00 this week. There is a Buy 2 Get a $0.50 rebate on iBotta right now. 🙂 Wahoooo. 🙂
For those of you who don’t know, basically Ibotta is way to earn cash every time you shop. All you do is check the Ibotta app before you shop for product offers, bonuses, new store coupons. Then, simply upload a picture of the UPC code and your receipt and get paid {via paypal or gift cards} once your balance hits $20. Join Ibotta with this link {my referral code} and get $10! Trust me, it’s easy.
6. Go on 52 Dates with the Handsome Husband
No dates this past week but the HH has this coming week off so maybe we can sneak out and do something special. 😉
7. Turn My Wool Stash into $5,000.
I didn’t sell anything on Etsy or Ebay this past week but so far this year I have sold $6867.46 worth of arts & crafts. Not too shabby for something I do in my spare time.
8. Get Rid of 1,000 Things.
So far we have purged 1188+ things this year.
9. Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.
This past week I listened to Holidays on Ice from David Sedaris {for free} thanks to Hoopla {a free lending program through our local library}.
10. Track Hours Spent Working on My Vegetable Garden and do a Cost Analysis at the End of the Year.
After wrestling the scarves away from Lucy we bundled Pinky and the girls up to withstand the frozen tundra. Poor girls. I hope they’ll be okay. With temps in the 20’s I feel like I should make them some leg warmers or something.
11. 52 House Projects in 52 Weeks.
This week I painted a fresh coat of white {trim} paint onto my desk and let me tell you Bob, it looks brand new.
12. Make all Birthday and Christmas Gifts This Year or Acquire Them for Free.
And last but not least, guess who won a $25 gift card to Amazon last week at work for being a fast worker? Me!!! And now it’s under the tree and ready for Monkey Boy to open on Christmas morning. Re-gifting, it’s pretty cool.
How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2016? How are they coming along?
~Mavis
Read About My 2016 Goals HERE.
tia in boise says
BWAH-HA-HAAAA! (Thinking back to previous entry about slackers at work) OF COURSE *you* earned a prize for working hard/fast!
Can’t believe you’re getting rid of the banana slicer….(actually, I can’t believe you owned one….I’m assuming it had been a gift.)
Helen in Meridian says
How awful to get rid of the banana slicer…maybe they have a new model….love love those reviews of the banana slicer. They are almost as good as the review on the sugar free cinnamon bears in 5# pkg.
Mavis Butterfield says
I’ll have to take a look. Have a Merry Christmas Helen. 🙂
eliz says
I thought you were a serious black tea drinker, but you only do caffeinated once every two weeks?
What kind of tea do you drink? Any favorites?
I’ve been drinking a lot of Choice organic easy digest with ginger and turmeric.
Mavis Butterfield says
I LOVE Numi tea, Tazo Awake tea, and Tazo earl grey. I like Bigelow Decaf earl grey and Twinings too. In the winter I like Good Earth sweet and spicy. 🙂 Oh, and Republic of Tea Ginger Peach {not green}.
Connie says
It’s all about chai tea here this month ! I have a slight tea addiction and am tryingto use up what I have and not buy more.. Not totally successful but doing better. Can t wait to read your goals for 2017. Merry Christmas
Mavis Butterfield says
I’m still hammering them out but I’m excited!!
Debbie says
I’m another one waiting to see your goals for next year. You have inspired me to make several of my own.
Crystal says
Me too! Looking forward to seeing your goals for 2017. I love these updates. Very inspiring.
Mavis Butterfield says
Goals.Are.Rad.
Marcia says
Oh. Chai. I love chai. I need to make some. Haven’t had it in forever.
Linda says
I am a coffee drinker, but also love tea. I love Earl Grey, Peppermint and Chai. I recently made Chai Shortbread cookies that were amazing!
eliz says
Numi tea is good and I like that republic of tea ginger peach, but haven’t had it for awhile. I’m sensitive to caffeine and most black teas have to much for me. Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold is a good black tea, but I’ve tried the decaf version and it doesn’t taste the same. Wish I could regularly handle strong black teas like Tazo Awake and Taylors of Harrogate. How does caffeine negatively effect you?
Mavis Butterfield says
I like the taste of caffeinated tea better but if I drink it regularly I feel groggy in the morning and my body really needs the caffeine to keep going so that’s why I switched to decaf. I can get away with 1 cup of regular tea about once a week and not have it affect me.
Brenda says
Hmmm…I’ll have to try doing that, I know if I don’t have my tea by a certain time of day, I’m really dragging. I’d definitely like to combat that. Can’t wait til your new 52 hits 🙂
Delores says
So not surprised you won! 🙂 You have endless energy!
Marcia says
I love reading these! I made some more gifts. Crocheted snowflakes and snowmen. I made some bread too and have tried a few new recipes.
Pam says
Call me ocd but I love how neat and tidy your wool stash is. All neat and tidy just the way I would have it ,if I had a wool stash lol!! Merry Christmas!!
Mavis Butterfield says
Hilarious.
Denise says
I love reading these updates, and can’t wait to see your new goals for 2017! That is so cool that you received the tea you wanted from an unexpected source. The same thing happened to me last week…I wanted some new red nail polish, as all of my polishes are old, but I didn’t want to spend money on myself right now. I went to a Favorite Four Party, and Revlon Red polish was one of my gifts. I was so excited!
Mavis Butterfield says
What is a Favorite Four Party?
Denise B says
Everyone brings 4 of their favorite, same, things, and everyone puts her/his name in the hat four times. When it’s time for you to present your 4 gift items, you draw 4 names, and those are the people who get your gifts. There was a $6.00 limit per gift at this particular party, but most of us value shop for deals that brings the cost per item(s) down. For instance, I bought holiday paper goods last year at Target for 80% off, and I gave these as a gift, with a tag that read “My Christmas wish is for you not to have to wash a dish!” I probably spent $2.50 per gift. I came home with four great gifts, including a set of 3 Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers, an original art piece, aromatherapy lotion from Bath and Body Works, and the Revlon Red nail polish.
Mavis Butterfield says
What a cool party idea!!! I love it.
Jamie says
I haven’t kept my goals very well for 2016 but I’m already planning for 2017 and am going to also track them through my blog to stay accountable!
Chris says
That tree is absolutely gorgeous! What type is it? It looks so old fashion. Every year we get either a frazier fir or balsam and I have to get out the pruning shears to thin it out.
Mavis Butterfield says
Noble Fir.
Sandy says
Can you explain what constitutes your principal payment? If I paid 7 principal payments it would be almost an additional $2100. So I am a little confused. Just asking.
kathy says
Yes, Mavis, I was wondering the same thing. Just curious because I have been rounding my payment up to the nearest $10 increment and thinking I was doing good, LOL!! My other question is what is the tracker you are using and where is it found, if you don’t mind? Thank you, Mavis. You are an inspiration!
Wendy says
Hi Mavis, just curious if anyone ato your new job knows that you blog?
Mavis Butterfield says
No, I don’t think so. Which, because this is a local job, I was pretty surprised at. It’s not something I would talk about at this particular job.
Heather says
Did I miss it, which is very possible, or did you say what your job was. Just curious.
Maria says
Yes, I was wondering the same thing. How do you like your new job so far?
Linda Tibbetts says
There seems to be a lot of confusion over what Mavis is doing with her principal payment. Let me attempt to explain:
Your mortgage payment is made up of several things: the principal payment, which is the part that actually is decreasing your balance; the interest payment, which is what you are paying the bank for using their money to purchase your house; and, depending how you set things up, other things like escrow payments to cover your homeowner’s insurance and taxes, or PMI payments to cover a special kind of Mortgage Insurance the bank requires if you haven’t paid over 20% of the principal. There are therefore ways you can save money, both short term and long term. First, the short term. If you are paying PMI, your bank should cease having those payments taken once you are paid over the 20% mark. However, frequently they do not automatically stop. So it’s a good idea to know when you’ll hit 20% and then call the bank . Immediate savings once those payments stop.
Long term you can do what Mavis is doing – making principal payments. In the early years of a loan, the principal payment is the smallest part of what you pay (interest is the largest part) so you can often make more than one additional principal payment if you have the extra cash. Late in the loan, the principal payment is larger, the interest payment smaller. By paying extra on the principal, you are reducing the term of the loan (how long you’ll owe the bank money.) Not only will the term decrease, but you’ll save all the interest you would have paid during the part you paid off early. So, if you paid 12 extra principal payments over the term of the loan, your loan term will b one year shorter, and you’ll save one year’s interest, which is substantial. Right now, with interest rates on savings so low, you may be better off paying down your mortgage. Essentially you’re then saving at whatever the interest rate of your mortgage is. But remember, though you’ll save by paying down a mortgage, this is not like a savings account- you cannot get that money out if you need to later. You can set an amount you can afford, and add that to the regular payment each month, but don’t forget to save money in an accessible account for emergencies.
Mavis Butterfield says
Excellent explanation plus extras!!!! My specific reason for doing this: “Though you’ll save by paying down a mortgage, this is not like a savings account- you cannot get that money out if you need to later.”