We encountered some technical difficulties and we lost a lot of posts but we are back on track! Stay tuned!
We made it through the first year of our debt and clutter free journey. I know we have been somewhat absent from this blog and we also suffered quite a bit of data loss when our host deleted all our posts. However, these setbacks did not deter us from our goals and progress.
Although embarking on this new lifestyle was not without its frustrations, it didn’t take us long to find our groove and have a debt and clutter free focus.
- Do NOT charge anything on credit or loan money to anyone.
- Create a budget and stick to it!
- Have a budget meeting twice monthly.
- Reduce total credit card debt by $30K.
- Put all supplemental income towards paying off debt.
Now to evaluate how close we came to achieving those goals… read more…
by taosaur via Flickr
Have you ever stopped to think how much your clutter costs you? Most people don’t even think about the monetary consequences of their belongings.
The blog Becoming Minimalist, they talk about the statistics of clutter.
Some illuminating numbers:
- Harris Interactive reports that 23 percent of adults say they pay bills late (and incur fees) because they lose them. read more…
by Arrowswiss12 via Flickr.com
A disorganized closet can be the worst place for clutter. It’s already smaller than a proper room and it typically has more items per square foot than any living space.
Cloe Cabrera of The Tampa Tribune lamented the fact that her walk-in closet had lost its “walk-in” feature and she shared her struggle to get it organized. She sought help from Lorrie Marrero of The Clutter Diet. read more…
Due to the small size and everyday use of bathrooms, they can very easily become cluttered. Take a look at these Tips to Keep Your Bathroom Organized Without Being Cluttered.
Having trouble identifying what to keep and what to get rid of? Here are 20 Signs You Really Don’t Need That Thing.
If you still can’t decide what to get rid of, head over to Keep or Toss and let impartial strangers help you!
by Credit Card Debt Consolidator via Flickr
Well, we have survived the first quarter. March was monumental in that we paid off our first credit account!
We were fortunate to get a very nice bonus check from Steve’s employer. I will admit it was extremely tempting to go on a shopping spree after being so frugal for the past few months. In previous years we would not have hesitated to “reward” ourselves with some frivolous expense. read more…
by debtcovered via Flickr
Would you believe a simple phone call can help you get rid of that pesky credit card debt faster? It’s true. Five minutes could save you thousands.
If you have a high APR, call your credit card company and ask them to lower it. You can find the phone number on the back of your credit card. Call them and ask what your current rate is. Now, ask them to lower it. No, really. Ask them to lower your rate. read more…
by Credit Card Debt Consolidator via Flickr
In January, we started a debt snowball type repayment plan and YNAB budget to help focus our efforts on eliminating our debt. I have been very excited and anxious to tally up our total at the end of our first month. We stuck close to our budget and made some reductions to our monthly expenses. We had decided to try to devote at least $3,000 per month to debt repayment. As planned, we paid the minimum required payments on all but one of our accounts, and budgeted the remaining amount of $1,621 to this “focus” account. In addition, we agreed to take any unused funds left in our budget at the end of each month and make an additional payment to “focus”. read more…
by Firefighter Spot via Flickr
Often when we are going through our stuff to relieve ourselves of clutter, we run into problems parting with things of perceived value. They may have been expensive when we acquired them, or perhaps they meant a lot to us at one time. While things can and do have significant monetary or emotional value, these factors can cloud an item’s true value. The true value of an item is what importance it has to you. read more…
In an attempt to reduce laundry confusion and clutter in our house, we implemented a laundry system.
Each bedroom has a lightweight, collapsible laundry hamper. Dirty clothes go into the hamper and when hamper is full it is taken to the laundry room for sorting. read more…
One of our goals is to reduce our monthly expenses. After reading posts on ways to cut costs, we decided to cave in and hack away at our BrightHouse cable bill. We had been paying $103 per month for our promotional cable “package” which included digital cable, a DVR unit, digital phone, and Internet. I had called a few weeks back to return the DVR unit and service but was told I would have to also remove the digital cable and would end up paying almost the same amount as we would no longer qualify for their digital bundle discount. read more…