I haven't posted in this blog in months because of the hectic summer we had and all the technical troubles we ran into when we moved to Georgia. So, here's a recap of the last 6 months:
Financial Goals
In October, we crossed off another financial goal off our list. We bought a house. Not just a house, but a dream house within our means! We stuck with the budget we set and although we picked the house at the top of that budget, the budget was well below what we "could" afford. Having gone through what we went through with the housing market in Florida, I wanted to be sure we'd never be in that situation again. We put our down payment and now have a comfortable mortgage that we can afford to pay extra on to bring the life of the loan down.
We still don't have car payments and we've paid off our credit cards so the only debt we have at the moment is the mortgage and our student loans. I still go back and forth whether I should double down on my student loans to pay mine off sooner or whether I stick with the low payment for the next 20 years. It just seems SO long.
Right now, we're still trying to figure out what our actual budget will be with our new jobs. Each month they've been some adjustment with our retirement plan, healthcare, HSA or something else where we still have not received a "normal" paycheck since August. Once I get a rhythm and set aside what we'll need to cover our summer expenses when we DON'T get paid, then I can think of how to manage our disposable income to lower our outstanding student loan/mortgage debt.
Green Living
It seems that I haven't made much progress in the last 6 months, but we're constantly working on it. We're being much more conscious about the things that we do buy for the new house and we want to be as minimalist as possible. I'm becoming more conscious of all of our purchases and trying to not buy things just because it's a good deal.
I'm stuck on this minimalist lifestyle and I so wish we can do it. I've read enough blogs and articles now to know that it's not an overnight thing. I'm just amazed at how often we clean out our house and fill bags to donate to Goodwill and yet we still have SO much stuff.
Goals in this area:
1. Minimize my closet and drawers. I have so many items that I have not worn in over a year and somehow they've survived every sweep I've done in the last year. I'm going to start with myself and then work through the rest of the family.
2. Plant a garden. We have a huge yard that I want to put to good use. The kids are excited about growing their own fruits/veggies. We have colleagues that grow quite a bit of their food so I'm hoping I can learn from them.
3. Only buy second-hand items. This is difficult since we live in Valdosta and the thrift shops and craigslist are not as good as a big city. But, we're visiting Orlando often enough that I think we can do this. We do well with kids' toys in this area but we can do better in the rest of the areas. I recently joined several "buy, trade, sell in Valdosta" facebook groups and those seem to offer a better selection than craigslist.
4. Eliminate waste in the kitchen. I definitely want to start composting for real. We were using the empty lot next door as our "compost pile" but they just cleared it to build a house so I'll need to make a legit compost pile in our own yard. I also want to stop buying cartons that are not recyclable like the vegetable broth kinds. I figured if I freeze my own scraps then I can make my own broth at the end of the week and freeze it for later use. If I can manage that then maybe I'll feel empowered enough to make my own almond milk and avoid those cartons.
I have further goals but I think these 4 are feasible at the moment. Once I manage these then I can move on to bigger and better things.
Anyhow- I'm going to try to go back and post weekly menus because it was really helpful for me to have that record. I recently went back through the early posts last year and remembered a few menu items I had forgotten about. They were hits once again.
Til next time...
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