One Hundred Dollars a Month

My goals for 2017

Get 7- 8 Hours of Sleep Each Night

I hardly got any sleep last week. In fact, I think averaged about 5 hours every night. And I was cranky too. Bad Mavis! It’s taking longer for the sun to come up these days and there isn’t enough daylight in the evenings to work on my rug hooking projects which, means I have to TURN ON A LIGHT if I want to work on one. And for some reason, paying for light makes me grumpy.

In other news, I found a FREE kiddie pool next to someone’s trash can in Anacortes on our way to the ferry dock on Wednesday. So that’s a plus. I wanted to get one for Lucy earlier this summer when we were having all that hot weather, but never got around to buying one. See, if you just wait long enough, and keep your eyes peeled on garbage day, your frugal dreams may just come true. Woo Hoo!

It also helps if your daughter is driving the car. If the HH would have been driving there is NO WAY ON EARTH he would have stopped. In his mind everything alongside the road is trash and everything sold in thrift stores is from dead people. As in they died reading that book, while in that chair, wearing those pants, using that plate… and so on. It’s absurd.

He’d rather have new. I’d rather have free. How we are still together is beyond me.

Make Saving a Priority, Not an Idea

What does this say about us a county? Really? Soda is cheaper than water?

Things we’ve done this month that saved us money:

• Made an additional 5 principal payments towards the mortgage
• Gave each other haircuts
• Didn’t buy any groceries
• Painted a used coffee table instead of paying big bucks for a new one
• Recycled instead of paying for trash service
• Watched tv shoes and movies on Netflix or AmazonPrime instead of paying for cable
• Payed bills online instead of using stamps to mail them in

Live a little

I found a set of Pottery Barn 96″ linen curtains at the thrift store and just had to have them. The quality of their curtains are top notch and plus they were lined. These retail for around $100+ each {not that I would ever pay that much for them} and I was able to get the set for $8. That’s like a savings of $192 to all the crazy people out there who pay retail. Bananas. Just bananas.

Anywho, I am still on the fence on whether or not I should buy a really long curtain rod off Amazon and hang curtains along the back wall. Currently we have 25 year old stained {and broken} honeycomb blinds up in the back windows. They are horrible and coming down soon. After I remove the blinds I plan to put a fresh coat of paint on the patio doors and trim work, but I still cannot decide what to do after that. {You can see more pictures of our back wall HERE}

Part of me says remove the junky blinds, paint and do nothing else. But the other part of me thinks I should buy the curtain rod and hang up a curtain panel on each end to have a more finished look.

Since we are not staying here forever, I have NO interest in buying new blinds or anything else to cover the back windows.

So. Spend $100 and buy the extra long rod and hang the curtains, or pack the curtains away and save them for the next place? What do you think?

Visit 52 REAL Bakeries

The best stuff is homemade. But you already knew that didn’t you.

Have 1 “no spend” week each month

I am to saving my “no spend week” for the end of the month.

Start a Line of Rug Hooking Patterns

I have 8 rug hooking patterns listed in my Etsy shop, 5 more completed rugs that I need to get patterns printed up for so I can get them listed, and 3 more drawn out but not completed. I’ll get them done, sooner or later.

Turn My Wool Stash into $2,500. Mission Accomplished

I didn’t sell a single thing in my Etsy shop and Ebay store this week. I’m not sure if pumpkin buying season is over {August was a good month for me} or what, but so far this year I have sold $7,957.01 worth of goodies. I have one more pumpkin runner I want to finish and then if no fall or pumpkin items sell this week, I’ll probably pack up my fall stuff and get started on my Christmas items. I won’t be doing too many of them this year, but still, I’d rather get them done sooner rather than later. Then, I can finally get all those patterns finished and up for sale.

Purge 250 Items Including Selling Larger Items We No Longer Feel We Need Mission Accomplished

Learn to Crochet Mission Accomplished

Dote on My Husband Even More Than I Do Now.

The HH has some vacation time coming up and so I’ve been working hard at trying to map out what his vacation week will look like. A new bakery {or two} a small house project, SLEEPING in and a few adventures. I can’t remember a time when he took time off and we didn’t have a to-do list. I wonder if that day will ever come? Do the project slow down as you get older or do we just slow down and the projects take longer?

Lose the Muffin Top. {again} Mission Accomplished.

Wear out {most of} the clothing I already own.

Does anyone know when Costco usually puts their merino wool socks on sale? Because seriously, a girl can only mend holes in them so many times. I LOVE how lightweight the socks are, but man, they only last about 2 winters.

Try 52 New Recipes

I have like 10 recipes I need to share with you. Hopefully I can get them on the blog soon.

Read 52 Books

I just started listening to Burnt Toast Makes You Sing Good on Hoopla Digital. So far so good. But then again, I love  real stories about families. 

Give Back to 12 Different Organizations in My Community

January – Donated to Quilts from the Heart in Memory of my brother.
February – Donated to Empty Bowls Fundraiser for the Boys and Girls Club.
March – Donated to my daughter’s mentor who was in a horrible car accident.
April – Donated again to my daughter’s mentor who was in a horrible car accident.
May – $100 Tip to a waitress on Mother’s day.
June – Started collecting men’s shirts to donate this winter.
July – Donated to the Chew Dog Rescue
August – Donated to the Houston Flood Relief Fund
September – $100 Tip to our amazing server at The Grey House and bought a tin of caramel corn from a Boy Scout

And then, there’s those top secret goals we’re not talking about yet.

• Secret Goal #1 Sell East Coast House Mission Accomplished
• Secret Goal #2 Chickens! Mission Accomplished
• Secret Goal #3
• Secret Goal #4

How about YOU? Did you set any goals for 2017? How are they coming along?

~Mavis

Read About My 2017 Goals HERE.