How is it already the third week of July? This year has gone by so quickly!
This week has been another whirlwind over here at our house.
Lets see....This week we cleaned out the rest of our junk that didn't sell at the yard sale and dropped it off for charity. I have been working on cleaning out and organizing my "projects to do" box (how did it get SO full?!). I worked on catching our budgeting software up to date (I strongly dislike that chore), and getting myself back on my weight loss program. Also this week I was finally able to get my laptop fixed! My two year old autistic son threw it last March and it refused to turn on after that trauma. I had put off getting it fixed since I was sure it would be terribly expensive. Turns out it just needed a $70 repair.
This week makes 20 weeks on this challenge. I am going to be honest. I am tired of it. I am tried of thinking about it and finding ways around buying new things. As of next week we will be on a month long road trip with all 6 kids. As you can imagine that is not a conducive environment for our "no new stuff challenge". This will be our first vacation in a very very long time...so long our
youngest 4 children have never been on one! This weekend I plan to go to
the Dollar Store and the BX and get all set up with our organization
gear and new toys/games for our many many hours on the road. As soon as we get back into town we will be preparing for a move to a new "adaptive house" so our oldest daughter (who is special needs) can have the resources she needs.
At this moment I have decided to suspend the "no new stuff" challenge. Hopefully once our lives are settled down in October we can get back to the challenge.
Thank you all for your support over the last 20 weeks! We will be sure to keep in touch over the next very busy two months!
Monday, July 22, 2013
Saturday, July 13, 2013
No New Stuff Challenge: Second week of July
We are continuing with our "we need to get rid of all our junk so we can move" theme this week.
We finally got all of our junk out of the attic and organized, our bedroom closets are all cleaned out and decluttered (58 items of clothing out of my closet alone :blush: ), and things around here are looking much better.
Hubby supervised the yard sale this morning and we were able to make a whole $54 off of all our junk. Guess it is better than a kick to the head! I know a local Airmen's attic that is going to be getting a BIG donation on Monday morning. I will get a lot of joy out of thinking about all the lives we will bless with our donations.....and all the joy I will get out of being able to walk a straight line through my bedroom!
This week we are also planning and preparing for our month long vacation next month. The logistics of moving 8 people through so many states is staggering. I will be sure to post about our preparing and packing for sure. In the mean time I did some shopping this week for the kids to make sure they had what the needed.
My oldest two daughters both got new sandals while my twins got new sippy cups *what is it with sippy cups? I always end up with either a top or a bottom missing from each cup*.
I started the process by looking on Amazon at new shoes and sippy cups. I will admit I felt weak, I was tired and just wanted to get the stuff ordered and be done with it. However the total shocked some sense into me. I am sorry but I am not paying $80 for two pairs of sandals and some sippy cups. It just isn't happening I don't care how tired I am.
So off I went to ebay. I found everything I needed for $42.75 with shipping charges. My oldest daughter now wears a women's sized shoe and those suckers are not cheap even used. I did save about 50% so that makes me happy.
Total I would have spent this week: $80
Total actually spent: $42.75
We finally got all of our junk out of the attic and organized, our bedroom closets are all cleaned out and decluttered (58 items of clothing out of my closet alone :blush: ), and things around here are looking much better.
Hubby supervised the yard sale this morning and we were able to make a whole $54 off of all our junk. Guess it is better than a kick to the head! I know a local Airmen's attic that is going to be getting a BIG donation on Monday morning. I will get a lot of joy out of thinking about all the lives we will bless with our donations.....and all the joy I will get out of being able to walk a straight line through my bedroom!
This week we are also planning and preparing for our month long vacation next month. The logistics of moving 8 people through so many states is staggering. I will be sure to post about our preparing and packing for sure. In the mean time I did some shopping this week for the kids to make sure they had what the needed.
My oldest two daughters both got new sandals while my twins got new sippy cups *what is it with sippy cups? I always end up with either a top or a bottom missing from each cup*.
I started the process by looking on Amazon at new shoes and sippy cups. I will admit I felt weak, I was tired and just wanted to get the stuff ordered and be done with it. However the total shocked some sense into me. I am sorry but I am not paying $80 for two pairs of sandals and some sippy cups. It just isn't happening I don't care how tired I am.
So off I went to ebay. I found everything I needed for $42.75 with shipping charges. My oldest daughter now wears a women's sized shoe and those suckers are not cheap even used. I did save about 50% so that makes me happy.
Total I would have spent this week: $80
Total actually spent: $42.75
No New Stuff Challenge: First week of July
I am so far behind in blogging. Please bare with me!
Things around our house have gotten very busy very suddenly. First up we are in the process of preparing for a future move. Apparently when you have 6 kids moving to a new house becomes a major project....who woulda thunk it?
First on our list of things to do for the move is to get all the paperwork with base housing taken care of. Since our oldest daughter has special needs we can not just move to just any old house. We have to have a letter from her neurologist specifying they type of house we can live in. Specifically we need an "adaptive house". You would think this part would be easy to take care of. No. I have been leaving messages all week and no response. I also happen to need a copy of my daughters blood work showing that her medication is making her deficient in Vitamin D so that I can start her on a supplement, no go on that one either. Mommy is about to start getting crabby with these people.
Second on our list of things to do is to clean out all the junk that is still packed from our last move....2 years ago! I am sorry but if it is still packed it needs to go. So we have spent the whole last week up in the attic pulling everything out and getting it all organized for a yard sale next week. Luckily my daughter didn't mind if we mounded the junk up in her room. I was so shocked by the amount of STUFF we have that we don't need or even want. I found boxes up there where everything in them was trash. Why in the world did we move a box of empty cd cases halfway around the world? See this is what happens when you pay movers to pack your junk instead of doing it yourself. Those things never would have made it into a box if I had been packing the boxes.
Not surprising since I have spent the whole week getting rid of things that I have not done any shopping this week. Outside of food we have been in a spending freeze.
Total we would have spent this week: $0
Total spent this week: $0
Things around our house have gotten very busy very suddenly. First up we are in the process of preparing for a future move. Apparently when you have 6 kids moving to a new house becomes a major project....who woulda thunk it?
First on our list of things to do for the move is to get all the paperwork with base housing taken care of. Since our oldest daughter has special needs we can not just move to just any old house. We have to have a letter from her neurologist specifying they type of house we can live in. Specifically we need an "adaptive house". You would think this part would be easy to take care of. No. I have been leaving messages all week and no response. I also happen to need a copy of my daughters blood work showing that her medication is making her deficient in Vitamin D so that I can start her on a supplement, no go on that one either. Mommy is about to start getting crabby with these people.
Second on our list of things to do is to clean out all the junk that is still packed from our last move....2 years ago! I am sorry but if it is still packed it needs to go. So we have spent the whole last week up in the attic pulling everything out and getting it all organized for a yard sale next week. Luckily my daughter didn't mind if we mounded the junk up in her room. I was so shocked by the amount of STUFF we have that we don't need or even want. I found boxes up there where everything in them was trash. Why in the world did we move a box of empty cd cases halfway around the world? See this is what happens when you pay movers to pack your junk instead of doing it yourself. Those things never would have made it into a box if I had been packing the boxes.
Not surprising since I have spent the whole week getting rid of things that I have not done any shopping this week. Outside of food we have been in a spending freeze.
Total we would have spent this week: $0
Total spent this week: $0
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
No new stuff challenge: Fourth week of June
This has been a busy busy week here!
Lets see....
The week started with my husband having minor surgery. Which turned out to be not so minor. He is having lots of complications and is still down for the count. With him out of commission the care of the house and the children has fallen all on me. Being the only adult capable of working around the house is exhausting. I am however thankful to have a house and children to care for!
Also this week my father came into town for a visit. Grandpa is one fun guy to be sure! We spent each day at either the playground or the pool. My children are totally spoiled now and think we need to go to the playground every single day now. It wouldn't be hard to do except that it has stormed every single day since my dad left.
I finally made an appointment and took my son in for his 2 year well baby appointment this week. I knew going in that the doctor was going to mention the dreaded "A" word, autism. Sure enough we left with referrals for a developmental pediatrician, early intervention, and hearing tests. We have walked this path before with our oldest daughter, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. He is such a bright little man, he just has little to no verbal skills and reacts VERY strongly to new situations and new people. The pediatrician and I are both sure he falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. Only time will tell where. More about this to come later.
With all this going on I am sure it doesn't surprise you that I have not done any shopping this week. I was tempted while at the local farmers market with my dad. I mean there were socks made out of alpaca wool! I held strong though and resisted.
I can honestly say that this is one week that I am VERY glad is over!
Total I would have spent this week: $30
Total actually spent: $0
Lets see....
The week started with my husband having minor surgery. Which turned out to be not so minor. He is having lots of complications and is still down for the count. With him out of commission the care of the house and the children has fallen all on me. Being the only adult capable of working around the house is exhausting. I am however thankful to have a house and children to care for!
Also this week my father came into town for a visit. Grandpa is one fun guy to be sure! We spent each day at either the playground or the pool. My children are totally spoiled now and think we need to go to the playground every single day now. It wouldn't be hard to do except that it has stormed every single day since my dad left.
I finally made an appointment and took my son in for his 2 year well baby appointment this week. I knew going in that the doctor was going to mention the dreaded "A" word, autism. Sure enough we left with referrals for a developmental pediatrician, early intervention, and hearing tests. We have walked this path before with our oldest daughter, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. He is such a bright little man, he just has little to no verbal skills and reacts VERY strongly to new situations and new people. The pediatrician and I are both sure he falls somewhere on the autism spectrum. Only time will tell where. More about this to come later.
With all this going on I am sure it doesn't surprise you that I have not done any shopping this week. I was tempted while at the local farmers market with my dad. I mean there were socks made out of alpaca wool! I held strong though and resisted.
I can honestly say that this is one week that I am VERY glad is over!
Total I would have spent this week: $30
Total actually spent: $0
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
