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Aug 27, 2019    |       3 comments

Update on our Housing

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I mentioned a month or so ago about my landlord mentioning selling our home to me. Well, I spoke with him yesterday when he was here with a handyman to fix some issues. He says he will not sell the home out from under me, but if I wanted to purchase it, he wanted me to know he would be willing to sell it.

He said as long as I continue to pay my rent on time and be a good tenant, he is not planning to put it on the open market. Phew! He knows that I have no plans to move for at least two years…staying put until Princess graduates from high school. And while he and I have chit chatted about improvements I would make if I were to purchase this home as well it being a great “retirement” home for me based on size and maintenance, at this point, I am not looking to buy. He is okay with that.

So that takes a weight off about having a “where do we go” panic attack in the next couple of years. When it’s just me, well, that will be a whole different story.

My Tiny House Dream

I do have a long term dream of building my own home…a tiny home on a permanent foundation. I’ve already designed it on paper and have a scrapbook that I add to every time I see a home feature I love or hate. There is no money going into this, no savings for it…just a dream. And it will probably stay that way for some years yet as I have no idea where my “forever” will be spent…it changes on a constant basis.

tiny home inspiration

I am always saving images like this one that inspire me when I think about building my own tiny home.

Until then, I love renting this home…I have a great landlord who lets me do what I want to the yard, paint the insides and so on. This has truly become home these last two years and by the time I will consider moving…will be the longest I have ever lived anywhere.

Aug 26, 2019    |      0 comments

Write It Down – Document It!

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First off, thank you for the great game suggestions to add to our entertainment options. I have written down a list to check out!

Other than 12 hours at Princess first volleyball tournament of the season on Saturday (where they won their division,) I spent the bulk of this weekend helping her review for a biology test and then work on math homework. Ugh! There were tears, there were frustrations, there were bad and good grades (thanks computerized learning for adding that continuous pressure) and there were lots of lessons learned for both of us.

It was a very LONG and STRESSFUL weekend as a result of the homework aspect. (Yes, I know, 4 honors classes will do that to you. But it’s also a result of poor time management and choices, which she will have to learn on her own.)

As much as I love math, the combination of absolute values and inequalities is definitely not my strong suit. I had a lot of reviewing to do in order to help you. Thank you homeschool math books (yes, I kept all my high school math curriculum when I purged books last spring – thank God!) and YouTube videos!

Write It Down, Check It Twice

But I had a revelation in relation to my own “math” – my finances, my goals and so on. And Elizabeth kind of pointed to it with her goals post. Now don’t get me wrong, I have certainly been documenting my goals and debts and so on here on BAD.

And I’ve already tracked my expenses and been able to run all sorts of analysis and reports on them. But all this is not the same as actually writing down my goals…writing down the numbers. Having them in front of me all the time.

Many years ago, I would type up a list of yearly, quantitative goals and hang it on my cork board over my work area. I would see it every day. And I would write on it…check things off, make plans on it and so on.

Princess was doing all her work in her head. And then when she got something wrong, I couldn’t help her. We couldn’t go back and figure out where she missed a step and go thrown off track.

Despite all my “documenting” and spreadsheets…it’s my thinking that I need to go back and check, my reasoning for some of my decisions. And more importantly, the math. Now that I am reading this post, it doesn’t make any sense.

I guess the point is, that no matter who much I run my reports on my computer and quantify the numbers and manipulate my budget…well, there’s just nothing like writing things down on paper. Making a plan and executing it. I haven’t been doing that. Not like I should.

And more importantly, I need to track historically what I am doing. Review it. And commit to not repeating the past. I always look at the right now. The next quarter. The next year. I rarely look back and then look forward.

I know they say don’t look back, you are not going that way. But the reality, if you don’t look back…you are bound to repeat. So I guess my action item from this is twofold:

  1. Write down some quantifiable, baby step goals and pin them to my board. And then make a plan from them.
  2. As I evaluate where I am each month financially, take some time to look back and make sure I’m not repeating mistakes from my past.

What about you? Do you have written goals? And a plan surrounding those goals?

 

 

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