My blog is a secret.   One of the reasons that I keep it a secret is that none of my friends really read blogs.  I think they will think that’s it’s weird and a waste of time.

One friend of mine made a comment regarding blogs that I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.  It pops into my mind every now and then and I keep turning it over and over in my mind.

“I’m too busy living my life to then go home and write about it”.

Now, she was not saying this to be condescending at all.  She is an extremely active, single person.  One of the busiest I know, in fact.  Busy in the sense that she works a lot, she has a ton of friends, and she is always involved in some project or festival or event or whatever that is going at the moment.

But, her comment got me to thinking.  Thinking about all the projects I want to tackle and the photography class I want to take and how I want to get back into making jewelry and all sorts of other things that have been on my ‘to do’ list for ages (like sewing…it’s been a new year’s resolution going on so many years that I finally dropped it this year).

So, I’ve been thinking…..am I trading doing for writing about what I want to do?

Maybe I spend too much time reading blogs…and why do I do this?  Is my own life not exciting enough?  Why am I not taking enough time to spend with the friends I have in my own backyard?  What is not fulfilling me in my own life that I seek out living vicariously through others through blogs?

We went to cabin with 3 other families this weekend and had the BEST time.  I can honestly say that I didn’t think once about any type of computer, blog, facebook, email or anything.  The interest wasn’t there as I was too busy having fun.

I think I need more of that and less of this.  I’m just not sure how to get there from here.

I wonder if anyone else out there in blogland ever feels the same?  Then, maybe that’s why there are so many abandoned blogs out there.

I’ve been reading (and writing) a lot about this lately.  There are blogs galore of people trying to achieve a simple existence, me included.

I feel like I’ve accumulated more stuff, simply because all those around me have and because it’s something I’m supposed to do as I get older.  I still sometimes feel like my house is less ‘grown up’ compared to others since I prefer to keep ours more basic and sparse.

Even typing that though I feel like a phony when I compare our life now and the amount of stuff we have compared to when we lived in Australia.

We lived in a two bedroom (one was more like a half bedroom since only a single bed would fit in there), one bath, furnished flat.  You want to talk about some ugly furniture!?  But, we didn’t really care.  It came with the flat.  We bought a desk and a computer and a bookshelf.  I think that’s it.  My husband’s family gave us some kitchenware, but nothing fancy by any stretch.  There was one closet in our bedroom for the whole unit.  And we didn’t need anything more either.  We just didn’t have a lot of stuff.

And I really don’t even remember cleaning that place.  I know I did, mind you.  I just think the time it took was so negligible that I don’t remember doing it.

Hence we had a lot of time just to do whatever!  Of course, we didn’t have kids either.  But, that’s a whole other level of stuff that just needs a separate post!

Whether you are de-cluttering or downsizing or cutting out more extra-curricular activities or dumping debt, everybody seems to be wanting “the simple life”.

However, ‘simple life’ means something different to each person.

To some people is means getting back to basics like baking your own own bread and making your own cleaners.  Vinegar and baking soda anyone?

To some people or families it means selling (or at least storing) most everything to live in an RV.  Or to some it means paring down to the bare essentials!

There are those who create household management notebooks, which seem like a fabulous idea if I ever actually did it or followed it.

Some are slowing getting rid of childhood collections or selling nearly everything for a new adventure.

For me, being a stay at home Mom keeps our routine simpler.  Also being debt-free as we have less to worry about.  And finally, our attempt to get rid of extraneous stuff is starting to pay off.  The house is slowly but surely becoming easier to manage and to clean

Sometimes I fantasize about moving back to Australia simply so I will be forced to get rid of stuff and start over.  Weird, I know.

What kinds of things do you do to create a simpler life?

Are you one of those people who is always talking about what you want to do, or plan to do, or hope to do….yet nothing or very little ever becomes of all your chatter?

I am often one of those people.  One person, in particular, who is close to me is definitely one of those people.  So much in fact, that I change the subject often when she begins speaking about certain things.  I’m just sick of hearing about the same thing that she’s going to do that she’s been going to do for over 2 years now.  Do it already!

And, in an effort to curb my own ‘all talk and no action’, I decided a couple of weeks ago to no longer talk, just do.

Amazingly, it’s worked so far.  I’ve accomplished more in the last few weeks that I have in while.  And I feel much better for it.

I read this great article a while ago about a study on how talking publicly about your goals will often derail them because people often mistake talking for doing.  I can see this in myself.

So, this is the only time I will say anything about all that I’m doing to make our house one that is a better, more organized, less cluttered (less stressful) place to live.

Over the summer, I’ve been slowly, but surely, taking more and more things to Goodwill.  Sure, I could have saved it all and had a big yard sale.  But, then I would have had to have a yard sale, which I detest doing.

I find MUCH more encouragement in just getting that stuff out of my house and having a more immediate calming effect due to more space and less clutter.  I almost dance a jig as I load things in my car going to Goodwill!

My current project is working on our mud room.  This tiny room (about 40 sq ft) is off our kitchen and goes to our driveway, so it’s where we always enter and exit our house.

It has mostly been a utility room/broom storage with all sorts of junk in it.  We painted it and put peel and stick tiles down when we first moved in, to make it feel a bit nicer, but it’s still just a utility room.  Well, not for long!  I will be posting a before and after pic when I’m done, but it’s going to be a much nicer entry way into our house once I’m finished.

I don’t know why it never occurred to me to make this space a nice entry way, but it didn’t until the other day.  So, that’s what I’m doing.

After the mudroom project, will be the BIG ONE…..photos.

Good grief, you can’t even imagine how many photos I have to deal with.  Well, maybe you can.  But, this is the year.  I am going to tackle them before our trip to Australia.  Some will be sent off to Scan My Photos to be put onto cd and some will be simply put into photo albums or scrapbooks….this is it.  I am also going to create a simple scrapbook, in chronological order, of things that are sent to me in the mail that I feel are worth saving (photos of family/friends, baby announcements, cards, etc).

So, there it is.  I won’t be writing about it anymore (to anyone!) unless it’s to showcase what I’ve done.  Less talk, more action.

I hope I haven’t destroyed my chances by writing this post!

What about you?  Do you feel you are less likely or more likely to get something accomplished when you tell someone about it?  Is there something you’ve been talking about doing for years and it’s not been done yet?

It’s the little things.

Sunday morning, while Little C was napping, hubby, Big D and I worked on cleaning out the basement.

I would say it’s about 2/3 done, but it feels and looks 100% better than it did before.  Which is great, considering the laundry and freezer is down there and so I’m down there pretty often.

We threw stuff away, took things to recycling, made a big Goodwill pile, and pulled out the shop vac.  We vacuumed and wiped things down.

I found a rug in a plastic bag that I had no idea we still had.  Not really sure why I saved it.  We made tons more room on shelves and I still need to go through some of the plastic totes to see if I can find more things (ie old Christmas decorations) to get rid of.

I should have taken a before pic.  It doesn’t feel cramped down there and it actually makes me feel like painting down there.  But, I won’t go that far!

I have been avoiding looking at our finances lately, which is really not like me at all.  I’m usually quite anal about it.

I think it’s because I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want. What I want, lifestyle-wise for our family.  And what that means for our finances/budget and our current home and income.

In June and July we had no real savings after our spending spree on a new camera and swingset/fort.  Both of which we love and have not a single ounce of buyer’s remorse.  But, then Murphy came knocking and my husband fell from a ladder, so we’ve  also had the bills rolling in from that.   And, I went to get a simple oil change and was told I needed four new tires.  Great.  Oh well, we’ve not done anything to that car in ages, so it was due.

Always happens though.  You spend money on something you want, then something comes up where you have to spend money on something you don’t want to spend money on!

So, it’s back on the saving wagon for the rest of the year.  I’m already making lists for Christmas and on the lookout.  We will be gone most of December to Australia and will have to pack all of the gifts, so that will definitely test my strategic packing skills.

Our Home

On a very positive note, our mortgage just fell below $120,ooo with our July payment.  Seeing that made me really excited about paying it off.

So, we’ve decided to do two things starting in August.  One is to prepay our mortgage.  We are adding enough to pay it off in 15 years.  We may be able to add more in the future, depending on how this goes.

I often get a bee in my bonnet about looking for a new house that has a bit more room for us, though we really have enough room, I just want a 2nd bathroom.  Anyway, I LOVE our neighborhood and don’t want to leave it.  It’s a very liberal and arty neighborhood and the community is just unbelievable.  But, it’s become very popular since we moved here and the prices of homes has skyrocketed.  We could not afford our own house if we were looking right now.

So, I’ve decided to stop worrying over it.  Pay down the mortgage, enjoy the house and neighborhood and the yard I love working on.  If, in 5 years or so, the market turns around and we can make a mint off this house and move to one that needs some work and have no mortgage, then we will think about that then.

But, for now, I’ve found this great site, Young House Love, that has inspired me, once again, to dig around for my creative side and work on my house once again. I’ve going to hang some prints and photos that have been sitting around, repaint our living room and work on some blank canvas I have sitting in the basement.   Along with sell some things (cloth diapers anyone?) to make a little extra to buy some new things.

Our Rental Income

I’ve written before about how we rent our upstairs.  The same renter has lived there since before we even bough the house.

He has started doing a few things that are pushing my boundaries (after 5 years, it’s bound to happen),  so I am planning on giving it another year to see how things go and then decide if I want to keep going with it (LOVE that rental income) or start thinking about something else.  We can either renovate up there, increase the rent and get another renter.  Or, we can take over the space for ourselves.

So, I’ve created another savings account that I will be putting all of our rental income in.  This way, we can see how our savings does without that income.  We are planning on using it, not for our regular savings, but to take care of some repairs and updates that are desperately needed on the house (hello new back windows!).

So, that is our new plan.  I don’t know about you, but I have never been able to stick to the same plan for an entire year.   Too many things change during that time.

Have any of your financial goals changed or become more focused at the midway point for 2009?