Bad blogger!! Bad! BAD!!! Yes I've been M.I.A. for a while. I've wanted to update but I've been waiting until I get around to posting the new blog redesign, which is still in planning phases, so no one should hold their breath! We are still following Dave Ramsey's plan successfully since January. We have paid off about $5,500 in debt and saved about $25,000 in cash, which will be more like $28,000 by the end of this month (May). We've stayed pretty well within our budget that we revise each month. We are not participating in the recession as you can see! As I secure another work project for next year, I'll be paying off my car and saving to buy Jeremy a used car using the "Drive Free, Retire Rich" long-term plan. We have been working on a refinance so we've been piling up cash to pay closing out of pocket on top of our emergency fund. Once the refi goes through, we'll be pounding on walls and refinishing trim like mad men. Can't wait to have a (mostly) finished house! Flylady is going well. Anticipating an appraisal has helped motivate me to keep the house clean. We've really cleaned up the yard including reseeding areas that were trampled during the remodel. Health wise, my new year's resolution was to also start exercising daily, which has been accomplished. I'm down about 9 pounds too so I can't complain. 2009 has been a great year so far!

As is fairly standard, week 6 of the New Year is either the death of most New Year resolutions. Well, that or a major slowdown. I had a bit of a slowdown, but I'm acknowledging it and getting back in control.

Mostly what has slowed down is the house cleaning. I've been slipping out of my good routines. I don't have very many, but the few I was doing consistently kept the house up pretty well. These included:

• Making the bed in the morning
• Filing/shredding mail same day
• Emptying and filling the dishwasher at least once a day (usually while waiting for something to cook in the kitchen)
• Putting things away when travelling from room to room
• Putting toiletries away in the bathroom instead of cluttering up the sink
• Picking up clothes at the end of the day

Tonight, I'm getting the house under control tonight and then I can focus!

My decluttering has slowed down as well. Luckily most of the big problems areas have been decluttered and I need to refocus on the small collections of stuff I have. I need to start working again on the following:

Writable VHS tapes
Over the years, I've taped a variety of things. Much of which was never watched. Its actually fun to go back and watch some of these tapes, or just fast forward through. I hear FreeGeek recycles tapes, so I hope to drop off whatever tapes I don't want at the end of this.

Burned DVDs and CDs
Compile and put in one binder. I have these all over the place and in a number of binders, cases, etc.

Frames
I have a bazillion empty frames at the moment. I need to select photos or art for each. This usually requires compiling them on the computer and getting them printed. Then matte, mount and hang. Frames that don't match our decor should be donated or sold on Craigslist.

Generic Art
This relates to above. I would rather feature custom art or photographs on our walls vs. the mass-produced Target-esque art I have a lot of now.

Craigslist
I still have a good number of salable items. I've donated lots of things that just weren't worth the time to manage on Craiglist, but some of the bigger ticket items have been selling off at a decent rate. I sold $185 worth of stuff last month. This month $35 so far, but have about another $100 pending e-mail replies today.

On a positive note, for the past few weeks my fitness routine has been good especially going well. I’ve been working out 5-6 times a week for at least 45 minutes. This is big. I'm starting to feel weird again when I skip a day. I want to save up to buy P90X which looks fun. I accidentally saw the infomercial for it. It looks good for someone already in OK shape but wants a little more challenge. Maybe Jeremy would do it with me as well. I'd have to buy a pull-up bar thingy, though. I don't think I've been able to do one pull-up ever in my life. So we'll see!

Our budget is going well too. We have 3 months of emergency funds now saved up! I would normally pay my car off first, but in this economy, I wanted a security blanket first. We can start accelerating the car payments next month. Yay!

I'm working on getting back on a more normal schedule now that most of remodeling phase I is complete. I'm happy to say that besides a few paint touch-ups, kitchen and bath window restoration, and the back door (waiting til good weather for this), we are essentially done! Before we dig into the work necessary to start phase II (most of the original floor of the house: living room, dining room, hall and 2 small bedrooms), I'm working on Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover plan to make sure we have a substantial savings and emergency fund before we start spending on the house again. It will likely take us the next 2 months to build up the remainder of the 6-month emergency fund that I've been working on. I have about 2/3 saved so far. Our only debt is on my car, which I'd like to sell and buy one outright with cash in 2009 as well. The other goal is to buy only with my debit card. It's too easy to use CC and I know I would save more even though I pay those cards off every month. I'd also like to get a permanent position at PGE once the current project I'm leading comes closer to completion. Hopefully for a similar salary to what I make now. I'd also like to do a European vacation in 2009, but its the last priority in the current economy because I will only do this if we don't have to crack into savings or CC to go. I'd rather have the remodel done than take a fancy vacation as well. I also need to focus more on the Flylady system to keep the house clean and get back on the 6-day a week workout routine, instead of about 4 which it's hovering around now. Here's to a great year!

It's done!! Well mostly… I have to finish up the FAQ page, but for the most part, everything has been converted. Most notably new background story on moi and before/after photos.

"Simply Irresistibly" has become naughty @ SuburbanDebauchery.com

Fantabulous news! I've actually got a new Simply Irresistble layout in the works.

I had Jeremy set it up on a new domain, I'll announce to everyone once its ready. We're going to San Francisco this weekend (YEA!! NAPA!!!!) so I probably won't have time to work on it. The bulk of the work is choosing which before/after photos to scan, and rewriting a lot of the static content. It will be a fitness blog mainly. I know there is still interest, and I want to do the conversion right this time.

My girl Jenny called me last week to update me on her wedding plans. I actually get to be a bridesmaid (which I've never been... only a poor lowly bride ) Check out her dress and the bridesmaid dress I think she decided on (will be in navy).

I'm watching the movie, "Batteries Not Included" as I write this. Seriously the cutest movie EVAR. Who cannot love baby spaceship robots. I want one!! Movies On Demand are awesome.

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password: