Category Archives: Changes & Progress

January Update – Guest Bathroom

29 Saturday Jun 2013

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We actually finished this months ago, but I never got around to the update, so here it is.  We are moving through the house, room by room, doing all those things that have been sitting on the “Wow.  Need to fix that someday.” list.  Not the huge things, but the little things that don’t really hold you up, but which constantly hang in the back of your mind.  And we frankly never really finished the guest bathroom to completion.  The January list item was:

Home – Guest BathroomGuest Bath

  • Buy & install replacement toilet seat, mirror, trash can & doorknob (budget $100, use rewards points where possible)
  • Deep clean
  • Touch up paint – matched and bought paint
  • Before & after pictures – dangit, took the door down before I got pics.
  • Sand and stain door, rehang to adjust to house settling – sanded

How did it turn out?  Pretty darned well.  The door in particular looks terrific.  And yes, the walls are actually the outside of the original house and the ceiling is tin painted with copper paint.  The cabinet is the exterior window, the paint colors are identical to the four color outside of the house.  We came in just under budget and even picked up new hand towels on sale.  The room is completely decluttered, everything needed stores away in the cabinet, total cleaning time less than 10 minutes – the secondary goal of each room redo being to minimize and reduce cleaning time.

Mission accomplished!

Halfway Through The Year

10 Monday Jun 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Cheapskate, Health, Home

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Time to catch up and review.  We finished the guest bathroom, it looks great.  We’ve got the house scheduled for painting.  I’ve lost 15 pounds.  The heir finished up his school year and is now a senior.  All the credit cards and credit lines are paid off and current.  Things that weren’t on the list are changing cellular companies which saved $15 per month plus netted us 2 smartphones instead of one and unlimited data (that’s going to be my next post ’cause I’m danged impressed with T-Mobile right now).  Next up is taking a good look at my insurance policies – which I’m woefully behind on.

I’m not where I wanted to be with certifications, but that’s the focus of the next month and a half.  I’ve also been a slack blogger, but that’s sadly nothing new – I did add it to my regular to-do list so hoping that will improve things a bit.  I did complete a long term goal and haunt Craigslist until I found the perfect porch furniture – it’s gotten a huge workout.  By the end of summer I’m aiming to have the porch repainted, my hanging baskets up, cushions for a freshly painted porch swing and a ceiling fan over the table.

So much for a laid back summer, but I’m pretty happy with how the year has gone so far.  Happy June, everyone!

Packing Up the Holidays

06 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by in Changes & Progress, Home, Minimalist

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Last year the first thing we accomplished around here was clearing out the Christmas clutter and cleaning up the storage organization.  This year we had the decorations up, presents wrapped and the holidays ready to go (inside and out) in one day with everything easy to find.  All the lights worked, all the ornaments had hangers, all the wrapping stuff (boxes, paper, ribbons, bows, tags, tape) were in a single box.  In short, smooth and simple.

Today we are reversing the process and it is going just as quickly and smoothly. 🙂

Sitting Kills

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

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Seriously scary research on sitting for those of us with office jobs.  Before I moved to my current (nice, stable, full time with benefits and no travel) job, I was a road warrior who spent the vast majority of my time standing, walking, moving in general.  Not so for the last five years.  Recent studies are showing that even if you exercise regularly, if you sit more than 6 hours a day, you dramatically increase your chances of dying of a heart related illness over 10-15 years.  So, I decided to go for a standing desk.  Unfortunately, the cost of those is danged prohibitive and my team just moved to a new building with all new furniture so the chances of getting one that way was slim to none.

Enter the internet, Home Depot and IKEA.  Using the information in this article on building a $22 standing desk with off the shelf frankenparts from IKEA, I now have a serviceable standing desk (though I made some modifications – pictures and details in the next article) and the experiment begins tomorrow.  First though, read this article in the New York Times, take a look at the infographic below and start standing and moving around as much as possible – even if you regularly exercise.

Sitting is Killing You
Via: Medical Billing And Coding

January In Detail

02 Wednesday Jan 2013

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The checklist – to be edited/updated as we go along.

Finances – Tax Preparation

  • File all 2012 receipts, bills, etc. for tax filing.
  • Shred all unnecessary old records by schedule.
  • Set up 2013 file folders.
  • Save online statements as needed to archives.  (No paper)

Health – Exercise Journal

  • Join 2013 Challenge on Endomondo – done
  • Schedule 5K.
  • Enter mileage schedule for January to calendar – done
  • Pick a Kinect fitness program for “don’t feel like going out” days.

Home – Guest Bathroom

  • Buy & install replacement toilet seat, mirror, trash can & doorknob (budget $100, use rewards points where possible)
  • Deep clean
  • Touch up paint – matched and bought paint
  • Before & after pictures – dangit, took the door down before I got pics.
  • Sand and stain door, rehang to adjust to house settling – sanded

Career – ITIL Service Operation Exam

  • Schedule exam time
  • Study