My progress in this area continues to surprise me. I have no doubts re; the power of writing down my goals. As soon as I make the goals public; I'd better be ready, as progress will happen with, or without me!

I've now got just 2 small amounts of $ still owing for Sept. & know that they will both be coming in pretty soon. Have spoken to both parties.

I've updated the boarding agreement for the horse people & have one signed one on file. One to go. Met with both horse people & re defined my responsibilities here.........which amounts to nothing but having the property. Cleared up what their TO DO list is on a daily basis. Could further tighten this up by having a consequence if they don't hold up their end here.

Talked to the parking space rental person, he gave a sort of notice............he is looking for a space closer to Seattle. It would actually clear things up here if he did move, as the space could be rented to a horse person for feed storage.

Had a productive conversation with room mate person which resulted in one of her OLD vehicles being towed off the property today. (her choice) One down, a few more to go.... She is to be clearing all of her junk out that is sitting outside the one building we agreed was hers to use. This amounts to an incredible amount of stuff.....will keep the pressure on here.

All in all......a very good month. I have had to step way out of my comfort zone with these landlord type issues this month. I hate this part, but I survived and here we are almost at the end of the month; things are being addressed, accounts are almost all current and most of my people here are happy campers. Now I just need to keep this up so little things don't become big things and I start to ignore them and they become disasters.

My next big thing on the list here for me is to see if it is really possible to buy another property (I know, this puts me further in landlord territory) and lease it out. Started researching today, will make some calls when I get back home next week.

It probably gets boring .....my life; spending no money!

I do have expenses on the horizon, the van & it's mysterious tire noises, as well as the rental for our pseudo camping experience next week end. So, I don't go through a month spending nothing, and I don't feel deprived. There just isn't much I feel compeled to purchase, besides keeping the monthly bills paid up.

I have continued to have the automatic amounts taken out of my checking account; including a couple savings accounts, stock fund and mutual fund. I thought I might have to stop these, or at least cut back....but so far, I'm still chugging away and not feeling the crunch after formally retiring.

Maybe the deal is I'm old. Old enough to have collected all the "stuff" I could ever need (or want)?? Old enough to really know the difference between need & want in the first place? Old enough to have made a ton of mistakes (and learned from a few of them)??

Whatever the combination, I just don't end up having a conversation with myself about "should I spend money for_______?" It just doesn't come up.

I just thought of another possible reason I don't spend money!! I'm old enough that I tend to forget what I was thinking I needed anyway! That must be it!

I may not be spending money today, but wow is my TO DO list a long one!

I'm scheduled to go "camping" (read this a bit tongue in cheek........it's a coast to coast resort deal, with mobile homes we rent that sleep 9) next week end, so I'm starting to set things aside for that.....

I've got 2 sewing orders to complete today for appointments tomorrow AM.

Will have my 2 boys here all day today, but I've cooked ahead, so meals should just be a microwave sort of deal; love that.

We're trying to do the first phase of the Extra Vehicle Dance here today; aiming to get most of the rarely driven, excess trailers, etc into a newly carved out section of property........ So, I need to get the rocks picked out of it and mow it to a manageable level prior to noon when the truck with hitch & a backing trailer up sort of brain arrive.

I need to pack for a couple days at my moms, starting tomorrow........which cuts down my prep time for the camping trip to Thurs, Fri & Sat. In one of those days I need to get my van in for a service date; as I'm the driver for this upcoming excursion. My tires are doing a shimmy sort of thing when they hit a certain speed......and I need an oil change sort of pit stop too. If I can find a spare scrap of time this week, I'm getting dangerously close to Have To Have A Haircut time.

With all that said, I'd better get off my duff here and park myself at the sewing machine. Taking coffee & some good listening music with me so I can enjoy my morning...........prior to switching gears and picking rocks!!!

Hope everyone has a blessed Sunday!

After 11 months in this new place, I've finally come to grips with the idea I actually live here now. And, I am going to stay for at least another year. (for those that remember the previous owners call re; this house..........she is not wanting to buy it back right now, not even next year, something about being scared of the capitol gains tax if you buy too often?? I hadn't heard anything about that......but anyway, she isn't an immeadiate offer on the table)

So, even tho I truly haven't fallen in love with this property, nor the house.......I'm going to dig in my heels and put in my time here like as if I'm living here. (notice I'm not planning on making it HOME). I'll do the work, fixing up all the things that will make a true difference to someone looking to buy it, continue working on the yard, and making the whole place work to pay for itself.

All that being said: I advertised on Freecycle today for a kitchen table & 4 chairs. Big step for me. No way am I going to buy furniture for this place, but it has been tricky getting a meal served to the 6 adults that occasionally eat here. It's time I get a real table and enough chairs to go all the way around it. We've got the original table I bought when I "set up house" for the first time way back when..... and 3 odd chairs. Odd as in they are all different.......and they each are truly odd as chairs go too. Time for the whole funky mess to move on to the burn pile out back I believe. Crossing fingers that I have an email tomorrow from some kind freecycling soul with a solid table and 4 respectable chairs that all need a good home!

I know I'm not the only one that has noticed this............. But, when I write something down and it goes "public" or "live", it takes on a brand new level of importance in my life! I've journaled my entire life, at least since I was in the 5th grade....but this is so much different.

When I write here, especially listing goals, or plans; I'm compelled to make some progress and make it quick, so I have something to come back here and report on!

Magic, mysterious power this blogging business. I'm definately hooked, and my life is so much more organized because of it.

This whole business was in my face again today as the very last of my issues on my Landlord 101 posts has been addressed today. Amazing to me; left to my own devices, I would have ignored a pesky situation or two until they had got totally out of control. And, with the items listed here......I just got busy paying attention to each one until just today, the last little situation got attended to.
(I have added one more piece; but can't address just yet......but it does involve the horse boarding situation since the horse lady sold one of her horses to someone else, I now have 2 horse boarding people....just need to work on some of the boarding agreements to get them up to date)

So, the progress looks like this:
-Horse lady is up to date on rent
-Added horse person paid through the end of 2006
-Parking space for van: talked to the owner, he thought he had auto payment set up, but it had only been set up for a one time payment. Is changed to monthly now & will be caught up by Oct. 1.
-Room mate person has paid for Sept now...and will continue paying half the expenses here from now on. She will also begin paying me the money I helped her with to purchase her vehicle, starting in Oct.
-New RV renters out back: met with them re; the Things That Must Be Changed...and they are making headway. They are paid up too!
-Helped mom with the Please Move Out Letter for her pesky tenant, got that mailed and also listed her vacant apt.
-And, the last little piece here is the Navy rental.........he will pay, he just has no set schedule that I know of. He is more help than anyone else around here, so I should be paying him, technically. But, the agreement was for him to pay half of the electric bill, so we'll stick with that.

In addition to all of these just falling into place, we've worked together to come up with a parking area for everyones added vehicles, trailers and assorted "other" things that came with everyone. Fences are moved and this weekend should see the rocks get picked up and the area mowed, then everyone can start moving things in and clean up the entire piece of property in the process.

I had listed what seemed impossible to me, and given myself all of Sept to begin working on THE LIST.... and here it is the 15th and I'm done with the list, have taken on a bit more in almost all the situations and we've still got half a month left! TA DA and a thank you to everyone who reads this and makes me accountable. Thanks also for all the terrific pointers & suggestions along the way; it is so true, a couple of heads working together on something makes such a difference!!!

I have gone to one too many of these financial seminars.....the latest one was yesterday with my mom. She had received a "special invite" and off we went.

I was doing OK with the info presented right up til the end when the bottom line ended up being "pay to attend a 3 day seminar" scheduled in Oct. If we didn't sign up right then, of course the price went up and up! (I hate that tactic, it really makes me cranky in a hurry)

So, we walked out. But, I'm still pretty sure all the info was right on.....I just think I can do much of it on my own, or at least with the collective wisdom here and in the forums.

His basic premise was to include Real Estate/Stocks/Forex and Net commerce to create passive income streams. Not a bad plan at all. But, he needed to sell his 3 day event & then give us all his Free Software package telling us all how to do the income stream.

I have more learning to do........as many of his ideas rang very true, but I'm just too much of a wimp to jump right in. I'll need to do more reading and research prior to making any big moves....but on the other hand, if I don't make my money MAKE some money, I won't ever be in a better position. I do feel like I'm at a financial cross road right now & I don't need to pay anyone for a 3 day seminar to help me figure that out.

I think I'll put all his points on my 2007 list.........as I'm already booked through 2006 with my Landlord 101 program!

No matter what time I get up or how late I stay up, I can't seem to catch up! I was going to title my entry Getting More Behind Every Day, but the double meaning had me laughing ...........but it sure is true. I'm working harder, more jobs, longer hours and I am getting 'farther' behind as well as gaining more of a behind in the process. Drat on both accounts!

I need to put me on the list here, so I start seeing that things for me get worked into the days.....

Update on Landlord 101:
-Horse lady did pay up & is now current. She has agreed to change the fencing so I have room to park vehicles and not put them IN the pastures. Have the new boarding agreement now, will have the 2 people sign these before the month is out.
Reminded both of them that I am not paying for any of the upgrades or repairs for the pastures.
-Emailed the renter of the parking place....no response yet.
-Temp tenants moved out of the extra bedroom here. Experience was absolutely terrific. Will start advertising again.
-New tenants in other house called & emailed me this week, sounded urgent, but I can't reach them by phone or email, so will cross my fingers & pray all is well there.
-room mate person has paid 2/3 of her rent for Sept already. Nice!
-RV spot #1: rent due
-RV spot #2: rent paid already

I will be at my moms again for the next 4 days, helping in her yard, getting it ready for fall/winter. While there, I'm hoping to work with her on 2 of her rentals. She has one still vacant (all ready to rent) and the other we need to ask the tenant to move. Can't seem to get a letter written that my mom approves of ...she is having a hard time with this one.

Two repeat sewing customers today......will need to get their orders done when I get back home, as they are already scheduled to return next Monday. My regular private knitting lesson has been bumped to Friday this week, since I'm out of town.......but in my spare time I'm making samples to take to class.

HA. Spare time. What in the world is that???

Got a freecycle call this AM and I'm off to pick up a rooms worth of drapery sheers this afternoon (on my way to moms). Hoping they will work for any of the rooms here at the new place. I have been without window coverings as I took down all the ugly, old, dark brown draperies on the first day here!
Even if they aren't exactly right, I can change them around and make them work for something! Free fabric is better than paying money for fabric any day!

I am seeing the survey "business" begin to pick up! I remember reading others blogs & thinking "how do I do that??" With patience and a bit of tweaking on my answers....I'm definately noticing a difference in the number of surveys I'm being offered as well as the amount of them that moves on to a 2nd level.

I did receive a check this week for a survey, granted it was only $5.00 but that sure beats the surveys I was doing for that not so fantastic Sweepstakes Entry!!! Then, this AM I've already completed a survey for $6.00 (will need to wait to see that one) and this afternoon I'm scheduled for my 3rd interactive survey for $20.00.

I couldn't get connected to the first one I tried, but the 2nd was easier and the survey was actually fun. So, we'll see how I do today......... The requirements for my PC settings are what threw me the first time, and the window to get online with the company is pretty small, but definately worth it in my opinion. I'll work for $20.00 an hour, with no commute & no expenses!

Since I'll be staying home again today; it's another No Spender here! Making money too.........Gotta love this! Have a few chores to do today, something needs to find it's way into the crock pot and I'm going to mow the lawns. (one benefit to it being so dry & hot here for so long.....the lawn just didn't grow, so WAY less mowing, thus.....less gas needed)

Feels like this is my comfort zone; spending nothing all day. I can do this forever I think. I would have been great as a pioneer, not complaining a bit about living a long ways from "town".

I've often had this thought; I've been born a few generations later than I would have chosen. (if I had been given an option!) I think I could hold my own if I was plopped down in a different era........making my families clothing, putting up food for the winter, gardening as if our survival depended on it......the whole works! Anybody else feel like this, or am I the only odd duck?

Anyway.....digressing here and totally enjoying the fact that I can let my mind wander. (another benefit to retirement!!)
Truly spent nothing today, and made money too. My knitting student paid me a sizeable tip, over and above my hourly fee.....a nice surprise!! She is hooked and will be a regular. I hope she rounds up some friends & neighbors now and we can turn this into something a bit bigger! Too fun.

I filled up yesterday when I found gas at $2.79 a gallon. Who knew I was going to think that price was an absolute bargain??

It's been over $3 for so long here in WA that I was almost getting used to needing $50 to fill up. Even with my limited driving life here, I was feeling the added expense for gas. Using only $30 yesterday felt like I had hit the jackpot!

Heading out today (already using up some of the cheap gas) to teach a private knitting lesson. Still can't get over making money doing something so fun! It ought to be illegal!

At moms again for a short overnight stay.......we used the remaining gift certificate for a nice dinner out, and had it figured so close our total owed was .01. The waitress just zeroed out our bill...... Nice. This was one of the free dinners the restaurant sent us after I called & complained about moms meal.....that she was sick as a dog for 24 hours after eating there. So, she really did Pay for her dinner, just not with cash I guess. Anyway, we did have a fun time, great visiting and lots of laughs too. Nice to have a mom as a best friend.

I had brought the van full of items all priced for the new antique booth, and we stuffed all that into the booth prior to dinner. Couldn't see that anything had sold yet......but I still need to fill it in with more stuff. In my short bit of experience with this, things don't sell unless they are sort of crammed in the space. I've still got my things pretty spread out to fill in the booth...probably another couple van loads will make it just about right.
Hoping stuff starts flying out of there, making more $ than the rent that's due.

Took mom thrift store shopping again. I do think she's addicted to it now...but she won't go on her own. Funny about that. We did find her some tops, which is the only thing she will buy there. Again, funny. But, she found 5 this time and only spent $13.00 which is a pretty fair savings for her.

Another no spend day for me. (still thinking I need to figure out how many of these I have in a month....maybe I'll remember to keep track in Sept???)

Can't believe August is almost a done deal. I was out today and saw the trees beginning to take on some fall color already. Once that happens, whoosh......it will be Christmas and then the new year. I need to remember to take time to enjoy life and not get caught up in all the busy stuff.

I moved the things out of the antique booth up north....and wouldn't you know, August was my best month there! Took everything out none the less and will re price with the others stores price tags and pop them all into the other booth by next week.

Finished a quick little survey on line for an easy $5.00 today. Nice surprise. I don't usually qualify for many of these.

Even tho I paid the mortage this month for the old house (the new tenants are working & paying for repairs in exchange) I'm still doing OK budget wise. More money in than money out and that is always a good thing.

I've continued to keep my automatic savings funded, as well as my money market and my stocks......so far so good. I can stop these if things start to feel tight, but I would rather cut anything else first.

Finished off my month with a quick trip and lunch with my kiddo that moved out in June. Just a couple hours with him and I'm totally exhausted. A nice reminder why I'm retired.

No new plans for Sept, just keeping up with all my little part time jobs and spending the bare minimum on monthly bills.

Staying home is a pretty sure shot I won't be spending money........heck, I can go lots of places and still not spend money. So, it's another boring but financially satisfying entry here.....no spending of money at all today.

I managed to unload a bunch of stuff on Freecycle and that felt great. Met a half dozen great people, most who were wowed with the garden patch here. Some were down right shocked with the squash jungle that is creeping into the parking area! Got to share info about the website I've been writing for, the gardening site connected with saving advice.

For the 2nd month in a row, this has been my power bill. I have not sent in a payment, but we're using the surplus in the account from over the winter when I was paying the average payment of $150.00 per month.

Now, the Navy person is paying half of the power bill too.........and there isn't one! Go figure!

If it had been a different time of my life & I was still working full time, I probably would have put some money in the account. But, for these 2 months, it has been a nice relief to not do that. I will start paying the new average payment next month. Good to know we did a good job this past year holding the line on the power used here. (I'm not telling a soul here however, or they will all relax, taking it as a direct message to turn everything back ON!!!)

OK, this one was even too weird for me. Parts of his stories didn't jive with what he had already emailed me and the reasons he needed to move were sounding a bit off too.

The whole visit here was sort of painful... well,not really.....but I sure couldn't wait til he was out the door, then down the road.

The roommate person was more than a little afraid I had already told this gentleman (use that term loosely), he could move in. The current temp tenant was almost laughing out loud at me as I tried to be polite, but usher this man to the door.

I'm still way ahead on my Craigslist folks however..........this guy isn't going to make me quit advertising or answering ads there. Not by a long shot. He was certainly good for some dinner conversation however....and quite a few laughs. I'm pretty sure I've never met someone who was wearing sooo much fake hair. He would scratch his forehead and the whole thing would move around. I'm grateful my parents taught me to be polite in any situation....and today gave me a chance to practice my skills.

I can't believe it is already feeling like fall here in WA state.......a tad foggy/misty like this AM and chilly enough people are searching for slippers here.

August has been interesting here:
-did pull in rental for the extra room
-I had the disaster from the old tenants at the other house, but am already seeing a huge leap in value there, due to the work & money the new tenants are putting in. I am grateful there were no down days at that place.
-did find out the part time recruiter job is ending Sept 30th. Will continue to search out who is awarded the new contract for this & contact them asap
-Jobs are getting tackled & finished, thanks to the Navy man staying on the property! (and he pays rent, can't beat this!...plus he is great to have around, nice, funny, patient with my DD kids)
-room mate person has paid entire amount of her half of the rent!!!!! Can't tell you what a first this is.
-Sewing business is becoming a bit steadier. Advertising now in 2 places regularly. Forget to put it in on Craigs list....dumb when that is free.
-Antique booth, already better at new location, will pull out of old one this next week and be in one place. Should be able to make rent and a profit at the new place the first month, much more traffic.

Think that's it for August.......mainly it's been busy, which feels so odd for me not working full time. I see that it takes more time to paste together these part time efforts of mine, than it did to do the full time job.

Looking ahead to fall here...........
-I've got the room rented til Sept 7th at this point, and a potential new person coming today to talk about the coming year here. Fingers crossed
-I will have to pay the mortage on the other house until Dec, as that was the agreement with the new tenants. But, in trade, I'm getting all the supplies and work done for the remodel over there. I am getting the work done, which I couldn't have done myself, and if I had to pay someone, it would have been WAY more than 4 months mortage. It will be a huge nice house, or 2 smaller nice houses when it's done. They are adding a kitchen to the downstairs, which was never finished, just plumbed in and they are putting a laundry room upstairs so there will truly be 2 entire houses. One 2 bedroom and a 3 bedroom upstairs. Nice. It could almost double the rental income possibilities.
-When the new tenants do start to pay rent at the first of the year, the number we have worked out pays for the monthly mortage, insurance and taxes so there shouldn't be anything I am coming up with in addition. That will be nice.
-And, then there is the possiblity of selling/trading this place to the previous owners. I'm having fun already looking at new properties! Nothing on the horizon that sparks my interest, but I'm actually looking forward to moving, which is soooo totally out of character for me!
-Keeping my resume out there, looking for something else to do (with all my free time) to add to the income stream here.

So, life's full........I'm enjoying this retirement bit and bills seem to get paid. Not sure how, since there really has been a decrease in income as of July, but I'm not going to argue!

Good thing I'm not into House Beautiful & Martha Stewart sort of entertaining here.
With the beginning of the new & improved Antique Booth business, the odd and interesting "collectables" have been collecting, right here in my office/living room area.

I can see everything from a table full of things that are offered for sale on Craigs list, since they are a tad too new to be an antique........or vintage.......We're just hoping there is someone out there looking for just the peculiar collection that is on that table.

Then, there are boxes and bins and tables and buckets and shelves..........oh, my goodness. I am sure stuff is multiplying overnight here!

I did get another truckload of absolutely priceless (????) treasures.......read with more than a touch of sarcasm please........taken into the booth today. Things are looking a bit better. The space has enough furniture pieces now; but could use a few more boxes of small stuff, and then there are the walls. I only have 1 print hung at this point, so need to come up with some other eye catching sorts of things....

We did have at least one sale since yesterday....obviously, we had the vintage glass doorknobs priced right, someone bought all of them! I didn't notice any other holes in the display and I don't like to go ask the staff. I can wait til the end of the month; in fact, I love trying to guess if there were sales or not when I visit the space.

So far, it feels great at this mall....I'm looking forward to spending some time there each week, re stocking and just playing with my displays. Fun stuff AND it makes money. Can't beat that!

I just need to remember the fun part when I look around my house! Neat & tidy we aren't.

My no spend days are stringing together, I think I am almost at a no spend month sort of stage. I did buy light fixtures this past month, and I did pay the monthly bills, but that's it as far as money out. (at least as far as my memory goes)

I am so comfortable with this no money lifestyle, it doesn't even cross my mind until I read something in another blog or article about tightening their budgets, etc.
I read the 101 cost cutting measures Jeffrey had highlighted in a recent blog entry that was given to airline employees being laid off........and had to just chuckle.

101 ideas and some of them I would consider living High on the Hog as we used to say. Made me really look at my lifestyle here. Am I really THAT cheap? Are there things I'm not doing that are so detrimental they have a negative effect on my life??

Nope. Nothing's amiss here. I like things just like they are and even daydream of being even more self reliant than I am. So, no changes on the horizon; I'll keep up the pace here to increase the contentment factor with no questions about am I missing something lurking in the back of my mind.

Our household is going through withdrawals. We are having problems with our router talking to the modem or something and my PC is the only one that can get on line. Everyone else is lining up here to check their email on this machine......

My son in law was just here and pronounced us as "having a problem". He got my computer up and running, and told the rest of the bunch they would have to wait til Monday.... Should make for a looongg week end here with everyone chomping at the bit.

This episode has caused us all to have a pretty good discussion as to how spoiled we all are, and how dependant we have become on our computers and being on line for almost everything!!! I can remember my house when none of us had a computer and then when we bought one for the household..........and tonight there are 4 here that are down and my one working system....all in the same house.

Selfishly glad my system is up and running....and I've promised not to be too irritating about it here!

Spent most of the week at my moms again, helping in the gardens as well as getting a few odd jobs off her TO DO list.

I did squeeze in a haircut and an evening of working at one of the part time jobs I seem to be collecting. I also checked out an antique mall in moms town and rented a booth starting this week.

We've got a pretty full house this week end......the young couple are still here, both respite young men are here and the Navy man is back from the trip to Oregon. His ship is now getting a make over so he hasn't got access to showers, etc on board, so we have one more using the bathrooms i& laundry. A quick meeting among all the folks and I think we have a workable bathroom schedule for the near future.

My lousy landlord skills are cropping up again, I've got folks that owe rent and I really, really don't like this part. I would rather not do anything and have them pay me when they could, than say anything. So far, money seems to be coming in at a rate that takes care of the bills, but it would be nice if all the parties paid up without a reminder. Makes me think about doing more retail rental types of investments?? Using a management firm??
Both are sounding inviting now.

This is just too easy. I responded to a freecycle item over the week end, (a huge bolt of sheer fabric,) thinking it might work to finish out the window treatments in my bedroom........

And, as luck would have it, the fabric belonged to someone I've begun to sew for & she quickly emailed me saying I was first to respond and she would bring the "good" with her today when she comes for her order. (that isn't even started yet!!! Thank goodness it is just hemming drapery panels)

Nice deal and I don't even have to drive for it. I had enough sheer fabric to do my slider but nothing left over for the windows, so I'm hopeful this new bolt will be adequate. I'm going to tea dye both pieces so they are similar in color, just want an off white, creamy neutral sort of affair and the tea should do the trick & if course it is in my price range of FREE.

Coffee's done, I'm heading to work.....which consists of shuffling out to the sewing room where I can open up the big door to the gardens, have my coffee, listen to some great music and make money at the same time. Not a bad day "at work" at all.

Off to another day at my part time job, which today......will mean sitting in the shade at a riverside park, talking up Foster Parenting.

Not a bad deal at all. And, I can take my knitting & finish a project or two for another of my "ventures". I'm going to supply some hand knit & crochet items for an ebay store just to see if there is a market for this type of thing.

So, outdoors........knitting and chatting.......and get paid. Doesn't get much better than that!

The new boarders will start dinner & I will help when I get home......This live in help is very handy.

Finally got accepted and made it through the pre question sort of stage for not one, but 2 surveys. Both happened today.

Got paid $4.00 for watching Good Morning America today.......at least 30 minutes of it, (which was easy, since I usually watch this while slicking up my room) Had to log in and answer a dozen questions anytime today prior to 10PM. Done, easy. Way easy.

2nd one, was a whole lot longer. Tons of questions earlier in the week. Can't even remember them specifically, because in my mind, they were both the same survey. Got all the way to this afternoon before I realized there were two of them.

Had to log in at a certain time this afternoon, not as easy as it sounds. I had qualified for one from the same company last week and I didn't get logged in in time, so they told me Thank You Very Much & I was done. I started earlier on this one, had to make quite a few adjustments to my PC in order for the thing to load. Was interactive this time, about food, which was hard since it was right before dinner for me.......and it made me really hungry!!! Lots of pictures of yummy food. Anyway, 60 minutes.......which flew by actually, and $20.00 for this one.

Now, if the new blinds actually show up from the Hunter Douglass survey, I'll really have a good month for this catagory of money making. I was beginning to think I was way too old, didn't buy near enough stuff or something......I haven't qualified for a survey since I started filling them out 5-6 months ago. Good thing I'm not easily discouraged, huh??

Also squeezed in a sewing customer among the events of the day....and she is bringing another couple jobs when she picks this current one up next Monday. Love these kind. Repeats before I even get the first order done!

Boy, do things look different to me this morning. With the rental issue resolved, (months of work left to do, but we have a PLAN) I slept for almost 8 hours and feel like a new person....maybe not new, but at least a well rested old person!

Have been up for hours, make breakfast for the natives here, cleaned the kitchen that didn't get cleaned after the cooking marathon of yesterday..... did the rental meeting instead of cleaning up.

Have a kettle of applesauce simmering and the house smells delicious. If I'm making applesauce, fall has to be on the doorstep here. Meals are all a snap today, due to mass food prepared yesterday. Love that.
Will have several meals to put in the freezer tonight too....I'm doing a fair job of keeping the kitchen freezer just for my ready to heat & eat meals. Helps with the organization and I get a more constant update/reminder of what there is to use, as well as what needs replentishing.

The day might even get capped off with a paycheck this afternoon. It is the first week of the month already........and both my kids families owe for Aug now. An uneventful day here...just like I like them! No spending, no going anywhere, just enjoying a day without a schedule.

As a matter of course now, there was no spending again today. With my change in work status, (30 days today) I decided to really tighten up on everything until I could figure out how much I was able to make. Still can't tell what the money in aspect is going to look like, too early to guess too.....need to give my ads probably 6 months to be accurate.

So, no spending it is. I can do this. I've done it before out of necessity, and later on by choice for different reasons each time. So, nothing new. Spending money is truly what is out of character for me. It does show me I have all I need, and then some. Blessed indeed here and more than content.

All meals out of the garden and freezer these days. Yummy home made burgers this evening with a fresh salad and steamed new green beans. Add to that; most of the condiments for the burgers were home canned too, or fresh from the garden. Again, I'm stumped when I continue to run into people that don't garden, never have and don't want to. Even when they complain about the price of groceries they won't entertain the option of planting anything themselves.... Seems like one of those simple solutions to a problem to me!

Worked in the yard today and set up a free to me bird bath in a new garden. Looks great......now it just needs some plants. Will keep an eye out on freecycle for something suitable, or put in a wanted post next Sat.

Last day of the month, I think I've done what I'm supposed to have done re; the part time job and their data base. The only time I find out any info is when I've done something wrong, or omitted something....... There are no directions, or templates to follow. What a silly way to run a business. I know if I've done something outside the lines, I'll get an email tomorrow.........I'm saving the emails, making myself my own procedure book of sorts.

Goals related to $$$ for August

#1 had better be, get the rental RENTED.
#2 continue building the sewing business
#3 send emails to local home schooling groups, advertising the sewing and knitting (thanks to a fellow blogger here for that tip & reminder)
#4 shop and purchase the supplies for the projects the Navy man is going to be taking on this fall.

I would be thrilled if I get that short list completed......

I've always been pretty particular about my house and yard, but with the "Navy" now here, I've discovered I'm very, very lax about everything. I guess having the kids here for decades has worn me down to a frazzle and most things just didn't matter; except making it through the day til bedtime!

Our Navy man has been working since 9AM today, and has finished little things from the list and is now re arranging the pump house to put up shelving. He has reviewed the plans for the pump and is going to be changing my filter for the well, which I had no idea how to do. (tried to get some local well co, to come do it and teach me, but never got someone to agree to the job)

I'm going to need to do some brain storming to come up with enough projects to keep this guy busy. He comes in and sits in my office when he has completed all the items on the list (that we can do currently....some jobs are waiting for winter, as they are better suited to indoor time) I also need some supplies for him to work with, so there is going to be $$$ out in the near future. Since I'm not paying for labor, and most everything will help bring this property up in value, I think it's a good plan to spend money in this area. We are making a trip to my moms next week end to raid her lumber pile and permantly 'borrow' some of my dads tools. That should help keep costs down, as well as assist with cleaning up around her place.

Eating out of the garden, veggies for every meal here, and enough for stashing some in the freezer occasionally.

And, the best thing of all today.......I woke up to RAIN. Lots of rain. It rained last here on July 4th, not even enough to measure......and then really hot & dry since then. My gardens are almost talking to me they are so thrilled with this weather! Now the sun is out, but it is just 61, which feels like heaven to someone who has lived most of my life here in WA state.....Damp and cooler, my climate of choice...that is for sure.

Another no spend day here at our place.

The phone has rung, with potential renters for the big house here. Yeah!!! Since I don't have a key yet from the current renters, folks are going to drive by this afternoon. Praying at least one of them just can't envision living anywhere else!!!

When the phone hasn't been ringing, I've been on it for my part time job......trying to contact local law enforcemtent offices. We're trying to get booth space at all the local Nat'l Night Out Against Crime events happening on Aug 1st...

Low Cost Fun Tip: Night Out Against Crime is happening nation wide, usually on Aug 1st in the evening. All free, tons of police vehicles, fire vehicles, all the canine units, live music, food......(pretty sure the food will cost something, but the rest is all free). Great summer activity, especially for those of you with kids that are police car/fire truck crazy.

I'm so enjoying the cooler temperatures here today. Spent some time in the garden, could stay outside long enough to hang the laundry.... how nice, I was getting pretty close to running out of clean clothes!!

I placed an ad in a larger paper this week, hoping to generate some interest in the rental house that will be vacant as of Aug.

I tried Craigslist first, got a handful of emails, and one appt to see the home, but nothing too serious yet. Will continue to keep the house listed there, since it is free.........my favorite 4 letter word!!

I do have some money put away that will cover the monthly mortage payment for a few months.......but I haven't taken money from that account for anything for ages, so I'm leary of doing it at all. I need to exercise some caution here.....as I tend to rush into renters, so I'm not footing the bill; and then "pay" for it later.

Vowing to move a little slower this time. Do some interviewing as well as the credit check. (have no idea how to go about that, going to learn a few new things this time)

Still haven't called the state licensor to see if there is another company interested in having the home for a group home, which is my desire....... They are the ones that reccomended the people that just got the license pulled, so a bit of nasty residue left re; all that.

Another no spend day here.........stringing quite a few together this month, as I knew I would. When presented with a finance challenge of any sort, I can tighten up the purse strings so quickly the money literally jumps back IN the purse. I have spending nothing down to a science here. And, the interesting part is.....I usually don't mind and often don't notice.

How, you say, could I do that? Taking that perfectly beautiful, crisp, home grown cucumber and make it less than a perfect food???

Well, I confess. One of my 'have to' treats is a sandwich made with a fresh cucumber........on white bread with mayo........and a liberal dousing of fresh cracked pepper.

It just doesn't taste the same on whole grain bread. Even homemade. Sorry. Since it will only take me a couple sandwiches to get this out of my system, I'm going to ignore any health conscious suggestions to alter my summer treat and just go for broke.

I noticed there was a good sized cucumber, hiding under the bush beans (that have sort of gone nuts) when I walked the dog this AM. I hadn't even started to check the cucumbers, but will now include them in my daily checks out front.

Note to room mate person: Buy ingredients for salad dressings. We do go through lots of dressings and dips during our gardens prolific times here. Favorite is still my version of ranch, comes out to be more of a yogurt/peppercorn sort of event.
Totally yummy.

Will try to come up with a healthy stir fry from the garden to make up for my not so healthy lunch.........

This heat wave has to give way to our usual NW weather pretty darned soon, or there will be casualties! We aren't geared for these kinds of temperatures and are fading fast out here.

My productivity rate has slumped to nothing. No, I take that back, I started the dishwasher this AM. I did get up before the sun came up and finished an order for a sewing customer too. The sewing room was OK at that time of day. But, the rest of the day is looking like a sit in front of the fan, read a book sort of day again.

I am going to attempt washing the pots & pans that have collected since the thermometer has sky rocketed here in WA. Putting my hands in hot water seemed excessive & I've been putting it off.....but the kitchen looks nasty, so today is the day.

Getting paid for the sewing order this afternoon......so Money IN again. It's a no spend day here........with nothing else on the schedule.

Meals are pretty much out of the garden these days, so they aren't costing much. When I don't have kids to feed, I've been enjoying just veggies for most meals. Too yummy!

OK, free time's over, I am heading to the kitchen to clear out the last 3 days of mess & clutter.