Cost of Living

Dear Friends:

Over this past few weeks I have been sprucing up my home by painting and cleaning. I have posted all along mentioning my adventures and my discoveries. I have a good life. I have good solid assets. My house for one, a reliable car, good furniture and dependable appliances. I follow the belief that if I "take good care of my assets, my assets will take care of me" so to speak.  Investing in quality has proven that to me over time.  If I buy that needed item and know I will need it for years to come, then cost may not totally be a factor.  There are few really great things that are cheap. Sometimes its better to hire a professional to do the work and other times I can do the work.  Like painting or cleaning.
The things I do are in a certain order and done from start to finish before starting another project.  This saves me from wasting money on items that I think I might need and will never use, save me time and effort because there is a specific start and end, and it keeps me from feeling stressed out by the unfinished mess in my home.  I have great discipline when it comes to projects and time management.  Skills I learned when I owned my own business.  I do not like unfinished things like business with a person, big projects, and so on.  I personally find it appealing to see the completed job so I can then make changes or sit back and reap the rewards.

All the things we do to protect our assets and still the cost of living keeps going up yet somehow we still continue on living life and making our dollars stretch. With rising costs in, well, everything taking care of my home and saving for my future have become more of a challenge than before. Its funny I heard my parents saying this same things in the 70's and 80's.  Still I am surprised at the low wages being paid and rising cost of so many of our everyday necessities.  It seems that everyday I hear of companies eliminating jobs and squeezing the existing workers to do multiple jobs under one job title.
Well, because of constant uncertainty in my earnings level, I have learned how to "play the rules".  Not break the law or get government handouts. Just play the rules. To clarify I will attempt to journal what I buy, what is deductible and what I can make myself.  I can deduct certain things from my taxes like medicines as we all know but did you know it is not limited to medicine?  Medical expenses are not just doctor visits and RX, Its the miles traveled to get such medical attention, (medical milage) and the out of pocket expenses you incur as a result of the diagnosis, like bandages, alcohol and, medication not covered by insurance and so forth.  In the following posts, I will show you just how much you can save if you know how. This is what I am talking about.  I don't presume to know everything, but I have a clue and am I always open to learning more.

Keeping it simple.

Peace,
Suz

Before you hire that painter read this

Good Morning:

I have been working on my home for several weeks now.  We are cleaning and purging what we don't want. This all started when I decided to make our lives more comfortable and relaxed. Along with cleaning I decided we need to paint our moldings in the house. Looking to hire a painter and exploring the cost vs. my time, I decided I could paint the interior trim one room at a time. I bought paint and planned to go over all the trim room by room. While cleaning the bathroom floor today I was thinking while cleaning like I always do (It's kind of like meditation for me) my mind wandered to a line in the film Bruce Almighty where Morgan Freeman (who plays God beautifully) says to Bruce (played by Jim Carey) "life can be messy, but you can always clean it up".  While on my hands and knees cleaning the floor I wiped over the moulding with my sponge revealing fresh white paint. I thought it was chipped paint but turns out dusting I do didn't remove all the dirt. I did all the trim in the bathroom with vinegar and water solution which I mixed with citrus cleaner, and the moulding looks new.  Whoever painted my bathroom used high gloss oil based paint and it really has held up. I'm scrubbing down all the trim now in the house noticing only some areas need painting. This is saving my self a lot of work, and money. I can return some of the paint which I never opened, and I feel content with the job being completed.  Well almost. I still have some trim to paint that is in fact chipped but it's only one or two areas!

Peace and Joy to all
Suz