March is always a crazy month. Busy is an understatement. Baseball starts, which means we’re at the field 2-4 times a week. Our extended family has a lot of birthdays, which includes the 3 of our immediate family. We had a freak snow storm on St. Patrick’s day. The city went into gridlock. Everything was ice and cars were sliding down any hill anywhere in the city. The kids were off from school, and our dog hit a wall in health unexpectedly, and we said our goodbyes that day. It’s been quite the month.
This was a milestone birthday for me, and Mr. ODA threw a big party. That’s outside my comfort zone, but it was amazing. For that reason, I’m not going through March expenses because I really don’t want to know what he spent on me. It felt like we were spending left and right all month long, but our credit card payments have tracked as usual.
On top of all the usual things, the kids had a skating session in gym for 6 weeks. Volunteers come in for assistance, especially with the younger grades who need help even standing up. Last year, I did one session. This year, I couldn’t make it to the first one, but both kids expected me at all the other sessions, and so I did. I think it’s so cool that they get to do that at school. We also had an event for 1st graders one night, career day, and my volunteering to manage the lost and found.
We went on a spring break trip to Kansas City. I have a separate post about that coming later, but it was a pretty low cost trip, and we just explored the city.
RENTALS
A tenant moved out on April 1. She had been hemming and hawing for years about moving out because her child’s father was going to get a place with them, but things kept falling through. She finally gave a final notice, but then back tracked saying instead of January 31, she would stay through March. She did a great job moving out. I expected things left behind, or a mess of some sort, but it was great. The carpet is well past its useful life, so we’re replacing that. The walls are gross, so we’re painting everything. Actually, it turns out that painting a one story ranch is significantly easier and less overwhelming than any other house we’ve painted. Mr. ODA is worried about timing, but I’m feeling good about it. We lost a week to spring break, but from carpet measurement to install is projected to be less than a week, so that’s great. We also have an applicant in the wings that we’re working through right now, so hopefully we’ll be down for one month.
We finished our taxes, which included verifying expenses last year. We were able to claim some costs in full instead of depreciate them this year, so that was a nice way to recoup that improvement. I’ve been working on rent increases, and there’s a big batch of renewals that need notification before the end of this month.
NET WORTH
I’m still struggling getting a few accounts updated since I changed my phone number in November. So this is not a completely accurate representation of our funds, but it’s pretty close. I can’t get into my retirement account, which is a significant chunk of money, so that estimate could be off by a bit.
Our credit cards are a bit higher because we paid for carpet replacement in the rental. We also had to pay homeowners insurance on a few properties, and I always pay with credit card when I can so we get 2% back.
We also paid a chunk towards our new van loan. We had financed it to get $1000 off the purchase price. I have an earlier post that dug through those numbers to see why it was worth the few months of interest to get that price reduction.
Overall, our net worth went up from last month, so that’s a win.
It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the credit cards we have and how we manage using them. I seem to be caught in multiple conversations around me lately about how people feel credit cards are bad, so they use debit cards. I understand that some people have a bad history where they weren’t disciplined enough, but don’t you think after several years, you’re older and wiser and could likely teach yourself discipline? My last post was about how you could make $500 in a year just by putting an expense on a credit card and paying it off each month if you have 2% cash back. So let’s dive in to what we made in 2025. There is one caveat: we have a lot of credit cards and we put a lot of effort into using the categories; I fully understand this is more effort than nearly anyone else is willing to put in. But hopefully you can take just one thing away from this teaching and information.
You need to find your why. Your why is your driving factor on everything. Put things in perspective of “if I hadn’t spent $10 on that coffee, what could that have gone towards to provide me with longer term satisfaction?” I admit that I’ll go to Starbucks for a drink, but I buy about 5 of those $6 drinks (I get a very basic thing) in a year.
INTEREST EARNED: $1,191.42
The easiest way to make your money work for you is through interest on a bank balance. Currently, savings rates are hovering around 3.25%. I’ll just jump right into it: compound interest. Even if you have $500 extra, put this money in a savings account. At this interest rate, you’re earning $16 in a year, but that’s $16 more than you had at the beginning of the year. The mentality that $16 isn’t “worth it” is the type of thought process you need to move away from. If that balance was $5000 instead of $500, then that’s $162 in passive income.
TREASURY DIRECT: $2,098.14
This is more advanced interest income. You can create an account here and invest your money in short term securities (think CD type things at a bank). The rate is currently about 6.25%. You’re tying your money up for a period of time (4 weeks through 30 years), and the rate is tied to the term of investment, but we are actively managing our investments in 4-8 weeks segments, earning about $50 at a time.
CREDIT CARD REWARDS: $1,947.75
We have several credit cards. Some are a flat percentage for all purchases, and some have categories that earn an additional percentage back. The amount that I have here is only related to what we cashed out. More was earned, but we keep some in our Chase account balance so that we can get a bonus if we book travel through their portal.
If you don’t want to manage categories, go for the Citi Double Cash card. It gives you 1% on a purchase and 1% on a payment. The key here is that you can’t claim a statement credit because that doesn’t count as a payment, meaning you don’t get your 1% on that amount.
Without giving too much away on the cards we have, here’s a snapshot that I keep in my phone to remind myself what card to use for each purchase. The 5% category there changes quarterly. Usually, if I can’t use my Citi card, then I’m checking this graphic to see what the next best percent back for “everyday purchases” would be.
SUMMARY
This is “passive” income we’ve made. We had other avenues that brought in other income, but this is where we basically just spent money or kept money in certain accounts and brought in an extra $5,237.31. That’s a big number, and I’m sure that type of money can make a difference in your life or pay for a trip you want to go on.
I snapped a screenshot of a back and forth with THE Dave. I don’t know if it was accurate, but it sparked the same frustration in the poster as it would me. In summary, the caller says that if they put $2,000 worth of expenses on a credit card and pay it off before interest hits, getting 2% cash back, that’s an extra $40 per month. Do you see where this is going yet? Dave says no credit card. The $40 per month isn’t worth the credit card, and that’s not how you get rich.
I guess the first question is: Is everyone’s intent to be rich? Or is the average person’s desire to live comfortably and enjoy their life without worrying about their spending and making ends meet?
Every year I summarize the extra income we made in the year. I admit that we’re far above average in the management we do to get that, but the concept is there – we made more than $0 in extra income, and it’s nice to have money coming in that took barely any work.
I also take the time to admit that some people can’t manage their credit card spending and need the immediate acknowledgement in their account balance that money is leaving. However, even if you made credit card mistakes at 18, have you learned that lesson 10, 20, 30 years later? Do you think you’re in a different phase of life with more control and brain capacity to manage that spending?
$40 per month is $480 per year. If you took that extra income and put it in a separate bank account, what could you do for yourself for about $500? Does that sound enticing to put towards a trip, or to use that month allowance to go to a restaurant?
The flippant response that having no debt and not using a credit card, even if it’s paid off monthly, is doing a disservice to actually teaching people money management. Make your money work for you through rewards and interest, with very little effort, and you have that extra money to do things, even if that thing is just to pay a utility bill more easily.
My next post will detail the extra income we made in 2025 and how we manage our money to work for us.
I’m working with Keller Williams, and in a lot of ways, I see the parallel with Amway, which I also have experience with. People love to have their negative opinions about these companies, but both companies are teaching money management in a productive way if you’re coachable and paying attention. They’re teaching you to think outside the box.
I recently listened to Dianna Kokozska’s Ted Talk “Why Wealth Creation is the Ultimate Act of Love.” It makes the point that putting the effort in to being financially successful provides security, freedom, and opportunities for not only you, but others close to you in the event of a need. A phrase stuck with me: wanting money isn’t greedy; wanting money is strategic.
She shared how her son’s wife’s health was in trouble, and they needed money for a treatment. Not that everyone should have the ability to write a check for $35,000 on a whim, but do you have the ability to manage a crisis? Are you learning from others around you who have been successful? Are you keeping an open mind and actually making the attempt to build wealth?
Choose to be around people who challenge you. Look at your closest 5 people; are they where you want to be in life, or could you find a sphere of influence that can challenge you and teach you how to make money?
VICTIM MENTALITY
She quickly touches on the victim mentality. I see this around me at work often. People who seem to always have a crisis to manage. It’s in your head, and you’re focused on the negative instead of creating a positive outlook to be more productive with your money. Are you stuck in a spiral of “why does this keep happening to me,” or are you finding a path forward? Sure, we hit rough patches and things go wrong. The path forward comes in your decision as to whether you’re going to let these issues define you or if you’re going to find a way to make things better.
I have a family in one of my rentals that has both parents working blue collar jobs. He works in a kitchen and she usually works reception type jobs. I’ve known them since 2016. At that time, she delivered her 3rd child really early (I can’t remember, but it was like 30-32 weeks). There were extensive medical bills. They taught their children to work hard and to respect others. They had their own medical challenges. They lost several jobs over the last 9 years. They’ve had car trouble, making it a challenge to get to work. They ALWAYS find a way forward. If the car doesn’t work, they figure out uber and buses. If they don’t have money to pay bills, they tap into resources. They take initiative to find ways to get help with rent. I see a few splurges in their home, but they always seem like something they really appreciate. It’s not an excess of things that they’re spending money on. They communicate their challenges and let me know if something they’re working on is going to take more time. The rent they pay me is significantly under market value for that house, but I can’t bring myself to raise the rent that quickly or force them out to get it re-rented. They work so hard and are raising their kids to be resilient, and I just appreciate it so much. That’s the type of person who does not have a victim mentality.
While their efforts aren’t yielding them an extensive savings account or the ability to write a $35,000 check, they keep moving forward. Each set back is a lesson for them. They’re learning and growing. They’re not blaming others. They don’t tell me it’s someone else’s fault they don’t have money to pay rent on time.
POSITIVE APPROACH
You can be positive without being unrealistic. Optimism looks like focusing on the good in a situation, expecting a positive outcome, and approaching challenges constructively rather than ignoring them. There are many studies out there that will tell you having a positive thought process will lead to better stress management and overall well-being. It involves self-talk, reframing negative thoughts, practicing gratitude, and believing in your ability to overcome difficulties, fostering hope and improved health.
If financials are a struggle, plug in with someone who is doing well. Surround yourself with those who are meeting the goals you have for yourself. By being around these people, you will pick up on their thoughts and actions and find a way that you can implement some of those actions in your own life to start seeing success.
We opened a new credit card to purchase windows for our house. When we bought our house, there were 3 windows that had the gas seal broken and were dirty looking (not cloudy like I’d think would happen). Three sashes were really bad. One is on the side of the house in our bedroom, so we never see it. The other is the window over the garage, so front and center. We just keep the black curtain drawn so hopefully you can’t notice it, but it’s definitely noticeable if you look for it. Over the past 3 years, more windows have started to go. Some are getting to the point of being that bad, and some just have a holographic look to it that you can catch at certain angles. We also have a couple of windows that are freezing if you get near them. In my daughter’s room, I line the bottom of the curtains with stuffed animals to keep some of the cold out and let the animals absorb the cold.
Well, it was time to open a credit card then.
All of these companies are happy to open a line of credit for you. You can make payments on your windows (or really anything) for 5, 7, 10 years. Well, if you have good credit and don’t open credit cards often, you can look into giving yourself an interest free loan for 12-18 months.
We look for a credit card that offers at least 12 months of 0% interest and a reward of some sort. Usually the reward is related to an amount of cash back if you spend a certain amount in a certain period (e.g., $300 cash back if you spend $5,000 in the first 3 months).
We’ve done this several times. We opened a credit card to pay for IVF to have our first child (~$30k). We opened a credit card for the new carpet we put in our current house (~$10k). Now we opened a new one for windows ($11k). We pay about $500 (at least the minimum monthly payment owed) per month and always by the due date. If you are late on a payment, you forfeit the free interest and may even owe the interest that would have been owed on previous payments. Then as the end date of the 0% interest gets closer, we make a plan on where money will be transferred from savings to pay it before that date.
That’s one of the keys. We’re not taking this because we don’t have the money to pay it right now. We’re opening a credit card to allow our money to earn interest in a savings account of some sort for all that time. So instead of spending that money and losing that income, we delay the payment as long as possible to keep our money working for us. If you need something and don’t have the money to pay it right now, but you think you’ll be able to make payments on it as you earn income, then make that the variable. Don’t open a credit card if you haven’t ever and don’t plan to have that amount of money within the term. We also don’t open a new credit card while we’re paying on the previously opened credit card. In this instance, we paid off the balance of the carpet this past October. While it would have been nice to delay opening a new card a bit longer, the windows are really in rough shape, so we only had 2.5 months without a large credit balance to think about.
Well, tracking spending is just bugging me. We’re over where I want to be in monthly spending. I registered the kids for summer camps, so that was $580 more than usual spending. I also paid for a kid to take swim lessons ($85) and our gymnastics cost went up because she earned a spot in an advanced class that’s a half hour longer. If I take out the camp registration cost, then our spending is about $1700. My goal is $1350 per month. That’s not what we can actually afford (Mr. ODA’s number is higher), and I’m learning may not be realistic, but that’s my general goal each month. I’m halfway into March and can tell you that we’re going to be nowhere near that number this month, which is frustrating, but also reality.
RENTALS
We had two service calls this last month. One was a water heater being out and the other was unnecessary but cost us $100. This lady has actually been a problem in this realm. She claimed the mail key didn’t work for weeks and took forever to respond to messages. Mr. ODA finally went over there and it turned out she was trying the wrong box and not paying attention to what Mr. ODA was telling her. Then she said the microwave wasn’t working. The circuit was tripped, and Mr. ODA let her know that she can’t run an airfryer and microwave at the same time. Then she said the washing machine wasn’t working. We had an appliance guy go out and he said, “it’s working fine. There’s not supposed to be any more water than this in a high efficiency machine.” So much fun.
I’m expecting a tenant to move out at the end of this month. I still haven’t heard the final information on that, which isn’t surprising, but that’s on the horizon.
I increased the rent on two units over the last couple of weeks, which is in addition to a raise I put into effect on another one last month. I also have let three renew at the rate they were at the past year (or more) based on their cash flow numbers and the tenants in there.
PERSONAL
I’m still working part time. Although, these hours are 50% more than I had signed up for. I’m helping get another office organized and training a new hire. It’s been a lot. I feel productive, but I want more hours in my day. Mr. ODA started a part time job as well. We’re on the hunt for insurance help. We’re paying out of pocket for the whole policy that we were under for the last 5-6 years. While we’re not expecting a lot of coverage to be paid by the employer, there is a benefit to having the funds come out pretax.
NET WORTH
Well, my update isn’t really that accurate. I’ve updated the numbers I could, but I’m already days behind on my schedule, so I couldn’t wait for Mr. ODA’s numbers anymore. We are still carrying half of the window order on credit cards (and that install should be next week… hopefully… it’s been pushed back once already). Our investments are down even more than last month, but I don’t know the extent at this time. Our net worth decreased from last month, with 10 accounts not updated, so I’d say it’s a substantial hit.
We have been financially secure for Mr. ODA to quit working for years. In fact, the plan was that after he met the requirements for his paternity leave taken (which was essentially work the number of hours you took as leave), he would quit. That goal was met back in early 2023. The hold up for him quitting was always health insurance. Him working wasn’t a huge detriment to our life and things we wanted to do, and he was getting most of his health insurance cost covered by his employer.
Well, at the beginning of 2025, the deferred resignation program was introduced. While the first round was very questionable, our life was greatly affected by his employment and the government over the next few weeks, so it was a no-brainer to take the program during the second round. His last day of work was at the end of April, but he was considered employed and paid through September 30th.
As part of his separation, his health insurance was covered for about another month. He had the option to extend his current insurance for another 18 months after that, and that he’d be responsible for paying the full premium. At the time, it was about $1700, and the 2026 premium is $1900 per month.
MRS. ODA’S INSURANCE OPTION
Meanwhile (just coincidental timing), my current employer was investigating a new insurance policy for their employees across 4 offices. They were originating their insurance through the Ohio office. It was a really expensive policy for them. For the 5 people who were taking advantage of that insurance policy, they could have covered 23 employees on this new policy. We learned that Ohio is one of the most expensive states to originate insurance out of it, so we moved the policy to Kentucky.
Anyway, through that process, the insurance sales person was completely incapable of answering basic insurance type questions. Mr. ODA asked for the brochure of benefits. He said, “I emailed you the summary of benefits.” Mr. ODA pointed out that the summary of benefits was a summary of a much larger document, and we wanted those details. He said that didn’t exist. Mr. ODA called the actual insurance company, and that lady laughed and said they definitely have that.
The policy also required a gap coverage policy. The information given to me did not make me feel like it was going to be a smooth process. It sounded like the doctor’s office would submit the claim to my main insurance company. Once it was processed, I’d have to take my bill and EOB and submit it to the gap coverage company for payment. So I’d have to manage the paperwork processing and the payments between everyone.
Their quote for the family policy was about $1750. I told Mr. ODA that it wasn’t worth all that extra effort and the concern that this insurance policy would even work right (because this sales person was not able to answer questions or quell concerns), just to save about $150.
FINAL DECISION
So in the end, we decided to keep the enemy we know. All of our doctors are now solidly in place since we’ve been in Lexington for 3.5 years. I didn’t want to risk needing to switch to a different doctors office because of eligibility and coverage. I didn’t want to risk the coverage being a fight even more than my current policy creates. But mostly, in case something did end up going awry with this new policy option, we couldn’t get our old policy back. So while adding $1900 to our monthly expenses while losing Mr. ODA’s income isn’t the most ideal situation, this is where we’re at in life.
We bought this house in September 2019. Based on the comps in the neighborhood and time of year, I thought listing it for rent over $1000 wouldn’t yield quick results. I had the property manager list it at $975, which would have been easy to get in a Spring market. When it was still sitting 3 weeks later, we dropped it to $875. It took another 2 weeks to get it rented. Honestly, I blame the property manager. I have yet to find a company-driven property manager rent a unit of mine in less than 6 weeks, where I’ve had mine rented myself in a matter of one-two weeks (with a recent exception tha took 3 weeks). There were some concessions we gave to make it happen (no payment until November 1st), and the tenant would pay half of rent the month before it was due and the other half on the first. There were numerous errors made on executing the lease by the property manager, and I don’t believe the tenant was vetted correctly, so I eventually took over management.
There were a couple of rent increases along the way, to where she was paying $975 per month as the lease expired. She lived there for a couple of months shy of 6 years. Going into the final walk through, we were leaning towards selling the house. But we had people hunt us down (either on the street, finding my phone number, or through Facebook) to tell us they wanted to rent it. It was crazy. This outdated house with street parking and only one bathroom. Your neighbor has a whole kitchen in his front yard. It was really hard to understand.
MAINTENANCE HISTORY
In 6 years, we spent less than $5k on maintenance on the house. She was really slow to report issues. We did a few plumbing fixes over the years, replaced the back deck that was basically in shambles, and replaced the roof through an insurance claim. The insurance claim also yielded us being dropped by that company because there was a trampoline in the backyard. I had to threaten the tenant with that removal for about a month, but it eventually was taken away.
When Mr. ODA would go there, he would note things that looked like a temper caused damage (the handle on the screen door was snapped), but it’s hard to point that finger. There were red flags all over the place, but I didn’t know the extent of the issues until a neighbor got our attention on a drive by check. I knew they weren’t the best tenants and that there were surely issues they weren’t reporting, but it’s hard to get a true gauge when you don’t see the day-to-day activities. Apparently the cops had been called multiple times for fights in the street and there were rumors that she was having her fun with the married neighbor.
She had people living there who weren’t on the lease, so that really yielded no reporting of issues. The neighbors claimed that she had moved to Ohio in May of 2024 and had her adult kid and her friends living there. When we weren’t the one to vet her or know her for the first several years, it’s so hard to then develop that relationship with a tenant. Rent was always paid on time, and we were there to at least see it was still standing a couple of times per year.
THE TURNOVER
She said they’d be out on July 22nd. We drove by on the 21st and saw that their vacancy was to just throw all their trash on the front yard. It ended up taking me 2 hours to sort through, get into bags, and either get it to the side of the house for a future available trash can or into a trash can at the curb (which was ironically empty and very clean). A neighbor was listing their house later that week, and their Realtor found out my phone number, and she called me to ask if I’d have it cleaned up for their listing pictures (she assured the owner that our house wouldn’t be in any pictures).
Surprisingly, we only spent about $1700 on repairs (outside of the fridge). It took a lot of our time though.
We showed up to work one day and I was hearing a weird sound in the back bedroom. It turned out that the water heater supply line was busted and there were several inches of water in the crawl space. The city actually called us to let us know (once we turned it off) that it had been running since midnight. They had Mr. ODA bring in the receipt to show it was fixed and knocked the $500 bill in half, so that was pretty sweet.
We had to replace the refrigerator because that was disgusting. The gasket around the door was sliced like someone just needed something for their utility knife to do. A tray and drawer were missing. That was $530.
There were random jobs that needed to be done, like replacing the sink sprayer, replacing broken light fixtures, replacing shower tiles that they had put mosaic tile in with caulk (why?), installed tracks for the bifold closet doors (where did they go?), fixing a stair tread that was broken.
One of our bigger concerns was the smell of urine. We spent weeks trying to get the house to not smell. It was bad in the bathroom, so Mr. ODA replaced the wax ring on the toilet. It was bad under the stairs (we think they kept a dog kenneled there), so we spent weeks laying baking soda, sucking it up, laying more, etc. We hung Arm and Hammer air cleaners. By the end, it didn’t hit you like a ton of bricks when you walked in the door, but I’m not sure we were 100% successful if you went looking for the scent.
FLOORING The house has painted floors. The tenant must have been annoyed by the paint being scratched up because of her dogs, so she laid luxury vinyl plank. It was one of the worst jobs I’ve seen. She was really proud of it and was concerned about getting her security deposit back, so she kept pointing out that she laid the floor on her own dime. I kept pointing out she didn’t have approval to do that. It’s one thing to lay the floor that would just be labor to get it up, but instead of moving furniture to lay it, they just used their black caulk to cover the edge. Well, in many places except here, where this was apparently a worthy job.
And the floors are basically the subfloor also, but we couldn’t lay flooring over it because then the doors wouldn’t work, but we couldn’t shave down the exterior door because then it would be drafty. We decided to go with deck paint on the floors. They looked great, but they’re not going to hold up. We also painted all the walls and a few of the ceilings. The house was so dirty and not taken care of. The walls had a lot of tape and holes in them, so there was a lot of patching that needed to be done before painting even took place.
PAINTING Someone painted the bathroom black, so I used some of my left over navy to repaint that room. I had to paint the ceiling in there because of water splatter marks and their inability to actually paint a room correctly, so the black wall paint was all over the ceiling. Someone also painted 85% of the trim in the living room black, so that was quite a few coats of white trim paint.
One of the bedrooms was painted wood paneling, so that took a lot of effort to get painted. All of the doors needed to be painted and nearly all the trim had to be painted because of their abnormal wear and tear.
DOORS The biggest expense was the back door. Over the years, people had shimmed the door jamb and hinges. There was no coming back from that. We hired someone to replace the whole door. It turned out the door wasn’t a standard size, being about a foot shorter than normal, so it was a whole fiasco. That cost us over $1000.
We also had to replace the bathroom door because it was destroyed. We patched up the other doors that were also broken because of that temper I mentioned earlier.
EXTERIOR When the original tenant lived there, she cared a lot about the outside. She put effort into a garden and even made a koi pond (absolutely against the lease). But a garden left unattended becomes an eyesore. We had to pull weeds and bushes, and it made a big difference to how the house looked. We also had to spray down the porch and paint that. That’s not something we really wanted to spend time or money on, but it’s the first thing you see when you walk in, so it had to be done.
THE LISTING
The house was vacant for a total of 67 days, but that was mostly because of the work we had to do to it. We listed it on the 20th, showed it to several people, and had the listing removed on the 23rd. We got it rented at $1,150. Mr. ODA wanted to go higher, but I was worried about the time of year and all the loss we had already taken on it. We probably could have gone higher. At least so far the tenant has been great.
The living room was my favorite transformation. This picture doesn’t truly capture the time that went into this room, but the end result is adorable. That wood feature wall was another thing the original tenant did without approval, but it’s not in terrible shape at least.
About once a year, I have an urge to share some tips. I’m blessed/cursed with the ability to see how to organize things and tasks in my day, which doesn’t come naturally to everyone. The cursed side is that I have 4 other people living in the house with me, and their desire for things to work efficiently doesn’t match my desire. As the end of the year approaches, and new years resolutions start to be made, here are some things I think about when I’m managing my house.
ONE LAYER ORGANIZATION
To the fullest extent possible, I’m going to put things one layer deep. I’m looking to take one action rather than multiple steps for small tasks. Like I mentioned with the milk, I’m going to make sure I’m able to grab the most used things with my free hand. I’m also not going to lay things on top of other things because that means I need to move those items out of my way to get what I need. I’m willing to go one layer deep. That means I want to grab something with one hand to reach the thing I’m looking for. I don’t want to move several things to get to the one thing I need.
I’m thinking multiple steps ahead in the decision today. Here are some examples of what I mean by that.
Milk is something that’s used daily in the house. So I put it at the front of the fridge. I just need to open the right door and grab the milk handle with my left hand. If I need to open the door, move things out of the way (possibly even set something on the counter), and then grab the milk, that’s an inconvenience that isn’t necessary when milk is a frequently used item.
Two kids were on medication, so we had a lot of kids syringes in the silverware basket. I put them into the basket upside down so they don’t collect water and get things wet as I pull them out. I’m thinking several steps ahead in the one action I take.
When we get home with groceries, I don’t just put them in the pantry wherever they fit. I take the time to rearrange items so that everything is where it belongs and now strewn about.
I rinse out the sink after dishes so that crud doesn’t harden onto the sink and require me to scrub it later.
When putting something away, don’t go 90%. I watched someone put shoes in front of the shoe bin instead of in it. Just finish the step if you’re that clsoe. Those ten-percents add up over the day (not to mention the distraction it causes me to see it, do it, and forget what I was first doing).
SWEEP CLEANING
Now, even though I mention putting those shoes fully away, I do have a caveat. My overall cleaning process doesn’t mean that I’m going to take an item and put it exactly where it belongs immediately. I’ve seen reels online about how people had a life changing feeling because they put something immediately away instead of putting it on a surface to move/touch a second time. I don’t agree. If you have a kid’s headband that belongs in her room upstairs, then taking that one item from the first floor to her room is time consuming. I like to sweep rooms. This isn’t for when you get home with something and need to put that one thing away; this is meant as a mid-day and end of day straightening up.
When I’m doing a full clean, I’m going to take the kitchen things that are in the living room and place them on the counter in the kitchen. I’m not going to put them where they belong in the kitchen; I’m just focusing on cleaning the living room. If something belongs upstairs, I place them on the stairs. I don’t take a dish and put it right in the dishwasher. I gather all the dishes and put them on the counter to load the dishwasher once. I follow this process through the whole house. If it’s something that I can easily put right away, I will. But after years of cleaning up after my family, I know that I’m going to find more than one thing in the living room that actually belongs upstairs, so I’ll create a pile to bring up when it’s time to move that direction.
REDUCE
The other main part of organization is just to have less stuff. Right before Christmas, I was tired of cleaning up after the kids when they play in the basement. Most of their toys (outside of crafts and board games) are in the basement. They’d dump bins to look for something or to play with things (it really wasn’t ever just to dump for the sake of dumping), but they wouldn’t pick things up. I finally went through and got rid of all the little trinkets. I used to hold onto things that I thought mattered to them, but I got to the point where having things is a privilege. If they couldn’t keep up with cleaning and keeping their pieces of items together, then it shouldn’t be here. I eliminated toys that were missing pieces or broken, and I got rid of all the trinket type things (think McD’s toys). Cleaning up is much easier and faster now because there are less pieces, so I can create piles of where things need to move to and get them put away without having to make many trips around the room.
SYSTEMS AND SCHEDULES
I have a few goals that I’ve set for myself. Now that I’m working part time, my free time is less and the kids want more of me. I discovered that my life is easier if I made a plan for cleaning. For instance, I used to vacuum every other day. That’s just not practical anymore. Now I look to vacuum twice per week, but that doesn’t prohibit me from vacuuming if there’s a mess made at the table. More specifically, I made Saturdays bathroom day. I learned that if I didn’t clean the bathrooms every Saturday, then I’d start noticing that it was dirty mid-week, when I didn’t really have the time to be dedicating to the bathroom. So I made it a priority to clean all the bathrooms at the beginning of the weekend. When I was working in DC, I had a friend tell me something similar about her cleaning schedule and I thought that was crazy. Three kids later, and it all makes sense now.
I also have a goal that we go into the school week with all the laundry done. While Mr. ODA does a load or two of laundry during the week, I strive to do a final load and clear our all the hampers before the week starts. Sometimes I get it into the dryer, but it sits in the dryer until the next load needs room in there. Sometimes I’m feeling really on top of things and I make it a priority to get it washed, dried, folded, and put away before the kids’ Sunday night bed time. It creates less stress and I hear fewer “is my shirt clean that I want to wear” type questions to eliminate that disappointment.
Frankly, I could add more things into this type of schedule, but I’m still learning the concept of juggling between work, school, home, and kids attention needs.
SUMMARY
Create a system that works for you. These are things that make my life easier, and I find it more straightforward and faster to clean up after my family of 5 with these thought processes. If you create a system and do a house reset each night, it doesn’t become an overwhelming task to tidy and clean when it’s actually necessary. It also eliminates the distraction of the mess, and it doesn’t create the anxiety and stress if someone shows up unexpectedly or you need to prepare for company.
Before I get into an update, I have a quick perspective moment. Our preschool has a 3.5% processing fee to pay monthly tuition online. Tuition is $265, so the processing fee comes to $9.27. If I paid it online instead of writing a check each month, that would be an extra $83.43 I paid for basically nothing. For perspective, I spent $82 on a grocery run of essentials (e.g., dog food, paper towels, milk, eggs, etc).
RENTALS
I had to give notice to one household by 1/31 if I were to raise rent. Their lease ends 3/31, and that will mark 3 years with me. I was panicking because it’s our most expensive house (it’s also our nicest and biggest, and it’s fairly close to downtown). Rent has been $1750 for the last 4 years. Last year I missed the notification to raise it because a January deadline surprised me, but this year I put it on my calendar for January 1st to do. And then I dragged that calendar reminder through the whole month, only needing to then set an alarm to make sure I did it at 8pm on the 31st. I raised it to $1800 and they accepted within the hour. Phew. They’ve been late three times in 4 years and clearly communicated what was happening each time. We’ve had two major issues at the house that they rolled up their sleeves and helped mitigate the damage before the tech could get out there. They’re just really great tenants.
I had two tenants pay rent before the 1st and one partially pay before. That was surprising since the last two months I’ve had very late payments come through. I still have one person with a partial payment outstanding as of this morning.
We had a water heater go out on Thursday in one property, but otherwise I’m counting all my blessings that we made it through 2 weeks of below freezing without incident.
PERSONAL
I’ve preached monitoring your spending by writing it down for years, but I hadn’t done it. I had done it a few times retroactively, but I never made the time to keep on top of it to make pivots. With Mr. ODA leaving his career, that’s a high six-figure income that we’re without now. I’m working part time, but that’s basically a one-to-one ratio of income to health insurance. I’ve calculated that we need to be about $1350 per month in spending outside of the mandatory bills (e.g., mortgages, utilities, tuition, insurance). My threshold is lower than what Mr. ODA said is his threshold, so this isn’t a hard-and-fast amount, but one that is my “I feel OK if we’re close to this number” concept.
We screwed that up a good bit by purchasing a new vehicle and putting new tires on said vehicle immediately. We also had to pay for a previous heating issue fix in our house and a downpayment on new windows (which, quick side note, are glaringly needed as we go through 2 weeks of single digits and can feel the drafts). I’m also not counting the things that we do as mystery shops since those are effectively reimbursed (sometimes our cost isn’t fully covered since it’s a whole family outing and not a single person, but I’m not drilling down in that detail since I don’t have the specific break down of how Mr. ODA is getting paid). If I take those things out and remove expenses for rentals, then we spent $1597 in January.
This isn’t the best representation of our spending, but I’ll develop this information as I have comparisons month over month. I also can’t seem to pick a better color scheme without it being a very manual process. Grocery, Entertainment, and Food are our biggest slices there. The entertainment category is basically why I gave up categorizing things years ago. Here I put things like going out for a drink, because while it’s at a restaurant or bar, the sole purpose was to have a drink and hang out. It also includes going to a gymnastics meet with my daughter, my fitbit purchase (I guess because I’m counting it as extra spending and not a necessity), and gift giving costs. We spent $528 on groceries this month, which feels low. I pushed really hard to clear out the food we have in the house already during our 2 weeks of being snowed in, but I hope that this is an accurate representation of monthly spending on groceries.
NET WORTH
It is higher than last month, so that’s good. Credit cards are carrying $4500 worth of windows, so it’s nice how low of a balance those are outside of that 0% interest balance we’re holding onto. Our investments struggled a bit over the past month, but the payments on mortgages and loans helped offset that.
One Dollar Allowance 