Disneysteve's Common Cents Blog

I realized I haven't posted for a couple of weeks. Nothing particularly exciting has been going on but I figured I'd give some updates.

1. Even though I stopped doing the Exercise Log entries, I have not stopped exercising. I'm still working out with Wii Fit. I think I did 22 minutes tonite.

Now that I've had it for over a month, I would still highly recommend it for anyone looking for a home exercise regimen. Much more convenient than a gym, not dependent on the weather and you can exercise on your own schedule. It is even portable if you go out of town and want to pack it. As long as you have a TV to hook it to, you're all set.

Not only that, but the other night, the TV was in use so I just went upstairs and did several of the exercises I've learned from Wii in our bedroom. You can't do the balance games but can certainly do the yoga, strength training and aerobic ones.

2. My wife and I visited a local casino (Chester, PA) last week. I won $93 and she won about $12. We had a casual dinner at their sports bar and just had a nice evening out. We're planning to go again on Saturday morning while our daughter is at a school program. We'll play a little and maybe do an early lunch or snack.

3. Got the van fixed today. It had failed inspection for an emissions problem. Repairs came to almost $1,500. I know I could have had it done cheaper elsewhere but the dealership is so convenient. They provide excellent service, a free rental and I trust that they know what they're doing. They did recommend some other work be done (like front brakes and tires) but I decided to shop around for those things. Now I just have to get it back to DMV to get re-inspected.

4. We had to scrub our annual Disney World trip. My daughter was hand-picked for a special school program that meets every Saturday for 6 weeks and that conflicts with when we were going to go. We're all bummed since we have been going annually for a long time (my daughter just turned 13 and has been there 14 times). We're talking about going next summer instead. We'd love to go for more than a week so we could do that then. Can't do it during the school year.

5. Since we can't go to Disney, we may just go away for 2 days that week when my daughter has no school. We're deciding where to go. Lancaster, PA is always on our list so that's probably where we'll end up.

6. As I mentioned on the boards, I got 2 books for doing medical surveys. I put them on Half.com and sold one within 24 hours for $7.99. The other one is still listed but hasn't sold yet. Since I got them for nothing, anything I make is okay with me.

7. Watching my portfolio dissolve right along with everyone else but keeping my cool. 18 years until retirement and 6 until college so time for things to turn around. I'm sorry that I already maxed our Roths for the year. I would have liked to have been putting that $10,000 in now instead of earlier in the year like I did. Oh well.

Can't think of anything else to report at the moment.

Last night, I returned most of the unused alcohol we had bought to stock the bar for the Bat Mitzvah. We had originally spent just over $1,100 using the recommended list the caterer had given me.

We were able to return any unopened bottles of liquor or wine or unopened cases of beer. We kept 8 bottles of wine for ourselves. We also had to keep, I think, 3 12-packs of beer because we had written on the boxes. And, of course, we couldn't return any opened bottles, so we have quite a few of them at home now.

End result was I returned $554.00 worth of stuff which I was very happy about. That means we spent about $566 for alcohol including all the stuff we get to keep. Knock off the 8 bottles of wine, which really shouldn't count as a Bat Mitzvah expense, and the total was under $500. Had we gotten the liquor from the caterer instead of supplying it ourselves, the charge would have been $15/person. We had 106 people so we would have paid $1,590, meaning we saved over $1,000 doing it ourselves. Plus that way we wouldn't have gotten to keep the leftovers.

I think what really kept the liquor bill low was that I make my own homemade Lemoncello. A lot of our synagogue friends are familiar with it and many others became familiar with it that night. I brought about 4 liters of it to the affair and we used about 2.5 liters. That only cost me about $35 to make but a lot of people drank that instead of the other stuff.

The other money back came from the balloons. We had changed the original balloon order but I realized after the fact that when I picked them up on Saturday, they charged me for the original order, which was more. I went back with the receipt last night and explained the error and they credited me $54 for the overcharge.

So I got back a total of $608 dollars last night which was a nice little bit of change.

For the newbies, I'm a physician and have the opportunity to do various online surveys. These surveys are not available to the general public.

As expected, my survey income has been off sharply because I had pretty much stopped doing them, especially while I was doing all the work to prepare for our daughter's Bat Mitzvah.

Total survey income for September was only $160. Considering I was pulling in over $700/month before, that's pretty lousy.

Now that the Bat Mitzvah is behind us, I'm planning to get back on track and start doing them all again. Especially with current economic conditions, I can't afford to pass up hundreds of dollars each month in extra income.

I just redeemed $40 on my account and $20 on my wife's account for our Discover cards. We use them pretty much only to take advantage of the 5% cashback bonus offers. The past 3 months, that included gas stations so 5% back was helpful. I also signed up for the 4th quarter which is restaurants, grocery stores and movies. We won't use the movies but we'll definitely use the other two. Just have to remind DW to use the Discover card for those purchases.

As of today, our home equity loan balance is $4802.44.

That is down $1,409 from one month ago. The plan is to pay it off by the end of the year.

NOTE: Edited 9/30 to correct amounts.

I've mentioned it in various posts and we've been planning it for ages. Tomorrow is the day. Our daughter will celebrate her Bat Mitzvah tomorrow evening, 9/27. We've done so much to prepare. It will be great to finally get to enjoy the result of all the hard work. Also will be great to see all our friends and family.

I've logged scores of hours on the computer as we made the invitations, placecards, centerpieces, sign-in board and programs. My wife also did chocolate molds for favors.

When all of this is done, I'm going to try and post photos of everything we made for folks to see. I didn't want to do it in advance just in case anyone we knew checked the site. Didn't want to spoil any surprises.

I can't believe our little girl will be 13 on Sunday and I'll officially be the parent of a teenager.

I haven't posted but that doesn't mean I haven't exercised. The weekend was very hectic but I did do 10 minutes on the Wii Fit on 9/14.

I never exercise on Mondays because I work a 12-hour day.

Yesterday, it was so beautiful here I did a nice brisk 30 minute walk last night.

And I just did 16 pretty vigorous minutes on Wii Fit with a mix of aerobics, yoga, balance and strength training. I actually completed the push-ups and side planks!

Miserable rainy day today so no outside walk. I did 19 minutes on Wii Fit. I'm making it a point to do a couple of each type of exercise each time and not do the same ones either. I unlocked a new balance exercise, Bubble Balance, and did that a couple of times. Also did strength, aerobic and yoga.

I could have hopped on the treadmill (and still might) but right now I'm taking a break to do some work for the Bat Mitzvah. I have a lot of graphics and printing work to do and trying to do some every day so I'm not scrambling to finish it all the week before.

Today was a Wii Fit day. DW and I each did 16 minutes of exercises. I did an assortment of yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance. I gave my wife quite the laughing fit watching me attempt the push up/side plank strength training. I suck at push ups to begin with and trying to coordinate my movements with the on-screen trainer is tough. When you are in a push up position, you can't exactly see the TV, so I had my wife calling out when I should change positions. Then, the routine called for 6 reps. Well, I was shot after 3 and took my hands off the board. That prompted the computer to say, "Are you still there?" which my wife found quite hysterical.

We had to go out tonite so no walk got done today.

I'm starting a new category in my blog. No, it isn't money related directly but I do feel exercise is vitally important to your well being all around. You can have a vault full of money but if you aren't healthy enough to enjoy it, what's the point.

What really prompted this was my thread about us getting the Wii Fit unit this past Sunday. Someone suggested that in a month, it might be collecting dust like many others. I'm hoping that won't happen and figure that by posting here, I'm helping to make myself accountable to someone.

My wife and I started walking for 30 minutes almost every night about 2 weeks ago. Her reason, of course, had nothing to do with health. She just wanted to make sure she looked good for our daughter's Bat Mitzvah at the end of this month. I was happy to walk with her and we've only missed 3 or 4 days in the 2 weeks when we simply weren't home all day.

We got the Wii on Sunday 9/7 and I used it then, 9/8 and 9/9. I have not yet used it today. Not sure if I will or not. DW and DD are out tonight so I took the opportunity to take a solo bike ride, something I haven't done in ages. I did about a 45 minute ride, which was much farther, faster and harder than the rides I normally take with DD. She is an ok rider but doesn't yet have the confidence or endurance to do the kind of ride I did today. So if I don't get on the Wii tonight, I won't feel bad. Heck, I'll consider myself lucky if I can walk when I get up tomorrow.

So that's it for today. I'll keep you posted.

For the newbies, I'm a physician and have the opportunity to do various online surveys. These surveys are not available to the general public.

As expected (see last month's entry), August was a very slow month for survey income because I slacked off on doing them. No good reason. I just got tired of it.

So my total survey income for August was $243. Considering I earned almost $500 more than that in July, it is disappointing, but it is my own darned fault. I'm still not back in the groove of doing them. I really need to get off my butt and start doing them again. It is easy money and I'm just letting it fly out the window.

It hasn't been a full month since I posted a loan update, but I want to start doing it at the end of each month.

As of today, my home equity loan balance is $6,211.45.

In August, I made extra principal payments of $1,170.00 as well as the regularly scheduled payment of $218.01. My goal (which I'm quite sure I can meet) is to pay if off by the end of the year.

All 3 of us wear glasses. We keep the costs down by almost always going to For Eyes. They have a good selection, good service and reasonable prices. I usually get mine with their 2 pair for $99 offer, getting my regular glasses and my sunglasses. DW and DD also got their current glasses there.

DW has needed a new pair for quite a while now as hers got dropped and the lens chipped right in the center some time ago. We went to For Eyes and she couldn't find a frame that fit that she liked. She has to wear kids frames and it is sometimes hard to find a pair that looks okay on a 44-year-old woman. The bright blue ones with Spongebob on them just don't cut it. Also, many of them are too narrow for a bifocal lens.

We also looked at America's Best, another discount chain in the area, and didn't find anything there, either. So she put off getting new glasses. We didn't want to have to resort to the outrageous prices at LensCrafters or somewhere similar.

Well, yesterday, we broke down and went to Pearle. They advertise that AAA members get a 30% discount. I realize that the only reason they can give such a big discount is because their mark-up is sky high to begin with, but she was tired of looking through chipped glasses. She actually found a good frame quickly. It was priced at $120, 20% more than we pay for 2 complete pairs at For Eyes, but such is life. With lenses, the total was going to come to over $400. Fortunately, the frames happened to be on sale when the tech pulled it up in the computer, so they were "only" $80. That and the 30% discount for AAA brought the total down to just under $300. Still an obscene amount of money for a pair of glasses, but since the discount places didn't work out this time, we were kind of stuck. Yes, I know you can order glasses online, but there is no way that would work for her since she is so hard to fit and measure.

I think there may be a new financial goal in our future - a vacation home. In the past, we had considered buying a home in Florida to use for our Disney trips and to rent out the rest of the time. After looking into it, speaking with a realtor, a property management company and some other owners in the area, we decided against it.

Now, though, we are thinking about getting a place much closer to home in a location that we actually visit regularly, multiple times per year. It is close enough that we could use the place just for an overnight or weekend stay. We wouldn't be looking to rent it out, though we would consider offering it to a select group of friends and family for a modest charge (well below the going rates in the area) just to help defray our costs a bit.

I've just started to look into it and run numbers to figure out what we can afford, what places are going for in the area, and when we can seriously consider it - we can't at this point in time. Maybe in 5-10 years or so, though, we would be in a position where we could make it a reality. Just something to dream about right now.

Apparently a few of you would like to hear more details about our trip, so here is more info. I'll try to keep it brief, but I'm happy to elaborate on anything if you have questions.

Day 1: Freer Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian. We went there primarily for their Asian collection as my daughter has developed an interest in Japanese culture. Very nice museum right on the Mall.

After lunch, we went to the Museum of Natural History for a while and saw the Hope diamond, the dinosaurs, and a few other things before we ran out of steam and went back to the hotel.

That night, we went to the Arlington Fair that we had seen advertised on TV (and went online to get all the details - how did we live without the internet). That was fun and was a neat way to spend my birthday. We had dinner (carnival food - corn dogs, fries, funnel cake) and went on a bunch of rides.

Day 2: We drove out to Dulles Airport to see the satellite location of the Air and Space Museum. They have a huge building there where they display many aircraft that they simply don't have room for on the Mall. Some highlights are the Enola Gay, a Concorde jet, the space shuttle Enterprise and many others.

We had lunch at the McDonald's there, a place that we are very unaccustomed to eating (I know, it's un-American but we simply don't go there). I have to say we were very pleasantly surprised. I had the Asian salad which was really quite good - fresh veggies, tasty grilled chicken, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds and sesame dressing. I'd definitely recommend it.

That night, we had dinner at the Sunflower Vegetarian Restaurant in Falls Church. This was another place that we located on the internet. Very good food and service. After dinner, we stopped at Fashion Centre Mall at Pentagon City. We browsed the shops and we actually got my daughter a nice bracelet at one of the jewelry shops. My mom wanted to give her something for her upcoming Bat Mitzvah but wanted her to pick it out, so that was good.

Day 3: We had 11:00 tickets for the National Holocaust Museum. I knew that the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was next door and they give out timed tour tickets each morning. We headed over a little early and I went and got tickets for later in the day so we could see the tour after the museum.

Holocaust Museum is wonderful and does a great job telling the story of what led up to and what occurred during and after the Holocaust. My family and I are very well versed on the topic but still learned some new info while there. I found the early years of Hitler's career very interesting as I really didn't know much about his rise to power.

The one artifact that really got to me was the train car. I think that is because of seeing the movie "Paperclips." If you have any interest in the topic and haven't seen the movie, definitely rent it and watch it with a box of tissues handy.

We had lunch at the museum cafe. Food was fine but overpriced.

Then we got to learn all about printing money. It is always quite a sight to see stacks and stacks of sheets of $100 bills coming off the presses.

That night, we had dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant near the hotel called Cafe Italia. My daughter had homemade gnocchi for the first time and absolutely loved them. I don't think I've ever seen her enjoy a meal quite that much.

Day 4: I had ordered tickets in advance for the International Spy Museum and their Operation: Spy program. Wow! This place is fantastic. I had no idea it was as large or as involved as it is. Operation: Spy is a 1-hour long interactive experience where about 15 people are taken into a totally themed area made to look like a foreign country and embark on a spy mission to retrieve a missing nuclear trigger device. You have to work together to solve puzzles, do surveillance, search an office, crack a safe and more. The theming is excellent and the whole program is well worth every penny.

Then you enter the museum itself (you can buy either admission separately or a combo ticket for both). The museum tells all about history of spying, famous spies over the years, lots of displays of spy equipment and pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about spies. Great place to visit.

We had dinner at a little Greek diner near the hotel. Quick, reasonable and good food cooked to order. I took DD to the pool after dinner for a little swim.

Day 5: Hopped the Metro to Old Town Alexandria, an old favorite of ours. King Street is filled with unique shops, galleries and restaurants. We found a nice Thai place for lunch. Food was excellent. Then we spent time browsing the shops. We visited the Torpedo Factory which is a working art studio for about 80 artists. We stopped for ice cream before heading back, just in time as a thunderstorm started when we were riding the trolley back to the Metro station.

Day 6: Checked out and headed toward home. We stopped at Inner Harbor in Baltimore for lunch and shopping. DW actually found jewelry to go with her dress for the Bat Mitzvah there - a necklace and matching earrings. She's been searching since she bought the dress and hadn't found anything, so now she's set.

And that's about it. Let me know if you have any questions.

We got back from D.C. yesterday. We had a very nice trip and saw lots of interesting stuff. It seems that no matter how many times you go to Washington, there is always something new and different to be seen or done.

Stuff we did that I've never done before:

Air and Space Museum at Dulles airport
Holocaust Museum
Freer Gallery (don't think I've been there)
Spy Museum

We also went to some places that have been renovated since our last visit or I hadn't been for many years, like the National Archives, the Museum of Natural History, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and Old Town Alexandria.

We found some great places to eat, both cheap casual things like the food court in the Ronald Reagan building just off the mall, and finer dining like a wonderful Italian place in Arlington called Cafe Italia. My daughter had her first taste of fresh homemade gnocchi and was in heaven. We'll see what she says the next time we make the packaged stuff at home.

We walked many, many miles. I'm sorry I didn't think to bring a pedometer. I'm sure we got our 10,000 steps in every day.

It was an all around great trip. Other than a few miscellaneous items (tolls, etc.) I figure the total cost for the trip was about $1,600. That was for 3 of us for 7 days/6 nights including everything. We splurged a little more than usual on food (and prices are on the high side in DC) but overall, I think the trip was very reasonable.

Today was my last day of work until 8/18. We are going to Washington, D.C. tomorrow for a week. We haven't been there for about 6 years. Our daughter doesn't really remember a whole lot about the last trip since she was only 6. We have tickets for the Holocaust Museum (DD and I have never been; DW was there once). We also have tickets for the Spy Museum and the interactive spy experience they have there. Other than that, we will make it up as we go along. We want to go to the Freer Gallery as DD is into both art and Asian culture, particularly Japanese, so we want to visit their collection.

I'll have the laptop so I'll still be checking in and reporting on our visit.

It's been a few weeks since I posted about the light at the end of the HEL tunnel. At that time, my balance was $8,419.51. I thought I would start posting regular updates as I work toward paying it off by year's end.

As of today, the balance is $6,903.59, so I've repaid $1,515.92 in the past month.

Quick recap - I'm a physician and get to do various online surveys that pay quite well. These are not available to the general public. I also do some regular surveys like PineCone and AOL Opinion Place.

For July, I earned $723.75 doing surveys which was very good. I'm expecting that August will be somewhat lower because I've actually slacked off a bit and neglected to do all of the ones I've been invited to do recently. Really no excuse as I've got plenty of time. Instead of chatting on the boards, I could be doing more of the surveys, but sometimes I just get burned out doing them.

As I've mentioned, I am currently making extra principal payments on our home equity loan. I originally anticipated paying it off by the end of 2009.

I saw last night, though, that the balance is down to $8,419.51. If the second half of the year works out about the same as the first half, at least $7,900 would go toward the loan. And I know how my mind works. Once I get close to being paid off, I'm not going to mess around with little payments. When it is down to a couple thousand, I'll just make one final payment and be done with it. So it looks like the loan will actually be gone by the end of 2008, not 2009!

Our scheduled payment is $218.01/month, so our disposable income will jump by that amount once the loan is gone. Of course, most of that will be directed into additional savings, but some, perhaps up to $50/mo, will likely go toward some new treat. When I paid off one loan, I hired someone to mow the lawn ($54/mo). When I paid off another, we got cable TV (limited basic for $11/mo). I don't really have anything in mind for a portion of this money but I'm sure we'll figure it out.

It is just nice to see that the end is near. Once the HEL is gone, we will have nothing left but our primary mortgage. That's where most of the $218 will go. An extra $150 or so per month toward that will ensure that it is paid off well before retirement.

In case anyone was wondering, I am still working on attacking clutter. It slowed down a bit but I'm still doing something every day.

The past few days, I moved to some less obvious clutter - in the filing drawers. I've cleaned out numerous folders and gotten rid of lots of unneeded papers. For example, I have a file of all my professional licenses and certifications. There is no reason why I need to have anything but the current licenses, but the file held everything going back 10 years - to the shredder. So stuff like that has been getting thinned out.

Although this doesn't make the house look less cluttered, it does help in a couple of ways. First, it makes it easier to find something when I need it because there isn't as much junk to sort through. Second, it creates more available space in the files so that I can add files to store and organize other things that currently are out in the open.

So I'll keep at it. How is everyone else doing?

For the newbies, I'm a family practice physician. I have the opportunity to do various online surveys (and occasionally in person or telephone surveys). These are for physicians only and can be quite long, involved and tedious, though some are fairly simple. They generally pay quite well, though.

For the month of June 2008, I collected payments totaling $760.50, a great month!

I also did surveys that will pay me another $675 in the coming weeks. There is usually a lag of 2-4 weeks between when the survey is done and when I get paid, so it looks like July will be another very good month.

I realized I haven't posted for a few days. I'm still doing the decluttering thing, though I have slacked off a bit. The beginning of the week is my long days at work, so not so much time (or energy) for anything else.

I've gotten a few things out of my closet. I cleared a bunch of stuff off of my desk at work. I went through the container where I keep magazines, saved articles, and other assorted stuff and got rid of a lot of that. And some other scattered cleaning here and there. Not as focused as it had been - more here and there kind of work whenever I see something that I can take care of.

Now that it is Thursday, I should get back to some more focused cleaning as I have more time free from now through Sunday, so I'll report back in a few days.

I've heard a lot about Craigslist. I have a co-worker who is addicted and has bought and sold lots of stuff on there. But until now, I had never used it to buy or sell.

My daughter outgrew her bike last year and I've been promising to get her a "new" one ever since. All winter I told her that when spring came, we'd hit the yard sales and find a bike for her. Well, spring came and went and it is now the end of June and still no bike. I refused to pay $200 or more for a new one just on principle.

Last night, something made me think of Craigslist. I went to the site and they actually have a bike category. I clicked and checked the listings and someone right on the border of my town had listed 2 girls bikes just yesterday. The photos looked nice (as much as you can tell about a bike in a photo) so I e-mailed and asked what size they were since she hadn't mentioned that. I got a message this morning that they were 26", which is what I needed. I wrote back and told her I'd like to come see them and could probably do it after work tomorrow. Then, I ended up getting out early tonight so I called her and asked if I could come tonight. She said fine and gave me directions. I went there from the office and checked out the bike. It wasn't perfect but had no significant issues. Her father actually fixed a couple of things while I was there because I wanted to make sure they were easily fixable. Once I was satisfied, I gave her $50 and was on my way. I surprised my daughter with it when I got home and we went out for a ride.

It needs a little work - brake pads, lube, etc. I also told her I'd put on a better seat. But it works fine and is just what she needs.

So if you are ever looking to buy or sell anything, check out craigslist. It is a great service.

Nope, I didn't take a break on the weekend. In fact, since I was home, I did a lot more.

Saturday is typically our cleaning day around here. I went through the remaining pile of stuff next to my bed. I took the load of recyclables I had accumulated in the computer room down to the bin in the garage. I went back into the basement and did some further work around the same area as the day before.

My daughter was cleaning in her room because a friend was coming over. I helped her go through a stack of old books in her closet, almost all of which went in the garage for a yard sale or donation. I pulled out a couple that will get sold online.

Finally, I got outside and pruned some bushes/weeds filling up 3 trash cans of branches in the process. Decluttering isn't limited to inside the house.

Today, Sunday, I did some more work on the floor in the computer room. There was a bag of kids books that I don't even know how long they've been there. I realized that my cousin had given them to us. They used to be her daughter's and she thought my daughter could use them. I went through the whole bag and all but a couple ended up in that stack from yesterday to sell or give away.

I cleaned up some other stuff in the same area on the computer room floor, enough that I was able to consolidate other stuff and actually expand the usable floor space by a couple of feet which was nice.

I think that is the major stuff, though there were probably a few other little things along the way.

Ok, maybe posting is keeping me motivated, too.

I've realized there are two basic types of decluttering.

1. Recurrent: Things that keep re-accumulating like mail, laundry, papers to be shredded, etc.

2. One-time: Things that once eliminated or put away pretty much stay that way.

I worked on a little of both today. I went through the mail pile on the kitchen table and got some in the recycling bin and some filed away.

I then found myself in... (cue ominous music)... the basement. I took a few things down to put them away and decided to stay and take care of a little clutter down there. I worked on the area near the bottom of the stairs. I found a few things that went to the garage in a yard sale box, 2 outgrown coats that went in the give-away pile, some papers for recycling, some paper and plastic supermarket bags that got put where they belong and some old cans of paint that will go out in the trash next week (all latex - safe to throw out). I swept the floor in the area and consolidated/organized the stuff that was staying there. It looks much nicer now when you walk down the stairs.

My last thing came after my nightly walk. Rather than going right into the house, I grabbed my pruning clippers and a trash can and cut back the branches growing from the base of the tree in front of the house. I do that once or twice a year and it was past time to be done.

By the way, my daughter has been having a great time playing Rush Hour (that I unearthed a few nights ago).

I actually wasn't going to post again about decluttering yet, but since some others are finding it motivating, I'm happy to help out.

Nothing exciting to report from Wednesday. Just sorted through some more papers on the bookcase.

Oh, we did get our new RecycleBank container for our township recycling program. I posted about that not long ago. With the new program, your recyclables get weighed each week and you earn credits that can be redeemed for gift cards and discounts at a bunch of local merchants. Our first pickup isn't until July 3 but I've been saving up our recyclables in anticipation and yesterday after work, I loaded up the new bin, so that counts as decluttering since a bunch of stuff was scattered around in the garage.

Today, after work, I discovered that my wife had done some decluttering of her own. There was a pile of assorted stuff on the floor in our bedroom in front of the cabinet where we keep all our wrapping paper, ribbon, gifts bags and such. She got rid of most of the pile. So I made that area my focus tonight and went through the remaining part of the pile that was mostly my stuff.

I also straightened up all my sheet music by my piano.

How's everyone else doing?

I've been staying pretty motivated, but posting here can only help, so I'll keep updating periodically.

Last night (Tuesday), I did some more work on the bookcase in the computer room/office. I worked on the bottom shelf. That was a bit more of a challenge because much of what is on that shelf is items that are part of our Disney memorabilia collection: old brochures, commemorative guides and programs, vintage magazines and other assorted paper items. I was able to get a few things out of there, but most of the stuff are things I still want to keep.

However, I realize that decluttering doesn't just mean throwing things out. It also means organizing the things that you want to keep and finding an appropriate place for those things. I didn't get to that point last night, but now that I've gone through that pile and removed the items I don't need, I will box up the stuff I do want and get it out of that room, probably into the attic, garage or basement. Even though I want the stuff, there is no reason it needs to be taking up space in that room since it isn't stuff we need quick access to.

Finally, on the bottom of the one pile (it is a large, deep shelf) I found Rush Hour. http://www.puzzles.com/products/rushhour.htm That is a puzzle game that has been missing for a couple of years now. My daughter and I both love to play it. In fact, my wife had bought me a new set of puzzle cards for my birthday a while back but I could never use them because we couldn't find the game. See what happens when you clean.

The one thing I'm hoping is that my decluttering motivation will start rubbing off on the rest of the family. I don't have much hope for my daughter but I think my wife is starting to think about it. In the course of cleaning, I've come across a few things that were hers and got her to sort through them. Pretty much everything I've given her has gotten thrown away/recycled, so I think she is also realizing how much useless stuff we have taking up space. She was off yesterday and mentioned last night that she did some cleaning in our bedroom closet. Every little bit helps.

The night before last, I sorted through the bookcase shelf that holds all our travel guides and maps. I ended up with a nice big pile to recycle.

There were several guidebooks that were way out of date for places that we won't be returning to anytime soon. If we do, we'll just get new guidebooks (the free kind from the tourism boards).

There were guidebooks for places we go regularly, but we had the 2007, 2006, 2005 and 2004 editions. I discarded all but the current ones.

Then last night, I went through a pile of papers on another shelf. I found 3 more travel guides, 2 of which were duplicates of ones I had dealt with the previous night.

Also in that pile were numerous magazines that were saved because I had articles published in them. I didn't toss them, because I still want them around, but I did decide that I no longer need to keep several copies of each, so those are out of here, too.

I'm going to keep chipping away at all the clutter. It is very stress-relieving to clean and organize and declutter. You should all give it a try.

I must confess - our house is a mess. Plain and simple. We just are lousy at keeping things neat and organized. I occasionally get upset with our daughter for having stuff strewn all over, and then my wife points out that we haven't set much of an example for her to follow.

I'm a piler. Every flat surface tends to have a stack of papers, magazines, books, whatever, whether it is my desk, the computer desk, the dresser in the hall, the kitchen table, the floor, the closet, etc.

About 4 or 5 weeks ago, I once again realized my dresser was covered with assorted crap. I came up with an idea. I committed to taking care of at least one item per day on the dresser that didn’t belong there. That might have meant throwing out a receipt I didn’t need, putting something back where it actually belonged, filing a paper that I had left out, putting loose change into my change bank, or whatever else needed to be done. I stuck with it, most days doing multiple items, not just one, though some days I did do only one thing. After about a week, I had cleared off a pretty decent section and what was left was stuff that pretty much belonged there. I’m glad to say that I have continued to keep the dresser cleared off since then.

Once the dresser was cleared, I moved on to my desk, home to a couple of ever-present piles of assorted papers and a vast assortment of other junk. Over several days, I got one pile down to nothing except items that are part of a project I am currently working on. The other pile was cut in half, though there is still work to be done with what remains.

Then I started branching out tackling the “to be shredded” pile in a few shredding sessions, papers piled under the desk and on the computer scanner and a few other places. The past few days I started attacking the large bookcase in the computer room. Just before posting this, for example, I cleaned off the Travel shelf, tossing outdated guidebooks, maps and other items that we no longer needed, putting them all in the recycling bin.

Little by little, my efforts are starting to show. There is noticeably more floor space and desk space in the computer room. The kitchen table pile isn’t gone, but now holds just current items. The bookcase has started looking much neater (at least on the 3 shelves I have worked on so far).

Is any of this financial? Kind of. One thing that invariably happens when we clean is we find things we had forgotten we had. Knowing we have them and where to find them helps prevent us from buying duplicate replacement items at a later date. For example, there is now a neat stack of spiral notebooks on the bookcase and another stack of 3-ring binders. When it is time to shop for school supplies for next year, that supply will get checked first before heading to Target or Wal-Mart.

Reducing clutter is also a psychological thing. I just feel better looking around and seeing what I’ve accomplished so far. I still see plenty left to do, but seeing what is already done helps motivate me to keep at it. And taking it in little steps of one item per day helped keep it a manageable goal, rather than being overwhelmed by the big picture.