paying off debt isn't fun...

but in the long run it is totally worth it! I have myself on the $200 to $20 bucks plan. Aka the 200/20 plan. I am on week 3 of this plan and it seems to be working but I still don't like it but I am trying not to complain cause it is totally worth it. I am on my last "big" credit debt that I am trying to get rid of then I just owe one more thing to someone and then all I have is student loans and then I am good. I am not going to stress about the student loans though. So my plan consist of paying off $200 dollars a week on my last big debt until it is paid off and allowing myself $20 cash each week to spend on me for coffee and lunches or whatever comes my way for me or if I have to my kiddos. Yep, every week I am going to do this. Doesn't sound like much but it totally is. That is $800 toward debt a month for a 4 week month and $1000 for a 5 week month and that isn't money I can spend it is money I have to give to the debt I have made. Total sacrifice but worth it in the end I keep telling myself. I so want so much right now for me and the house but I know and have learned that getting out of debt is more important than my wants right now. If I look at what I have done a year ago today I have paid off 3 big debts that were over $5,000 and bought furniture for my bedroom with cash or gift cards, kids room is totally redone and paid for by cash, pantry room redone and stocking up on food with coupons. I would say that I can keep at my new goal and realize I am alot better now than I was a year ago :) My next venture is a new couch and recycliner for the living room. Gonna save and budget for that but super excited to get something the kids and Larry and I can lounge on and veg on and enjoy and know that it is something I picked out and not a hand me down I have had for 10 years that the kids have pucked on and the cats have ruined. Gonna be cool let me tell you when I figure out which ones to get :) So there you go my 200/20 plan. It will take me tell Christmas to finish my goal but well worth it. My kids and me will just have to wait for new toys and new fun stuff until I get out of debt but that is less than a year away :)

pantry pics

Very embarrased to show these before pics but here goes! And remember this is where I would put everything at when I didn't want to go to the shed. The black shelving was holding my extra food and stuff. Very, very messy and not organized. So not me. But I did clean up and make room every once an awhile but not like I did this weekend.

The before pantry The new and improved and organized pantry! Yeah!
There you go! Tonight I cleaned out my laundry room had alot of what was in the first picture in the laundry room. Now I still have alot of it in my bedroom and carport and I hope to tackle it each night and finish it up and make my house all pretty again. But more organized and workable. Goodwill is going to love me this week!

my new project...the pantry

I am working on my pantry, which needed alot of love. I did take a before picture with my camera but the card isn't reading it right now and I had taken the "still working on it" after pictures with my phone. Once my computer recognizes my card I will post before and after just believe me when I say the pantry looks 105 times better! I traded file cabinets with my mom. The one we had was a four door one that was wide and low to the ground and took up alot of space. The one my mom let me have is skinny and taller. I still haven't put one thing in it yet just got it today and started working on assembling the pantry today. Yesterday it was disassembling the pantry to get the file cabinet in and my new pantry cabinet the one to the right of the filing cabinet. I bought this cabinet at Fred Meyers and it is supposed to have doors on it but it was short screws for the whole other door so once I had it in the pantry I decided to just keep them off and after I talked to fam about whether I should put them on or not. I kinda like seeing what I have in food and stuff instead of having to open up a door. The rest of the furniture in the pantry is stuff I was using to shelf other stuff around the house but instead of buying anything else I am trying to use what I have. So far the pantry cabinet is all I have spent money on and it was just over $50. I have been watching Extreme Couponing and I have learned alot from the show. I would not say it is my favorite show but it does teach me a few things. But I honestly think the people are a little crazy with their shopping but I am amazed at how much the do save. So I guess my pantry is what you would call my stock pile that is what they call their massive amount of food. Mine is not going to be that extreme. I am going to try to coupon and stock up on a couple items and buy only what I need and use and not go crazy on stuff I do not need. My other goal for this pantry is to just make it a pantry for food, filing stuff, and a place to put hand me down clothes that I get or have to bundle up because the kids grew out of it, and cleaning supplies. That is all that goes in here! In the past, I usually just throw whatever in the pantry and it grew out of hand.
I hope to have this pantry finished by the end of the week and my house back to normal my bedroom and laundry room are a mess it looks like I just moved into the house with stuff everywhere. Hoping for sunny weather after I get off work so I can start putting stuff in the shed. :)