To read part one: my spiral into debt, you can read Running Up Debt.

I took the plastic out of my wallet. I hung up my running shoes. There were changes to be made if I wanted to be a better person. A healthy, heavier person with a normal bank balance and not a stack of bills in the mailbox each month. I called all the credit card companies I owed money to – 6 in all – and set my accounts to pay off status. I had attempted consolidating to a 0% interest card 2 years earlier but ended up maxing that one out. Yes, really. So, no consolidating. Just plain old own up to your stupidity pay it off status.

By this time, hubby and I had moved, bought a house, and were both working. He ended up leaving his job and I was the sole breadwinner for a while. We had started to simplify our wants and were trying to only pay for our needs. House, cars (paid for in cash), insurances, utilities. And my credit cards.

We started an envelope system to keep track of every single dollar and budget it accordingly so we could live our life and pay my debt at the same time. It worked well. It didn’t take a terribly long time to pay off more than half of my consumer debt of over $10,000 even though I was only making $13/hr.

With $4500 to go, we were getting impatient. I was mad. I hated that I had to spend dollars then to pay for things that I thought I needed years ago. I had to have them and most of those things I didn’t even own anymore. They were things or experiences that left no lasting memory – just a bill – and then were gone. And I was left paying for them, plus interest.

I was ready to be rid of consumer debt forever.

With $4500 left to pay off, we made a deal with my parents who were about to pay a contractor to paint the interior of the cottage nearly that exact amount. Hubby would paint for them. They’d pay the last bill. For weeks, he was gone from home while I went to work every day and he was hours away painting many square feet of beaded board to pay off the last of my credit cards. I still get a little choked up thinking about it. How lucky to have a husband who has always valued saving over spending. To have parents willing to help, but not willing to just hand it over. Thank you to all of them.

I know I’ve made many mistakes before and since then. It’s hard to think back on the things the people who love me have done and how I have let them down with those mistakes and many more.

The best I can do is to do better tomorrow than I did today. To learn from yesterday. To appreciate what I have and not want for what I don’t. To love. Today, I do all of those things better than I did yesterday but not as well as I will tomorrow.

There is more between that day of payoff and now, more attempts at using credit cards again. None went well until just last month.

To be continued…

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Digging Out of Debt

We welcomed 4 new members to our family this weekend. Aren’t they cute?

I wonder if hubby will build me a chicken coop like this? Probably not.

No clue what category to put this post in. Maybe I’ll have to make a chicken category.

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New Adventures With Feathered Friends

Then…

Now…

Then…

Now…

Then…

Now…

Being in this home for coming up on 4 years sure has changed things. The way we spend our time, the things we appreciate more, the pride we feel in making a home. It’s nice to be able to go back and look at pictures and see visible progress.

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A Trip Down Memory Lane

I thought I’d try something new today. It may go well, it may not. Instead of sharing with you a few things that I found in my reader this week from the same blogs that I read all the time, I thought I’d broaden my horizons and give you a chance to share. So, I am asking you to share a link from your blog below in the McLinky that I hopefully will insert properly and will function fabulously.

One time many years ago, I had a party at my new condo and one person showed up. It was not one of my finer moments. So I am laying this out there that I hope that I don’t have a link party today that no one shows up to. I am making it easy. Simply share a post that you love. I want to visit everyone and see who you are, what matters to you and what inspires you to sit down at your computer and share.

A few pesky rules: make sure the post you link up is a permalink – that it goes directly to a blog post, not just your blog’s main page. It makes it easier for everyone. If you’d like to link back here in your post, that would be wonderful. And I hope after you leave your link that you will visit others, comment and spread some love and joy around.

Happy Simple Saturday.

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Simple Saturday: A New Kind of Link Love

Emily at chatting at the sky is hosting a linky party. The idea is to capture a glimpse of your home that makes your space home to you. Easy peasy.

I love being home. I really really do. And nothing says relaxing at home more than the reading and writing chair.

Go ahead, link up at glimpses of home. Share. Visit. Be inspired.

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Feels Like Home

With The Kids

1. go for a walk
2. have a picnic
3. give them each a little money at the thrift store to pick books (ours are usually 10, 25 or 50 cents depending on type). Then host a storytime in the living room at home.
4. Take $5 to a craft store like Hobby Lobby or Michael’s and let them pick supplies. Get creative. The end result matters less than the fun of the process.
5. make cupcakes
6. teach generosity – give/tip/donate it

As a Family

1. make your own pizza on pizza night instead of ordering in
2. $1 for a movie at redbox and some popcorn makes for a fun and inexpensive family night
3. head to a local ice cream shop and split a big sundae. Everyone grab a spoon.
4. start a family journal – everyone can add to it and share thoughts and moments
5. start a garden from seed packets
6. Go for coffee. Skip the latte, get a muffin for the kids (if you have them, of course).

Around The House

1. makeover a table - $3 for new knobs (beware if you let a 5 year old choose the knobs, they might not match) and $1 for a can of oops paint and a ratty old table is new (and smiling!) again.
2. print some photos – send photos to shutterfly and pick them up at a local walgreens in an hour
3. buy candles - an inexpensive way to add a little ambience to the home
4. paint some terracotta pots with chalkboard paint for easy labeling. plant herbs in them.
5. use mason jars for instant inexpensive decor and function
6. using sticky notes or notecards, leave notes around for the people you live with to surprise them and put a smile on their face
7. mistreat a window with a yard sale curtain
8. make photo tiles

Have fun, create, enjoy the outdoors, make the most of what you have. Enjoy your time and think of all the things you can do for little money. Other ideas? Please share so we can all gain some inspiration.

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20 Things To Do With $5 (Or Less)

The past couple of weeks seemed long. Sick kids, sick me, too many doctor’s visits and not enough play time. It’s funny how suddenly when things are going not according to the plan, my eyes open to so much I take for granted each day. When a little boy has no appetite, I’m reminded to be grateful for when he does. When I can’t sleep at night, I’m reminded to be appreciative of all the moments of slumber I do get. When we make 7 trips to the doctor and 7 copays and a lot of prescriptions, I am reminded to be grateful for having the means to go to the doctor too many times in two weeks.

Yesterday, for the first time in weeks, my son seemed totally better. He went to school, he spent the afternoon playing outside in the yard with me. Tiny fingers dragged dump trucks of sand around, dug deep into the ground and got filthy. Even when he came for a hug and smeared those dirty digits on my white pants, I was just grateful for a sunny day playing outside with a happy and healthy boy.

I have my moments of not being so appreciative. Not embracing all the chaos and stuff that makes these imperfect days so wonderful. My focus goes elsewhere. Sometimes I spend too much time driving around and doing errands and feeling the pressure of too much to do. I do that to myself. I choose what has to be done and sometimes my priorities get shifted into the wrong order. When those times happen, I spend more money than I should, I have less energy than I need, and I have fewer moments doing the important things with the people I love.

A simple moment of a smiling little boy smearing dirt brings me back. Reminds me of what is important. Being grateful for what I have rather than what I think I need that is still out there somewhere, eluding me, is the key to living simply. Appreciating what is today, not wanting what isn’t. Being content in this time, this place, with what I have and who I am. Far easier to write than to do. A worthy goal nonetheless.

What are you grateful for today?

Adding this to beautiful life friday at Melissa’s. Check out what’s inspiring others this week.

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Grateful

I started a tumblr a while back, then my computer died and when I got my new computer, I forgot all about it and never added the bookmark back. I finally did add it recently and have been tumbling a few things. It is much easier to share things I like around the web than doing these link roundups, but I still enjoy these. You can let me know if you don’t find them valuable. I try to keep them simple, not giving too many links each time I do one.

I also created a facebook fan page. If you’d like to be a fan of Remodeling This Life over there, I promise I’ll keep it simple over there, too. (Maybe that should be my new blog tagline. I’ve been thinking of changing it.)

Don’t forget that the Lisa Leonard Designs $50 Giveaway ends tomorrow. Leave a comment to be entered and I’ll be randomly choosing the winner and announcing it tomorrow.

And now, here are some links from my reader that I enjoyed this week:

• Big Rocks First
• Simple Easter Paper Crafts
• Spring Time Wall Art
• I Can’t Do It All
• Trying To Buy His Love

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Link Love

I woke up at 5:45 this morning to a bright flash of lightning followed by a loud clap of thunder. The loud crash of thunder was followed by the tiny sound of 4 feet shuffling across the tile floors into my room. Soon, my kids were wrestling for the best spot curled up next to mama. I had to quiet them by reminding them I have two sides. And the best kind of sandwich is a mommy sandwich. Soon, I had two kids surrounding me, and I was the filling. There was no more thunder, just some lightning illuminating the sky and the sound of raindrops against the bedroom windows to enjoy while the kids drifted back to sleep. Trapped there on the bed, instead of dozing back to sleep myself, I laid still enjoying the quiet sounds of mother nature mixed in with the sweet sounds of tiny heartbeats next to me.

Later in the morning, hubby arrived home from work. Since he works outside, he was sent home due to the rain. He helped me pack lunches, helped put socks and shoes on the kids and we took them to school together. After my Tuesday morning duties of school drop offs and school volunteering were over, we planned to meet back at home for some quiet time just the two of us. A true rarity round these parts. I walked in the door to the phone ringing to pick a sick kid up from school. So much for plans. After picking up my sick son, we arrived back home where I found myself curled back up in that same bed I’d been in a few hours ago but this time to settle a sweet boy to sleep. He napped, I napped. A true gift in the middle of the day on a Tuesday.

I woke up and left him there snoring, tucking the covers over his tiny body a little tighter. I found hubby and asked if he wanted to sit with me and have a chai tea. I asked if he’d like to play cards, too. We sat, sipping our spicy tea, playing gin rummy. It took a few turns before we both remembered the rules. We’re a little rusty at slowly passing time with card games. After we’d been playing a few minutes, I realized that the last time we’d played cards together like this was when I was pregnant with our first child. Two days before my scheduled induction for being 10 days overdue, we sat in a kitchen 1500 miles from here at this same kitchen table, laying out sets of 3s and 10s, timing contractions in between discards. That day, more than 5 1/2 years ago feels like a lifetime ago. I can still remember the heat from that July day in New York. I remember checking my watch over and over. Could this really be it? Could I really go into labor before my induction? Am I really about to be a mother? Will I know what to do?  What if I don’t know what to do?

Today, I sat at that same table and so many memories rushed back. A table full of dents, covered in glued on glitter, telling the stories of the most mundane moments that a family has spent together. The same table I sat at as a child for every bowl of Kix cereal before school and every family dinner. I thought of how when I was younger, my parents, brother and I all had our own spot at that table. I remember glasses of milk left there long after the evening dishes were done until we drank them. I remember cinnamon rolls and tangerines spread on that table on Christmas morning.

Small moments happen everyday. The moments we’ll remember most aren’t the ones that are planned weeks in advance and cost the price of admission and concession stand food. The biggest moments are the small moments. The ones that happen right in the midst of the chaos and the mundane. Savor them.

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Savor The Small Moments

She’s so sweet and wonderful, even moreso in person than I would’ve imagined.

Can you tell I heart her? As fabulous as her jewelry may be, she is a million times more.

Recently, she sent me this necklace. One of her new designs, it’s the vintage frames necklace. Swoon.

As pretty as it looks laying on my bedspread just waiting for one of my kids to come swoop it up and break it or lose it, it looks really pretty on, too.

In keeping with the frames theme…tell me…what other necklace would look so beautiful hanging from a frame?

All of her work is so amazing, and I feel so fortunate to call a few of her gorgeous pieces mine.

Today, the lovely Lisa is offering a $50 gift certificate to her shop. Just hop on over to Lisa Leonard Designs and browse around and come back and comment telling me what you’d like to buy if you win.

Thank you to Lisa for the gorgeous necklace and the generous giveaway!

Giveaway is open until Sunday. I’ll announce the winner then.

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Lisa Leonard Designs Giveaway