Oil and Shine

I have a sign in my house that says "Relax". It is a reminder for me to take a deep breath and enjoy life. I have been on a journey to simplify different areas of my life, because removing distractions helps me to relax. You would think simplifying your life would be easy, but it can take time and you have to be intentional about it, but the outcome is worth it. One area that I have worked hard to simplify is in the home. Organizing is part of that process and de-cluttering is the first step. Clutter can be a joy sucker. I think better and relax in an uncluttered environment, with a bonus of having an easier time keeping my home clean! Taking baby steps helps me tackle different jobs I need to do. Focus on one area of your home at a time and make small goals that you would like to accomplish. I have used all sorts of tools to help me stay focused. Books and blogs have helped me, but I pick and choose what works best and adapt it to my needs, because everyone is diff

I spoke a little about emergency funds in an earlier post .  What exactly is one and why do you need one?  In our family we have a lot of “emergencies” that arise. Just last month we had an unexpected bill and had to tap into our emergency fund. In my mind, an emergency is something you did not plan on in your budget, but needs to done. For example, an unexpected medical bill or unplanned repairs to your car.  My husband and I started using a budget with an emergency fund after we had a lot of debt from credit cards. If something unexpected happened, we would just use the credit card and we went further and further into debt. We knew something needed to change, and using a budget has greatly helped us stay out of debt.   One emergency we've dealt with happened when we lived in Portland. We had a snow storm close to Christmas.  There was over two feet of snow with drifts over four feet tall in places. In our front yard it almost came to the top of our front porch. We could li