Purses are my Achilles Heel

At the beginning of March, I decided that because I was getting ready to spend a whole lot of money on updating my kitchen, I would challenge myself to refrain from spending money on anything other than gas and groceries. My March Madness. The only exceptions to this no-buy challenge were items for the kitchen update and going out for lunch.  Going out for lunch is something I do a couple of times a week, because I would go completely crazy if I didn't get out of that office every now and then.  I was really hoping to save some money and learn a few things about my spending habits.  This is what I learned:

1. I'm more of a shopaholic than I thought.
2. I spend a lot more money on going out for lunch than I should. 
3. While I have accomplished a lot of my financial goals over the last couple of years, like paying off my debts and building up my savings, I really need to implement a written budget.
4. If anything was going to make me fail on this challenge, it would be would be a purse.  What can I say?  They are my Achilles' Heel.

 In all fairness, the purse I bought only cost $17.00.  And I bought it to replace the purse that I was using that I absolutely LOVED!!  In fact, I LOVED it so much that I had been using it pretty much every day for the last 8 months.  That is rare for me.  I currently own over 20 purses.  And I'm apt to switch them out with the season, or with my outfits, or for different occasions, or with my mood.  There is no rhyme or reason with me.  Ask my Hubs, once you think you got me figured out, I go and do something completely out of character.  Ooops, got of track there. Anyway, I bought it to replace a purse that I had been using for the past 8 months.  I had used it so much that the vinyl was wearing off of the corners.  And heaven knows any self-respecting fashionista would never be seen with a ragged purse!  

This was my old purse. 

Don't you just LOVE it?!! It was perfect for me! It was just the right size.  I loved the buckle detailing; so cute!  It was just the right color.  I love my purses to be bright and colorful.  It had outside pouches that were perfect for my iPhone and lipsticks.  It had four inside compartments; one side for my wallet and checkbook; one side for my note book and pen; the zipper pouch in the middle was great for my lotion, hand sanitizer, tissue, and pill box; and there was a small zipper pouch on one side that was easy access to my keys and pocket knife.  (Yes, I carry a pocket knife.  Every woman should.)  This purse was an organized woman's dream purse.  So you could see why I was reluctant to part with it, even if it had a couple of worn spots on the corners. 

This is my new purse.

It's as close a match as I was gonna get, unless by some miracle the outlet store where I bought the first one would stock an identical coral shoulder bag. (It wasn't happening; I had already checked.)  So, when I walked into my favorite thrift store and saw this coral Liz&Co purse staring at me from the racks, I just had to snatch it up!  It looked like it had never been used, and like I said, it only cost $17.00.  In some ways, this purse is even better than the one I was replacing.  It cost less, and it's a quality name brand.  It has one more outside pocket that provides even better access to my keys, and it has more inside compartments as well.  And even though it doesn't have the cute buckle detailing on the handles, I Love this purse too!!

There you have it; the results of My March Madness challenge.  I saved a bunch.  I learned a bunch.  And I only went off the wagon once.  For a purse.   

Okay, now you know my dirty little spending secret; purses are my Achilles Heel.  Do you have any spending weaknesses?  Come on; share! Confession is good for the soul!  

Kitchen Progess Report #2

So much has happened since my last kitchen update, and yet, so little work has actually been done.  Decisions have been made.  We decided to keep the sink in the island instead of moving it to the counter under the window.  What seemed like such a logical request to make my kitchen more functional was going to be a very complicated and expensive change.  To facilitate my request, I would have had to purchase a new sink base cabinet.  They do not make a standard sink base cabinet to fit the dimensions of the existing cabinets on that wall.  I could have bought a stock sink base cabinet, but it would have been 9 inches shorter than my existing cabinets.  The options were to have a 9-inch custom cabinet built for that space, or to redo the floor tiles to fill in the 9-inch gap after the other cabinets were removed.  I didn't think I would have enough spare tiles to redo the floor to make it match, and the other alternative was too expensive for my budget at this time.  Also, I would have lost a large upper cabinet because part of it would have hung over my sink.  The decision to leave my sink in its current position also put a kibosh on my plans to turn my island into a breakfast bar with stools. Because as my painter/design consultant put it, "Who wants to eat that close to the sink?"


The only structural change that has taken place (or will take place) in this re-model is that the one-foot lower cabinets on either side of the refrigerator were removed.  The refrigerator and the cabinets above it were moved one foot to the left and a two-foot lower cabinet with drawers was installed between the stove and refrigerator.  This will allow me to have a two-foot counter top next to my stove.  This kinda makes up for loosing the extra large work area I was hoping to gain with the breakfast bar.  (Kinda, but not really.) Also, the upper cabinet that was to the left of the refrigerator was moved over and joined with the upper cabinet to the right of the refrigerator.

BEFORE

AFTER

(Notice the cabinet drawer to the right of the stove.  It can't be opened all the way unless the oven door is open.  What a pain!!)

Like I said, so much has happened, and yet it seems that so little has been done.  After the decision was made about the cabinets, I went to Home Depot to purchase the only cabinet I would need.  The kitchen design consultant advised me to wait about two weeks before I made my purchase because the stock cabinets were scheduled to go on sale and would be 20% cheaper.  I'm all about saving money, so I waited.  And it's a good thing, cause when I went back and bought my cabinet, not only was it on sale, but they had a sale on installed counter tops.  So I was able to get an additional 10% off my granite counter tops! That was an overall saving of $350!  SCORE!!  I ordered the Uba Tuba granite counter tops and the company doing the installation came and made a template of my kitchen layout.  The installation date has been scheduled for May 9th.  I'm getting a little bit excited!

This is a picture of my new cabinet.  The drawers are wonderful!  I can now put all my large cooking utensils in the top drawer.  I may even be able to get organizing dividers!  Oh be still my OCD beating heart!  The old drawer I used for this purpose was much smaller; too small for dividers, so it always stayed junky, and hard to find anything.  The other disadvantage to the old drawer (which is to the right of the stove, and can be seen in the "after" picture) was that to open it all the way, the oven door had to be open.  That was a real pain, to say the least.  The other two drawers are perfect for storing my baking pans neatly.   Before, they were all crammed sideways into a one-foot cabinet and I usually had to pull everything out to get to the one pan I needed.  Did I mention that I like things to be stored neatly?

Finally, when Lowe's had an advertised sale on appliances, I researched the dishwashers, read the reviews, and made my choice.  I went with the Samsung 24-in built-in dishwasher with hard food disposer and stainless steel tub; Model #: DW7933LRASR.  It had the best reviews overall, and got very good ratings for being quiet.  So far, I'm happy with my choice.  I don't always have the best luck with appliances.  But I tried to be smarter than just buying the model that had the cheapest sales price this time.   I'll let you know in a few weeks if I'm still happy.

Well, that's all for now. My electrician (cousin) is coming tonight to install a couple of new lights.  I'll try to get that post on here for you this week. 

Searching for Perfection

Call it writer's bock, call it procrastination, call it searching for perfection.  Call it whatever you want, but whatever the label, "it" kept me from posting anything for almost four weeks now.  Wow! Four weeks! That's an eternity in Blogland!  It's not that I haven't written anything.  I have.  I have a few drafts that for one reason or another I simply haven't been comfortable posting.  I guess I call "it" finding perfection fighting perfectionism.  Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I'm trying to get over it.  And the best way that I have found to get over "it" is to remind myself that I'm not performing brain surgery or attempting rocket science.  I'm not doing anything that is earth shattering, I'm just putting myself out there in written word.  If I get a good response, I'll do a happy dance.  If I don't, what difference does it make?  I may not be a professional blogger with a huge fan base or award winning ideas that get published in magazines. I need to quit comparing myself to those ladies.  They do an awesome job, and I enjoy following them and being inspired by them.  But I am who I am, and I do what I do, and if people get me, okay.  If they don't, what difference does it make? 

I have to remind myself why I started this blog:

1. To share the life lessons that I have learned, and also the ones God is still trying to teach me.  My life is full of ups and downs and sometimes it helps me to process things by writing it all out.  That way I can see where I've been and hopefully give me some idea of where I need to go or what I need to do next.  (It's a lot cheaper than therapy.)
2. I hope to help or possibly inspire others with the stories of my successes and even my failures.  It always helps me when I hear other peoples' accounts of how they coped with some of the same issues that I am dealing with.
3. And finally, to record my family's everyday life events for our future generations.  

I also have to remind myself that only God is perfect.  And while I know that nothing I do will ever be perfect, if I keep my focus on Him, He will keep me in His perfect will.

So with all that being said, I will be retroactively posting things that I have written over the last couple of weeks.  Thanks to everybody who has asked me when was I going to post something new on my blog, or who inquired about the progress of my kitchen update or other projects.  Your loving persistence has encouraged and motivated me to get past my perfectionism funk.  I guess I do have a few fans!

Thank you for your support!
Love Evette