I have more spare time in the coming new year as I have not been taking on extra work as people have moved and so on. This January I will be spending a lot of time organizing my husband's paperwork and working on Sage the accounting program. By the end of January we should be completely upgraded. It will be very interesting as I will have a fairly steep learning curve.

Best for you in your plans mamapinky. Have fun in your new bigger space. :-). Sounds like a lot of work till you get there though.

Sounds like a great plan, Mamapinky. I need to have our den, hall and DR painted. I’d do it myself, but these areas are just too much. Then I’ll try to finish sorting through paperwork from the old year in prep for taxes.

I finally finished going through all my old papers and stuff I had brought home after retirement (actually boxes of stuff from 2 retirements) so that is done. Now If I can convince DH to purge a bunch of his boxes of old junk in the attic, it would be mostly cleared out. He keeps every single little scrap. I think I convinced him no one is interested in it, or you can find this stuff online.

We plan to sell our house in about a year. Currently about half of the rooms have had the popcorn crap scraped off the ceilings, so over the next year I'll need to do the rest. I have the kitchen scraped, I just have to prime and paint, probably this week. The dining room and powder room will finish off the downstairs. The dining room walls will get painted, too.

I'm off work until sometime in March, probably (lawn care). So this is my standard winter project, home improvements.

Marilyn I took all this as a strong sign that we were meant to lessen our load! Cut back, downsize, and realize neither of us need to be pushing ourselves to death. Maybe you and your husband should consider it too. We don't like to change what we had and did but it just might be the best thing for ourselves. It is a very difficult decision to make but we are going to be forced to make it. Health wise and financially wise we have to.

Our goal is to do more downsizing and I'll begin with my craft room. I have to face the fact that there are many things I no longer need or I'm not physically able to use. That's hard for me to admit!

Mamapinky, does that mean you have heat in your house again?

Rusty

No and yes Rusty. I'm using two electric fireplaces and two tabletop electric heaters. I put up extra smoke alarms close to all of them. I'm on all one floor with no basement and I'm very well insulated. I also have electric tape on below and above ground water pipes...last night the outdoor temp went to 1degree with wind chill -5...the coldest room in my house was the laundry room which hit 61 degrees. It was different in each room but was pretty much between 67 and 71 degrees. Problem is I wwon't go to bed with these things running. My son is staying here a few weeks and he's a night owl so he's watching them until 6am when I get up . I do take turns shutting them down for awhile so they don't get to hot...but so far so good. I'm scared to get my electric bill. I just am out of ideas on howto raise more money. BUT I have hope. I can always go back to my cousins house if I need to but I'm trying to keep us home. Rusty right now the family room and kitchen is 72, the family bath is 68 Amiees room is 69, the boys room is 68 but my room is 66 of course I have my bedroom door shut. Lol. My saving grace is being on one floor and having heat tape on the water pipes. course I may have a heart attack when my electric bill comes in. LOL

Raven, we would be downsizing in that we would be moving to a place where we wouldn't have to work on the house, except normal maintenance. Less land than we have here is not an option. We could maybe get by with a little less but not much less. Land isn't hard to maintain. The horses will be with me always. I hope when my time comes to leave this earth, I have a little notice and they will be put down. Most are old, and I expect to outlive them. There are two young ones that I can place. The house we are looking at is an old lady's house....one level....even has grab bars in the bathrooms.

MamaPinky, I hope you have help in moving all the furniture and stuff that will need moved. You do have a lot of work ahead of you, but it all makes sense.

We need to make some decisions like getting some windows replaced that have fogged over, maybe getting new non-clog gutters put on the house and making a change in our wills.

Marilyn I keep praying every night that your house will sell and you can get that one that you showed us. Raven likewise I pray for you to be rid of your house and able to move on.

it sounds like all of you have big projects planned for the new year. I know many people don't like change but sometimes, once one gets,used to the idea, it can be like a breath of fresh air and worth the work it takes to accomplish. Best wishes to all of you that your plans are accomplished to you satisfaction and with as little stress as possible.

When we get home from our trip, we are planning to paint the bathroom, our bedroom and hubby's office. We are also going to replace the carpet in those two rooms and update the bathroom fixtures. I want to get away from all white walls and use color accents in all three rooms, but haven't decided on color schemes yet.

You collected a good amount, mamapinky. I'm surprised it's not enough. Did you look into options other than kerosene? Seems like a good opportunity to switch to a cheaper heat source, if possible.

Hope the electric bill isn't too bad!

I don't know what happened to your usual heat source, but if you need help getting something safe quickly, your local fire department can probably give you some good info. They'd rather direct you to the best resources than have to save your family and your burning house!

Chi I think maybe my furnace has been misunderstood. Its a fuel furnace just as if it was a natural gas furnace. Theres no natural gas in my area so the choice is kerosene, propane or electric. Electric is out as its way to expensive. Propane is more than a dollar more a gallon around here. So I'm stuck with kerosene. I have been happy with it though. I am giving up my central air though. I figure I NEED heat through a furnace but AC I could use window units besides a furnace for heat will cost just about 5 but add central air and it will jump up to at least 9 thousand. LOL.

Matthias my fuel furnace died. I don't qualify for help through anyone. Believe me I tried.

I just am out of ideas on howto raise more money.

I was thinking the other day about your beautifully washed and ironed bedsheets and I'm sure there must be busy professionals that would pay a pretty penny to have that done for them. Many people have housekeeping services, but these mostly do not include a beautifully made and ironed bed. That is almost a lost skill, but I can just imagine the luxurious feeling of coming home to an immaculately done bed.

As well, you might look into giving laundry lessons. There are so many people who just don't have a clue because their parents never had time or inclination to introduce them to the subject.

Lucille, I had the same thought a while ago. My mother used to take in ironing (we didn't have a washer, so the clothes were brought clean) to make $$ to support us after my father died. I would think an ad on Next Door would produce some people willing to pay $$ for having their ironing done.

I swear I would pay to have someone do my laundry and folding and putting it away! After the flood last year the laundry facility down the street became very popular and busy. I could take big loads of clothes and towels and everything else that needed to be washed and cleaned dried and folded. They were a life saver. I don't know how many loads we dropped off. Super nice people and very fast. It smelled so clean and was folded beautifully. I wish I could have them do it all. I am very blessed to have a washer dryer in the motorhome though. My mom used to have a lady that did her ironing at times.

I got called for jury duty for the third week of January. I'm already ticked off about it. I have to be downtown by 9:15 on a Monday morning through rush hour. yechh.

If you're 65 or older you can get exempted. I turn 65` the day after my call day.

65 seems young for exemption. I did a 3 week trial a few years back. I enjoyed it, though the hour commute each way got old, fast.

I thought it was 70 years old. I have a medical exemption. That reminds me I need to get another copy from my doctor because all of my paperwork was lost in the flood. Same with my handicapped placard.

I think I would plead the court in your case of the birth date.

That's right any bed I wash and iron would be worth paying for. This is one thing I know I excel at and I'm quite proud of myself. But outside of myself, Anglo, and the good folks in the laundry forum how many people do you think really care about their bedding....for most its tossed in the washer, a one size fits all detergent added, along with Fabric Softener (yuck) and that's that. I can tell you in my neck of the woods no one is going to line up at Mamapinkys. I live in a small country town..I'm surrounded by dairy farmers. The busiest spot in town outside of the greasy spoon coffee diner is Tractor Supply. These hard working good folks sure arnt thinking about their bedding LOL. Perhaps if I lived in the city this could work.

A few years ago I had the same thought so I posted a ad in the local 3 page newspaper. The paper comes out every Thursday . I payed for the ad and chose the special....4 weeks it ran. Not a single call. At the time I had high hopes....I just knew I would have calls come in but not even one. LOL.

The long overdue DIY master bathroom remodel at the riverhouse begins in January. DH will do most of the work; I play a supportive role: hold things, make food, clean.

Try an online ad. I don't know anyone who actually reads the paper anymore!

Mama I think ads in Nextdoor are free.

I totally agree that your washing and sheets are worth paying for, and I think would be a welcome luxury for many. I think you are justifiably proud of your sheets, but that skill is clearly being overridden by your lack of marketing skills and your attitude that marketing your unique and useful skill isn't going to work.

There are many that would help you write an ad.

I live in a small country town..

The professional clientele that would pay for your service might be willing to pay UPS Ground fees. And what a treat, to open a box and have beautifully laundered sheets, maybe a little card or paper flower. And you could offer discounts for clients that have weekly service.

Look at how many companies successfully get us to buy stuff we don't need just because they can write an ad (remember the 'pet rock', someone got to be a millionaire I'm sure with a few pebbles and a skill in marketing.)

Now look at you, you are way better than a pet rock because what you have would actually benefit people. You can do it.

Well, I'm glad to know you are at least back in your own home, even if the circumstances are not the best. You know, "be it ever so humble" and all that. Hopefully you will soon be able to get that furnace replaced and get on with your normal life!

Rusty