Less stuff, fewer loans

After writing yesterday's post I went to update the "adding it up" section that I keep on the right-hand side of this blog. Since I started this blog, I've written about discarding 203 items. I've surely declutterd more but haven't had time to write about every single little one. I'm thrilled that so many of you have been interested in watching me throw out 203 things!

I also added up the amount of money I wasted on those things. Right now the total stands at $2384. I'm sure this number is higher because of all of the items that I've tossed but never gotten around to blogging about. 

2014 is going to be a big year for us. This will hopefully be our final year without children. Because of that I want to be as financially ready as possible (though most of my friends say that hardly anyone will ever be or feel financially ready enough for kids.) I realized that I'm less than $8000 away from having my final student loan paid off. Had I not wasted money on so much junk I could be quite closer to being done with that loan. 

We have two outstanding non-home loans: my student loan (2.65%) and the loan we took out for the kitchen (1.99%). With rates this low most people would say, "pay the minimum and instead invest!" So I would pay the loans' minimums and save the money for 'investing.' Which usually meant keeping it in my bank account and buying stupid things with it.

But I want to stop having so many bills to pay each month before I start having to pay for visits to the pediatrician. We also don't have an emergency fund. We have substantial savings but all of it is locked up in retirement accounts. I used to consider that our "emergency fund," but no longer. It's time to start paying back at least some of those loans. It's time our money went to the proper places.

This year as part of blogging I plan to start putting any money I make from decluttering or other side-hustle activities towards the student loan and kitchen loan and towards a $20,000 emergency fund. At some point I also want to try an experiment -- what if I went a week or a month buying only things I absolutely needed and then totaled up my 'wants' and put that money towards a loan? Can I stop putting my money towards stuff and start putting it towards "us"?

Here's where we stand.

Emergency fund goal: end of year	Kitchen Loan (1.99%) due in Oct 2014	Student Loan (2.65%) goal: end of year
As of 1/7/14: $0 Starting balance: $0 **$0 saved so far** 0% filled $0 $20,000	Starting balance: $10,000.00 Balance on 1/7/2014: $8461.80  **1538.20 paid so far** 15.4% paid off $0 $10,000	Starting balance: $8,127.00 Balance on 1/7/2014: $7983.83 **$143.17 paid so far** 1.7% paid off $0 $8,127 Get a progress bar at DollarTimes.com

Because of that I've started a new page that you can see in the menu: Less Stuff, Fewer Loans. My goal is to pay off the $10,000 kitchen loan, the $8,000 student loan, and fill up a $20,000 emergency fund by the end of the year. I'll definitely have to cut down on buying useless junk, but that's the name of this game, isn't it? If our money is going to those things before anything else how can it go to junk?

So my question for you folks, is what order do we do it in? Do we go for the loan which is due first? Do we start with the emergency fund? Do we work on all three? Your thoughts are much appreciated. 

The $43,000 storage unit

A while back I read on the Children of Hoarders website that one individual's hoarder parent had rented three storage units over something like 15 years. They did the math on this one: 

3 storage units @$80 each per month each for 15 years. For those of us who are mathematically dis-inclined, google calculator says that this is 

80 (dollars) x 3 (units) x 12 (months each year) x 15 years =

$43,200

$43,200. For the privilege of keeping piles of useless stuff. It sure makes me wonder, what would I do with $43,000? Certainly not put it into junk! 

But I realize I am doing that. Many of us are. Anyone here have renter's or homeowner's insurance? Did you remember the number you gave them when they asked you how much your personal possessions were worth? It's pretty scary. I've seen friends and family have numbers anywhere from $15,000 to $90,000. In graduate school I fed, clothed, housed, and entertained myself for the entire year on $15,000. That's no small chunk of change. 

The reckoning I do every time I give something away has made me more aware of the money that I lose when I buy possessions. But I'm realizing that I also need to be careful when getting rid of the items I don't need anymore. I've finally taken the time to learn about the charitable donations tax deduction. I now make sure to get the deduction slips from our thrift shop and homeless charity whenever I donate items. In the end it gives me more money to turn around and give back to the charities I support.

Before the year's out I'm in a hurry to maximize my tax deduction! (I sound like an ad. Sigh.) So let's see what tax deduction is behind closet door number one!

One barstool (bought for $12)

One sling, never used ($29)

Corningware dishes (3 @ $4 each = $12)

More tupperware (2 at $4 each = $8)

Grad school mug ($7)

Maryland mug ($10)

Magnifying mirror ($35)

Pill case ($4)

Total: $117 on stuff I never should've bought. 

And then there was the stuff that I purchased but did get use out of but don't need now:

dumbbells for physical therapy ($10)

DVDs  and CDs ($100)

And then the free stuff: 

one shoebox (value $0)

mirrored antique tray (value $5)

glass jar (value $0.25)

tote bag (value $0.99)

purple tin (value $0.25)

renoir print (value $2)

Counting wear and tear, it's about $100 I can deduct from my taxes. It's not much, but if I can turn $15, $20, or $25 back around to a charity, that's pretty awesome to me. 

Do you deduct the value of what you donate? Is it worth the hassle? I've never done it before. We'll see how much of a paperwork mess it makes. And that's 19 items down. Items 153-172 are gone! And I am also now $1916.00 poorer than I would've been if I'd paid attention to what I was buying. Ugh. And I'm not even half way through my goal of getting rid of 365 things. Screw it, I'll get myself thoroughly depressed and shoot for 500 before we have kids. We'll need the space. 

See you tomorrow for Friday's Fashion Fallout!