I started to think about the New Year and why “we” make these resolutions.  Why do we wait to make them at the end of the year?  Why can’t we make them on a daily basis?  Do you have resolutions that are made every year and somehow you forget about them? I’m actually tired of making a so called resolution and not sticking to it… so this year, screw {pardon my french} the resolution and bring on the short and long term goals!

So here’s to 2012… may it bring you prosperity and love in any way your heart desires. Happy New Year!

xxoo,
Mrs. Waycott

That movie was awesome.  Well here’s our movie plot: An offbeat couple who live each day loving each other more and more everyday.  MUSHY, I know!  Happy 500 days of marriage and many more to come!

500 days of blissful marriage

xxoo,
Mrs. Waycott

As you know, I converted our spare bedroom into my home office.  I’m in love with it.  I find it extremely motivating and relaxing, but during the few weeks we actually experienced summer in Southern California this year, 3pm comes way to quickly and the heat just consumes the best of me.  We decided that we would look into getting an air conditioning unit to help the issue, but all the reviews came up poor.

I’ve complained about this air problem to everyone {sorry} when finally my sister said she would just give me one of theirs.  Apparently they had a window mount air conditioning unit that was not in use so they sent it on my way.  When Chris and I received it, we realized we had a project on our hands.  I put him to the task a few days later after watching the 7 day weather report {oh thanks Mark Kriski} indicating it would be over 100 on Wednesday.  YIKES!

Yesterday, Chris headed over to Home Depot to pick up some materials and went onto making a frame to fit this air conditioning unit.  Since our windows did not open vertically we had to frame a ‘window’ for this device to fit in.  After a few hours, a scuffed up wall, paint in the hair, and a broken picture frame, the air conditioner finally fits perfectly.  So a big THANK YOU to the hubby and my sister/brother-in-law!  I’m so excited to {finally} have a cool office.

Here’s the install with a total project cost of $40:

Before and After

The wall has seen everything on it.  Pictures, mirrors, tables and well it was really scuffed!  On a Friday night, we headed to good ‘ole Home Depot to find a color that worked for the room and decided to paint our wall.  Did I fail to mention, we rent this apartment?  Ooops!  I mean, if I have to live here for another year to year and a half, it may as well be the apt of my dreams, right?!  It wasn’t a huge project, but it was necessary.  The next morning, we touched up some spots and hung my dream wall.  If you’re following me on pinterest you will notice that I’m pretty obsessed with collage art.  I gathered a bunch of art and knick knacks that we’ve collected over the years to adorn to our wall.

I also wanted to add in some new color to the room.  This room almost was too masculine.  You’d think that our house would be pink, yes I get that all the time.  But really our living room is dark brown, black, orange and a little bit of green- can you say BOY!?  I decided to brighten the room up with blues; all shades, I didn’t discriminate.

I also headed to JoAnn’s and got some fabric to cover over some canvas squares as well as some great canvas to re-upholster some chairs CW’s grandmother gave us (THANK YOU!).  After spending $115.00 we had a brand new living room.  It’s finally perfect and I’m so happy with it.  No need to move now, our living space is brand new!

Here’s the breakdown:

JoAnn’s Fabric including 3M wall mounts for pictures : $35.00 , Ikea baroque frame: $29.99 , Home Depot paint/supplies: $35.00 , and Canvas for fabric art: $15.00 = approx $115.00.

What do you think?  I’m in love!

xxoo  JWaycott

A few years ago while I was working in downtown, CW picked me up from work and said “I’ve been listening to this guy I think we should listen to him more often”.  If you’re wondering why CW was picking me up from work, we carpooled every day. {Gah, I miss those days}  So when 6pm rolled around, CW would unlock the doors, I’d jump in and he’d start that days podcast.  My favorite part was the “We’re Debt Free” bit inspired by Braveheart, but in all seriousness, he had such wonderful advice.  He’s written many books and gives seminars across the nation on how to become debt free, because after all we should be!  We decided that we would start on our own baby step program.

BABY STEP #1 : $1000 Emergency Fund

We started this immediately.  It wasn’t easy.  I’m not going to lie.  We didn’t have much in savings and we both spent a lot on going out, shopping, having fun and being carefree.  We always had enough to cover the bills, but we really didn’t think about our future.  We saved for just a few months and began our $1000 emergency fund.  We’ve used it I think twice on exactly what it’s for, emergencies and immediately replace it as soon as we can.  The beauty of this, is that you can really make it any denomination; however, Dave only recommends the $1000 to get you going.

Once we started our emergency fund, we realized that saving wasn’t all that hard.  We really discussed about how to save for other “funds” we had.  We started a Christmas fund, vacation fund, car fund and geez, what other fund are we missing?  We place money in each of these accounts so that when we go to use them, we don’t feel that broke the bank.  We essentially paid ourselves to go on vacation or spend on gifts for the holidays.

These fundamental tips sounds so easy; so why is it so hard to pay off my student loan?  I went to a trade school, graduated within 2 years, got my first job and acquired some serious debt.  I cringe every time we talk about the student loan, but we’ve set a goal and we’re paying it off.  I’m not disclosing the amount of the loan left or how much I acquired, but I will be blogging the progress on a monthly basis with this little thermometer graphic below.  We are budgeted to pay this off at the end of February and finish “BABY STEP #2”  and we’ll be ready for “BABY STEP #3“.

July 26th, 2011 : The Student Loan

When we arrived home, the MR. and I had a good discussion regarding our goals for the next few years.  Yes, we want a home.  Yes, we want to start a family.  Yes, we still want to have fun and vacation AND Yes, we need to save.  Did I just say, save?

Now y’all {am I from the South, no!} saving is one of the hardest things I’ve done.  I’ve always had this attitude that if I have it now, why not spend it?  I’ve learned that over the years, that’s not the best advice.  I’ve gotten myself into some financial trouble {really, who hasn’t} and learned lessons upon lessons from it.  I’ve seen first hand what money can do to someone, and let’s not forget that I’ve saved for an amazing wedding, that was 75% paid by the two of us.  When we sat down, I couldn’t help but have tears roll up in my eyes thinking, this is going to take forever {foooorrrreeeeevvvvveeeerrrrrr}.

We discussed what our short and long term goals are and dagnabit, we’re going to achieve them!  Now onto, this post and what this blog is all about.  We knew that starting from step 1 is only going to allow our dreams to come to a reality; and step 1 is budgeting.

CW and I have been living on a budget for a few years now.  We’ve scaled back to pay for car payments, credit card bills and of course the wedding; but, when those bills disappeared {thank goodness, too} we never really allocated it to something else 100%.  We’ve always had the intentions to do so, but something came up like Ojai where we wanted to enjoy what we have.

We have to give some credit to Dave Ramsey.  He’s really put us on the right track and given us the preliminary tools to get us going.  We’ve been following his “baby step” program for many years and just this weekend made us realize, we’re going full force!

So back to budgeting {cringe}.  We’re really focusing on living much below our income.  Is this possible?  Will we be able to have “fun” or do the things we want to do?  Well, that’s what this blog is for.  My plan is to blog how to live your life and still enjoy the “things” while saving for a home.  This is step one.  Hi, my name is Jennifer Waycott and I’m saving for my first home…

Summer is always my favorite season; maybe it’s because it’s my birthday in the dead heat of it. I’m sure of that actually. Maybe it’s that I love being carefree and wearing sundresses. {If I could wear anything, it would be a sundress and a hat.} Maybe it’s that everybody just seems happier with a little sunshine and a tan. I guess there are a lot of reasons why I love these next few months but I am sure of something, they always fly by.

Chris and I have been quite busy with some household projects that had been placed on the back burner for quite some time. We’ve been trying to downsize our wardrobe {yes, I said downsize} for sometime now and last weekend was THE weekend. Over the past 6 months, we’ve been donating our clothes to the Goodwill. We’ve accomplished our donations with over 30 bags filled to the brim and washed EVERY single item we owned. We still had a large wardrobe after the downsize so we purchased a new wardrobe from Ikea to fit everything in it. This was Chris’ idea {you’re thinking, yeah right} to buy this thing… and after a full weekend of screwing, hammering, shifting, nailing and hauling we finally got everything in. We’re just about to intall the doors to it! If you’re wondering if Chris’ clothes made it in, yes they did! Our next project is to take our walk-in closet and make half a non-season clothing area and the other half, the shoe closet {HEAVEN!}.

Our beautiful exposed closet… not to worry, the doors are going in this week

A few weeks ago, I had a work road trip to Northern California, and Chris took a day off to go with me. We ventured into San Fran a few nights and crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. I was so excited to drive across this bridge and as a Californian, it was my obligation. It was a little to chilly to get out and walk it but it was pretty amazing. On our last day, we headed to Napa for a few drop offs and a little wine tasting. We stopped at PEJU Winery; it’s seriously the best wine ever. We signed back up for our wine club and just received our first box last week.

At Fisherman’s Wharf at sunset

My view looking up driving across the Golden Gate Bridge

Peju Winery. I love Napa!

We have a couple things planned in the upcoming month and of course there is carmageddon, where we are not going anywhere… off to ikea to get our last items for the wardrobe and maybe some storage containers for my office {project office begins later this year}.

xxoo,
Mrs. Waycott

We Did stop at The Waycott’s to pick up our wine slings

We Did eat Goldfish on the way up to the Central Coast

We Did end up in beautiful Paso Robles, CA

We Did drink a lot of wine at the Paso Wine Festival

We Did eat delicious cheese there, too!

We Did stay at The Madonna Inn

We Did celebrate our arrival and went to dinner at their restaurant

We Did take tons of pictures in our awesome room

We Did love room 150

We Did get champagne and a busted balloon upon our arrival

We Did have Sweet & Saucy cake pops for breakfast

We Did take pictures in front of The Madonna Inn sign

We Did stay in the Romance Room, suite 150

We Did break the “We Did” but repaired it when we got home

We Did go to the SLO Mission and mosey around Higuera Street

We Did stop in Solvang for some sweet treats

We Did end up having both of our cakes for our anniversary

Our trip was amazing. We started our weekend festivities in Paso Robles and ended it in Santa Barbara at our favorite restaurant, The Palace Grill. What an amazing 365 days. Chris and I are so very happy and look forward to the many years ahead.