Weekend Plan(ning ahead)

I have a plan. This weekend, I am planning for the new year. Not New Year's Eve, but the whole new year. No joke.

After hearing Howard Stern's (stay with me) fake announcement that he wasn't signing a new contract, and listening to Sal the Limo Driver drowning in blubbering tears over the loss of his job (and no money saved to speak of), it reminded me that planning matters.

I have a list of things I'd like to do over the next few weeks, months, years, and I want to start planning financially. First, I will have Andrea at Savannah Hope Vintage continue refinishing my grandparents furniture, until it's all done. It's good solid furniture that's been in the family for over 50 years. I have it in my possession, in my bedroom, and it's in need of some serious help. She's redone my grandfather's desk, and is in the process of doing one of two dressers. Last will be two side tables. I will be preserving something special, upcycling (sort of), and saving money while having a beautiful new(ish) furniture set. Finally, I want to find a bed to go with the whole thing.

I want to put new counter tops in my kitchen. Right now they are some chintzy thing, plastic perhaps, and the face part just sort of peels off. I want to put in wood, or something sturdy and white. Maybe marble. But then I may need to get new cabinet doors, as the veneer is coming off of those, too. Oh boy. At least I put in new hardwood floors. Hardwood floors make everything better. The kitchen will move along in pieces, as afforded.

Outside of that, I will be having my neighbor K cut my lawn (he's 14, I think, and saving for a car) in lieu of the lawn service. The lawn service currently mows, fertilizes, weeds, leaf blows, and so on. Canceling all that will save me a small fortune, and will give my neighbor a nice start on his savings. Hopefully, my son will follow in his footsteps in a few years when K is off to college, and I hope the neighbors will be as kind and hire my son.

I will do the weeding, the fertilizing (if need be), the mulching, and all the planting. I love doing that sort of stuff anyhow. It's good, honest work.

I want to start increasing my mortgage payments and get this little thunder buster paid off. I am close, so close, that it makes perfect sense to get 'er done. And after that, I will be saving for a beach house. What beach you ask? Who knows? The world is my oyster!

I will be crunching the numbers this weekend, so that I will know exactly what I'm working with. I am excited. It's going to be a great year, a year of saving, planning, and making what's good even better.