October End of Month Review

October Goals

• Pay off Credit Card #8
• Save Money and Just Survive
• Research the Best Time of Year to Visit Our Top Locations
• Continue Decluttering
• List Some Stuff for Sale on Facebook
• Start a List of Christmas/Birthday Presents

We started off the month owing $2,527.43 on credit card #8. I didn’t think there was any possible way that we could pay it off in one month. A year ago we wouldn’t have stood a chance. This month was a game changer for us. This month was the moment that we figured out not only how far we have come but also far we can go. We crushed this goal. We completely paid off every cent and it wasn’t even that hard. It was difficult, yes, but not the way that trying to come up with a large sum of money used to be hard. This was the month that we found out how much this year has changed us. We have been training ourselves to do hard things without even realizing it. We worked hard to save enough money and we did manage to survive.

We put the list of places we want to visit in order of importance and then looked up the best times of the year to visit our top picks. I looked at the weather, prices, amount of tourists, and any holidays that could impact our trip. My husband and I discussed the pros and cons of all this information. We decided on what times would be best and which times we should avoid for our top locations. We wanted to have this information on standby to help us to make better choices in the future.

We have slowly continued our decluttering. We went through Isabella’s and Octavia’s summer clothes as we packed them up. We only saved things for next year that would fit and were in good shape. We went through their winter clothing as we unpacked it. We also went through all of their year-round clothing like layering tanks and tees. We went through the rest of their room too. They got rid of another bag of toys and stuffed animals. We have been decluttering in layers. Each time we go back through we find a few more things to get rid of. I am considering doing another huge sweep of decluttering throughout our entire house.

So…I didn’t list a single thing for sale on Facebook. I meant to but never did. Maybe I’ll do better in November. I did get together a few boxes of stuff that I would like to sell, mostly DVDs and books. We plan to have a few yard sales before we leave. Anything of value that we don’t sell online will end up being put into a small storage room in our basement that we have set aside for this stuff. We will likely be adding clothing and toys to that room as we continue to declutter before leaving. I am still astounded at the thought of living out of suitcases in a couple years. Our family of five only having what we can take with us and a small storage bin for sentimental items is such a crazy thought.

I did start a list of ideas for Christmas/birthday gifts. I think I have figured out gifts for the girls. We have set our Christmas budget. It is much lower than what we normally spend. I’ll try to do a full post explaining all of it when it gets closer to Christmas. Michael and I decided to skip holiday & anniversary gifts for each other so we can apply more money towards paying off our credit cards. We know that paying off our debt sooner is more important than spending more on the holidays.

How did your October go? Did you meet any of your goals? Are you working on anything big or even little right now? Please share with us in the comments! Also, if you have any tips for selling stuff on Facebook, I would love to hear all about it!