The Professional Domestic

Not Impressed With Our Debt – Week 3

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Week 3 was a tough week. I usually sit at the computer on Wednesday mornings and pay any bills that need to be paid for the week and I did not do that for the 8th. This caused a chain reaction and suffice it to say created a shortage the next week for the 15th. PLUS we had two repair bills, one for a pressure release valve in the basement and one to repair a broken axle on the riding lawnmower. Soooo today when I paid bills I was not able to pay anymore to our debt like I wanted. Bummer.

I am not going to dwell on it though. Everything I see for next week’s paychecks give me every indication that I will again be able to pay another $1000 towards the credit card debt.

I do have an interesting story to tell you though! When I was chatting with our plumber as he was repairing the pressure release valve on the water line he said his son had had his first birthday! Oh, how wonderful for you all I said! Being a baker, I know people tend to have a lot of people at first birthdays nowadays so I asked him, almost with a wince how many people they had at the party. He said well we invited 185 people….WHAT??! Then he said it was regrets only so about 120 people RSVP’d but only 80 something showed up but they had enough food for the 120 people.

I just shook my head at him. He said he asked his wife why they were doing this and she said because everyone does. That statement right there is why everyone is in debt. Let me repeat myself…people doing something because everyone else is doing it is one of the reasons debt occurs. A one year old, unless this child is a miracle baby, does not need a party for 185 people. I told our plumber he should have put the money they spent on that party into a college fund for him/her.

I could go on about the nonsense that is going on today with the overwhelming pressure others put on us to do something we can’t afford. I remember even 20 years ago thinking why am I doing this when it came to yearly school and sports photos for our son. I did greatly reduce the package I bought down to an 8×10 and 4 4×5’s and that was it. And do you know what? I never did anything with them. They are still in the package they came in because I was never a “display pictures on the wall” kind of mom.

I’ll end my thoughts right there before I get into trouble.

I’ll update again next week!

-MM

Not Impressed With Our Debt – Week 2

There are two methods of thought when it comes to paying off credit card debt. The “Snowball” method and the “Avalanche” method.

The snowball method is when you pay off the credit card with the lowest balance first regardless of the interest rate which would give the debtor quick satisfaction. Once that credit card is paid you would roll that payment into the next smallest balance.

The avalanche method is when you pay off the credit card with the highest interest rate first. Once that credit card is paid you would roll that payment into the next highest interest balance.

I have decided to create a third method which I would like to call the “Blizzard” method which incorporates a little of both of the other methods. I feel like nowadays we get some pretty decent forecasted warnings of impending blizzards so we can prepare for them. This is the same type of method I have taken with our credit card debt. I was bothered most by the highest balance credit card, it was keeping me up at night. Instead of paying off the lowest balance card which was $2600 I wanted to plow as much money into the highest balance card which at the time was $15,500. After doing a balance transfer and combining 2 cards, I had a year with zero percent interest. After the zero percent offer was done, I had paid about $6000 off on it bringing it down to about $9500. I went a couple of months with the interest rate at 23.99% and was drowning again so I called the credit card company, and they lowered the rate to 7.99% for 6 months! (It can really pay to ask for a reduction in interest rate) Now after a few shorts months I have that credit card balance down to $4200! So, if you can prepare yourself with getting the interest rate lowered and do a balance transfer to get yourself ready for the “Blizzard” you can then plow as much money into the highest balance card. (I love these snow references lol)

Now that the highest balance card is down to $4200 that means I have paid off $7454 of debt so far this year bringing me just $2500 left to reach my goal of paying off $10,000.

I still have three credit cards, but one card is $4200, one is $2600 and one is about $5800. And guess what? Because of my “Blizzard” method my credit score has soared to 805! Pretty amazing right?

I’ll update again next week.

-MM

SAL-Heirloom Bride Ornament 11

Just a quick update on #11

Here is where I left off last update:

Here is where I am now:

Not a ton done but progress is progress right?

I am sorry to report that Sharon is taking an extended break. Best wishes to you Sharon and we all hope you will be back soon!

That’s it for this update.

See you in 3 weeks!

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

Not Impressed With Our Debt – Reboot

I have resurrected this blog series because my only goal this year now that my mom is on the mend is to pay off $10,000 in debt.

We started off the year with $20,160.72 in credit card debt. As we stand right now at the end of June 6 months into the year, we are at $13,706.68 in credit card debt.

That is $6454.04 paid off!

My goal for July is to pay off another $3000 in debt, which will bring me about $500 away from my goal.

I love July for our paychecks because my husband gets 5 and I get 3 paychecks. Woohoo!

That’s what I got for now. I’ll update again next week.

How is your debt journey going?

-MM

2026 Goals

On April 26th my mother had a brain hemorrhage. Luckily, her friend was coming to pick her up for brunch after church. Otherwise, we probably would not have found her in time. She was perfectly fine, just 45 minutes earlier, with me at church.

We have all learned a lot the last 2 months for which I will post about at a later date. My mother is doing well, but it has been a very exhausting and tiring road.

Suffice it to say my goals are just not my goals anymore after all of this.

Out of the list of goals I made for myself for 2026, the only goal I care about achieving is to pay off $10,000 in debt.

So, from this point forward, my paying off our debt posts will go back to being posted as Not Impressed With Our Debt. I prefer that way of posting anyways.

I have lots to update on this…my only goal this year. Seems weird to only have one goal but what a goal it is!

I’ll update soon!

-MM

SAL-Heirloom Bride Ornament 9

I am doing a happy dance because I finished stitching ornament 9!

Here is where I left off on #9

Here it is finished:

Boy, did that back stitching do the trick!

I started #11 and this is my progress on it:

Not much on this one but she is gonna be a beauty. Wait and see 🙂

That’s it for this update. Welcome back Cindy!

See you in 3 weeks!

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Cindy, Helen

SAL-Heirloom Bride Ornaments 9 and 10

I finally got some stitching done!

Here is where I left off on #9 of the set of ornaments:

Here is where I am now:

A few more spots to fill in and some backstitching to do.

And here is where I left off with #10

And here is #10 fully stitched!

I hope to get #9 finished by next update and both sewn into ornaments by next update.

Now I can’t wait to see what the other ladies are up to. I have missed a lot!

See you in 3 weeks!

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

SAL-Heirloom Bride Ornament – #10

Unfortunately I didn’t get one stitch done in the last three weeks 😢.

Hopefully I’ll have some progress next time.

Please visit the other blogs to see what other fabulous stitchy projects they are stitching. We are all working on different pieces!

Avis, Claire, Kathy, Margaret,

Sunny, Megan, Deborah, Sharon, Daisy, Cathie,

Linda, MaryMargaret, Helen

2026 Goals March Update

The first quarter of 2026 is in the books and it has been a busy few months. I have been working on my goals somewhat but outside commitments have kept me off-track in the goal dept. Let’s see what my progress has been.

#1 Exercise/Walk More

Every time we get a good weather day my husband and I are out walking after work. I have also been working on doing some exercises to strengthen my legs. That’s the weakest part of me.

#2 Read 52 Books

In February and March I read 6 more books! Below are the six I read. I have been diving into author Sara Goodman Confino’s titles and I really enjoy them. Eight books down 44 to go.

#3 Cook More At Home

I have done plenty of cooking at home in the last two months but we have also enjoyed using some gift cards to eat out too. I hope to get back to more home cooking in April.

#4 Bake More For Us

Well….I did bake a pie for us once this month lol. Focus Mary Margaret focus!

#5 Get $10,000 in Etsy Sales

Ok here’s the one thing I can say I hit out of the park since the beginning of the year. I sold 1/3 of my Etsy inventory in March and right now my sales stand at $3685.55! I don’t foresee any problems hitting $10,000 in Etsy sales this year. Woohoo!

#6 Get My Little Bakery Cabinet Up and Running

Nothing yet on this one. But we are getting there.

#7 Journal as Much as Possible

I downloaded a new app to help me with this. It’s called Day One. I searched and looked at other apps for journaling and the options on this app were exactly what I was looking for. I can upload photos, videos, documents to an entry. I can have multiple journals and they have templates you can use or create your own and the best part…at the end of the year I can have the whole journal printed and bound and sent to me. I am looking forward to that the most. I have tried handwriting my own journal but I just don’t stick with it. I am going to keep using this and see how it goes.

#8 Home/Garden Focused

My seeds have been ordered and I have already planted a ton of them indoors. Don’t they look great?! In the journaling app I have created a gardening journal. I love it!

In the home department I didnt get much done unfortunately but I did ask Chat GPT to help me with house colors. Which one do you like?

#9 All New Wardrobe

For this goal I need to get more organized. I got rid of some of my clothes but I don’t have a large wardrobe to begin with and I like it that way. I did a get a Sitch Fix and tried Wantable and Dailylook. I have to say out of the three Stitch Fix is still my favorite and the most economical.

#10 Pay off $10,000 in credit card debt

So far this year I have paid off $3558.88 in debt! Wahoo!!

#11 Organize/Hoe Out House/Work on a Cleaning Schedule/Work Smarter Not Harder

Nada done on this goal.

#12 Spend More Time With My Husband

Honestly, we have spent more time together binge watching shows this winter than ever before! We finished all 4 seasons of Ted Lasso, 2 seasons of the Gilded Age, 3 Seasons of The Floor and 4 Seasons of Traitors. And we had a blast doing it!

#13 Less Screen Time

Ugh, I am so sick of battling with screen time. One night it was so bad… I couldn’t sleep for the 4th night in a row. I got up and was playing a game and got so angry I deleted every single game on my phone including solitaire. From that night on I didn’t have a problem getting to sleep. A few days ago I downloaded a simple game called Arrows and the last 3 nights I couldn’t sleep again. Welp gone was that game too!

SAL-Heirloom Bride Ornament – #10

The last three weeks, I have been all over the place with my stitching. I didn’t do any more on my Santa, but I did start another of the ornaments which is below;