$100 Fun Things Budget | September 2019

I blogged “My Year of the $100/Month “Fun Things” Budget” last month and you seemed to like it, so I’m continuing the series on a regular basis. 

These are the items I purchased in September using my $100 Fun Things Budget.  To read the rules of what falls under this budget, please read my previous post that talked about it.  In September I went over $100, but I’m still under $100 on average for the 13 months since I started keeping track. 

September 2019:  $108

1. Amazon Essentials Women's Studio Terry Capri $18
2. Danskin Women’s Essentials Bermuda Short $18
3. Lounge pants $13
4. Pentel EnerGel RTX Gel Pen 0.7 in 4 colors $11
5. 2020 Hobonichi A5 Cousin planner cover $26
6. Hobonichi pencil board $6
7. CeraVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Face Serum $16

I wasn’t planning on going over $100, but in the last week of Sept, Target had a big skincare sale in its Cartwheel app and the CereVe Skin Renewing Vitamin C Face Serum was on my skincare wishlist spreadsheet.  The $16 pushed me over $100.

The weather is starting to get a little cooler in the mornings when I take my walks outside.  I decided I wanted to buy some joggers and shorts in sweat material, WITH POCKETS.  The pockets are important because I like to put my keys and phone in my pockets when I walk and listen to podcasts.  Almost all my joggers and exercise shorts don’t have pockets, so I decided to buy some.  And the reason these items fall in my Fun Things Budget is because all clothes fall into this category over the last year, since I have so much clothes that they aren’t really necessities but wants.  I also got the lounge pants because they were an Amazon Lightening Deal and super cute.

I made my annual order of my Hobonichi Cousin A5 Planner.  I usually buy them from the Japanese Hobonichi site and get them shipped from Japan.  But Jetpens carries it now, so I bought it from Jetpens.  I didn’t count the actual planner in my Fun Budget, because I’ve been journaling in the Hobonichi Cousin A5 Planner daily for 4-5 years now, so I consider this a necessity.  However, I also wanted a new cute cover and a pencil board, and those are not necessities but wants.  Since I bought the planner and the cover as a set, I subtracted the cost of the planner and backed into the cost of the plaid cover.  I also bought some Pentel EnerGel pens because they are one of my favorite pens and I didn’t have those colors yet.  I love them because they write super smoothly, the colors are vibrant, and they also dry very fast. 

And that’s what I bought in September with my $100 Fun Things Budget!

Read More »

Neck Deep in Finishing 2018 Taxes

I spent about four full days this week doing our 2018 taxes.  I knew when the tax law changed for 2018 that it was not going to be favorable for us.  I was right.  The new tax law disproportionally punishes people who live in high cost of living states/areas.  We pay SO MUCH California state income tax AND property tax and it used to be completely deductible.  For 2018 that specific deduction got capped at $10,000.  For us, that means that $15,000 of state and local taxes that we paid is now NOT DEDUCTIBLE.  Which caused our tax bill to increase by about $4,000.  That is very punishing.  I am NOT pleased at all.  Like I said, when I read the tax reform, I knew it was not favorable to us, but now it’s quantifiably unfavorable.  Thanks Trump.

I also had to learn how to do taxes as a small business owner.  There was so much to learn and a steep learning curve.  Startup costs can be a one-time write-off.  I had to figure out my end of 2018 inventory $ amount for both raw materials and finished products.  I had to calculate Cost of Good Sold directly associated with every product I produced.  I kept very good records so it was easier than someone who may not have kept good records.  But this first year was still quite a learning curve and tedius.  However, now I know exactly what categories go into what on the tax forms and I can cater my record-keeping to that, so that next year when we do our taxes for 2019 it will be easier!  No wonder people hire tax accountants to do their taxes.  I am an accountant but NOT a tax accountant, but I’ve never hired someone to do our taxes.  I always feel like I know enough to do our own taxes.  Plus I feel like gathering all the financial info is already half the time, so why not just enter them all myself?  Anyway, glad they are done and filed!  We ended up oweing some federal taxes and getting some state taxes back.  It was not a horrible result, but it was a $4,000 difference than if the tax laws did not change.  I feel like there is no incentive to purchase or own a house in high cost of living states now.  If we can’t deduct those taxed amounts then who would want to own a house?  No wonder our housing prices have seen a downturn, and nobody is buying!

Some brighter topics… I’ve had these flowers for a couple of weeks now.  They are finally wilting.  My good friend Meera gave them to me when she took me out for birthday breakfast!



I did a good amount of cleaning last week.  It felt really good to get a couple of areas cleaned up.  I sure wish houses didn’t dirty themselves, LOL.  On the weekend, we went for a walk along the coast.  It was a really nice day and we had an important conversation.  Walking outside is my favorite, but I don’t seem to do it enough!



Last weekend we tried out a new dumpling restaurant called Harmony Potsticker.  We thought it was decent.  The potstickers were good!  Todd had regular pork potstickers while I had shrimp and chive potstickers.



We also got some tofu soup and smashed cucumbers.  The tofu soup was good but the smashed cucumbers were not our favorite.



On Sunday, Todd spent a few hours making his world famous triple chocolate mousse cake so that he could bring it to work for a project-ending celebration on Monday.  It was as good as I remembered it!



It had a base layer of flourless chocolate cake, followed by a layer of whipped chocolate mousse, then topped with whipped white chocolate mousse,  It was as amazing as it looked!  Many of Todd’s coworkers said it was restaurant quality cake!



This past Monday I went to Costco to stock up on some stuff, but also to get my passport photo taken!  I need to renew my passport so we can take a trip later this year to celebrate our (gulp) TWENTY-FIFTH wedding anniversary!  I really can’t believe it’s been that long.



On Wednesday my friend Erecca, from where I used to work, took me out to lunch at Gor Gai for my birthday.  It’s my favorite Thai food around here.  It was fun to see her and catch up! 
On Thursday I received a super awesome package in the mail from my friend Peppermint for my birthday!  She picked out a Happy Planner for me and it’s perfect!  I haven’t been scrapbooking but this planner style of decorating with stickers and jotting down stuff seems like it will be fun!



Since it’s an 18-month planner from July 2019 to December 2020, she also got me an undated extension so I can start to use it immediately in April.  So nice!  I’ve already put date stickers on all the monthly and weekly pages in the extension so I’m ready to go for April!  So excited!
Then yesterday (Friday) my friend Anne treated me to high tea at Marlene’s Tea and Cakes for my birthday!  (I am so so blessed with caring friends who seemed to have celebrated me all month long.  I don’t take it for granted at all, and I’m super-touched and thankful.)  I had NEVER been to high tea before and was so delighted at this new experience.  Here’s a sneak peek at it.  I will be writing a post about it in a couple of days.



Here’s a cute Noodle photo to finish off the post!

Read More »

May Crafty Things and Obsessions

I know it’s almost June, but I did a lot of crafty things in May, and obtained new things and became obsessed with other things.  So I thought I would share them here.  I was writing posts for my personal private blog today and discovered a bunch of these fun photos from May, so I thought I’d post them over here on my public blog as well.

I Copic colored a bunch of things, because my Copic collection is finally at a place that I have enough colors to use!

I got a laminator and started foiling things.

I cleaned up and messed up my craft room many times over.

I got obsessed with traveler’s notebooks (Midori + fauxdoris) and ordered this Sojourner (Field Notes sized) from Rowena Curtis (@retrowtures on Instagram).  It arrived on 5/20.  I love it and have used it a lot!  I have four notebooks in there currently:  a calendar, a brain dump one, a sketch/draw one, and then one for lists (such as movies I’ve watched this year, crafty ideas to try, etc.)

I got obsessed with making DIY folders to go into my traveler’s notebook. 

I also got obsessed with Hobonichi planners and did a lot of research.  I finally ordered a Hobonichi Techno Avec from Japan at the end of May.

I got some more new pens from Jetpens.  That combined with my new traveler’s notebook obsession, I tested pen and ink pads on papers and notebooks quite a bit.  This was on the 32 lb Hammermill copy paper that I had a ream of already.  None of my pens bled through this, even the fountain pens.  Some of my inks bled through, especially the dye inks.  I think pigment and chalk inks work best in notebooks/planners, if you plan to use the other side of the paper.

I got two $9 containers from Amazon to hold my Copic markers and my pen collection!  Best thing is they stack, so it’s an expandable system.

I also re-discovered my Pilot Hi-Tec-C 05 pens and used them a lot.

I made Monika’s baby a softie kitty.

I made Peppermint a nerdy cat pen pouch for her birthday.

I made a bunch of cards in May.

For Todd’s mom Sylvia for Mother’s Day.

For Jen Carlson’s birthday.

Foiled cards.  This one for Sally’s birthday.

The next two for Paper Issues sponsored by Therm O Web.

This one for Monika’s baby shower.

This one for Peppermint’s birthday.

This one for Todd’s dad Tim’s birthday.

I got this set of stamps from Kelly Purkey and I love the pile of crap emoticon stamp!  I want to stamp that on my work notebook every day!

I actually do a lot of crafty things that aren’t for creative teams.  Those hardly ever make it onto my blog anymore.  If there’s anything you want to see more of, or that you want me to discuss in more detail. please leave a comment.

Read More »

Tutorial | DIY Reversible Leather Traveler’s Notebook

The Midori-style traveler’s notebook is all the rage currently in the crafting/planning/scrapbooking world.  I have jumped in head-first, because I’ve always loved notebooks and list-making.  Um, my blog is called listgirl.com, right? :-)  The original Midori Traveler’s Notebook is from Japan.  It was intended to be used to document life’s adventures.  Nowadays crafters, planners, and scrapbookers are using it to doodle, plan, make lists, and document their lives like a scrapbook.  This style of notebook consists of a cover, along with a series of elastic cords to keep notebooks, folders, pouches, etc. in place inside the notebook.  If you google “fauxdori”, you will see a ton of people making DIY traveler’s notebooks either for themselves or for sale.

I decided to try to make my own traveler’s notebook, just for fun and experience.  I wanted it to be leather on both sides and reversible. 

And I wanted to make it as cheap as possible.  After all, this is DIY.  I did purchase a genuine Midori regular size in brown, and it cost about $45 on Amazon.  I wanted to make one a lot cheaper on my own, just to see how economical it could be to make your own.  I got my materials from Michaels and Joanns.  I had all the tools already in my craft studio.  If you needed to purchase more tools to make them, then you would need to spend more money investing in the tools.

MATERIALS:

• Light blue leather 8.5x11 ($4.99 after 50% off coupon at Michaels)
• Chocolate brown leather 8.5x11 ($4.99 after 30% off coupon at Michaels)
• Metal star charm ($0.46 after 30% off coupon. It was part of a three-set charm for $1.39)
• Therm O Web Heat N Bond Ultrabond 17”x 1 yard ($0.29.  The entire sheet was $1.75 after 50% off coupon at Joann, and I used about 1/6 of it.)
• Elastic cords ($0.22.  It was $3.99 for six colors for a total of 18 yards.  I used not even one yard.)
• Sewing thread (negligible cost)

So my total cost was about $10.95, under $11!

Here’s the two pieces of leather laid  out side by side before I got started.  The underside of the leather is more uneven and fibrous. 

I used Heat N Bond Ultrabond with an iron to fuse the two undersides of the leather together.  I didn’t take photos of that because I was using an iron.

After fusing the two pieces of leather together, I measured the middle of the leather piece and punched two holes toward the top and two holes toward the bottom.  These will be for stringing the elastic cords through to hold the notebooks.  I used my WRMK piercing tool.

I also pierced a hole in the middle of the notebook.  That’s for stringing the elastic loop for holding the whole thing together.

Then I used a big needle to string the elastics through the leather cover. 

I was basically done with the construction at that point.  However, after handling the notebook for a while, I decided that the Heat N Bond didn’t hold the two pieces of leather glued together well enough, especially on the edges.  So I decided to use my sewing machine and and add a stitched edging to hold the two pieces together.

The stitched edge really gives it a finished look!  I really love how my reversible leather traveler’s notebook turned out!

The star charm in the top loop.

Since the chocolate brown leather is just as good quality and the light blue one, I can use that side as the outside when I feel like it.  I would just need to re-string the elastics.

 

Sideways view.

 

The finished notebook cover is 8.5x11 (I didn’t cut the leather, except to trim the edges so that both pieces are straight). 

I strung the elastics so that there are two vertical ones.  It holds two or more notebooks.  You can add elastic bands (or long rubber bands) to hold even more notebooks together. 

The width of the cover is exactly perfect to hold two 5x8.25 large Moleskine Cahier notebooks.  I happened to have the same sized Piccadilly Memo Medium notebooks, so I used those. 

The 5x8 May Books would fit in here too. 

I really love how my DIY reversible leather traveler’s notebook turned out!  The leather is soft and I love that it’s reversible.  I also love how economical it was to make something like this, with coupons for Michaels & Joann.  I just wish that the leather came in more colors, because I would make many more, ha ha!  This is my biggest sized traveler’s notebook.  It will most likely stay home.  I will use it for crafty planning & ideas.

Hope you enjoyed this tutorial on how I made my DIY traveler’s notebook, and are inspired to make one of your own!  ♥

Read More »