Jill Russo Foster

What To Do With All Your Stuff You Don’t Need Anymore?

As you know, we have been cleaning out and organizing a lot of stuff this year. I am really enjoying Joshua Becker’s book, The Minimalist Home

Here’s some of the things we have done this year and over the last couple:

We took a charcoal drawing my mother did many years ago and had it framed. Now it’s on display in our home, instead of the basement.

We took many books to our local library for their semi annual book sale fundraiser.

We took the old family movies and has them transferred to DVD’s. We were so impressed that we did this with the slides and old photos to. Then some of the original photos were donated to the local historical society for them to preserve. One of the old photos was one that included Phil Rizzuto when he was very young.

We scanned many records and shredded the originals. I wouldn’t want to lose those records, but I didn’t want to keep all that paper either.

As I have been working on this project weekends, I am always amazed that in our local paper there have been requests. One week, there was a pop donation site for business attire, so we took over a bag of clothes. Next, the local high school was collecting formal wear for the upcoming proms. Another bag of clothes gone. I really like it when I can donate items that someone else may be able to use.

We’re cleaning out the old electronics too. We replaced a laptop and tablet late last year. So it’s time to get rid of. We sold an old printer on Craig’s List. We donated a scanner with the help of the Cristina Foundation. And so much more.

My resources page has lots of suggestions if you are looking to get rid of items. In addition, here is a couple of great article from the New York Times’ What To Do With All That Stuff (Jan 27, 2019) and How To Sell, Donate and Recycle Your Stuff (Jan 11, 2019).

Digital Clean Out

Another part of my cleaning out, is tackling my digital life.

#1 – I get tons of emails. Yes, I want to read all of the ones I subscribe to and have the best of intentions, but I don’t have then time. I have started to go through the ones I really want to read. I have started to clean out ones that I never signed up for. I have achieved and deleted thousands. I don’t want my life to be tied to the computer reading emails. So I have unsubscribed from many.

#2 – I have updated my passwords. When was the last time you changed them? I make sure to use a different one for each site. Yes, this can be challenging, but with the help of Last Pass, I can do this fairly easily. They can tell me if I have a duplicate password and the strength of my choice. They will even generate ones for me.

#3 – I have started to close accounts that I don’t use anymore. Like everyone else, I have lots of accounts with my information out there. I want to minimize this, so I am closing accounts. For example, I have closed my account with a college text book company. I finished my degree a couple of years ago and don’t have plans to rent or purchase another text book. So that account is closed. Now, more to go. My theory is the less information I have out there, the less that can be compromised.

#4 – Backing up my stuff. Many years ago, my office was broken into and my computer was broken into many pieces. Fortunately, I was able to hvae the computer restored and all information was salvageable. Ever since then I back up my files. I have a service that does this automatically for me every time my computer is on. When is the last time you backed up your files?

If you haven’t done this lately, now would be a good time to look your situation.

Cutting The Cord – Step 2

For those of you who have been following this newsletter – Cutting the Cord – here is our last step. If you missed – Cutting the Cord – Step 1, please read this first.

The home phone number is ported! The actual process was supposed to take 3 to 4 weeks. So I started the process thinking I had time to set up the new actual device. Well surprise – I didn’t. I started the porting process on a Friday afternoon and the number ported by Monday afternoon (2 business days)!. So that was great because it was fast. It was bad because it wasn’t easy to set up the new device. I’ll be honest with you, currently it’s set up wired. I haven’t been able to connect the wireless setting to this date. But the phones and voicemail work!

So our next step was the TV’s. Over the years, we had reduce our TV package / channels down to basic so there wasn’t anymore we could do to reduce our bill. In honesty, we already had some alternative TV options in the house so my husband can watch live sports. This past weekend, I did some exploring with our TV options. I added and set up the major networks apps for streaming live TV and on demand. We installed an app recommended by our alternative TV sources for all local over the air channels and set that up (that is a minimal cost as they suggest a $5/ month donation).

Called the TV provider to discuss the cost of internet only (vs. the triple play). I wasn’t happy with that call. I was told that we wouldn’t be keeping the current price for that portion of the bill, because we were dropping the triple play. It would go up by $15/month. I knew there would be alternatives to this service and I was on a mission to find them.

First, we disconnect the bedroom TV from the cable TV and re-set up the TV and all worked fine. The next day, on to the living room TV. Got that TV disconnected and re-set up. That was a little more challenging as this one had more components involved, but we did it. All is working without cable box!

Next, we called the TV provider to disconnect the phone and TV service. Again, I was told the internet only was going to go up by $15.00. Not what I wanted to hear. After a lengthy conversation, I was transferred to another department and there I got to a great helpful person. I explained our situation – how long we had been a customer, the original TV package we started with and all the down grades over the years.

Bottom line, is that we did get the internet service (same speed) for the price that we were paying for the triple play. And, they gave us the basic cable with the box and remote for no additional change. Yes, we did go through a lot of set up to configure the TV’s without cable and then back to be with cable, but now with a savings of over 45% per month. When the price goes up, we will be ready to fully cut the cord.

Cleaning Out

As you know, we have been cleaning out. So far this year alone, we have made nine bags / boxes of donations – with more to come. Our library’s book drive is coming up later this month and we have two full boxes of books to donate.

Here is a great article from The Hartford Insurance about decluttering your home when you are downsizing (our in our case just getting rid of stuff).

If you like to donate your items (that are of good quality) and that someone may reuse, think about what organizations in your area are in need of that type of item. For example, cleaning out your linens closet (towels, sheets, blankets, etc. – think animal organizations). Most non-profits have a wish list of items they can use in their website. Don’t forget there are other options, you can sell items and or simple recycle or toss out. My resources page has some listing of organizations that might help you to get this part of your clean out started.

Do you have any organizations that you think would be a good fit for my resources page, let me know.

Happy Birthday, Daylight Savings Time!

Today is the 100th anniversary of Daylight Savings Time!

Did you remember to change your clocks this morning? So many change automatically, but we have a few that don’t – cars, stove and microwave. How about you?

Enjoy the extra day light in the evening. It’s a sure sign that spring is coming.

Cutting The Cord – Step 1

I don’t know about you, but our TV, internet and phone bill keeps going up, regardless if you have negotiated with them or not. I don’t want to keep playing the game of switching companies for a new triple play package each and every year. I’m done with this!

So we have taken step one in the process of cutting the cord. We just purchased a device to have our same home phone for a fraction of the cost. We are in the process of having our number ported over over the next couple of weeks. It will be a minimum monthly cost for taxes and fees – about $5.00 per month versus $35.00 – that’s a big savings to us.

Once that is up and running, it will be time to cut the TV service. No need to keep paying for channels that we don’t watch. Over the years, we have reduced the number of channels and are currently just subscribing to basic, but it all adds up. So there wasn’t anymore to cut out.

Keep reading for the rest of journey on cutting the cord.

What We Spend Money On

Last week I wrote about what we don’t spend money on. Some of it may have surprise you. But we don’t live by candle light and never go anywhere. Today, I’ll share with you what is important to us and what we spend our money on.

Yes, we spend money on food – good food – healthy food – organic, free range, pasture raised food like our parents purchased. We make most of our foods from scratch and have home cooked meals most nights and bring our lunches to work. We rarely buy processed and prepared foods. Once the weather starts to warm up, I start my vegetable garden. It’s another way to have fresh food at a fraction of the cost. This is where we spend money. I like to think of this as back to basics. The same is true for our home. We clean with home made cleaners, made up of vinegar, baking soda, essential oils and water.

We also travel. We save most of the year to travel – sometimes local sometimes far. But we do this on a budget and look for ways to save with deals, points, miles and rewards. We are in the process of planning a trip for 2020 right now. It may seem far away, but to get the lowest prices you sometimes have to plan the travel when it becomes available. You may be aware of this with airfares that prices go up and up, the same is true for other travel plans.

What do you spend money on?

What We Don’t Pay For

As I have always said, money is about choices (that’s why’s it’s the title of my newsletter). All money issues are about choices. Should I spend money on this, should I spend it on something else or maybe I shouldn’t spend it at all. The choices is yours.

With that in mind, I want to share with you what we personally don’t spend money or reduce our spending on in our household. Some you may agree with and some you may not, but again it’s about choices.

Outside The Home:

Yard work
Spring and fall yard clean up
Snow shoveling
Gutter cleaning
Power washing
Rain barrel – we collect rain water and use this to water the garden and plants
Compost Bin – we compost so we can fertilize our vegetable garden

Inside The Home:

Cleaning
Trash / Recycle to the transfer station (this is not included in our taxes, it would mean paying a private company)
Movies / Magazines / Books and more – we use our library and the library apps (Hoopla lets us watch movies that we would typically have to borrow from the library, right on our TV without leaving our home)
TV – we have reduced our cable TV to basic
Bill Pay = we pay online through our bank and this saves us postage
Greeting Cards – online as well (no more paper cards and postage)
Mail – we have greatly reduced the amount of unwanted mail we receive over the years

Products That We Have Replaced:

Dryer sheets with reusable wool dryer balls
Plastic containers with glass storage containers / canning jars
Cleaning products / air fresheners with vinegar, baking soda and essential oils
Plastic Bags – our town has eliminated plastic bags in favor of a reusable bags (if you forget you can get paper bags from stores)

I have shared with you some of the things we do in our home. For us, it’s not about the things. We want to experience more – time with family and friends, traveling to new places to explore, meeting and making new friends and more.

What We Are Doing This Winter

Each winter, we clean out stuff. We seem to accumulate so much during the year. We make piles – some for donations, some for sale and some just to recycle and/or toss. This year has been different. We are really cleaning out, almost like moving or downsizing our lives. We look at items and ask “do we need this”, ” what purpose does this serve” and more. This has actually helped us to make a decision.

For example, I got a screaming deal on a new winter coat – 80% off in January. Instead of just adding to my closet, I donated two of my coats from my closet. When we bring in something new, we at least get ride of another something (and maybe more).

Right now, I am reading Joshua Becker’s The Minimalist Home and working through this. We are tackling the living room first (as he suggests). We have sold our VCR / DVD, and our donating VCR tapes and/or DVD’s to our local library’s book drive coming up in early March. Really, how many times have we watched them? How much money have we spent on these alone? Time to rethink our spending habits.

Freeing up the stuff is also freeing up new energy / opportunities. I can’t wait to see what is coming our way.

Are Your Ready For Tax Time?

It’s that time of the year that we start to think about taxes.

You are waiting to get your W-2’s, 1099’s and more, but there is still time to make tax moves for 2018.

Don’t forget it’s not too late to make your retirement contribution for last year. You actually have until April 15 to make your contribution for last year, if you haven’t maxed out your contribution for the previous year. This is turn could lower your income and may turn owing on your taxes to a refund.

Ask your accountant to do this to see if you can benefit from this. It never hurts to ask. Personally, we have a tax meeting between Thanksgiving and Christmas to see where we stand, before we receive the actual tax documents to see what can and should be done.