2016 Resolutions Update: Round 2

It’s now over four months into the new year and I'm long overdue for an update on my resolutions (see 2016 New Year's Resolutions).

Make more tutorials - I think I’ve done a decent job with this one, making video tutorials is super fun.  Total so far:

1. Lace Twin Hearts Hair Clip, A tutorial
2. Easy Bodice or How to Sew a Dress for Any Doll

Two out of twelve, and the third will be coming up soon and possibly a fourth.

Reduce craft stash – I caved on this one a little.  I had a gift card for Joann Fabrics and Crafts and they had a $1 sale on Simplicity patterns.  I only bought 2 as well as some Velcro and some clearance winter gloves.  You will see them when I start sorting out my stash.  The basket trick will work greatly for that too (see 2016 Resolutions Update: Round 1).  I also ended up buying some fabric for Easter, and some impulse craft items (see Just Several Pretty Lace Accessories...and And Now...The Dress).  Oh the shame.

Exercise – Because of how busy I've been at work and how miserably I been doing on my goal, I've decided to put this on hold to focus more attention on my other resolutions.

Stretch –  Same as with the exercise, it's on hold for the time being.

Save money – After much thought, I decided to change up my goal for this one. 

I've realized it matters very little how much I've been able to save if the interest on my credit card is eating a good chunk each month.  So the new goal is to reduce the balance on my credit card to under $1000 by the end of the year, and I have a stretch goal of reducing it to 0 if I can manage it. 

So far my strategy is to pay at least $220/month on it.  The $200 is because that's double the minimum payment amount and the last $20 is because that's how much I usually set aside to save for stuff for crafts/hobbies.  If I'm trying to reduce my craft stash I probably don't need that $20.

I have also been splitting the $220 and making two payments each month instead of just the one.  I’ve read that this affects the way the interest is calculated (Here's a good article on it). 

Clean out my closet – This one I'm quite proud of.  I continued using the basket trick and finished sorting out my closet.

Here's one ambitious basket full of clothes to sort.

Now all sorted.  The basket is full of the keepers, the pile on the right is stuff that needs fixing/mending, and the pile on the left is the stuff to get rid of.

Now all bagged up.  Two more bags of giveaways, and the mending has been added to the ever growing mending bags.

Now this is the final basket and the one I saved for last for a reason.  It's full of all the pretty dresses and skirts I have sewn myself over the years.  Extremely difficult to part with any of them as you can imagine.

Difficult, but not impossible.  Again the basket is full of the keepers, the bottom pile is the fix/mend pile, and surprisingly the top pile is all the ones I am giving away.

Now here’s the three completely full bags of mending with another bag of giveaways on the left and a basket full of keepers on the right.

Now to deal with the mending.  I had decided to re-sort them before attempting any sort of fixing.  No sense in keeping all this if I’ve lost interest in fixing them.

First bag, fixing the stuff on the left, goodbye to the stuff on the right.  The top right will be cut up for rags.

Second bag, top keeping, bottom left giving, bottom right will be used for other purposes.

The third and final bag.  This is the one full of pretty handmade dresses and skirts, but I’m still only fixing the top ones.  The bottom pile will go to good homes.

Now here’s the full bags of mending sorted from left to right in order of difficulty.  Guess which one I will probably get to first?

And of course two more bags full of stuff to give away/donate. 

The closet is fully sorted.

Goal completed.

New goal: Deal with each bag of mending, preferably before the end of summer.  Wish me luck!