Another month in the books, and based on how busy I've been the last few weeks, I'm not sorry to see it go. Work has picked up, and grad school has REALLY picked up. I'm in an accelerated part-time MBA program at GMU, with two night classes a week after work. Each class meets for 3.5 hours per week (6:30 to 10:05!), and I've probably got to put in at least twice that amount of time to get the work done outside of class. I'm so exhausted by Thursday. To top off the work and school one-two punch, I'm also still trying to keep up with the blog and meet all my New Year's resolutions. Anyway, enough complaining, here's how I did:
FINANCES: Put $2000/month away in savings (target of $24,000 for the year and max out a Roth IRA ($5500/year).
We put another $4,380 in savings this month, bringing our yearly total to $8,398. That amount is kind of misleading because we got our tax return this month. We really should have been up in the $5,200-$5,400 range this month. I ended up spending $450 total for two tickets to Montreal over labor day weekend (which was actually an insanely good deal, and I'll get paid back for one of those tickets), another $150 for a race entry fee, $300 for a photography class for my wife, $120 to get a passport renewed, and a bunch of small but unexpected expenses. February was an expensive damn month.
I'm revising the goal from January. With a crazy wedding season looming, no more saving for a $4,500 trip. We have three weddings to go to this summer, two of which have bachelor parties in Canada (one in Montreal and one in Vancouver), and one of them is in Maine which promises to be about a $1,500 trip for the wife and I. All in all, I estimate we will spend between $3,500-$4,500 on wedding-related expenses this year. UGH.
I just opened a Roth IRA, and the yearly contribution limit is $5,500 which I fully intend to meet. More on this to come in a future post.
FITNESS: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.
I went to the gym yesterday to see where I'm at with the pull-ups. I did 10 in a row, probably could have squeezed out one or two more as well, but it would have been ugly. I feel pretty good about where I am right now. I still hate pull-ups, but I'm seeing some improvement.
I made some progress on the second half of the goal by signing up for a Tough Mudder (hence the $150 entry fee I mentioned). I'm doing it with my Dad who, at 63, physically puts most people my age to shame. Speaking of shame, NONE OF MY FRIENDS WOULD AGREE TO SIGN UP FOR IT. #sad #supersad #theywillbedeadby40. Anyway, June 14th. Get pummmmmped.
CREATIVITY: Average 4 blog posts a month by end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.
I did more reading of blogs than I did writing of blogs this month. I've been consuming all the information I can find on building wealth responsibly, personal finance, and investing in general, and there's a lot of information out there. Despite that time dump, I still managed to pump out 5 blog posts. I'm changing the goal from 2 posts per month to 4 posts per month, which is pretty much a layup. I NEED AN EASY WIN OK!?
I also posted one project! Check out these shelves I made for the wife, I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.
CAREER: Become a GS-13 by September.
Not much movement on this front. I did speak with my boss to see how to get this process started but I haven't had the chance to follow-up on his advice. This is definitely a huge priority for me, The position comes with a nice pay raise and added responsibility that I wouldn't mind at all.
SPIRITUAL: Find a Church by April and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity by the end of the year.
I FAILED! Still no church for me. I totally missed on this goal, and I'll be honest, I didn't even know I set the 1st of March as the deadline!! I'm going to push it back one month and get off my ass Sunday mornings.
At a school meeting a couple weeks ago, we were discussing different volunteering opportunities that students could take part in. One of them was Habitat for Humanity. I'm kind of holding out hope that I can volunteer with my classmates.
Whole 30: Complete the Whole 30 Challenge (again!).
We already completed the Whole 30 challenge in January and it was awesome, but since I haven't been as strict with my diet, I'm starting to fall back into some of my old bad habits. No, I haven't been eating fast food, but I'd estimate that only 50% of what I eat is Paleo and I can definitely feel a difference. Ideally, I'd like to do Whole 30 around the same time I do the Tough Mudder in June, but I'll set a loose goal and say that I'd like to do it once more this year.
Showing posts with label Projects. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Projects. Show all posts
Sunday, March 2, 2014
Thursday, February 13, 2014
How To: Reclaimed Wood Wall Shelf
A while back, I posted about some projects I was planning on completing, as completion of three projects was one of my resolutions for the year. The shelf project was up first. This was my Christmas present to my wife, who wanted a place to put all her cameras. She's nice enough to take pictures for my blog, I was happy to oblige.
Step 1: Find a heavy waterlogged board in the woods behind your parents' house, think it's perfect for a project, drag it up a steep hill, and wipe out in front of the wife (not shown). Simple. Except for the whole find-a-random-board-in-the-woods thing. Instead, you could just buy some wood from the store (2x4s) and make things a lot easier on yourself because, shocker, wood you find in the woods will not be ideally suited to becoming a shelf.
Step 2: Find some wall brackets. I was really feeling the Ledge & Shelf Bracket from Restoration Hardware, but they were $45 bucks each. REALLY? How about I just pick up some of these Ikea Ekby Lerbergs for $2 each instead? My math's adequate at best but I estimate they are one million percent cheaper and they have the added bonus of being named something RIDICULOUS.
Step 3: Cut your wood down to size. First measure the wall you'll be hanging the shelves on. Also keep in mind that the brackets are not one-size-fits-all. Check the product dimensions. Then using a table saw, cut the board (at this point I found that mine was an engineered plywood counter top) in two, and then make another cut on both boards to make them 11" deep. This was challenging, I'm not gonna lie. The wood was warped and cutting a straight-line required an embarrassing amount of takes. Measure twice, then cut three or four times for good measure. That's what I've always heard.
Step 4: Sand and stain.These are the easiest steps by far, especially if you have a power sander. Sand down the wood, taking care to smooth the edges you've just cut with the saw. This will remove the layers of dirt and grime. Clean off the wood with a cloth to remove the saw dust, and stain the boards using an old paint brush or rag. Just coat the boards with the stain like it's paint, wait a few (5) minutes, and then wipe off the excess stain with a rag. If you want the stain to be darker, put another coat on using the same methods. For the record, I was using some leftover Minwax Jacobean Stain, which is a great color. Once this is done, let the stain dry overnight.
Step 5: Protect. Once the wood is dry to the touch, apply polyurethane to the wood. Polyurethane will protect the wood from damage that may occur while moving the board or placing heavy items on it later. I find it's easiest to use the spray can variety, as it dries faster. Pro tip: Be very conservative. You do not want to over apply polyurethane as it will bubble or pool and give whatever it is you are working on a yellow hue. Also, let the polyurethane dry thoroughly before moving the boards. It'll be tempting to move them at this point, since you're now finished with them.
Step 6: Paint the brackets. Spray painting is an art form, don't let anyone tell you differently. If you haven't had experience with spray paint, take a look at some tutorials you find online. They are worth your time to read. I bought and used spray primer (shown above) since I was painting metal and I was worried the paint would fleck off if I didn't. After that, I used spray paint. I chose metallic gold spray paint for the brackets because I liked the way this looked, and I painted the brackets from every angle I could.
Step 7: Fasten the brackets to the shelves. Pre-drill the holes in the shelves using a small drill bit and then use a power screw driver to drive a screw into the board, fastening the brackets to the shelves.
Step 8: Fasten the brackets, and the shelves, to the wall. I really don't have the energy to type the explicit details of this part out, but suffice to say, HANGING HEAVY STUFF IS THE WORST. It's really a two person job: one to hold the shelf against the wall, the other to mark the screw holes on the wall. One bit of advice: measure, measure, measure so you don't mess up by drilling an extra hole in the wall and end up hating yourself.
THE END. Once you have the shelves up there, sit back and admire your handiwork. The cost of this project was $30 for the brackets, about $3 for the primer, $5 for the spray paint. The wood was free, and the stain and polyurethane were leftover from some other projects of mine. Total, I estimate the project only set me back about $45. Not bad considering I was trying to knock off a set of $250 RH shelves.
Step 2: Find some wall brackets. I was really feeling the Ledge & Shelf Bracket from Restoration Hardware, but they were $45 bucks each. REALLY? How about I just pick up some of these Ikea Ekby Lerbergs for $2 each instead? My math's adequate at best but I estimate they are one million percent cheaper and they have the added bonus of being named something RIDICULOUS.
Step 3: Cut your wood down to size. First measure the wall you'll be hanging the shelves on. Also keep in mind that the brackets are not one-size-fits-all. Check the product dimensions. Then using a table saw, cut the board (at this point I found that mine was an engineered plywood counter top) in two, and then make another cut on both boards to make them 11" deep. This was challenging, I'm not gonna lie. The wood was warped and cutting a straight-line required an embarrassing amount of takes. Measure twice, then cut three or four times for good measure. That's what I've always heard.
Step 4: Sand and stain.These are the easiest steps by far, especially if you have a power sander. Sand down the wood, taking care to smooth the edges you've just cut with the saw. This will remove the layers of dirt and grime. Clean off the wood with a cloth to remove the saw dust, and stain the boards using an old paint brush or rag. Just coat the boards with the stain like it's paint, wait a few (5) minutes, and then wipe off the excess stain with a rag. If you want the stain to be darker, put another coat on using the same methods. For the record, I was using some leftover Minwax Jacobean Stain, which is a great color. Once this is done, let the stain dry overnight.
Step 5: Protect. Once the wood is dry to the touch, apply polyurethane to the wood. Polyurethane will protect the wood from damage that may occur while moving the board or placing heavy items on it later. I find it's easiest to use the spray can variety, as it dries faster. Pro tip: Be very conservative. You do not want to over apply polyurethane as it will bubble or pool and give whatever it is you are working on a yellow hue. Also, let the polyurethane dry thoroughly before moving the boards. It'll be tempting to move them at this point, since you're now finished with them.
Step 6: Paint the brackets. Spray painting is an art form, don't let anyone tell you differently. If you haven't had experience with spray paint, take a look at some tutorials you find online. They are worth your time to read. I bought and used spray primer (shown above) since I was painting metal and I was worried the paint would fleck off if I didn't. After that, I used spray paint. I chose metallic gold spray paint for the brackets because I liked the way this looked, and I painted the brackets from every angle I could.
Step 7: Fasten the brackets to the shelves. Pre-drill the holes in the shelves using a small drill bit and then use a power screw driver to drive a screw into the board, fastening the brackets to the shelves.
Step 8: Fasten the brackets, and the shelves, to the wall. I really don't have the energy to type the explicit details of this part out, but suffice to say, HANGING HEAVY STUFF IS THE WORST. It's really a two person job: one to hold the shelf against the wall, the other to mark the screw holes on the wall. One bit of advice: measure, measure, measure so you don't mess up by drilling an extra hole in the wall and end up hating yourself.
THE END. Once you have the shelves up there, sit back and admire your handiwork. The cost of this project was $30 for the brackets, about $3 for the primer, $5 for the spray paint. The wood was free, and the stain and polyurethane were leftover from some other projects of mine. Total, I estimate the project only set me back about $45. Not bad considering I was trying to knock off a set of $250 RH shelves.
Monday, January 6, 2014
2014 Project Inspiration
If you remember, one of my goals for 2014 was to complete 3 "projects" in 2014. To me, anything I can paint/stain/seal/sand/etc with materials I can store in my one bedroom apartment counts. Doesn't hurt if it's practical. Also, doesn't hurt if it's easy. Here are the three projects I'm starting off with:
1. Revamped Filing Cabinet Entry Table
Before I was married, my then-fiance-now-wife Whitney went out with my mom for antiques and came home with this really crappy, rusty, $30 steamer trunk that was bug-eaten and looked terrible. I guess she liked it. Well, anyway, it took me close to 100 hours (mostly because I didn't know what I was doing) to strip off its canvas, painstakingly get the rust off, and refinish the thing but it ended up looking really great and unique... and now I'm really tired of the way it looks. It's the first thing I see when I come in the apartment, it's kind of short for an entry room table, and it doesn't match our apartment. I'm trying to find its replacement.
My wife pinned this filing cabinet revamp on Pinterest months ago, and I've been trying to find three matching filing cabinets for a while now. Not owning a truck and Craigslist generally being terrible means I've had no luck, but I really want to do this and I'm keeping an eye out.
2. Photography Equipment Shelves
My wife's getting pretty darn good at her photography, and as a result, we're accumulating cameras and manuals and straps and bags and lenses and other-stuff-I-don't-even-know-what-it-is. Dear God, it's a lot of stuff, and I've heard about these things called "shelves" that people put stuff on. They seem practical. I wanted to get something that looked like this...
... and mix it with this.
1. Revamped Filing Cabinet Entry Table
Before I was married, my then-fiance-now-wife Whitney went out with my mom for antiques and came home with this really crappy, rusty, $30 steamer trunk that was bug-eaten and looked terrible. I guess she liked it. Well, anyway, it took me close to 100 hours (mostly because I didn't know what I was doing) to strip off its canvas, painstakingly get the rust off, and refinish the thing but it ended up looking really great and unique... and now I'm really tired of the way it looks. It's the first thing I see when I come in the apartment, it's kind of short for an entry room table, and it doesn't match our apartment. I'm trying to find its replacement.
My wife pinned this filing cabinet revamp on Pinterest months ago, and I've been trying to find three matching filing cabinets for a while now. Not owning a truck and Craigslist generally being terrible means I've had no luck, but I really want to do this and I'm keeping an eye out.
2. Photography Equipment Shelves
My wife's getting pretty darn good at her photography, and as a result, we're accumulating cameras and manuals and straps and bags and lenses and other-stuff-I-don't-even-know-what-it-is. Dear God, it's a lot of stuff, and I've heard about these things called "shelves" that people put stuff on. They seem practical. I wanted to get something that looked like this...
3. Baseball Bats and Axes
It's no secret that most of the people using Pinterest, which is an amazing website, are female. As a result, it's hard to find DIY ideas for men. When I came across some army surplus axes and some practice squad Louisville Sluggers and I bought them on the cheap, thinking I could do something manly with them. They're officially in the trunk on my car, just rolling around, and I don't know what to do with them. They're officially on my project list.
I'll figure something out, I swear.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
This Resolution Plays for Keeps
New Year's resolutions are a tricky thing. According to StatisticBrain, approximately a quarter of the resolution-making population doesn't make it through the first week (wow, seriously?) and only 8% are successful in meeting their resolution (ok, it's official, we suck). Why so much suck? It's because we have sucky goals that suck worse than we suck.
Take a look at the goals we make each year. Lose some weight. Exercise more. Call mom more. Drink less. All good, but basically, they're just about "doing your best". Can we even measure it? When do we know we've met our goal? We're not likely to stay committed to these. Goals setting should be done with a purpose. Goals should be:
FINANCIAL ANDREW 2014: Save $3,000 and ACTUALLY SPEND IT on a vacation before September and increase our cash savings by $24,000 by January 2015.
No shortage of wants here, just a shortage of cash. We definitely want to buy a house soon (dropping $1,535/month on rent for a one bedroom is getting OLD), but we haven't been on an amazing vacation yet and we're not getting any younger. We're gonna have to stash $2350/month (currently on a $2,000/month pace) so it'll take some belt tightening. We can do it. I got faith.
FITNESS ANDREW 2014: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.
I typically reserve this time of year for "finally" getting in shape. It's the same routine every year: go to closet, get dressed, put on shoes, lose track of ear phones, despair, "man up", step outside, run, and then condemn all other runners in my mind for making this whole damn thing socially acceptable while I nurse shin splints and eat a row of Double Stuf Oreos because I fucking earned it. Still, I don't want to die a fatty on the couch so here we go again. This past weekend, I could do 8 pull ups in a row, but I haven't really been working out recently because I tore three tendons in my left ankle last July playing basketball. This feels doable. Should also make a Tough Mudder doable, but I'll probably need to get some friends to do it with me.
CREATIVE ANDREW 2014: Average 2 blog posts a month by the end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.
I just want to stick with this whole blog fad, ride it out 'til the end. Who knows if the Internet is even ready for blogs? I DON'T CARE IF YOU READY WORLD WIDE WEB! YOU CAN STAY OR YOU CAN GO BUT THIS IS HAPPENING! .... and I like to refinish furniture and stuff. Gonna do some of that this year fo' sho'.
PROFESSIONAL ANDREW 2014: Become a GS-13 by October.
I am a GS-12 right now, GS-13 is up next. As a Federal Government employee, this will be the first promotion I will have earned "competively". If you're not in the Government, this makes no sense to you. I'll explain later. Just go with it for now, OK?
SPIRITUAL ANDREW 2014: Find a church by the end of March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity at least once before the end of the year.
Not sure what the deal is with us, we are devout believers in God but we've been living together for 4 years and we've only tried once to find a church (it did not go well!). Time to get it together. Working on my relationship with God is a mega-priority. I'd also like to start volunteering again. My wife and I met in college at James Madison University in Virginia where we were both "brothers" in a co-ed service fraternity. Giving back does a body good. Habitat for Humanity, which I've never done, seems like a good place to reengage.
... and finally!
WHOLE 30 ANDREW 2014: Complete the Whole 30 challenge starting January 1st!
Much more on this to come, but this is definitely my shortest-term, but maybe the most challenging, goal.
If you're reading this, what are your goals? Let me know!
Take a look at the goals we make each year. Lose some weight. Exercise more. Call mom more. Drink less. All good, but basically, they're just about "doing your best". Can we even measure it? When do we know we've met our goal? We're not likely to stay committed to these. Goals setting should be done with a purpose. Goals should be:
- Public: Telling people you're going to do something makes you more likely to commit to the goal. Tell people you're going to do something on Facebook, and you might do it just to save "face". (WORDPLAY! HOW MARVELOUS!)
- Time-bound and Specific: It should be clear what you're trying to do. Losing weight, for example: how much weight? by when? You need to give yourself a deadline so you'll get around to it and you need to know what the target is exactly.
- Attainable: This is kind of a no-brainer, but sometimes we don't think about it. If you don't believe you can possibly accomplish something (like running a marathon if you're not yet a runner), you're not going to get it done. Think about what it will take realistically to accomplish the goal.
- Difficult: You need to be able to tell the difference between the current state and the goal state. Too easy and it won't mean anything. Too hard and it may not be attainable.
FINANCIAL ANDREW 2014: Save $3,000 and ACTUALLY SPEND IT on a vacation before September and increase our cash savings by $24,000 by January 2015.
No shortage of wants here, just a shortage of cash. We definitely want to buy a house soon (dropping $1,535/month on rent for a one bedroom is getting OLD), but we haven't been on an amazing vacation yet and we're not getting any younger. We're gonna have to stash $2350/month (currently on a $2,000/month pace) so it'll take some belt tightening. We can do it. I got faith.
FITNESS ANDREW 2014: Do 15 pull-ups in a row before next Christmas and complete a Tough Mudder by August.
I typically reserve this time of year for "finally" getting in shape. It's the same routine every year: go to closet, get dressed, put on shoes, lose track of ear phones, despair, "man up", step outside, run, and then condemn all other runners in my mind for making this whole damn thing socially acceptable while I nurse shin splints and eat a row of Double Stuf Oreos because I fucking earned it. Still, I don't want to die a fatty on the couch so here we go again. This past weekend, I could do 8 pull ups in a row, but I haven't really been working out recently because I tore three tendons in my left ankle last July playing basketball. This feels doable. Should also make a Tough Mudder doable, but I'll probably need to get some friends to do it with me.
CREATIVE ANDREW 2014: Average 2 blog posts a month by the end of the year and complete at least 3 "projects" before next year.
I just want to stick with this whole blog fad, ride it out 'til the end. Who knows if the Internet is even ready for blogs? I DON'T CARE IF YOU READY WORLD WIDE WEB! YOU CAN STAY OR YOU CAN GO BUT THIS IS HAPPENING! .... and I like to refinish furniture and stuff. Gonna do some of that this year fo' sho'.
PROFESSIONAL ANDREW 2014: Become a GS-13 by October.
I am a GS-12 right now, GS-13 is up next. As a Federal Government employee, this will be the first promotion I will have earned "competively". If you're not in the Government, this makes no sense to you. I'll explain later. Just go with it for now, OK?
SPIRITUAL ANDREW 2014: Find a church by the end of March and volunteer at Habitat for Humanity at least once before the end of the year.
Not sure what the deal is with us, we are devout believers in God but we've been living together for 4 years and we've only tried once to find a church (it did not go well!). Time to get it together. Working on my relationship with God is a mega-priority. I'd also like to start volunteering again. My wife and I met in college at James Madison University in Virginia where we were both "brothers" in a co-ed service fraternity. Giving back does a body good. Habitat for Humanity, which I've never done, seems like a good place to reengage.
... and finally!
WHOLE 30 ANDREW 2014: Complete the Whole 30 challenge starting January 1st!
Much more on this to come, but this is definitely my shortest-term, but maybe the most challenging, goal.
If you're reading this, what are your goals? Let me know!
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