steady plodding

january update

2012-02-01T16:57:00.002-05:00

I know, I know! I'm a day late. My computer wasn't working yesterday so everything is getting pushed back by a day! Tomorrow I'll post February goals!

So, how did we do in January? All things considered, not too bad! My goal was to spend 10% less in January 2012 than we did in January 2011. But between going to Texas for Mom's funeral and helping our friends whose husband was just diagnosed with colon cancer, we had about $650 in unexpected expenses . We did not meet my goal of spending 10% less, but even with these unexpected expenses we still spent less! In fact, we spent a whopping 0.5% less in January 2012 than we did in January 2011!

And that is why I love these challenges! Life happens and we have to spend some money. But, because I was participating in the challenge, I'd already cut back spending in several areas which made up for the extra that was spent!

And now for my other goals for the year and progress (if any...) that's being made!

Lose weight.

I lost 4.6 pounds this month! (I have had a "munchy" week though and am not sure if I'll see a loss/gain/maintain on the scale for this week!)

Exercise.

Exercise was minimal at best. I ran about 4.5 miles and exercised only 3 or 4 days. 2 days were spent doing solid running/cardio and 2 days were spent doing some serious yard work.

Volunteer.

no hours logged for January.

Build and strengthen relationships.

check! I wrote my weekly letters to special friends. And we did invite a couple over for dinner last weekend, but they had to cancel at the last minute so we ended up back at "0" for hosting friends at home!

Photography - I want to complete the 12 Weeks to Better Photos homework by Two Peas in a Bucket. - fail!

Reading - My goal is to read 20 books in 2012 and I finished 2 in January!

Craftiness - I want to complete my unfinished projects from 2011. I'd also like to finish my 2010 and 2011 scrapbooks and bring my boys school albums up to date. - fail...I only added to my project list!

Gardening - Am going to my Master Gardener classes and keeping up with the homework. (It's hard!!) I need to make some flashcards and start studying for the mid-term which is on February 13th.

Rosetta Stone

I completed 7 lessons this month. Still have a long way to go before April.

So, that's it in a nutshell! I'll be back tomorrow to talk about February!

new chores for commissions

2012-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

It was this time last year that my family made the switch from giving the boys an Allowance to giving them Commissions. You can read the original post here but basically we were tired of handing over money to the boys each month when they'd done nothing to earn it. We came up with age appropriate chores they could do in order to earn money and they did an exceptional job for 8-9 months of keeping track of what they did and I normally had their commissions ready to give them on Sunday nights.

Around the time of their birthdays (in the Fall), they were extra busy with football and they were receiving money as birthday gifts. It was then that they lost some momentum and motivation to get their chore charts completed. I have to give them credit though, even without earning commissions they did an exceptional job helping out around the house and doing their regular chores. I keep thinking that one of them is going to give me a "bill" of what I owe them for taking out the recycling bins for the last 3 months.

It's a new year though and they're each another year older. It's time to get back into our routine of regular chores and commissions. And since they are older, I want them to each learn a new skill.

For my 10 year old, I want him to learn how to sort and wash his own clothes. Last year he was responsible for bringing his laundry basket to the laundry room for me to do the wash. This year I want him to simply learn how to start the wash. Also, he knows how to dust, but this year I want him to get even better at it! (ha, ha!) So, he'll be dusting the furniture on the main floor of the house.

For my 13 year old, he and I both had the same skill in mind that we wanted him to learn and practice. Cooking. He'll be responsible for planning (with my help at first) and preparing a meal one night each week. He's pretty good at grilling burgers, so that will probably be his meal of choice, but I want him to learn how to slice the onion and tomatoes, shred the lettuce, and prepare the side dishes. It doesn't have to be complicated. I'll be happy for him to heat up a can of beans or cut up some fruit (or even open a can of fruit...). He could even make a pot of spaghetti and serve it with garlic bread and a bagged salad. Easy stuff.

Also, my chore charts aren't fancy. Just something printed from the computer and taped to the refrigerator. Here is a sample of what I do:

for my 10 year old...

CHORE	Earning Potential	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total Earned
Take out/bring in trash & recycling on Mondays	$1
Clean, dust, vacuum your room	$2
Dust furniture in the den, dining room, living room, guest bedroom	$3
Clean the basement bathroom	$2
Wash & your laundry (I’ll dry, fold & hang it)	$1/load

^{for my 13 year old...}

CHORE	Earning Potential	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday	Total Earned
Plan and prepare 1 dinner	$5
Clean, dust, vacuum your room	$2
Clean your bathroom	$2
Wash & dry your laundry	$1/load
Fold, hang & put away your laundry	$1/load

My main goal is to teach them to be responsible and to have some basic skills that will serve them well when they are living on their own and for when they have a family of their own. The bathrooms aren't always going to be cleaned perfectly, but I know they'll get better at it as they get older. Also, not all chores are tied to money. There are several things that we expect them to do just because they are a member of the family and we all pitch in to help one another. Things like feeding the dog, setting the table, putting their clothes away, keeping their rooms tidy, etc. are just normal things they do each day. As much as they can annoy me sometimes, they're really pretty good kids! :)

They use the money they earn to pay for concession stand snacks, movies with friends, video game rentals, songs from iTunes. Normal 10-13 year old boy stuff.

Anyway - have you found a system that works for your family? How do you handle spending money with your children?

weekend update

2012-01-28T09:00:00.000-05:00

It's been another crazy and unpredictable week, but that is a-okay! Weeks/months like this one are teaching me the importance of keeping my priorities in check and remaining flexible. My youngest was sick at home Monday and Tuesday and we found out early in the week that a very good friend of ours has colon cancer. The prognosis and outlook of everyone involved is extremely positive. The week has been spent sitting with our friends at the hospital and doing what we can to help them at home by preparing meals for their children. My "normal" goals for the month haven't been my top priority for the week, instead it's been that of friendship, but I am certainly glad that I have the goals in writing. My blog is a positive distraction and when my head and mind are all a jumble, I can look at my written to-do's and have some direction on what needs to be done.

Sealed Pot - I had a jar of loose change in our kitchen that was earmarked for our sponsored child in Liberia. We found out he has moved to a different village and no longer needs us to sponsor him, so that money has gone into the Sealed Pot. It was about $10 in change.

Exercise/Weight Loss -Once again it was on auto pilot and trying to make good and sensible decisions. My goal was to exercise twice this week and I exercised once. You can track my weight loss goals here.

52 Letters in 52 Weeks. - This week's letter went to my sister. She celebrated her "half birthday" and I sent her a letter and some fun, silly socks.

Reading - I finished reading the Half Broke Horses and loved it!! It is about the grandmother in The Glass Castle and wished that I would have read Half Broke Horses before reading The Glass Castle. After reading the 2nd book, I had so much more understanding and patience for the Mom in The Glass Castle. Both are great books though and I recommend reading both no matter which order you read them!

Rosetta Stone - I completed 4 lessons this week! I have a hard time making myself sit down to do it, but love it once I'm doing it!

No Spend Challenge -- We're doing pretty good. With some unexpected expenses (going to Texas and making some purchases to help our friends) I know that we will not meet our original goal of spending 10% less this month than we did in January '11 but that's okay. We have to know when it's okay to spend and when friends and family are more important than staying on budget. I'll know the final numbers for sure next week! I'm looking forward to our February Challenges and will finalize my specific goals for the challenge this weekend. Will share them on Wednesday!

But seriously, Mr. Steady and I really would like to put January 2012 out of our minds and are considering having February 1st be our New Year!

{this moment}

2012-01-27T09:43:00.001-05:00

Joining SouleMama for {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

february challenge(s)

2012-01-26T13:51:00.001-05:00

Just a week ago I was beginning to think about February and wondering if there would be any challenges going on! I didn't have to wait long to find out that Carla at My 1/2 Dozen Daily is hosting not one but TWO challenges next month! Woo Hoo! Count me in!

The challenges for the month are to have a Low (No) Spend Month and to Declutter the home a bit. You can read more about it here. I am super excited! January has been a good month so far (financially speaking) and I'd love to carry the momentum forward into the next month.

I need to think about my specific goals and what I want to accomplish exactly with the challenge. I'll put some thought into it and let you know!

I hope that you'll take a look at the details for the Challenges and consider joining! I think there will be several of us supporting and encouraging each other during the month!

an extra 9 hours

2012-01-23T08:25:00.000-05:00

Today is Monday which means I am scheduled to be away from the house from 8-5 for my Master Gardener class. Yesterday I made my lunch and prepped a casserole for dinner. So, both lunch and dinner are already taken care of and are in the fridge. The house is even tidy so that when I get home at 5pm I get to walk into a clean (enough) house.

But, my little one is home sick and is too sick for me to leave him by himself.

So....I have an extra 9 hours today!

It's dark and raining outside and we have threats of tornadoes coming our way. I'd LOVE to get back into my pajamas, cuddle up with the little guy and watch movies all day, but I'm going to tackle some projects that I'd planned doing later in the week.

And if I hurry and get them done, then I bet I can snuggle up with "el sicko" and watch a movie afterall!

Here's what I'd like to get done!

~~Clean out the basket on my kitchen counter. (You know the one....the basket that collects all the stuff so that the stuff doesn't pile up on the counter!)~~
~~Sweep, mop, vacuum~~
~~Research 2 destinations for Mr. Steady's company vacation~~
~~Send e-mail to older son's chorus teacher~~
Read the 3 chapters in my Master Gardener book that are being covered today
Bible Study lessons
~~Catch up on laundry~~
~~Check to see if WooLoot has credited the watch that I returned~~
~~Mail shirt back to Hot Chillys for a return~~
~~Send link to Mr. Steady to see what he needs me to order for him from Hot Chillys~~
~~Make/freeze at least one casserole~~
Do at least one Rosetta Stone lesson
~~Update $$ log~~
File papers in the in-tray of my office
Organize folder for 2011 taxes
~~Go through Plastics (cups, containers, etc.) in the kitchen and donate what isn't needed~~
~~Pick up a book at the library that's on hold for me~~

Whew! That's a lot. So....I'm going to jump off of here and get to work so that hopefully by lunchtime I can cross off a bunch of this stuff and have some downtime with my favorite 10 year old!

What are you doing today?

weekend update

2012-01-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

First of all, I want to say thank you all so much for your kind words that you've left for me this past week. It's been a bit of a rough week and it seems like the more days that go by, the reality of my mom being gone is really sinking in. Anyway - I don't want to get into it too much here, but wanted you to know just how much I appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers. Thank You!

Now - for something to distract me for a bit. My blog! Just another week and a half and it'll already be February! woo hoo!

I didn't focus on my goals at all this week, but I want to see where we stand.

No Spend Challenge -- Still on track to finish the month by spending 10% less this month than we did in January 2011.

Sealed Pot - I found $4 in the pocket of my jacket this week and dropped it into my Sealed Pot.

Exercise/Weight Loss - This was just on auto-pilot. I didn't exercise at all and ate whatever meals were brought to us by friends and family. You can track my weight loss goals here.

52 Letters in 52 Weeks. - I've written several thank you notes this week, but the letter that I'm counting towards my 52 letters/52 weeks is a letter that I wrote to my very good friend Christi.

Reading - Am still reading the book Half-Broke Horses.

Rosetta Stone - I completed three lessons last week before going to Texas.

So - that's my short update! My goals for next week will be simple. To keep my spending down, to exercise at least 2 days, and to write a letter to someone special. With February just around the corner, is anyone having a February Challenge of any sort?

{this moment}

2012-01-20T10:06:00.001-05:00

Joining SouleMama for {this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

mid-month update

2012-01-18T15:05:00.000-05:00

I got home from Texas late yesterday afternoon and am (kinda) glad to be back home. It was very hard to leave my sister and dad, but it was time for me to get home to the boys, my sister to get back to work and my Dad to begin what will be his "new normal".

I've spent this morning just trying to get organized around the house. Mr. Steady drove the boys home from Texas over the weekend (15 hour drive) all by himself and he has been Mr. Mom for the past 3 days. On the way home from the airport yesterday (I flew home...) he told him that he was so sorry if he'd ever taken me for granted. :)

I decided it would help clear my mind to sit down and look at my finances for the month since I lost track a bit over the past week. I did forget for just a bit when I drove by my favorite thrift store that I am in the midst of a No-Spend Challenge. I ran in to see what was on Sale and found a fireplace tool set for $3. We've been needing a poker for our backyard fire pit and I was thrilled to find something used! Since it's going to live outside the fact that it's white, brass, and a tad ugly really doesn't matter. Although, I may spray some paint on it if I get motivated! And I'm afraid that I may have gotten something to add to my Unfinished Project List! Our guest bath is small with very little counter space and I've been wanting to get a small table or vanity to go in our guest bedroom so that my Sister and my Mother-in-Law have a place to put their makeup and hair stuff when they come to visit. I found a nice sized vanity with drawers for only $20. And, let's just say that it needs to be painted. I'll wait and show pictures to you when I have both Before and After pics to share!

So now to my update on spending.

My goal is to spend 10% less in January 2012 than I did in January 2011. I've taken our house payment out of the calculations because we refinanced and our new payment is 15% less than 2011's payment. In January 2011 we spent $4721, so this month I want my spending to be below $4249. I'm thrilled to say that even with the $500 we spent traveling to Texas for mom's funeral included in the totals, we've spent $3135 so far for the month. This leaves me with just over $1000 for the rest of the month. I know that I still have about $800 in miscellaneous expenses (cell phone bill, AAU registration, gas, guitar lessons, hair color, etc.), so that leaves me with a cushion of about $275 that I'll earmark for food. 13 days to go...

I've been out of town for the past week and would love to hear how everyone else is doing on their No Spend (or Low Spend) Challenge!

keeping it real

2012-01-11T11:04:00.002-05:00

Me and Mom (1945-2012)

I debated on saying anything, but I think it's important to be "real" when blogging. I think it be more awkward than not for me not to explain why I'll be away from Steady Plodding for a week (or so...). My mom passed away unexpectedly yesterday and I'll be traveling to Texas to be with my Dad and Sister. I'll be back to regular posting (and reading my favorite blogs) very soon.

love,
sp

my (non) weekend update

2012-01-10T14:02:00.000-05:00

Wow...what a crazy past few days! The boys had 4 basketball games this weekend, we went to the Duke vs. Georgia Tech basketball game (a Christmas gift for the boys), my youngest had Scouts, we all had church, throw some homework projects in there too and that was our weekend!

Then yesterday I left the house at 8am and got home at 5pm. It was the first day of my Master Gardener class. Wow! Tons of material covered that left my head spinning. It's been many, many years since I had to think about the Periodic Table and Logarithms. I spent the day taking notes of what I'll need to know for our tests and taking notes on Action Items that I need to do in our own garden. Anyway - it has been a whirlwind of the past 3 days!

Which takes us to my "weekend update". My goal is to check in each weekend to see how I'm doing in reaching my goals and challenges. It's a few days late, but I want to keep myself accountable and see what I need to do!

I'm participating in Carla's No Spend (or spend less...) Challenge. That's going very well so far! In fact this morning it was really nice and easy updating my spending log because there wasn't too much I needed to write down! I'm a little high on the Food that I've spent so far. My budget for the month is $1000 (groceries, eating out, household items included) and I've spent $485 so far. This includes a $60 lunch at the Duke basketball game which is a bit out of the ordinary. That leaves me with $515 for the next 20 days. With carefully planning I expect to be inside this amount. Besides food and normal utilities we really haven't spent too much and I plan to meet my original goal of spending 10% less in January 2012 than we did in January 2011.

I'm also still adding change to my Sealed Pot. I've been using cash only for food/groceries and so every few days I'll empty the coins that I have in my wallet into the sealed pot. I added about $2.50 to the pot last week.

As for my non-financial goals. You can read my update on weight loss and exercise here.

and other goals...

Build and strengthen relationships.

Mr. Steady and I sat down and made a list of friends we knew we wanted to entertain in 2012. The next step is planning our first get together!

52 Letters in 52 Weeks. - My first letter is going in the mail today. I'm writing a letter to my friend Amy Jo.

Volunteering - No volunteer hours this week but I expect to have several next month for a Scout banquet that our Den is hosting.

Photography - Haven't yet completed any of the 12 Weeks to Better Photos homework.

Reading - I finished reading Catching Fire and have started reading the book Half-Broke Horses.

Craftiness - I finished one unfinished project! I painted the lamp and have it sitting on my desk in the office!

Gardening - First class was this week! I need to re-read what we went over yesterday and read ahead the chapters that we'll discuss in the next class.

Rosetta Stone - I completed one lesson this week!

{this moment}

2012-01-06T08:30:00.000-05:00

I've always been impressed by fellow bloggers who can commit to doing a 365 Project. I hope someday to participate in that but know that I don't have the discipline yet to post a picture everyday. But what I can do is post a picture once a week! So, I'm joining SouleMama in her Friday series, {this moment}, where I will share a favorite picture from the week.

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

. . . . . . . .

a finished project!

2012-01-05T16:57:00.002-05:00

Thanks to Carla's encouragement yesterday I completed a project that had been pending since September. Four months ago my favorite thrift store was selling everything at 50% off. I spied this little lamp for $7 and got it on sale for $3.50! It's been needing to get painted ever since then. Yesterday Carla encouraged her readers to "get that little 'something' you’ve been meaning to do forever & a day, finally DONE!" Knowing that it wouldn't take long to paint the lamp I chose it as my project to complete! It's not perfect...I didn't tape off the underside so there is a bit of paint splatter underneath where the light bulb goes. But, it's finally DONE!!!

BEFORE


AFTER

I love our Blogging Community! You all are a great inspiration and motivation!

financial goals for 2012

2012-01-05T10:58:00.000-05:00

So yesterday I shared my personal goals with you for the new year and today I'll share my financial goals! THANK YOU to everyone who left a comment on How Much Do You Spend on Groceries? That was a huge help. We've decided to combine our Eating Out line item with our Grocery line item and have just a single budget for Food. I think this will help keep our spending in check. Last year we were just shy of spending $16,000 on food and household items. Doesn't that seem extreme? No wonder I'm gaining weight!   Our goal this year is to spend $1,000 month on all food and household items/toiletries.

Not to get off track too much but I didn't write an official post of a 2011 "Recap". Our family was pretty close to reaching our financial goals last year though.   We began 2011 with our main goal being to save 15% of our income. In March though our plans changed when we had to replace my car. Financially speaking, I'm very proud of the fact that we paid cash for the car but at the end of the year instead of saving 15% towards retirement we continued at a 6% savings rate. I have to keep reminding myself and Mr. Steady that instead of extra money in the retirement account, we have that "money" in the garage.   Also we had a few unplanned expenses (dog surgery and son surgery) and went way over budget on a few things, but overall we stayed close to our budget. We went over budget by 3%.

But now to my 2012 goals. We have our budget for the year in place and Mr. Steady and I are both very pleased. We continue to strive to keep costs low on things that are unimportant to us so that we can allocate money to the areas that we think are important.

So - here are my goals for the year:

1. Stick to a budget. This will require a lot of discipline. I'll need to say "No" sometimes to certain things, but I also will need remember that I can say "Yes" to things that are in the budget. Oftentimes when my boys ask for something my knee jerk reaction is to say, "No...we don't have the money to do that." But a lot of times we do have the money budgeted and we can do what they're asking as long as we're smart with our choices. Know what I mean?

2. Continue to log expenses. I have a very fancy way of doing this. I track all of my expenses on paper and at the end of the money I add them up with a calculator. Then...I transfer them on the an Excel spreadsheet! I've tried many other ways that promise to be more efficient, but this is the only thing that works for me.

My elaborate accounting system.

3. Use cash only for food purchases. My plan is to get cash out at the beginning of each month and use only it for trips to the grocery store and for eating out.

and the main goal of the year...

4. Save 26% of our gross income. Both Mr. Steady and I are at a place in our lives right now where we are very motivated to save money. To do this, we will have to be diligent with #1, #2, and #3. Blogging certainly helps to keep me focused and reading everyone's blogs helps keep me motivated also. Things like Carla's January Spend-Less Challenge really help me stay on track with my spending!

So, those are my financial goals for the year. The key is to remembering them and holding myself accountable! My plan is to do this my posting a Weekend Update where I review my goal and what steps I'm taking to accomplish them.

personal goals for 2012

2012-01-04T06:00:00.000-05:00

I want to share my Personal Goals for 2012. I'm still working on the 2012 Budget and will post my 2012 Financial Goals as soon as we finish that! THANK YOU for sharing comments yesterday about how much you spend each month on groceries. That was a huge help to me!

Personal Goals

Lose weight.

I've rejoined Weight Watchers and will blog my weight loss journey here. I'm not sure how much I want to lose yet, but know I'd like to get at least to 135. From there, I'll decide how much more I want and/or need to lose.

Exercise.

*Log at least 4160 minutes of exercise in 2012.

*Log at least 350 miles of running in 2012.

Volunteer.

I want to continue volunteering at the boys schools, with their sports, Scouts, Church and the Master Gardener program. I want to keep it all in balance though and not do too much, so my goal is to volunteer 100 hours this year.

Build and strengthen relationships.

*Last year Katy at The Non-Consumer Advocate had a goal to write 52 Letters in 52 Weeks. I want to do that this year. Whether is a long letter or a short note, I want to intentionally sit down, think of a special person, and write a note to them.

*Mr. Steady and I always say, "We should have them over some time..." and "Why don't we do anything with them? They're a lot of fun!" My goal this year is to do something about that! I want to get together with friends who we like and/or people who we want to get to know better every 6-8 weeks. Whether it's dinner or simply Happy Hour on a Friday afternoon, I want to host something at our house. I've even put $ in the budget to do this so that money can't be an excuse not to do it!

Hobbies.

While I don't want my house to become a wreck while focusing on hobbies and not on housework, I want to designate time enjoying what I like to do. Things like...

Photography - I want to complete the 12 Weeks to Better Photos homework by Two Peas in a Bucket.

Reading - My goal is to read 20 books in 2012.

Craftiness - I want to complete my unfinished projects from 2011. I'd also like to finish my 2010 and 2011 scrapbooks and bring my boys school albums up to date.

Gardening - I was accepted into our county's Master Gardener Program which will begin next week. I'll have class each Monday from 8-4 for 3 months. I'll have to pass a mid-term and final exam. Then, I'll have an Intern Project to complete and finally, will need to volunteer 50 hours. My goal is to graduate from the program and apply all my new knowledge to making our own yard gorgeous!

and finally...

Rosetta Stone

These two words have been lingering on my mind since I bought the software this past summer! In fact, I've blogged about it at least 12 times in the last year. My goal is to complete the lessons before traveling to Italy in April!

So that's it in a nutshell! My goals for 2012. I'll add them to my tab that's at the top of my page and update them as I can! Financial goals will be coming soon!

how much do you spend on groceries?

2012-01-03T10:10:00.003-05:00

A quick post/question for you...

What is a reasonable amount to spend on groceries each month? It seems like my family spends an ungodly amount on food and household items. We have 2 boys who seem to always be hungry (ages 13 and 10) and when they have friends over a couple of times each month which adds a small amount to the bill. I also have my household goods in my grocery budget as well too (things like toilet paper, light bulbs, shampoo, soap, etc.) I'm embarrassed to say it but in 2011 we spent just over $13,000 in Food/Household items.

Anyway - I'm sitting here at my desk wrapping up our 2011 books and starting to work on the 2012 budget. I don't want to budget $13,000 on Groceries in 2012 just because that's what we spent in 2011. So, I'm wondering what my readers spend on average for Food/Household items each month.

Please share if you're willing! And, if you do, please let me know if you have children at home too (and how many...)! Much thanks!

top 10 unfinished projects of 2011

2011-12-31T08:00:00.000-05:00

Some of my favorite bloggers are posting their Top 10 (Finished) Projects of 2011. I wish that I could play along, but since most of my projects remain unfinished I would only have a few to share. So...in hopes that I can have an amazing post at the end of December 2012, here are my Top 10 Unfinished Projects of 2011.

10. A bookcase that used to be in my son's room has been in my study looking just like this since May. Yes - for 7 months this has been my bookcase. Let's see...it needs to be painted and it would work better with shelves!

9. This actually only became a project this week. I found it at my favorite thrift store for $3. Not sure where it's going to go or what color I'll paint it. But I thought it had some cute potential!

8. A little end table that I bought, once again at my favorite thrift shop, needs to be painted black. I think I spent $7.50 on the table.

7. Ughhh...the dining room wall. I've been hating this wall for 3 years now and have started collecting frames, pictures, etc. to put on it for the last few months. A work in progress...

6. These two cornice boards came out of my kitchen in May 2010. I was never fond of the sharpness of the board and the fabric didn't go with our decor. I've decided to repurpose them and hang them in the basement...AFTER I recover them.

5. Once again, a find from my thrift store. A little lamp for $3.50 needs a coat of paint. And I need to decide where its new home will be.

4. Another lovely cornice board. Not sure where it's going or what fabric I'll use. Either need to reuse it or give it away this year. I have a feeling it'll go into my son's bedroom.

3. Ummm...I need to stop visiting my thrift store until I get caught up on projects! This headboard came from there and it's going to become a chalkboard. $7.50 spent.

2. And this is the foot board which will also be a chalkboard. $7.50 spent.

1. And #1...although this isn't in any particular order! I saw this on sale for $5 and thought it was a great sized basket. Need to decide what to do with it!

It seems like I visit my little thrift shop quite a bit. I can't help myself! This week I went in and found a ton of very cool antique-ish folding metal chairs for $1 each. I grabbed 12 and when I was loading them into the truck I asked the volunteer who was helping me if a church nearby had updated its chairs. He told me that they came from the set of The Walking Dead. How cool is that? Now I've got "conversation starter" chairs. I bought them to go outside by our fire pit and to use as needed when we need extra chairs for card tables and such.

Many of my "treasures" from the thrift store have ended up living in my craft room this year with nothing but good intentions. Since next month is a No-Spend Month, I think I'll tackle some of these projects where I have supplies on hand and all I really need is to set aside the time to finish the project!

Stay tuned...hopefully this time next year this will be a repeat post only with the word "finished" in the subject line!!!

What about you? Do you have as many pending projects as I do, or do you finish your projects before starting something new?

favorite christmas gifts

2011-12-30T14:30:00.000-05:00

It's very rare that I post twice in a single day but I really wanted to share with you two of my absolute favorite Christmas gifts that I received this year!! I'm still giddy about them and can't stop telling friends about them!

The first one was from Mr. Steady and I hinted big time to him that I would like it. Meaning: I printed out the information and where he could order it and wrote, "I'll be sooooooooo happy if this is the only thing I get for Christmas!". So, it was pretty much the only thing I got for Christmas from him and the boys and I WAS soooooo excited!

What Mr. Steady gave me is this Canon 50mm f/1.4 USM lens. I've been taking pictures of everything the last few days trying to get used to it and learn more about how to work my camera on Manual versus the Green/Auto option! I think it would be fun to do a 365 blog like The Frugal Girl's but am afraid it's too much of a commitment. Maybe that can be a goal for the future?

My other favorite gift is equally special but actually much more thoughtful and it is very unique! My sister gave me these 3 Letterpress state prints from 1Canoe2. One day (soon I hope!) they will hang on my dining room wall and I will share a wonderful post about my horrible wall that has turned into something spectacular! Each of the prints she gave me are states where my husband and I have lived...Texas (birth-2008), Virginia (1995-1996) and now Georgia (2008-present)!

I received many wonderful gifts! Lots of gifts that were wants and surprises and a few things that I needed but didn't want to spend money to buy for myself. But if I had to choose 2, then these are my favorites!

What about you?
What are some of the favorite things you received for Christmas?

books read in 2011

2011-12-30T06:00:00.000-05:00

I LOVE to read. I wish that I was a faster reader because even though I'm CONSTANTLY reading, I read only an average of one book every 2-3 weeks. My goal for 2012 is to read 20 books. I read 18 this year, so that will challenge me to read a bit faster in the new year. Here are the books that I remember reading this year! Some I loved and would enjoy reading again, while a couple on the list I gritted my teeth and finished simply because I kept thinking, "it'll surely get better...." No such luck on a couple of them. Anyway...here's what I remember!

Jane Eyre
Still Alice
The Happiness Project
The Hunger Games
The Art of Racing in the Rain
The Kitchen House
Little Bee
Sarah's Key
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
AWOL on the Appalachian Trail
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Freedom
The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
I'll Walk Alone
Big Girl
Sing You Home
A Paris Wife
The Glass Castle

My absolute favorites on the list?
Jane Eyre, Still Alice, AWOL on the Appalachian, A Paris Wife, The Glass Castle.

Least favorites?
The Happiness Project, Big Girl, Freedom, I'll Walk Alone

What about you?
What have been your favorite books and/or least favorite books that you read in 2011?

sealed pot challenge

2011-12-29T16:00:00.000-05:00

If you are a reader of Saving For Travel then you have probably heard about her Sealed Pot Challenge! I joined the challenge a couple of weeks ago, but didn't take the time to make my "pot" until yesterday! So now I'm all ready to start filling it up with extra coins and cash that come my way!

If you're unfamiliar with the Sealed Pot Challenge, here is what it is in SFT's words:

"All you need is a pot (I'm recycling my tatty margarine tub from last year, but may embellish it-the one in the photo is from Google images), make a hole for cash (if not supplied), seal it up (to avoid raids) and fill it with left over coins until 3rd December 2012. Then we all open them together.

What you do with the proceeds is up to you! This year I'm putting them towards Cornwall, others are buying Christmas presents, some give to charity.

It's not a competition..I think it's fair to say we were all blown away with how much we'd saved this year...we just blog about it from time to time to support each other."

I haven't yet decided what to do with the money that I save in this challenge. I'll probably wait until we get closer to summer or fall to decide! Maybe I'll use it for a much wanted Girls Weekend with my best friend or sister? Maybe a family weekend in the mountains? Maybe for an overnight date in Atlanta with Mr. Steady? Or maybe there will something that I'll have my eye on by the summer or fall. Who knows! From time to time, I'll let you know how I'm doing with "socking" away money into the pot!

I have to confess...my "pot" was super hard to make. (insert "eye-roll") I took an empty cracker box and some of my favorite paper that I bought in Italy 10 years ago but never use because I've been saving it for something special...but since I'm going back in April I can get more! :) And then...I wrapped the box and made a hole in it! I'm worried that the hole is too big and that I might be tempted to turn it upside down and get quarters out. But, I'll just have to use some self control if tempted. So...that's my Sealed Pot! I'm transferring some change into it that had been in an "open pot" and expect that to be about a $3 deposit to get my challenge started!

january no spend challenge

2011-12-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

I'm joining Carla at My Half Dozen Daily for a January No-Spend Challenge. Want to join me? You can challenge yourself to a week, two weeks, or the entire month. It's up to you! And it's up to you to set your own "rules". Since everyone's goals will be different, everyone's challenges will be different. My goal will be to spend 10% less in January 2012 than we did in January 2011. My goal is for our total expenses (fixed and variable) is $6688.

My rules are pretty much the same as Carla's:

1. Track every purchase.

2. Continue with the Sealed Pot Challenge. Any loose change at the end of the day goes into the pot.

3. Plan menus based on what we have on hand. Shop from a list and shop with a plan.

4. Find some free entertainment! Enjoy all of our Christmas goodies. Go for a hike on nice days. Enjoy the fire pit on cold ones! Go to the library. Study my Italian lessons!

5. Clean and purge. Spend time going through the house and eliminating clutter and things we no longer want or need. Donate instead of spend! It's a free activity and it will feel good to get it done!

6. Exceptions: If something of necessity comes up (medical, Rx, car problems, etc.), I will address it in January versus waiting until February! Charitable giving continues as well.

7. No stocking up! Stocking up the pantry on New Year's Eve is a no/no. The goal is to spend less...not to spend it all in December and/or February!

I'm really looking forward to starting the year off this way! The end of each year is always an expenditure whirlwind! Between the boys Birthdays (Oct/Nov) and Christmas, our 3rd quarter is always spend, spend, spend!!! And why you may ask am I participating in this challenge when a budget is in place already? Because I've learned that even though we have a budget, something always comes up. Either someone gets sick, or the house floods, or a car breaks down. By coming in under budget on some months, this helps with our "cushion". That way when something "comes up" we have extra money and hopefully won't have to take it out of savings.

it's the first day of winter...

2011-12-22T10:26:00.000-05:00

...and we have our air conditioning turned on! Can you believe it?!? On the bright side, it's cloudy and overcast outside so even though it's hot and we need the A/C, from the inside looking out, it looks like it should be cold!

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas! I'm going "unplugged" until after Christmas. Hope you all have a great holiday!! See you next week!

Love,
sp

to coupon, or not to coupon...

2011-12-21T06:00:00.000-05:00

...that is the question. I have not used coupons in several months. Probably since May. I didn't take the time to do cut coupons and plan my grocery trips around what was on sale in the summer. Then in September we found out my youngest was allergic to most anything that comes in a package, so that eliminated a lot of what I bought with coupons. I had decided that it wasn't worth the time to clip the coupons and watch the sales for our household items. But now I'm second guessing myself. I went back and read a few of my posts on how much money I was saving with coupons and saw that a lot of what I was buying was household stuff and not all packaged food.

what is the grocery game?
grocery game update
a more productive day
february recap

How many of you use coupons simply for soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, etc.? Do you find that the time spent planning with the coupons and sales is worth the savings on your household items?

weekly money check-up

2011-12-20T09:00:00.001-05:00

1. The most I spent this last week was $328 on a new microwave oven. More details about this in a future post! :)

2. Today I am thankful that my back is getting back to normal. Back pain is never fun...you don't realize how much you use your back in the course of a day until you're unable to move it!

3. Money can't buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was to work in my yard. I would trade inside chores for outside chores any day of the week! I worked a bit on removing vines from our willow tree, refilled bird feeders, sprayed for weeds and planted 100 daffodil bulbs.

4. I will consider this week a success if I complete some Rosetta Stone lessons. I'm not sure why I'm procrastinating so much in doing this!

5. One of my holiday traditions is opening one gift on Christmas Eve! It's always new PJ's to wear Christmas morning!

Want to join the Weekly Money Check-Up? Go to My Pretty Pennies and check it out!

only 6 more days!!!

2011-12-19T10:44:00.001-05:00

Yippee! My boys have a countdown on my iPhone that reminds us to the second how long until Christmas! I am super excited for this week to be here! We have pretty much all of our shopping done. I left a little room in the budget so that I can go shop for a couple of things when my Mother-in-Law arrives Thursday. There are just a couple of things left on the boy's Wish Lists that I'd like to pick up.

I was able to get some of my things finished on yesterday's to-do list. But after planting 100 daffodil bulbs my back started hurting again so I didn't make it to the sewing room to hem my jeans. I'll do that today! But I was able to sit and make out our menu for the rest of the year!!

Tonight: Chicken and Pasta with pesto and tomatoes
Tuesday: Tacos, Chips, Beans, Rice
Wednesday: Mr. Steady and I have a party to go to. Kids will have leftover tacos and fruit.
Thursday: Lasagna (Want to make ahead on Wednesday)
Friday: Mr. Steady and I have a party to go to, so we'll send the boys out to eat w/their grandma
Saturday: Soup and snack stuff (cheese, crackers, dips, etc.)
Sunday: Turkey and all the extras for Lunch and then leftovers for dinner
Monday: Venison Stew
Tuesday: Either steaks or hamburgers
Wednesday: "Brunner" (breakfast for dinner)
Thursday: Something easy and allergy-free - soup or peanut butter roll ups
Friday: Something easy and allergy-free - soup or peanut butter roll ups
Saturday: Osso Buco
Sunday: Chili

Then things to do this week:

Grocery Store
I'd like to stock up and have everything on hand for the remainder of the year.

Christmas Traditions:
We still need to go see Christmas lights, make gingerbread houses and cookies for Santa!

Shopping:
Just a couple of last minute things to buy!

Dining Room Wall:
Continue working on the collage for my dining room wall. I got a couple of things finished for it yesterday, but would love to have it completed, or at least my final plan made, by the end of the year!

Rosetta Stone:
I have 10 lessons to complete in order to reach my December goal. I'd like to complete 6 this week.

Yard Work:
If my back is up to it, I'd like to work in the yard. It's supposed to be a great week to be outside. Want to: Work on removing vines from the willow tree, blow leaves off yard, lay pine straw, have my son and/or Mr. Steady mow the yard, refill bird feeders, spray for weeds, and fertilize azaleas.

I also would like to work on finalizing our 2012 budget and goals. And seeing where we stand with our goals for 2011!

Have a Happy Monday!

sunday catch-up

2011-12-18T13:11:00.000-05:00

I've been lying low (literally!) since Tuesday. I hurt my back exercising on Tuesday morning and have not been able to stand up straight until today! Lucky for me, I was able to catch up on my Bible Study and even read ahead a bit! (I'm such an overachiever...ha, ha!!) And with some help from my children in hauling the clothes to/from the washer I was also able to stay caught up on laundry!

Since I'm feeling MUCH better, I wanted to see what I have left on my weekly to-do list and get it knocked out. So for today, I'd like to accomplish this:

Hem Pants
I have 2 pair of jeans that need to be hemmed. I'm wearing one of them to a party Friday night, so this has to get done this week. Note...I obviously didn't wear the pants to Friday night's party. Since I was unable to sew with my back, I wore something else.

Work in the Yard
I have bulbs that I need to plant this week. I also want to fertilize my azaleas and trim some bushes. I'm still tackling my woods and want to continue working on cleaning up the vines all over my Willow tree. I need Mr. Steady to mow and then we need to order/lay pine straw in the flower beds.

Work on Dining Room Wall
I have a fairly blank wall in my dining room that I haven't liked since we moved in 3 years ago. I've been collecting stuff to hang and would like to work on this project some this week.

I would also like to think about the week ahead and get my to-do list for this coming week made today so that I'll be able to hit the ground running tomorrow. Figuratively speaking. I'm not trusting my back just yet for another run! :)

What are you doing on this Sunday afternoon?

mid-month check in

2011-12-15T06:30:00.000-05:00

It's "officially" the middle of the month and I want to take a look at my December goals and see how I'm doing. The boys get out of school today for the Christmas Break and won't return to school until January 3rd...soooooo today I would like to get as many of my To-Do's checked off as possible!

FINANCES

Track spending.
Tracking is up to date I'm happy to say!!

Christmas Gifts.
Don't go over my budgeted amount. We budgeted a significant amount of $ towards Christmas and there is no reason for us to go over. To do so would be over indulging. I'm still within my Christmas budget, but it's always at this time of the Season that I tend to blow it. All of the gifts are bought and I start thinking of fun little "tuck ins" that the boys would enjoy. All of those little things add up and usually send me over my limit. But I planned ahead this year and left some wiggle room for this. So, even with my extras that I will buy over the next week I'll still be under budget. (Assuming Mr. Steady didn't go overboard with what he's getting for me!)

PERSONAL

Be mindful of Food, Drink and Exercise.
I think I'm doing well with this. Since my youngest has his allergies we don't keep too many sweets in the house. I've been meeting my friends to workout in the mornings (about 3x week) and am happy with my choices.

My Blog.
My blogging has been a bit sporadic and I'd like to challenge myself to blog 4 days a week. So far, so good!

Vacations.
Make lodging reservations for Italy. Done! Can't wait!

Complete at least 10 lessons of Rosetta Stone. - haven't done any yet!

Make reservations for one-on-one trip Washington D.C. - still need to do this! While Mr. Steady and my youngest are skiing, my oldest and I will be taking our 1-on-1 trip to Washington D.C. Just need to find a reasonably priced hotel near a Metro Station.

Make reservations for one-on-one trip ski trip. Done! We've got this entire trip planned minus the rental car. My husband and youngest son will go to Colorado and ski for their 1-on-1 trip in February. Flight, lodging, lift tickets and equipment rentals have all been reserved!

Come up with 3 vacation ideas for Mr. Steady's company's 2012 Award Trip- Still need to do this.

FAMILY

Christmas Guests.
My mother-in-law is coming to spend 5 or 6 days with us and I'd like to have our meals planned and prepped as much before she arrives. Started thinking about meals and have some ideas...just need to finalize and shop/prep as much as I can before she arrives!

Christmas Traditions:
Make cookies for Santa before 7pm on Christmas Eve! - not yet

Make Gingerbread houses with the kids! - not yet

Drive around and see Christmas lights! - not yet

Finish my Advent Stockings (5 days late...I know!) I finally finished this on December 8th! I normally hang little stockings up the banister of our stairs, but the ribbon was worn out and I couldn't come up with any creative ideas. So, I used what I had and hung them all on a little tree down in our basement. I'm hoping to come up with a different idea for next year. Maybe I'll remember and work on it in the summer?!?

So how are you all doing with your December goals? Can you believe it's already the 15th!?!

learning to sew

2011-12-13T07:00:00.000-05:00

I learned how to sew because I wanted to save money. About 15 years ago, my husband and I had moved into a new house and I wanted new curtains REALLY bad. But...we couldn't afford them. So, what did I do? Instead of putting something I couldn't afford on a credit card, I learned how to sew and make my own. My mom gave me one of her old sewing machines and I signed up for a class for $20 (1997 pricing...) which met once a week for about 8 weeks. My first class project was to make a dress. Mom helped me with this and it turned out okay. Okay enough for me to wear it once or twice, realize it looked like a beginner made it and then it was donated to someone who probably repurposed it for the fabric. After the dress, I tried making a skirt for myself which turned out better than the dress. And then I tried to make a pair of overalls for my nephew which turned out really bad.

Anyway - after making the clothes, I realized that for what I was spending in fabric and time I could just purchase the item off the rack for less money. And honestly, I really didn't like making clothes. But I did like making stuff for the house! I made curtains, pillows, duvet covers, etc. I really enjoyed it! These days, I don't make a lot of stuff for the house...mainly because I'm indecisive about what I want, but I DO do a lot of hemming and mending and by doing it myself, that has saved me a ton of money. I use my machine mainly to hem khaki pants, blue jeans, and sew badges/patches onto Scout shirts. I have easily saved more than $200 this year by doing this myself. And that's $200 that I can put towards something more important to me and my family...like vacations!

So if you find you're spending a lot of money having someone help you with your projects (insert whatever project it might be...), I encourage you to learn how to do it yourself! I took my class through the city's recreation department and it was very inexpensive. My machine is more than 30 years old and works just fine for what I do with it.

What types of projects do you do yourself in order to save money?

this week!

2011-12-12T10:48:00.001-05:00

I'm expecting this to be a fantastic week! The kids only have school for 4 days and then they'll be out of school until January 3rd. It should be a fun week for them too, as they may have a couple of quizzes, but it's mainly a Review Week in their classes!

Here's what I'd like to accomplish both today and for the week:

TODAY:
~~Plan meals for the week~~
Hubby is out of town for 4 days this week, so it'll be easy stuff all week

~~Grocery Shop~~
It shouldn't be too big of a trip. Mainly we need food for lunch and breakfast.

~~Laundry~~
As much as I can manage before 4:00 or so! I'm tackling it in my kitchen today instead of on top of my bed. It's getting folded on my kitchen table and will be ready for the boys to put away as soon as they walk in from school.

~~Book Club~~
Yea! One of my favorite days of the month. Today we'll have lunch and discuss The Kitchen House.

~~Bible Study~~
I'm behind on my homework and need to read 3 days of assignments.

THIS WEEK:

~~Work Out~~
I met my friends for a 3 mile run this morning and want to meet them at least 2 more days this week. I have a feeling I'll lack the motivation to get out of bed and meet for our morning runs while the boys are home for Christmas Break.

Budgets
I finished our November numbers and just need to get them into the computer. And also finalize the Decmeber budget (I know...I know...it's mid-December and I still haven't done this)

Hem Pants
I have 2 pair of jeans that need to be hemmed. I'm wearing one of them to a party Friday night, so this has to get done this week.

~~Christmas Gifts~~
Everything has been bought and wrapped. I need to put bows on a couple of gifts and I need to mail 2 or 3 packages still.

Work in the Yard
I have bulbs that I need to plant this week. I also want to fertilize my azaleas and trim some bushes. I'm still tackling my woods and want to continue working on cleaning up the vines all over my Willow tree. I need Mr. Steady to mow and then we need to order/lay pine straw in the flower beds.

~~Christmas Cards~~
Finish up and mail.

Work on Dining Room Wall
I have a fairly blank wall in my dining room that I haven't liked since we moved in 3 years ago. I've been collecting stuff to hang and would like to work on this project some this week.

So that's it. Not too much going on, luckily! It should be a fun week to tackle these pending projects!

How does your week look? A busy week or a relaxing one?

my bloggy secret santa

2011-12-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

What an awesome surprise I received in the mail this week! Last month I posted about participating in Serendipity's Bloggy Secret Santa. It is a fun way to "meet" fellow bloggers and spread some Christmas cheer! I received a very fun package from my wonderful Secret Santa. I had mentioned in a post some of the things I like and she put a great deal of thought into it! She knows I ~~like~~ love chocolate, so she sent a yummy chocolate bar! She also knows that I love to read and by reading my blog she found out that I am traveling next year....so she chose for me Erma Bombeck's book When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home. I LOVE Erma Bombeck -- she's a hoot! And since she knows I like surprises and (I found out from her blog...) she enjoys crafts, she made for me some very cool coasters!

It was such an awesome surprise and she really put a lot of thought into it! It's perfect! So, who was my wonderful Secret Santa? She is LBC Teacher at Homeowner by 30! Check out her blog -- I think you'll love it!

So, how about all of you other bloggers who have Secret Santas?!? Have you received any goodies yet? Have you mailed yours? I have mine still to mail...it's on my to-do list for this week. I am sad to say though that the person given to me "to gift" isn't blogging so I haven't really gotten "to know" her. Her last post was over a month ago. Hopefully, when she receives her gift from me she'll have a little nudge to start back!

liebster award

2011-12-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

This week I was given a Liebster Blog Award by Saving for Travel. I couldn't believe it! Her blog is a wonderful source of inspiration and motivation...please visit it if you haven't already! By reading everyone's Frugal Living blogs I'm inspired and encouraged to live within and below our means so that our family will have money available to spend on things that truly matter to us. (see my side bar...)

"Liebster" is a German word meaning dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, beloved, lovely, kindly, pleasant, valued, cute, endearing, and welcome. What a gift to be awarded with such kindness! As for the details...The Liebster is a way to show a little Blog Love to bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers.

The rules:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.
5. And most of all - have fun!

Now for my five picks, in random order, along with a peak into their profiles...

No More Spending
Welcome to No More Spending; how we manage our budget as we attempt to pay off our mortgage early, move abroad and reach Financial Freedom by 2020.

The Quest to be Financially Abundant
I am not a personal finance expert. I'm merely a 30-something woman looking to gain control over her finances and live life abundantly. This is my quest to Financial Abundance.

The Hawaii Plan
I'm a 35 year old, living in Seattle with my husband and two lovely kids. I'm super motivated by reading all of your personal finance adventures, so I'd like to track my own progress.

As you can guess from my blog title, our long-term retirement plan is to move to Hawaii. Hawaii (and retirement!) is expensive, so we have a long way to go on our journey to making that dream a reality. I'd like to use this blog as a place to track our finances, retirement savings, regular spending, share our savings tips, & learn from all of you.

Saving for Later

I'm in my 30s, single and obviously Canadian! I love to read, cook and spend time working on my finances. I just traded in my car for a newer model, so the race is on to pay that debt off ASAP.

TeachHer Finance

I'm a 26-year-old high school teacher working to get my financial house in order and enjoy life...on a notoriously small teacher's salary. I don't make a big income and probably never will, but I believe that living a life of purpose - and fun! - has nothing to do with income.

So these are my 5 picks. I hope you'll check them out and see why I enjoy them so much! And THANK YOU again to Saving for Travel for passing the award along to me!

my favorite things

2011-12-06T08:31:00.000-05:00

I read a guest post about a Favorite Things Party over at The Nester and thought it sounded like so much fun that I decided to join in. So what is a Favorite Things Party you might ask? I guess you could say it's similar to a Cookie Exchange, but instead of showing up with a dozen or so cookies and swapping them, you show up with a few of your favorite things and swap THAT! Let's say there are 5 friends at the party -- you would bring 4x your favorite thing (because you wouldn't need to give yourself a gift) and then everyone would go home with a fun surprise!

I think this would be a great thing to do with a small group of friends, OR if you share Christmas with a large family, it would be fun for all the females in the family to do. You know what? It would be fun to do even if you weren't celebrating with a large family.

If you are hosting your own Favorite Things party, I would limit it to just a few best buddies (maybe 5 or less...) and be sure to put a limit on the price you want to spend. One blogger limited her party to a $5 favorite item and it was neat to see how creative the gift givers were (think favorite brownie mix, candles, etc...). So Haley (guest post) over at The Nester suggested that we think of our favorite things with a $30 limit and share them on our own blogs.

It's not in the cards this year to have/host a Favorite Things Party, but I'll definitely entertain this idea for next year. And if I have one, one of these items might be what I showed up with to exchange!

Wally Bees Wildflower Honey is a staple in my pantry. It's a raw, local honey and I have a tablespoon of it everyday. I swear it helps me with my allergies! You can get 1 pound for $8.00

Another thing I love are these Kuhn Rikon Paring Knives my mother in law gave me for Christmas last year. It's the perfect size and a good all around paring knife. And the colors are fun too! You can get a set of 3 for $29.85 for you can buy them individually for around $10 each. I have even spotted them at Ross for about $7! I have one and would love to have more!

Add caption

I can't remember if it was my husband or sister who turned me on to these Experia Socks. In my mind they are perfect and in a perfect world, I would throw out all of my non-Experia socks and fill up my sock drawer with these! But...it is an imperfect world, and they're a bit pricey, which makes them a perfect thing to ask for at Christmas. The reason I like them? They offer great support, but aren't too thick. And they are breathable. And the fact that they have a little strip of black around the ankle makes me feel very hip and cool when I'm wearing them. I think I run faster when I wear them and I definitely burn more calories! They are $13.99.

Another favorite? The Nike Dri-Fit Cotton T-shirt! This is something that I do buy for myself and will take it out of my clothes budget. They come in all colors of the rainbow! I think I have 5 of these -- 2 shades of blue, pink, grey and white. And I wear them every time I work out. I like them because they have a t-shirt feel, are breathable and are long. When you're bending over to stretch or something, the shirt still stays below the waistband of your shorts. Oh, and the shirts are about $20.

And last but not least, another gift I received last year, love and would consider a Favorite Thing is my Wooloot Watch. It tells time, plain and simple. It doesn't have any bells or whistles - it. just. tells. time. The reason I like it? It's nice and light, it tells times, and it's water resistant. I wear it all the time to workout and all the time I forget that I'm wearing it. I have it in black, but it comes in tons of cute colors.

So, these are my 5 favorite things all under $30. It would be tough to decide which one to take to a Favorite Things Exchange Party - it would depend on the final price limit. So, what are some of your favorite things? Feel free to share in the comments section!

december goals

2011-12-05T09:44:00.001-05:00

What a busy time of year! My goals for the month are going to be simple. Especially since I'm still tackling my November to-do's! Mainly the $$. I hope to finish up our November expenses today and will see how we did. I know we had an awfully spendy month -- some budgeted and some not. I'm hoping that once I see it all on paper it won't be as bad as I think it is.

Anyway -- for DECEMBER goals!

FINANCES

Track spending.
After the month of December I will have tracked our expenses for a solid 12 months! I'm so excited about this y'all! In the past several years, I'm always gung-ho in January and will track expenses until March/April. It happens that way every year! So, this will be the first time ever that we know exactly where our money went for an entire year. So, until the end of December, I won't finalize our 2012 budget. I really want to be realistic about what we can do and what we will allow ourselves to do. Through tracking I'm learning so many things...like $600/month for groceries and household items isn't enough. For our family it needs to be somewhere around $1000/month. Also, we don't need $100/month budgeted for Entertainment. We normally don't spend that much.

Christmas Gifts.
Don't go over my budgeted amount. We budgeted a significant amount of $ towards Christmas and there is no reason for us to go over. To do so would be over indulging.

PERSONAL

Be mindful of Food, Drink and Exercise.
I started to write down very specific goals for this, but it's December and I'm being honest with myself. I'm not where I'd hoped to be with weight loss and this isn't the time of year for me to have a specific goal. With the busyness and temptations that come along with Christmas, it's unrealistic of me to think I'll start losing weight this month. So, my goal is to make good choices and continue meeting my friends to exercise in the mornings as much as possible. I will make week-to-week goals for this, but my main goal is to not gain weight. I think I'm at 143# now and I'd like to end the year at the same # or lower.

My Blog.
My blogging has been a bit sporadic and I'd like to challenge myself to blog 4 days a week.

Vacations.
Make lodging reservations for Italy.
Complete at least 10 lessons of Rosetta Stone.
Make reservations for one-on-one trip Washington D.C.
Make reservations for one-on-one trip ski trip.
Come up with 3 vacation ideas for Mr. Steady's companies Award Trip

FAMILY

Christmas Guests.
My mother-in-law is coming to spend 5 or 6 days with us and I'd like to have our meals planned and prepped as much before she arrives. I'm hoping my sister and nephew come too and I'd like to do the same!

Christmas Traditions:
Make cookies for Santa before 7pm on Christmas Eve!
Make Gingerbread houses with the kids!
Drive around and see Christmas lights!
Finish my Advent Stockings (5 days late...I know!)

So - that's it in a nutshell. I've have more things to add on my weekly to-do list, but this is really what I WANT, WANT, WANT to accomplish for the month. Especially the travel stuff!

Have your goals for the month? Did you scale back a bit on yours, realizing it's a busy month?

food waste friday - about 50 cents wasted

2011-12-02T08:40:00.001-05:00

Today I'm participating in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday. Since our grocery bill has been crazy expensive the last couple of months, I'm working to eat what we have and to serve leftovers for lunch and the occasional dinner!

We didn't do too bad this week! Much to my children's chagrin we ate a lot of leftovers and food that we already had on hand. This week I'm throwing out half an orange. I honestly don't know if it's bad or not...it doesn't look so great. But, I am not sure when I cut into it and how long it's been in the refrigerator. So...a half an orange goes into the trash and I would guesstimate it's value at 50cents.

Now on with my day! Today my goal is to wrap up what I started this week.

1. Finish laundry
2. Sweep
3. Hem a pair of pants for my son
4. Finish up November expenses
5. Plan December budget
6. Begin putting bows on wrapped gifts

I have service technicians coming to my house today to:

1. Reroute my dryer vent
2. See why my microwave isn't working
3. See why my heater isn't working
4. See why my A/C isn't blowing cold air

On top of this, our golf cart is also not working properly and my son's phone was run over by a car this week (don't ask....). It seems like everything is falling apart and I'm thankful that Mr. Steady is employed and that we have $ in savings to pay for any repairs. But, it sure is painful to see our savings going backwards instead of forwards. I'm not sure if we'll make our year end target, but we'll see. Maybe we'll be close!

So, my friends. How what does your Friday look like? Did you have any food wastes this week?

already the end of the month?

2011-11-30T07:53:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! What a whirlwind of a week it's been. First of all, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving last week. My boys were out of school for the entire week and we had a great time! They had friends over to play and spend the night, they were able to go see friends, and we had some great quality time. My youngest son asked for tickets to a Falcons game for Christmas...it was really the only thing he wanted! So, we gave him an early gift and all went to the game on Sunday. It was a great day -- our boys first NFL game to go to -- and was a treat for all of us!

Our XBox 360 power cord was messed up and didn't arrive until Friday afternoon so it was a great few days without video games. We had lots of family time and played football in the front yard (kids beat the parents!) and worked puzzles.

All in all, it was a perfect week.

It's already Wednesday and already the last day of the month! Yikes!

Here are my goals for the rest of the month!

Vacuum the house
It hasn't been vacuumed in a week and the carpets are a mess!

~~Call about the heater~~

We woke up this morning to the house being 58* when the heater was set for 68*. I need someone to come look at it!

~~Call about the A/C~~
Last week when we had muggy temps in the upper 70s we turned on the A/C but no cold air was blowing, so I'll have them check on this when they come check on the heater!

~~Go to Bible Study~~
Yea! We had some conflicts with a neighbor last week that are still lingering. I'm looking forward to a 3-hour Bible Study to help get some peace with the situation at hand.

Wrap 3 Christmas gifts
I order almost all of my gifts on-line and have been trying to get them wrapped as soon as they are delivered. My kids are smart enough to look at the return labels and see where the packages are coming from and figure out what they're getting. So, I need to wrap up what go delivered yesterday!

~~Return cologne and water bottle~~
I ordered some cologne for Mr. Steady and received the wrong order. So I need to return it. Also, I ordered a water bottle for my son and it has a hole in it, so that needs to get returned too. Thankfully, both companies were very responsive and easy to work with on getting everything returned and exchanged!

November Budget
If there is time, I need to wrap up our finances for November and plan the December budget.

So - that's my day. Wednesdays are busy days. Bible Study is from 9-12 so I'm only left with a couple of hours before the boys get home from school. Then basketball practices tonight from 7:15-9:30!

How does your day look?

thanksgiving eve...

2011-11-23T10:21:00.001-05:00

Things to do today!!!!

Make chocolate pie
Set table
Sweep & Mop
Vacuum
~~Take son to try out guitars~~
~~Get craft supplies for fun T-weekend projects~~
~~Get new power cord for XBox 360 -- oh, the horror if it weren't working all this weekend!~~
~~Make sure I have all ingredients I need for tomorrow!~~

What does your day look like today? Any stress going on? I hope not!

food waste friday - about $3 wasted

2011-11-18T08:30:00.000-05:00

It's been a looooooooong time since I've participated in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday. But since our grocery bill has been crazy expensive the last couple of months, I'm working to eat what we have and to serve leftovers for lunch and the occasional dinner! We didn't do too bad this week! A half loaf of bread went stale before we finished it and I'd marinated a tomato that we never ate. And now it looks gross, doesn't it? Anyway - here is our waste for the week!

How are you doing with your food wastes? Are you throwing too much in the trash each week? If you are, I encourage you to take note of it for a few weeks and you'll be surprised at what a difference it makes when you're more aware of what you're throwing away!

getting ready for christmas cards

2011-11-15T08:00:00.000-05:00

Today's the day!!!

Haircuts? Check.
Clean outfits picked out? Check.
Location picked? Check.
Bribes ready? Check. check.

Guess what we're doing this afternoon?!? Taking pictures for our Christmas cards. Each year we take pictures of the boys at a mill in our town that we use for Christmas cards. And today's the day to get that done!

I use Shutterfly for an awful lot of photography projects and I'll be using them to make our Christmas cards this year. Each year they come out with so many new designs that aren't too expensive, and they're always having a sale which makes the cards even more affordable.

Mr. Steady is out of town this week so before he left, we took a look at cards we liked. Here are 3 of our favorites that I'm deciding between!

I wonder if the parents of these kids had to bribe them also?!? All I know is that the promise of a Peppermint Milkshake from Chick-Fil-A works wonders for my boys when posing for me!

Besides the cards, I'll also be using Shutterfly to make calendars for the grandparents. My Father-in-Law absolutely loves this gift and tells me every year that it is really the only thing he wants. In fact, before I knew how much he loved his calendar one year I didn't make him one. He let me know how sad he was that he didn't get it, so I made him one very quickly and got it to him before January!

I'm also thinking about making a photo book for my Mother-in-Law. She went to Disney World with us this summer and while I e-mailed pictures to her, it's not really the same as having them in your hands to look at. So if I have time, I'd love to make a photo book for her with the pictures from our vacation.

And then the one other gift I'd like to have made is something for my parents. My sister and nephew were here last month and I have a great picture of my boys and nephew at Stone Mountain. I think I'll either have some sort of gift made or have an enlargement made of the picture and just put it in a frame. There are some pretty cute ideas on the Shutterfly website.

So - these are a few things on my to-do list for the week and once complete I'll be able to mark them off my Christmas To-Do list as well!

the week ahead

2011-11-14T10:01:00.001-05:00

Last week was an extremely productive week for me and I'm so glad that I made the decision to take the week "off". Having that extra hour of sleep last week, gave me that little ump needed to tackle some projects that I'd started but not yet finished. So....I took the week off from blogging, meeting my friends to exercise (although I did exercise on my own), and I took the week off from my Bible Study group. The only organized thing that I allowed myself to do last week was attend an informational meeting about a Master Gardener group that I want to be a part of. I found out that you can't just join, but have to apply and be interviewed. There are 10 spots available with about 40 people wanting to be a part of it. They even asked for 3 references! So...today I'm turning my application in to the Extension Office and will wait to be interviewed. They hope to let the applicants know by mid-December who gets in. Anyway - if accepted, I'll share more details with you then!

So...what did I get done last week?

I had a ton of stuff that needed to get returned to different stores.
I bought and mailed my mom's birthday gift.
Returned library books.
Finished taking out the summer clothes from everyone's closets and drawers.
Packed up clothes that the boys have outgrown.
General cleaning of the house.
Made birthday cakes and prepped for my oldest son's birthday gathering.
Cooked dinner every night -- except the night of my son's birthday.
-- Had I been blogging, I would've shared a picture of him on his day!
And several other things that needed to get done around the house.

OH! One huge project that I worked on was clearing the dead tree limbs and vines that border our woods. It's a project that is going to take me probably 100 hours, but I spent 8 hours on it and it's already looking much, much better. And part of that project was clearing out the litter and the toys that my neighbors continue to throw into our woods. I've let the Mom know that they throw their toys in there but she never does anything about it to make them stop or make them clean it up. So -- I cleaned up beer cans, coke cans, water bottles, a bike helmet, 4 bats, 2 basketballs, a pair of in-line skates, a football helmet, many many baseballs/golf balls/tennis balls. It was a wheelbarrow full of stuff. The stuff that was ruined I threw away and boxed up the rest and took it over to their house....where it still sits in their driveway. Hopefully it doesn't end back up in our woods, but I wouldn't be surprised if it did. Sorry to vent!!!

So this week I'm hoping to be as productive as I was this week. Here's what I want to accomplish:

List on e-bay some clothes that the boys no longer can wear but are still in great shape.
~~Thrououghly clean the bathrooms.~~
~~Mend a football jersey.~~
Hem a pair of sweat pants.
~~Mend a zipper on a golf bag.~~
Put away my sewing machine!!!!
~~Finish a collage I've been working on of recipes/pictures of Mr. Steady's great-grandmother~~.
~~Take and order Christmas card pictures.~~
Exercise 3-4 days.
Work on one particular tree in our woods by removing the vines growing on it.
~~Turn in Master Gardener application.~~
~~Return some clothes that I bought for the boys that don't fit.~~
~~Buy a birthday gift.~~
Edit/email youth Super Bowl pictures for son's team.

If I get nothing else done on the list except the sewing (which I don't enjoy so much...) and the Christmas cards (in order to take advantage of a sale...), then I'll be thrilled!

Hope you all had a great weekend and are looking forward to a productive week also!

financial priorities - part 2

2011-11-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

Monday I talked about a book by Kathy Peel where she challenges you to determine your financial priorities. While I was able to answer some of her questions quickly, others took a little more thought on my part. Below are 7 of 11 questions taken from Peel's book The Family Manager Takes Charge...along with my answers.
Action Steps to Determine Financial Priorities

1. List five things that you value most about your life today.
Living where I do... My boys can play outside without me worrying. They can walk 4+ miles (round trip) to the "corner store" and be perfectly safe. And our public school doesn't know that there is a "separation between church and state".
My family.
Being healthy.
The fact that my husband is employed.
Having good friends and family who I can count on.

2. List five things you want that money can buy.
Pot rack for my kitchen - $200
Screen door for my pantry - $250ish
Canon EF 100-400mm zoom lens - $1600
Rosetta Stone Italian - $179
Netbook computer - $500?

3. List five things you want that money can't buy.
For my children to outlive me.
To be a good wife, mom, sister, friend, and daughter.
To slow down every now and then and just sit...or walk. To be outside and enjoy nature.
To be healthy when I'm "old" and be able to be active with my grandchildren.
For my husband and I to enjoy our Golden Years together.

4. How much is enough? I feel okay about money when we have 3-6 months living expenses in the bank. I'll be content when we have 15% of our gross income going towards retirement.

5. Where would you like to be financially in 12 months? In 5 years? In 20 years?
12 months - I'd like to be saving 15% towards retirement.
5 years - To have saved at least 1 year college tuition for our boys.
20 years - I plan to have my boys through college (paid for in cash), to have our house paid off, have our retirement account funded, and to be deciding where in Italy we want to live 3-6 months out of the year once we retire (if we haven't retired already).

6. Complete this sentence: If I had more money, I would spend it on making & preserving memories. Sometimes looking at what we want to spend money on and where we actually spend money can help us do some shifting without increasing the amount of money we spend.

7. Fill in the blank: If we suddenly found ourselves in a financial crisis, I could do without eating out and DirecTV.

So what now? I plan on printing this out for myself and posting it in a couple of places around the house. When I am struggling with a financial decision, I can look at my list of priorities and see if what I want to do is in line with what is important to me. Also, for some of these things that I want & can buy, maybe - just maybe - I can find ways to save some of my "blow money" to put towards items on my Wish List.

Feel free to link up, copy the questions and answer them on your own blog.

letters from the president

2011-11-08T08:30:00.000-05:00

For my Grandmother's 92nd birthday I requested and received a Happy Birthday note from President Obama. I didn't know that you could request a congratulatory note from the President for special occasions until 2001 when I was pregnant with my youngest son. I requested a note after his birth and received one from President and Mrs. Bush. My second request for a special note was this spring when I requested the letter above for my grandmother. I sent my request in February for her April 12th birthday. The note didn't arrive on time, BUT it did arrive during her birthday month. I was very excited!!! Two requests...two notes! Not a bad record.

So, how do you get a VIP note for special occasions?

Here's the info...

The White House will send greetings to U.S. citizens only for special occasions, as outlined below.

Advance notice required. Your request must be received four weeks in advance of the event date. Every effort is made to honor every request, but there is no guarantee of a greeting if this guideline is not met. (Greetings generally are not send after the event date, except for wedding congratulations and newborn acknowledgments.)
Anniversary greetings are extended only to those couples who are celebrating their 50th (and subsequent) wedding anniversary.
Birthday greeting cards will be sent only to individuals 80 years of age or older. A special card is sent for those who reach 100 years of age.
Other greetings: A limited number of special occasions other than birthdays and anniversaries exist for which the Greetings Office will send appropriate recognition to U.S. citizens. These include:

Wedding (send your request after the event; include couple's married names)
Baby's birth. Send request only after baby's birth, include baby's date of birth, and full names and address of baby and parents
Eagle Scout Award
Girl Scout Gold Award
Bar/Bat Mitzvah or equivalent occasion

The following information much be included in your request:

Name and home address of honoree(s)
Form of address (Mr., Ms., Mrs., Dr., etc.)
Exact date of occasion (month/day/year)
Age (birthdays) or number of years of marriage
Your (requestor's) name and daytime phone number
Any specific mailing instructions if other than to honoree's address

Send your request to:

The White House Greetings Office

Room 39, Eisenhower Executive Office Building

Washington, DC 20502

When should you expect your greeting? "In most cases, greetings will be mailed from the White House approximately 10 days prior to the event. If you have made a special delivery request, every effort is made to honor that request." (Note...It took 4 1/2 months to receive my note after my son was born, and then I received my grandmother's note the month of her birthday)

So - next time you need to send a unique gift to someone consider requesting a letter from the President. I think it makes a great memento (regardless of your political affiliations)! The notes are free and if you wanted, you could frame for the honoree to hang on his/her wall!

financial priorities - part 1

2011-11-07T07:30:00.000-05:00

Hello my friends! I am taking a much needed break this week from blogging and other organized activities in order to wrap up several pending projects. So, this week I'll be repeating some of my favorite posts. Enjoy and I'll be back next week!

Financial Priorities - Part 1 of 2

Last week I went to the library and checked out The Family Manager Takes Charge by Kathy Peel.   I've read Kathy Peel books before and enjoy what she writes. One section of the chapter titled "You're the Accountant" really stuck out to me. Mainly because I feel like the " head accountant" in our family! My husband and I work together on making and reaching our goals, but managing the day-to-day budget is in my hands.

Peel basically says that we need to determine our financial priorities.   "Unless we've made some decisions about our priorities, it's easy to lose perspective about what's really important to us and end up making impulsive decisions." In this chapter, she lists Eleven Action Steps. Some are questions that I've considered and answered before, and others are things that I haven't spent as much time thinking about. Here are some of Peel's questions.

Action Steps to Determine Financial Priorities

1. List five things that you value most about your life today.

2. List five things you want that money can buy.

3. List five things you want that money can't buy.

4. How much is enough? I feel okay about money when we have______________ amount in the bank. I'll be content when we have ___________________.

5. Where would you like to be financially in 12 months? In 5 years? In 20 years?

6. Complete this sentence: If I had more money, I would spend it on ______________. Sometimes looking at what we want to spend money on and where we actually spend money can help us do some shifting without increasing the amount of money we spend.

7. Fill in the blank: If we suddenly found ourselves in a financial crisis, I could do without ______________.

Feel free to link up, copy the questions and answer them on your own blog.   I'm going to put some more thought into my answers and will make a "part 2" post in a few days.

thanks!

2011-11-06T08:00:00.000-05:00

A special THANK YOU to my top referring sites for the week. This week I had three because two were tied for second! :) Thanks for sending readers my way!

The Canadian Saver

Sharon @ My Year of Spending Less & Living More

No More Spending

And a special welcome to my newest Follower:

Niki

I hope you'll stop by often!!

Have a great day everyone! For those of you who had the time change last night, I hope you either enjoyed an extra hour of sleep or an extra hour of doing something fun!

soup's on!

2011-11-04T09:18:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I LOVE making soup this time of year! I love it for several reasons. One...I can make it ahead of time and keep it warm in the crock pot until it's time for supper. It's great for the night's the boys have practices! Two...it's a great way to sneak in vegetables that the boys will eat. Three...if it's a cream based soup, I can generally make a low-fat version. And Four...normally, it's inexpensive!

Last week I tried a new soup and we all loved it! It called for beef sirloin, but since my youngest is allergic to beef I substituted the beef for cubed venison. It was perfect and delicious!

Here's the recipe...I wish that I had pictures to go along with it!

Cowboy Steak and Veggie Soup

3/4 lb. boneless beef sirloin (I used 1 pound of cubed venison instead)
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbsp. oil
2 cans beef broth
16oz jar salsa
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, pealed and diced
1/2 cup red or green bell pepper, chopped
15 oz can Great Northern beans, crained and rinsed

Cut steak into bite sized pieces. In a medium bowl, combine meat, basil, salt, pepper, garlic, and oil. Toss to coat. Cook this mixture in a Dutch oven or large sauce pan over medium high heat for about 4-5 minutes until it's browned. Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Then, add the broth, salsa, onion, potatoes, and bell pepper to the Dutch oven and bring it to a boil. Cover and simmer it for about 15 minutes.

Return the meat mixture to the soup, stir in the beans, and cook it for 5 minutes or until it's heated through.

Serve with a loaf of buttered French bread. Yum, yum!! Dip the bread in the leftover soupy sauce and it's amazing!!!

And that's it!!! So, what about you? Do you have a favorite soup recipe? If you do, feel free to link up to it in my comments section today.

bloggy secret santa

2011-11-03T17:08:00.002-04:00

Have you seen Serendipity's post about the Bloggy Secret Santa? I signed up and hope you will too. I think it's a fun idea and the spending limit is $15, so it won't break the bank and it'll be fun to send a little something to a fellow blogger! What do you think? You can sign up here and see the rules.

You can sign up through November 5th with Serendipity and then just make a little post about what you like.

Here are some of my favorite things!

love to read.
love to listen to music on my iPod.
chocolate and red wine are two things I cannot live without.
love being outside...exercising, hiking, working in the yard.
throw blankets are something I can never have too many of.
and surprises are the best thing of all!

october's budget recap

2011-10-31T13:15:00.001-04:00

Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do!

I hope has everyone had a great October! Can you believe that tomorrow is November? Yippee! This is my favorite time of year and I'm going to eliminate (or table for now...) several things from my project to-do list for the next month so that I can get outside (with my camera) and take advantage of this beautiful time of year! I have several scrapbooking, painting and sewing projects that I'd hoped to complete, but I think I would rather wait and get those done in the winter months when I want to be inside. So...I'll take a look at my to-dos and think about what I really want to accomplish in November and then write more about that in another post.

For today, the one thing I wanted to get done is to wrap up our October finances . Why? Because I desperately want and NEED to go shopping for some new clothes and shoes and I need to see how much money I can spend! Nothing like a little motivation. I want to make sure I'm armed with the right amount of money when I head out! AND - I also need to take inventory of my closet. I'm quite certain that I have enough sweatshirts and not enough church clothes!

Looking at our 2011 budget, I can't believe there are only 2 months left. Folks, this is the FIRST time ever that I've tracked our money for more than 4 months straight. I've diligently written down everywhere our money has gone for the last 10 months and I'm quite proud of myself. We've gone over in some areas and are under in others. This will all help me in planning our 2012 budget. Groceries continue to be a source of overspending. The tree removal took a hit to savings but I expect to make it up in the next 2 months and reach our 4th quarter goal of saving $6,000.

So - here's how we did.

	Budget	Actual
Birthday gifts (not including the boys)	25	53.95
Guitar	25	0
Subscriptions	25	21.15
Dry Cleaning	30	18.9
Boy Scouts	75	-40
School lunches	50	50
Boys Commissions (Potential…)	80	35.5
Restaurants	100	235.93
Sha Blow Money	100	131.16
Entmt/Rec	100	93.72
Date Night	100	25
Haircare	100	132
School expenses	100	38.7
Pay for grades…at the most…	125	55
Christmas gifts	200	177
Gasoline	350	214.54
Clothing	500	860.04
Boys Birthdays - parties & gifts	500	516.12
Utilities	800	825.71
Groceries, household & toiletries	1200	1434.63
	4585	4879.05

So, here's my 'splainnin!

Groceries: No good excuse...it shouldn't be this high.
Scouts: We got a refund from our trip that we weren't able to go on back at Labor Day!
Restaurants: Add this to the groceries and we spent A LOT of money on food this month!
Date Night: We actually had 2 dates this month! One was a lunch date and we used a gift certificate we'd received last year. Our total bill for lunch was $15. Our second date was with Mr. Steady's boss and another couple from work. When the check came Mr. Steady's boss "treated" all of us and so we only had to pay $10 to my son for "babysitting"!! Both were wonderful dates with some great food and company!
Boys Birthdays: This included my youngest son's party, gifts for both of my son's birthdays (#1 son's B-Day is in 2 weeks), cake for the party, a cake for the family, cookies for his class and cupcakes for the football team (all but the cupcakes were homemade). Lots of celebrating going on! My budget was $500 for the boys together, and I'll end up going over a bit. My oldest is going to have 3 friends come sleep over and we'll just order pizza or make burgers.
Christmas Gifts: I got a slight start to my shopping and planning. I stocked up on gift wrap and ribbons and ordered a bunch of flavored popcorn from my son's Scouts fundraiser that will be given as gifts to the school bus driver, crossing guards, mailman, trash men, and recycling men. I normally give $$ to the mail/trash/recycling men, but am giving food this year instead.
Clothes: The boys got stocked up with winter PJ's, jeans, sweatshirts and my oldest needed new shoes. I got a much needed new pair of tennis shoes. And my husband needed new work clothes.

I think that's it for October! How did you do? Just two more months for finish out the year and reach our overall goals! We can do this!!!!

Will sit down later today and knock out November's budget! I don't anticipate it being a spendy month!

thank you!

2011-10-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog from day-to-day or week-to-week! It helps keep me motivated to stay on track knowing that someone out there is reading!

A special THANK YOU to my top referring sites for the week:

The Canadian Saver
and
Sharon @ My Year of Spending Less & Living More

And a special welcome to my newest Followers:
Hawaii Planner and Mommy Saves ALOT!
I hope you'll stop by often!!

want to help me plan a vacation?

2011-10-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

Each year my husband's company has an Awards Trip for its Top Salesmen. Because Mr. Steady is an Executive for the company we get to play Hosts and help plan the trip.   Or...actually, the wives get to help plan the trip! (which we enjoy!!!)

Mr. Steady sent me an email today asking me to come up with 3 possibilities for our 2012 trip. My budget? $300 or less per room per night and airfare must be reasonable…say $450 or less. If we can get by without having to rent a car, that adjusts either of these or both.

In the past we've been to Longboat Key, Captiva Island, and Key West (all Florida beaches), another Florida beach that I can't remember (it was my least favorite), Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic, and this past year was to Rockport, Maine.

Since most of us are in the Southeast we'd rather not go to Florida since it's right in our backyard. Going out of the country is an option, but going on a cruise is NOT an option.

Our trip usually goes something like this. The executives arrive on Monday and the Winners arrive on Tuesday. We have a casual cocktail party on Tuesday night at the hotel/resort bar or restaurant. When everyone gets back to their room that night they have a gift waiting for them. Wednesday is golf or spa treatments with a dinner that night (usually off-site). After dinner drinks at the hotel bar and then more gifts in the room. Thursday is normally an excursion during the day and then a nice dinner with nicer gifts presented at dinner. Everyone goes home on Friday.

So -- one requirement is to have golf on-site or very nearby and a spa. We won't be bringing children with us and there will be about 40 people total.

I would LOVE to have your ideas.   Please let me know of places you've heard of or have visited yourself that you think might work for an Awards Trip.

Thank you!!!

yesterday

2011-10-26T15:21:00.003-04:00

If you read my post yesterday, you know that I had some guys coming to cut down trees and that since I needed to be at home while they were doing it, I was going to try to accomplish a lot on my own! There were 5 men actively working on our trees with 2 additional men giving instruction and supervising. Let me tell you what....I am not sure I've ever seen a group of men work as hard as these 5 men worked. The trucks pulled up at 8:30 and by 8:35 they had chain saws going and were hard at work. I had a tough time getting started with my chore-list because it was so much fun watching the men work.

But eventually I remembered that my bedroom floor looked like this:

Although, actually it looked worse than this. I took this picture several days ago and laundry had continued to get piled higher and higher on our floor. But...at least you can tell that I tried to lay it out flat! I didn't want it to get wrinkled or anything while waiting to get folded or hung up! ha, ha!!!

By 10:00 I needed an little extra motivation since I was spending too much time watching in awe out my window to see how they trimmed and cut down my trees! I decided I was going (try) to match them in their intensity and efficiency and so I made my own little "challenge" to get my List finished before they finished their List!

Do you see the guy in the tree?

This looked fun!

So...I got busy and worked hard. But 5:30 came and they got their trucks all packed up and I was still working on the laundry and vacuuming. They won. They finished their list before me. But, I didn't let that stop me.

I poured myself a glass a wine and kept at it. Vacuum in one hand and glass of wine in the other. Seriously. I'm not kidding. By 7:45 I had all of my hard jobs finished with the exception of cleaning my bathroom. All that is left is stuff that I can finish by the end of the week. And, if Friday afternoon comes and my list from yesterday is complete, I'll feel like it was a very successful and productive week!!!

a busy day at home

2011-10-25T09:05:00.003-04:00

I love it when I'm forced to have an entire day at home! Today the "tree guys" are here taking down several trees and doing some general clean up. They got here at 8:30 and will be here more than 8 hours! I want to be here in case they have questions and, luckily, I'm feeling very productive and energetic! Sounds like the perfect day to knock out some chores!

Here's my list for today:

~~Clean kitchen~~
~~Sweep wood floors~~
~~Change sheets on my bed and guest bed~~
~~Catch up on laundry~~
~~Fold/Hang/Put away laundry~~
~~Clean the floor in my bedroom and bath~~
Clean my bathroom
~~Clean boys bathroom floor~~
~~Vacuum upstairs~~
~~Vacuum basement~~
~~Vacuum the stairs~~
~~Tidy basement and dust~~
Catch up on Bible Study reading
~~Send prayer requests to Bible Study group~~
Pay bills
Organize hospital bills and insurance payments for son's surgery
~~Download weekend pictures onto computer~~
Edit pictures from:
10-15-11 game
10-22-11 game
Pictures from weekend fun
Then,
Organize freezer and pantry
See what available meals we have
My closet - what do I have? What do I need? Donate
Boys closets
Boys shoes
~~Boys dresser drawers~~

Wish me luck! I think I'll sleep well tonight!

OH!!! I need to ~~prep dinner~~ in there also and ~~go to the grocery for veggies~~.

weekend recap & menu for the week

2011-10-24T16:08:00.000-04:00

We had a great and busy weekend and did well staying on track with our spending! My sister and nephew came for a visit and we had some fun outings! Everything we spent is in the "entertainment" budget for October, so it was all guilt-free fun! (The best kind!) We went to Stone Mountain one day and I only had to pay for 1 of the 3 of us since my youngest and I have season passes. Lunch at the park was 20% off for me and my oldest and free for my youngest since I "brown bagged" it for him due to allergies. (Had I been totally on top of things, I would have packed a picnic for everyone!)

Yesterday we went to see Moneyball and loved it! We had a "bonfire" one night in our backyard and spent one of the days at the boys football games. (Both free activities!!!) All in all, I think I spent about $60 on activities/snacks for our weekend fun! Not bad! Add the $30 we spent bowling on my son's birthday last week and we're still inside our $100 budget for this month.

One area where we continually struggle is with our Food Bill! But when I plan our meals for the week, we do much better sticking to our grocery budget. So, I made time to plan it out this week. Here is what we're serving:

Tonight - Fried chicken, squash, mac & cheese, brown rice, biscuits
Tuesday - Smoked Chicken and Roasted Veggies
Wednesday - Chilaquiles
Thursday - Soup Night (not sure which kind yet...)
Friday - Shrimp and Pasta
Saturday - Date Night (Kids will have something out of the pantry or freezer)

I have most of the ingredients on hand and will just need to buy some vegetables! Not sure what we'll have Sunday yet. Maybe some Venison or a Smoked Turkey?

How about you? Have you decided what to cook this week?

thank you

2011-10-23T08:00:00.001-04:00

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog from day-to-day or week-to-week! It helps keep me motivated to stay on track knowing that someone is reading it!

A special THANK YOU to my top referring site for the week:

The Canadian Saver!

the steady plodder's a-z list

2011-10-21T20:00:00.001-04:00

I've had so much fun reading other bloggers A-Z posts! It's so insightful! Anyway, I thought I'd play along today and share mine...

A - Age 42
B - Bed Size - Queen
C- Chore You Hate - mopping and hanging up clothes
D - Dogs - We have a 4 year old Black Lab named Lucy
E - Essential Start to Your Day - Diet Coke, Good Morning America, and the USA Today!
F - Favorite Color - Oranges/Browns/Reds
G - Gold or Silver -neither really...I don't wear much jewelry. My wedding band is gold and I wear a silver necklace almost everyday.
H - Height - 5' 3"
I - Interests - Reading, Travel, Scrapbooking, Photography, Volunteering, being outside
J - Job Title - Homemaker
K - Kids - 2 boys...ages 10 and almost 13
L - Live - "outside the city limits" in Georgia
M - Mother's Name - Janis
N - Nickname - Sha, but my sister will sometimes call me "Sha Sha" and my husband calls me "Honey"
O - Overnight Hospital Stays - 4 (I think...) Once when I was a teenager for nose surgery, once for complication in pregnancy and 2x for birth of the boys
P - Pet Peeves - people who throw trash out of their car windows
Q - Quote From a Film - "...All it needed was a little love!" - A Charlie Brown Christmas and

"Eat, Papa! EAT!" -Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
R - Right or Left-Handed - Right
S - Siblings - A very fun sister who is 2 1/2 years older
T - Time You Wake Up - 6:30 on school days and 7:30 on the weekends
U- Underwear - Surely, there could have been something else used for "U"!
V - Vegetables You Hate - Green peas
W- What Makes You Run Late - Reading blogs and surfing on-line
X - X-Rays You've Had - Teeth, finger
Y - Yummy Food That You Make - Shrimp and Grits, Dressing, Chocolate Pie

Z - Zoo Animal - Love watching the gorillas! It's also one of my favorite children's books...Good Night, Gorilla!

zig-zag days

2011-10-20T09:40:00.000-04:00

I feel like I've had the most unproductive month! Actually, the most unproductive last 2 months. I'm getting things done, but am getting so incredibly sidetracked. I'll start to do one thing, then remember something else that I should be doing and go do that. Then forget what I was doing in the first place!

I'm placing too much emotional energy into my son's food allergies and that is causing me to be tired and stressed. So, I'm not being very efficient at anything I do. We have 11 days left in the month and I have quite a few things I'd like to accomplish before then. So, what I am going to do? Get tough with myself and make a schedule! Because I have different activities on different days, my schedule will vary from day to day, but I want it to go something like this:

6:30: Wake Up!
6:30-7:45: Take care of the dog, feed the boys and get them to school
7:45-8:00: Eat breakfast, read the newspaper
8:00-9:30: Meet friends to exercise
9:30-Noon: Run errands and do chores at home
Noon-1:00: Lunch w/hubby
1:00-2:00: Finish chores and begin prepping dinner
2:00-5:30: Shower, help boys with homework, do my Bible Study homework
5:30-7:30: Boys at football practice...and if I'm not with them I want to finish dinner, then complete Rosetta Stone lessons and/or work on crafts
7:30-9:00: Dinner, clean up, prep lunches, review homework if needed and get boys to bed
9:00-10:00: Sit, make list of TTD for next day, read, have glass of wine with hubby
10:00: Bedtime

How about you? What do you do to avoid time wasters? Do you have a schedule you follow or just fly by the seat of your pants?

october budget & goals

2011-10-13T10:13:00.000-04:00

We had a great day celebrating my son's 10th birthday yesterday! We've been working on transitioning him to an allergy-free diet and his birthday was his last day of any "cheats" before going 100% allergy-free today! Yesterday he woke up to M&M Pancakes and Chocolate Chip Waffles for breakfast. He got Chick-fil-A and a cupcake for lunch! After school let out we went bowling as a family (my husband left work early!), which was tons of fun! And then we ate Mexican food and birthday cake last night! He was exhausted yesterday and asked to go to bed at 8:30. I'm anxious to see how he feels in the next couple of days after eating so much yeast and sugar.

Today though, unless I make a mistake on label reading, he'll be 100% free from yeast, moldy foods, refined sugar, pork and beef until Thanksgiving. It's amazing how much food Citric Acid (another no-no) is in! Pretty much I'll be cooking everything from scratch as there are only a few things I've found (Luna bars, Rice Cakes/Crackers, and some chips) that are okay foods for him.

Anyway - today's post is about the October budget and goals. I realize we're almost 1/2 way into the month, BUT...better late than never, right?!?

Goals first...

FINANCIAL
Use cash for everyday purchases

HEALTH
Lose 2 pounds and get to 141#
Drink more water...a goal of 64 ounces each day
Exercise each day in some capacity

PERSONAL
Log 6 hours (from 10/13-10/31) of Rosetta Stone Italian lessons
Finish 2010 scrapbook
Make drop cloth pillows for fall
Take picture of son in last year's Scout uniform
Read 2 books
Make frame to display old recipes
Make lodging arrangements for Italy and Washington D.C. trips

HOUSE
Make bed daily
Only start laundry that can be finished, folded, hung up and put away before bedtime
Clean the house thoroughly twice between now & the end of the month
Clean door frames and doors upstairs and in the basement
Lay bricks around fire pit area

and for the budget...

	Budget
Lucy dog food	0
gifts during year	25
Guitar	25
Subscriptions	25
Dry Cleaning	30
Boy Scouts	75
School lunches	50
Boys Chores (Potential…)	80
Restaurants (incld fast food/pizza)	100
My Blow Money	100
Entmt/Rec	100
Date Night	100
haircare	100
School expenses	100
Pay for grades…at the most…	125
Christmas gifts	200
gasoline ($350/month)	350
Clothing	500
Boys Birthdays - parties & gifts	500
utilities	800
Groceries, household & toiletries	1200

How about you? Have you made your October goals/budget! Am I the only one who's just now doing it on the 13th?!? How are you doing with your goals for the month?

happy birthday

2011-10-12T08:00:00.002-04:00

My youngest son turned 10 today!!!!

recap for september's non-financial goals

2011-10-11T08:00:00.008-04:00

For the month of September I had several things that I wanted to accomplish that didn't have anything (for the most part...) to do with money. How did it go?!?

FINANCIAL
Use cash for everyday purchases - BIG FAT FAIL!
Leave my American Express and debit cards at home - FAILED!
Stay within my budget - did pretty good...definitely better than had I not had one at all!
Complete house refinancing - this actually got finished last week! We'll save about $700/month and we've already set up a new retirement savings account that this $ will be deposited into monthly.

HEALTH
Lose 3 pounds and get to 142# - lost 2 pounds.
Track food and water intake - failed
Drink more water...a goal of 1664 ounces total from 9/5-9/30 - I drank 64 ounces of water most days.
Exercise a total of 780 minutes from 9/5-9/30 - I didn't meet this goal, but I did exercise for 45 minutes 3-4x/week
Have 16 no wine-days from 9/5-9/30 - I counted 5 days without wine.

PERSONAL
Log 10 hours (from 9/5-9/30) of Rosetta Stone Italian lessons - Completed about 2 hours of lessons.
Finish 2010 scrapbook - almost done
Make chalkboard using foot board I purchased in the spring - didn't do
Make drop cloth pillows for fall - didn't do
Sew on badges to scout shirt and take picture of son - sewed patches...need to take picture
Keep up with my Bible Study homework - yes
Finish Maine scrapbooks - yes! This was a huge, huge project!!!
Complete 2 lessons with youngest for God & Family - no...will table this until football season is over
Read The Glass Castle - yes...loved it!
Read The Happiness Project - yes...didn't love it

HOUSE
Make bed daily - 90% yes
Only start laundry that can be finished, folded, hung up and put away before bedtime - 90% yes
Clean the house weekly - didn't clean weekly, but it was always tidy
Clean door frames and doors - did main floor...still need to do upstairs and basement
Clean the wall on the staircase - done!
Clean the ceiling fans - done!
Replace burned out light bulbs - done!
Put out fall decorations - done!
Put screens on living room windows - done!

Overall, I'm pleased with what I got done. At the end of the month my free time was spent learning about food allergies. But, the way I look at it, I got more accomplished by having a list and seeing what I could take care of when I did have chunks of time versus not having a list and not knowing how my free time was spent.

I think my favorite goal for the month was the challenge to drink more water. It's something I never, ever would have focused on had I not made a conscious decision to do it. I'll post October goals when I post my October budget, but I'll probably just try to finish up in October what wasn't done in September. I need to think if there is anything I want to do. I know travel plans is something that I need to work on this month.,,,

recap for september budget

2011-10-10T12:23:00.000-04:00

We've had an unusual past 4 weeks! It's already October 8th and I'm just now wrapping up September's books and working on the October budget. Between my dog's knee surgery, our septic tank backing up and my son's surgery + allergies, we had several unexpected expenses in September. BUT...luckily, we had a strong start to the month which counterbalanced our out-of-whack end of month spending!

At the beginning of September I posted our budget for the month. Here is how we did:

	Budget	Spent
Utilities	800	952.77
Groceries and household items	900	1194.7
Gasoline	350	130.52
Clothing	200	55
Restaurants (incld fast food/pizza)	100	118.1
Insurance	136.5	136.46
My Blow Money	100	74.84
Entmt/Rec	175	48.27
Gifts	25	70.07
Guitar lessons	100	75
Date Night	75	57.74
Haircare	100	203
Golf	75	0
Boys Commissions (Potential…)	80	43.75
Subscriptions	25	98.33
School lunches	50	0
School expenses	200	209.58
Dry Cleaning	30	8.72
Boy Scouts	147	48
Vet Bill - surgery	2300	2285
House Maintenance	0	815.31

Notes:
Gasoline - I'm certain that we spent more than this. When Mr. Steady fills up the cars he forgets to give me the receipts. My guess would be that we need to add $150 to this number.
Gifts - Went way over because we had 2 parties the boys were invited to this month that I hadn't expected.
Entertainment/Rec - Way under because we decided as a family not to go to a golf tournament and instead put the $ towards a different activity.
Groceries - I never got my cash for the month. Paying with a debit card will never keep my on budget.
Subscriptions - Norton software had to get renewed this month. Forgot about it when making the budget!
Clothes - Getting rolled over to October. It never cooled off enough for me to buy the boys new jeans.
Haircare - I get color put on my hair every 4 weeks and this happened to be a month where I needed to go twice. Another thing I overlooked when making the budget!
Maintenance - The septic tank needed pumping and I bought a new vacuum cleaner to help control the dog hair that my son's allergic to.

Overall, I'm happy with the numbers we had for September. We managed to save some money and are still on track of our savings goal for the end of the year. I've updated my sidebar to reflect it. I need to sit down and make our budget for what remains of October, and I'll let you know tomorrow how I did on my non-financial September goals!

THANK YOU for all of our comments about my son's allergies. I just replied to everyone in that Comments Section of the post.

food allergies and menu ideas...help!

2011-09-30T10:50:00.000-04:00

We had my son tested for allergies last week because his doctor thought that allergies were causing him to be sick all of the time. Every couple of months he misses school because he has an ear infection, strep throat or he simply has a fever and doesn't feel well. He also complains a lot of stomach aches and sore throats. We always assumed it was seasonal allergies, but found out that he has some food allergies to go along with his environmental allergies.

Here is a quick run-down of what he's allergic to:
Dog (we have a black lab that is inside most of the time)
Cat (don't have one, but he likes to play with our neighbor's cat)
Horses (don't have one and don't know anyone who does...)
Sweet gum trees (have a large one in the middle of our back yard, along with many others in the woods surrounding our house)
Bermuda Grass (our front yard has this kind of grass and he plays in it for hours each day)
Yeast (bread, cookies, rolls, creams, cheeses, etc.)
Molds (cheeses, yogurts, mushrooms, msg, creams, grapes, vinegars/condiments, etc.)
Beef
Pork

Due to the yeast/mold allergies he's also supposed to avoid all sweets and desserts. In fact, my paperwork says that if he's going to cheat, to cheat with yeast and not sugar!

So...what to feed the kid? Please send me ideas! He can eat eggs and milk is okay too. Also peanuts are okay. Breakfast is pretty easy...eggs and milk. Dinner I've been making chicken with fresh veggies or pasta. However, vinegar is a no-no, so I need to be careful with the labels to make sure spaghetti cause in the jar isn't preserved with vinegar. Packing his lunch has been a challenge, simply to keep it interesting. I've been sending Rice Crackers with Nutella, fresh fruit, hummus, and cherry tomatoes.

He's also going to start taking daily Allergy Drops (in lieu of weekly allergy shots) which will help with the allergens that we have no control over. I'm hoping that between that and his change in diet, that he'll be feeling much, much better soon and will stay healthy!

If you have menu ideas, I'd love to hear them! I'm afraid that he's going to get bored with the rice crackers really fast.

As always, thank you for your comments to my posts! It's always nice to know someone is reading my blog! :)

Canadian Saver - I love having the EF! It truly makes life less stressful!

Carla - We'd planned on cutting down our sweet gum tree anyway, so his allergy is just a great excuse to have it come down sooner or later. We have hundreds of trees in our "way" back yard and so it's impossible for us too to take them all out.

Sharon - Yes...our EF is funded with about 5-6 months of expenses. We finished funding it a couple of years ago, but it took us a while to do. While we were working on funding it, we were on a tight budget and we stopped contributing to retirement. Every penny we could find and save went towards it! February 28, 2010 is when we had it 100% funded...I'll never forget the day! :)

right now, i am...

2011-09-28T13:00:00.000-04:00

...tired from waking up early this morning to exercise with my 7th grade son before he went to school.

...needing to go take a shower to get ready for my Bible Study class.

...happy that my youngest was well enough to go to school today.

...thrilled that my youngest is a good eater and...

...hoping that transitioning to his new allergy-free diet will be easier than it sounds.

...wanting to take a day for myself where I don't do any chores or cook any meals.

...thinking that I may do this on Friday.

...excited that I can now check out downloads for my Kindle at my library.

...wondering what kind of snacks we'll have at Bible Study today.

...expecting to pay more than I planned to have trees cut down in my backyard.

...planning to build a fire pit this weekend.

...needing to go to our Farmer's Market today to purchase local honey.

...wishing I had a money tree in my backyard.

...thinking that I have a lot to do in the next 2 days to complete my September goals.

...enjoying the cooler weather.

...hoping that our electric bill is cut in half this month.

...praying that my 7th grader has a good day at school today.

This post was inspired by The Frugal Girl who was inspired by Soule Mama.

I"ll be back tomorrow with a post about food allergies, emergency funds and replies to your comments. And, welcome Rainbowchild! Thanks for becoming a follower of my blog!

why i love my emergency fund

2011-09-27T11:18:00.001-04:00

Because when Murphy strikes it is simply an inconvenience instead of a catastrophe!

It's been a crazy past 4 days! I could go into the whole story, but it would take too long, so I'll make bullet points instead.

We had a huge storm which flooded our basement on Thursday.
Our septic tank was backed up Thursday until yesterday.
My youngest son had a hearing test a week ago (and failed).
Allergy test for my youngest on Friday who tested positive for many things....which leads to:

Cutting down 3 trees in our backyard
Purchasing a new HEPA vacuum that does great with dog hair
2 Epi-pins
And a complete overhaul of our pantry.

Minor surgery for my youngest yesterday to have tubes put in his ears.
X-rays for dog's knee this morning.

While all of these things have been an inconvenience, because we have our fully funded emergency fund, wondering how much any of this will cost and trying to figure out how to pay for it did not add to the stress.

My youngest had quite a bit of hearing loss (a 40% loss in one ear and a 60% loss in the other ear). It lead to him getting tubes in his ears and allergy tests to see what was causing his problems. I have absolutely no idea how much his appointments and surgery will cost. And you know what? I didn't ask. I know that our insurance will pay what is covered and that we have our "Flex Spending" account to pay the rest. If we don't have enough in our Flex Spending account, we'll pay the balance from savings. That's what it's there for!

We paid $355 to have the septic tank pumped.

Cutting down the trees my son is allergic to will be about $600.

New vacuum that is supposed to be "the best" for picking up dog hair (another allergy) will be about $400.

Epi-pins $225.

X-rays: "free" (included in the $2100ish we already paid for the surgery)

Pantry overhaul for son's food allergies - have no idea on this one...I'll make a separate post for this issue since I know some of my readers suffer from food allergies as well. I'll need some advice and menu ideas!

We have someone coming to look at the area in our yard that leads to the flooding. Not sure what needs to be done to fix it, but we need to get it taken care of. Had I not been home when it flooded Thursday, it would have caused some major damage to everything in the basement.

We've had an expensive week! And a crazy one too, but thankfully money hasn't been keeping me awake at night. Unfortunately, it has kept me busy and off the computer so I have tons of blog posts to catch up on! But for now...I'm off to do laundry and continue washing the towels that we used in Thursday's flood!

just do it

2011-09-23T10:33:00.000-04:00

Do you ever feel like you spend more time dreading a project than you would spend actually doing the task itself? There are so many times I do this...it's such a bad habit! One day this week was such an eye opener for me. When I played hookie on Wednesday I took the pressure off myself to get stuff done and I actually ended up accomplishing tons of little things.

My youngest earned several Scout badges back in May and I still hadn't sewn the badges on his uniform. It's been on my to-do list...since MAY!!! Every time I looked at the project and thought about it, I would think, "ohhhh...it'll take soooooo much time"! whine, whine, whine...

Well, yesterday I did it. I sewed the patches on his uniform and you want to know how long it took me? About 30 minutes. For 4 months I've needed to do this, and it only took 30 minutes to complete.

Another "mountain" I tackled was the dishes. It seems like by the end of the day our dishwasher is overflowing so there are always dishes left in the sink to either hand wash or wait until the next day when I can unload/reload the dishwasher.


I hate walking into a kitchen that looks like this! How long does it take to actually clean it up?

Check the clock to see what time it is. Let the clean up begin!


Dishwasher unloaded. Dishwasher reloaded. Hand washables washed, dried and put away. Ahhhh....much better now!


And how long did it all take? Less than 10 minutes! Now why did it take me so long to do this?

What other things are needing to be accomplished that are bogging me down mentally? Sometimes I wonder if I just did what needed to be done instead of making lists and putting unnecessary pressure on myself if it would seem easier?

I'm currently reading The Happiness Project. The author is trying to eliminate the clutter in her home and adopted the philosophy to do immediately anything that can be accomplished in less than 60 seconds. Finished with the paper? Recycle it. Finished with breakfast? Put the dishes inside the dishwasher. Just come in from the freezing snow or rain? Hang up your coat instead of throwing it on the back of the chair.

What do you have that needs to get done that probably won't take near as long as you think it will?

Thank you for commenting on my posts!

In response to my "frugal living for dummies" post:

Carla - Yes...there are other things that are free that I'd much rather do with my husband.

sft - The tip on "reading to one another" was in the section on frugal dates.  

Laura - The library is great isn't it!  I love to check out books on frugal living simply as a refresher or to see if there are new ideas that I'm willing to try!

And responses for "today i played hookie":

Carla - I hope you're feeling better!

sft - a nap would be wonderful!!!

today i played hookie...

2011-09-21T13:20:00.000-04:00

and it's been sooooooo nice! Today was my Bible Study day which I love, but I woke up this morning feeling very frazzled due to self-imposed to-do's. Yesterday I'd planned on tackling a bunch of stuff, but ended up doing 7th grade math & science instead! (Why is it that I feel like I'm in middle school again?!?) So, a 3 hour chunk of my day was spent helping out with homework. By the way, I really do love helping with homework...it's one of the reasons I make sure I'm home in the afternoons, but yesterday took a bit more time than I'd expected. Anyhow, I woke up this morning knowing that I had a 3-hour Bible Study ahead of me, for which I hadn't yet completed my homework...(maybe I could get my 7th grader to do my Bible homework?!?), and decided to play hookie. I have to admit, it's was just what I needed. I've been at home all day with no distractions and have calmly gotten through many of my To-Do's.

Many times I freak out over all that has to be done, when really none of it has to be done...it's just what is on my list! And I hate leaving things on the "list" without them being crossed off!

So, today has been a day of getting things done without any pressure and it's been lovely!!!

If you had a day to play hookie, what would you want to accomplish?

frugal living for dummies

2011-09-17T10:36:00.000-04:00

I finally finished reading this book...much to my husband's chagrin! He kept asking me, "Why are you reading that?!?" I kept telling him I was afraid to put it down because what if the best tip was on the last page?!? So, I kept reading and reading and reading. And truthfully a lot of the tips I will probably never use. But there were some tips that I did like!!! And that made reading the book worth while.

My favorite parts of the book were the chapters about reducing your grocery bill. I'm always looking for ways (and inspiration!!) to do this. Here are my favorite ideas:

Bulk Cooking: Cooking or preparing several meals at once and then freezing them. One specific way to do this would be to prepare the meals based on the main ingredient. For instance, if chicken is on sale, stock up on chicken and then prepare as many meals as you have time and space for. You might marinate pieces of chicken and just freeze that. Make a couple of chicken casseroles. Cook chicken and chop it up so it'll be ready for soups or stir fry. You get the idea.

Planning for leftovers: When planning your menu, instead of planning to eat actual leftovers as your left over, instead plan to use last night's leftover chicken in today's soup, salad, chili or sandwich. Plan to have Roast Beef for meal #1 and have Shepherd's Pie, roast beef sandwiches or stir-fry for meal #2.

And a "Cooking Co-op" was a fun idea too...IF you had willing participants. Let's say you have a group of 10 ladies. Everyone makes 10x their recipe and then exchanges the meals at predetermined place/time. The author suggested getting together ahead of time and everyone bring 3 recipes that they'd be willing to prepare. The group votes on which of the 3 recipes they'd like you to make. By making 10 of the same dish, rather than 10 different dishes, you save money and time. You make one meal and come home with 10 different things. I LOVED this idea! I just need to find some friends who love the idea too!

Now -- for the parts of the book that I didn't like so much. I'm pretty sure that I'll never go to the card shop with my husband and pick out a card that I'd like to buy him (but won't because I'm saving money) and read it to him. And I'd never be able to go the book store or library and find books with love poems and read them quietly to my hubby across a table. (not with a straight face anyway!)

After reading the book, I was surprised at how many things I already am doing! I have to admit, I was happy to get some confirmation that I am actually frugal in many areas! I buy candy when it's on sale to save for Halloween, Easter, Christmas stockings and Valentine's Day. I reuse Easter baskets and eggs. I use coupons and rebates. I have a budget. I don't have credit card debt. We do regular maintenance on our yard and house. And I shop at thrift store along with doing several other frugal things!

Have you read any books lately about frugal living. What were your favorite tips? And what tips would most likely never do?

mid-month update

2011-09-15T19:58:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it's already the middle of September! This is one month I wish would slow down!!! I've been plugging away at the goals I set for myself this month and have been pretty good staying at within my budget.

Since my son was sick Labor Day weekend we didn't go on his scout trip and that saved us some money. Also, we had planned on going as a family to the Tour Championship that is at the end of September and it sounds like the boys would rather spend the "entertainment" money on something different. So, that will give us some wiggle room as well. Here is how we're doing so far. {This post is more for my sake than yours, as it's forcing me to take a look at how we're doing! :) } The first # is the budgeted amount and the 2nd is where we are as of today!

	Budget	a/o 9-15
Utilities	800	869.21
Groceries and household items	900	630.08
Gasoline	350	130.52
Clothing	200	0
Restaurants (incld fast food/pizza)	100	58.51
Insurance	136.5	136.5
My Blow Money	100	5
Entmt/Rec	175	20.28
Gifts	25	35
Guitar lessons	100	25
Date Night	75	0
Haircare	100	98
Golf	75	0
Boys Commissions (Potential…)	80	27.5
Subscriptions	25	77.18
School lunches	50	0
School expenses	200	57
Dry Cleaning	30	8.72
Boy Scouts	147	0
Vet Bill - surgery	2300	2284.72

We are over by $10 in Gifts because the Room Mom for my son's class is collecting $10 from each family ahead of time for the teacher's Christmas and End of Year gifts. (I love that it's paid and I don't have to worry about it for the rest of the year!) Subscriptions is way over! It was time to renew my Norton software on my computer -- I thought I had another month before it was time to do this! My grocery spending is a little higher than it ought to be. But I still have $370 left for 2 weeks...that should be more than enough!

Thank you for the comments from my post on Tuesday.  I'm not sure if you see my replies when I reply in the Comment section or not, so I thought I'd reply this way:                

Sharon - I usually keep my apples from turning brown by sprinkling them with Fresh Fruit.  These apples were on sale though pre-sliced (and "pretreated") so I didn't have to do anything to them!

Carla & Canadian Saver -- yes!  It's a huge time saver in the mornings!  One less thing to worry about. 

And in reply to the "Italy" post:

Canadian Saver -- We are flying on Delta and had to pay the taxes and fees at $79.20 per ticket. Not too bad for 2 first class tix to Italy! :) And yes! I can't wait to move onto the FUN planning!

sft-- last time we went to Italy I was about 20 pounds lighter. I don't want to lose 20lbs, but would love to be much smaller and try to look as great in pictures as I did 10 years ago!

the way we do lunches

2011-09-13T11:09:00.002-04:00

Most days of the week my boys take their lunches to school. My oldest takes his everyday right now because he's saving the money that would've been spent on cafeteria food to put towards his school field trip. And my youngest takes his lunch about 3-4 times a week.

I had been buying all the fixings for their lunches on Sunday and then by mid-week, the kids would have eaten for a snack the cookies or chips or yogurts that were intended for lunch! So...in an effort to "save" the food for lunch kits, we started packing all of their lunches on Sunday.

This is our "new way" of doing it!

After I get home from the store I'll separate the fruit, chips, pretzels, desserts, etc. into individual baggies. I then lay everything out like an assembly line. Each boy gets 5 giant baggies (or however many lunches they're taking) and picks 1 chip/pretzel item, 1 dairy item, 1 fruit, and a drink. Their names go on the outside of the baggies and they're stored in the refrigerator. Each morning I'll make them a sandwich (although they've been on a tortilla roll up kick lately!), grab their baggie and pack up the lunch kit.

It's been a great way for me to save money on lunches and snacks. Whatever is unused for lunches they can have as a snack, but once it's gone, it's gone and won't get replenished until the weekend.

What have you found that helps you make the snacks last longer in the pantry?

inspiration

2011-09-11T08:00:00.022-04:00

My youngest son's kindergarten teacher was...and is!...one of the most amazing women I know. She is the sort of teacher and person that you pray will come into the life of your child at some point during his or her education. I truly feel blessed to have had her in our family's life.

We also had the privilege of getting to meet and know her mother and her sister. And after meeting them, we learned that the entire family is amazing. My son's teacher's sister YaKima has started a blog and if you would like to read something inspirational today, I encourage you to take a look at Extraordinary Inspiration. It will definitely lift your spirits. So far she's posting about once a week, but I hope she'll find time to post more!

Extraordinary Inspiration

we've got tickets to go to...

2011-09-09T10:00:00.000-04:00

Italy!

Vacation Plans - April 2012

And I'm super excited! Some of our dear (military) friends were sent to Rome and will be stationed there for a year. Since we LOVE Italy, and next year is mine & Mr. Steady's 20 year anniversary, we thought it would be the perfect excuse to go visit them in Rome!

All we have done so far is book our airplane tickets. Have you spent much time trying to book international flights using "points"?!? Well...it can be a nightmare. We had enough points (300,000) to fly first-class. But, some days I'd look and the ticket would be 200,000 points each. Some days it would be 250,000 and others it would be 125,000 or 150,000. Finding the perfect flight was harder than I imagined and I spent about 40 hours on-line looking, and constantly refreshing my search.

But, it's done and I can move on to other projects. Our plan is to fly into Florence and spend a couple of days there. Then we'll spend about a week in Chianti and then go down to Rome and spend a couple of days seeing our friends and then fly home from there!

One of my goals since booking this trip was to lose weight prior to going in April. Not only do I have this vacation as a motivator, but I also have the fact that I need to lower my cholesterol motivating me as well to lose the extra weight that I'm carrying! And, for those of you who remember that I wanted to log 10 hours of lessons using Rosetta Stone...now you know why! :)

5 a day update - day 10

2011-09-08T13:32:00.002-04:00

I have not been the best participant of this challenge I have to admit! While I am certainly getting in more fruits and veggies than I would be without the challenge, I haven't been diligent about meeting my daily goal of 7 and of checking in with Carla with my progress!

I'd say I'm averaging 5 a day. Most of my 5 are coming from fruits and I need to do better about adding vegetables into the mix!

On of my favorite snacks (when I'm prepared with the ingredients on hand...) is to take Melba toast, smear a bit of low fat Laughing Cow cheese on it and then top it with with tomato and perhaps a small slice of turkey. Adding some green onion to it is also a good way to add some extra flavor. That and a handful of grapes will usually count for 2 fruits and veggies. And around 3:00 in the afternoon it's a perfect pick-me-up!

But have I had this snack lately? no....

Last week I went to my GP for my annual blood work. I "suffer" from high blood pressure and I have a hypo-thyroid. I got a call back from his office yesterday saying that my thyroid count was higher than it should be (even with the Rx I take...) and that my cholesterol count was 230. I was very surprised that my cholesterol was this high since I've kinda been watching what I'm eating and have been exercising more. But...apparently kinda isn't as good as it needs to be! This may be just the kick in the rear that I needed to get back on track with having a healthier lifestyle. I go back in December to have it all rechecked. So...until then, I will have to be even more diligent with what I put in my mouth and how I'm exercising.

Shortly after we moved here three years I was extremely successful at losing weight (I lost about 10 pounds in 3 months). I was even about 3 pounds away from my "dream weight"!! I went to Weight Watcher meetings weekly and I ran, ran, and ran about 5 days a week. Then...I started playing tennis. Tennis interfered with my WW meetings and it cut out 2 days of running in the beginning, and then I stopped running all together and hung out on the tennis courts. While playing tennis is great exercise, unfortunately I don't burn enough calories for my body to lose weight.

My plan is to re-adapt (is that a word?!?) my way of eating and exercising from 3 years ago when I lost the weight I wanted to lose. I will find a Weight Watchers meeting that works best for my schedule and will actually follow the plan. Just following the WW plan will force me to get in all my fruits and vegetables! And...I will exercise more. One of my goals for September was to exercise an average of 30 minutes a day. Another goal was to lose 3 pounds.

By being disciplined and working on these goals, I feel confident that I can lower my cholesterol by my December appointment.

follow-up to comments:

Carla & Sft - Thanks for the encouragement!

jpkittie - not having my wine at the end of everyday is a tough habit to break...but I've gone without for 3 days now! Am counting down the hours until the weekend!

Sharon - I'm new to the Rosetta Stone software, but so I far really like it. It's nice to have the flexibility of doing it at home (I can do as many "lessons" as I have time for in a day). There is a microphone that comes with it so it corrects your pronunciation of the vocabulary words. I wish I was 142# also!! Am hoping that cutting back on my wine and increasing my exercise, that I'll be there by the end of the month!

september goals

2011-09-06T10:00:00.006-04:00

I had a lot of time this weekend to think about my September goals! I've broken them down into 4 groups: Financial, Personal, Health, and Home.

Here they are!

FINANCIAL
Use cash for everyday purchases
Leave my American Express and debit cards at home
Stay within my budget
Complete house refinancing

HEALTH
Lose 3 pounds and get to 142#
Track food and water intake
Drink more water...a goal of 1664 ounces total from 9/5-9/30
Exercise a total of 780 minutes from 9/5-9/30
Have 16 no wine-days from 9/5-9/30

PERSONAL
Log 10 hours (from 9/5-9/30) of Rosetta Stone Italian lessons
Finish 2010 scrapbook
Make chalkboard using foot board I purchased in the spring
Make drop cloth pillows for fall
Sew on badges to scout shirt and take picture of son
Keep up with my Bible Study homework
Finish Maine scrapbooks
Complete 2 lessons with youngest for God & Family
Read The Glass Castle
Read The Happiness Project

HOUSE
Make bed daily
Only start laundry that can be finished, folded, hung up and put away before bedtime
Clean the house weekly
Clean door frames and doors
Clean the wall on the staircase
Clean the ceiling fans
Replace burned out lightbulbs
Put out fall decorations
Put screens on living room windows

So there they are! I want to learn how to make the side bars on my blog to keep track of the progress I'm making on my goals...both long term and short term tracking would be a nice visual! I'll work on that this week!

weekend update

2011-09-05T15:16:00.000-04:00

Happy Labor Day everyone! I hope you've had a great long weekend!

My weekend didn't exactly go as planned. I was supposed to leave town Friday around lunch with my youngest to go here:

The USS Yorktown in Charleston, South Carolina

and sleep here:

right on the carrier!!

We were going to drive down to Charleston Friday afternoon and stay at a hotel. Saturday morning we were supposed to report to the USS Yorktown at 9am and would be staying on the carrier until 9am Sunday. We'd eat all of our meals on the carrier and sleep on it as well.

But...as you know...we can't plan when our kids are going to get sick.

So I was home...

Taking care of my dog who came home Friday after having knee surgery to repair a torn "ACL".

and

Taking care of my youngest who came home from school Thursday

with a fever, double ear infection and a sinus virus.

Not exactly what we'd planned for the weekend. I'm sad for my son to miss out on such a fun trip, but am thankful that he got sick at home and not after we got there. We're about 5 hours away from Charleston, so it wouldn't have been a fun drive for him! Most of the trip had been prepaid. I should get 50% of what I paid for the scout portion ($116) and won't get any back for an excursion that we'd pre-paid to do on our own ($27). On the positive side though, I saved money on our Friday night hotel ($92) and for 3 meals that we were going to need to eat out on our own.

I also got to have a quiet weekend and was able to write out all of my September goals which I will share with you tomorrow. Luckily, Charleston is close enough for us to plan a "make up" trip and I'm sure at some point in my son's Scouting "career" he'll have the opportunity to take the trip again and sleep on the carrier!

How was your weekend?

hello september!

2011-09-01T18:29:00.000-04:00

I am thrilled to be able to say GOODBYE to August. It is one of my least favorite months.

It's hot.

It's long.

The kids start back to school (boo homework!).

There are no holidays.

But...on the bright side -- it's September now!!! Fall is my absolute favorite season and it's the one season (except for Christmas) where I decorate my house accordingly. Each year I tend to put out the pumpkins earlier and earlier. You know how you go into Hobby Lobby or Michael's in July and they have their Christmas decorations/crafts displayed? Sometimes I feel like my house is like that for the fall season. I just get so excited!

And I may be dating myself, but do you remember growing up and getting the Back to School issue of Seventeen magazine! Oh...it was the best! My sister and I were always so envious of the people who lived up north and actually got to start school wearing the cute clothes that were in that issue. Living in Texas, we didn't get to wear anything like that until November!

But - that's not what my post is supposed to be about today. I'm just so dang happy that it's no longer August!

I challenged myself to spend waaaayyyy less money in August. And you know what?!? I did! August was our 2nd lowest month for expenditures for the year. (January was our lowest!) I'm excited that we stayed on track and are moving in the right direction for ending the year where we want to be.

So, we're entering the last part of 2011 and I have a budget made up for our September-December expenses. For 2011 we have a $$ number we want to reach for our savings account balance. We are $4758 away from reaching that goal. Luckily, for the rest of the year we don't have many unusual expenses coming our way, so we should be able to reach that number! Also, I have about a $1500 cushion built into the budget over the next 4 months that I pray we won't have to use and can apply that to our savings and end up above our goal!!!

I need to sit down and write out my non-financial goals for the month! I really want to be more disciplined this month with my eating, exercising, housework/chores and how I'm spending my free time! Will share my goals with you as soon as I've thought them through!

As far as finances for the month are concerned, I don't think I've ever shared the details of our budget before and I'm a bit uncomfortable doing it (it's so revealing!!), but here it is for September!

Utilities	800
Groceries and household items	900
Gasoline	350
Clothing	200
Restaurants (incld fast food/pizza)	100
Insurance	136.5
My Blow Money	100
Entmt/Rec	175
Gifts	25
Guitar lessons	100
Date Night	75
Haircare	100
Golf	75
Boys Commissions (Potential…)	80
Subscriptions	25
School lunches	50
School expenses	200
Dry Cleaning	30
Boy Scouts	147
Vet Bill - surgery	2300

So what about you? Are you as thrilled as I am that August is now a memory? What are your goals for September?

5-a day challenge - day 1 update

2011-08-30T08:08:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update to say I ate 5 1/2 servings of fruits and veggies yesterday. It was Day 1 of Carla's 5-a day Challenge. My goal is to eat 7 a day, so I was short by 1 1/2 servings. Will have to make it up today!!

discipline & eating right

2011-08-29T13:17:00.000-04:00

I've been thinking about my goals for the remainder of the year and what my goals will be for 2012. I've got goals for our finances, for my health, for my personal and home life, and for my spiritual life.   I will go into details on a different day as to what exactly my goals are, but without some discipline in my life, I won't be able to achieve any of them.

If you're like me, you know how tough it is to maintain weight after losing it. Like getting out of debt, the fun is reaching your goal, not staying there!   I find that when I'm eating right and exercising consistently that I don't care as much what my weight is because I feel so darn good! As a result of eating right and exercising, I usually do weigh less, but it seems the importance of the number is lessened by the awesomeness of the way I feel.

I've been a bit slack the last couple of months with my healthful eating and exercise.   And I could stand to shed a few pounds. Carla over at My Half Daily Dozen is having a challenge over the next two weeks to eat more fruits and vegetables. I'm joining her in this challenge (it starts today!) and hope to eat at least 7 fruits/veggies each day. My goal, more specifically, is to eat 1-3 servings of fruits and 4-7 servings of vegetables. If you want to join in the challenge to, just go her site to see the details!

my prize

2011-08-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

Last week "SFT" over at My 101 Challenge wrote about "keeping your eye on the prize" and asked what people are willing to put their money towards. Is it to travel? To pay off debt? To save up for a wedding? Basically, what is most important to you?

I didn't have to think about it long or hard because everytime I work to stay on budget, or everytime I see money going into our retirement account I think about my "prize".

Want to know what they are?

First, we live frugally now so that we will have money saved AND be able to cash flow college for both of our boys. Our goal is to pay for their tuition to any college, in any state, that they would like to go (and, of course, where they are accepted). Scholarships would be nice and if they are fortunate enough to receive them, well...that would just mean we had more money to put towards our other prizes!

After the boys are in college, Prize #2 is to live part-time in Italy. Italy is one of our absolute favorite places...Tuscany to be more specific. We don't want the responsibility of international home ownership, so our plan is to find a place we love that we can rent for a few months at a time.

And then none of this would be possible without Prize #3 which is Financial Freedom. To have the kids out of college without student loans and to have our mortgage paid off would be the best prize ever. Because that would allow us to give our money away as freely as we want and to spend our time doing what we love most.

The year 2026 is our goal date to achieve this. Of course, I'm not sure if Mr. Steady will be ready to retire by then, but if not, it'll sure be fun knowing that the date will be just around the corner.

What about you? What are your prizes? Do you have a goal date for getting it?

kids and money

2011-08-23T13:37:00.000-04:00

My husband and I work to teach our boys financial responsibility and one of the things we implemented this year is to pay them commissions instead of allowances. Prior to this, we paid an allowance to each of them of about $20/month. Then, we got tired of them saying, "Mom...I need my allowance" when they had done nothing to earn it. They used their allowances (and now commissions) for going to the movies with friends, buying video games, getting snacks at the corner store, etc. We also encourage them to always put some money towards GIVING and some towards SAVINGS. The amounts might fluctuate, but they always give and they always save a portion of what they make.

We've been paying commissions for 7 months now and it's working extremely well. Some weeks the boys may only earn $1-2, and on other weeks, they earn their full potential of $9 (for the 9 year old) and $12 (for the 12 year old). Our goal is to teach the boys that you do your work, you get paid. You don't do your work, you don't get paid. There are some weeks where the work is not optional...I won't let them go 2 weeks in a row without cleaning their bathrooms!!!

Their birthdays are coming up this fall and it'll be time to update the chore chart and give them different responsibilities and tougher jobs. Some of their current jobs (like taking the trash cans out to the curb for instance) will now be expected of them and they won't earn money for doing it. I'm still thinking of what changes to make. I'm considering having my youngest be more responsible for his laundry and my oldest to be responsible for dinner one night a week. Definitely things that a 10 year old and 13 year old will be capable of.

Something else that I'm giving a lot of thought to is having my son manage more of his expenses. I need to see what is involved in opening a checking account with a Debit card for a 13 year old. There are recurring expenses that he has that my husband and I pay for: Guitar lessons, Cell Phone Bill, School lunches, etc. I'm thinking of giving him the money at the beginning of the month for these things...it would be about $180/month and then having him pay for them directly out of his account. I'm thinking if I can start small with just a few items, then each year add more to it that he's managing.

For those of you with older kids, have you tried this and how has it worked for you?

this is the longest month ever!

2011-08-22T18:08:00.001-04:00

I'm trying desperately to stretch the $ that I have and make it last to the end of the month.   I got the kids signed up for basketball this weekend and paid for my son's Scout trip. So, for the most part the money that we have left on hand can be used for groceries, gasoline and any incidentals that come us.

I have had a credit on my Amazon.com account for a couple of months and have decided to get my mother-in-laws birthday gift from there and have it shipped directly to her since shipping is free!

I have played on my tennis team for a couple of years now and it's time to sign up for the fall season. I have been hesitant to sign up for a few different reasons. The money was in our budget for the lessons and fees, so it wasn't the money part of it that was holding me back but more of the time commitment involved. I decided not to play and instead take a Bible Study that my church is offering that I have wanted to take for a while -- but haven't because the class time conflicted with tennis (it's a 32 week class). Kinda makes me question my priorities! So by making this decision I've freed up at least one day a week and will save about $400 over the next 9 months. The Bible Study is $42 to cover the cost of books and supplies.

I've been thinking a lot about 2012...I think because it's so dad-gum hot and I'm ready for it to be winter! In thinking about my goals I'm finding an underlying theme in them which is DISCIPLINE.   As I focus more and consider our 2012 budget, I'm also going to think about my goals. And if I get them all thought out sooner than later, then I may actually implement them BEFORE the New Year!

Until then - I've got about $60 in cash and $120 in checking to last. And guess what?!? Our football league wants more money! They're asking each player to donate a case of drinks to the concession stand. I'll need to donate a case of Gatorade and a case of soft drinks...due on Thursday.    ughhhhh!!! Luckily, it's not drink specific and I can grab what's on sale! Wonder if they sell drinks through amazon.com and I can just have it applied to my credit? ha, ha!!!