Blessings

I know this post may annoy people or cause them to roll their eyes, but I feel the need to post about it anyways!  So here goes...

While growing up my parents always told me I needed to give some money to the church, and I did, but not faithfully.  When I got married, Kevin and I disagreed about how much money to give to the church.  To not cause an argument, we'd just give about $20 every week.  About the time I had Hayden, our church did a series on Financial Freedom and we read through the book ABC's of Financial Freedom.  It is a wonderful book!  I knew the only way to get Kevin on the same page was for him to read the book too.  After he read it, there were no arguments, and we both agreed we needed to give at least 10% of our income back to the church.

All the people that say, "That's not possible to do these days" or, "I work too hard for my money to just give it away" well, I disagree.  Here's a true story.  When we made our 1st budget after reading this book, the first thing I did was take 10% of our income out for the church, then gas and food, then bills and so on.  When we got towards the end of the week, I realized Hayden would need more diapers before the week was over and I had no money for them.  That night Kevin's mom stopped by to see Hayden and had in hand a box of diapers she just picked up.  The next morning my mom came by and had a box of diapers for Hayden too.  I had asked no one for diapers.  No one, not even Kevin (I didn't want him to think our budget failed the first week!) knew I was freaking out about coming up with the money for diapers, but God provided for us.

If you take God's money out of your check every week before it can get spent on non-sense (extra trips to Walmart, a fast food meal, a quick trip to Starbucks, etc), I know you'll be blessed.  In fact, that's what the bible promises.  Click here for more bible truths about money. 
Deuteronomy 15:10
You shall generously give to him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him, because for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in all your undertakings.

Here's another story.  That same year we started tithing, we talked about what we were going to do with our tax refund check.  Anticipating a big return, we planned on paying off one of our debts that was about $5000.  Our refund was, lets just say, not what we were expecting!  We still planned to tithe 10% of the money we were to get back, then learned Kevin was going to get a nice bonus that year.  It got us to about $4400 to pay towards our debt.  Days later I got a check in the mail from our mortgage company.  It had a letter attached saying something about them over charging us and guess what the amount was we got back.  Yea, about $700, so once we tithed out of that, we were able to pay off our debt. Stuff like that doesn't just happen!

We've been faithful in doing what God asked us to do, and he's continued to bless our socks off.  Our house and how we acquired it is another story of being blessed.  Allie's ears being "perfect", my kidney stone surgery being cancelled, Kevin calling last night to tell me about another "bonus" check we'll get this year, I could go on and on with examples.  In fact, I've decided to start a "blessings" journal to record all the things God has blessed us with.

Let me remind you, we are a single income family.  Money is always tight.  It's just forced us to look outside the box and see where we can save money.  It has also made us reprioritize and see what "extras" we could could cut out.  If you feel like you can't get ahead, or other people around you are being blessed but you aren't, try the tithe! 

OMGosh!

Last month my favorite blogger (Angela Coffman @ The Grocery Shrink) put out a challenge in an email she sent out. It was a challenge to make a huge push with your frugal lifestyle. Just so happens, last month was our first month to get back on track. I knew our biggest area of savings was food. I was so excited to email her our results! (Let's be honest, it was a BIG motivator for me! Those Fudge Stripe cookies were calling my name every time I went to the darn store... but I told myself no every time I walked by! I didn't want to say I spent $3+ on cookies. You should have seen my reaction when Kevin came home with ice cream sandwiches [$3.98] when I sent him for sugar!)

So today, I did it. I emailed her what we spent our groceries in July (over $1000) and what we spent on groceries in August ($246.31). You know how you email/mail a famous person and you don't expect to ever really hear back from them? (Flashback to me writing Oprah when I was like 10 asking her for a pet monkey - true story!) Well, SHE emailed me back... the same day I emailed her!

Before closing her email, she said she was going to check my blog out. You know that feeling when someone calls to say they are going to stop by and you/your house isn't really ready for presentation? That's kinda how I felt! I was like "Oh no, I don't have enough creative, unique posts yet! Ahhh!" But I think it's so cool she looked at MY blog! Wow- little ol' me! I know my sis got to see the Judds at the airport a few days ago, but this is like major celebrity status in my book! :)

Bye Bye Cable

A few months ago I was telling Kevin how I was tired of getting nothing done in the evenings after I put the kids to bed. The problem was, I was watching way too much tv! I kept telling myself it was "me" time and then I'd sit and watch 3 hours worth of shows I'd DVR. Then I'd wake up the next morning and have a sink full of dishes, the house wouldn't have gotten picked up and I was trying to do all those things while getting breakfast ready for the kids and myself. It just got to be too much. Enough was enough. I told Kevin I wanted to cancel our cable. He was all for the idea. We were just starting to get back in to our Dave Ramsey ways and we thought saving $40 a month on cable was a great idea!

We cancelled with the mind set of 'if we don't like this change, we can always get it back'. It's been about 3-4 months since we've canceled and if someone offered to pay for my cable I would tell them no! I don't want it! I'm SO much more productive at night. I get menus made, dishes done, the house cleaned, lists made, and I usually do some exercising. I feel so much better when I wake up every morning with a fresh new day ahead of me (and most nights before I go to bed I get breakfast prepped and as ready as possible).

We did buy an antenna. We get about 15 local channels. The big thing was getting PBS so Hayden could still watch some cartoons in the mornings. I'm not against tv or cable, I was just letting it control too much of my time. I do think the PBS shows are educational and I don't mind Hayden spending an hour or so watching tv.

There is 1 show I do miss. 19 Kids & Counting. Hayden and I would watch it together and I learned so much from the Duggars! (I always left them on the DVR for Kevin to watch on his nights off). There is another show, Secret Life of the American Teenager, that I am addicted to and can still watch online. Maybe one day I'll be able to catch up on the Duggar's life but for now I'm enjoying focusing on our life and making better choices for me and my family :) Maybe you should re-evaluate how you spend your time and see what you can cut out too?

Cash Organization

Generally, I don't splurge on myself forget that I just bought a big new expensive camera. This month especially, I'm very efficient when I go into a store. I get what I'm going for and walk right back out - no browsing! After figuring this weeks budget, we had a little bit of wiggle room. I had been eying this to keep my money organized. I showed it to Kevin thinking he would agree it was a wonderful idea - but he didn't. He said it was crazy to pay $30+ to keep my cash organized. I kinda agreed, but I really liked it (and still do) and don't like telling myself no. Boo. So, I told him I'd be practical. Walmart has plastic accordion organizers for $3.88. So, today I bought myself my first cash organizer! It came with pre-printed tabs I was able to turn over and personalize - the pretty cloth one doesn't have this option. Okay, that still doesn't make me like the plastic one better, but I'm working with what I have! :) I did a little color coding on the tabs to liven things up a bit. All my envelopes fit very nicely in it. It was a good buy for the money!

Here's how my tabs are organized:
Church
Food
Bills (separate envelope for each bill I pay with cash)
Clothes (separate envelopes for Hayden, Allie, Me, & Kev)
Diapers
Cat Food & litter
Hair care
Toiletries
Makeup
Doctor visits
Gifts (separate envelopes for Holidays and Birthdays)
Extra

Get Ready!

I'm very aware Christmas is 4 months away. It may seem early to some to be buying Christmas gifts, and normally I wouldn't be shopping this early, but I'm changing the way we do Christmas this year at our house (much more to come on this subject in the following weeks and months)!

Kevin and I agreed to really cut back on Christmas gifts and hustle and bustle and all those stressful feeling Christmas can bring and focus on what Christmas is really about. Jesus. Family. Giving. Celebrating. #1 on our list of things that is going to change this year and become a tradition for us.... each child will only get 3 gifts. One big, main gift, then something small, like an ornament, and something else little, like maybe their favorite snack or candy. We decided this for a few reasons. Last year I went over board on gifts for the kids. The whole day, Hayden just wanted to play with a $12.95 guitar ornament I got him from the Hallmark store. He could have cared less about the other $150+ worth of crap gifts all over the house. Second, we decided on 3 gifts because Jesus was presented with 3 gifts when he was born (gold, frankincense, myrrh). And we're trying to simplfy our lives. If I'm not running around all over town in the middle of winter trying to get a few more gifts, life will be simpler. I can do things like bake and make crafts with my kids. I'd enjoy that SO much more! And isn't Christmas supposed to be about giving? My family has everything we need. We are beyond blessed. I want to teach the kids some life long lessons about giving this year, not receiving.

So, the fun part... We decided Allie's big gift would be a kitchen set. Hayden may enjoy it more than she does this year, but I know she will love it. We set a tight budget for gifts ($75 max per child) and I've been looking on craigslist daily to find one. Today was the day! I found one in excellent condition for $30. It cost $85 brand new. Why by brand new when you can buy something that looks brand new for less than half the cost!? Here's a picture of it. We're picking it up tomorrow :)

I'm still on the hunt for Hayden's big gift. I'm not going to spill the beans about what we've decided to get him. The hard part will be finding it used... I may have to buy it new. BUT we're going garage sale shopping the next month and have our fingers crossed. Oh and Kevin may get to put some handy work in to Hayden's gift, which will make it even more special!

(Christmas 2010: Both kids were sick with fevers in the 102s. I couldn't keep them down. Allie went to the ER on Christmas Eve... we're really sure this years Christmas will be better than last!)

Allie looks so tiny! And Hayden was miserable. Funny how much they both have changed in 8 months :)

Light at The End of The Tunnel

September is going to be an exciting month for our family. Why? Well, we'll have one month of being on a strict, detailed, allocated budget under our belts. We'll also have been using a cash-system to pay for groceries, gas, household items, and some bills. August has felt like a dark tunnel - we were going forward but not seeing immediate progress. Now, as we approach September, we are seeing the light! I promise you, when you pay cash, you think about everything you pick up or put in your cart AND you check the price, which is something I never did before. This morning I went to Walmart with $11.82 left in my food envelope. I had to get 3 gallons of milk, refill our 3 gallon water jug, and I was hoping to get some bananas. I knew milk was @ $3 a gallon, and my jug refill was $1.11, and the bananas were $.54 /lb. I just noticed today I didn't see any produce scales at Newburgh's Walmart. If they have them, they are hidden! Anyways, my total came to $11.67. I didn't browse the isles while I was there b/c I knew I didn't have the money to buy anything else.

Most months, we had too much month left at the end of our money (something Dave Ramsey says). $5, $10, $20 thoughtless purchases REALLY add up at the end of each month. Our biggest area for cutting back was food. In July, I spent.... hold your breath.... over $1000 on food! Kevin worked a lot that month (lots of eating out and very little planning on my part) and all that money we could have saved, well... we ate it! This month, we'll have spent less than $320 on food - for the whole month people!

Great intro for my next thought. I planned our Septmeber food menu last night. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, & snacks are all written down. I will shop weekly for all the items and ingredients I need. I'm also going to be trying 21 new recipes. Cross your fingers we get some keepers! I will be posting any good recipes to my blog and tell you what it costs to make that dish. I'm also maybe trying fish for the first time (gulp) and maybe those pretty little bright red tomatoes. My sis posted a pic of them on her blog last night (fajitas) and I want to eat pretty things like that... I think :) Stay tuned!

Harry was being a little needy when I was trying to take a picture of our September menu!

Commission Chart

When Kevin and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, there was a section in one of the lessons that briefly touched on teaching your children about money. We have talked a lot about this the last few years, and we decided to take Dave's approach on the issue. His approach quickly explained: If they do the work, at the end of the week, they get paid for it. If they don't do the work, they don't get paid. He said we could start this as early as age 3. Kevin and I agreed on 3 "jobs" we could ask Hayden to do. Now obviously, as he gets older, we'll ask him to do more work, but for more money. Right now, we ask him to:

1. Put away his toys before he goes to bed.
2. Take out the trash (once a week) in the hall bathroom and help me clean a couple days. (Which usually consist of me giving him a wet rag and asking him to wipe any spots he sees off the floor - and he LOVES doing it!)
   
3. Put his clothes in the laundry basket and his shoes in his shoe basket before he goes to bed.

If he does all 3 things everyday, on Friday he gets paid $3 (in quarters). He has money jars labeled "Spend", "Save", & "Give", and he puts $1 in each jar. Getting paid is like the highlight of the week for him! He loves seeing all those quarters laid out in front of him. He is so proud of himself. We just started week 3 today.

Now there are things we expect him to do and not get paid for. We are teaching him to take his plate to the sink when he is done with dinner. We also are teaching him, if he makes a mess, he needs to clean it up. You get the idea. He's not going to get paid for doing things we just expect him to do. I want jobs 1 & 3 to be something he just does - so those will be the first things to get replaced as he gets a bit older.

Sometimes before we leave for an errand during the day, he'll say, "Oh I have to pick up all my toys so I can get a smiley for that". I feel like this money lesson we're trying to teach him is also teaching him how to be a better listener. I usually remind him just once or twice about picking up his shoes, or putting away his toys, and he's all over it. He is very anxious to get his smiley faces at night. He goes to bed happy and proud of himself for his hard work.