Can you tell they are sisters? Amanda came to watch Kendall for her Field Day! Kendall was more excited about Amanda sis coming than mommy.
Wordless Wednesday- Girls
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Saving Money- Checking Insurance
I dislike insurance of all kind and fashion. My thoughts are that they companies are making money on someone’s worries but that being said it is a “requirement” in most situations. We have had both Auto and Home Insurance with the same company Liberty Mutal for close to 10 years. One of the reason’s that I have stayed with this company is it is easy to do. In addition, I usually check out rates every couple of years just to make sure we are still competitive. In the past, the difference have been so small that it was not worth changing. Over the past several months, I have become more and more frustrated with the company. First is their billing system, starting 3 months ahead of time, you get a bill with monthly and then bi-weekly reminders. I receive both paper and email remainders. Next as I started to look over the bill, I found a “clean air allotment” charge, I call to ask and never really got an explanation. I was told that in the past this was split between the billing cycles??? I still don’t know what this charge is. The final problem that made me starting comparing rates and looking for a different company was the statement that once a bill is issued, no changes can be made to the amount due on it. For example, I dropped one car off the policy which reduced my overall policy amount by over $200, however since my bill had been issued I would be given credit for this on the next billing cycle six months away.
I went online the other night and requested auto insurance quotes, I have received five. Each of the five was lower than the amount I am currently paying. So today, I decided to call the companies to verify the amounts before making a decision. I am excited to report that I saved $210.56 by switching my auto insurance to GEICO! I will be able to make changes and even claims online if needed!!
This definitely helps our budget not only this month but for the rest of the year!
Random Thoughts Tuesday
Hold on tight this weeks seems crazier than normal for me…
-We completed some much-needed landscaping on Saturday in the gorgeous 70s weather, total cost for our front flower bed? $30
– I am still using the ECB I earned at CVS several weeks ago this week, I spent $0.73 and earned another $1.49ECB for 4 2L Diet Cokes, a tube of toothpaste and a box of antacids.
-Our paypal account was hacked into yesterday, I am so lucky to have State Employees Credit Union, because they saw something fishy, I did not lose any money. We had at least 11 different transactions attempted on both our debt cards. The really annoying part is that we cancelled both our debit cards so have very limited access to money at this point.
-The weather over the weekend was awesome, in fact we have used neither heat nor air for over a week now. Tonight the temperature is supposed to drop below freezing…I am hoping this is the last time!
-I am going to miss Lily awards day on Thursday and her class presentation due to a computer training that is required at work! Double YUCK!
I NEED a vacation!!!!!!
Random Thursday Thoughts
I want to make a large poster of the above quote from Dave Ramsey!
- I have actually already planted several items this year, currently growing outside, is Lily’s cabbage project for school. I am really amazed that it is still alive! Inside I have several plants of broccoli which are continuing to grow. This week we have about 12 different tomatoes plants that are around 2 inches high. I am so excited to see these growing and hope to keep alive till we are able to plant outside.
- I have scheduled my dental appointment to have a crown placed on the tooth that I had a root canal on 2 weeks ago. After discussion with the dentist office, they are going to “attempt” to waive the cost of the filling which lasted exactly 4 days before going bad. I have already used up my Medflex spending for the year so my goal is to save the additional $400 I need to make a payment in full. I was able to save $100 extra this week so only $300 to go.
- We decided to check out our Goodwill store today- Matt was able to find 2 pair of jeans, and 6 or 7 different shirts all in his size. I found one shirt and a Easter dress hopefully. I was most excited that the dress is a size smaller than I have been buying!
- All three kids came out of the dentist this morning cavity free! This is the most exciting news EVER!!!!!!
Wordless Wednesday 2nd Nine Weeks Honor Roll
This definitely proves we need a new camera!
Lily has made the A honor Roll both nine weeks so far!
Wordless Wednesday- Car vs Guardrail
The Worst Travel Day EVER!
I have been travelling between North Carolina and Michigan, for over 10 years now. I have made this 800 mile journey probably 15 times but the worst trip ever occurred last week. The adventure started early in the evening when I was woken up half an hour earlier than plan by the sound of Kendall coughing and throwing up. I really didn’t give it much thought because I had made her eat earlier when she was not hungry. After we loaded up it was off to Krispy Kreme for our late night snack. Unfortunately, I had made a mistake and we missed closing my 20 minutes. Next was an usual chain of events that caused a relatively long trip become a really really unforgettable trip. Our GPS sent us on a totally different route than we had ever take, we have since discovered that by mistake we told it to avoid toll roads. We headed west to Tennessee, I will spare all of us the details but Kendall was sick twice more in the first four hours. Matt and I had a serious discussion about turning around and heading home but Kendall did not want to because in her logic ” We have packed everything in the van for the trip.” The route itself was very twisting and turning, it felt like we were in the mountains for ever. Our most uneventful period was between 4am and 9am. We stopped and ate at Cracker Barrel around 6am and thought okay we are about half way with the additional stops we should be at the hotel around 2pm. Things turned from long to worse in Kentucky around 9:30 when it started to snow heavily. In the next 6 hours we travelled less than 200 miles in terrible condition that included “white outs” and long periods of sitting waiting on wrecks to clear. At around 5pm we made it to Ann Arbor and discovered that the further north we headed the better the travel and weather appeared to be. So we decided to continue on. We arrived at our hotel around 8:30pm a mere 22 and half hours after we left! We were both exhausted!
I am completing this post after our travel back to North Carolina on Sunday January 5th. The weather was again awful for travel and we ended up in a wreck in Ohio. Our van hit a patch of ice, did a couple of circles, hit a guardrail. The van was driveablel l will post pictures next week, however we managed to arrive home in 16 hours and so the trip to Michigan remains the worst Travel day EVER!
Merry Christmas
Best Laid Christmas Plans!
At the start of last week, I was excited, in my mind, I had a list of things to accomplish over the holiday weekend which would have me well prepared for December. So the best laid plans have now been way scattered. First Lily was sick on Monday and stayed home from school. Next Matt became sick on Wednesday and pretty much was out of commission till Friday. Finally, the Christmas tree that I was so excited to arrive on Thanksgiving morning and even comment how much fun and easy it was to decorate has fallen twice now! Which resulted in late night re-decorating and cleaning.
Third time decorated!
So now I have a list of things that I need to get caught up on prior to Lily’s Birthday, which is Friday. Here is the short version:
1. Complete and order 3 photo gifts including a calendar for my dad!
2. Seal, address and send Christmas cards.
3. Wrap all presents so that we can use my closet again!
4. Complete decorations outside.
5. Complete Christmas shopping, luckily this involves only 1 more present besides the photo gifts.
6. Ship gifts to family out of state.
7. Budget for December as well as a new system budget for next year! I may be able to postpone the new budget another week as I am sure this is more brain power than I have left.
Matt has graciously agreed to take over the house cleaning this week so that it is presentable for Lily’s party but I still need to order tickets for Disney on Ice on Saturday!
Wordless Wednesday-Honor Roll
Lily made the A honor roll for the first 9 weeks. Unfortunately, we only have one picture! One interesting fact was that Lily was the first person announced and Brooke, my niece, was the last!