Haley’s senior year and Lily’s second grade year…
Wordless Wednesday- First Day of School
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Monthly Archives: August 2012
Random Tuesday Thoughts
- School mornings have not been the problem around here. But school evenings are a whole different story. Zach has been so bad the last couple of evenings. I want to leave. I am hoping that once we get into a good routine he will settle down if not then I may just cry all evening too!
- Speaking of school, the traffic at both the elementary and High Schools this year has been awful. To pick up from both school is taking Matt close to 2 hours. Part of the issue is that the Elementary school, is forcing everyone to sit in the car lane and pick up kids from the sidewalk.
- On a positive school note, Lily has had 2 “gold” behavior days. This is the best she can do!! I hope it continues! Haley has spent time doing homework 2 nights in a row, this is a huge positive as well!
- The goal for preschool this year is 3 days a week. Kendall is working on learning to write her last name as well as recognizing all the letters. Zach is definitely a lefty and working on recognizing colors and some letters as well.
- We are continue to try and limit our grocery spending by eating food we have and only purchasing things we are out of! The plan is to go to Costco on Thursday.
- I am attempt to get my weight under control again. I have been counting calories today on an app. I did 30 minutes on the Will last night and will do another 30 tonight.
Final Renovation Update 8/25
Haley’s new room.
Lily and Kendall move into bigger room
Zach gets his own room and closet..- Matt’s office- He has moved in!
The desk is a perfect example of re-using things in order to complete projects without spending additional money. First the base is a closet door from one of the bedrooms. It was really beat up and we did not want to re-hang it as a door. The wood section is actually left over boards from when we installed the floor in our master bedroom and office. The blue paint is one of the dollar mis-tints that we picked up to use at the beginning of the renovation. These can not be return so this was a great use for a “waste” otherwise. Cords are always a issue with computers and desk. Matt made the door knob hole bigger and salvaged a plastic ring from the bed we got rid of to make a nice cord compartment. To mount to the wall, Matt used scraps of lumber he had from building both Zach and Kendall’s bed. We did end up purchasing molding to finish out the top, the keyboard tray and one leg. Less than $20 for a desk that is big enough for a lot of stuff.
Spending Totals for Renovations
Budget information:$1000
Total Spent $1049
As I stated at the beginning of this project, when the money runs out we are finished. I am really pleased with how far we were able to get with this project. Zach will still need another dresser for his room and Matt definitely needs “storage” cabinets in his office along with a message center/ white board. But these are all things that will have to wait until we can afford them. We actually have complete much more than I anticipated in fact, I now have a “scrapbook/couponing” desk of my own. Pictures to follow of course!
Wordless Wednesday 8/22
Trip to the mall usually means a ride….
Shopping Success
I have been shopping several times in the last week. On Thursday, aka payday, we hit Aldi and Costco. I was actually very pleased that we managed to spend only $150 between the two stores and grabbed items that keep us on track with no eating out this week.
However the best shopping trip this week by far was on Sunday to CVS. I was totally out of cans of Diet Coke, which I take to work with me. I did have a free 12 pack coupon but was still not liking the idea of using it alone for only one weeks worth of sodas. The red machine at CVS this week is giving out some awesome coupons so I was able to do 2 separate transaction, spending $13.21 and saving $47.88 or 78%. The best part of all is that I ended up with 3 -12 packs of Diet Coke in addition to 4 bottles of nail polish, 2 sticks of deodorant, 2 boxes of Cheerios and 2 travel size bottles of shampoo. I started with $10 ECB and ended up with $12! The soda cost were 0.86 a case or 0.07 a can. CVS is still my favorite place to coupon!
Renovation Update 8/18/2012
- Haley’s new room Officially Haley’s room is finished.
- Lily and Kendall move into bigger room Room is completely finished with all clothing drawers labelled.
- Zach gets his own room and closet. Zach has been sleeping in his new room for a week now! He does have to share the closet with Kendall but he loves being able to pick out his clothes and put them away. We are planning to purchase one additional dresser for this room to allow all his clothes to be sorted easily. So until we make it to IKEA in Sept., this room is not complete.
- Matt’s office- Matt has started working in his office!! The desk is actually a closet door. I will get a much better picture with all the details once it is painted and complete. A third picture will finish out his wall.
Spending Totals for Renovations
Budget information:$1000
Total Spent $1014
Update: I received a $10 rebate check back from the paint that was purchased this week. A friend was able to find a matching twin set of sheet/comforter for Kendall’s bed and purchased these. I will be making the doll beds as well as Kendall’s bed match the other girls! Matt also purchased some trim for his desk at Lowes. So currently our total spent is at $1049.
Wordless Wednesday-Almost 8/15
I posted all pictures on Facebook but want to post a couple of my favorites here!
Thanks Jeph Coppley for taking all the pictures!
Random Thoughts Tuesday 8/14
•We got back a $10 rebate from paint today so currently, we are over budget by only $4 now for the Renovation. Matt is going to take some scrap metal to the recycle center on Thursday so that will put us under again until I purchase the matching bed set for Kendall.
•Zach is currently sleeping in his new room, he “tried” giving up pacifiers last night but that did not go well. He currently only has the one in his mouth which is a decrease of 3. I really don’t see how he is going to give these up! But I also do not want to give up any more sleep in this battle.
•Matt is starting to work in his new office. I “think” all the work in the other rooms is finished! We even switched out door knobs on the little girls room after Kendall managed to lock herself in. So now that door does not lock.
•I am not planning a huge grocery trip this week. Instead we hit up Walmart tonight for the couple of items we are out of. I was only able to find one of the 5 deals I was looking for with my coupons. But on the bright side, we found a $1 clearance table with shorts for Zach. I purchased 6 pairs of shorts and 1 T-shirt as well as a skirt each for the girls. Total spent even with groceries $24!!
•As I moved clothes this weekend and yesterday, I discovered/confirmed that only Zach will be in need of clothes for this winter. He does not need a new coat or shoes or pajamas. My goal is to spend less than $75 on clothes for him this winter. Hopefully, I will be able to find a really good sale on jeans and pants as this is the biggest need for him.
•We started a new schedule around the house this week. We have moved every one’s bedtime to 7:30 except for Wednesday nights. Kendall and Lily both will be up later till at least 8:30 because of church. Lily also will have a second late night due to cheerleading. The even bigger change is a schedule during the day, which greatly reduces television watching and includes “school” time daily except for Thursdays. So far both evenings have gone much smoother and things seem not so “hurried”. Matt has work time and hopefully we can find a balance and maintain it!!
Renovation Update 8/13
Lots of changes have been going on this past weekend. So I wanted to start sharing with you. We have not spent any more money but mostly likely will end up spending more on a matching bed set for Kendall and a third dresser for Zach as he is sharing a closet and needs some more space.
Kendall’s new bed it fits so well!
Notice the cool strip and both the new dressers in Zach’s room
The finished product
Right before bed…………… don’t they look innocent?
Grocery Store Challenge
What is my challenge? Spend as close to $20 a week at Food Lion over the next 4 weeks while purchasing items we need or to add to the stockpile based on sales. I am also going to give myself $10 a week to spend at CVS to keep rolling ECB. So that is a total of $30 a week for the next 4 weeks to feed our family of 6.
Week One Shopping: Total Spent- $32.01
Week Two Shopping: Total Spent– $84.24
Week Three Shopping: Total Spent- $ 198.84
Week Four Shopping: This week we are definitely back on track. Since I am on vacation, Matt and I hit Harris Teeter for Super Doubles at 7am on Wednesday. We spent $21.64, saved 86.06 or 80%. I also managed to hit CVS this week to stock up on Tide. This remains the one item that I am brand loyal on so to hit a stock up price is awesome. I spent 23.51 saved 39.11 or 62% including enough Tide for 6 to 8 weeks. Total Spent $ 45.15
Reflection: According to the number I was success for 2 of the 4 weeks. But in reality I was able to reduce my normal budget of $800 to $361 or less than half, that makes it a success! I am at least looking at my food budget differently now instead of cool this is a good deal let me stock up or we are going to need this in the next month so I will buy it now, I am now looking at the things in my pantry going unless we are out lets hold off purchasing!