Budget Update and New Series

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Sheila

I have decided in order to keep myself more accountable that I am going to update our budget numbers at least bi-weekly when I get pain. I hope that this will keep me focused on the goal as well as share some of my own excitement as we approach the goal of becoming debt free! So to start….

Our Emergency Fund is currently sitting at $500!!
We purchased today, a new to us 1999 Minivan with less than half the miles of our current one. After considering this options carefully and doing research we have discovered that we should be able to sell our current 2005 Minivan for the same price as we purchase this one. One of the major upgrade besides the mileage is that this van is a 6 cylinder as opposed to our current 4 cylinder one.
Auto insurance will decrease by $75 one we are able to sell our current Minivan
Debt (excluding mortgage) is sitting at 10k, however 1/4 of that should be erased when we sell our 2005 Minivan.
For the month of June, we will have a zero balance budget, meaning that our expenses and income are even. Any “extra” or found money will be used to bring the debt load down even more.
All of Zach’s medical expenses have been paid! In addition, I have finally managed to pay off all outstanding medical debt!

I am really excited to see this journey speed up as we head downhill and finally our goal is in sight and manageable!

Wordless Wednesday

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Sheila

How I Spent my Saturday~ May 25th

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Sheila

We started out yesterday with a trip to Harris Teeter, I had noticed on Friday that they were having an awesome sale on Milk and Eggs so after about an hour of preparation, on Friday night, we headed to Winston. Matt was even more excited after we arrived and found an awesome deal on whole bean coffee. We spent 42.30 and saved 79.33 or 65%. $20 of the $42 we spent was on coffee, so now Matt has at least 4 bags of whole beans. We have not been to the store on Strafford Drive before but I was so impressed with their customer services that I will definitely be headed there again. On Friday, I loaded several coupons to my vic card including two free items. I did ask the cashier up front to ring so because I wanted to make sure that everything was correct. She was awesome, I realized before handing over my coupons that my vic coupons did not come off so the manager rang them in without a question. I also had 3-5 printable coupons that did not scan. An assistance manager rang these in for me again without even a cross look or word. I was so excited to have a transaction go so smoothly with some many different problems! I seriously my have to email the company to say thank you for the awesome customer service!

We headed over to Krispy Kreme to reward the kids for good behavior and even stopped by my BF house to pick up a television for our playroom. We have now been given 4 television,3 of which work! I am so thankful because the one in the playroom makes my mornings so much easier as I can sleep till the alarm clock rings and the kids enjoy some tv.

The rest of the afternoon was spent cooking several meal for next week in addition to freezing some milk and strawberries that we purchased.

The highlight for the day? Matt and I were able to go out on a date including see “The Great Grasby” at the movies. We rarely d

Awards Day for Class of 2013

Posted on May 25, 2013 by Sheila

On Friday May 24th, myself, both my parents, Amanda and my sister-in-law attend Haley’s Awards Day. This is very different from most of these days as it was for the class of 2013 only. The seniors who will graduate in 3 weeks walked in wearing caps and gowns. I took my camera and extra batteries, however most of the pictures ended up very blurry . Let me just restate how upset I am that my camera failed!

Haley actually received recognition for several items, she was awarded an FFA scholarship, a white cord (Science Academy) and was recognized for maintaining a B average for her “track” during her high school career. In my opinion this was actually more important than Graduation as they announced all the scholarship received by this class, over 1 million worth, and where each student was planning to attend college. I am so very proud of Haley but so disappointed in my lack of pictures!

Field Day 2013

Posted on May 23, 2013 by Sheila

This is really the first time I have been able to braid Lily’s hair

Snack time is important

Lily was so excited that Amanda got to join us

Wordless Wednesday Square Foot Garden

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Sheila

: Watermelon and cantolupe in the back tires

We finished with most of the planting last Friday evening. I ended up purchasing most of the plants as only cucumbers grew from the seeds we planted!

Count Your Blessings

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Sheila

This has always been one of my favorite hymns and I really feel the need to be thankful today so I am going to just “count my blessing name them one by one”….

Matt
Each one of my five children Amanda, Haley, Lily, Kendall and Zach…they each are a blessing from God and I love each one the same!
My job… yes it is stressful but I still go to work each day to a job that I really enjoy and I get to work with my best friend!
Time to spend at home working in the yard and just being with my kids. This past weekend, I spent more time with the little ones than without. I enjoy working outside and then just hanging out in front of the television.
Central Air- I remember many of the years that I struggled to get the window unit clean and work. And I am even more thankful for the heat in the winter time. I still recall the winter that we ran out of oil for the old heater several time and had to sleep at my parents just to stay warm.
Clothing for each of the kids and even better a line item in the budget to purchase new clothing if need. In the past few years, I have been blessed with lots of second hand clothing so the need is not as great. But again I can recall a year that I had to ask for money just to buy clothing for Haley.
Brothers and sisters in Christ that are praying for me daily. I will never have to face difficult time alone… God is always with me but he has also supplied hands and feet in our church family.

CVS Awesome Trip

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Sheila

Matt made a pretty interesting statement yesterday. “CVS is more of a marathon, not a sprint.” I have made two trip to CVS in the past two-day and have done amazingly! I will preference it by saying that Haley “needed” make up earlier in the week so she asked for some coupons and brought her 5 ECB back for me to you. So I did begin with 5 ECB and ended today with zero. I spent $15 and saved $68 or 82%. I am most impressed with the items I purchased: 10 2 L Diet Cokes (0.99) each, 2 large bags of M&Ms, 2 boxes of movie candy, 2 bottle of Dove Hair Spray, 2 containers of Shampoo, A razor, a container of shaving gel, and 2 bottles of Irish Spring Body wash, These are all items that will be easily used in the next month. I know that I need to stock back up on razors so I am going to watch the sales over the next couple of weeks to see what I can come up!

Random Thoughts Thursday- 5/16/2013

Posted on May 16, 2013 by Sheila

Both little girls had eye appointments last week and we received some good news, Kendall’s eye are stable, corrected to 20/20 with glass so she will not need to be seen again for six months! Lily’s weak eye has improved as well and she will no longer be patching! She continues to need to be seen every 3 months but she is so excited to stop patching after 3 year!
All of Zach’s dental bill have been processed by the insurance company and after requesting refunds, which I will turn around and pay on the remain bill, we only owe an additional $93. This is a huge relief and praise as the original bill I received last week was $696
Budgeting this month has gone really astray. I am struggling to get a grip on the coming in but more importantly on the amounts we are spending. I know that a significant amount is school/end of the year related but man I wish it would slow down.
Haley is fast approaching Graduation from high school. She presented her final English project today and has a presentation next week that is very stressful for her. But she is counting the days till she walks across the stage. She also is searching for a job for the summer.
Matt has been working on the car, Haley purchased from Amanda, hopefully it will be completed and ready to drive by the end of May.
I have a student who is shadowing me this week and starting next week will be “taking over my caseload” to complete her education. I did not realize until this week how difficult and stressful my job can be! But I still love it!
The only success I had with starting my garden from seeds this year was the cucumbers. I hope to replant the other items this week.