Monthly Archives: August 2013

August in Review

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Financial goals:  August was an expensive month for us with Auto expenses, College and our Vacation. However we are ending the month about the same as July $1000 behind our set budget. The month of September should be better as we are expecting payment for a website, a partial refund of tuition and I have some extra work available this month as well.

  • Pay off Lawn mower by March 2014, so no interest is charged. Payment of $100 made, almost a triple payment
  • Pay off all outstanding debt except the mortgage by June– No new debt incurred! This is a major accomplishment considering the extra expenses of the month.
  • Emergency fund to $2000–   This will receive the biggest push this month as I hope to re-establish and get it to around $1000, because of Auto repairs it is currently at $100
  • Maintain a budget using a form of the envelope system – Still working well! It has really allowed  me to track expenses this month. It worked on vacation as well!!!!!!!!!!
  • Groceries: Spend $600 or less a month   Awesome month in this area, we spent around $200 including  food for the beach!  We are currently only $20 over for the year. We have spent some time cleaning out one of our freezers and making meal plans. The goal for August is to spend less than $200 except for an order of Zaycon chicken that we should receive in October. If we are able to meet this goal, the extra will be placed in Emergency Fund to beef it up!
  • Gas- Including our gas for vacation we spent $550 in addition we spent another $150 on auto repair and service. The Goal is $400 a month, so we did met this goal if you eliminate vacation and repair. I hope to keep this expense low in the next month due to the need for tags, inspection and renewal of our AAA all come this month. My goal will be to use any funds not need to cover these additional expenses as my auto fund is empty!

Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month This is the 15th blog posting of the month, for the second month in a row.

Devotions: Goal is 5 a week   Goal Met! I am really enjoying my morning time.

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month.. To be honest, I have not even address this goal this month. I have not gained the 10# I lost but there has been no progress. Repeat from last month…..

On paper, August appears to be a successful month, we really enjoyed our vacation so that makes it even better.

The anticipation is that September will be a better month financially for us in the terms of income.

Repurpose

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One of the major ways we save money is by repurposing as much as we can. Today, Matt and Z had their second day home alone. Of course they would work on a cool project. This scooter was a hand me down from my niece several years ago. Lily used it but has now outgrown it. After a little work and some paint it can now be use for at least a year by Zach.

All Good Things Must Come to A End!

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I am sitting here the final night of vacation, it is cloudy so I can’t seen the ocean. But the sound of the waves are calming…I wish I could sit here every night and listen to them!  Here are some group pictures, minus Amanda for most because she left this morning before we could take them!

early one morning!
Zach did not want his picture taken
Amanda and Andrea

Random Tuesday Vacation Thoughts

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  • I was able to find a “waterproof” camera while shopping yesterday so I am sure you will see lots of water pictures after vacation is over!
  • condoThis is my favorite part of the condo, yes it is a stackable washer and dryer. I hate the feel of sand, so  be able to wash our suits and towels after each use is a true luxury.  The other reason I really really like this washer and dryer is that even when we only had 2 children, I always was asking the front desk of every hotel for extra towel because I like to shower and don’t like to reuse towels. We have been running at least 2 loads of clothes a day but we always have enough clean towels to use
  • We spent over six hours at the beach today!  I was most surprised that Zach loved boogie boarding as much as the girls!
  • I learn a lesson about sunscreen today, Coopertone works ! I applied sunscreen to everyone around 8:30am this morning,  at lunch no one was burnt. I had purchased some Neutrogena Beach defense to use.  So we used this at lunch, I could feel myself starting to burn, check the time exactly 90 minutes later, re-applied the Neutrogena on everyone, Matt said he felt like he was burning exactly 90 minutes later. The Neutrogena  is almost gone but I am so disappointed with it!
  • The kids insist on calling our small balcony a”terrace”.  I am enjoying the “terrace” as I type!

Monday Vacation

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photoWe  finished up today by eating at PF Changs which was my birthday dinner.  As we were walking out the kids ask if they could have their picture made with the horse. Matt told me that the waitress had commented that ours were the best behavior children she had ever waited on!  Wow does that make a Mom feel good!photo (4)This is a sign that is hanging in the condo, today it said it all. We only got around 2 hours on the beach early this morning, but we are still have an awesome time.photo (2)This was the sky this morning right before we went for a walk on the beach to find some seashells.

photo (3)However this is what our sky looked like most of the rest of the day. This is also the view from the front of the condo.

First Rainy day of Vacation

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Today was probably the worst day weather wise all summer. Why of course it would also be my first day of vacation as well. The initial plan for today was to pack, make a trip to the store to purchase groceries for our beach trip and spend the rest of the day at the pool. As you can imagine with a high today of 65 and over an inch of rain, this was not going to go as planned. Last night we took the kids to Walmart, to get our shopping trip out-of-the-way. We did spend more than I planned but it was not a budget buster as it was just moved from our entertainment budget at the beach. The kids were excited to be able to pick out their favorite foods, I know they will be even more excited to get to eat these for an entire week. We did spend about two hours packing this morning. Matt even managed to catch a break in the rain to load the box on top of the van. I was surprised at how much fit in the van but also at how much we are really taking.  Next we headed to Winston to JCP to pick up our family pictures. A quick stop by the Dollar General was included to pick up both Kendall and Zach a pool float to sleep on this week. We decided these would definitively be a lot cheaper than air mattress and if they don’t bust we can use next summer. The kids have been requesting that we work on “school” every day this week. So we did a quick calendar, had a math lesson with the money they earned for the beach. Both Lily and Kendall have now finished their writing books, Kendall is print and Lily was cursive. they still have a few more pages for extra practice but both will be ahead in writing and reading this year. Matt and Kendall finished the reading book yesterday so both of the educational goals have been met for the summer. Next up on the agenda were nails, I was in charge of removal and clipping and Matt painted and included glitter art for fun.  We ended the night by renting and watching Monster Inc with lots and lots of popcorn!  Overall this was a nice relaxed way to spend my first day of vacation!