First was opening of gifts with Amanda who had to work Christmas Day.
Next we headed over to Pawpaw’s and Granny’s….
Santa came
Haley got a stocking!
Finally we all enjoyed lots of gifts!
As promised here is where I stand for the year on each of the goals I set. I am also going to include an update goal for 2015. My current plan is to add to these and put some numbers with them at the end of the week. One quick recap, just after establishing these goals. we decided to take a last minute trip to Michigan which cause everything to start at a much slower pace than I had planned.
Long Term Goals: These were last addressed in July.
1. $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress. The new and improved goal for 2015 will remain the same with the exception of planned saving on a monthly basis. However it will not cover the entire amount so I will need to “find” extra money along the way..
2. $1000 to replace the floor in our Living room. Goal Met.
I will be adding several long term (meaning year long goals to this).
Monthly goals
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Met 8 of 12 months with only this month exceeding the goal. This will continue as it at least keeps me accountable.
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. This goal was met 7/12 for 2014 but I have not reached my overall goal of 175. I am going to change this goal just a bit for 2015. New goal is Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved. We have decided to cancel our YMCA membership due to the significant increase in amount and decease in our use over the previous year. Instead, we are in the process of purchasing a treadmill to use at home. I am honestly thinking that by having the equipment at home, I will be using it more often.
Spiritual- After eliminating this goal for 2014, I am going to add it back. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Matt and I have signed up for a college class on the Old Testament, which should spur me on to make steady progress.
Financial Goals:
1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. This goal was achieved 10 of 12 months. I plan to continue this goal but will be providing specific numbers to go along with this. Slight changes may including total payoff in September of 2015 instead of July.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. I was able to achieve this goal only 4 of 12 months. I hope to make significant improvements in this year as indicated above with a planned saving each month.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Achieved 10 of 12 months. Our overall average is $650 for the year. I am going to continue this goal for 2015.
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Goal achieved 7 of 7 months that I tracked, however I currently do not have any money in the Auto Fund. The current plan is to continue this goal as is. We are currently purchasing a new to us van to replace my car so I am unsure if this will affect our overall gas use and may increase in June 2015 if needed.
Overall this has been a good year for the goals I established and I hope to continue improvements in 2015.What goals are you establishing?
Today is my Mother’s birthday and my Dad’s is only 2 days away so I know this month is quickly coming to a close. I am planning on ending the year with a bang by posting a new blog for this entire week.. On Tuesday, will be the year in review, which I am rather excited about. Wednesday- a last grouping of Christmas pictures but I can’t promise this will be all the Christmas pictures you will see. Thursday- New Year’s Day- this plans and goals for the New Year. Friday/Saturday will be the first budget update of the year with new numbers! But now for today…
Blogging: Goal: 15 per month This is actually post number 15,with 2 more planned! Goal Met!
Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. I have gotten back to the YMCA this month at least once a week with most weeks making it twice but no change in the weight! So this is a Fail
Financial Goals:
1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. We have survived Christmas but not paid anything extra. Another Fail but look for numbers and a new plan this week.
2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Another fail for this month… Added line to the budget for next year.
. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Fail. $1000 is the official number for the month. I am really disappointed but not surprised. On the bright side, we have only eaten out one time this month!
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Total Spent $268 for gas . GOAL MET!
I have managed to only met 2 of 6 goals this month. Sort of disappointing for the month but I am going to add some important details including numbers next year and I hope to make steady progress each month.
My favorite Christmas decoration/craft….
This year, I have decided that I am going to make sure I get to the kid’s school events! So I decided to request the day off work on Friday to attend Kendall’s Party and of course I have no regrets.
On Thursday, I went to Lily’s Christmas party which was building a gingerbread house… my niece is in the same classroom and for this was actually seated at the same table as Lily so it was lots of fun!
Kendall’s party was on Friday afternoon and she was sent to 4 different stations. The teacher decided this year that parent would “travel” between stations with their children instead of being assigned on station to organize. I am sure this was one of the highlights of Kendall’s day, one on one attention!
One of the first rules of couponing that you hear is that you must not be “brand loyal” meaning that you can’t just chose to use one brand of say toilet paper. I totally disagree with this statement. You can’t be brand loyal on every product but you can pick the items that you prefer and coupon for those items and still manage to save money. I have many items that I am brand loyal to. What that means for me is that I tend to stock up on the items when they go on sale and/or hit my buy price. It also means that on occasion I end up paying a little more that I would for the same item of a different brand but the difference is well spent in my book. I am brand loyal for my deodorant, it has to be Mitchum, my buy price is $1 or less. Currently I am looking for this item on sale because I am using my last one. In laundry detergent, I am really brand loyal to Tide. I have found that I don’t like the smell of other brands and most don’t clean as well so I ended up using more. This summer I was able to stock up on Tide, so I am just keeping an eye out for awesome deals at this point. Now I do have a rule that free is the best so when CVS offers free laundry detergent using ECB then I purchase and save for our annual beach trip. We watch a load of towel and bathing suit every day, free is good enough for these daily washings. Lily has very sensitive skin and after multiple trips to the demonologist, we have found that buying Aveno bath wash is worth the expense. A final item that I am extremely brand loyal to is Diet Coke. I have been using Coke Rewards for several years now and honestly will drink water if my Diet Coke is not available.
CVS has really not had any awesome sales since Thanksgiving but I was able to stock up on several brand loyal items this week at a 68% saving! The standard for couponing is 60% or more is a buy price so I am extremely pleased. I did spend $27 for these items but saved $58. I purchased 7 bags of Christmas candy, 6 12 packs of Diet Coke, 2 2L Diet Coke and 2 bottle of body wash for Lily. Are you brand loyal?
It is apparent that we all LOVE music! What is exciting to me is that it would appear that the little guys all three have both an interest in music and some natural talent. I guess I would consider not being tone deaf, a natural talent! This weekend all three kids participated in a Christmas musical on both Saturday and Sunday night. I plan to post pictures of this tomorrow night. In addition, they also sang as part of our Sunday morning worship service. This is a song that they learn both the words and motions in the last two weeks so as you can tell someone is wrong on a couple of them. I am just glad to see them enjoy singing in public!
The first group is some close up on individual kids.
The next group will give you a better view of the entire group! I was learning to use our new camera so there are some problems with the flash as you can see but at least I am posting the same week not a month later!
This past weekend has been one of the busiest of the year, with multiple events on each day. So consider this your fair warning the next couple of post will be both Christmas and picture heavy. I did have an awesome trip to CVS on Sunday so I will plan to throw that in just to say I did!
Pancakes with Santa has been a tradition for us for at least the past 5 years if not longer. Part of the tradition is that Daddy takes the kids. I am sure this started because there was at least one kid at home that was too young to understand and enjoy. This year I was able to make several things while the kids enjoyed not only breakfast but a craft and a visit with Santa.
Pancakes and bacon always make a good breakfast.
Next was a neat craft that all three of the kids enjoyed.
Last was the talking to “Santa’s helper”. Even Zach realizes that Santa is really busy this time of year and needs some helpers. But you know each of the helpers reports back to Santa. Lily was given a choice of attending the breakfast and wanted to check it out; however she chose not to sit on Santa’s helper lap. I am already starting to miss my little kids!
