Monthly Archives: November 2016

Thursday Thoughts

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Many things are going on around here, so are money saving and some are just fun so I thought I would share some .

  • Matt is working on digging holes for our new trees that are scheduled to arrive today. I purchased 6 fruit trees last month. I realize that these may take several (3-5) years to produce but I am so excited to be able to do some eatable landscaping.  We are getting 2 apples and 2 pear trees, so they will cross pollinate, 1 cherry and 1 peach tree.  They are going in our backyard along the property line to create a natural boundary.
  • My goal for the weekend is to get my snow village up and in place. I am so excited to have time to spend on this project this year without feeling rushed. I will refrain from placing other Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving but the snow village can go up now and stay til at least January.
  • We picked up our Zaycon steak order this morning! Both boxes were less than one pound off the promised weight so we have a $15 credit to use on our next order. The steak look amazing! Can’t wait to try them tomorrow night.
  • Menu planning has definitely not gone as planned this week. Last weekend we spent trying to finish up left-overs and made some head way but not enough. We are not eating out just not eating what is scheduled. Today, I am making broccoli-cheese soup and steak will be on Friday. I am betting that Saturday will be left-overs again.
  • No grocery spending this week!
  • The temperature has finally turned to fall and we ended up turning on our heat on Sunday. Our first hard freeze is expected this weekend which means the end of tomatoes and green peppers. I did plant some lettuce and we are getting a small amount from that so I hope that will continue for a few more weeks.

School Update

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Zach is currently in first grade. I attended his teacher conference last night and left frustrated beyond belief. Zach is doing extremely well and is well behaved. His teacher was unable to answer a question with either a yes or no. I was also surprise and frustrated to see common core standards in action. Let me start by saying that true and false questions should not be allowed in Math until college. Next if you are going to give examples in questions that can be answered true or false make sure the information itself is correct. Zach needs to learn the spell of 15 sight words and work on punctuation. Matt and I had talked and decided that we should leave Kendall and Zach at their current school until middle school but after this teacher conference I am definitely keeping our options open.

Kendall is in third grade and has an awesome teacher this year. She received all A’s on her report card. Currently, she is working hard on learning multiplication tables. Kendall is an avid reader and can finish a book in less than an hour.

Lily is continuing in the North Carolina K-12 charter school. I am very impressed and pleased with her progress so far. She has been placed in advanced classes and is enjoying a little bit more challenge. I am still uncertain at how she can progress at a faster pace but for the time beginning she is excited and enjoying learning. We have discovered one area that she needs to spend a extra time in, Grammar. Lily has a B in this area so she plans to attend an optional class this quarter to help improve not only her grade but more importantly her understanding of grammar.

Wordless Wednesday-Family Pictures

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We had family pictures made on Sunday. I am sure I will be posting more as we get them for here is a sneak peek. The other pictures the kids took while getting dressed!

 

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CVS Quick Trip

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I was so excited because I was able to earn and print out my $25 gift card to CVS. My plan is to use this card this month instead of money from our budget.  Thursday, I took a quick glance at the ad and then decided to wait until Saturday to really look at the ad. I made my plans and completed my trip tonight (Sunday) I will admit up front that I am a little disappointed, why you ask? Because I did not even get to use my gift card.  My CVS was already out of the free gummies, so my only purchase was for disposable razors.

img_1962I used a $3 off coupon from the newspaper but there are still several printable one available.
I also had $5 ECB from a previous transaction.
My total was $0.56 which I had in my pocket.

Earned $3 in ECB.  A good and easy trip.

Saving on Saturday-11/05/2016

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  • The weather is continuing to cooperate. We have not used heat or air in 45 days! This may one of the longest streaks ever! I am very hopefully to make it till the 15th of November.
  • I washed and hung out to dry 4 loads of sheets today. That saved at least 4 hours of dryer time. Matt was able to wash and hang out a load of my uniforms earlier in the week as well.
  • Eating left-overs, I am in charge of cooking on the weekend and I usually enjoy cooking at least 3 meals in a two day period.  This weekend, beginning on Friday, we are eating out of the fridge. I will make a pot of soup for lunch tomorrow before our pictures but otherwise this is food that will go to waste if we don’t eat so at least four or meals it is. I did make one change to our rules this time. You can only eat breakfast foods for breakfast.
  • Trimmed and polished our nails at home instead of getting manicures before our family pictures on Sunday. This step alone saved at least $75.
  • Found a local photographer who is willing to travel to my brother’s house. None of my family does well in a crowd but we all LOVE pictures. Over the past several years, we have discovered it is much easier for all of us to hire someone to come take family pictures. I also think in the end it saves money and allows a less stressful time.
  • Combining online deals. Zachary’s sheet have a mysterious hole in them. They are unfortunately the only set of “boy” twin sheet we have. I was able to combine a doorbuster deal at JCPenny’s along with a coupon they set to me. I was able to purchase 2 sets of sheets for his bed, a set of flannel sheets for Lily’s bed, a hoodie for Kendall and 4 shirts for me all for $113. I will receive back $10 in JCPenny Rewards in addition to $7 in Swagbucks.  Sheets are normally expensive so I counting all the clothes as free!
  • Meal planning- we have spent $100 at Costco so far this month and I hope that will be the extend of our grocery spending. In order for this to happen, meal planning is a must. We currently have enough meals planned for the entire month of November!
  • Matt and I both are continuing to make an effort to earn money via apps. Our current goal is to make between $150 and $200 a month. We are on track already for November with $50 this first week.

5 Financial Things Friday 11/04/2016

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1. My goal for the month was to spend $50 or less on groceries. I am already going to admit defeat with this. We realized Thursday morning that we are completely out of dog food. I know that I could always purchase a small 10 pound bag to last for the month of November but it will cost close to the same 25# pound at Costco. We did make a Costco trip and managed to spend $100. I am hopeful and actually fully expect that we should not “need” any more groceries until December.

2. I was able to cash out for a $25 gift card to CVS on Swagbucks yesterday. This will be my grocery money for the rest of the month. I do not count this in the budget because this is free money.

3. Because of yet another problem with the gas pipeline, gas in our area has jumped again and shortages are expected. The price difference between my town and Costco was 14 cent. We braved it today and actually drove the van until it read 0 MILES TO EMPTY, to fill up at Costco we saved around $3 this way.

4. We were at Costco at lunch time today and since I am not really a fan of hot dogs nor pizza, I picked up a rotisserie chicken to eat for lunch. Zach and Lily ate some with me at lunch. We brought the rest of the chicken home and made an awesome chicken salad. Finally with the skin and bones, I made chicken stock in the crock pot. I was actually able to use 2 crock pots for this and should have about 100 cups of stock!

5. The crazy weather has allowed our garden to continue producing a small amount. We are still harvesting basil, oregano, dill, tomatoes, jalapeños and green peppers. I hope that we will reduce the initial cost next year because we our dill and mint plants will reproduce themselves.

October In Review

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I wanted to make sure I got the pictures from Halloween posted so this is a day late, but better late than never. First how I did in October then a look ahead

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. October was a difficult month for me. One week I really just wanted to find somewhere and hide. That did not work so 16 post it.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. I totally gave up on this goal in October. I am planning to get back on track in November.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. This continues to be a challenge for me. I need to find a time to set for this but so far not happening.

Personal goals are a failure for the fifth month straight. I will admit that October was the worst month for me emotionally.  It was not a single event that sent me in a downward spiral but I can say that I know I need to slow climb back up!

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail. We have been able to meet all expenses but this is a huge struggle. I did receive a small pay raise in October so hopefully this will help in addition to some income that Matt is generating.

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. I changed this goal in June and have failed to meet it every month. However I am under my original $700 for the month ending at $649.59. I am planning on a low/no spending November .I can say it is successful for day 1.

4. Gas: Spend $300 a month- Fail ! Again I may have changed this goal too early as well We spent $323 this month including tags and inspection for the truck. I will reconsider both Gas and Groceries in December. I know my lesson no changing goals mid year.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. I am meeting bare minimal payments on everything but really was hoping to begin to get control and reduce this number.

6. Money Making Apps- I am adding this for monthly reporting. Matt and I both are trying to see how much we can earn doing small things. This month has been very successful.  Total of $170 for the month. Extra money is awesome and helping to work our way back to a budget.

Goal wise this month is another failure but I am not surprised. I made changes mid-year without waiting, so now I am going to wait to try again. I am hoping that we can dramatically reduce our spending for groceries in both November and December.