Monthly Archives: December 2016

Why I Have Not Blogged-AKA My crazy life

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This weekend we were suppose to be in Gatlinburg Tennessee for a cheerleading competition.  Due to the wildfires, it was cancelled on Tuesday. I decided to use the time to catch up on things.  On Thursday, I shopped at Harris Teeter for the sale on can goods, followed by a trip to Hanes Mall to return some items and then grab a couple  of gifts to finish up my list. I also did a solo trip to Costco for groceries for the month.

Friday night- Amanda took the kids to see the lights at Tanglewood. Matt and I had a nice dinner that included wine and desert. We finished up by wrapping up all the gifts. I am so glad to be finished with this part of Christmas.

Saturday was the celebration of Lily’s birthday. I have to work a longer than normal day on Tuesday in addition to her cheerleading practice so we decided to spend the day doing the things she loves most, eating and shopping. We ended up shopping in Lexington and then returning to Hanes Mall.  We finished up the night by eating at Outback.  I promise to post pictures on Wednesday.

Today(Sunday)- We attended church and I spent the rest of the afternoon make a calendar for my Dad’s birthday.  I know the next couple of weeks will be just as busy but hopefully with my to-do list caught up, I will be a little bit better at blogging.

Now on to some ways I have been saving first is shopping sales. This is a no brainer. However the thing to remember is consistency.

I also have been enjoying shopping at Sears recently. They offer a program similar to CVS-Extra Care bucks. Over the past several weeks they have had items such as boots on sale with bonus bucks on these purchases. I have been using to purchase gifts, the great thing about this promotion is that it can be used to cover both taxes and shipping.

Another good tip is to keep your coupons and other rewards  items together. On Saturday, we used the kids reward coupons for reading to purchase lunch at Pizza Hut for $20 for the five of us. I also had $5 in rewards dollars for The Children’s Place. I used this to help with a purchase of tights. I also had coupons for JCPennys and Bath and Body Works.

 

November In Review

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A day late again but at least I am being consistent.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. But there is some good news, I posted seventeen times in the month of November. Improvement is a good and positive thing.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. Did not gain anything, got on the treadmill a couple of time. Still a fail but not a total lost eitehr

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 sixth month straight. I do feel much better about my lack of progress this month. I am working to met goals, slow and steady wins the race.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail. No change in this category. I will admit we have acquire debit this year so now we focus on getting back on an even footing.

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. Goal Met. We spent $460 in the month of November on groceries. We did commit to purchase an entire cow for our freezer in December. I am not sure how to handle this expense. In the past, I have always counted in the month it was purchased. This time I am not sure if I should do that or spread it out over the first six month of the year?  Decisions Decisions, Decisions.

4. Gas: Spend $300 a month- Goal Met!  Actually under budget at $210 for the month. The price of gas remains around $2 a gallon so this has helped our overall expense. I am very anxious to see how we end at the end of the year as far as a monthly average goes.

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- Fail. This will definitely be a focus and goal for next year.

6. Money Making Apps- I am adding this for monthly reporting. This is becoming a game to me!  We collected $175 in gift cards and purchased another $60 of items that were free including shipping.

Success in three of six areas is going to be considered a success!  We hope to keep up the steady stream in December. I will say that most if not all of our shopping is complete so I don’t expect this to be an expensive month at all!