2018

Posted on March 10, 2018 by Sheila

My work schedule for the past several weeks has literally been insane. I am working most days from 8am till 5:45pm. I have to leave at 5:45 in order to pick up Lily from practice at Lexington Youth Theater.
Yesterday, was a very long and stressful day. Our good friend experienced a stroke. We are praising God that he has regained all movement and is expected to make a full recovery.
I spent most of the morning working on bill paying and update our budget. I am happy to say that we have survived! Our state tax return came in and with that I finally feel like we are on a solid financial track. We are still working on paying for summer camps and pool dues but those are the only extra expenses I see from this point forward.
Our cable was scheduled to increase by $35 dollars this month. Matt and I are in agreement that we can not continue to pay so much for internet, cable and home phone service. After 3 separate phone calls, we managed to keep our favorite television stations and increase our internet speed but reduced out bill down $60. We are losing our home phone but in the end this works well for us.
Zach is playing spring baseball, we have purchased a new bat and glove. We are very fortunate that he has been loaned the gear to play catcher. I am most definitely ready for warm weather and baseball.
Kendall will be completing both her sign language club and Battle of the Books this month. This will definitely allow for more home time.
We are expecting (predicted) to have one last winter event Monday. I am so ready for spring.

A Very Expensive Day

Posted on March 8, 2018 by Sheila

I often post about how I save money but today I am going to share about why it is important that we save everywhere we can.

Today, all three of the little kids have eye appointments. The appointments are in Greensboro, which is approximately 30 minutes north, The first stop of the day is Costco. We needed to fill my van, $26.50. We needed to pick up several spices and I found a new dress that I love ! Total spent is $58.70. By 10:30, we have already spent $85.20.

Actual eye appointments cost because we have to see a specialist out of network, is $225. The reason for going out of network is simple, there is currently not a provider in network.

Lunch is a requirement because it is 12:30 and every one is hangry. We agreed on Mo’s Southwest Grill. Each of the kids ate an entire kids meal, guess I miss the days of one kids meal for all three, Our total for lunch $38.70. Total at 1:30pm is. $348.90.

Now that we are civil again, we are headed to VisionWorks to purchase glasses, VisionWoorks has a special Buy One Get One Free. The original plan was for each of the kids and me to get a new pair of glass. The estimate for my pair was $630 so we decided to order online. Zach ended up with 2 pair for a total of $299.95 and both the girls got a pair for $229.

The final stop is Costco to order Lily,s contacts. Lily,s total is $177.95

Total for day= $1054.90, Yes that is expensive,

Saving on Saturday

Posted on March 3, 2018 by Sheila

Find out the day that your local supermarket reduces the meat and that is when you shop.

I can honestly say, I have heard of this way to saved money but did not believe it was true until this week. I had planned to shop at Food Lion this weekend due to Lunchables being on sale for $1 each. These are quick and easy lunches that my kids consider a special treat. In the past, I have been able to stock up on these just prior to school starting but that was not the case this year. My mother was with us and helped to find some of the deals. I was able to purchase over one hundred dollars worth of meat for $66. This is a 40% savings on meat!

I grabbed several packets of thin steaks for Fajitas, a pack of steaks, several pack (ok 6 packs of chicken nuggets with cheese, meatballs and both chicken and pork bites. These are not the typically way we would eat these items but I am super excited that we have a chance to try some new and different things without breaking the bank.

This meat deal could have not come at a better time for us as we will be purchasing a whole cow in the next 2 months in addition to 80# of chicken from Zaycon. But in the meantime we still need meat and the kids insist that they have meat at least 2 of the 3 meals

What good deals have you found lately? Leave a comment to prove you read!

February In Review

Posted on March 1, 2018 by Sheila

I did not want to write this post. In fact, I am writing it 4 days late because I have been avoiding putting the words to the paper. February was a hard month both emotional and financially on me. Actually I think that says it way to nicely. FEBRUARY SUCKED.

Financial- We have been hit with several unplanned financial expenses including a new tail light for my van, nails in at least 3 tires and kid’s expenses were really high for the month.

Total paid to credit card debit $981. We also added to our credit card debit by $381
Grocery budget $450- Total spent $466 I had planned to spend only $300 but…
Gas budget- $280- Spent $205, This was managed by only paying cash for gas and moving money other places.
Kid/Summer expenses : $200, Zach was registered for Baseball, purchased new bat, glove and pants. Lily need silent auction item for LYT
Earned $125- this is indeed a much lower amount but this is the expectation until at least March.

Personal- I fail, just do not want to even discuss it any more.

Monday Menu Planning 2/26/2018

Posted on February 26, 2018 by Sheila

Thankful we have food prepared and will start making more quick and simple meals over the next couple of weeks.

Breakfast- Saturday-Cereal and breakfast burritos , Sunday- Cereal and milk , Monday Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday- Choice of cereal, eggs or left-overs, Thursday- breakfast burrito bowl.

Lunch- Saturday- pizza snacks , Sunday- meal at Red Robin , Monday- Chicken salad lettuce wraps for everyone . The kids are taking 2 day of sandwiches and 2 grab and go days. I plan to eat at work a couple of times this week as they have my favorite sandwich.

Dinner – Saturday- Ladies Banquet , Sunday- Chicken enchiladas Monday- Shepherd’s Pie, Tuesday- Chicken pie with Broccoli salad and squash casserole, Wednesday-Hamburger Helper, Thursday- Country style steak or chicken from Costco, Friday- Breakfast casserole or tater tot casserole. .

Prepping

Posted on February 25, 2018 by Sheila

My mother has always said that “in order to get to church on Sunday, you have to start on Saturday night.” This is really the case for us and even more so when it comes to living with our crazy busy schedule right now. Throw in the fact, that today, Sunday was also Matt and I only day off together this week and it has been really busy but productive. We did decided on Saturday night, that we would eat out for lunch today. Instead of rushing home from church, grabbing some lunch, changing clothes and then heading to Winston, I warned everyone to wear comfortable shoes for walking to church. We ended up eating lunch at Red Robbin. It is always a fun treat for us to eat out.

After picking up an on-line order at JCPennys and finding a new glove for Zach at PlayItAgainSports the real preparation for the week began. Our menu plan is already made for the week but I realized that we have fallen behind on meal preparation. I used the instapot to cook chicken breast and threw in the Kitchen Aid mixer to shred. We ended up making 2 complete batches of Chicken Enchiladas, one for dinner and a second for March. I also made a chicken pie for later in the week. On plan has a Shepherd’s Pie for Monday. As I started to gather up the ingredients , I discovered 5lbs of potatoes that had started to spout. These were peeled, diced and became mashed potatoes. I used some to top the Shepherd’s Pie and the rest is in the freezer to grab for some quick easy meals. In a span of about 2 hours, we made a total of four meals that need just to go in the oven.

One of the things that is a given on Sunday afternoon is the kids picking out clothes and lunches for the week. I usually check the weather and decide what type of clothing they need to pick out. The clothes are placed outside of there rooms so no changing around is done. We also decide what is going to be taken for lunch and prepare as much of it ahead of time as possible. Matt and I also made our lunches for Monday as well. This saves us so much time that I can’t imagine doing it any other way.

Thursday Thoughts 2/22/2018

Posted on February 22, 2018 by Sheila

We received our income tax return today. I was very determined to use it in the most efficient way possible. In order to accomplish this I have spend the better part of the morning, looking at budgets and trying to put together some plans and strategies. One of my main concerns and areas of focus was “known” expenses. These are expenses such as yearbooks, pool dues, brakes, and oil changes that I know are coming at some point. These are also where I feel like I really don’t plan enough. I have tried to come up first of all a list of these expenses and more importantly a plan to pay them. My overall goal is to be able to set a budget and any money saved from that budget can be used to help cover kids expenses, or reduce our debit. Currently it is more like a move money to cover this expense but opps now I need to cover this expenses. I am overall really pleased with where I think we stand as far as a budget goes.

The tax return will be used to cover the deposit on our beach vacation in August. The rest of this will be paid from my “extra” check in June. We will also replace the windshield in my van, replace the brakes on Matt’s van and get an oil change for his van. The rest of it and our state return will be used to help fill some gaps that I have identified in our budget.

The weather for the last few days has been cloudy but with temperatures in the low 70s. We have turned off the heat and opened a couple of windows. Both our electric and water bill have decreased in February but an extra week without heating and air goes a long way. Matt has also been able to stop a leak in the hall bathroom and did some minor repairs on the dryer. We are very hopeful that these small changes will bring both bills down to a lower level.

A huge surprise or change that we expect in March is a reduction of our cable television bill. With Septrum our bill that we just received jumped $35. We have made no changes to our service. Matt called and it was a “your promotional period has ended” increase. We are currently researching options and will honestly give Septrum one last chance to match our current price. If not then we are cancelling our landline and switching to HULU live. This change will save us around $40 a month. I know that the first two months saving will be used to purchase one additional box for our televisions.

The thing I am most excited about is my plan to purchase mulch and all plants for the Square Foot Garden this year with earning from Swagbucks. In the past, I have used the grocery budget for these purchases but this way the pressure is off to “harvest ” enough to cover the expenses!

What’s Happening?

Posted on February 18, 2018 by Sheila

I was doing so well and blogging several times a week, and then 7 days of silence what happened?
The short answer is LIFE

But in order to give you an idea about what that looks like for us here is a more detailed answer.

For the next six weeks, Lily has practice for the theater Monday- Friday from 4-6 pm. The good news is that we have worked it out so that Matt drops her off and I am picking her up most evenings on my way home from work. The bad news is that means we are eating dinner at 6:30 which means that the evening does not exist for me.

Kendall stays after school on Tuesdays for Battle of the Books till 3:30 and on Wednesday for Sign Language club. Zach and Kendall both attend a kid’s program on Wednesday nights from 6 to 8pm.

Zach has just signed up for spring baseball this past week. I am assuming that we will start a practice schedule of 2 or 3 days a week very soon. In the meantime, he was asked to play on a different team than he has in the past. This team is playing “kid-pitch” baseball so this adds some interesting changes and expenses to the table.

Matt has been working extra, in fact, today was his sixth day in a row working with it also being his 7th out of 8 days as well. We fully expect this to change over the next month but are open and encouraging to continue try and gain some financial ground this year.

Next let’s talk a little about the weekends. Friday night, Lily stayed after practice for some fun and food with her cast mates until 8pm. Kendall attended her very first sleepover on Friday night as well. On Saturday, all three kids had a piano lesson, this is a wonderful opportunity but takes a good 3 hour chunk from our day. Zach ended up going to a friends house for several hours as well on Saturday.

As you can tell life is back to it’s busy pace around here.

CVS Saving 2/11/2018

Posted on February 11, 2018 by Sheila

CVS and I have a love/hate relationship. It remains one of the stores that I always monitor sales at but it is also one that I can honestly walk into and walk out if I don’t get the coupon that I am looking for from the red machine. After leaving last Thursday without purchasing anything, Lily and I ventured back today. Lily did end up buying herself some make up but this does not count in my spending. I only supply the coupons that I have available.

Not a bad purchase for $4.85. I ended up doing a total of 3 transactions. Two of these transactions show 100% savings, which means I only paid tax on the purchases. The final receipt shows a saving of 73%, which is really above my goal of 70% each time. My overall saving was at 80%. I used a combination of paper coupons and those from the red machine. Back to loving CVS for the month of February.

Six Things On Saturday- 2/10/2018

Posted on February 10, 2018 by Sheila

Yes this is the “day late and dollar short” version of 5 Things Friday. I will be the first to admit that the last couple of weeks have been very stressful and emotionally exhausting in addition to being financially straining.

Yesterday, was our first full paycheck for the month of February. The good news is that we were able to catch up from the snow week. I have a plan in place for both our tax returns and am very hopeful that this will allow us back on a slow but steady track to paying down our huge debit this year. We are working to reduce both our electric and water bills to a more normal level. Matt and I have already worked out a Menu plan for the month which means we should be able to keep the grocery bill on a lower than usual level. Another positive is that Matt has been selling vinyl decals on a very steady basis this month. This is definitely helpful as we have lots of unexpected expenses.

I am battling left-overs in our fridge. Our super bowl party is always fun but we end up with some interesting left-overs. This week, I made an effort to make meals of left-overs and strongly suggested that Matt and Lily eat left-overs for lunch. Today, I am repurposing left-overs, we had a bag of carrots, and a bunch of celery, several cups of rice and some pulled pork. I did a little bit of thinking and decided to make pork fried rice. I chopped up the pork and realized that we had over 4 cups left which is enough to make 2 full meals for us. I let Kendall help chop up the carrots and celery. I added some green peppers and onions and that became our veggies for the stir-fry. One set for dinner and a second set in the freezer for a crazy day of what is for dinner.

Zach has officially started taking piano. He has been asking for over a year but we really wanted him to wait until he was a strong reader before attempting. Kendall started teaching him this week for fun. He even practiced every day without being told. This is definitely an expense that I don’t mind adding.

I am so ready for spring, in fact I have already planned out our square foot garden and added several more containers. I am very hopefully that with a little extra work this year we will have a bumper crop. I purchased trees a couple of years ago to start work on a landscape line. The trees came with a 2 year guarantee. I received an email yesterday that a new peach tree is being shipped this week. My mother has also been growing several pecan trees in her flower bed. So we should be able to finish the border without spending any additional money!

Our busy schedule has returned. Some days, I am honestly thinking how do we actually do this. This week, Lily has practice for her play, 4 nights and a party the 5th night. Kendall has 2 days of extra curricular activities in addition to church on Wednesday night. Matt has also doubled his hours at work for this week. Yikes, better rest up today!

Teens Tots and Everything In Between

Life, Love and Coupons

Author Archives: Sheila