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Dance Party Fun – Wordless Wednesday
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Author Archives: Sheila
Counting My Blessings! 03/13/2017
Both Lily and Kendall participate in competition cheerleading. This continues to be a choice that we make as a family to participate and pay toward. Matt often works events at the Coliseum to help fund this activity. I will be the first to say that it is EXPENSIVE. Just as an example, we pay $110 tuition in addition to competition fees, chorography fees and of course the cost of uniforms. The above fees are paid directly to the cheer gym but they do not include the cost of travel, food and admission to events.
On Sunday, we planned to attend an event at UNC- Charlotte to watch Lily compete, in the normal budget this is a relatively cheap event. First off the travel is less than an hour. Next the advertised admission price was $10 for adults and kids under 10 are free. Usually we pay $20 for adults and $10 for each kid that is not in the competition. Parking fee run around $10. Finally, I have been saving gift cards for the past 4 months to pay for meals while we travel. Our plan was to stop at Applebees and use gift cards to pay for the meal.
I ended up spending a total of $5 yesterday, this is a HUGE blessing! First no fee to park, next up was no cost for spectators! This is highly unusual and amazing even to save $30 made me smile.
After the completion, we headed to Applebee which was very close to UNC-C. The experience was BAD! Waiter with his underwear showing, our table need to be refilled with both Ketchup and Sweet n low, no knives to cut food with, wrong food or food not cooked correctly, used kid’s menus and sun directly in my eyes. Needless to say not a good experience, I spoke first with the manager and then with a area manger who after hearing our experience, covered our meal. I count this as a BLESSING! I did not expect or anticipate the entire meal being covered but it was a BLESSING! I left a small tip because the waiter did refill glass but his serves was equal to the setting.
An estimate of the total BLESSING we received yesterday= $100!
Busy Weekend
We are having fun and checking several things off of our to do list this weekend. On Saturday, we spent most of the morning sorting through clothes Zach was excited to “find” 7 new pairs of jeans that he can wear. He is finally in a size 7! Everyone else realized that except for swim team bathing suits, we don’t have any need of summer clothes. I am sure that we will purchase a few items just for fun but we do not need anything which is awesome!
Lily and Amanda went to help pack backpacks of food. My niece Brooke was also helping. I think they would make good lunch ladies with their hair nets.
Saturday night we attended a dance party for one of Kendall’s cheer teammates who also is good friends with Matt. My plan is to post these pictures on Wednesday!
Today, Sunday, we enjoyed watching snow fall for the most part of the morning. We are leaving at lunch to head to a cheer competition so I have spent most of the morning, fixing hair.
Wordless Wednesday- Kid’s Club Fun
Kendall was the first kid to participate because she was listening and following directions.
Saving on Saturday 3/4/2017
The idea is to use what you have but always keep in mind what you want. I was able to “save” this metal cabinet from an outside building at my parent’s house. To say it was nasty is an understatement. I forgot to take a picture up front but I am about half way finished cleaning it up in these pictures.
The original plan was to add a tall “broom” closet to the bathroom in our master suite but I just have not gotten around to doing it. You can see the cabinet looks empty.
After a couple of hours of sanding, cleaning and applying clear coat it was ready to use. I decided to place contact paper on the shelves to make them safe and easy. Total spent on the project was $2!
5 Things Friday 3/3/17
- We are all so tired. I thought it was just me until both Zach and Kendall fell asleep on the way home last night. I am hoping that we can all catch up with a less busy than usual weekend.
- I have reduced my hours at work, in hope to achieve that work/life balance that everyone is talking about. So far so good as I was able to work just half a day today! It is amazing how much better I feel!
- I am starting to feel as normal as I think I ever will. We have slowly worked on getting things back on a schedule. I was even able to ask and got approval for my days off through next November at work. I still need to locate a place to stay on part of our trip to Michigan but at least we are definitely going.
- The weather has been really warm and I definitely can feel the spring fever starting for me this means starting to plan for my garden. I am really excited that mint, rosemary and oregano survived and will not need to be purchased. I am really hopeful that the dill will return as well. Beside purchasing plants the only expense we will have this year is the purchase of dirt.
- Zach face seems to be healing. We will really be able to tell on Monday night when we remove the glue. I am working to prevent infection and so far it has not appeared.
Wordless Wednesday- Zach
Zach was playing with a dog at Amanda’s house and the dog jumped and scratched him really good. The first picture is the one I received at work. The after in the doctor’s office after is was glued. I am very hopefully that the scar is as small as Kendall’s.
February
This month has been hard. I miss my dad more than I ever thought possible and have found myself crying just because. I can honestly say, I have spent most of the month in a fog just existing. I am starting to regain my balance so I wanted to at least have a written record for this month. I did achieve the goal of filing our taxes in February and have actually already received our Federal Refund.
Debit Reduction: $850 . The only downside to this number is that I paid over $2100 toward debit but I did not acquire this in a day so as long as it is being reduced that is progress.
Blog Post: 10
Days on Treadmill: 2 This was actually spent out side walking but at least I can say I was consistent.
Groceries- $454- Below my goal of $500 so a HUGE success for us. I am actually expecting this to be lower for March and April.
Gas: $187 spent. Again under budget
Earnings: Matt and I combined for a total of $160 this month from our apps and Swagbucks. Considering my brain function for February, I am pleased with this number. .
In February, we were able to hold the course in the wind and rain. I am very proud of our progress this month.
I am optimistic that March will continue us on a positive financial note. I am so grateful to know I am shield by prayer for the other needs.
Combining Apps and Gift Cards to Save
We have all heard that in order to get the best deal, you have to combine sales and coupons. I want to first say that this is not always the case but after that I am going to talk about an awesome deal that I got at Walmart.
First is that sales and coupons usually do save you money. However, you must be careful that you know your prices and that you check things out. We ran out of toilet paper last week since I could not find a decent deal on one of the couple of brands that we choose to use. I found a couple of $1.00 off coupons and headed to Walmart. The store of course was out of the product that I could use the coupon on. I decided to do some checking. I was able to find Scott’s Extra soft for thirty-three cents a roll. This is a great deal and the same price I normally pay with coupons and sale. Lesson learned check your prices!
Now to explain how I got paid to shop at Walmart. I cashed in my Mplaces for a $25 Walmart gift card. Since we are out of toilet paper, I decided to use it so as not to spend money from the budget. Our Walmart is in a shopping center, within 5 minutes of entering the area, Matt and I both completed our 25 daily check ins for Mplaces including a 100 point check in at Cricket. Next I have started using a new app called “Shop Kicks” I am sure this will be a slow money marker as I avoid shopping but I am going to scan items and complete only when I am shopping for other things so hopefully an extra $5 a month. I earned $2.50 with this trip so a really good start. With my $25 gift card I purchased 5 2 liter soda for the kids, 1 2 liter for me, 3 12 packs of Dr Pepper/ Diet Dr Pepper and 30 rolls of toilet paper. I ended up paying $2.71 after the gift card. Next I came home and submitted an offer on Swagbucks which gave me a $5 Walmart gift card back and 200 or $2 in swagbucks. So this trip was a $7 money making trip for me and we now have toilet paper for at least a month. The Swagbucks deal is purchase $10 in Diet Dr Pepper or Dr Pepper products in one trip and earn $5 E-gift card and 200 swagbucks. I am hopefully to make it back to Walmart and do this deal at least one additional if not two more time before the end of February. Are you going to join me?
Monday Menu Post -02/20/2017
Crazy busy and what appears to be normal, yes that describes my life these day. This week we add to the normal chaos with me attending a continuing education class on Saturday and Matt work both Friday night and Saturday night.
Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuits and Gravy. Sunday-Waffles Monday-choices Tuesday- Choices Wednesday- Baked oatmeal. Thursday- Scrambled eggs, bacon and biscuits. Friday- Choices. Choices include : baked oatmeal, eggs, grits, French toast, toast or cereal.
Lunch- Zach and Kendall have sandwiches, chicken nuggets, , homemade lunchable and chips w/salsa. I am taking left-overs this week. Nothing new or exciting here. Except the fact it keeps us from spending money on lunch.
Dinner- Saturday Fajitas using left over steak and chicken. Dinner- Chicken and Broccoli casserole
Sunday- Lunch- Chicken pie at Mom’s Dinner- Cheeseburger pizza
Monday- Salisbury steak rice, carrots
Tuesday- Cheeseburger pie
Wednesday- Sloppy joes
Thursday- Beef and broccli
Friday- spaghetti or pizza