2016

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Sheila

Our family has received several blessing and/or positive things are happening this week but instead of me shouting from the rooftop, I am still sitting in the pile of life is not fair. So I am going to be very intentional in being positive and thankful this week.

My mother’s health is continuing to improve. She received good news this week and has started taking small steps on her temporary new leg. She probably has another 8-10 weeks before things are “normal” again but definitely improvements this week.
Kendall has been tolerating her new braces for the past three days without needing medicine. In fact tonight she is eating chips which is a huge step for her.
Matt and I both received a small increase in wages this week. I have to keep reminding myself any increase is a good thing.
Matt and I have both been earning extra money with several apps. So far this month we have received an additional $110 this month so far! In addition to a box of food items and a box of dog items.
A very sweet friend offered to stay at cheerleading last night so that I could “experience” an entire baseball game in person. I got to watch Zach get a hit and score a run with this team WINNING!

5 Things Friday 10/07/2016-

Posted on October 7, 2016 by Sheila

Most if not all this weeks event are financial!

Several of our monthly bills are lower than expected this month including cable (refund on over tax), water and electric bill.
I purchased an Orchard In A Box. We will be planting when it arrives in November. I am super excited! We should be harvesting fruit in 3-5 years. This is long range planning for sure but in 5 years we will have 3 teenagers including a boy so I am fairly certain that our food bill will go up instead of down! I did take this expense out of our normal grocery fund.
Zach is growing! I really this morning that we are going to NEED to purchase at least 5 new pair of pants for him. He and I will be heading to the local goodwill tomorrow. If we are not able to find things there it will be a major trip to Winston on Sunday.
I have finished the majority of my Christmas shopping! I still need to buy my nieces gifts and we will be purchasing pictures for my parents. I am so excited to have this expense out of the way.
In addition to the orchard, we are going to add pavers around the square foot garden in order to make it easier to maintain! We are using gift cards earned from Lowes and Swagbucks to cover this expense.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

Posted on September 27, 2016 by Sheila

Zach got a hit and ran all the way to 3rd base last night. He ran and touched home plate! Even a loss is fun when you are learning.
We have been without air conditioning or heat for the past week I think we save approximately $25 a week this way.
All three kids have field trip this month. I am sad to say that Lily’s trip to play putt putt was the cheapest at $15. What happen to “free public school.”
We are continuing to earn extra money to pay toward our next Disney Trip. September has been a great month, by friend we should have earned $100 in gift cards.
I get to speak at Kendall school on Thursday. She is so excited, I hope she will be proud afterwards.

Menu Planning-9/25/2016

Posted on September 25, 2016 by Sheila

Another busy week in store. We are determined to keep our food bill down so with a plan in place here we go.

Breakfast– Saturday-We splurged- Breakfast from Biscuit King, Sunday- Yogurt and leftovers. Monday- Grits and Eggs (I am not planning to head to work till 9 so good morning to cook) . The rest of the week will be leftovers including Waffles, cereal, toast including French toast or yogurt.

Lunch- This week, I will have leftovers and salad. Zach and Kendall have 2 days of chicken nuggets, 2 Uncrustables with pirate booty and a sandwich. Lily and Matt will have salad or leftovers.

Dinner- Saturday- Lunch- leftovers. Dinner- leftovers.
Sunday- Lunch- Stuffed Green Pepper Soup. Dinner- Cheeseburger Pizza
Monday- Rice Kreola
Tuesday-Cowboy Beans from freezer
Wednesday- Turkey breast and stuffing
Thursday- Beef and Broccoli or left overs
Friday- Squash lasagna or leftovers.

Simple and quick are the cues for the week. Maybe we will get more creative next week.

5 Things Friday-9/23/2016

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Sheila

The weather is finally starting to cool off here. This week we went from highs in the 90s to Highs in the low 80s and even some 70s. We decided to turn off our air conditioning on Tuesday night. If we can survive tomorrow, with predicted temps around 85 then we should be good for the rest of the month and hopefully all of October.
I knew this week would be crazy busy but I am exhausted. Monday night we all arrived home around 9pm. Wednesday night is was 8:30pm and Thursday night 9:30pm. Zach’s ball games are an hour earlier this coming week so hopefully that will help.
I am over budget in both groceries and gas but neither are a surprise.
Zach loves baseball. He is actually starting to hit the ball. I am so proud of him for trying his hardest.
My plans for the weekend include getting the October schedule put together and watching television, sounds industrious to me!

5 Things Financial

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Sheila

A day late and a dollar short…. so I thought I would share anyway. I can’t even say these are five frugal things but this is our reality.

The first pay of the month was this week. Unfortunately, both our electricity and water bills were both the highest we have had in several years. The water bill was $45 due to a leak. The electric bill $301, mainly due to extreme heat we are experiencing this summer. I saw last night that we have had 53 days in the nineties, our average is 26. The good news is that we are expecting to have cooler this week, which means the end of our air!
We were planning to keep our grocery budget at bare bones this month. We already have a menu plan in place. We did need some breakfast items including milk so I head to Costco. Our membership was due. We also decided to purchase some steaks from Zaycon, so we are still under budget but no where near bare bones.
I am really liking the McDonald app. Today, I enjoyed a large diet coke and Kendall a hashbrown for $1.07.
Baseball is an expensive sport. Zach decided he wanted to try it out this fall. I am really surprised at all the cost associated with it. I did purchase cleats and a helmet from a family at our pool.
After a month of struggling with Verizon, Matt and I both have new IPHONES. They really are a lot faster and easier to read for me. This should be the end of electronic purchases for the year!

Saving on Saturday-9/03/2016

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Sheila

Just for the record, I have 3 or 4 post that I have planned in my head and just no time to get posted. I am going to have to work on a better schedule for the next month if I have any hope of meeting my goal of 20 post. Now on to the regularly scheduled topic… saving.

This week, I have been saving and using gift cards to keep our budget low. If I purchase a gift card that is one thing but these cards are free from either swagbucks or MPlaces.

Thursday- I used my McDonald’s app to purchase Matt, Lily and myself breakfast for a grand total of $4.70. Total saved $10.00
Next Matt stopped at Starbuck’s to grab he and Lily a treat. He used a gift card earned from Swagbucks to pay so no out of pocket. Total saved $8.50
We picked up donuts to take to Zach’s class at school for his birthday. I purchased a BOGO card several years ago and continue to reap the benefits. Total saved $8.35.
I was disappointed that my Disney gift card order at Target was cancelled but decided to use the money to purchase some K-cups. I was able to purchase 4 16 packs and a container of pumpkin pie spice for zero out of pocket. The best part was I received free shipping and an additional 5% off because I have my target card store. Total Saved $53.
Total saving for Thursday: $80

Of course, it is Labor Day weekend so we had to go to Lowes. Last week, we grabbed a $10 Lowes card and a $5 Lowes card from MPLACES. We purchased bug spray, mums, pavers for the garden and light bulbs. I was able to use the cards with no trouble. One was actually on my phone and the second was a printed one. Total saved $15.

I did some planning ahead for this weekend, we have enjoyed three meals at home today, in addition to work outside the entire day. I am very tempted when we get busy to grab some fast food or order a pizza, so this is a true victory. I am going to say we saved $10 on pizza that we made at home instead using Sour Dough bread, spaghetti sauce, cheese and pepperoni.

Aldi is a great place to shop for groceries and their price in our area are significantly lower than the other stores. I sent Matt to pick up a dozen eggs on Friday. They were on sale for $0.79 a dozen so he grabbed the last 4 dozen available. Total saved $3.00

Our biggest and final saving of today is on clothing. My sister in law called and offered hand me downs for the girls. I am excited to spend a couple of hours see what we were given.

I think this is probably one of my biggest weeks of saving so far!

5 Things Friday

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Sheila

Kendall got her first real injury this week on Wednesday. She was hit by a baseball bat. The result lots of blood and plastic stitches. Unfortunately this means that we will not be making a trip to the water park because she is suppose to keep them dry till Saturday and then the doctor specifically said no.
Zach and Kendall both enjoyed their first full week of school. They both were excited to have homework a couple of nights this week. I hope this continues.
We have declared September as a low spend/no spend month with the hopes of getting our budget back on track.
Matt and I both purchased new iPhone and after several weeks of frustration I *think* everything is set. I really like the size of mine because I can read the screen easily.
The weather is beginning to cool down here so. By the middle of September I hope to be able to open the windows and turn off the air.

August in Review

Posted on August 31, 2016 by Sheila

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 17. I feel much better about my blogging this month. I am trying to be consistent. I knew this would be a stretch to begin with so I am proud of my progress even if I did not meet my goal.

2.Weight Loss– 175#. Fail but a positive fail as it is once again moving in the right direction after vacation.

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Nope. I am most upset about not working harder on this goal. I am going to make this my most important goal.

Personal goals are a failure for the third month straight. However, I am going to give myself a break, I dealt with a lot of stress this summer and decided to focus on my kids and making memories so how can that be a fail.

Financial-

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $550. Fail . We spent $615 in Groceries this month. I reduced the goal from $700 in June and have been over the past 3 months so that tells me that I may have been premature in reducing the budget but will wait till December to make any other changes.

4. Gas: Spend $300 a month- Goal Met! We spent $263 this month including our gas for our trip. The next couple of months will be expensive with oil changes and renewal of tags but I hope to spread out over a couple of months instead of just one month.

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.

Overall, August was a better month for us but we still need to work on getting our spending under control. I am planning on a very low spending month in September!

5 Things Friday

Posted on August 19, 2016 by Sheila

1. Our vacation is coming to an end very quickly. I have enjoyed the time with just family as well as some trashy tv, reading and just wasting of time on the Internet .

2. The kids favorite activity of the week has been digging holes. Each day that have attempted to make a bigger as in deeper and wider hole. Lucky for them that the tide is going out during the morning so they can dig for hours without worry.