Random Tuesday Thoughts

Posted on August 18, 2015 by Sheila

We have been home from vacation for 2 days and are about 1/2 the way unpacked. Goal- Be completely unpacked by Saturday.
I am going to be changing/hopefully reducing my work schedule over the next month to make things a little bit easier around here in the evenings. My goal until the changes officially take place and for the whole school year is to be leaving work by 5:30. So far I have been home 2 days in a row. Go me!
During my extended lunch break today, we headed to Winston to Vision Works to order both Zach and Kendall new glasses. The lesson we learned is that glasses for the little kids need to have nose pieces to keep them from sliding off their face. I did use a coupon surprised? We were able to purchase 2 pair of glasses with transitional lens plus a very nice contact lens case for Lily to take to school for $200.
I am planning to attend a continuing education class in September, it will be the first time in 10 years I have stayed by myself in a hotel room. I think I am a little too excited!
Disney planning is in full swing as soon as we finish unpacking from the Beach.
As part of getting ready to go back to school, I had the kids try on and get rid of any shoes that were too small or that they did not like. Kendall is upset because now she is left with only 22 pairs of shoes.
Lily has cheerleading every night this week and man is it rough trying to get everyone back on a school schedule. Zach will start Kindergarten and we are trying to eliminate naps up front so the evening have been full of attitude. Tonight was at least better than last night. Zach made it to his “normal” 7:30 bedtime. Last night he was in bed at 6:50.
Amanda has started college and so far I am very proud of the hours she is putting in to be successful!
We are on budget so far for the month in both groceries and gas. I am so proud of this especially because of the massive Costco trip we made on Sunday in addition to the purchase of school supplies today.
Blogging is always better at the beach, I guess the smell of the ocean makes my thoughts come easier!

5 things Friday

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Sheila

1. I sent my list of “sit down” dining reservations over to our travel agent this morning. She will be making these on Sunday! It is so exciting!

2. Today is our 11th anniversary. We celebrated by adding on to the square foot garden.

3. I made our first official harvest of the year, 1 small squash a ziplock gallon bag of dill and another bag of cilantro.

4. We are waiting not so patiently for our house appraisal so that we can refinance.

5. Swim season has officially started with practice 3-4 nights a week. This week I have been working until 6:30 then picking up Zach and Kendall from swim practice before coming home. I really dislike this schedule!

Yard Sale Success

Posted on April 7, 2015 by Sheila

I have hinted for several weeks that we were preparing for a yard sale. I am excited and eager to announce that the physical yard sale actually took place this past Saturday. I actually began planning for this the first weekend of March. I am not at all new to yard sales. In fact, I remember travelling with my mother to a flea market as a child in order to bring in some extra money. Since becoming an adult, I usually participate in a yard sale either once a year or once every other year. For the past several years, I have been going to a small bank and setting up with our cheer gym. The standard that makes a yard sale successful has not changed over the year either. If I am able to bring home a profit of $100 then that is a very successful yard sale.

One new thing that I have never tried before was “online” yard sale. Basically this is a free facebook group., where you post a picture and description of the item, along with price and general area for meeting. I decided to only place 1-2 items for sale at a time. I also only arranged pick up and meeting in private messages and did not consider an item sold until the meeting was arranged. I was nervous at first due to the publicity of recent bad horrible stories from meeting arranged on craigslist and also some of the stories that I had heard about people just not showing up. I am excited to say that my experiences with this have been overall positive. I had one person come to what I thought was purchase an item but they looked at the item and decided they did not want it. I replaced this item for sale and in less than 2 hours had another person arrive and purchase the item. I also had one experience where I arranged to meet someone and they did not show up. Otherwise everyone showed up with cash in hand and it was the easiest way to sell items that I would consider big and I did not attempt to sell anything under $10 as I didn’t consider it worth the gas. Matt ended up doing some of the meeting during the day but even he will agree how easy and quick most were. I made around $400 just on the online part.

After the huge success via online selling, I decide to go all out with the advertising and not only pay for advertising in our local paper which cost $38 for 3 days, but also placed an ad on craigslist and on the site I use on Facebook. We also placed several signs on Friday night as well. I am so excited to announce that on Saturday we had a profit of $350 after covering the cost of advertising and two meals for us!

OVERALL YARD SALE PROFIT $750…………………..my most successful/profitable Yard Sale EVER!!!

So how are we spending this money. 1) Purchased a new stroller to use at Disney. 2)Purchased several gift items for the kids including Autograph books and a dress for Kendall to wear. 3) Purchased matching shirts from the Disney store to wear 4) Applied $400 toward our trip cost!

March in Review

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Sheila

Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Goal Met! I think I have finally got my groove with blogging!

Weight: Goal: Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved. Fail again!

Spiritual- Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Doing better but still not achieved

Personal Goals: Achieved 1 of 3

Financial Goals: Achieved 4 of 4

We are continuing to make small steady progress in this area. Income wise this was an awesome month as we received an expected boast. I am also hoping to keep on track during April with our Beach trip.

1. Pay off all debit by December 2015, except for mortgage.
~~a. JC Penny- 79.32– .~~ DONE
b. Home Depot-     $270 a month Payment. Will be paid off in July Goal met!
c. American Express   – pay $2300 this month Goal Met!
d. Personal Loan (used to purchase van) .The current scheduled payment is $217 a month with this scheduled to be paid off in December 2015. Goal Met!

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Placed $100 in for the month Goal Met!

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Currently at $741 for the month. No real reason for this except we choose to purchase some steaks and convenient foods and this was a 5 week month. Hopefully better on track next month especially with the need to purchase plants for the garden and a trip for meat in our near future. Fail

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. We need to make another repair on the white van this month which cost $157. We also have been travelling alot both for cheerleading and for medical appointments. With the repair we ended the month with a total of $474. Because of some extra income we did not need to dip in our emergency fund for this repair so officially this is Goal Met!

Disney- I have decided to add this just to be accountable. This month, I have been selling items online in preparation for our physical yard sale in April. I have been really surprised and excited to see the money come in. I have been able to purchase a stroller that we plan to take and use in Disney, 2 autograph books and a dress.

Looking ahead to April- First is going to be to control with grocery budget. I am hoping to eat out of the fridge and freezer for the first 3 weeks of the month prior to our beach trip. I am positive we will at that point have to head to Costco. I will also need to purchase live plants during the last two weeks of the month depending on the weather. I am setting $100 budget for this which means that I need our grocery spending to stay under $500 for the month. Next is Gas- in April, I am already aware of 3 small repairs that are needed. I am hoping that gas prices will stay low enough to accomplish these repairs in addition to covering our regular expense of gas. Finally, I have reworked our budget and have added a line for saving in our emergency fund. I am so happy to accomplish this goal.

5 Ways We are Saving Money On Our Disney Trip!

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Sheila

I will start by saying this has been a post in my head for awhile but one of the big problems for me was to figure out the title. For the back story, I used actually numbers and talked a little about where most of the money was coming from here. Today’s post is about the specifics of our savings.

1. Separating our large family into two separate groups with one stay in the Campground. This was by far our biggest saving as it allowed not only us to save on the actually cost of staying on property but also were able to purchase the dinning plan for only half the group as well. Disney does not make life with groups over 4 easy to deal with so by splitting up we saved money and also will be able to enjoy our times together and apart.

2. Travelling to Disney in the over night hours. The drive for us to Disney is approximately 10 hours. Ten hours is a long drive by itself but when you add bathroom stops and three meals you are looking at an overnight stay in an hotel for everyone’s sanity. We are planning to leave around 11pm, the kids will sleep until at least until 5 am so that eliminates at least one bathroom stop. We will stop around 6am for breakfast and will arrive at Disney at lunchtime. We will mostly likely stop just outside Disney for a fast food lunch and then spend the rest of the day enjoying!

3. Purchasing autograph books from Snapfish. I have already purchased 2 of the 3 autograph books we will be taking with us to Disney. Because I am planning ahead I was able to purchase both book for around $9 each. The books we used 4 years ago are still being looked at and enjoyed today. The lowest cost of a book that I have seen online at Disney is around $25 so I am saving at least $15 on each book.

4. Gift cards- This may sound weird but the little kids and I have already decided that they will be taking $100 in gift cards as their spending money. I am able to purchase these cards in advance from Target. I get a 5% discount for using my Redcard. This allows me also to use the money that each child usually receives for birthday money to prevent any attacks of the “I NEEDS” while at Disney.

5. Planning in advance- By starting our planning a year in advance and involving the kids we have actually saved money in several ways. First instead of birthday parties and big gifts, everyone is getting Disney for their birthday. I do have a couple of surprises plan for the kids to open on their birthday. Zach will be opening the autograph books on his birthday, He will have a gift to open but also will be able to give the girls their books as well. Kendall will be opening a Sophie dress. I purchased this on clearance and spent $12 instead of $60 along with the dress, she will get a note to share with Lily and Zach that tells about their reservation at the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique. Lily is most excited we are planning to actually celebrate her birthday in Disney. I will not be hosting Birthday Parties this year so that will cover the extras for the little kids. Next the older girls will not be getting Christmas or Easter gifts, instead they get a trip to Disney. Birthday presents will also involve Disney but since they can read that is all I am sharing. Finally, by planning in advance I was able to secure our tickets prior to the increase so I saved money all the way around.

Do you know of another way to save?

Paying for Disney

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Sheila

I talked about our projected budget for our Disney world trip in this post. A more interesting and better question is okay where do you plan on getting $7340 to pay for the trip. Today, I am going to answer that question to the best of my ability. I will be honest up front and tell you that we don’t have the entire amount figured out. Over the past couple of months I have been searching and looking and hopefully learning a lot. These are real numbers so feel free to help Fund me but if not I am confident that by November we will have the trip paid for.

At the beginning of the year Matt was able to gain a contract for 3 new small websites. The entire amount for these sites is being used to pay for Disney. When all three sites are complete and paid that provides us with our deposit of $1500. Next up Matt has started working in the cheerleading booster club to pay for most of cheerleading related expenses. I have a line item in our budget to cover these cost. Starting in March I am converting this line from cheerleading to Disney.$1600.

Our budget also currently has budget amount each month for gifts and clothing, We have discussed at length with the kids that we are not spending much on Birthdays this year in fact, I am planning to give the kids items for use at Disney for each of their birthday. This should add another $1600 to the fund.

I am paid on a bi-weekly schedule, this means that I receive 26 paychecks a year. I base our budget on 2 paychecks a month or 24 checks a year. By doing so, I will receive an “extra” check in the month of July. My plan is to place $1000 of this check to help to pay for Disney.

After doing the math, that still leaves $1640 to be paid. We already have planned an yard sale to help a small amount. Other plans include saving money from other areas of the budget and our goal is for Matt to grow his business in the next six months which should cover this additional expense.

One of the main reason I am so excited for this trip is that it will be entirely paid for prior to our arrival. We will be able to enjoy! Do you have any suggestions for helping to fund the trip?

Disney Budget

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Sheila

This arrived in the mail today, so it makes is seem a little bit more real. Kendall and Zach spent a good 15 minutes “reading” it which meant Zach would see a picture and then Kendall would read what went along with it! I am so looking forward to this trip.

Tonight I am going to give anyone who cares to read the real number for this trip. First I want to give a little explanation about some of the decision we made and then real numbers.

The first Disney trip, we took at a family was in April of 2011. This was our budget trip. We ended up staying off property in a nice house, bringing lunch every day with us and general being very picky about the money we were spending. We had an awesome time and I can’t say that I did not enjoy the trip because we did but it was stressful especially in regards to money. This trip, we have made some major changes and hopefully they will result in a little less stress while we are in the parks.

After talking to several people, researching and looking at prices I have learned several things. The first and most important of which is that you do not save money by booking your trip yourself. The cost of booking yourself and the cost of using a travel agent is the very same. I decided to use the travel agent this trip to save me from attempting to obtain dinning and other reservations myself.

The biggest expense for our trip is lodging. One of the few negative things I can say about Disney is that they really are not “large” family friendly. In order for us to all stay together it automatically means what we have to stay in a more expensive resort or the cabins at Fort Wilderness. I have heard some awesome things about the cabins but I don’t like the idea of being very limited. I talked with Amanda and Matt, and we were able to come up with a plan that works for us. Matt, myself and the 3 little kids, we be staying at the Art of Animation Resort in a Cars suite. Amanda and Haley will be staying at Fort Wilderness in a pop up camper. Another big decision was that I purchased dining plans for the 5 of us. Amanda and Haley will both be responsible for their own food. Amanda is planning to eat at the camper most nights and I am trying to help Haley save enough money to eat on during the trip. Amanda will also be purchasing her own ticket as she is an adult who is working!

Art of Animation for 7 nights with 2 adult 6 day tickets and 3 children 6 day ticket in addition to the dining plan and a memory maker photo pass equals $5383.

Fort Wilderness camping spot for 6 nights (they were already booked for the first night, so I will spring for a hotel room off site) and 2 adult tickets for 5 days equals $1044.

The dining plan offers basically 2 meals a day and a snack so we are going to be taking breakfast items for the majority of the mornings. We do plan on eating a couple of Breakfast out so we are going to be bring snacks to carry with us in the parks. Currently we have 2 days without a plan for a sit down(reservation meal) one of those days is when we will be in Downtown Disney and we most likely will eat there and use a dining credit. The other day is because “Cinderella’s Royal Table”, which is the princess meal uses 2 dining passes.

Some of the ways that we are planning to save money on the trip included not purchasing the Park Hopper Option, leaving one day of the week unpaid, we will not be going inside the Parks. The current plan is to go visit Downtown Disney, enjoy the pools, visit the campground and just a early to bed kind of day in the middle of the week.

Total Budget for the Trip: $7340
Tickets/Lodging/Dinning Plans: $6500
Additional Food including travel and snacks: $500
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique $150
Gas $200

This post is way long so I am going to save the ways we plan to save and fund this trip for next post in regards to Disney.

5 Things Friday 2/20/2015

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Sheila

1. It has been extremely cold here the last several days, the kids have been out of school due to the weather for the entire week. Last night the pipes to our bathroom froze, luckily they did not burst but this will be a major headache to repair in the spring. I expect our electric and water bill to be much higher than normal. Matt called someone to come look at our heat pump next week because it simply is not keeping the house warm. We woke up to a temperature of 60 this morning. NO FUN!

2. We anticipate small repairs on our vehicles because they are older: however this month we have spent over $100 on parts for these small repairs. I am thankful that Matt is doing all the labor but I had hoped to be able to save some of our gas budget this month, instead it is going into parts.

3. We have received both our tax returns now. I am thankful that this extra income has been able to help us reserve our rooms at Disney World. I am planning a full post on the cost associated with this trip and ways we are saving for it ~~very soon.~~ tomorrow.

4. I should be able to control the grocery budget this month and keep it below our $600. Currently, it has $94 left in it with one week left in the month. I know that I will be shopping at CVS on Sunday but otherwise I hope to avoid any other purchases. This past week I have made several trips to CVS and ending up spending $50 on soda and another $10 on make up but this should not be the case for next week. It was fun to see a couple of receipts that showed 100% savings.

5. Because of the weather, my work hours have been crazy. I will admit to enjoying not going into work on Tuesday or Wednesday until 10 am and getting off prior to 3pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday was a rare treat. I ended up working only 23 hours so between the past two week I have taken 14 hours of vacation time. I try to save these hours for the summer or events that I need to attend with the kids.

5 Things Friday 2/13/2015

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Sheila

1. I was able to place $50 in our Emergency Fund today! First time this year! It is at least a start.

2. Matt has started a job that will have him out of the house at least 3 nights/weekend days a month. This is a huge change for us but I know it will definitely help cover our cost. We have been talking for several months now that we have an income problem and this is a way to help solve that problem.

3.Our budgets this month are actually looking really good at this point. We have $165 in gas and $415 in our grocery budget left. We have already purchased a part for the white van that will hopefully be the last for several months but the low gas prices are definitely helping out.

4. I am planning on spending the next couple days inside. The temperatures are the coldest of the year and we have no where to go tomorrow (Saturday) so I hope to finish up some things for church but otherwise enjoy a nice day inside.

5. We booked our trip to Disney World this week! I am so so excited. We are counting down the days till November.

Christmas Decorating

Posted on December 13, 2014 by Sheila

Christmas is my favorite time of year! I love everything about it, the music, the smells, the people and especially the pretty lights and decorations. This year, I decided to go all out and decorate with everything I had. I even ended up borrow some items from my parents just because I wanted more! First up is the tree…well trees in our case. This is the first year that I decided to have two Christmas trees. One is in the living room and the second in our bedroom. I am really excited to have a “Disney” Themed tree!

Next my goal was to place a Naivety scene in each room, there is not a picture of the playroom, Fisher Price set, which my kids LOVE to play with and was the one thing they asked to get out this year. I repurposed a tree topper for one of these and the stable Matt built out of wood. I LOVE IT! It really makes the piece look complete and instead of replacing I plan to keep for years to come.

Finally here are a couple of pictures of some other pieces that are located around the house! I did not included any of my snow village because this deserves an entire post of it’s own!