First Coupon…2015

Posted on January 1, 2015 by Sheila

Although I did not have any plans for leaving the house today, I ended up taking Haley to the doctor, confirmed that she has the flu. I decided to use my first coupon of the year.

These can be found on a calendar that is purchased for $5. I think we purchased this back in November. This calendar has 3 coupons per month that usually include a “deal’ on a dozen donuts. This month it has 3 total freebies so I was really excited. Hot Krispy Kreme donuts are my absolute favorite food and even Lily knows the only thing better than donuts are free donuts. A normal dozen cost $8.00 with tax so even after purchasing the entire calendar a few of our donuts were totally free.

I also ended up shopping at Walmart in the Christmas clearance section while waiting for Haley’s prescription. I found some awesome deals on wrapping paper and several different “gift set” I am already planning to use some of these sets as Easter gifts and will be using the other during the year for Birthday parties and such.

What is your “first” for the year?

Year In Review

Posted on December 30, 2014 by Sheila

As promised here is where I stand for the year on each of the goals I set. I am also going to include an update goal for 2015. My current plan is to add to these and put some numbers with them at the end of the week. One quick recap, just after establishing these goals. we decided to take a last minute trip to Michigan which cause everything to start at a much slower pace than I had planned.

Long Term Goals: These were last addressed in July.

1. $2000 to repair our septic system- I have no clue of the cost for this but this is a save range. I will be counting our Emergency Fund in this amount for the time being because if it cost less than anything left will stay in this fund. No progress. The new and improved goal for 2015 will remain the same with the exception of planned saving on a monthly basis. However it will not cover the entire amount so I will need to “find” extra money along the way..
~~2. $1000 to replace the floor in our Living room.~~ Goal Met.

I will be adding several long term (meaning year long goals to this).

Monthly goals

Blogging: Goal: 15 per month Met 8 of 12 months with only this month exceeding the goal. This will continue as it at least keeps me accountable.

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. This goal was met 7/12 for 2014 but I have not reached my overall goal of 175. I am going to change this goal just a bit for 2015. New goal is 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. We have decided to cancel our YMCA membership due to the significant increase in amount and decease in our use over the previous year. Instead, we are in the process of purchasing a treadmill to use at home. I am honestly thinking that by having the equipment at home, I will be using it more often.

Spiritual- After eliminating this goal for 2014, I am going to add it back. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Matt and I have signed up for a college class on the Old Testament, which should spur me on to make steady progress.

Financial Goals:

1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. This goal was achieved 10 of 12 months. I plan to continue this goal but will be providing specific numbers to go along with this. Slight changes may including total payoff in September of 2015 instead of July.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. I was able to achieve this goal only 4 of 12 months. I hope to make significant improvements in this year as indicated above with a planned saving each month.

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Achieved 10 of 12 months. Our overall average is $650 for the year. I am going to continue this goal for 2015.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Goal achieved 7 of 7 months that I tracked, however I currently do not have any money in the Auto Fund. The current plan is to continue this goal as is. We are currently purchasing a new to us van to replace my car so I am unsure if this will affect our overall gas use and may increase in June 2015 if needed.

Overall this has been a good year for the goals I established and I hope to continue improvements in 2015.What goals are you establishing?

December in Review

Posted on December 29, 2014 by Sheila

Today is my Mother’s birthday and my Dad’s is only 2 days away so I know this month is quickly coming to a close. I am planning on ending the year with a bang by posting a new blog for this entire week.. On Tuesday, will be the year in review, which I am rather excited about. Wednesday- a last grouping of Christmas pictures but I can’t promise this will be all the Christmas pictures you will see. Thursday- New Year’s Day- this plans and goals for the New Year. Friday/Saturday will be the first budget update of the year with new numbers! But now for today…

Blogging: Goal: 15 per month This is actually post number 15,with 2 more planned! Goal Met!

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 175 by December 2014. I have gotten back to the YMCA this month at least once a week with most weeks making it twice but no change in the weight! So this is a Fail

Financial Goals:

1. Pay off all debit by July 2015, except for mortgage. We have survived Christmas but not paid anything extra. Another Fail but look for numbers and a new plan this week.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Another fail for this month… Added line to the budget for next year.

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Fail. $1000 is the official number for the month. I am really disappointed but not surprised. On the bright side, we have only eaten out one time this month!

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. Total Spent $268 for gas . GOAL MET!

I have managed to only met 2 of 6 goals this month. Sort of disappointing for the month but I am going to add some important details including numbers next year and I hope to make steady progress each month.

Successful Day!

Posted on December 11, 2014 by Sheila

Today is a rare day around my house! I accomplished everything on my “have to finish list” and still have a little bit of time left to actually add to the list or just sit. My list for today included:

1. Washing all kids clothes prior to end of school day- this was accomplished and all three kids got all their clothes put away!
2. Proof reading and sending a set of Bible quiz questions out to Raleigh. This technical is not finished yet because I have to wait for Matt’s help to reduce the number of repeat questions but it will be done before bedtime.
3. Assembling and ordering a calendar for my Dad’s birthday. His birthday is January 1st. My mother’s birthday is December 29th and growing up I learned very quickly that you CAN”T combine those two gifts. I was able to use a coupon so spent a total of $7 on this calendar and it is the end of my Christmas shopping!
4. Cooked an awesome dinner including trying out two new recipes both of which turned out great. I cooked a turkey breast in one of my crock pots, these sweet potatoes and apples in a second and made cranberry sauce in a third. I am not a cranberry sauce person, I even bought the cranberries by mistake but this was AWESOME! It is a definite addition to our Christmas dinner party.
5. Christmas cards-addressed and ready to mail!
6. Went over to my parents and picked up a few more Christmas decorations. I was actually able to place most of these where I had anticipated. I am 99% finished with my Christmas decorating. This is the first year in a long time that I have enjoyed decorating. I also have used all the decorations that I could find in the attic as well as gather some from other places as well.
7. Wrote and published a blog piece! Seven is the perfect number so I will stop here!

Join me in being thankful to finish a list!

Lily’s Birthday!

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Sheila

Just a fair warning up front, I decided not to split this up into 2 or more different post. Therefore you will find lots of pictures with this post!!

Lily actually started celebrating her birthday on Tuesday November 25th, with the first singing of “Happy Birthday” and her gift from us and her Grandfather Abbott. Lily received a IPAD mini. The reason we decided to give this gift so early is that she enjoyed using it not only on our trip to Michigan but also she was able to face time both of her sister during our stay.

Next Lily celebrated on Friday December 5th, when Amanda ate lunch with her and picked her up from school to go to the mall.

They also stopped for “fo-yo” on the way home.

Lily actual birthday December 6th involved lots more celebrating. We had her best friend “Izzy” and her grandparents over for dinner.

Of course there were more presents..

And cake…

After cake, we had wooden Christmas ornaments to paint…A

A fun time was had by all! Especially Lily!

Weeks of Busyness- Weekend catch

Posted on December 6, 2014 by Sheila

December is always a busy month but this year, I think it has decided to speed up! Each of the three weeks prior to Christmas seems to be stuffed full of activities, practices and parties. The very sad part about this is that I know that next week including the weekend is going to be some of the busiest time of the year.

Just for the sake of truth here is our schedule for the first two weeks of December :
Monday- Chorus til 4pm, Cheerleading from 5:45 til 7 for Kendall and til 8 for Lily. Because of the huge time difference, I am actually picking up Kendall and bringing her home both weeks.
Tuesday- Chorus til 4pm and piano for both girls- We consider this our easiest night!
Wednesday- Church activities
Thursday- Cheerleading from 5:45 to 7:30 for both.

Looks like fun doesn’t it? Add to this craziness that we arrived home last Sunday night around 8pm from our trip. Matt has spent most of his time unpacking that is between picking up and taking children to these activities. On Thursday of this week, we had to restock our food supply and we ended up picking up a third refrigerator, which add another whole day of non-stop activity.

So today (Saturday aka Lily’s birthday), I decided that I would need to get up the rest of our Christmas decoration in order to be able to even enjoy them. One small problem, I have spent several hours looking both online and in person for an artificial Christmas tree with no real luck in finding exactly what I wanted. Until I was talking with my mother and discovered she has a very large artificial tree in her attic. Last night after work, we went and claimed this tree. Matt used an air compressor to clean out most of the dust and we set up our rainbow to clean the air around it over night. I will admit that I can understand why it is too much tree for her. She said she spent over 3 hours putting it together the year she used it. Between Matt and myself, I would estimate we have spent around an hour working on it. But it is perfect, I will hopefully get some pictures to post in the next day or so.

In addition to decorating, we have planned a small for us, birthday dinner for Lily for today. Tomorrow I am teaching the 2-3 years old during service, the kids will be performing one song during the regular service and they have play practice from 3:30 til 5:30. Next week is the same schedule as last with the addition of a practice Saturday morning of the children’s musical at church. The kids will be performing the musical on Saturday and Sunday night. Finally on Monday night, Lily has her chorus performance.

I am going to take an extra day off work prior to Christmas but the state of running between activities should remain at least for a couple of weeks. If I go MIA for the next couple of weeks, you now know where I will be heading!

Financial Update

Posted on November 13, 2014 by Sheila

Life is about choices, this is actually one of my favorite saying and also something that is very true in every aspect of life. I also can add to this by saying that not every choice is good and bad or even good and better but it is always a choice. There have been periods in my life when what I spent money on was not a choice. The reason, after paying bills such as electric, water, mortgage etc, there was little or no money left to cover food much less anything else like new towels or eating out. However, this is no longer the case. I am not saying that we have a lot of money or even that we are spending our money in the best way possible but I am very thankful to say that we definitely have a choice in how we spend our money.

This is the time of year, when I start looking at the budget and reworking and figuring out what the priorities are for not only November and December but also for the next year. My work is going through some major changes as well especially with benefits. So I definitely am looking at changing things up next year. My cost for insurances in all forms is actually going to be lower in addition to the small raise. Given these conditions I have decided to start investing in our retirement fund. I am really nervous about this decision simply because it will be money that is “out of reach” for the short term. We, Matt and I, have discussed this decision and feel like it is the best one at this time. I will meet with an advisors next week and for the first time ever will be investing in our future instead of the present. Along the same lines, I am adding a line item for saving as well. My goal with these decisions is to keep living on what I am making this year and place the “raise/additional savings” out of sight and out of reach. I am still working on the number but hope to share a sample budget prior to January.

In more present financial news, we are currently doing very well with our financial goals for the month!

1. Emergency Fund to $2000. I know this goal will not be met this year but hope/plan to add $100 to this by the end of the month.

2. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . Spending for the month is $390 which does include 2 Sunday newspaper subscriptions, ($130). We will be leaving in less than two weeks so I am planning to try and clean out our fridge because I can’t stand to waste food! The only purchase that I anticipate for the trip itself is Diet Cokes and maybe waters.

3. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs. So far we have only spent $120 for gas. I did pay our auto insurance for 6 months but this was from money that has already been saved! As you will notice below, I am setting a budget for our trip which will be all inclusive. Prior to the trip, we will be having the oil changed and adding a power outlet for the DVD player, both these items will come from this budget. We also plan to purchase a new set of tires but this cost will be included in the trip cost.

4. Michigan Trip Budget: $2000- This is actually a very high budget for us when traveling but the current plan is this will include the cost of new tires in addition to hotel, gas, food and entertainment.

Budget Update- October

Posted on October 27, 2014 by Sheila

leaky faucet : conceptual illustration of a dripping tap coins Illustration

This is exactly what my budget feels like for this month. Yes, I will take full credit for most of it but I also really want to stop some of the leaks. I have completely failed at the Low/No Spend challenge for the month. The good news is that all my Christmas shopping is done. That makes my life so much less hectic at this point so that will be counted as a positive. We have spent a chunk of extra money this month on updating both the tower and playhouse for the kids to enjoy. I am think that when all is said and done around $300 for updating and fixing both in addition to new mulch for the playground. We also have update the hall bathroom with a new coat of paint, new flooring and new shower curtain. I am adding around another $200 for these updates and finally a new roof for our outbuilding with a price tag of $250. As you can see these have added up fast. Other unplanned spending included clothes for myself and the kids and of course new shoes.

In the ok but not great budget news, we have spent $545 of our $600 grocery budget which includes our Costco membership fee that I thought I had already paid but had not. This is not as good as I had hoped or expected but I have been doing some research and grocery prices are on the rise so staying in the budget is a win at least. We are starting to make a small dent in the stockpile and I am only replacing what we are out of so I am hoping to make a even bigger dent in the next two months to average our grocery spending down to $600 a month from $625 that it currently is. In the second ok news we have spent $399,68 of our gas budget this month. This includes tags, inspection and taxes for the truck. This may increase if we are unable to hold out on putting gas in the van. Gas prices have dropped significantly and this should help use next month as well.

I did add $200 to our Emergency fund so this is a definite win!

Not a total loss but definitely not a low/no spend month!

Crazy Busy Weekend- Outside toys!

Posted on October 12, 2014 by Sheila

This arrived at my house on Friday night, the kids were so excited! They even got to stay up late (after 9pm) to watch it get off the trailer! Thankfully no one got hurt! In the future aka when my brother has time, it will be rotated so the porch and window will be facing outwards. Saturday morning was spent nailing and cleaning/prepping the outside for a fresh coat of paint. This was given to us by my BFF, but it is in serious need of TLC.

The list of things to do with this house include 1. Rotate and level
2. Paint the outside. We were given some paint and I have already purchased a quart of red for the porch and windows
3. Windows will be filled with screen and casing placed around the inside and plastic on the outside for the winter.
4. New roof
5. Door handle and new latch added.
6. Quarter round placed around the inside walls
7. Finish cleaning out the inside and move out kitchen and laundry room toys into it.

I will update pictures as we cross things off the list.

We ended up picking up this on Saturday afternoon. It again is a gift but needs some refurbishing to make it awesome. Zach has purchased a steering wheel and periscope. We will attach this to our deck with a cool bridge with rope handrail, add a climbing section to the side, add new cover for the top and connect the slide. I hope to post pictures of this completed project in the next couple of weeks.

As you can imagine these addition took a lot of time this weekend in addition to a major shopping trip to Lowes and a very full Sunday. I can actually say I am glad the weekend is over because I need a break!

Sermon Notes

Posted on October 5, 2014 by Sheila

I have some very strong opinions/beliefs about children and church. But sometimes my opinions and reality don’t quite go together. Matt and I have talked at length over the years regarding church and at what age a child should be expected to not only sit in church but actually listen and gain something from a message. One of the things that we both agree on is that unless you expect a behavior and facilitate the behavior then it is not going to happen.

Our current church offers Sunday school classes for all ages and Children’s Church (which occurs during the regular services) up to middle school age. there is also a separate program for kids on Wednesday night that all three of the little kids love. Matt and I agreed long ago that middle school was not the right time to begin training a child to listen and learn during a sermon so we had discussed with Lily that starting in September, since she is in the fourth grade, she would no longer be allowed to go to Children’s Church. Lily is very smart and she didn’t complain about the idea. As I watched her last Sunday, she was doing nothing wrong in fact she had me help her find the passage that the message was from; however I quickly realized that shortly after this she was no longer listening to what was being said. This lead to a discussion between us and a post of Facebook for questions that we could expect her to answer about the sermon. A friend, who is both a teacher and principal, shared an awesome idea about allowing Lily to choose questions to answer. I am excited to say that for a first attempt, it worked and worked well. Lily was given a composition book this morning before church and on the first page was this…

It is a tic tac toe board, with a different question in each square. The question from left to right are : Who are the main characters? Reference? Who preached? (2nd row) What emotion did the sermon make you feel? Name three things you learned today from the sermon? How can you apply to your life? (3rd row) What was the topic? Did another Bible reference get used? what was it? and Does this connect to last week’s sermon? How?

Lily is allowed to pick which three question she is going to answer as long as she gets 3 in a row. This morning she paid much closer attention to the sermon. I did realize that she does not know what the word Reference means so I will help her learn that this week. Overall I am very pleased with this and hope it will lead us into some good discussions as well as teach her to listen and apply not only sermons but information from lectures in the future.

Can you think of any better or different question for us to use?

Teens Tots and Everything In Between

Life, Love and Coupons

Category Archives: Life