An Expensive Week

Quite honestly, this has been one of the most stressful week in the past two or three years.  Today, I am going to share a little of that stress both financial and personal with you.

I talked last week about the fact we discovered a nail in our new vans tire on Saturday. Matt took the van in on Monday morning and discovered that not only was the tire not fixable but we actually needed to replace all four tires.

Amanda’s car, which we are still responsible for major repairs on, was not working properly. Amanda said she did not have any heat. This ended up being a minor repair of less than $150 but still a unexpected expense.

Kendal is scheduled to compete in her first cheer competition on Saturday, so they have had practice 3 of the 5 nights this week. Lily also has had practices on these nights but at later times, which means we are playing taxi a lot.

Zach and Kendall both are not feeling at 100%. I took Zach to the doctor this afternoon and he has a double ear infections. I am so thankful that this is the first real sickness for him since starting school in August.

On a more positive note, both Lily and Kendall had orthodontic appointments this morning. Lily will be in braces most likely at age 11 or so. Kendall unfortunately is going to require several phases of brace and some other really expensive work. The good news is that it is felt that waiting another 6 months to a year before starting this process is our best options.

Matt has a doctor’s appointment in the morning and with the multiple trips this week we have accomplished very little in the way of remodeling this week. I hope to share at least some progress this weekend.

Random Thoughts Tuesday 2/16

imageWe decided to change out the window and door cases with our kitchen remodel. What we discovered is that there was no insulation around the windows. I purchased two cans of foam which is the yellow you see above.

imageAll three of the kids got “Olafs” for a special Valentine gift. They are a huge hit. I was really good at keeping these hidden.

IMG_5532.JPGKendall enjoyed the circus and even more so she enjoyed the special time with her big sister. Do you think they look alike?

IMG_5530 (00000003)Finally, I have learned how to fix Lily’s hair for cheerleading and it stays up! It does take close to an hour to complete but at least it works.

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Snow Sunday Savings!

The sun came out today which began the melting process for us! Matt has worked most of the afternoon clearing our driveway so I can head to work tomorrow.  After he finished he asked if we wanted to venture out to CVS and Walmart.  Considering that I had already opened my last 2L of Diet Coke, I agreed. This was another excellent week at CVS.  I completed 3 transactions spending $1.92 and saving $27.16 or 93% I grabbed 8 bottles of Diet Coke and 3 tubes of free toothpaste. I should have grabbed another Diet Coke but my calculations were off.  Next stop was Walmart to grab a couple of items that we will run out of prior to the end of the month, I was able to use a calculate and list and stay on track spending $30.73 which puts me at $199.83 for the month.

Since we all have been at home since Thursday and the kids really have been at home for a week, we used some of the time to clean and re-organize. I was seriously thinking about needing to push some more storage containers on Thursday but instead, found and repurposed things we already had. We are in the process of reducing the playroom and I took the shelf from it and moved it to Zach room.

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The best part of this shelf is that it originally was a kitchen cabinet/bar in a house that my brother and sister in law purchased when they were first married. I was helping with some of the work and originally place this shelf in my  building. As you can tell it has been moved and reused but still is a large steady piece of furniture. I also reconfigured my closet and was able to place this smaller shelf in the playroom.

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Total spend on this project which ended up taking a full day Zero.

A final way we have saved money this weekend is cooking at home and using items that we already have. I am hoping to stick to a lower budget for at least February and most likely even March. I am realizing that we have a lot of food that I have purchased and by keeping a rolling stockpile, I should be able keep at least that line item lower for several month this year, therefore reducing our total expenses significantly even with resuming the $700 a month budget in April or May.

5 Things Friday

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  1. Today was my first official paid Snow Day EVER! I am so thankful because worse than snow is the solid sheet of ice that currently covers our road.
  2. I was able to clean out the playroom, and re-organize Zach’s room. He is able to play with all his toys and has a spot to return each. I am so excited as this also puts us closer to beginning our kitchen remodel. I manage to move reduce and reuse everything today so the total cost of this is ZERO.
  3. After spending most of the day cleaning and organizing we had a family game night. The little kids are now old enough to play UNO. Zach had a hard time at first because he did not win but even asked to play again at bedtime.
  4. The kids have been out of school at home for a solid week now. Monday was a holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were scheduled teacher work days,Thursday and Friday, school was cancelled due to the weather.
  5.  This week is also rare in the fact that we have only had cheerleading one night and don’t have a competition to go to this weekend. I know this is probably the last time this happens till April.

5 Things Friday 01/08/2016

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  1. The weather has turned cold here really quickly. On Christmas day it was 74* and today the high was 46*. I really dislike cold.
  2. Kendall is by far my coldest child. I was so upset at myself to learn last weekend that she really did not have a good coat for her to take to school. I have been having her use a fleece jacket under a “thin” coat for the past week. I am so excited that I was able to find her a pink and purple coat at JCP tonight. I also purchased Matt a pair of jeans. Using coupons and reward points from our purchase of new sheets. I spent a total of $13.83 on both of these items. The sad part is that $8.95 was shipping.
  3. Our new bed, King size, is scheduled to arrive next Tuesday. I am so excited as we designed our bedroom around a King size bed but were so tired of sleeping on an air mattress that we purchased the Queen size one about 4 years ago. We  are doing a major furniture sway next week. Lily is getting our bed, Kendall is getting Lily’s full size bed and Zach is getting a twin bed. Everyone has new sheet and comforters so I will be posting pictures next week.
  4. Tomorrow is Lily’s first cheerleading competition of the year. I am excited but not excited at the same time. It is a big time consuming task once this season starts. Kendall’s teams is very young and probably will not compete until February or March if at all. We packed both our cheer bags tonight and will be leaving bright and early in the morning.
  5. Amanda is taking Zach to the Monster Truck show tonight. I really don’t know who was more excited Amanda or Zach. She has been sending me pictures all night and I will share more later, but this is a good end.

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Not so Wordless Wednesday-Family Craft Time

This past weekend, my sister in law, who lives in Atlanta, made a trip up to visit with us. Eric, her son, was able to come as well. My kids absolutely loved having them both for the 24 hours they were here. Saturday night was spent opening gifts eating and playing a board game that she had purchased for Lily.
Sunday after church we decided to work on some new decorations for our front sign as Christmas has passed. This turned out to be a load of fun and the results are even better!
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The buckets we found in the Target $1 bin several weeks ago, I was so excited to find that the colors just about perfectly match the color of the letter. The snowflakes are hand painted and just perfect, enjoy a closer look.