I tend to get annoyed this time of year when I'm watching TV commercials. According to these commercials, my life would be splendid if my husband bought me diamonds or jewelry for Christmas. My kids would be perfectly behaved if I dressed them in perfect little outfits, gave them huge toys, and took them to a photo shoot where we dressed up as a British family drinking tea (WTH!).
The reality is that since we got married, my husband's gifts are on the very practical side. I think he will get me snowpants this year and he is giving me new black boots (that I ordered). I won't be getting diamonds but I will use my snowpants to play outside for many years to come with our kids.
The photo shoot this year consisted of both kids laying on the floor. The baby slept and Lil Punk made funny faces. There was no tea involved.
I just get so annoyed with the things that are pushed as happiness on TV. The commercials are so good though that sometimes I need to consciously remind myself of this.
Do these commercials annoy anybody else?
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
How To Save Without a Budget
I have read a number of blogs that swear one cannot save money without a budget. I beg to differ. When we were saving for a down payment for a house, we saved $40,000 in one year while making around $60,000 annually without a budget. (Y was in Iraq so his income was tax-free).
I followed two basic rules to save this much money.
1. We paid ourselves first.
2. We stopped spending when the money was gone.
First of all, when Y's paycheck was deposited, I transferred it all to our savings account. I did it on the day he was paid.
Second of all, I didn't spend any money when it ran out. This required a little bit of planning. If I had to fill up the car weekly and I didn't get paid for two weeks, I had to make sure I had enough money to fill it up next week. I paid the rent and utilities with my pay.
I didn't budget until much later in life and even now I will go months without budgeting. I have budgeted for the last two months more so to track our spending.
It is annoying to me when a blogger insists that you will end up destitute without budgeting. In a way, budgeting is for people with money. It allows us to spend money without any guilt. One will end up destitute if they don't save any money throughout their life but budgeting is not the only way to save money.
What about you? Do you budget? Have you saved money without budgeting?
I followed two basic rules to save this much money.
1. We paid ourselves first.
2. We stopped spending when the money was gone.
First of all, when Y's paycheck was deposited, I transferred it all to our savings account. I did it on the day he was paid.
Second of all, I didn't spend any money when it ran out. This required a little bit of planning. If I had to fill up the car weekly and I didn't get paid for two weeks, I had to make sure I had enough money to fill it up next week. I paid the rent and utilities with my pay.
I didn't budget until much later in life and even now I will go months without budgeting. I have budgeted for the last two months more so to track our spending.
It is annoying to me when a blogger insists that you will end up destitute without budgeting. In a way, budgeting is for people with money. It allows us to spend money without any guilt. One will end up destitute if they don't save any money throughout their life but budgeting is not the only way to save money.
What about you? Do you budget? Have you saved money without budgeting?
Sunday, December 8, 2013
Grocery Spending and Menu Plan
I kept track of our spending for November and we were within budget except for one area, groceries. I budget $550 per month for groceries and we spent a whopping $710 last month. That is a lot of money for food for one month. There were a few WalMart charges and I'm not exactly sure what they were but I think groceries so they went in that category.
We really need to watch our spending. Thus far, we've spent $183 this month. I think the only thing I need to pick up is milk for the week. I made a menu plan last week prior to shopping.
This is what's on the menu for this week:
Asian Beef & Noodles
Pork Chops & Stuffing with veggies
Homemade chicken noodle soup
Mac n cheese with broccoli
Chicken Alfredo
How is your grocery spending going?
We really need to watch our spending. Thus far, we've spent $183 this month. I think the only thing I need to pick up is milk for the week. I made a menu plan last week prior to shopping.
This is what's on the menu for this week:
Asian Beef & Noodles
Pork Chops & Stuffing with veggies
Homemade chicken noodle soup
Mac n cheese with broccoli
Chicken Alfredo
How is your grocery spending going?
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Well Update: Yikes!!
We received the invoice for the our new well that I had been anxiously awaiting. It was for more than I wanted. It came in at $6109 for the well plus $900 for sealing the old well. We qualify for a coop with our county for the well sealing. I believe the county pays for 60% of the well sealing. We need to submit the final paperwork but its already been approved.
The quote for the well was between 5 and 6 thousand. We had them replace our outdoor water hydrant which we knew was additional, between $200-250. I didn't know that the well sealing wasn't included in the original quote but Y did. I guess this is an example of miscommunication between us.
Y is going to call them to see of they will give us a cash discount. We have $4500 in our regular savings and the remainder will come from our new car fund.
I'm so disappointed in how much this invoice is because I was going to raid our new car fund to pay off my car loan. We still owe $5000 on my car and the new car fund is/was at $4550. We talked it over and even though my car is at 0% interest rate, we wouldn't take out a new car loan with your that out there anyway. If Y's pick-up dies and we need to finance a new (to us) one, we would pay off my car because we don't want to afford two car payments at one time. I have been very, very nervous about paying $1060 per month for daycare, so I wanted to pay off my car this year to lighten the burden.
Such is life...
The quote for the well was between 5 and 6 thousand. We had them replace our outdoor water hydrant which we knew was additional, between $200-250. I didn't know that the well sealing wasn't included in the original quote but Y did. I guess this is an example of miscommunication between us.
Y is going to call them to see of they will give us a cash discount. We have $4500 in our regular savings and the remainder will come from our new car fund.
I'm so disappointed in how much this invoice is because I was going to raid our new car fund to pay off my car loan. We still owe $5000 on my car and the new car fund is/was at $4550. We talked it over and even though my car is at 0% interest rate, we wouldn't take out a new car loan with your that out there anyway. If Y's pick-up dies and we need to finance a new (to us) one, we would pay off my car because we don't want to afford two car payments at one time. I have been very, very nervous about paying $1060 per month for daycare, so I wanted to pay off my car this year to lighten the burden.
Such is life...
Monday, December 2, 2013
Cyber Monday Shopping
I did very minimal shopping this weekend but I logged in this morning to check out the deals for Cyber Monday. I was looking for two very specific items.
I wanted to get Carhart bibs for Y. He asked for them for Christmas and its a super practical gift. He needs them for moving snow and playing outside with Lil Punk. The cheapest that I've seen them in the store is for $95. I found them today on Amazon for $90. I also used two $5 gift cards I obtained through Swagbucks. Considering I saved 5 bucks and didn't have to drive to get them, I consider this a win.
The other item I wanted was a little electric car for Lil Punk. The one I wanted has monster traction so she could ride it on gravel and grass. I had researched it and the one I wanted got great reviews. The issue was actually finding it. WalMart, Target and KMart were all sold out of it. I found it on Fisher Price's website for 25% off. It was on the expensive side at $207 total but I've debated buying one for a couple years. I have a couple other little gifts for her so I'm done shopping for her now.
Did you do Cyber Monday?
I wanted to get Carhart bibs for Y. He asked for them for Christmas and its a super practical gift. He needs them for moving snow and playing outside with Lil Punk. The cheapest that I've seen them in the store is for $95. I found them today on Amazon for $90. I also used two $5 gift cards I obtained through Swagbucks. Considering I saved 5 bucks and didn't have to drive to get them, I consider this a win.
The other item I wanted was a little electric car for Lil Punk. The one I wanted has monster traction so she could ride it on gravel and grass. I had researched it and the one I wanted got great reviews. The issue was actually finding it. WalMart, Target and KMart were all sold out of it. I found it on Fisher Price's website for 25% off. It was on the expensive side at $207 total but I've debated buying one for a couple years. I have a couple other little gifts for her so I'm done shopping for her now.
Did you do Cyber Monday?
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
So Grateful
I have so much to be grateful for this Thanksgiving. I'm most thankful for my new son, my little girl, and my amazing husband. I stare at my son and cannot believe the miracle that he grew in my belly from a fertilized egg. I look at my daughter and am so thankful for the amazing little person she is becoming and has become. I'm so thankful that my husband is supportive and a hands on dad. For the first week post-partum, I couldn't stop crying and he stepped up and did what I needed.
On the financial front, I'm grateful for the fact that we have a warm house and plenty of food to eat. Both my husband and I have good jobs. My work has not bothered me at all since I've been on maternity leave which is nice. We do truly have first world problems.
Our new well was drilled this week. I'm not exactly sure how much it will cost and I'm a little anxious about that. I'm thinking between $5-6000. We have $4000 in our regular savings. We also will have $4500 in our car fund that we will need to pull the remainder of the money from.
Following the birth of my son, I haven't been overly concerned about our daily spending. I've relied heavily on Y to stop and get what I've needed from the store. He has a habit of also buying cheese and tortillas when he goes shopping.
We haven't received any medical bills yet. We have just over $700 in our flexible medical spending account for 2013. I'm hoping that covers the remainder of the bills.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
On the financial front, I'm grateful for the fact that we have a warm house and plenty of food to eat. Both my husband and I have good jobs. My work has not bothered me at all since I've been on maternity leave which is nice. We do truly have first world problems.
Our new well was drilled this week. I'm not exactly sure how much it will cost and I'm a little anxious about that. I'm thinking between $5-6000. We have $4000 in our regular savings. We also will have $4500 in our car fund that we will need to pull the remainder of the money from.
Following the birth of my son, I haven't been overly concerned about our daily spending. I've relied heavily on Y to stop and get what I've needed from the store. He has a habit of also buying cheese and tortillas when he goes shopping.
We haven't received any medical bills yet. We have just over $700 in our flexible medical spending account for 2013. I'm hoping that covers the remainder of the bills.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Welcome to the World
This is the story of the birth of my son, born one week ago.
I left work early on Tuesday, 11/12/13. I wasn't feeling well but had been having contractions with more regularity since the previous Friday. I mentioned it to my friend and she was adamant that I use her exercise ball. I picked it up and rocked on it for a couple hours. I began to have more contractions. Around 10 pm, I got to bed with the intent to see if the contractions would subside or increase. At this point, I talked to my husband and realized that we didn't have a solid plan for what to do with Lil Punk when we went in. He called his mom to give her a heads up and ask her if she could come over later.
It was obvious to me that I was in labor so around 12:30 Y called his mom again to ask her to drive over. She arrived around 1:15. We then went to the hospital. We got there around 1:45.
I labored in the whirlpool tub for awhile. My doctor broke my water around 4. At that point, I was in pain and just wanted my baby OUT. He was born at 5:15 am. He was a little bigger than I thought, 9 pounds 15 ounces. We were blessed in that he is healthy. He had a bit of jaundice but is doing well now.
I am so in love with my son. I can't imagine life without him now and its only been a week. In a way, its been a long week. Lil Guy has not been sleeping at night. He wants to use me as a human pacifier but won't take a real pacifier. I get that he was in my womb for 9 months and he wants to be close to me.
I love being a mommy for the 2nd time. We are so blessed.
I left work early on Tuesday, 11/12/13. I wasn't feeling well but had been having contractions with more regularity since the previous Friday. I mentioned it to my friend and she was adamant that I use her exercise ball. I picked it up and rocked on it for a couple hours. I began to have more contractions. Around 10 pm, I got to bed with the intent to see if the contractions would subside or increase. At this point, I talked to my husband and realized that we didn't have a solid plan for what to do with Lil Punk when we went in. He called his mom to give her a heads up and ask her if she could come over later.
It was obvious to me that I was in labor so around 12:30 Y called his mom again to ask her to drive over. She arrived around 1:15. We then went to the hospital. We got there around 1:45.
I labored in the whirlpool tub for awhile. My doctor broke my water around 4. At that point, I was in pain and just wanted my baby OUT. He was born at 5:15 am. He was a little bigger than I thought, 9 pounds 15 ounces. We were blessed in that he is healthy. He had a bit of jaundice but is doing well now.
I am so in love with my son. I can't imagine life without him now and its only been a week. In a way, its been a long week. Lil Guy has not been sleeping at night. He wants to use me as a human pacifier but won't take a real pacifier. I get that he was in my womb for 9 months and he wants to be close to me.
I love being a mommy for the 2nd time. We are so blessed.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)