Dear Hubby and I had a little credit card cutting up party on Wednesday night. It was rather liberating, actually! We haven't cut up all of them, but we've cut up most. Here's where we stand:
*Today starts Day 1 of the envelope system. Paying cash for most of my purchases - eating out, groceries, toiletries;
*We also have a zero based budget, but we're already realizing we've forgotten a few items. Like Valentine's Day and the last utility bills for the old house;
*I cut up the card and closed the account for a gas card. I didn't even use the card. It was just a throwback to my pre-marriage days when I didn't have a debit card;
*We both cut up our credit card for a regional department store, and that's going to be the first credit card that will be paid off. We had what amounted to a 90 days same as cash plan, and we never paid interest. But I always ended up shopping there because of the card even though other stores had better clothes for me. But now I'm not going to be beholden to them!
*I no longer carry credit cards.
*I'm unsubscribing to as many email subscriptions as I can. I get too many emails from companies advertising their sales. I usually just delete them anyway, but why be tempted?
And just one last thought: Proverbs 22:7 (New International Version) "The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender." Oh so true! I'm not going to be a slave to debt anymore!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Monday, January 26, 2009
Today is the day!
After one year, 12 days on the market, our old home is finally going to be sold as of 2:00 this afternoon barring any unforseen circumstances.
It's bittersweet. We bought that house almost exactly six years ago. I was eight months pregnant with Little Man when we actually moved in. We brought our children home from the hospital to this house. It was the first house we ever bought. There are more than five years of our memories contained in that house.
We moved out last June into our current home about 30 miles away. We love living here - the house, the location, the neighborhood, the schools. I wouldn't trade it at all.
It will be nice to not have two mortages, two electric bills, two heating bills, two tax bills, etc., etc., etc.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Bad cornbread
Check out this bad cornbread I managed to make tonight.
This is what I get for trying something new! Dear Hubby likes non-sweet cornbread, while I grew up on Jiffy out of the box. I know, Jiffy's not Southern, neither is sweet cornbread, but I still like it. I was making pintos tonight, and so of course, we've got to have cornbread! After we cut into this monstrosity, it was like a solid brick of corn. And that's what it tasted like - corn.
Whatever you do, don't follow this recipe:
1 cup cornmeal
1 cup flour (all purpose, self rising, whatever is in the mystery container)
1 Tbsp butter, melted
4 oz low fat cream cheese (didn't have 8 oz of sour cream)
1 cup milk
handful of freeze dried corn
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp sugar
We're getting out of debt!
Like most, we're in debt. Yep - credit cards, auto loan, school loan, 2 mortgages (about to just be 1!). I don't think we've been irresponsible, especially over the past several years. But enough is enough.
We're currently doing Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. We read his book a few years ago, and we put some of his strategies into practice, but now we really need to get into the plan. Dear Hubby and I are both spenders, and that's not great! But right now, we are very focused.
So, here's just a few money saving tips from a spender! Take them for what they're worth, but I wanted to pass them along:
1. Clip coupons. Sounds easy, but you can save some serious money. I'm not the kind of girl who goes in and gets $200 in groceries for 50 cents, but I usually can save about $10 a trip if I'm being super good;
2. Go co-op. I've joined a few wholesale co-ops so I can get better deals. Sometimes, I can save about 50%. This has been a good move for me since I've gone organic/natural;
3. Find things you can stretch out. For example, I use Aveda hair products. Love them, hate the price. I can't bring myself to buy the large bottles, and the small bottles last me about 6 - 8 weeks. Instead of using them every day, I'm using a decent but really cheap products every other day. This should stretch out my Aveda products to 12 - 16 weeks. This will save me about $120 a year. I know it's over a year, but hey, it's a savings, and it's almost a week's worth of groceries;
4. Buy second hand. I swore my children would never have anything but new. But once I started hitting consignment sales and stores, I found some great deals on items that had only been played with/worn once or twice. I've also had some great finds on eBay;
5. Speaking of eBay, I like to buy new things here, too, after seeing them in stores. I've bought E Belle's Christmas dresses on eBay the past two years for about $20 cheaper each than I found in the local boutique. I used to be afraid of buying clothing on eBay, but now I sell and buy clothes quite a bit on here;
6. Just never pay full price for clothing, especially places like Gymboree. There's always a coupon somewhere; and
7. Use retailmenot.com or similar sites for online coupons. Last year, I estimate that I saved about $150 on discounts and free shipping using coupon codes from this site.
We're currently doing Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey. We read his book a few years ago, and we put some of his strategies into practice, but now we really need to get into the plan. Dear Hubby and I are both spenders, and that's not great! But right now, we are very focused.
So, here's just a few money saving tips from a spender! Take them for what they're worth, but I wanted to pass them along:
1. Clip coupons. Sounds easy, but you can save some serious money. I'm not the kind of girl who goes in and gets $200 in groceries for 50 cents, but I usually can save about $10 a trip if I'm being super good;
2. Go co-op. I've joined a few wholesale co-ops so I can get better deals. Sometimes, I can save about 50%. This has been a good move for me since I've gone organic/natural;
3. Find things you can stretch out. For example, I use Aveda hair products. Love them, hate the price. I can't bring myself to buy the large bottles, and the small bottles last me about 6 - 8 weeks. Instead of using them every day, I'm using a decent but really cheap products every other day. This should stretch out my Aveda products to 12 - 16 weeks. This will save me about $120 a year. I know it's over a year, but hey, it's a savings, and it's almost a week's worth of groceries;
4. Buy second hand. I swore my children would never have anything but new. But once I started hitting consignment sales and stores, I found some great deals on items that had only been played with/worn once or twice. I've also had some great finds on eBay;
5. Speaking of eBay, I like to buy new things here, too, after seeing them in stores. I've bought E Belle's Christmas dresses on eBay the past two years for about $20 cheaper each than I found in the local boutique. I used to be afraid of buying clothing on eBay, but now I sell and buy clothes quite a bit on here;
6. Just never pay full price for clothing, especially places like Gymboree. There's always a coupon somewhere; and
7. Use retailmenot.com or similar sites for online coupons. Last year, I estimate that I saved about $150 on discounts and free shipping using coupon codes from this site.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Isn't anything safe to eat?
If you know me, you know that I love food! But lately, I'm becoming more and more aware of what's in our food. I think it started when I caught Dr. Oz on Oprah a while back, and he had a big bowl of partially hydrogenated oil. It was totally disgusting, and I couldn't believe I was putting that into not just my body, but Little Man's body when he had his daily PB&J.
I've been on a mission to get rid of artificial and manipulated food stuffs, even though I know I'll never be rid of it all. And I can't control what goes into our food when we're not home, but I figure if I can just get a grip on it in our home, that will be a big improvement. I hate that places like Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck, are so expensive, but I feel like it's worth it to pay more to keep mess out of my kid's bodies. But it's kind of hard sometimes explaining to Little Man and Dear Hubby about why I refuse to buy certain products anymore, why full fat is sometimes better than low fat and why we need to buy pork without nitrates. And as the mother and wife of asthmatics, I'm amazed at some of the connections between asthma, allergies, symptoms and our diets.
Lately, I've been hearing a lot about Stevia finally being approved by the FDA to be marketed as a sweetner, and Coke and Pepsi both are coming out with sodas sweetened with this natural herb. In my quest to decide if Stevia is better than Splenda, I was shocked at what I found out about Splenda. I thought Splenda was relatively safe as far as artificial sweeteners go, but what I've read has given me second thoughts. Check out these links - I realize these are from one point of view, but they give me pause:
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/sugarfree_blues.html#sucralose
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/articles/art_splendanotsplendid.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/024302.html
I can't give up artificial sweeteners for many reasons, including the prevalence of diabetes in my family, so hopefully, Stevia will prove to be a natural and safe alternative. I'm hoping that I like the new diet soft drinks, as I am totally hooked on them as it is.
I've been on a mission to get rid of artificial and manipulated food stuffs, even though I know I'll never be rid of it all. And I can't control what goes into our food when we're not home, but I figure if I can just get a grip on it in our home, that will be a big improvement. I hate that places like Whole Foods, aka Whole Paycheck, are so expensive, but I feel like it's worth it to pay more to keep mess out of my kid's bodies. But it's kind of hard sometimes explaining to Little Man and Dear Hubby about why I refuse to buy certain products anymore, why full fat is sometimes better than low fat and why we need to buy pork without nitrates. And as the mother and wife of asthmatics, I'm amazed at some of the connections between asthma, allergies, symptoms and our diets.
Lately, I've been hearing a lot about Stevia finally being approved by the FDA to be marketed as a sweetner, and Coke and Pepsi both are coming out with sodas sweetened with this natural herb. In my quest to decide if Stevia is better than Splenda, I was shocked at what I found out about Splenda. I thought Splenda was relatively safe as far as artificial sweeteners go, but what I've read has given me second thoughts. Check out these links - I realize these are from one point of view, but they give me pause:
http://www.westonaprice.org/modernfood/sugarfree_blues.html#sucralose
http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/articles/art_splendanotsplendid.html
http://www.naturalnews.com/024302.html
I can't give up artificial sweeteners for many reasons, including the prevalence of diabetes in my family, so hopefully, Stevia will prove to be a natural and safe alternative. I'm hoping that I like the new diet soft drinks, as I am totally hooked on them as it is.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Our first Montessori-style activity
I sat down E Belle this afternoon and showed her an activity I saw demonstrated at a local Montessori preschool last week. We think that E Belle has great potential to succeed at a Montessori school whereas Little Man's personality was not going to be a good fit.
I put down a dishcloth as her mat, and I put some beans in a pottery bowl. I showed E Belle totally by sight how to spoon the beans out of the bowl and into the cup. Her first instinct was to try and eat the beans, but she quickly found out that they didn't taste too good!
I put down a dishcloth as her mat, and I put some beans in a pottery bowl. I showed E Belle totally by sight how to spoon the beans out of the bowl and into the cup. Her first instinct was to try and eat the beans, but she quickly found out that they didn't taste too good!
I couldn't believe how long she stayed interested in the beans! She was occupied for a good 15 minutes before I started hearing little dings from her throwing the beans across the room. She helped me clean up a bit, but she was more interested in one of Little Man's Simpsons Burger King toys that talks than picking up beans.
I so hope she gets into the Montessori preschool! We will know for sure by the end of February if she's in or wait listed. Our second choice is great, but it's not Montessori!
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