Monday, December 28, 2009

A new beginning...

It has been some time since I have blogged.  I will try to keep this short and sweet and give you the main points of where we are headed around here.

We are on Christmas break from home schooling but have done some seriously fun stuff this month.  We had some fun trips to Universal and Disney, we have been practicing riding a bike, we have begun delving into many new games and backyard play.  Been a great month even if we weren't sitting at a desk.

Last month we worked on a budget.  After the month was over, I discovered after my calculating, that we had actually done very well.  However, it wasn't exactly the best time of year to pick apart our spending.  We also discovered we needed a better plan for what to do with our money.  We decided to start the Dave Ramsey Peace University.  It is on its way.  It is all about living within your means no matter how much you make.  It teaches a lot about using what you have to get yourself to a place where you can be completely debt free, including cars and homes, and be saving and living on cash.  You have to do whatever it takes to get to that place.  We have been credit card free and living on cash for some time now, but we need to organize our money a little better.  So...Dave Ramsey, here we come! I will keep this updated and let you know our progress.

P90X has been my workout of choice for some time now.  If it is the only time I get for myself than so be it!!  BUT, if I have other time, I have been reading some books about children's publishing and have a goal to find a new publisher for my children's Christmas books by next Christmas.  I got to see New Moon and I now have an extreme desire to read them.  Mike has been working late so I have been doing some re-reading of the Harry Potter books, but am on my way to the Twighlight books.  I am joining the revolution!

As for groceries, I am really figuring it all out.  It is beginning to feel simple.  Though there are days when I feel like I have no clue.  I see books about people getting $120 worth of groceries for $1.60 and I my feelings of inadequacy flow like a river.  I am stocking my pantry constantly with sale items and $50/wk is slowly becoming less.  I am thinking about starting a couponing class at the city hall here in Minneola and possibly one at my church with the intention of getting some extra groceries from a group effort for our buses and backpacks program which provides food for some local families in need.  These are just floating around in my head now, but I believe them to be totally worth it!

Christmas was amazing and having two little ones made it so much more incredible.  We were very blessed and plan to return ten fold the blessings we have felt!  We got to see some old friends this Christmas and we got to see our most stable, always there with us, friends too, and how wonderful it all was!  I wish we could capture it all and bottle it up for year round use!


Moments are endless...

-The moment we commited to each other that we were going to change our financial future.
-Madi being certain that because she didn't ask for a lot for Christmas, Santa would know she wasn't being greedy and he might bring her more!
-Mackenzie playing in all the boxes and wrapping paper.
-Mike and I loving each other enough to go virtually presentless so our kids could  have a great Christmas.
-My selfless husband cleaning out a chicken cage before our family was coming over for Christmas.  Great image of chickens running around him!! (By the way, we got chickens for my birthday!)

Peace and freedom don't come with a price, they come with planning and thoughtfulness.

Monday, December 14, 2009

$100 gift card giveaway

Just wanted to post a quick note that Money Saving Mom is doing a great $100 gift card give away.  Go over there and check it out!!  I will be postin a longer link to come about the budget, shopping, home schooling and the whole lot my my existence!  I hope you are all well!