Love the Life you Live

Insomnia + the inept "evil" math teacher = rough 18 hours for my son and me.

How did I forget about this teacher? She's the one that made life difficult for my oldest daughter (now in 8th grade) when she was in 4th and 5th grade. I have given birth to two concrete thinkers who struggle with non-tangible concepts. Throw on top of it these are my two with perfectionistic tendencies.

Son has some difficulties and academic challenges despite a high IQ. The concept of algebra and inequalities is difficult for him. Then throw in the fact that these are in word problem form. And even if you can answer them, they want to know what strategy was employed to come up with the answer. I appreciate higher-level thinking, but not when foist on a 4th grader.

Round One was 45 minutes yesterday. Happy kid melted into a tantrum, clearly frustrated that I didn't do it the exact way his teacher did it on the board. We calmed down enough to get 1-3 done but "to show work" we had several scratch papers. Round Two was a solid ten minutes when I tried to convince him it was OK if I rewrote the work neatly (he is dysgrafic and frustration at the level it was would produce nothing legible.) I sent the email explaining my rationale for rewriting the work.

Everyone sleeps at night, but I took a nap afternoon because I was bone tired after being up all night with the sick kid who was home yesterday. I watched Stephen King's Thinner before bed, which totally messed with my head and gave me an entire night of dream weirdness.

I barely had enough energy to get up and make breakfast and lunch (I see here the clear benefit of organization here and have no one to blame but myself). And oh yes, younger daughter needs a dress for the Father Daughter Dance THIS Saturday and can we go to the mall today after school? This requires me writing five notes to five teachers saying my kids won't take the bus. And I managed to get the gym shorts wrong, so the youngest had to take black soccer shorts instead of gym shorts and was told by his older brother than he'd get a detention (they don't do that to 1st graders). So I've got one crying child and then the oldest son doesn't want to go to school tos ee *that* teacher, what is she going to say to him? etc, etc.

I see why my one friend homeschools her child with anxiety, though her child has some major general issues and mine has minor specific ones. I should say this was after our school wouldn't allow the 3rd grader to switch teachers and our dear principal suggested medication(!) (Hard to believe for me since she's been so accomodating and helpful with my child) Oh, my I'm sure there are life lessons to be learned in all of this, but I'm not sure what they are.


Thanks for the chance to ramble. I think I'm going back to bed though I shouldn't have plowed through the caffeine.

to buy my fine lamps? (Link here, and might I add that there is actually a pair of these)

http://www.theperfectthing.net/pr-oriental-bird-lamps-6427/

My Saddam Huessein mirror sold for $300, and I am the recipient of 1/2 of that. $150 ahead than where I started.

DH is going to reclaim the lamps and pick up the check tomorrow. Any takers here?

Actually they're headed to the consignment store in the other upscale suburb four over from this one.

I should add these were items that were gifted to me, and they were widows and orphans after not finding a place in biological father's mansion.

Younger duaghter had a budget of $150 for her celebration. That is the going rate for celebrations at our house (and if you're under budget, you get the difference).

Admission for 6 swimmers and 1 spectator to the indoor water park for 6 hours: $130

Little Ceasar's Family Party Park before leaving: $16.00

Carry out at Panda Express (orange chicken) after returning: $14.50

I didn't factor my admission ($10.00). Also the Little Cesar's was dinner for the rest of the family that didn't go with us. I've been stockpiling snacks as they were on sale and I had coupons. I supplemented the orange chicken from Panda Express with my own white rice and two boxes of frozen egg rolls which came from the grocery budget. All in all, it was a grand time, and in leiu of gifts my daughter asked for donations she'll make to the Humane Society. She raised $45, plus her best friends also went in on a gift card to her favorite clothing store ($15).

It was a nice weekend, but busy. The School Fun Fair was Saturday (spent $30 for tickets for the boys which came from the Entertainment Category), and we contributed three cakes to the Cake Walk (from the grocery category). Also had two basketball games and a pizza party.

Hope everyone is off to a good start of the week!

We're a bit off on celebrating birthdays this year, but younger daughter (who turned 13 on 12/22) is finally getting her party. Five friends to an indoor water park a few suburbs over ($120) and Chinese food for dinner and a sleep over are on the books. I grocery shopped yesterday with due dilligence and coupons and feel that I should be able to stay within my parameters. The compromise over the Chinese food was this: I make the rice and home and buy fortune cookies and egg rolls (frozen). I'll pick up the orange chicken from Panda Express to defray total carry out cost. We'll have cake and ice cream and minimal snacks. Donuts and hot chocolate for breakfast. The kids usually get a $150 budget for birthday celebrations so this should be on budget too.

Payday and rent receivable day also. With money on autopilot, I sort of feel like all I'm doing is playing connect the dots for the monthly money snapshot. Older daughter has a ski trip coming up and Graduation pictures, though I'll probably opt for just the class photo and then take her to Penney's or Sears for reasonable packages/prices.

Update of those less fiscal who I am concerned about: BF had major crisis yesterday when she thought she was being paid for workmans' comp claim for the next week, but the workmans' comp representative called to say that the boss and MD in Occupational Health reviewed her situation and decided they could accomodate her. The nature of her injury is a possible stress fracture which will never show up on x-rays, so essentially the extent of the injury is based on self report. Apparently they are doubting her credibity given a spotty call-in sick record and she's already been written up. UPDATE: She had a phone interview through an agency for a maternity position in the school. Pay is decent and they'd like her to start on 2/13. Negative that she is dwelling on: It is only a 13-week assignment. I really had nothing more to contribute to the conversation, and just hope she makes some wise decisions. If she stays in her present situation, she forfeits the right to complain about anything to me.

Brother is doing OK. He's no longer wanted in the office and is being paid through the 29th. He has a second vehicle (a '92 Corvette that my father gave to him). He'll be giving back the company car which has 90,000 miles on it and needs a transmission (wise move). With it almost March, he will be able to use the Corvette as his primary mode of transportation. So he had a new battery and tire put on it yesterday. He seemed OK with the repair bill of $300. He's putting out resumes and just yesterday put out the email that he's ending his affiliation with the firm. We talked about his insurance on the car and house and I thought that maybe he could do better on his monthly premium, so maybe in his spare time he'll do some calling around. I gave him a bag of groceries, mostly rice/cereal/and pasta. He laughed heartily and gave a big thanks. It is nice to help out when one can.

Hope everyone has a great day!

That was the profound piece of wisdom I passed on today to my best friend, not sure where I heard that little gem. I had to resort to tough love and really tell her how it is (as I see it based on the information she has provided me).

You know enough about her from my posts: single, no dependents, never married, condo owner, employed in a very hireable field, ADD causes her to make in the moment decision with little regard to long-term consequences, lots of debt, student debt she's not paying on, she's 45, etc.

Her present situation is she is employed in the health field and is well compensated. She works at our local hospital. She injured herself one week ago and was placed on disability/workmans comp, becuase there was concern it was a stress fracture. Stress fractures can't easily be determined, so she thought she was cleared for another week at home. This was after seeing the PT and reporting back to the MD in Occupational Health. Apparently the way the MD who never touched her foot worded his report (something about alternating between sitting and standing) the Workmans' Comp people and her direct boss (whom has already written her up for excessive absences) have decided she CAN work and SHOULD be at work. She (BF) is crazy mad, threatening to "quit right now."

I had to say that IF she had an EF of three months living expsenses, and a budget, and was prudent, maybe she could do it. Since she doesn't have another job lined up (though she is looking) she should just suck it up and go to work today like they expected. She didn't like what I had to say, and said, "Yes, I know. Yes, I know. I *should* have somthing to fall back on." She was mad at me, clearly, for not supporting her plot to quit on the spot. I can't do that.

Lesson: It is best to have a plan. And an EF.

The End.

Yesterday I alluded to my overblown spending in my grocery/household/pet category. I lump them all together into "consumables" and while I've tried to track specific categories in the past (dairy/produce/etc) I've gotten quickly bored by such scrutiny, now I simply try to operate in those parameters.

Shameful confession: I spent $629 on that category. This is everyone (7 people, one dog, one turtle and toad, two parrots, and a fish). If I'm prudent I can do it on just under $100 a week (Aldi's plus a supplemental trip to Trader Joes). On average if I'm casual it is $125, but $157 a week, usually never! I did save $162.89 in coupons, buying mostly unnecessary "reasonably priced" snack items and other things. I can't even say that we ate more red meat or splurged on shrimp or wine or other items I consider budget busters.

I had this small goal of tracking my spending to see which option presented the most economical spending option:
(1) Several big-chain stores (where I live Jewel/Dominicks/CVS or Walgreens) where I diligently matched circular ads to coupons and planned my menu around those items.
(2) One or two large trips in a month to Sam's Club stocking up on majorly used items and supplementing with small trips weekly to a closer store.
(3) By good old stand-by of Aldi's. Using my own menu plan and price list and shopping once a week.

Clearly the option 1 isn't really the way to go for me. Spending too much time looking through ads and coupons and then driving too many places for "one day only deals" (like $5 pizzas on Fridays from Dominicks).

My goal for February: To get back down to $115 per week. Tomorrow starts the official "February Spending Cycle" at my house with DH's paycheck. I am doing one last run to Dominick's for the upcoming week's groceries and I plan to spend $50 after a $25 coupon. I've got a detailed plan down to snacks and breakfast foods and lunch items.

After that, it is a return to Aldi's for me for the remainder of the month.

My last thrilling haul of coupon use ended yesterday when I spent $14 after a coupon savings of $22. What did I buy? Bic mechanical pencils (2), feminine hygiene product (1), six Protein bars for DH, four cans of Pringles, two boxes of Fiber One cereal, three bags of Kraft Homestyle Mac and Cheese (to share with soon to be unemployed brother), and a 12-pack of toilet paper. Took me 70 minutes to accomplish the above, stopping at five different stores (I used ECB and Walgreen's rebate dollars) and one store offered 5 double coupons (up to $1) and I had 8. The thrill of that haul will have to carry me through to awhile.

Time to dust off my binder of recipes and go back to scratch. What do my kids love more for breakfast? A bowl of cereal and milk or my homemade apple muffins? The muffins. Which is cheaper for a family my size? The muffins. Which is probably healthire for my family? The muffins. And when they get tired of muffins, there is the old standy of chocolate chip waffles. I'm misguided by the thrill of buying that box of cereal for $1.34. Who really ultimately cares?

If you're still following, thanks for following me on my mulling over my poor money management in the consumables department.

Wow, hard to believe it is February already! Yesterday's 60 degree weather had me thinking Easter should be right around the corner! One year ago today Chicago was in the middle of the blizzard that dumped 13" of snow in a 24-hour period. Today it is warm and overcast.

January's finances were on autopilot. I was not pleased with how I managed (or didn't) the grocery budget. I feel that my budgeted amount is reasonable, but I blew it by spending money on items that weren't necessarily needed but I had coupons for. I must break hold of the allure of couponing.

Feb Goal: Stay within grocery budget!! "How?" you ask, given how much you spent last month? Menu plan and price list from Aldi's. That's it. Skip the circulars and coupons and the drama of that for the month of Feb. Plug pulled! I'm fine on dog food and personal care items, so that should give a bit of breathing room. Also transfer two Rxs from Osco to Dominick's to take advantage of their $25 off of $50 coupons.

I am pleased with the amount that we didn't spend on extraneous things. There were expenses for the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Cars, but we used 50% off coupons at Michaels. For clothing I spent just uunder $20 buying DS jeans and DH a shirt at the resale store, and buying younger daughter's swimsuit on clearance at Kohl's for $10.

Passive Income Challenge: Presently at $350 with another $81.33 coming in February.

Still waiting on federal tax refund direct deposit. Turbo Tax said 2/1 was the deposit date, with the IRS website saying 2/7. Please, give me my money back!

Gift card challenge: January I ended up redeeming points for a $10 Target Card and we got the $50 Prepaid Visa from switching our energy provider (I forgot about that so it was a nice suprise).

Financial concerns: DH is contemplating a change of career of sorts which would represent less income and I'm wondering what our long-term financial moves should be. Sell rental property and become virtually mortgage-free now? Downsize to a smaller house in the near future? Lots of things to think about and mull over. I have also found it necessary to have some boundaries in listening to other people about their money concerns because it has a sort of residual negative affect on me, causing me to worry needlessly about my own situation. Best friend is now on short-term disabilty (but I fear it is laziness that it keeping her in her present situation) and brother's situation isn't really looking up given lack of severence, lack of interest in the resumes he's putting out, and lack of things like reliable transportation and health insurance. Me oh my!

Off to catch up on others' blogs now!

I haven't necessarily came to place of "peace of mind" over my finances. I am aware that we should be putting more into retirement and education, and it seems that there are always those extraneous expenses despite being the pro-active in planning. I try to take the least expensive route someplace before taking the more expensive. I'm trying to educate myself about different scenarios in our future and figuring out the monetary upside and downside of these options. But overall, I am satisfied. I give myself (and DH) the grade of a solid B for of efforts and achievement and planning.

But, other people's money ... I can't let it get to me. I haven't quite figured out how to safety distance myself from OTHER PEOPLE'S chaos about THEIR MONEY. The amount of time I can listen isn't open-ended. My advice isn't worth much, because I've tried to offer it in the past. I'm thinking this is going to my strategy and I'm interested in feedback.

I want to go to the used bookstore and pick up Mary Hunt's Debt Proof Living book - two of them. And I want to give them to the two people in my inner circle who need them. BF who makes continued bad choices and is on the brink of disaster herself (hates her job, is probably facing being fired, and her option for employment - in a traveling worker capacity - and key to this is the option of renting her condo out, and that isn't an option for a year as indicated in her refinance papers). Brother will be unemployed in two weeks and the details of his practical life need to be settled, given he has a company car, a company cell phone, a company computer, insurance through the company, and his house was put up as collateral to the business. Quite a complicated endeavor to have himself extrapolated from his employment situation.

So, do I give these books now? Or later? Or never? And I should add that I no longer give unsolicited advice, and both of these people regard me as a good money manager and planner and have asked for money advice in the calendar year of 2012.

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it most likely, probably, is a duck.

Seems that financial unrest and monetary chaos abounds in my inner circle. Brother and unemployment around the corner, and best friend's poor financial decisions, yikes!

Best friend just refinanced her mortgage (this is a good thing) to escrow in her real estate taxes and insurance into the payment. She's another poor, poor money manager, single, no dependents. Her first mortgage payment isn't due for another month, so she went out and bought a new couch from Pottery Barn because they offered her both the regular sale and the moving sale. I just saw her place and there was nothing wrong with her old sofa, looked nice and went well with her new lazy boy. So anoyhow, she bought the totally unneeded, but wanted sofa for a smidge under $1K. (Did I mention her student loans are in deferment because she can't pay them and she makes $80K a year? And she can't pay down her credit card detb because she doesn't make enough.)

Couldn't help biting my tongue and saying that with the career change that DH is considering we'll be faced with significantly less in the monteary realm. To that she laughed and said, "You'll be fine. You're a planner. And if DH has keys to the food pantry, none of us will go hungry."

Me, oh my! Spend $.17 OOP at Walgreens for two 12.5 ounce boxes of Honey Nut Cheerios and a 2L of soda (one is first item for brother's stockpile).

Sad for me I won't be able to sit on my brand new pottery barn sofa pondering my financial concerns!

This is really all in humor this post, making me glad of my mindset and my money management skills, though always room for improvement. I did drop off all the completed paperwork for the $20K scholarship my daughter is applying for. I've got a good feeling that she is a definite for one of the 27, given our commitment to all things Catholic and the glowing letters of recommendation she got.

Done with ramble. Quack!

I talked to my mom this morning and found out that my brother will be unemployed in three weeks. He's a partner is a small law firm and while there's a contract in place, he won't be receiving much/if any compensation. He's lived high on the hog in many years past, but this working for himself has brought in not nearly enough money in the past. I feel sorry for him that he is a poor planner. Of course my father won't let him lose his house (nor would my father let me lose my house if I were in a similar situation), but I'm worried about how much stress this will cause him. As small as my EF is, it is at least in existence and could cover bare bones living expenses for four months. And I have plans, versions A and B, for different scenarios. I'm hoping that he's able to land on his feet soon and I'm going to look through my coupons to see about helping him build a small stockpile of convenience foods (spaghettio's and cereal).

Hopefully the lesson taken away from this situation is "It is best to put something away for a rainy day." You never know when it will rain!

OK, now that the bills and budget seemed to have taken care of themselves and fallen into a logical rhythm (and we're not paycheck to paycheck and a full month ahead on things) and money is on auto-pilot, I'm deciding to be more proactive on steps to maximize the money (and make those dollars scream as I stretch them).

Here are the plans for the week to maximize the money:
(1) Check Goodwill and the resale store for jeans for the youngest child, hoping to spend no more than $5
(2) Transfer Rx from Jewel to Dominick's to take advantage of a $25 coupon off of a $50 shopping trip. There are three Rxs I can transfer prior to the 3/31 end of offer.
(3) Take advantage of Walgreen's Triaminic offer 2/$10 with a future $5 offer (using $3 off) and then using that for cereal. I will do this once and only buy as needed.
(4) Limit local driving to save on gas usage.

I plan on posting Mondays on what I can do to stretch the budget. Any ideas on things for you to do?

That is the only title I could come up with at this moment. It is indeed Monday and dreary, with rain, I think, predicted for the day. Depressing clouds block the non-existent sun and all of the freshly fallen snow from Friday has melted to show patches of brown dead grass. Can you tell that I'm ready for spring?!

In my last post I shared that the federal taxes are filed and accepted and the refund of $4,583 should be direct deposited on 2/1. I'm using those funds to get the property tax monkey off my/our back. This is the first year that our state or county is offering a prepayment option, so I'm exercising that and with my accumulated $1,600, I should be able to pay off $6,000 of the $6,800 by 2/2. While I'm still in paperwork mode my goals for the next two days are to finish up state taxes and scholarship applications/financial aid paperwork, which is really just sitting down and re-entering all the numbers. I'll hopefully have that done and finished by tomorrow with DH faxing the supporting documentation to the Facts Tuition folks on Wednesday morning.

Our weekend was low-key, but we did have our first monthly family outing. I'm one of those people who has recently figured out that the calendar isn't really something to live by. It can be totally overwhelming by activities and things. This Saturday upcoming is an example of great schedule chaos: the Cub Scouts Pinewood Derby is 12:30-3:00. Set up is prior and our den is in charge. I have another child with a basketball game one suburb north at 11:00 and another child with a baskeball game TBD. So that means that I rush from one activitiy to another and worry about being late and/or worry about coordinating with other parents.

Yesterday was one of those rare days with NOTHING on the calendar, a whole blissful Sunday to ourselves. We opted for early Mass at 8:45, came home and spent 1.5 hours on quiet work (homework, projects, reading). After lunch we went to see "The Muppet Movie" - DH and I loved it a lot more than the kids because of its recollections from our youth, but I think they liked it. Cost for outing: $8.37 on movie theatre candy at CVS, and $24 admission. It seems to me that is about what I spend locally for outings with the kids, to bowl for an hour is $32. So anyhow, family time is now on the calendar and I've got a clue to re-aligning our outings so they're in line with priorities (faith/family/friends).

I created a major excel spreadsheet that I think will work for us. No more different sheets with different categories; it is now one long sheet with each of our major umbrellas of expenses: Discretionary (Living), Fixed (Utilities and Mortgage) and Reserve (short-term expenses we call Extraneous). I've increased the % to 401K back to 10, after lowing it to 4 back in Sept when we ran out of HSA funds and had to pay $250 a month for asthma meds.

Passive Income Challenge has $350 in it, and I'm not including the pending $283.

All in all, things are fine, despite the depressing weather!

And refund of $4,583 is expected to be direct deposited on 2/1.

We are snowed in and there wasn't much to do last night, so I sat down and finished the federal. I got a bit bored and will continue with the state in the near future.

The last child was sick with a low-grade temperature of 100.6 on Saturday and Sunday. This allowed us to skip her two basketball games those afternoons in several suburbs over. Nice not to travel, but poor thing was just miserable.

I think that the post-Holiday lull and the snow and cold has set most of the people I know on "blah". I've unfortunately become the sound board to most of these people complaints, and now that I've got some complaints of my own (nothing major, just some gripes over volunteer work and some bad grown-up behavior) the dynamics of some of these relationships is changing, and I'm leaning toward that place of really wanting to be anti-social for the remainder of the month.

Anyhow, today all the kids went back to school and I'm on my own, but feeling somewhat lethargic (seasonal affective disorder most likely.) Trudging on through the day - cleaning, laundry, cooking and then homework and projects galore.

Passive Income Challenge has developed a sub-category of "Gift Card Challenge". I redeemed a $10 Target Gift Card through my regular debit card account at PNC. DH was jsut approved the American Express Gold which will yield us $250 in gift cards with $1000 in charges in three months. I think we'll use that for the living expenses for the next two months and will be able to wrack that up pretty fast (paid off of course). I'm not really counting that as a Monetary Contribution to the Passive Income Challenge, although I can always just make a contribution of that amount, I suppose. Still figuring it out.

another day with a sickling, same sickling as yesterday. He had a temp of 99.9 and had a nose bleed last night, so he's not going to school. This means that I'm housebound again.

Money-wise, not much is going on. By being judicious with the spending, I'm finding that I'll be able to take care of things (small and medium sized expenses) sooner than expected. My inlaws left DH with a $100 check to be deposited on 1/26 (after their next direct deposit) and my grandma sent me a $100 check, too. I'm expecting reimbursement of $69.99 for expenses outlaid for Cub Scouts and the Knights of Columbus. Also still haven't submitted $11 worth of receipts for Room Parent expenses. I did mail in the paperwork for the collection of the found $81.33, so the passive income challenge is alive and well. I also forgot about the $100 that I moved from savings to open the Sharebuilder Account with, so I'm including that in the Passive Income Challenge as well.

Busy weekend around here with high school Entrance Exams and basketball games, plus a sleepover and a small list of To Dos. Hope that healthy days are right around the corner.

Well, not exactly. Same situation, different sick child. This one loves school and when he says "I don't think I feel well enough to go", it means he feels rotten. The thermometer is teetering at 99.3, so something is abuzz. This is the St. Francis reincarnate whose love for animals is endless. I made a comfy bed on the couch and he dragged his blankets down on the floor to lay with our dog. It will be another day of cartoons. Which translates to more stitching time for me. I'm cranking out my small free project, using on hand fabric and floss. It inspired me to clear out and organize my stitching bin and come up with other projects to do that I might have on hand. Thankfully, my pile of unfinished projects isn't that vast. Due to the price of framing (which is high), I am sticking to standard sized frames of 5" x 5" or 6" x 6" or 5" x 7".

I checked the status of my oddities that I have on consignment at the store featured on TLC's "What the Sell". No interest in my partridge lamps or guilded mirror to date. THere is a second consignment store that I am willing to try and the proceeds of the sale are donated to charity. Perhaps some rich person with eccelctic taste woule interested in my items at the next place. I am learning that individual taste for these items is definitely rare.

Worked the budget for the first quarter of 2012 and looks like I can accomplish quite a bit with discipline and determination. Staying out of stores has helped, also having a running excel spreadsheet that I look at DAILY has also helped be a better spender of the funds.

I completely stocked up on Triaminic cold medication for the kids, forgetting the random chance that I, or DH, grown-ups, might get sick along the way, too?

Triaminic was $1 a bottle after all coupons and ECBs (Walgreens equivalent) were applied. My kids have all returned to school and I now have the plugged nose, the sinus head-ache, the odd ear squeal and pop, a sore-sore throat. My grown-up options for medications are limited. I think I'll take an aspirin and tea to begin with.

I did make progress on my thrifty craft project yesterday, so I suppose I'll make major progress today not having to nurse sick people.

Younger daughter is off of crutches and is using a walking cast after her spill last Thursday. We watched the movie "Jig" on Lifetime on Sunday and she's been air dancing since then. I'm not looking forward to her returning to class and possible reinjuring her ankle. Thankfully we've been able to use friends' crutches and air casts.

All the bills for January were paid with the last of December's paycheck and I used monetary gifts to make the mortgage payment, too. So we're starting to pay February's bills as they are coming in. We are skipping taking the girls to the January competition (savings of $120), and we've suprisingly paid cash for some reimbursible expenses ($29.99 for the Cub Scout's Pinewood Derby Scale and $40 for gift certificates for prizes for an essay contest sponsored my DH's fraternal organization) rather than using the credit card. Things are looking fine for the time being. I am enjoying the lull of crazy spending prior to Christmas. I do see the benefit of organizing your finances and To-Do's on paper.

Time to go catch up on everyone's blogs.

Well, sickness has befallen the house of M. I'm home with a sick 8th grader and a sick 1st grader. The younger one responded better to his medication, is fever-free presently sitting on the floor humming and playing with Legos. The 8th grader has not rallied, and is wrapped in a comforter on the couch simply resting. Science Fair presentation is tomorrow and the high school entrance exam is on Saturday so I've decided to dose her with amoxycillan (we keep it on hand and tend to give if she runs a high fever for 24 hours since she can get to pneumonia quickly - or I should say "has" in the past prior to the pneumovax). So I'm housebound, but the cupboards are full.

Only thing I'm missing is a current craft project. I am a cross-stitcher with no current projects in place. I started looking at patterns which are rather expensive, online that cost $7 + shipping for a 5" x 5" pattern. After a little bit of time on line, I found free patterns that I liked every bit as much as the expensive ones. I printed out four (trees during each season) (FREE) and I checked my stash and had fabric and floss. This might be my year of thrifty hobbying! I should add that I am a basic DMC color floss person as opposed to the new hand-dyed silk floss which is available nowadays in brilliant hues and tones. The cost of the DMC is $.39 as opposed to $2.00 for the new ones. I suppose I could argue that I'd be supporting local artisans purchasing the $2 ones rather than the most-likely made in China $.49 ones, but money IS money at this point.

Onto the Passive Income Challenge, I have received (again) the offer of $100 for the TCF Bank Checking Account. I like this one as it doesn't require any driect deposits, only 12 transactions in three months. DH has been offered American Express Gold which rewards $1000 in three months with $250 in gift cards. Considering that one as well.

Off to start my thrifty cross stitch project while listening to science fair project presentation AND playing Clara Barton/Florence Nightingale.

Well, 2012's fiscal year began yesterday with the first paycheck of the year. I'm a bit excited by the whole thing.

My first goal is to track my grocery spending (all items and coupons) to determine which approach offers me the best savings: (1) ads and coupons weekly, (2) Aldi's bare basic necessities budget with other needed items purchased at different stores, (3) Sam's Club. My first go around for month one is: (1) Ads and coupons. I spent an hour on Thursday mapping out coupons with store ads and I think I did fairly well. I spent $130 for the week and will actually probably be able to stretch it ten days, only adding milk and fresh produce. I'm contemplating powdered milk for all the baking I do (muffins, waffles, etc). Trying to cut corners where-ever I can.

Our extranous expenses are high this two week pay period: $35 for high school entrance exam fee, $107 feis registration fee, and $280 for DH's three month exercise session. Had to transfer $150 from small savings account to cover that category, but don't expect major expenses in this category again for awhile.

I upped the 401K from 6% to 10%, I changed it downward when we ran out of HSA funds and needed to cover my daughter's asthma meds. Now that it is a new year, new funds are available.

OK, all for now!

In an effort to be more productive with my time and being a more efficient user of fuel, I turned down an outing today with my mother. We usually travel around town once or twice a week, mostly after Mass, going to the library, local errands, etc. We spent a lot of time together before Christmas and today is the first day my step-dad is back to school (his vacation time started later than ours).

My mom called to see if I wanted to go to Macy's and Ikea. Macy's because I have a $25 gift card that I've had forever and probably should just spend. Also my oldest daughter's new favorite meal is the meatballs out of IKEA. Payday is Friday and I have NO money left. I spent wisely yesterday on sale items and used coupons (biggest savings was NEEDED robe for son (MSRP $38, at 80% off at Kohls, was $8.08 with tax). So that's it for me.

I had to say that I'm tapped out til Friday and I'm not feeling the NEED to get out of the house and kill time. So today I stay home and finish up the laundry, start making some headway in the organization department, and stay warm.

So, the IKEA meatball will still be waiting for me, and I'll use the Macy's giftcard at some point in the future. Discipline and purpose, two things I'm striving towards.

All the kids (including the 5th Grade Science Class' Box Turtle that we hosted this Christmas Vacation) went back to school today. DH should probably be included in this count since he's been home since 12/23, but he did have two days at work last week. It was a delightful time and I'm sad to see it end. Definitely makes me realize the importance of building family time into the schedule just like any other activity. We spent the afternoon at the Museum of Science and Industry, and had a really fun time. Only expense: $14 for discounted parking (savings of $6 due to membership). I packed snacks and drinks from home, so after a late full breakfast and an early big dinner we eliminated the need to lunching out.

We did a major sort of sort and purge in the kids' rooms, and I've got two big bags for donations, another bag of garbage, and a box of things for our friends we "donate" regularly too. I was going to declare January a no-spend month, seeing we're coming off of Christmas where most needs and wants were fulfilled. HOWEVER, I am in need of a pair of winter boots for oldest son, and next son is in need of a robe. Probably Kohl's or Walmart for those should yield some sort of discounted savings. (I will not abandon the pursuit of "saving while spending")

Financial To-Do Tasks:
(1) Make copy of drivers license to mail in paperwork for claiming lost money ($81.33)
(2) Start getting numbers for tax purposes
(3) Submit $11 worth receipts for Room Parent expenses

I'm still working of concrete goals for life in 2012. I hope to earn $1200 (10% of present EF total) in a Passive Income Challenge. I have earned $100 on the Citibank Dividend Credit Card Promotion (spend $500 get $100), I "found" $81.33 in lost money from the state of IL, and I opened the Sharebuilder Account and expect the $75 in 4-6 weeks (I think), I also opened a PerkStreet Debit card Account and made $25. So all in all, the wheels of accomplishment are turning in that direction regarding that concrete goal.

Just popping in to say HAPPY NEW YEAR to you! Wishing you all the best for the upcoming year.

I sadly fizzled somewhere on actual goals and tracking progress. So I have nothing to report as far as accomplishments achieved, aside from keeping track of a large generally happy, healthy family and not making majorly poor financial choices along the way.

I'll be giving some thought to concrete goals and will be looking for some serious accountability - any wanna-be accountability buddies out there for the taking? Maybe weekly individual emails? All along the lines of annonymity, of course .

Hope that you all have a wonderful first day to the New Year, relaxing and enjoying family and friends!!

Wishing everyonen all the best!

I had a blessed Christmas with family. It began with Mass on Christmas Eve to herald in the Christ child (the reason for our season) and was followed by quality time with family. Good food, good times, good behavior by all.

My children were gracious recipients of all gifts. There were extravagant items (X-Box and Kinnect from my father) and practical items (slippers from my grandmother) and we're embracing the new custom of photo thank-yous - so we've got fun pictures of kids with the items.

I was thinking a lot about the materialistic aspect of Christmas. We stick to three or four gifts for the kids from "santa" and we pick names from a hat for our "Advent Buddies" and our "Stocking Santa". The children were so thoughtful in their gift-giving, warmed my heart.

I think what inspired me to post this blog was "Hurry - Don't Forget Your Gifts for King Day" (apparently referring to the Epiphany)? Yet another religious holiday used for gift giving? If I am off-base and in my ignorance am showing irreverance to some cultures, I apologize. It just seemed to me ... wrong.

It is so easy to get caught up in the bargain hunting for gifts for next season. I'll admit to buying my box of Christmas card for next year at 50% off, but that's it so far.

My brother dated a woman for several years and my thoughts of her at the time were ... well, not very nice. We are worlds apart as women, and I thought my world was made of better choices. Anyhow, she and my brother parted ways over a year ago, but we still run into her now and then. Her brother was sadly murdered a few months back. A young man, handsome and happy in all the pictures. I never met him, but his family talked affectionately of him. I had a Mass said for him ... tomorrow at 7:00 AM. I arranged it in the beginning of the month and my mother sent the Mass Card to the ex-girlfriend and daughter in her Christmas card.

The ex-girlfriend called today and cried. She managed to express gratitude for remembering her brother and having the Mass said and praying for him. I, of course, cried right along with her. She said it was the best gift. It cost me nothing more than a small donation, and it was the right thing to do. I am glad that I was able to bring her a measure of comfort during this time. Kindness sure goes a long way, doesn't it?

Merry, merry Christmas! May your holidays be filled with love and peace and happiness and joy! May the New Year be everything you hope for!

Disclaimer: I totally get that I am not working smarter, but harder. This is all in the name of saving money when I do have to spend it. I realize that my time IS money in some sense of the word, but I'm truly being guided by the premise that "every dollar counts".

I gave up my Kohl's charge card. Paid it off and closed the account. Whatever savings they offered, the interest was high and I ended up carrying a balance. Gone and done. Good-bye. My mom has a 30% off coupon, and I'm going to go with her to re-buy the shrug, bra(s), and pants that I purchased. I should save $18 on those items (of course I'll return them with my receipt that didn't have a discount). $18 is $18 in my book.

Well, today is the Christmas Show at school for the kids. DH and I go at for the parent show, which has the kids in uniform. Tonight is the show they get all dressed up for, and my parents take them to that.

I made a big batch of brown sugar cookies yesterday. Today is gingerbread cookies. I have a batch of dough in the fridge now, and will make another one early afternoon. Most of the things have fallen into place for the 4th Grade party tomorrow. My take-charge friend is now on board thinking everything through and trouble shooting any potential problem. I'll use my 40% off coupon at Joanne's to pick up the gag gift for the 7th grade's white elephant exchange (Plastic toy animals that poop candy is the new range - ick! But it needs to be gender-neutral). So on my front, all is looking manageable. I've got 45 mintues to start Chrsitmas wrapping.

Hope everyone has joy in their hearts as they go about doing what they do. I'm thinking I won't be on much until the new year with the kids being home and we've got some fun stuff planned as a family: trip to Morton Arboretum, maybe last minute tickets to see "A Christmas Carol" at Drury Lane, a train trip downtown to finally go to Willis/Sears Tower and ice skate, plus the Holiday itself and Mass and meaningful family time, plus inlaws in town, and oh, yeah ... older daughter's belated birthday celebration.

So, with that I'll wish my Christian friends "A Most Blessed Christmas, celebrating the birth of our Savior." To my non-Christian friends, I wish you "A Holiday Season filled with Peace and Love."

Merry Christmas! Laura

The basking glow of my frugal finds dimmed slightly yesterday. The biggest expense seems to be outfitting my children (5) in new ensembles for their Christmas show at school and Mass on Christmas Eve. With the boys it isn't that hard to hand down, resurrect, and buy filler items. All that remains for that category is a pair of brown dress shoes for oldest.

The girls, on the other hand, are a bit more complicated. Older daughter is wearing her dress from Father-Daughter dance, but needed a new shrug. Found at Kohl's for $25. We happened to come across a very cute clearance dress for an upcoming event (2012 Father-Daughter Formal or Valentine's Day Dance) for $23. Younger daughter found her dress on clearance at Von Maur for $16 (and it's made in the USA!), but she needed a belt $13 to go with it. I felt fine with those purchases/accessories.

It was the shoes that did me in. Taking five kids straights from school to Kohls with only a minimal snack and staying in the store for over 45 minutes is a lethal combination. Both girls found shoes (black heels) for $68 total + tax. I bit the bullet and bought them. Then in the car after the shopping trip, kids rallied when one decided to share a huge Hershey's bar. That was enough to sustain a quick trip to Payless where each girl got black shoes that they liked better than the ones they picked at Kohl's and we picked up a new pair of school shoes. I forgot my coupon for 20% off, and the girl applied the discount (we were just there for gym shoes for younger daughter and I again forgot my coupon Note to self: NOT working smarter, DEFINITELY working harder). So those THREE shoes came to $43.

Item 1 on my To-Do today is to go back to Kohl's and return the $65 shoes. $65 for 2, versus $43 for 3, I'll consider this a small victory of sorts for my money.

I think what I take away from this is: for 2012, I'll try to spend over a more spread out time frame for upcoming events, and my daughters and I will definitely continue to check out the clearance racks for cute dresses.

I had a bit of time yesterday to kill before having to pick kids up at school. I decided to stop at our local domestic violence resale store (all proceeds go to fund the shelter and services in our county) and also Goodwill. The last few times I've been in either of those, I've left empty handed, not quite finding anything that was "right" or "needed". I must admit that I was feeling a bit inadequate in the "item finding department" compared to CB who always manages to score great finds.

My grandpa used to tell me "the tides on the minnies have turned." He was born and raised on a farm in Michigan, and while I never asked the origin of the saying I think it has something to do with minnows swimming upstream to spawn? If anyone reads this and has a different interpretation, please share. This quote applies to the turn of luck that I've experienced in having fruitful resale store excursions.

OK, I have joined the card-carrying club of thrift store scorers with the following two purchases! Here is what I got:

First Store:

Magic Tree House Christmas Book (hardcover) $.94 (all Christmas items were 25% off)

Dept. 56 Christmas figurine: $3.94

New With Tags Talbots Navy Blue Blazer for son: $6.00
(original MSRP $68)

Made in USA Camel colored Wool Blazer for son: $1.63
(Blue tags were 1/2 off trying to reduce inventory)

Two Polo brand Golf shirts for DH: $7.00 (each was $5.00 but 30% off)

Pair of jeans for son: $1.75 (1/2 off)

TOTAL FOR THIS HAUL: $22.95


Second Trip to Goodwill

Gag gift for DH: GB Fauvre Football Jersey: $6.64

Three long-sleeves shirts for DH: $3.79 x 3
One long-sleeve shirt for DH: $4.74
(1 was brand new Lands End with tags, virtually new Brook Brothers plaid shirt, and two RL Polo brand oxfords)

One dress shirt for son: $2.37

TOTAL FOR THIS HAUL: $26.94 (and this was with a discount applied)

Boy do I feel like I hit the Bonanza Jackpot. Six shirts for hubby, my oldest son has a choice on which blazer/sport coat he wants to wear (and both match his Christmas shirt), little guy has a shirt that fits and jeans (we go through pants regularly with knees through holes). My reluctant reader is excited by a book, and I have a new chotchky (or however you spell it).

I'm feeling like a good steward of my husband's money and I'm grateful for these finds.

Struggle

I had to go back re-read my post from Friday, about how grateful I am that my children love service and giving back to the community. After I posted that I turned up to help out at the Senior Sing that the 8th grade was hosting for the seniors of our parish. The agenda was to have the 5th graders sing their songs for the Christmas concert, have the 8th graders sing, and then have the Catholic High School's jazz band and performance choir sing. The students brought in cookies they made and we had coffee and tea. Essentialy the 8th graders were the ones to mix and mingle, but parents were asked to volunteer to come and oversee. I was at the school on Thursday evening, and the coordinator of Friday's event asked if I could bring my camera to take some pictures. I said "sure". I happened to be THE ONLY parent to show up to help out. No other parent out of the other 37 students showed up. Boy, I would have liked to complain about that to someone, but then I had to think about what my kids think - nice to give back. The seniors were very appreciative and friendly and complimented the students. The best was when I talked to an ancient grandma (probably 95+) who was delighted to meet a "mother" (me) who had five wonderful children in a Catholic school, "each one a gift from God." She also said she meets many women today who aren't mothers first. And of course there isn't any debate that nowadays most women need to work (especially where I live to maintain a certain lifestyle). I felt a sort of cameraderie with this woman who herself stayed home and raised a family. It was a bit of a struggle for me though, in those initial minutes of realizing I was the only one, and I started down that, "But I'm a Room parent who has to plan the 4th grade party, and what about the Pinewood Derby Cub Scout Event looming large." Had to tell myself to put a cork in it and move on. I alone had volunteered in one way or another for those capacities.

Challenge

I have declared 2012 my year of passive income. My goal is $1,000 and I am still working on the parameters of it. My first additition will be $81.33 of "found money" located through the post from last week, can't recall OP.

"Stuff". I'm officially done with the Christmas shopping. 4 gifts for each child to open Christmas morning, one of those being a "group" gift for family fun - Smurf movie DVD, 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, Yahtzee Flash, etc. The remaining items are things they want that I wouldn't ordinarily buy (big Lego sets, Pink brand sweat suit for daughter, designer wristlet for other daughter.) Amount on each child: $130-$150. Gifts for parents/inlaws and brother/best friend $20 (dropped down from $30) but I think I did a good job finding items on sale that the individual would like.

"Service". My kids are volunteers at heart, coming from mostly seeing how involved we as a family are in service at our parish. DH and I are actively involved in all the kids' programs our Church offers (he is the Youth Director for the Knights of Columbus and I'm the co-cordinator for the summer programs). My kids love to help out and were just waiting for the sign-up sheet to be a part of the Christmas Eve Mass. It prompted a good conversation with my kids about being active and sharing our joy about the things. My older daughter suggested a family volunteer outing after Christmas at "Feed My Starving Children" the day or two after Christmas, and including the grandparents. I think this is a wonderful tradition and I'm so proud of her for wanting to do this.

Today is payday and rent collection day. This is the boring part of the month were I pay the mortgage, put our living expenses in the checking account and move the remainder to "reserve". I am waiting for a check for $1,950 to clear, for my daughter's solo dress. We bought it used from a family with tons of money. If I had a check for that amount, I'd promptly drive to the bank and deposit it. [I should add that I didn't actually pay that amount because I sold her old dress for $1,300. ]

That's all

I survived last week home with a sick child. Monday was Day #1 with three children. Days #2-#4 were with oldest daughter who has asthma and had a sinus infection. After the second trip to the doctor (the first the Wed before Thanksgiving, the second the Tues after) we finally got her on an anti-biotic. Since we're OOP on the Rxs now until January, I was shocked to find out that Augmentin was $145. I talked to the nurse who called in Amoxycillan for $26. Anyhow, the Amoxycillan has worked just fine and did the trick.

We're busy with a band concert tonight, caroling at the nursing home/senior center on Friday. I've got the 4th Grade Christmas party next Friday and am looking forward to quality time with the kids.

Money-wise, I'm a spending fool. The boys needed clothes, so I had a coupon for $10 off of $50 at Old Navy. I was happy to find a new coat for one of them for $25, plus got some warm pants and pull over for $8. I had a $10 off coupon at Kohl's so I got 18 pairs of socks for the boys for $7. I bought a sweater for my mother for Christmas using a store credit that I had at JCP.

I am looking forward to January and a new budget. I need to take a lot at my spending more realistically.

Hope all are well.