The Miley Cyrus Connection---It's a Good Thing!

             Can I be annoyingly happy for a post?  Typically, I spend my life envying the stay-at-home moms (SAHM) who get to take care of (only) their children while I shuffle off to conquer the education of 18 kindergarteners. But for the next two months, like Hannah Montana, I get the "best of both worlds!" I used the quotation marks to emphasize I am singing that line.  June and July are full of uninterrupted days with my own children. We will cook meals, clean and organize our house (like a good housewife would) AND we get to enjoy outings together, which I try to do daily as a quality time together activity.   I get to feel (mostly) like a SAHM.  Yet, even better? I still get a paycheck.  Hence the best of both worlds, home with my children and a paycheck to boot.
               This afternoon was the start of the SAHM season, after a dicey meeting at work. The meeting was dicey only because my children were WITH me at the meeting while we waited for my teenager to finish band practice and pick them up.  Unfortunately, band practice went LONG and my little kids embarrassed me at my workplace relentlessly. But I digress, at noon, our meeting was dismissed and summer break could begin!
                 I was ready to go live it up!  I was dressed, my kids were too, but 12:30 p.m. meant lunch and a nap.  After cooking a fine meal of macaroni and cheese, I tried to encourage my son to take his nap.  He wasn't going for it. So I did what any mom desperate to enjoy her new-found freedom would do. I bribed him, telling him that when he awoke, I would take him to Chuck E. Cheese.  Mission accomplished. Down my boy crashed, and soon after, I joined him (this is very strange, I am usually not a napper, but today's nap felt good--who knew?)
               Upon waking, all kids (even my teen!) remembered the promise, and shoes were on.  I grabbed some refillable Chuck E. Cheese cups they give out a parties and will let you refill for free, a few tokens and tickets we had leftover from our last trip, and my daughter's report card.  I call this scrounging for anything that will help you save on an outing, and we also scrounged online for coupons to use, too.
               Who knew my three kids could have so much fun for $10. Yes, that is all I spent for them to play an hour.  My younger daughter had brought her report card, for which they gave her another 10 free tokens. Fun was had by all and when they money ran out, they cashed in their tickets and chose a prize.
             We left Chuck E. Cheese in a complete downpour. Of course, I offered to run to the car and pick up the kids at the door, but even that 20 seconds out in this rain left me completely drenched.  I hope my kids remember fondly me running out the door as I screamed from the rain as a bolted to our car.
             On the way home, we stopped by for a free Redbox rental I had been emailed earlier that day, which is perfect since Friday night is our movie night.  I popped popcorn over the stove (yes! you can do that!) and we all gobbled up the buttery goodness.
              Altogether, my first day of summer mom cost me $10.20.  I am looking forward to finding many ways we can enjoy this special time without emptying my bank account.

16 years later....

      I can finally say I am credit card balance free!!!!  Not debt-free, but we are making some progress! At about the age of 20 I realized how EASY it was to get a credit card, and how FUN it was to use it. Even though I was a single mom in college working as a waitress, I had my hair done regularly, brand name clothes, and dined at fabulous restaurants.  HOW could I afford that? V-I-S-A and her sly cousins; namely Victoria's Secret, Express, NY and Company, you name the store, I had the card. And if I had the card I used it.  And if the money was there, I paid the bill. If it wasn't, I played it like Vegas and let it ride.  This has been a well-taught lesson I will NEVER forget. I am still dealing with consequences of actions sixteen years later.
      However, today I have HOPE.  Meeting number two with our money coach will have enough for me to work on and blog about for weeks and it is a beautiful day here in Florida.  We have a reserved deck with food and drinks at the minor league baseball fields tonight courtesy or my teacher's union, and so I have to keep this short and sweet.
      Today, we were able to pay our large Visa balance in full, as well as a consolidation of a few medical bills by taking out a personal loan.  The terms are five years, at 9.24%, but we are budgeting to pay double the payments and finish in 2.5 years.  That will be an interest savings of about $550 per year (an extra half of a paycheck!) and $1500 saved for the remainder of the loan if I maintain the paid off in 2.5 years plan. Can you say "ecstatic"??? I can and I am. If you can resonate with the monkey-on-your-back Visa like I have loathed for years, you should give this option a try.
    Some other juicy tidbits from our meeting I will be posting when it is not 90 degrees and sunny on a long weekend....

• Check out creditkarma.com---It gives you a free credit score, and my favorite part was the report card feature detailing where your credit is suffering and excelling. Bonus? My score was 40 points higher than the bank said it was two weeks ago.  I am wondering if adding my name to my husband's cards is already paying off? Or if old marks just happened to drop off? Or, if it is an accuracy issue. I will be checking again and checking often.
• Open another savings account that you do not touch, and keep as true savings.  I opened mine today with $5 and am going to add money I save via coupons/sales/ect. to set aside as evidence my frugal ways are benefiting our family. I will be posting more on this soon.
• BUMP UP the amount you put in your retirement account.  I talked to an old co-worker who retired a year ago today, and she has me MOTIVATED to retire in my 50's like her. You will not regret saving for retirement.
• Look closely at your paystubs for any other "fat" you can trim.  I want my $25/paycheck I have been paying to the teacher's union and will be leaving the union soon.

Our Real Motivation

    Our kids hopped on their bikes tonight, squeezing the last drips out of a gorgeous Florida spring day.  My husband had lowered the seat on my daughter's free bike scored last night and it was certainly a perfect fit.  I watched her a bit and then crept back in the house to prepare one of the new recipes I had shopped for on Saturday.  It was a winner, turkey meatballs with tomato and mozzarella cheese squished inside, served over noodles and marinara sauce.  My newly licensed driver took one of the littles to the library to pick out some new books, which both littles climbed up into my son's top bunk to read before bed.  A strange leak from the minivan sent my husband to the auto parts store for some free advice and a extra part they had lying around.  After finishing some cute end-of-the year photos for my students at school and cleaning the kitchen, I poured myself a glass of wine and enjoyed the many successes of the day. Tomorrow is a Friday, and I am looking forward to movie night tomorrow (I have a free Redbox code), Saturday brings our money coach meeting (which I believe will have some exciting news!) plus a Jacksonville Suns game that night (free for the whole family, including food, from my teacher's union).  Sunday will be church followed by a trip to the beach (completely free, huge perk of living near the coast), and Monday will be a Memorial picnic/pool party with our best friends (for the cost of lots of corn on the cob, a dessert, and beverages).  But this is what is funny to me; these things are the things I post as ways to enjoy life and spend less.  People might think we do them because we are cheap or free, and they would be wrong. We do them because this is our life. This is what we enjoy. And tonight, at this outlet sale kitchen table I believe I posted about months ago, there is no where else I would rather be. I hope you can all say the same, sitting, reading this, wherever you might be. Enjoy the little things this upcoming weekend!

Free To A Good Home....Beautiful Words!

        There is no such thing as a free kitten. Agreed.  However, keeping your eyes open for other free items (that are not alive) is a way to enhance your life without budging your bank account.  Tonight, we dropped our kiddos off at their Wednesday night gymnastics classes.  Walking through the lobby was a rush of putting my daughter's hair up, getting shoes into the cubbies, and I paid no attention to a bike parked right in the front lobby.  Soon, I realized my daughter's water bottle was still in the car, so I rushed out to get it.  Doing this forced me again through the lobby where we saw the bike seen below, along with the note, "Free to a good home" This bike just happened to be a girls bike, with a kickstand, and a Schwinn, nonetheless.  The seat was up a bit too high,  but can easily be lowered to my girl's perfect height.  Confession, someone easily could have just taken this bike to resell online.  But my daughter actually needs a bike, as her Disney Princess bike she received as a Christmas Gift two years ago now has its training wheels removed with no kickstand to keep it up.  She has also grown considerably from then four, to her now six and a half.  You may recall, my son recently upgraded his bike via a $6.99 Diego bike found nearly new at Goodwill. Now, my daughter has upgraded, too.  I imagine tomorrow night's free family fun will be a bike ride after dinner!
        So keep your eyes open for things people are giving away. We actually keep a free table at my work for people to place goodies for grabs.  My son's daycare has a free table as well.  Emails are another big way people give away their goods in the workplace, and I have even seen Facebook posts offering up items (although they usually aren't in my state!)  Try to pay it forward by passing on your quality items to a new owner....for example, I have a coworker at work who is going to inherit some boy things for her new baby boy to be from my three year old's clothing collection he has outgrown.  Maybe it is time for you to create a free table at your school or workplace, and maybe you can start the trend to  find some things for free you would have had to buy anyways.  I am certainly happy I will not need be bike shopping for a while!

                                                                        

Have You Enjoyed Your Kids Today?

Working outside the home is necessary for this mama, but like all working moms, I feel guilt over the time and attention I spend away from my little children.  Since I cannot change the need to work (although MANY stay-home-moms have tried) and truly, I enjoy my work, I need to bring back the balance.  How I do that is by taking time every evening to enjoy my children.  Honestly, I could enjoy my children spending money! I would love to take the kids out to dinner, or a movie, Chuck E. Cheese, or an ice cream outing...I really would love to.   But we are competing to win this financial race and so we are choosing not to spend freely.  Instead, we are finding free, or cheap family fun every night.  This week, we have done the slip-n-slide Sunday, before bed games on Monday, and tonight, a 100-piece puzzle.  The time is precious to me because you can see the pure joy on my kids' faces. They love having "mom-time" and attention.  The dishes can wait until the kids get into bed and so they did.  But now, my bed is calling, my kitchen is clean(ish) and my kids are snug in bed knowing their mom had fun with them tonight (and every night!)

Better Than Money??? Time!

Lately my blog has been finance heavy--absolutely due to the Money Makeover we are competing in, but even before that, the stress and pressure of making our budget balance (without pulling out a credit card) seemed to take a lot of our time and attention.  However, today is a good day to refocus and remember the most important things in life are not things. Tomorrow isn't guaranteed. As the shirt I wore to work today states, "Your life is your message to the world. Make it count." which is a homage to one soul gone too soon.  This past Sunday, our pastor's wife shared her decision to leave Facebook and I felt many of the same things she shared.  Staring at others' highlight reels on Facebook as you compare it to your behind the scene tour leads to nothing positive.  Although I am not ready to go Facebook free, I can see the enormous drain on my too little time.  I don't want to miss my children's youth staring at screens.  For now, I plan to limit my daily time on the computer to a minimal amount.  I also plan to go through the settings and limit the feeds of many individuals who do not promote what I hold dear to me  hiding their posts, lessening my time to read my newsfeed.  Typically, I try not to spend much time on the computer/smartphone when my children are awake---especially when they want to play with me!  I can't make my children grow slower, and I can't get these moments back.  There is an idea I love, and I will be  making this for my own children this weekend hoping to be a reminder of this very post.

How To Make a Visual Reminder
1. Get a clear, glass Mason jar.
2. Write your child's name on the jar.  If you have multiple children like me, you will need a jar for each of them.
3. Do some math...52 x the number of years until they graduate high school. (for example, Danica, my oldest, would be 52, Kayleigh is 6 so 52x12= 624, Levi is almost 4, so 52x14=728.
4. The product (benefit of being a teacher, I remember what a product is! The answer when you multiply, if you forgot!) represents the number of pieces of candy you will put in the jar now. It represents how many weeks you have left to make every moment count.
5. Take out a piece every week to maintain the relationship and to remind yourself this time is not forever. You might want to eat the candy, or simply throw away, especially 10 years down the line.

If you are opposed to candy (14 year old candy...yuck?) think of other representations you could use from the craft store, like beads or stones, ect.

I will post my children's jars later this weekend after visiting the craft store so you can see more visually what this could look like.

Now, I am going to shut my computer, and stay off it for the rest of my evening.  I hope this post spoke to you and is used for positive changes with our too little time. Good Night!

How to Be Excited About Groceries

1. Read your favorite cookbooks. Choose a few recipes to try this week for something new.

2. Dig in your freezer, peek in your fridge, poke through your pantry; taking an inventory of what you already have and need to use up.

3. Write a list for what you will need to complete a weekly meal plan.

4. Speed clip coupons, clipping only the coupons you are about to use on this trip to the store, or might possibly use on this trip to the store.

5. Shop using your list, but allow yourself to divert due to unexpected buy one get ones or sales. 

        Shopping tonight was actually a pleasure (funny because that is our local grocery store's motto).  I do most of my family's  shopping at Sam's Club because frankly I can't beat the prices.  However, sometimes the large quantities really add up in my cart and I can't get the variety I need. Lately, I have been a bit bored with food--probably for this very reason.  Starting my grocery list with a cookbook read-through really got the ball rolling on what types of food to buy this week.  It also helped me clip coupons quickly with out an overwhelming pile of coupons in my hand at the store.  But the best part?  I only spent $77.xx for my family of five to eat for 5 or 6 days.  Our budget is $125/week, but this was just set today after meeting with our money coach.  It appears groceries in our budget are impossible to track due to combining purchases with household items, clothing, ect.  We are going to track groceries-only for a month and see if this goal is realistic.  But for now, I get to be excited for a good start to groceries for the week!  I used about $10 in coupons and had lots of store BOGOs in my cart as well. The whole process only took and hour and a half as well, done after bedtime so I didn't miss family time on a Saturday night.  Here's to hoping my family loves some of the new recipes we are trying this week too!

Do You Know Your Spouse's Credit Score?

           This morning I had a most unpleasant surprise.  My husband and I had our first meeting with our money coach for the Vystar Money Makeover competition. We went over our current debts, our spending this past week and a half, and our credit scores.  Shockingly, my husband has a much better score than I do!  What is amazing about this is we have been been married nearly nine years, we combine all our income and bills, and truly we should have similar scores.  What is especially crazy is that I PAY the bills and do the budget. How could that be??!
              What we discovered is we have five credit cards, but only one carries a balance.  My name is only one card (with a terrible, close to maxed out budget), and my husband's name is on the other four (with no balance, or a balance that is paid in full each month)  . My name, unfortunately for me, happens to be on a nearly maxed out Visa (which is chilling in my freezer, not being used, and on an aggressive as I can be payment plan).  To lenders, my husband looks like he has a lot of credit available to him that he is not using. What I look like to lenders, is like I have a small amount of credit available because my card is close to maxed out. What is absurd, of course, is that we are equals financially in our household and our scores should be similar.  There is no my card, his card, my account, his account in reality. But according to the credit bureaus, apparently there is.
              The fix is easy, and has already been done.  Calls were made to each lender. My husband added me as an authorized user on all the cards in his name. This should improve my credit score significantly.   In about two months, I am hoping to recheck the credit scores and be more equally yoked.
              Although the contest we are in does not award a prize for biggest credit score improvement, credit scores impact how much it costs for your home, car, insurance and certainly low credit traps you making it oh so easy to stay poor.
              So of course, my advice to you is check your credit scores with your spouse.  I am hoping you do not experience what I did this morning (embarrassing!) but on the off chance you do, here's to hoping this maneuver can help your situation, too.

Check Your Email

1.       My husband has two email addresses, one for real people,  and one he uses for a junk email of sorts when companies ask for his email.  That way, his real email box doesn't get overloaded with spam and junk email.  Originally, I thought that was quite smart but never got around to setting one up for myself, and now I am at the point that is not what I want. I actually WANT to see the emails from companies I buy from. Why? They save me money.  Of course, the disclaimer is they only save you money IF you were about to buy from them anyways.  Today in my email box alone I had:

• $1 gift certificate to Amazon
• 75 cents of a Redbox Code
• $20 in free Shutterfly Money
• Free nailpolish with Special K cereal purchase

.     2.     Truthfully, I may or may not cash in on any of these opportunities because they do require I spend money, and any email that persuades you to buy something you wouldn't ordinarily buy is doing its job and not truly saving you money.  However, if hubby and I were already planning on renting a Redbox,ordering something off Amazon, making a gift on Shutterfly, ect.  checking our email first could save us real money we were planning on spending, which is real savings.  So check your emails, and check them often. Fight the temptation to spend to save, but embrace the savings for the things you were going to buy anyways without the discount in your email box.

      3.  If your email gets crazy crowded like mine, you can just search the company before you make a purchase and see if you have any emails with potentials savings codes inside. Plus, remember to open the email before you decide if there is an offer to save inside.  It is not always possible to tell from the subject line. 

       Let us know if you see any good email offers in your inbox that save you real money this weekend!  I am hoping I actually need  to use the Redbox coupon at some point this weekend for some relaxation time with my husband.

Answer the Quiz on the Right Side of the Screen!

I'd like to know how much credit card debt my readers are dealing with so I can share techniques that match where we you all are at.  How tapped out are we? Please let me know in the quiz!

It's Like You Get Paid to Clean

I know I have posted before about cleaning out things actually saving your money...cleaning your fridge will have provide a few goodies you forgot you had, cupboards are like a bank account of food, and digging through your closet can be nearly as good as shopping.  Today, my husband discovered the power of cleaning out his man space in a side room to the house we have as an outdoor storage room of sorts.  Crazy circumstances led to this...my younger daughter caught a horrendous stomach bug and was at the point even water wouldn't stay down.  Typically when the kids are sick, it makes more sense financially for me to stay home because I have oodles of personal time saved up I will likely never use.  However, I have had a crazy influx of substitute teachers in my classroom in the past month due to a jury duty summons, fabulous family visitors from out-of-state, my husband needing a driver to an invasive procedure, and dentist appointments.  I truly needed to be at work today.  So we bit the bullet, and my husband stayed home, likely shrinking his next paycheck.  Our competitors in the VyStar Money Makeover are probably not sweating going up against us at this point.  I asked my husband to see what he could do to help today, in between nursing our little girl.  However, he made me a happy woman when I came home to see what he had done! As he organized his stuff, he was able to locate things we already had, that we needed, but had lost in the shuffle (and properly put them where they belong so they can do their job.)  His hidden gems of the day:

• New weather stripping he found for the door---the old stripping was torn away by a frisky cat trying to claw his way into the house.  This could be double valuable, as no need to buy again, and replacing seals the house better for air conditioning season.  He also hung this with his time today.
• New refrigerator bulbs were hanging out in there too, forgotten about---somewhat silly, but our fridge has a lot of bulbs and it was so nice to have the ice and water dispenser lit again.
• Hose for a pressure washer---Nice score, I was actually imagining we might have to go buy another (after the money challenge of course) after buying a replacement hose a week or so ago didn't work.  There was a random loose hose there and in an amazing feat it actually FIT our pressure washer.  Bonus: Hubby USED the newly fixed pressure washer to clean the sidewalk up to the house AND the door mat cleaned up well (saving me from spending another $12 at Target to buy new).

Ok, wives, this might need to be a honey-do list for you to add for your men!  Clean out the outdoor storage spaces!

Power in Planning

Events are coming up in our family...Mother's Day, my son's 4th birthday, and our 9th wedding anniversary are all within the next month.  I love to recognize these special events, but if I don't plan well, the stress of what to do and how to celebrate turn into last minute quick decisions. Quick decisions tend to be costly.  So bring on the planning!  Prizes and goodies have been stored away in my closet from the awesome endcaps of clearance I find at Target to use as goody bags for my son.  Our anniversary dinner has been planned out and we will splurge at the restaurant we had our reception at, since we haven't been back since the weekend we married.  But this week, is Mother's Day, and that means it is time to plan.  My family will want to make me a nice meal--and frankly, I will want to eat it!  Strolling through Sam's Club, I saw ribeye steaks, reduced for quick sale....$28.xx is still pricey for a single meal, but it could save me from a pricey restaurant trip (with five of us, a meal out is a minimum of $40 at a sit-down fast food) AND will be a meal I couldn't afford at a restaurant anyways (sit-down steak restaurants for our family would be pushing $100).  I also have a Groupon to use for a portrait studio, so I can treat myself to a new pic of my kids (appointment scheduled for Thursday!) which I only paid $25 for.  I also have my own mother's gift planned and paid for---but my mom reads my blog so that is all I can say about that for now. If you are a mom, or treating your mom this Sunday, take some time to plan something out of the ordinary to set the day apart.  Saving money is great, but truly moms are better!  

The Proof Is On My Dashboard...

Would you believe the post about the traps of credit cards was my most read post EVER?!   Do you know what that tells me?  Many of you, like me, have made financial mistakes. But you are here now.  That means you still have hope, like me.  I am certainly glad I am not alone, but also, I will be out of the trap in two years according to my plan.  I just want to say, I would like see you on the flip side too.  Make your plan, and work your plan.  Leave your credit card at home if you need to, to stick to your budget. Freeze it in a block of ice if you want to slow down its accessibility. Remember, each swipe is stealing away your financial future. It is not easy, I almost thawed my ice cube out a few weeks ago for something very important to me. But choosing not to pull out the credit card allowed me to go another way.  If you need the credit card to go out to eat, go another way: we like to do a rotisserie chicken or order a pizza as an escape from cooking--with a family of five, this is much cheaper!  If you need a credit card to go to the movies, go another way: I never took my 6-year-old to the theater to see Frozen---but when it came out we bought it, popped our popcorn, picked out a bag of candy from the store, and saved huge in the process (along with watching it 20 times) . If you need a credit card to buy a new outfit, go another way:  Search high and low in your closet, check out a thrift store (you will be SHOCKED if you have never been. People are crazy shopaholics and they go donate expensive, unworn clothing.) Pedicure time? Go another way: Try a foot bath and and an expensive foot scrub with professional nail polish.  Craving coffee? Go another way: skip the coffee house and brew at home, I have awesome vanilla syrup along with my Keurig that makes the perfect cup for 75% less. I know it is not the same, but if you are reading blog this because you have gotten yourself stuck in the credit card trap, you honestly should try going without some of these splurges while you dig yourself out.You will be amazed that seeing debt drop dramatically feels just as fabulous as lives splurges.

Escaping the Trap of Credit Card Debt

Can I just say, I was educated well.  My parents did a fabulous job. I took personal finance classes as an accounting major before switched my major to elementary ed. Not to mention the oodles of books I have read on finance along with the money pages in every newspaper.  I know finance.  I know what one "should" do to balance ones' budget.  But knowing what to do is easy, doing it is not.  And so has the trap of credit card debt entered my life.  We have a handful of cards and most we are able to pay in full each month avoiding interest---however, after paying them in full our account is quite low so there is always a chance we may have to pull out a card to make it to the next payday.  TRAP.  We have one for our mattress (deemed a NEED by my husband's chronic back pain) that is interest free for five years, making it so easy to just pay the minimum payment. TRAP in a nice, sweet, wrapped up package because I never stress it and my money is not being wasted on interest (yet).  Then there is the one. The monkey on our back.  Frustrating, big, and hard to pay off with a megabank that refuses to refinance the card to a lower rate. TRAP! TRAP! TRAP!  This is the card I showed a picture of frozen on ice in an earlier post this year.  Thankfully, it is still frozen, and so the balance is dropping nicely.  A few months ago I did something I rarely do. I read the ENTIRE bill, rather than just the balance, and payment. I read the fine print.  Depressing? Yes, that is probably why it hadn't been done sooner.  Before reading the little letters and numbers, the history of the card is that is had been close to maxed out for about 7 years.  I would use it as my fall back and purchase with it when the checking account looked a little low. It was only $100 or $200 every month, but coupled with the minimum payment, the result was a balance that didn't change.  Fast forward to the day I read the whole statement.  I noticed the truth-in-lending:  Paying the minimum payment (which I was close to doing each month, but usually just rounding it up $20 more or so) would take 22 years to pay off the card.  That made me want to cry as I mentioned about this, it is a MONKEY ON MY BACK!!!  But the next line was a silver lining. It said if I paid only $60 additional a month, it would be paid off in 36 months. Like 3 years (I had to grab a calculator because it seemed unbelievable to me!) And that is what I have done the last few months. It is helping, about $700 paid down so far.  Today though, I have even more hope.  Writing out the budget for June with a few items slashed and cut back, I realized I will have a bit more to pay toward the card. I started wondering at the new amount I am going to pay, how long would it take to pay it off?  I used the credit card calculator http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/credit-cards/credit-card-payoff-calculator.aspx  and I now down to 2 YEARS!!! Here is a summary:
December 2013, minimum payment was $180--I was paying $200, balance owed was $7600, and stuck there due to occasional use of the card
January 2014, credit card was frozen in a block of ice, and not used since.
February 2014, credit card statement was read, and new payment of $268 would cut 19 years off of payments, payments of $80 more than the min. payment, and only $68 more than I used to make began
May 2014 bank rate calculator was used, and payments of $350 will begin in June 2014. Card will be paid off just two years!
June 2016 I will have an extra $350 a month and a credit card without a balance!!!
What is your next step? Look to see if you are caught in any similar traps and make your escape plan! Go read your credit card statements, if you have to learn the hard way like me....

Money Diet Day 1

Experts claim when you write down what you eat and count the calories, you tend to eat less.  This tedious routine has helped many people lose excess weight.  That is the same mentality happening here.  We are on a two week period of recording ALL EXPENDITURES. The results will be turned in to our money coach as a way to zone in on the "fat" in our budget.  I am still quite curious about what will be said by the money coaches and where they see our waste, and I will be sure to post it here.  Today, we have already spent $70.07 on a tank of gas for a minivan, and $4.94 on my husband's lunch.  Oh, and the mortgage cleared today as well as my kids' gymnastics bill and an auto parts purchase.  NOT the best start, I am afraid....I need to rein it in so we have a chance at winning!!! I am hoping I can make up for lost time(and money) this weekend with a super-slim grocery store bill, meal plan, and free/cheap entertainment.  Let me know any great cheap meals your family loves as well as any fun things happening this weekend that will let us enjoy life as a family, as well as give the other competitors some real competition.  I challenge you to try a money diet with me and see if you find any fat in your budget, too.

What's For Dinner (Tomorrow)?

Yes, it is 9pm. Yes, I should be unwinding and getting to bed.  But instead, I am asking you what is for dinner tomorrow.  For real, you should quick run to your kitchen and scope it out so you can pull something out of the freezer tonight if you need to. Or set up your crock pot. Just plan it now or the time crunch of tomorrow evening is going to sabotage your time and money.  Typically, I recommend a weekly menu planned from your shopping list and sale ads, coupons ect.  but this week I was on vacation mode spending some long-overdue time off from the real world with my mom, sister, and newest nephew. It was well worth it, but we are now a tad bit behind on meal planning. So, at 9pm I rummaged through the freezer, found a pound of our favorite bacon, checked the egg situation, and Voila!  No need to stop by the store tomorrow after work, or even worse get takeout or sneak to a restaurant! Money saved, time saved (no need to sit and defrost, shop, ect.) not to mention my kids love waffles, bacon, and eggs for dinner.  So, what is for dinner tomorrow?

Kids Can Be Cheap Dates!

Although the blog has really focused on little money lately, I need to refocus on little kids. I remember something my dad would say often, "There is always more money to be made." I stayed up late last night, too late, and went to sleep feeling a bit down after realizing I need to cut my monthly expenses $200.  Ewww.   That will be addressed, but ultimately, money is a tool, but not my priority.  My kids will not be kids forever and they need to be important--even more than my budget.  There is something SO ENJOYABLE about buying my kids movies, toys, and spending on family outings. I really do enjoy it!  But I need to get that in check.  My kids and I had a Taco Bell date today after school. We spent less than $6 and guess what they said??? "This is fun. Can we do this every day?"  Then I remembered something..roll back to when I was a teen...my mom and I had a standing Friday night date at Taco Bell, just her and I.  I guess I know why now. It was a cheap outing and a time to connect.  As I enter this season of cutting back our budget, I need to remember this. There is always more money to be made, kids are only kids once, and thankfully, kids are cheap dates!

Sophisticated Budgeting

So, this upcoming Tuesday night is our first meeting with our money coach we have snagged for free as semi-finalists for the Money Makeover. I am imagining like a Jillian Michaels/Biggest Loser/personality who is going to like spring up on me when I splurge as I like to on a pedicure or dinner out----YES, I love to save money, but I spend my share, too.  My husband is lukewarm at best, probably fearing our crazy premium channels will soon be cut off.  Yet, nonetheless, I am psyched!  That whole Dave Ramsey, live like no one else now so you can live like no one else later sounds good to me!  However, I have quite the library of personal finance books, and I have read them each at least once, so part of me is afraid I am going to coach the coach.  We shall see.  Therefore, before I make any big changes from some money coach, I am going to share with you what I am doing now---and it works!
1.  Add up all of your outgoing bills for a month.  I just put down my payments, not groceries and gas money, ect. yet. In my example below, imagine I pay out $2800 each month for mortgage, electric, water, cable, phones, student loans, car loan, credit cards and other bills/debt.
2. Divide the total amount of outgoing bills by the number of checks you will receive in the month.   This is my target number to pay out each paycheck. In my example, $2800 divided by 4 paychecks equals $700 per paycheck.
3.  I use an ordinary notebook and use a page for each month, I will try to post a picture after the text is posted (not the tech expert...)  For example, right now, it looks like this because I have 4 paychecks in April:

April 2014

Check 1              Check  2              Check    3             Check   4

car 313              Bank of A. 268     Nelnet 165            Mortgage 582
mortgage 200    Geico 125              Sallie Mae 140     save 75
ect bills              and more bills         and more bills       ect. bills

My Goal is to get as close to the target number you found in step 2 (in my example, that amount is $700)so that about an equal amount is paid out each paycheck. However, mortgage and other big bills might need to be split among two or more paychecks if they put you over the target number. My mortgage is $982, too much for my target number for one paycheck.  I earmark the chunks for mortgage from the other checks in my savings account and transfer the money over to checking when it is time to pay the mortgage. If I am below the target number, I put the extra money in saving OR push a bit extra to my icky credit card bill, so each check leaves me with equal cash flow for gas and groceries, ect. Also, make sure you pay attention to bill due dates before you decide which paycheck you will write each bill under. I try to pay all bills due before the 15th of the month on the FIRST paycheck to avoid pesky late fees (not to mention, tarnish your credit score with late payments).

4. Each payday, grab your notebook, pay the bills assigned  for the paycheck, and cross them off the list. Then, record the balance of your checking account after bills and estimate how much you will need for gas, groceries, and other neccessities. As you spend in between paychecks, mentally calculate what you have after each purchase---I actually keep a digital sticky note on my laptop for this.  I also record the savings account balance and amounts earmarked for future bills so I know the true amount I have saved (for example, my checking account might look like I have $780, but if $200 is earmarked for mortgage payment upcoming I really only have $580 and I record that.  It keeps me in "reality" with my bank accounts.

5. When next months' bills come, write down the amount of the balance to be paid in your notebook for easy reference to avoid paying interest. I usually keep the paper bills in the notebook for that month as well. This is done in minutes using online bill pay.

6.  Enjoy knowing when your bills will be paid and paying them on time! Never miss a bill again!

Let me know if this works or if you will try it! And by the way, the title of this post is a joke because I am sure many of you have like crazy excel sheets or computer software....I use a notebook...hahaha...keeping it real old school.

Money Makeover 2014

It is official! We have been chosen as one of the families competing for a $2500 cash prize with our local credit union, VyStar (you know, the one I told you all to sign up for...!  Here comes my competitive spirit!!  The contest works like this: We will meet with a money coach regularly and use tools ect. to reduce debt and increase savings. The family with the biggest financial change from May to October, WINS!  But truly, even if we don't win---We are going to get regular meetings with our money coach at no charge to us.  If we improve our financial situation, even if we are not THE winners, we WIN! Plus, I will share any great stuff that comes my way on this blog--so I guess we all WIN!!!

MyFitnessPal, No Pals Allowed

Seriously, what is WRONG with me!  My New Year's resolution for this year was to log every day on myfitnesspal---not to stay under my calorie guideline, just to DO it! I could eat all day long, log in 3000 calories and still be completing my resolution. And it lasted all of three days at the most. The app on my smartphone is quick, easy, and INCREDIBLY EFFECTIVE for losing weight. However, I know the power of the app. If you record what you eat, you will make better food choices.  If you have a calorie budget, you will try to stay within it.  I wasn't ready in January, so when I wanted to go over my calories out at a restaurant or relaxing on a Saturday with great friends, I just didn't log my food intake. The band wagon had been jumped off.
BUT a recent shakeup in my life, dreading swimsuit shopping, and feeling unattractive is going to lure me back in.  I have been exercising well, my whole life really---I enjoy exercise.  And I enjoy food. Apparently I enjoy it more than exercise.  Experts say your quest to lose weight is 80% diet 20% exercise.  So doing great with exercise is only 20% of the results.  Yes, it is time to get serious about my diet.
My best friend recently signed up for Advocare.  She spent almost $200, and lost just under 6 lbs.  She is happy with the results, but I just can't part with that much cash.
Another friend signed up for Weight Watchers. I have always heard great things about this program, so I looked up the cost. It is still $30/month for the online program.  More affordable, but still not ready to spend that much.
I will be sticking with MyFitnessPal. There is an online version for computers users, and I love the easy app on my phone. It is completely free and when I stick to the calorie goals, it does work.  You can even connect with other friends on the program so you can have people keep you accountable, but I have kept my food intake private---less overzealous friends criticize my choice for  an inch or so of last night's french dip for breakfast or tells me I should put less cream in my coffee. Yes, this diet thing will certainly be good for me....

Spring Break Has Sprung!

I know I am incredibly fortunate to stay home with my children on all days off, summer break, and at the moment SPRING BREAK!  This is a big perk of being a teacher!  Non-teachers might not realize this is a chance for teachers to do things they normally can't do.  Typically, teachers do not take days off of school without being on our deathbeds or jury duty.  I have nearly two months of leave accumulated due to rarely taking time off.  So this is a welcome chance to go to the playground, beach, zoo, picnic, ect. with my children!  It is also time for major cleaning and organizing that get so far behind during the school year. I even have stolen a few hours for lesson planning, organizing, ect. in my classroom (that appalls non-teachers, too---but trust me, working without 18 kindergarten students in the classroom is a terrific treat!)

Here is how I maximized my time and money on this spring break:

1. Make a list of the days and a tentative schedule of what you would like to do each day.

2. Look for online deals for the events/activities that cost money. For example, before mini-golfing we found a $5 per person coupon to print out---saving $2/person for a total of  $8 saved.  It also caused a schedule switch for the science museum on a Friday instead of Thursday to save over $10 in admission fees.

3. Be flexible with the weather when you can for outdoor activities (resulted in switching our zoo day from the coldest day of spring break to a day about 10 degrees warmer--still chilly, but better)

4. Pack a lunch/cook at home when you can. Going out to eat with children everyday is one of those things that sounds cheap in theory, but even with deals can empty the bank account quickly.

5. Be willing to splurge a little on lasting memories.  Soon we will be back to the daily school grind, and the question, "What did you do on spring break?" should never be answered with "nothing."

Time to get off the computer now, so I can enjoy four more days off of school and work with these precious little children!

Free Ebook---By One of My FAVORITE Authors!

Joyce Meyer is such a gifted author, and now you can follow this link to a free ebook on financial struggles.http://jmm.co/PJVOnA I have not had time to read the whole book yet, but I skimmed and it looks quite good. It is a great reminder that money is NOT the most important thing, it should not control us, we should control it.  I hope you all enjoy this book as much as I will!

Do You Make Salad Dressing? (I Do Now!)

I love buying our salad mix from Sam's Club, at less than $3 for a HUGE bag, and often we plant leaf lettuce in our backyard garden, great inexpensive, healthy filler to our meals.  However, I stockpile and coupon heavily for the pesky salad dressings, which I have paid as much as $4 a bottle for the fabulous ones.  But looky here! This might cut WAY back on the amount I pay for salad dressing this summer. It was a fabulous birthday gift from my mother-in-law, which I have used for four dressing batches in less than a month since I received it.  The recipes on the bottle are DELICIOUS, claim to be "Healthy Dressings" according to the label, and are incredibly inexpensive to make--I am strange, I have not had to buy a single ingredient specifically for these recipes because I cook with many of them and keep them on hand. Yes, even rice vinegar (purchased a huge bottle for $2.49. I use it for mei fun noodles with chicken and making sushi rolls ourselves) I am so excited about this, and should post some of the recipes here if you want to try to make them (I don't know where she bought this actual bottle from....)Do you see my son eating his healthy dinner in the background? This is the French Vinagrette, SO GOOD!

Money Makeover

I LOVE the sound of this. Only one thing could be better, an Extreme Money Makeover (remember that extreme makeover show where the contestants were unrecognizable due to major overhaul including new teeth/lasik/surgery, ect?) How would that feel if your financial situation was not even recognizable due to a complete makeover of everything you do with money? Well, tonight, I applied for a money makeover (I will take it extreme if I am chosen!) with a local credit union. Here is the link if you are interested in applying too http://www.vystarcu.org/home/news/current/moneymakeover If I can't win, second best of course would be one of you winning!  Good luck! If I am not chosen, I will continue as I have been trying to makeover my money myself.

Triple Threat Lunches (Delicious, Healthy, and Inexpensive)

I think I know why I had to bring my lunch to school as a kid....wow, lunches seem cheap at school cafeterias, but the price can really add up if you buy them daily (plus there are a lot of extras they can buy up there in line, too---drinks, desserts, ect.) . Plus, my picky kindergartener will not always eat what they serve. Honestly they have become a lot healthier in recent years, but they are still not the healthiest choices. Typically I pack my daughters lunch for school daily, plus I need a lunch for work as well. Oftentimes I have dinner leftovers to bring in but sandwiches are certainly a standby. Frankly, I get bored with my lunches often but seeing this article by Bon Apetit inspired me to try something new from this list soon. YUM!  Many of the recipes look delicious, healthy, and not too expensive Check out this link.  http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/family-meals/slideshow/25-quick-and-easy-school-lunches-to-pack-for-your-kids/?slide=26

Credit Card on Ice

Who? What? Where? When? Why and How??  Yes, I froze my Visa card at the start of 2014 after a frustration at the hard to move balance lingering for years.  We'd pay it down, buy tires, pay it down, emergency this or that...I am so done. So here is my solution...We haven't used it in months, but could thaw it out in case of a real true emergency. Our goal is to pay this down ASAP, and ultimately, NEVER need it again!

What To Do With a Windfall

This post is, of course, assuming you will get a windfall.  Perhaps not a windfall in the thousands of dollars, but I do think all of us get those unexpected "good" money surprises.  The American way is the consumer mentality..."Oh, yay! I have extra money! What can I go buy?"  but our family is still focusing on debt-reduction (due to years of the "Oh, yay! I have extra money!" mentality that put us in an unfavorable debt-to-income ratio)  Surprisingly, we have been working hard at this for over six years, and progress has been made.  But, we have a long road ahead as well.  We have decided to implement this strategy in 2014 and I have been very happy with the results thus far.  This is my creation, as far as I know, so I get to name it!!!! I probably need a catchier name if I really want it to catch on, but in our home, we have been calling it the "thirds".  Every windfall is divided into thirds.  We take 1/3 and pay it as extra towards debt; 1/3 into our savings account to reduce the likelihood of needing to take on more debt in an emergency; and 1/3 we get to use for some wiggle room in our budget (AKA, spend)  I am hoping to revisit this post at the end of 2014 with amazing news of just how much debt was paid off this way, and let me know if you think your family would like to try this too!

March 1st, 2015 Update: This strategy helped us pay off over $6000 in debt in 6 months from May 1st to November 1st, and save over $5000 in our savings account! We plan on picking this up again for 2015 but are in a holding pattern to pay off another debt and replenish our savings account after purchasing a car for cash in February so our teenager could have her own transportation. We also have a senior in high school graduating soon which means we may be waiting until June before we get back to a normal budget.

Home Theater

I love the joy this simple activity brings to my little kids along with the fact I can do it without budging my bank account.  It is Friday night here....LOVELY! Technically it is payday, which should afford a splurge. However, my paycheck was splurged on a large medical bill from delivering my son nearly 4 years ago (with insurance! I have been paying $125/month for YEARS! But it is paid off as of today....) So rather than taking the family out to eat or visiting a movie theater, we made our living room a home theater.  The kids ate corn dogs and fries and picked out a movie from our collection.  A dollar bag of candy and some leftover Valentines helped the fun feel. The lights are off and we are snuggled up. Fabulous Friday without forking over our hard earned pay! I'd love if you would comment below your favorite Friday night family fun on a budget!

Birthdays on a Budget

36 is my new number. Age, that is.  A far cry from the excitement of 10 (double-digits), 12 (traditional pie-in-the-face birthday), 16, 18, 21....but in my kindergarten class, turning 36 rivals them all.  The excitement my kids felt was contagious!  When I put up the February calendar, there was my little birthday photo sitting on Feb. 26 all month long, so there was no escaping it.  Even when I realized at 9:30 p.m. the night before I had promised my kids at school a special treat for my birthday coming in the morning.  (It had been a busy day, with work, workout, dinner, AND a church meeting...I was not sitting on the couch watching TV or anything relaxing like that!) I ran into Target to pick up cupcakes and that could have been the end of this story. Until I saw the $15.99 price tag. According to my husband, we are either poor or cheap depending on which week it is.  This week it was both.  Hmmm...I am sure it wouldn't take long to make some box mix cupcakes, and at only $1.20 a box?! Frosting $1.57. Yes. Sold.  At this point I am feeling victorious, awesome treats for $4 and only an hour or so of my time.  But as the night goes on, time gets late, I realize this is not an hour ordeal, there are dishes to do, and 12:30 a.m. rolls around. I have GOT to get to sleep.   18 kindergarten kids will eat me alive if I arrive to teach tired.  Then, a brilliant idea forms in my mind.  I will and I can go to bed now.  All I have to do bring the frosting, my elaborate sprinkle collection, and plastic knives to school. The kids will frost and sprinkle their own cupcakes.  I wasn't completely committed to the idea, but thought it could be fun. It turned out to be such an amazing time for the kids! They absolutely LOVED it.  I will be following this tradition for the next ???who knows how many until I retire??? years.  Cheap, easy, AND fun.  I call that a little kid, little money, and little time triple threat!  So moms/dads, you know your kiddos want you so badly to send in treats for the class on their special day, but they can really add up, maybe this could work as a good "celebrate birthdays at school on a budget" solution for your family, too.

One of the few things that are NOT little in my life...

Well, looking at the last date of posting, obviously, there is still little time in our family of five.  At work, I moved from teaching 4th grade to kindergarten. I LOVE it, but it has certainly consumed a good chunk of nights and weekends while I organized, learned, and planned.  Our bank account has significantly changed, debt payoff  is priority, yet somehow there is still too little money. Little kids have grown a bit bigger at ages six and three (big kid at seventeen!) but still quite little.  So I still have plenty to say about life with little (time, kids, and money).

However, there is one thing that is NOT little. The number on the scale. Eeek.  I have been trying to reel it in for a while now, and began running about a year ago.  I am down 10 pounds and a dress size, but I need to pick up the pace as time is going to make this battle harder each year.

Possible solution?  T25.  T25 promised gym results, in only 25 minutes a day.  I saw it a few months ago but shook my head when I saw the nearly $200 price tag.  Boo.  Ironic most of us have 25 minutes a day we could dedicate to exercise but not $200 for the pricey program.

Is there another way to get your hands on this?  Buy used, like Craigslist? Borrow from a friend? Show up when your best friend is doing the workout?? All of the above will work.

I managed to get my hands on it without paying retail due to a friend prepping for her honeymoon. Yesterday, I attempted to complete workout number one. Dinner was cooking, kids were calling, and ultimately I made it a T18 quitting 7 minutes early to make sure I didn't need the fire department ( I didn't) but I will assure you, my bottom can feel all 18 minutes.

Today, I did workout number two---all sweet T 25 minutes of it!  I was impressed with the quality of the 25 minute workout!  Who knew there is no need to spend an hour at a gym?? I am planning on going the distance and completing the entire 4 month program. Maybe I will even post my before and after.

So if you are like me and have that one big thing in your life of all these little things, I strongly recommend trying to get your hands on T25---just never feel you have to pay full price. Or take the 25 minutes to move your body the best you can with the time you got.  Remember, taking time for yourself is not selfish, it is a NECESSITY of a sane, happy, and healthy mom who will be putting her kids first the other 23 hours, 35 minutes of the day.

What Time Is It???!!!? It's Time to BLOG!

Who is still here? Who is still interested??? Since I still have a life with little (little time, little kids (6 and 3 now) and little money (still!!??) I might as well still blog on it!