One Million and Counting!

Sometime last week – I think it was last Thursday the 20th? – this little blog of mine hit the 1,000,000 page-views mark.  For some of you with much bigger blogs, that is probably laughable (especially for someone who’s been blogging for 3 years!), but I felt like it was a pretty cool occasion for me nonetheless and I wanted to remember it. :)

 

If you’ve been reading for any amount of time you know that I am a stay-at-home mom on a super tight budget.  It was my choice to leave my teaching job to stay home with Luke – and I have never regretted it – but sometimes (okay, really all the time) having a little extra money would be nice. 

Thanks to a certain post about shower mold (gross, I know!) that went viral on Pinterest – I feel like a dork saying that, but it’s had 816,744 views as of this morning (see? the rest of my blog really isn’t that popular!  lol), I have been earning some ad money.  This money is SUCH a huge blessing to me and my husband – it’s helping to pay for our weekend anniversary trip to Boston in two weeks.   

So I just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart:

THANK YOU for visiting, THANK YOU for reading, THANK YOU for commenting, and THANK YOU being such wonderfully kind and supportive readers!  

So far I’ve met two of you in real life (I really need to do a post on that!) and several others of you have been so encouraging through comments and e-mails that I just know we would be real-life friends if we ever got the chance to meet. 

Have a wonderful day!  It’s FRIDAY!!! :)

NSM {Week 3}: I MET MY GOAL!

Yup, it’s true!  My goal for our No-Spend Month, besides not using my debit card at all, was to contribute $200 all on my own toward paying off a certain debt.  I am happy to say that as of right now, I have earned:

 

   

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! :)

The crazy thing is, when I gave myself a goal for $200, I was expecting to teach one extra piano lesson and also have a Wildtree tasting party for someone.  None of those things ended up happening, yet God was still gracious enough to let me earn the money….and the month is not over yet! :)

I have prayed many times this month that God would provide extra ways for me to earn money to pay off debt.  The Facebook resale groups that I mentioned 2 weeks ago have been such a blessing….I keep finding stuff to sell and post and praise God, people keep buying it!  lol

As I mentioned in my review post for The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, having a goal has been invaluable.  When I didn’t get the money for the lessons or party like I originally thought I would (I was expecting to bring in between $100-$120 from those events), I was forced to reevaluate and get creative with selling what I could. 

The crazy thing is that the more I purge our house, the more I find that I can get rid of!  Our house is like a Mary Poppins bag!  lol

Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you to think outside the box and keep pressing on if you’re working at chipping away debt.  And most importantly, don’t forget to PRAY!  I really believe that living debt-free is a big deal to God and that He will bless you in those efforts. 

You can do it!

 

P.S. I do have to admit here that I did use my debit card on Wednesday to buy a salad at Wendy’s.  Luke had an evaluation for his feeding issues that was an hour and a half away and in my nervousness about the meeting I totally forgot to pack a lunch for myself.  We left the house at 9:20 and didn’t get home til almost 3 – and I was starving.  So yes, the debit card did get used once!  Our printer ink was completely out so we had to buy an almost $30 cartridge for it – otherwise I would have had extra cash.  I am hoping to have $6 left over this week to put back in the account to make up for it! 

P.P.S.  If you ever have a situation where you need to eat fast food, remember that Wendy’s supports the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption!  Their Baja salad is really yummy and you can order it with a baked potato instead of chili so you don’t have to eat fake meat aka FEET.  lol!   

NSM Week 2: Our Weekly Household Budget

Before I get into the details of my shopping trips, I am super happy to say that this week I earned $45 by selling $20 worth of Luke’s old clothes, an oven hood we bought for our last house and didn’t install before we moved, a DVD, some coffee mugs, and some Christmas items on the Facebook resale group I mentioned last time.

That means that so far this month I’ve brought in a total of $174, which means I only need $26 to reach my goal of $200 to put toward debt this month!  So close!! :)

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So I mentioned last week that I thought it would be interesting to write down in detail how much I spend a week on our household needs.  I wanted to do this for 4 reasons:

1.  To remind myself in years to come what food and household items cost in 2012 (I’m sure I will be shocked at how “cheap” it was!)

2.  To show you what a family of 3 in Connecticut who eats mostly clean/whole foods spends their grocery money on

3.  To actually somewhat dispel the myth that it’s not all that expensive to eat well.  I COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH THAT STATEMENT.  Our family could survive on much, much less per week if I shopped solely what was on sale and cheapest.  But the expense is worth it to me (remember when I said, “You pay now or you pay later, but either way, you pay?”).  Sometimes it kills me to pay this much for food every week ($12 on 2.5 pounds of beef, anyone?!), but I feel so strongly about eating well that it is worth it to me.  

4.  To see if there were any ways I could improve when I saw it all written out – and I definitely did learn a lesson.  At this point I had been making it a goal to use coupons on any name-brand item I bought – and overall, I did well on that front.  But I’m going to try harder to really get the best deal on those non-couponable items (like baby carrots, for instance).  That might mean some more trips to Wal-Mart are in my future (ick – I realllly don’t like that place!) but I think it would be financially beneficial right now.

I used a couple of letters to designate certain things I wanted to remember:

S = the item was on sale
C = I used a coupon
D = I used a Dollar Doubler coupon
WL = I bought this specifically to aid in my weight loss (not a normal purchase for me)
* = I bought this specifically for Luke to help fill in the nutritional gaps in his diet; not a normal purchase for me if he was eating normally

----------------------

Without further ado, this is where the money went this week:

Monday, CVS:

Whole milk for Chris, $3.49 S (plus 1 ECB back)

 

Tuesday, Stop & Shop:

Hood sour cream: free plus overage C/D
Horizon DHA organic whole milk: $4.09*
Stonyfield organic skim: $2.89 S/C
Laughing Cow wedges: 2 for $4.08 S/C/D/WL
Land o’ Lakes butter {Honestly, I got tired of melting butter in the microwave!}: $3.79
Whipped cream: $1.99*
2% American cheese: $3.25 S

Brown lunch bags {for homemade popcorn!}: $2
Napkins: $1.89 S
Latex gloves: $1.50 S

Flatbreads and Teddy Grahams {treats}: 4 for $5  S/C/D
Spaghetti: $1 S

Organic chicken broth: $1
Preservative-free ham: $5.78 C/D
Veggie fed, hormone/antibiotic-free ground beef: about 2.5 pounds for $12.38 {This is why we don’t eat a lot of beef! We are currently all out of our pastured beef so this will have to last us about 5 meals} S
Veggie fed, hormone/antibiotic-free ground turkey: 1 lb for $3.49 S
Wild-caught haddock: about 1 lb for $5.78 S

Strawberries: $2.99 S*
Onions: $2.49
Bananas: $1.13
Organic potatoes: $5.99
Organic romaine: $2.99 S
{Plus 5 reusable bag credits}

Total: $75.48

 

Wednesday, Wal-Mart:

Lipton Green Tea: $2.16 WL
Lemons: $2.50 WL
Tape Measure: $1.47 WL

Feta cheese {feta is like water in this house – we need it for survival! lol}: $.67 C
Lance WW PB crackers: 2 for $4*
All-natural bread: $2.50

Diapers (Luke moved to size 6 and we just can’t afford Pampers anymore!): $5.97
Shampoo (I have super-thin hair and this really helps!): $5.97
Pillow : $2.50

{Story about the pillow:  my husband has hated his pillow for a while and it frequently gives him neck pain.  Last week he said, “Honey, do you think in February we could buy a new pillow for me?”  Ummmmm….I got the poor man a pillow this month.  lol}

Total: $28.37 

Friday, Shop-Rite:

Emerald peanuts (for homemade trail-mix): 2 for $1.48 S/C
Granola bars: 2 for $4 S/C
Scotties tissues: 5 for $3.40 S/C
Lysol wipes: $.99 S/C
V-8 Fusion: 2 for $4 S/C*
Black beans: 4 for $1.92 S
Salsa {for Crockpot Salsa Chicken!}: 4 for $4.36 S/C
Cabot cheddar cheese: 2 for $3.98 S
Turkey Hill ice cream {for guests on Saturday}: $2.99 S

{Plus 3 reusable bag credits}

Total: $27.03

On Friday I bought pastured eggs from our Pastor’s family ($4) and Saturday I bought some more milk since my husband was out and we were having guests and I wanted some available for their kiddos.  It came to $2.69 – and I had to pay with a dollar bill and spare change I found around the house.  Awesome. Not my first choice but you better believe I was not whipping out that debit card!

 

So that, my friends, is how you spend $141.06 in food and household items for one week. (My budget for all things food and household related is $140.  I stretched it by using spare change to buy the milk this week.}

 

Depressing, right?! I see a few areas I can improve on, so that’s encouraging, at least. 

So those of you trying to stick to cash – only: did you stick to the plan?  Did you pull out your debit or credit card?  Let me know! We’re halfway through the month – we can do this! :)

No-Spend Month Check-In {Week One}

Just thought I’d pop on and give you my weekly update about how our No-Spend Month has been going! 

First of all, I am happy to say that NO plastic was used this week!  YAY!
I did use every last dime of my grocery budget, though.  hahaha

Also, on the positive side, so far I have earned:

to put towards debt this month!

Which only leaves me with:

to reach my personal goal of adding $200 toward our loan payment this month!  Sweet!

I reached that number by getting paid $80 for music lessons, plus I sold $49 worth of items from my house on a local resale group I’m a part of on Facebook. 

{This group, by the way, is a GREAT idea that I cannot take any credit for…but I want to pass on the idea to you!  It’s a group of local shoppers/sellers who list items for sale in a group on Facebook by creating an album.  People can see the items and the prices and then set up a time to meet each other by messaging the seller.  It’s a little safer than Craigslist because you see real names and the person can potentially get deleted from the group if they repeatedly don’t show up to meet and stuff like that.  I always meet in a neutral location, just to be on the safe side!}

 

I did get a Vera Bradley diaper bag (that I am in looooove with) for $15 via one of those groups (using Christmas money – remember, I allowed myself that in “the rules” haha!).

We also were able to go out to Olive Garden on a date on Saturday night, thanks to my parents watching Luke and $50 in gift cards from my in-laws for Christmas.  This is why January is a good month for us to do this challenge…it’s not as hard to stay sane this month like it might be in February!  :)  I think summer is also a good option since you can grill out, have picnics, go to the park, the beach, etc. all for free. 

There’s something about knowing you CAN’T spend any money that somehow makes it all the more tempting!  lol

Throughout this upcoming week I’ll be taking pictures of what I spend our money on so you can get a glimpse of how our weekly budget works.   

How about all of YOU? I know several of you said you were trying the challenge – how’s it working out for you??

How Crystal Paine’s Book is Changing My Life {Review and Giveaway}

{Edit: This giveaway now closed!}

I’m really and truly not exaggerating with that title.

I was given the opportunity to review Crystal Paine’s new book, The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, set to release on January 10th. Crystal, aka “Money Saving Mom,” writes a hugely popular blog by the same title. I’ve been following her since 2007, and this woman and her excellent advice has literally saved me thousands of dollars over the past several years. If you’ve never visited her site before, I can’t encourage you enough to go visit it. Like right now. Go ahead, I’ll be here when you get back. ;)

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I can’t really describe it other than to say that when I read her book, something clicked. It was as if all the stuff I’d been hearing for years about how to truly get ahead financially finally aligned in my head - I finally “got it.”

To be perfectly blunt, I didn’t have high expectations when I read this book. I’ve read tons of blogs and several books about personal finance, and a lot of them say the same things: cut back on cable (uhh, we don’t own a tv), cut back on expensive cell phone usage (I use a Target Tracfone), don’t have a car payment (we’ve always driven used cars we paid cash for; our current ones are 21 and 11 years old, respectively), and on and on and on. Most of these books left me depressed, not encouraged.

But Crystal’s book? Simple, and to the point. It’s full of encouragement from a woman who’s BEEN there. (Chapter 9 shares how some months she and her husband had to survive on less than $650 – total. This is a woman who understands what it is to live on less, you guys!)

The number one point I’ve taken away from her book is this:

“I’ve found that the less I shop, the less I spend.” (141)

Ding ding ding! Light bulb!

Here was my problem:

I was taking out cash every week to buy household and grocery items. But inevitably, by the end of the week, I was still whipping out my debit card at the last store I shopped at, and here’s why: I have a bad tendency to go out to a store just to pass the time. I’m not talking about clothing or jewelry stores – I’m talking about boring old stores like CVS, Stop & Shop, or Target. It’s been cold here for a few months now (as in, too cold to go to a playground or park or spend days outside together), so most days I plan a shopping trip to get us out of the house and keep Luke and I from going stir-crazy. I honestly don’t mind being at home that much by myself, but sometimes the walls of this house feel a little too small for just me and my toddler – know what I mean?! lol My husband works a lot of long hours and sometimes the days just draaaaaaaaaag on and on. So one day I’ll go to the grocery store, the next day Target, etc.

Honestly, I really had good intentions. I wasn’t buying myself new wardrobes or treating myself to Starbucks – actually quite the opposite. I would pop into Target with $20 left in my wallet to buy diapers – and then I’d see wipes on sale….or a cleaning product on sale….or a food item I could get at a great price by combining a sale and a coupon….and before I knew it, I was putting $40 on a debit card in addition to my weekly grocery money because everyone knows that buying rock-bottom prices is how you truly save money and stay ahead and…

Yeah. This was continuing week after week after week. Call it “financial death by good intentions.” hahaha

Anyway, I read that line in her book and it changed everything for me. Immediately, I gave myself a challenge. Not only was I not going to use the debit card AT ALL anymore (except for gas – there is no way I’m leaving my 2-year-old alone in the car at the gas station!), I was also going to deliberately stay out of stores that I didn’t really need to go in. I was ALSO going to cut back our grocery budget by $20.

Well, I am happy to say that it has been a success so far! For the last four weeks, I have added an additional $80 toward paying off debt, not to mention all the money I’ve been saving by not using that little green card.

And you know what? It feels so good. :)

Reading her book and talking about it with my husband was also what prompted our No-Spend Month.

Specifically, these quotes:

“Goals give meaning to your efforts…Goals give you accountability…If you don't have written goals, it’s easy to spend money like water…Goals give you momentum…when you start working toward your goals, your whole outlook on how you spend your money changes. You feel a sense of satisfaction as you make progress.” (8, 10, 13-14)

So instead of saying, “We hope we’ll pay off debt soon,” and feeling like there’s never enough money to go around, now we’re saying, “This month we have a goal of putting $500 toward that loan” - and feeling super optimistic.

It’s a total shift in thinking – we’ve moved from hoping and wishing to concrete action.

I could literally go on and on and on about this fabulous book….I could share all the pages I highlighted and tell you how I read it in less than a day and a half because I couldn’t put it down….

But I really want you to read it for yourself.

Because I am posting a review for her, Crystal and her team are going to give me a finished copy of the book (we all got drafts to review). I’m giving away that final copy to one of you! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post – and make sure that if you don’t have a blog, you leave me an e-mail address so I can reach you. (I will mail you the book as soon as Crystal and her team mail it to me, so please understand there may be several weeks’ turnaround.)

Can I tell you my most favorite part about this book? ALL proceeds go to support Compassion International. She is not keeping one dime for herself. Isn’t that fabulous?! So even if you don’t win this giveaway, $11 is a an incredible deal considering you’re getting a fabulous resource and such a wonderful organization is benefiting.

It’s truly a win-win situation! :)

January 2012: Our No-Spend Month {The How and Why}

I think the lack of any sort of snow on the ground so far in Connecticut is really helping with my normal post-Christmas blues.  This January, I feel more hopeful and invigorated than I ever have before.  SUCH a nice change from how I usually feel this month. :)

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Chris and I have some big financial goals this year.  One of them is to pay off a small-business loan he took out from his uncle in 2008 to start his home internet business (that unfortunately didn’t pan out for him as a full-time career but has since been acquired by another company and gives him side jobs working on the site).  The second goal is to pay off our credit card that we got in 2008 to help us live on so we could put money in the bank to save up while we purchased our house (don’t ask, it’s a long story!).  We haven’t used that card since 2009 and we are still, unfortunately, paying on it. 

The small-business loan, if we did not make extra payments, would be paid off in March 2013.  Our goal is to knock it out by June 1, 2012.  We can totally do that.  This will give us an extra $200 a month to work with.

A little more audacious is the credit card payment – but by paying off the business loan early, we can then make triple payments on the credit card.  Our big crazy goal is to pay THAT off by the end of the year – December 31, 2012, to be exact.  That will give us about $100 extra each month. 

And lucky, lucky us, when we pay of those two small loans, we will still have multiple school loans to keep paying on, plus our mortgage.  YAY!

 
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Anyway, we are going into this thing with gusto!  Some of you may read the blog Small Notebook.  I have been inspired several times by Rachel’s “No Spend Months” – she has typically done them in July. 

We’re instituting one in our house for the month of January, and here’s what it’s going to look like:

- Continue to pay all bills (I hope that was obvious, but just in case…)

- Continue to give tithes (these are gifts to missionaries and our local church that we give out of our love for God; they are a non-negotiable “expense” in our house)

- Continue to take out weekly cash for groceries/household needs (like shampoo, diapers, etc.)

- Use of Christmas money and/or gift cards is allowed during this time, since it’s not coming out of our bank account (and this is also keeping me sane)

- There is absolutely no use of our bank account other than bills, gas, and the usual weekly cash deduction for groceries/household

 

In addition to what we’re NOT spending, my husband is putting an extra $100 for the next five months toward the business loan payment, and my goal for this month of January is to add an extra $200 on top of that – so that our payment for January can be $500 instead of the usual $200.  Last month we were able to put $600 toward this loan, so that really helped, too.

I am going to be adding this extra $200 via teaching my private piano lessons, my Wildtree business, and selling items via a local resale group I’m part of on Facebook.  I made $29 on that group a few days before New Year’s, so I only need $171 to meet my goal! 

I’m super excited to be rid of this business loan….the end is so close! I’ll be back with updates throughout the month to let you know how it’s going so far. 

All I have to say is, thank God I got two Starbucks cards for Christmas. ;)

 

What about you?  Have you ever done a no-spend month?  Is it something you would ever consider?

Money Saving Mom’s Book and NEW Freezer Cooking Book

It’s been a crazy week here (more on that another time!) but I wanted to pop on because Crystal Paine, aka Money Saving Mom, is offering a free freezer-cooking e-book and I just couldn’t resist taking her up on it! 

All she is asking in return for the free e-book is that you blog, tweet, FB, or pin about her new book (to be released in January), The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

 

You guys, I had an opportunity to read a draft copy of this book, and it is FABULOUS.  I will have a full-review coming soon, and an opportunity for one of you to win a copy, but let me encourage you to think about pre-ordering it, as well!  ALL proceeds – did you hear that?! – ALL PROCEEDS from the book go to Compassion International.  Love it. 

Anyway, hop on over to her book’s Amazon page to learn more info and to pre-order, if you’d like.  And remember, if you’d like to help promote her amazing book in some way, you’ll get a free 45-page e-book in return!  Not a bad deal. ;)

A Week of Disappointments {With One Shiny Exception}

It’s just been such a blaaaaah week here.  The kind that potentially was going to be great, and turned out to be such a let-down. 

First, we finally got word from the bank about our house.  This should have been a good thing, because it’s only 40 days from the day we signed the contract, which is really fast for a short sale.  The bad news is that they refused to give us a scrap of money towards closing.  Since it’s a foreclosure and it needs a little work here and there (not to mention 3 appliances), that’s just not an option for us.  We need to move into that house with some money in the bank. 

Thankfully, our realtor was venting in the office and found out that the same bank had just given someone else’s client 3% back at closing. So, we resubmitted our offer last night, asking for 3% instead of 6% back.  I want that house *so* badly, but it really is gonna have to be God at this point.  This is pretty much our last-ditch effort. 

Second, I was all psyched up to have my interview this week (like I shared on Monday), but thanks to Snowmaggedon yet another snow storm, it got canceled.  Annnnnnd I was having a really good hair day, which is a rare occurrence around here thanks to my post-baby new 1-inch bangs in front.

Oh, and in case you think I’m kidding about the snow, allow me to show you the view from the front door:

Can you see the neighbor’s mailbox?  Nope, me neither. 

Third, my car’s horn died, the oil needs to be changed, and two mysterious substances are leaking from the bottom.  Awesome. 

Fourth, I went to my ENT to have a tube put in my ear (last time I had it done, I was 4 and was put under), and what was supposed to be a pain-free, easy surgery ended up with 4 failed attempts (successful on the 5th) to place the tube in my ear, thanks to my “severely twisted canal.” Oh, and I apparently have a flap on my ear drum (?), which resulted in the intense pain I felt every time he inserted the instruments, which resulted in me bawling (I tried to hold it together, but I just couldn’t), which resulted in my doctor getting upset because I kept heaving sobs, which bumped his arm, which moved the microscope, which moved the tube, which moved the dangling ear drum….you get the picture.  All the while, the nurse is telling me “You’re doing great!!!!!! Just don’t move.” 

Not one of the finer moments of my adult life. 

In his defense, the doctor did apologize later for being so stern and for how terrible it went.  Which only made me start to cry more, in front of him.  I’m one of those people where if you get me crying even a little bit, it’s pretty much all gonna come out.  It was pretty spectacular, in case you were wondering.

Which leads me to the one lovely point of my terribly crappy week:  yesterday, I arrived home from the procedure, with big puffy eyes and a wicked sore ear, to find a box in the mailbox with my name on it. 

Aka, my last Christmas gift from Chris, so belated because I couldn’t make up my mind on which one I wanted. 

And this, my friends, is what was inside:

Um, seriously, I can’t stop thinking about this necklace.  I didn’t want to take if off last night and I couldn’t wait to put it on this morning.  It’s my new favorite thing I own.  I’m totally, utterly, in love with its adorableness.  And as a bonus, Simply Been, the company, is run by two Christian moms (love), in honor of one of the mom’s sons, Ben, who passed away.  I love supporting Christian mommies, and I love supporting the memory of a sweet little baby.  AND I LOVE THIS PIECE OF JEWELRY! 

{My attempts at a self-portrait of this really failed,
so this is all you’re getting, unfortunately! Also, my super-sensitive skin
is splotchy since I kept moving the necklace to get it straight. Lovely.}

So anyway, it’s finally Saturday.  Looking forward to church tomorrow and starting a new, fresh week. 

With my fingers crossed. ;)

Miscellany Monday {7} – Fall Weekend Edition

Our weekend was pretty awesome.  I think that by definition a miscellaneous list is supposed to be totally random but these are all kinda under the header of my weekend so we’re just gonna let the technical definition slide a little today.

1.  My Saturday started out with getting these lovelies (but in gray – I promise they look waaaaaay better than this picture below ) for only $18 after sale and gift cards.  Nope, I just couldn’t wait for Santa.  Chris He can bring me tall brown riding boots for my birthday and/or Christmas, if he happens to be reading this.  ;) Oh my heavens, I am in love.  It’s still kind of a shock to my child-of-the-80’s system to wear anything that is considered “slouchy,” but I’m getting over it REAL FAST. 

2.  Saturday afternoon included fresh apple cider, a wagon ride, and lots of cute pumpkin pictures at a local orchard.  It was a perfect Saturday afternoon, and it was great.  Except for the fact that it was literally impossible to keep this child still or actually looking at the camera for a cute pumpkin-patch picture.  Hey, last October he could barely hold his head up, so I’ll take what I can get!  Toddlerhood is way more fun!

  

 

 

3.  Speaking of my child, on Friday we went to the doctor for his 15-month check-up.  His head circumference, once again, measures off the charts.  This is the second time a medical professional has told me I should be really thankful I had to have a c-section!  hahahaha!

4.  My poor baby is also on antibiotics for a cough that just wouldn’t go away and ended up being the beginning of bronchitis or pneumonia – the doctor thought it was the start of either one.  I’m pretty sure my jaw dropped to the floor when he said that.  Pneumonia is no joke for babies! Let me encourage you – if your child has a cough that won’t go away, make sure it gets checked out.  We had already taken him to the doctor once and they said he sounded fine, but at the follow-up they finally heard it in his lungs.  So thankful that my baby is on the mend!  Those meds work fast!  

5.  Today in church our pastor was preaching about Satan from Ephesians.  In his defense, I personally thought the message was interesting, but I will admit it was pretty warm and cozy in the sanctuary.  All of a sudden from the back of the room comes this loud, LONG snore.  Like imagine a piggy has just found a whole bunch of table scraps in his pen!  hahaha!  You guys, it was SO bad!  People kinda giggled quietly but we were all just kinda waiting to see what Pastor Bob would do.  He got really quiet and then just burst out laughing, and then everyone laughed out loud with him!  He said, “Sorry I’m putting you to sleep back there!”  Oh my gosh, it was so funny.  I think the best part was the elderly woman behind me who whispered loudly to her husband, “If I was that person I would get out of here as soon as possible!”  Oh my gosh, good times with the body of Christ! 

6.  For the past 5 days, we have been in negotiations with another offer on our house.  We have been back and forth about price, and we finally received word this afternoon about the buyer’s final offer – she will not budge above a certain amount.  It is NOT what we wanted (who wouldn’t want more money?!) but we decided to agree to it because winter is coming and we don’t want to put more oil in our tank and we just want to be able to move on from all of this house drama.  Well, we haven’t heard from the realtor again all. day.  I am just so nervous that this is going to happen to us again and we are going to come to an agreement only to find the person has backed out.  I would SO appreciate prayers that we get a call tomorrow that this person is all set and ready to go!  We do know she wants to close by December 1st at the latest, which is great news because we wouldn’t have to add any more oil to keep the house from freezing.  I’d reeeeeally appreciate just even a one sentence prayer as you’re reading this!  Thanks ladies! 

7.  And lastly, to leave you on a happy note, I strongly encourage you all to go out and try Starbucks’ Salted Carmel hot chocolate if you’ve never done so before: 

I have heard about this for YEARS and finally bought one last night on my date to Starbucks with Chris (with an espresso shot added) and HOLY CRAP is it amazing.  I may or may not have embarrassed my DH with the involuntary moaning.  I promise I really did try to stay quiet.  LOL!  I have been thinking about it alllllll daaaaaaaay.  Don’t think about the calories (mine was nonfat milk and still super rich) – just enjoy. 

Have a great week!  :)

Image via chiggidycheck.blogspot.com

More Thrifty Finds (Shocker, Right?!)

I’ve never made it a secret that I don’t have a big clothing/fun money budget ever since I stopped working last year when my son was born. Thankfully my DH has a better paying job now, but we had to use almost all of our savings when he stopped working this summer to take time to fix up our house (and then move). So, right now we’re in the process of building our emergency fund back up again, which means all extra funds currently go to that.

In the meantime, I really need some fall clothing updates – stuff like leggings and a pair of skinny jeans. I made out a list, and then figured out the cost of those items. It only came to $370. HA! Thankfully, my birthday is in December, and then there’s Christmas, so I should be able to get a lot of the items on my list. My biggest wish-list item is a pair of tall gray boots. :) (Santa are you listening?!!! :)

Anyway, my husband feels bad for me, so he gave me the last $9 of his birthday money that he had left over! (This is either really sad to you or really funny, depending on your perspective on money! :) To me it’s a little of both! lol

Well, I stepped into Salvation Army yesterday for their 50% off sale, and found 3 clothing items. My total? $9 and change. I was a happy girl and when I told Chris he was amused. :)

(These pictures are plain horrific. It’s cloudy/raining here today, there was horrible light in the bedroom, and I’m no photographer to begin with, so I’m just giving you fair warning that they’re pretty bad.)

Item number one – gray and black striped dress from Target:

I can tell by the tag that it’s a little old, but I like the “mod” look of it. I’m imagining this with black leggings or tights and some tall black or gray boots (thankfully, I already have black ones). When it gets colder, I might layer a black long-sleeve t-shirt underneath it, Kelly-style.

Item number two – black ruffle t-shirt from Ann Taylor Loft.

I promise it’s really not brown or faded – that’s just my killer photography skills at work. I think this will be adorable under a cardigan this fall.

Item number three – 3/4-length cowl-neck top from Target

Simple but classic. I can wear this with jeans or to church.

The last three items cost a total of $1.25 last week at Goodwill (and you’d better believe I paid with coins from my change purse! haha)

Tiny canister, good for crafting, spices, you name it:

Porcelain plate (it came with an ugly blue ribbon threaded through it, but I can imagine switching the ribbon out for the holidays and using it to put a couple of cookies or treats on):

Handmade chippy beach bowl (I think I’ll use this in my beachy bathroom to put my rings and jewelry in – whenever God decides to give me my own house again!):

Thrifting is SO much fun and oddly relaxing and adrenaline-inducing at the same time for me. Have you found anything good at thrift stores lately?

Linked to:
Thrifty Thursday @ Tales from Bloggeritaville

Our Lives Are Totally Changing…

The past week was a great one for us……

We found out that Chris got the job he applied for and we will be moving to Connecticut!

This is long! :) And a semi-repeat from Facebook. 

Background: I am originally from CT – but after going to college in Ohio, then getting married and moving to WV for 9 months while Chris was in grad school, then to PA for 3 years, I haven’t lived full-time in Connecticut since I was 17. I have missed it SO much. Having lived in the Midwest, the upper South, and another state in the Northeast, I can attest to the fact that New England just has an indescribable feel to it! I love the small suburban towns, the rich history, and did I mention THE OCEAN?! Of course, my family lives there, too – and I am *SO* ready to be done with the tearful goodbyes each time we visit!

My DH has been working for his BIL for the last 3 years (and through college and in high school) as the manager of his landscaping company. Unfortunately, Chris had reached the “top” of the company. My BIL was paying him what he could, but we have been living extremely frugally and we have basically no wiggle room in the budget. As we think about our future and the possibility of more kids down the line (adopted or not), we were both concerned. Plus, I have to have private health insurance (which is horrible, with huge deductibles), and my DH is not insured at all. We are all about trusting God but there comes a point when you just need a Plan B! We both came to that decision simultaneously one day, and I made a phone-call to my dad, who has worked his way to fairly high up in the company he works for.  Chris interviewed last week for an opening and was hired on Friday for the job! It’s a great entry-level position with tons of room for growth and promotions. 

We both love the culture of Connecticut and think it’s a great place to raise kids (for privacy I will never mention what part we will live in – but it’s beautiful!). There are about a million reasons I could list why I’m so excited to start our lives there. I’m excited to have a sense of finality instead of always talking about “Should we move there? Should we stay here?”  Connecticut, God willing, is where we will raise our kids and see our grandkids grow up. I could just die with happiness!

Of course, we are sad to leave our family and friends here. My best friend lives here, as does all of Chris’s family. We have had a lot of really, really sad moments in the past week and a half as we told all of them personally what was happening. It’s not fun. We wish that our families could live near each other, but that will never be a reality for our marriage. I wish Lindsay could always live 10 minutes from my house.  Thankfully, though, we will be back to visit every other month, just like we’ve done now (except in reverse).

God has done soooo many cool things for us in this whole process – big things like a job opening up the day after we called to ask my Dad, and small things like my pediatrician randomly leaving the practice (Luke will just go to my old pediatricians office now!). It is absolutely terrifying and thrilling all at once! I can’t wait to have a brand-new house to decorate! :)

Our big focus now is get our house ready to sell. We bought a big-time fixer-upper 2 years ago that still needs quite a few repairs (we didn’t expect to leave PA for years, if at all  – we just refinanced our mortgage in January!). Chris will be working for about 2 more weeks, then he will be taking off about 3 weeks to concentrate solely on the house before we move to CT mid-August. (Our parents are letting us stay with them until our house sells and we can find another one. )

That means 3 weeks of no pay, which scares the heck out of me! We also have to sell our house in a recession. You know, while living out of state.

But every time I go into freak-out mode, I know that God’s got everything under control. If you are a praying person, would you pray for us? I would really appreciate it!

And who out there lives in New England?  I know I “met” some of you during the Ultimate Blog Party but I can’t remember now!  If you live in NE let me know! Maybe we can meet someday! :)

Show Us Your Life: New Year's Resolutions/Goals

This is my first time ever participating in one of Kelly's parties and I think this is as good a one as any to start (wow, bad grammar but you get the point!).

Chris and I sat down a few days ago and made a list of our goals for this year. As I wrote before, this is the first year I really feel like January's a fresh start (rather than September). I figure writing out some of the resolutions here will help keep me even more accountable. I'm going to share the resolutions that directly involve me (not the two of us).

I'll revisit this list on June 1st and then December 31st/Jan 1st to see how I've done!

Personal:

1. Lose 7 pounds by March 1st and 7 more (reaching my goal weight) by June 1st. I am back on Weight Watchers after my holiday hiatus. I'm so mad at myself for gaining 5 pounds over Christmas, but there's nothing I can do about it now except suck it up and work it off!

2. Be more engaged in prayer. I know this might sound ridiculous, but I tend to be a sporadic and quick "prayer-er". I am also one of those people whose mind always never sits still and Chris and I will be praying and I'll realize that I've thought about 50 things before the prayer's up and never really heard most of it. Prayer is a gift that God gives us and I truly want to be more engaged in it.

3. Continue working out at least 4 days a week.

Financial:

1. $300/month on groceries (this includes formula and baby food) and $200/month on household (this includes diapers, wipes, and other baby needs), with the goal of reducing these numbers drastically by the end of the year

2. Cut household waste and find even more ways to save money

3. Find ways to substitute homemade foods for convenience foods (yogurt was my first food like this; next I'm going to try making my own bread crumbs)

4. Make $300 via consignment shops and the flea market {already made $71.17 so far, so I'm off to a good start!}

5. Find some other ways to bring in money besides subbing part-time (which I will start in approximately 2 weeks) {God has already brought two small money-makers into my life - he has provided a voice lesson student and the other one is a surprise which I will share on my blog as soon as it works out!}

*Our goal is to roll as much money as we can into paying off our credit card*

Parenting:

1. Sleep train Luke (he starts next week - poor baby, if he only knew what was coming! lol)

2. Get Luke on a routine that works for both of us

Yikes, this is my 3rd post this week without pictures - I hate reading posts without pictures, so thanks for sticking with me!