Walmart

A little rant about Walmart....We have limited shopping options in this area.  It is getting better I do have to say but as far as "everything stores" (walmart, Target, etc), Walmart is it.  The nearest Target is an hour drive.  I don't mind Walmart.  Some people HATE Walmart.  I don't love Walmart but I don't hate it either.  R and I used to pretty much only shop there before we had kids.  We got our meats locally but the bulk of our grocery shopping was Walmart.  As I have been couponing, shopping sales and bent and dents, and basically watching the prices of things better, I have come to realize that Walmart is EXPENSIVE.  It truly is.  Some stuff is cheaper but the drive for me does not make it cheaper than just getting it locally on sale.  Walmart is a 15-20 minute drive depending on which one I go to.  I like to 20 minute away one better so I tend to go there more often.  It is cleaner and more locals shop there.  The other one is in a touristy town and I try to avoid tourists.  So anyway, I had to go to Walmart tonight for a couple things.  I didn't have to go but there are a couple things we only get there and we needed that stuff so I went.  It sucked.  They were out of 2 of the things on my small list.  I did get the important things and I browsed the clearance toys.  They had some pretty good deals but I only found one thing that I wanted to get and that was a $4.50 Hannah Montana Doll for K.  She loves Hannah Montana and this doll sings!  She is gonna be so happy!  It was clearanced at 50% off.. I intend to put it away for her birthday or Christmas.  I hope they go lower on their toys yet.  There were a couple other things I would have gotten....had they been a bit cheaper.  A singing snow white doll, a Dora Castle for O, a barbie scooter for K, and a ride on airplane toy for our youngest neice.  If these things go to 75% off I will try to get them but if not...I won't. 

For dinner this coming week (at least a couple days planned so far)

I as a rule do not try to meal plan more than a couple days at a time.  For one, I just don't like to know what I am going to eat everyday.  I get bored.  For two, we have so much in the freezer that I really do not have to plan ahead.  We have everything we need for our normal meals here. 

I am going to try to plan out the next couple days though. 

Tonight is crockpot ham cooked in pineapple juice and pineapple slices. 
Tommorrow night is lasagna
Monday night is left over lasagna.  We have a guy coming Monday evening for an estimate on a new furnace and this will be happening when we eat dinner so having the leftovers ready to reheat when we get home will be perfect.

That's all I got so far. :)

quick trip to walgreens

I had to run to Walgreens because I am completely out of my generic Excedrin Migraine.  I need to have it on hand and I cannot believe I ran out.  I thought I had a lot left but I had generic acetominophen, ibuprofen and the night pain relief stuff but no migraine stuff.  UGH!  I hate paying full price...but it turned out I didn't have to.  They had the actual excedrin migraine on said for $6.99 for 100 gel tabs (I usually get the capsules but anything will do) and it had a smaller 24 ct bottle shrinkwrapped to it for free..so 124 geltabs for $6.99 works out to 5.6 cents per tab.  The generic I usually get was 7 cents per tab.  I ended up getting 2 of the shrinkwrapped deals so 248 tabs.  That oughta last for awhile.  The shrinkwrapped ones were hidden in the back of the 100 count bottles.  Glad I dug around a bit.  I got myself a better deal.

While I was in Walgreens I walked around a bit and found some hair dye on clearance for $1.39 a box.  I ended up getting 4 boxes.  This is usually $8 per box.  I dye my hair every 3-4 months so this will last a year or so.  I also found some Walgreens brand 2 in 1 shampoo and conditioner on clearance for $1.09 for the big bottle.  Granted I don't use it for me or K (we have thick, longish hair and we have to condition seperate or we have a mess) but it would work great for R and last him a long time so I bought 1.  They had a bunch but really 1 will be plenty.  He still has some pert plus left from when it was free and he can use the Suave if needed.  Suave is our go to product for bathing the dog (and cats...yes our cats take baths), the kids bubble bath, and for my youngest's thin, not very long hair, and it works great as shaving gel and body wash in a pinch.  We have a ton of Suave...we use it for just about everything EXCEPT what you are supposed to use it for.  LOL.

And a pretty awesome non household use score was an angel musical waterglobe for $3.  As I have mentioned before the kids' babysitter collects angels and I try to get her angel things for her birthday and Christmas.  I already got her a couple angel things for Christmas but they were very Christmasy and cannot be used for her birthday so this is a perfect birthday gift.  So now she is done for 2010 for gifts (besides her bonus...which will happen in November or so and is cash).

Slighty over budget this week

I went slightly over my grocery budget this week...and the week isn't over yet.  SIGH!

This is my expenditures

1/5 $17.51 grocery-meat


1/5 2.12 misc household items (water bottle for me for work and pack of 12 sponges at the dollar store)

1/8 11.03 grocery-general (yogurt, cheese, sunny D, soda, milk, bread, cottage cheese, lasagna noodles)

1/8 26.17 grocery-meat

1/8 2.69 misc household (freezer paper)

59.52 total this week

I could have waited on my 2 liter of soda (99 cents), the Sunny D wasn't need but was on sale (huge jug for $1.99 and the kids like it..I don't buy it alot), Freezer paper won't be needed again for awhile but was needed to wrap the meat I got on sale), lasagna noodles were not needed nor was cottage cheese but that was a special request from hubby.  I haven't made it in a long time and both the noodles and the cottage cheese were on sale.  We have mozzarella in the freezer already and plenty of sance and ground beef so I only had to get the noodles and cottage cheese. 

Everything else was needed and on sale.  Without the unnecessary stuff figured in, I would have come in under budget. I cannot think of anything else we would need at this point until the new ads come out so we are good.  We came in just slightly over budget so I am pleased.  Next week I hope to come in at or under budget.  Preferrably under by $10 to make up for the overage this week.  The overage is covered with our miscellaneous money.

I scored a pretty good deal for K today.  I am in the process of getting the next size of clothes for her (well 2 sizes if I find good deals).  My employer has a company store that is just for employees only.  It is a small space in the building where I work.  I stopped by after my shift today and they were having a sale 50-75% off the already low employee prices.  Sweet!  I didn't find anything for myself or R but I did find a pair of jeans for K for $5.  Brand new!  I found boots for O and debated about buying them.  She already has boots so she doesn't need any right now and the ones I bought K for her birthday should fit O next winter.  They would have been $5.  I debated for a good 5 minutes and then decided to pass.  They would probably fit O next winter but IDK for sure...and they were only $5 but $5 is $5 and it is $5 that I wouldn't have to spend and the ones K has will fit her for sure so in the end it was better to just not get them.  They had a cute shirt for O too and it would have been $3.75 but O has a ton of hand me downs as it is and really does not need ANY more clothes so I passed on that as well.  When I checked out the cashier informed me that the same pants were on clearance on the website for a bit more than I paid for that pair.  My willpower was screaming not to even go look but I did anyway.  $7.99 a pair with an additional discount making them $7.19 a pair...for QUALITY blue jeans with an adjustable waist.  I ended up ordering 3 more pairs.  The total with shipping was $29.  $29 for 3 pairs of quality jeans is not a bad deal.  I ordered them in K's next size and the size up from that.  She should be in them about the time she starts school so that will take some of the burden of school clothes off (we don't have a uniform policy in our schools...just a dress code) when I am a SAHM again.  We have the extra money now and they are such a good deal I could not pass it up.  When I looked last week at JCP, the arizona jeans (which are not nearly as sturdy as these jeans) were on clearance for more than I paid for these quality jeans on clearance so I feel alright about it.  I didn't need to get them but K will need bigger clothes and she will need nice clothes for school...there I go justifying again.  LOL

should be a minimal spending week

So far there are only a few things we plan to buy as far as groceries go.  Milk and ground chuck so far.  Ground chuck is on sale for $1.69 starting tommorrow.  We have room for about 10-15 lbs in the freezer.  Kinda wishing I would have bought freezer paper at the bent and dent now but I didn't think we would need any for awhile so I passed.  Oh well.  We do have some. 

As part of our New Year, New Budget plan our weekly grocery money will fall in line with the ad weeks instead of pay weeks as we have previously done.  It is a bit of a change, but gives me a bit more freedom to stock up on sales as the money will be refreshed halfway through the sale week so if there is a good sale I can use the remainder of the previous weeks money and get a little more when we get paid.  I am going to try this for a bit and see how it works.  I really want to stick to the grocery budget and get more money in savings this year. 

When O and I went shopping today we stocked up on pasta and baking supplies.  We really should have very little expense grocery-wise for quite a while.  Dh is on board with trying new recipes and using up our pantry and freezer so we should only have to buy sale items, fresh produce, milk and bread for quite a while. 

mommy and O day

O and I spent the day together today.  We went to checkout JCP and Sears clearance.  Lots of good deals but nothing good enough for me to buy.  Even at Sears with my discount, I couldn't justify any more clothes for the kids, nothing I like for myself or R and the Christmas clearance consisted of about 12 ornaments...all of which were still too pricey for me.  JCP had additional 40% off their clearance price but there was nothing I needed for the kids or myself.  Our youngest neice is growing like a weed so I hated to get her anything not knowing if it would fit her by next winter so I passed.  If it were for my kids I would have taken a chance but I don't want to "waste" money buying a gift for someone else that might not fit.

We headed over to Walmart for lunch...the turkey and provolone rollups from their deli.  YUM!  We saw that Christmas stuff was now clearanced to 75% off so we browsed that a bit and found a couple things.  We also got K a strawberry shortcake polly pocket with a DVD for $1.97.  It was marked $2.98 which was still a good deal with a DVD but it rang up for $1.97.  Cool!  Would have gotten one for our older neice had I known that.  Oh well.  We also found a coat for me clearanced out to $7.  It is similar in color and warmth to the one I had picked out from my work that was $27 with my discount and shipping but hadn't ordered yet.  I didn't need a new coat until yesterday.  I went to put on hubby's and the zipper broke...I had an old down coat in the closet that I have been wearing since then but it is a bit tight.  I have been wearing hubby's old coat which is super warm but now he needs it back.  My options were to buy a coat for him and keep his old one for me or buy myself a new coat and give him back his old one.  A new one for me ended up being cheaper so that is the route we went. 

Our favorite bread was on clearance at Walmart too.  The italian loaf, garlic and parmesan flavor.  SOOOOO good!  We eat it so fast that I don't worry about buying a day old loaf.  It won't go bad around here.  O has already had 3 pieces since we got home.  LOL

mmmmm stuffed green peppers

I LOVE stuffed green peppers but have never made them.  The girls and I went to the bent and dent this morning and they had frozen stuffed peppers $1.50 for 2.  YUMMM!  I ended up getting 3 packages of them.  R doesn't like them and the kids have never tried them so frozen is the way to go for me.  I can eat them when I want and make something else for the family. 

We got waffles, canned corn and green beans, some cookies, organic whipped butter, 3 pizzas, 7 welchs Strawberry breeze frozen juice concentrate (the girls fav!), a couple TV dinners for me for work, Southern style banquet frozen chicken (R's fav) and a few other things.  It ended up being one of my most expensive trips there ever at just under $40.  But we came home with 2 big boxes of food for that money.  We stopped at the hospital auxilary when we got back to town and got a couple christmasy things (1/2 off Christmas stuff there) and they gave us a couple free things too, Christmas stuff they were trying to get rid of.  Cool!

budget is worked and a bit more.

and we are sitting pretty good.

If all goes according to plan we should be able to put away quite a bit of money every month and still live life pretty dang good.  I am waiting on the state forms yet to figure out our tax return but so far it is looking good.

I have 2 more days off from work and I have a couple side projects I want to accomplish.  One is going through the saved clothes and figuring out what the girls will need for spring and summer, fall and winter for 2010.  Clothes for O are a moot point.  She has K's stuff to grow into and she gets a new outfit or two for her birthday and Christmas.  I want to garage sale again this year but I want to be a bit more prepared so we don't get an overabundance of clothes again.  As K has been outgrowing clothes, I have been sorting out and getting rid of some things when I put them away for O.  When I take them out for O, I have also been going through and getting rid of things as well.  They just have too many clothes.  R and I both have been sorting through when we do laundry as well.  Anything stained, torn, worn out has been getting tossed accordingly, with each load of laundry.  We both weeded out our clothes as well.  Feels pretty good. 

pretty good deal for not really looking...

I had to stop at the grocery store tonight.  I am about out of soda (GASP!).  I need my diet coke like other people need coffee.  Seriously I cannot function in the morning until I get that first diet coke.  Gotta have my caffeine...it's baaaaad if I don't.  Diet coke was on sale there so I stopped in to get a case.  Yesterday when K and I stopped by to pay the sitter, she said they had refilled their clearance carts with good stuff.  hmmmm.  So I checked them out.  I didn't see too much good for us except Welch's strawberry preserves in a squeeze bottle.  Sweet!  Clearanced out, still in date, not damaged, for $1 per 1lb bottle.  NICE!  We have been eating toast with jelly for breakfast a lot lately so I grabbed up 5 of them.  That ought to last awhile.  I never have been a big breakfast eater but my job requires that I eat something before work.  It isn't in the job description but it might as well be.  If I don't eat before work by the time first break comes around I am ravenous!  Even just 2 pieces of toast with a little jelly tides me over until lunchtime. 

Happy New Year!

K and I closed out 2009 by having a mommy/daughter day.  We had a good day.  We went to the thrift store (2 of them) and ended up getting 28 ornaments for our tree next year.  They were getting rid of all Christmas stuff by selling it for 25 cents per item.  We also got a skirt for K for 50 cents (half off colored tag sale).  We also went to Walmart because I had a few coupons to use by 1/5.  I found a rack of shorts for $2 and K needed some shorts for this summer so I got 4 pairs for her.  With the skirts, skorts, and shorts she should be set for summer now.  O is already set as she has all K's old clothes to wear and I got her some shorts clearanced out for $1 at the end of last summer.   Some pics of the ornaments.  K found the train, carousel horse and airplane for her sis.  She picked out the snowman and the tree for me.  The train has someone else's name on it but I can cover that with a ribbon (thanks Tori!) or gems or something.  The airplanes propellor and wheels actually turn.  It is aluminum or tin or something like that.  Pretty cool!

The Walmart we went to still had a ton of Christmas stuff left but all we got was a couple more lip balm things for K.

We stopped a few other places and I found the cutest little caroling cat wooden plaque things.  I got 3 at first and they were 1/2 off the clearance price (ended up being 25 cents each).  Later, I thought they would be cute to have around as an extra gift, as I always end up forgetting someone so I went back and got a couple more.  This time they rang up full clearance price (50 cents each).  Oh well.  They are still cute and cheap and they do not look cheap.

Later today or at least sometime on these days off I want to sit down and rework our budget for the new year and will post more about that when I actually sit down and do it.  I would like to do it now but the house is a mess and we are headed to brunch at the inlaws shortly. 

wooo I DID get what I wanted!

a friend called me this morning and said a different walmart still had all the bath sets and lip gloss things I had wanted so the girls and I went there. they had toys on clearance already too so I got a few toy things for our youngest neice and a thomas for my youngest for later. We ended up getting the bath stuff and lip gloss things I wanted (little birthday gifts for the sitter's granddaughters and my daughter loves lip gloss and lip balm so she will get some for easter and her birthday. Also found the prettiest pewter angel ornament with crystals for the girl's sitter for next Christmas. She collects angels.




We also went to farm and fleet. They only had 25% off their toys but they had a ton of thomas stuff left so I got a take along Thomas and Percy for my youngest for later for $8 total. I was pretty happy about that. Mom is getting her the track for it so I have been on the lookout for the engine and cars.



We stopped at Family Dollar also. 50% off all toys $10 and up. I got 4 things $10 toys originally for $5. A soft Belle Doll for our youngest neice for next Christmas, a remote control truck for our nephew for his birthday, an Ariel Barbie for our oldest neice for her birthday (end of January) and a Christmasy Barbie for my oldest for next Christmas, we got a few ornaments there too.

Day after Christmas deals

I went to 7 stores throughout the day. We went to Christmas on my mom's side but I got up early this morning and went with mom and dad to Kohls and a Walmart. I got like 10 rolls of wrapping paper at walmart, a couple things of candy, some cologne sets for my brother and hubby for gifts for later, a little lip gloss disney princess purse thing for my oldest DD, a tote box for ornaments since our collection grew by a lot this year and some chistmasy colored take alongs food storage things for $1 per set. There are 3 or 4 in the set. I was going to buy a larger fake tree but when I mentioned that to mom she said not to because she would just give me her 7 1/2 ft because she only puts up a little one now. SCORE! We have a 4 ft now but our ornament collection grew so much this year that we need a bigger tree now. LOL. I scored huge last year at Sears in early January. They had a ton of Dora, Diego, Tigger, Disney princess, Tinkerbell, and Barbie ornaments for 90% off. I got sets of 4 for under $1 per set! They became gifts this year since I get the girls and ornament or 2 (or more...if we find cute ones at the thrift store) every Christmas season. I try to buy things that fit their personality and interests that year and if they don't already have the year, I write the year on them with a sharpie real small.  We also went to breakfast.  That was Delish!  A meal where I didn't have to tell someone to eat; just try a bite; how do you know you don't like it?, you eat eggs all the time; what do you mean you are full, you ate 2 bites?!?!; stop fighting with your sister and EAT! 




At kohls I only got 2 ornaments for the kids. I didn't see anything that was priced good enough for me to bite.



After visiting at my grandpa's, the kids and I stopped at a Walmart. I got the girls some stickers, and we got a few grocery things. Mainly we went to decompress from the mass of people at Grandpa's and to check on the Christmas clearance there but there was not a lot left at all and it was surprising not very busy. We got gas and dinner in that town.



We got back on the interstate and we had gone about 10 miles when my oldest said she had to go to the bathroom. We went before we got back on the road so I asked her if she could hold it for a little bit. The next exit was 15 miles and there was a wayside coming up (in the middle of nowhere) but because it was just me and the 2 kids and starting to get dark, I really did not want to stop there unless I absolutely had to. She said she could hold it longer so we just got off at the next exit and walmart was right there. We went into that Walmart and she went. Then we checked out the Christmas clearance again and the girls found a couple ornaments they liked and I found some pj pants for $5.



Our final exit from the interstate there is a Kmart and the girls were tired of riding so we stopped there and ended up getting a set of ornaments, some boxers for DH, a Thomas Train for my youngest, a barbie lip gloss set for my oldest, a couple more of the barbie sets to put away as gifts, everything was on clearance and they had an additional 20% off clearance toys so the Train was only $7. O is really into trains...big time!  she was so excited about her Thomas she wanted to sleep with it.  I think I might call my MIL tommorrow and tell her about them and then have her pick up the others.  For $7 a piece, they can become birthday presents later :)



After the kids were in bed, I needed some alone time, so I told hubby I was leaving for a bit.  I went to Pamida and got a couple keepsake ornaments with 2009 on them. They are pewter with crystals. Really cute and kinda pricey for me (even clearanced they were $4.50 each) but I had a really hard time finding ornaments with 2009 on them for some reason. I also got my mom a wooden snowman decor thingy. She collects snowmen so that will be perfect and only $5. Their clearance was 70% off a lot of the Christmas stuff. They are really pricey so I don't shop there very often but I do check out the clearance. I stopped by Walgreens and I found a couple things but didn't buy. They had a lot left so I will wait and see if they go lower. If I don't get them, no biggie. They are just things for the sitter for her Birthday and stuff. She collects angels.

Christmas is over

Hooray!  I sincerely love Christmas but I am so glad when it is over.  We do have one more get together that we are supposed to attend but depending on weather tommorrow, we may skip it, as it is a 3 hour round trip drive on roads that I drive once a year.  Besides the drive, it is with family that I don't necessarily care that much for (with the exception of a couple people) and we generally stay for an hour tops and then hit the road...4 hours of my time spent driving and visiting with people that I don't care to see...whatever.  I went last year.

One thing I am not skipping though (barring a dramatic weather change overnight) is my traditional after Christmas shopping.  Mom and Dad did decide to go so I am headed out with them at 5:30 AM.  R says I am crazy but even if mom and dad weren't going I was going to go alone.  I really need a break from the family for a few hours.  I love my kids and my hubby but I am in dire need of some time without someone asking me for something or whining, crying and fighting.  Tis the season.

Should have posted this yesterday

I will still have a job after Christmas.  I was a bit worried because that is what I do.  My boss saw no reasons to let me go so I will still be working part-time for 2010 until we meet our goals, preferrably by the end of October.  I said Thanksgiving previously but R is hoping for a end of October quit date for me.  I do enjoy my job and would like to stay on but this year's Christmas season was a bit rough on the family and that comes first.  I imagine next year will be the same or worse so I will continue on with the plan as it is now....always subject to change though :)  just the way it is for us anymore.  I intend on leaving there on a good foot so I can go back when both kids are in school and possibly work something out with before school and after school care for the kids.

We had a fairly lowkey Christmas with my parents this afternoon at their house.  It was nice.  I am glad they downplayed it more this year than in years past.  It has been an overabundance of gifts in years past and this year was much more tame.  Although I did miss the big dinner and all the trimmings.  Mom had to work last night and didn't feel like cooking a big meal (we still had a pretty decent meal of prime rib, baked potatoes, and corn). 

Tommorrow is our little family Christmas.  One gift each for R and I from the girls (slippers for me...shaving set for R) and the rest is about the kids.  Then we go to the inlaws for Christmas with them. 

Saturday is my most favorite day of the year.  The after Christmas sale day!  I love this day.  It is also my mom's birthday and it is a tradition for her, dad, my brother and I to go shopping.  I am not sure if my brother will be going this year but the rest of us are.  The kids will stay home with R.  We hit the stores and then go out for breakfast.  I am looking forward to it.  On my list this year is wrapping paper (I ran out!  Shocker!), some of the bath sets that are clearanced (they had some really cute ones that I will not pay $10 for but I will pay $5..make great birthday gifts!), some ornaments (still have to get the 2009 year one for the girls but I wait until after Christmas to get them).  I really want to get O a train ornament of some sort.  I wanted to get her a Thomas one (the kids LOVES trains!) but after seeing her eyes light up at even just a train on the tracks not moving, I figured that any train ornament will do.  K has been big into Hannah Montana this year so I would like to get one like that for her.  A new tote box for just ornaments.  I started collecting ornaments for the girls when they were born, 2-3 each year, and have amassed quite a collection now.  I get them each one with something they are into (trains, barbie, hannah montana, etc.) and then one with the year for sure and usually they pick out one or two when we visit the thrift store.  Our tree is a hodge podge of different ornaments, some mine, some K's, some O's.  It's pretty cool though.  I am also looking for a bigger fake tree but that is not necessary.  Our little 4ft Charlie Brown fake tree is ok but every single branch has at least one ornament on it this year.  You can hardly see the actual tree (which might not be a bad thing!).  I bought that tree the year Liv was born.  Our other tree got ruined in the basement and Rodney has just changed jobs.  We didn't have a lot of money and that tree was $10 at Family Dollar.  It was all I could afford to spend so that is what we got.  Even if I do get a bigger tree, I will probably keep this one and put it up but not fill it so full with ornaments OR I will not get a different tree, still put this one up and just get some garland to hang around the livingroom and hang ornaments on.  That would work too.  That is about all that is on my list this year.  If I see some other good deals I will probably snag some more gift type things for next year but I might hold off on that until later, when JCP, Old Navy and Sears do their big clearance sales in January/February. 

Merry Christmas! and our goals in the new year

First off  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas.

and now for the financial stuff....LOL.

For the new year, I have set us up some pretty aggressive (yet doable) goals.

New furnace!  (original quote a couple years ago was $4500 but I have talked to some people over the last couple weeks and I am certain that this will be cheaper now.  I am still budgeting $4500 and the leftover will go to meet our savings goal)

Have at least $7500 in savings by next November...would like $10,000 but that might be pushing it.  Ultimately I would like to have one year of my income in savings (just over $11K by the end of this year), but I don't know that we can do that before we need to be able to accomplish goal 3....

Goal 3 is for me to be a SAHM before Thanksgiving of 2010.  There are a variety of reasons (some personal, some I won't go into this publicly just in case, and because I would like some time home with both my kids before K starts school...and once K is in school my current work schedule does not work with getting her to school and home from school.  That is a mess unto itself so I won't go into that here). 

In order for Goal 3 to happen we need to get the minimum of $7500 in our emergency fund.  We could do without it but I want to have the cushion.  Why $7500?  That is 7 1/2 months of just bills.  The reccommended amount in an emergency fund for long term is 3-6 months of living expenses (more savings is better).  For us the yearly total for our monthly bills and our annual and semi annual bills comes to just under $15K.  $7500 is half of that.  I did not budget in groceries or other stuff in that $7500 for a few reasons:

That money is for unemployment for R.  Should he lose his job, he would get unemployment.  Therefore I did not feel it necessary to budget in money for gas, food, etc in an emergency fund.  If we were in a bind we could use some of it to pay for groceries, etc.  I can feed us pretty cheaply when necessary so I am not worried.

We have the stockpile.  We can live off the stockpile for a while, only needing to buy milk, bread and some fresh veggies and fruit.  I continue to stockpile even now so having food would not be an issue.

Should we need it, there are various assistance programs.  I do not advocate using assistance as a lifestyle but as a helping hand.  I will say that I have used assistance in the past and I will again if the need arises.  With the budget I have set up and the goals I have set, we should not need assistance barring any unforeseen changes. 


so those are my goals in the new year.  I am currently checking out my local banks and figuring out which one (excluding our current bank) that I should use to open a new account for this emergency fund.  I want the funds to be more difficult to get a hold of but not so difficult that I can't get to them in a time of need.  The reason for picking a new bank for this account only is so I cannot just transfer it online like I currently can from our mini emergency fund.  It is so easy right now and I want to make it a bit more difficult on myself.  My intent is to use our current savings as bill paying but clear it out (minus the $100 minimum balance required) at the end of the month when the bills are paid and transfer that to our other savings at a different bank.

if you have a little extra money now....

Ha who does right?!? but seriously this could save you quite a bit in a month or so, so keep reading!

I got this in an email.  Here is my thoughts. 

I know Old Navy has an extra 50% off clearance sale in late January or early February (and again sometime in the fall but I have never shopped that one) so my thought was taking $50 or $100 (saving $10 or $20 respectively) and THEN using that gift card when they have the extra 50% off clearance sale. Not only would I save money when I got that gift card I would save money when I bought new clothes for the kids.  I have walked out of Old Navy before with $100 plus worth of clothes for $25.  So this way I could potentially walk out with $200 plus of clothes (which I could very easily spend because the girls are growing so fast and I could get a TON of Christmas presents for next year for our neices, nephew, my brother and my parents) for $40. 

Pretty cool right?!  Now I don't recommend doing this if you don't usually shop Old Navy or there is nothing you need there but if you do shop there regularly it is a good way to save some $$.

last minute Christmas stuff and more

I worked for a little bit today.  After work I got my hair cut and then spent the rest of the afternoon with my brother.  We went to Walmart.  I spent a little there.  Not much at all.  Then we went to Goodwill.  I got a purse and a like new wallet, some PJ pants for hubby and a "ho ho" (aka Santa) ornament for Liv.  After that we went to Dollar Tree, where I got the remainder of the stocking stuffers I needed for Christmas.  A few things for my girls, a pumice stone for my brother's girlfriend, and a few other things.  On the way home we stopped at my favorite bent and dent.  I am super excited because they installed a whole bunch of new freezers. They have a ton more freezer stuff now.  Hooray!  I get almost all of our frozen juice concentrate, fries, and pretty much all of our freezer things there.  I am wondering now though if they will raise their prices. hmmmmm

 It was fun spending the afternoon with my brother.  We haven't done that in a long time.

goals

With the lack of motivation to be at work, I decided to set new goals.  Goal 1 is to get 6 months of bills in savings...right around $7500.  Our monthly bills are actually just under $1000 but we wanted to get a bit more for LP and our life and car insurances.  Goal 2 is to get $5-6K in savings for a new to us vehicle when the time comes.  We can accomplish this quickly when we get our tax return.  I did a preliminary estimate of our tax return last night and we should get quite a chunk of change back.  Part of this will go for a new furnace and the rest will get put away.  The original plan was to get a new furnace and new siding but we are going to wait another year on the siding but we cannot wait on the furnace.

I was worried about my job and how losing it would affect our savings goals.  I don't know that I am losing my job but temps are done on 12/31 and I am technically a temp.  I was injured again last week so whether or not I still have a job is up in the air in my mind.  Then I got a call from hubby today and he is going to be able to start working 10 hours (or more) of OT in a week.  That will quickly help us meet our savings goals!

car is paid off!

wooooo!  I sent the payment early on Thursday, checked yesterday and it cleared my account so now I am down to just owing a very small amount on my credit card that I will pay off this week and we are DEBT FREE (except the mortgage!)  I am so happy!


The downside to knowing that I am debt free is that I do NOT want to be at work.  I do NOT need to be there for the money so I really really do not want to get up and go in or anything.  UGH!  makes it soo hard to do a 10 hour day.   I felt that way yesterday but today was even worse.  My body aches and I just kept thinking about how my car is paid off and I already made enough this week to pay off the credit card.  Why am I here?!? 

I am thinking that because way back when I was offered and decided to stay on year round at my employer, it was *just until the car is paid off*, now it is just until we have more in savings and then it will be something else I am sure.  I make good money and I do like my job usually.  The problem is that right now we are busy and we are working A LOT.  I do not need to work A LOT, I do not want to work alot but it is mandatory to do the extra long days and Saturdays.  UGH!  Once we slow down, it will get better. 

Hubby and I talked tonight and we *think* that I am going to end up quitting before we get to this problem next year.  We are having issues with the early start days and our sitter arrangement.  I cannot do another year of this.  It is too stressful on me and on the sitter so for now I am not planning on changing anything, just keep saving money and building us up a nice big savings account but before the Christmas rush at work next year, hubby and I have lots of talking to do.  :)

busy day

We dropped off the old vacuum and some other stuff at the thrift store this morning and got a receipt for taxes. When we were in there K found a brand new angel ornament and O found a Santa driving a tractor ornament that she HAD to have so I got them both. Then we went to Farm and Fleet (regional store...mostly farm stuff but they have an automotive section, clothing section, housewares, shoes and a seasonal toy section. They have the best old fashioned seasonal candies too!) We got dad a gift card there for new work overalls and got a few other things...like the BEST manual can opener EVER. LOVE it. It actually works!! (that is a whole vent I have to type up sometime). O lost her shoe in farm and fleet but some nice person turned it in at the courtesy counter. Hooray!




Then we went to Walmart to pick up my pics and get a couple other things. Ended up finding racks of clearanced kids summer clothes for $1 each. I got 11 things. 9 for the girls and 2 for my youngest neice. Hooded dresses, skirts and leggings. They had some long sleeve shirts too but nothing that would fit my girls. I usually don't buy Walmart clothes for the kids (zippered pjs, socks and underwear is all) because I have found that they don't last with how rough my girls are on stuff and I can get it cheaper through work or by watching sales at Childrens' place, old navy or JCP or even at the thrift store or garage sales but for $1 each I can't pass it up.



Then we ran to dollar tree and got some picture frames for the pics I had made. One for MIL, one for us and one for my grandpa. The other pics will just be given to mom and our sitter since mom got picture frames for Christmas and our sitter is picky about frames.



Then we had lunch with hubby and now we are home. I have some housework to do and then get ready for the next 3 days of work work work.