Well The Summer Flew Right By...

I can't believe it is Fall already! I had every intentions of picking up writing on this blog over the Summer.  As you can see that did not happen :(  The Summer just seem to fly right by.

So here is a random Searl House Happenings post for you :)

The number 1 best thing that has happen this year was the birth of our 3rd Grandson in August.  

Baby L was born Friday, August 11 and is now a happy healthy 2 month old!

Being a Nana is one of the best things to ever happen to me.  Being a Nana to all boys is super fun and always an adventure lol

In June we bought my Husband this truck with cash! 

I am pretty proud of us for this accomplishment. This is the biggest cash purchase we have ever made and really just took alittle patience and determination to remain debt free.

Kid # 5 and I tagged along with the Husband on a business trip in July to Columbus, Ohio. We cash flowed this trip and did a lot of shopping! This was kinda hard for me actually since this goes against my frugal nature but it was a lot of fun to do with Kid #5. 

I am still working at my Nanny job and I still love it.  Occasionally, I struggle with balance of everything but the more we all get use to my working the easier things have become.

We also have done a few projects around our house that I will post about soon.  At the end of May we were in our house 2 years now.  It is slowly becoming our own. 

In August Kid # 5 started high school and is a freshman.  Time just seems to fly right by.  It seems like just yesterday she was going to kindergarten.

That has pretty much been our summer and early start to the school year so far in a nutshell. 

Hope every one is doing well :)

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I worked 3 extra hours this week :) 

2. We ate our leftovers 

3. It has been pretty hot here this week so we have taken advantage of the hot weather and quick free drying time for laundry 

4. I registered Kid # 5 for school and used cash from my school envelope to do so

5. The family I Nanny for is moving and we're getting rid of some painting supplies which had not been used. I brought them home. We will make use of them in our slow remodel of our house. 

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I made a pasta salad with ingredients we already had in the pantry to a potluck we were invited to.

2. I added all my receipts to my various shopping apps to earn cash/ gift cards. 

3. Combined several errands to make the most of my time and gas this week. 

4. Sold 4 items on eBay and all the money earned will be added to the recplacemt car fund

5. We ate our leftovers and/or turned them into other meals 

Summer Is Almost Here

This is the last week of school for Kid #5.  It is also the last week of school for my kindergartener at work.  I am looking forward to summer in someways and then again not.  

When the Kindergartener at work is home it is more work for me.  He is alittle harder to keep entertained then the 3 yr old and the baby.  Not to mention there is more cause for conflict between the Kindergartener and the 3 yr old when they are home together all day too. I have started planning things we can do and projects we can work on while I am there on the days I work.

The other conflict for this summer is what do do with Kid# 5 while I have to work.  We have never had this problem before since in previous years I have had the summers off.  I can always take her to work with me any day I need to but of course she doesn't really want to do that.  She also can go to work with her Dad once in a while but not as an regular thing each week.  I don't really like the idea of her being home all day long by herself.  We will just have to play it by ear and hopefully get a rhythm going soon. 

I am looking forward to the warm weather and not having such a strict schedule due to school.  That will be nice.  I also will have 2 days a week off to spend with Kid# 5 which is nice too. 

For the first time in a long time I will also earn a pay check during the summer months.  I am really looking forward to that!! Summer always seems to be an expensive time for us.  Seems there are a lot of birthdays and activities we are invited to do that all involve spending money.

Ok well I have rambled on about summer enough now.  Hope everyone is having a good week so far :) Really trying to get in the swing of blogging more.

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. It was pretty warm here at the beginning of the week. We did not turn on our A/C like many people did. We kept the house closed up while we were gone to work and opened windows and used fans at night. 

2.  We found Kid# 5 a dress to wear for her 8th grade celebration/dance at Goodwill for $6.36. 

3. I ran the dish washer when full and instead of using the heated dry function, I opened the door and let the dishes air dry before putting them away. 

4. I am giving Kid# 3 a baby shower in a few weeks. I used some craft supplies I already had to create table center pieces for the shower. I am trying to give a shower on a small budget. I hope to post about it later on :) 

5. The family I Nanny for are planning to move and have been cleaning out their basement. Kid # 3 is also moving and is in need of a table and chairs. My job had one to get rid of. I asked about it and they gave it to me for free :) They have been so awesome to me! Plus I do love FREE! 

A Thrifty Bathroom Makeover

We have a half bath on the main level of our house that was covered in wall paper when we moved in. Here is a before picture:

In March of 2015 we bartered wall paper removal with a friend of ours who runs a painting/wallpaper removal business. My husband does her taxes for her and she does some painting etc work for us.

Here it is after wall paper removal but before paint.

Next I painted the walls and trim.  Wall paint was approximately $35 ( paint color is Spinach White by Sherwin Williams) and trim paint we already had.

After I painted my Hubby turned the built in magazine rack into the toilet paper cubby. We spent about $5 on that. You can kinda see it in the first before picture at the top.  Here is the after:

Next up we added a new light $78 at Lowes but I had a $50 gift card to use towards it.  We also added a new mirror which I bought off Overstock for $102.99 and then took apart and spray painted the frame gold using paint we already had.  I had a very hard time finding a round mirror for a reasonable price.  We also added a new facet

 light switch cover, outlet cover, door knob and door hinges all of which I bought on eBay, $80.11.  Next up I painted the vanity navy blue and added new handles and towel holder both of which I purchased at Hobby Lobby. I spent $28 on the paint for the vanity and $14.98 at Hobby Lobby.  Last thing I bought was some wall dot stickers for about $10.  I spray painted a frame I already had the same gold as the mirror frame and hung a poster in it that I already owned also. All decor I used in the bathroom I already owned. 

Here are a bunch of after pictures :)

WOW It's May Already!

Well Hello! I sure had not planned to take this long of break from this ole' blog! I can't believe it is mid May already!

I posted here about starting a part time Nanny job in November.  I am still at my job and I still love it.  I love the family I work for and the hours and perks to the job are just perfect for our family!  I really believe this is my dream job!

Kid#5 had 8 days of school left for the year and she will be going to high school.  It is hard to believe that she is old enough to be doing this!

In a few days we have officially been in our new house/town for 2 yrs.  The first year was rough and I was not loving it.  This second year has been much better.  We are slowly making the house our own and I hope to post some of the projects we have completed soon!

Let see, on the frugal, working the Dave Ramsey Babysteps front, I also posted here that we had completed Babystep 3.  We are now working on saving for a new to us car.  For a while we were going gazelle with that because we though we might be getting transferred with my husband work again. However we recently found out that is not the case so we will now be concentrating on saving for a new to us car and paying extra on our house or Babystep 6.

Our goal with Babystep 6 is to pay off our house in 8 years or less.  My husband will be able to retire at this point and we of course would like to do that with no mortgage left.  I hope to update more regularly on how this is working!

This is pretty much has been happening here in a nutshell!  I look forward to hopefully updating here more :)

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. Monday was my husband's birthday. I made his cake and frosting from scratch.

2. I ate lunch at work for free 3x this week. 

3. I hung several loads of laundry to dry this week. 

4. We followed the menu plan and ate dinner at home every night this week

5. I returned some shoes that didn't fit right and got a refund. 

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. We had leftovers we brought home from Sunday dinner with friends.

2. Washed and dried Kid # 5 bedding used laundry soap I bought on sale with a coupon for less the $2 a bottle and used my homemade wool drier balls also :) 

3. I stopped in Goodwill. I picked up 4 shirts/sweaters and a pair of boots but ended up leaving without purchasing anything. I didn't really love the items and none were a need either. 

4. Haven't spent any unnecessary or unplanned money all week. 

5. I ate breakfast and lunch at work 3 days this week which saved on my own grocery budget :) 

Few Christmas Presents I Made....

I started my new job at the beginning of November. I had the week between Christmas and New Years off. I wanted to give my kids I am in charge of gifts on my last day of work before my vacation but had not really budgeted for it. Here is what I came up with using materials I already had. So other then my time the gifts where free :) 

For the boys who are 5 and 3, I made them each a red super hero cape out of a thrifted red sheet I already had. 

For the baby who was 10 months. I made this tag toy, using a sheet and bed spread I had thrifted, plus ribbon I already had also. 

Next I made my grandson who is 6 this rag quilt. This was not a free gift but I did use up a lot of fabric I already owned and it was well recieved by him. Kid # 3 tells me he uses this quilt all the time :) 

5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week

1. I started a letter of the week program with my 3 yr old at work.  I utilized the library to get free books to read based on our letter of the week.

2. I really wanted a new planner to use this year but could not find one that fit my needs. I am using a composition notebook I already had and designing my own planner based on the things I feel I will use each month.  

3. I eat lunch 3 days a week at work for free. Helping save on our grocery budget.

4. I hung 3 loads of laundry this week through out the house to dry. 

5. We ate our leftovers and my husband took leftovers for his lunch all week :) 

Few New Things Going On Here...

It's been a while since I have posted a blog post! Hard to believe that it is 2017 already! Hope everyone had a lovely holiday season. We did! It was busy and hectic though and one of my goals this year is to try and simplify that for this year.

Here are a few happenings at our house: 

In November I took a part time job, working 20 hours a week, Monday, Wednesday and Friday, as a Nanny. I watch primarily a 3 year old boy and a 11 month old girl. I make $15 an hour to go to their house and care for them. Occasionally and in the summer months I will also be watching their 6 year old brother who attends kindergarten. I love my job! I love the family I work for. They are all very nice and very good to me. It truly is the perfect job for me. I can also bring Kid # 5 with me to work when I need too. Which is just another added bonus! 

This job will help tremendously with some new financial goals we have for this year. We have completed our Babystep 3 and even ended up adding more to it when we had a job loss scare and then potential move in early 2016. Now we would like to move on to Babysteps 4-6. Our primary goals this year will be to up our retirement savings,  save a small amount towards Kid # 5's college ( more on that later), start to save to purchase a new to us car with cash and pay extra towards our house. Big goals and even bigger dreams for someday :) 

Our other really big news is that we will be having a new Grandchild in August. Kid #3 announced to everyone in Decemeber that she is expecting.  We all are hugely excited!  

Looks like 2017 is going to be an awesome year for our family!