This year has been a trying year. Some things have been good and some not so much. Here is a little reflection:
February - Kid # 4 spends week in hospital
Kid # 1 announces they are pregnant and there will be no October 27th wedding ( then starts the hunt for a date everyone can attend)
March - I start new job outside of the house for the first time in 20 years
Kid # 4 is sent to live with his Father ( one of hardest decisions I have ever had to make but it has worked out well)
May- Husband's graduation from college
Kid # 2 graduation from high school
June - Kid #1 - wedding. 10 days later premature birth/death of our first grand child
Kid # 2 graduation party
July - loose new job due to them moving out of state
October - Hubby visits the ER for asthma attack
November - I get another new job
December - Hubby gets new position at work
There is our year in a nutshell. Lets hope 2013 is less eventful :)
Monday, December 31, 2012
Sunday, December 30, 2012
Changes Are Coming For 2013
On December 27th my hubby accepted an Accounting position within his railroad. We are so happy about this! This is what he went to school for and had worked so hard to achieve. He will work daytime hours with weekends and holidays off. He will no longer have to use vacation time just to be able to celebrate a holiday with us. Those are the good points!
The not so good, but we can make it work points are, he will no longer be working in the town we live in. He will have to commute to work about an hour each way everyday now. There will also be some traveling involved since he will now be doing accounting work for the Midwest division of his railroad. This includes some out of state travel.
So what does this mean for us and our finances? Well first up we will have to make up about a $600 a month difference in our primary income. We will need to cut a few expenses and increase some income.
One of the ways we will do this is with my new job.
The other will be to take a good look at our bills, namely whether we really need the cable or not. It is bundled with our Internet and land line, so we will need to see what other options are out there. We have Netflix already which we actually watch more then our cable channels. We also all have cell phones so it is a possibility that the land line will be going away along with the cable. I am thinking that will probably save us about $100 a month.
Next up will be the grocery budget. There are no longer 7 people living here anymore, we are down to just 4 with some occasional visits and family dinners etc with the rest of the kids, yet our grocery budget is still the same. The few months that I attempted to meal plan for the whole month all at once really saved us alot of money. I plan to put this back into action and hopefully shave off $100 a month off our grocery bill. Not only am I going to have to really plan for our dinners, but I also need to for snacks and breakfasts that will be easy for my husband to take along in the car with him. I am going to have to really sit down and plan this all out.
I have a post planned in the next day or two with my 2013 goals. 2 of those goals are to keep selling our used and unwanted items and also my craft projects. By doing those to things I think I can easily bring in an extra $100 or more a month.
My husband also does alot of side work which brings in extra income. So with all of these things thought out I think the decrease in primary income will not hurt us to badly.
Our biggest obstacle in all of this is my husband is in need of a smaller fuel efficient car. Hopefully by mid summer if not before we will be able to cash purchase a new to us car for him to drive to and from work. In the mean time he will use my car during the week and I will drive his 20 yr old car around town. I don't really like his car much but I DO like being car payment free, so that out weighs my dislike of his old car :)
Here is hoping for a good 2013!
The not so good, but we can make it work points are, he will no longer be working in the town we live in. He will have to commute to work about an hour each way everyday now. There will also be some traveling involved since he will now be doing accounting work for the Midwest division of his railroad. This includes some out of state travel.
So what does this mean for us and our finances? Well first up we will have to make up about a $600 a month difference in our primary income. We will need to cut a few expenses and increase some income.
One of the ways we will do this is with my new job.
The other will be to take a good look at our bills, namely whether we really need the cable or not. It is bundled with our Internet and land line, so we will need to see what other options are out there. We have Netflix already which we actually watch more then our cable channels. We also all have cell phones so it is a possibility that the land line will be going away along with the cable. I am thinking that will probably save us about $100 a month.
Next up will be the grocery budget. There are no longer 7 people living here anymore, we are down to just 4 with some occasional visits and family dinners etc with the rest of the kids, yet our grocery budget is still the same. The few months that I attempted to meal plan for the whole month all at once really saved us alot of money. I plan to put this back into action and hopefully shave off $100 a month off our grocery bill. Not only am I going to have to really plan for our dinners, but I also need to for snacks and breakfasts that will be easy for my husband to take along in the car with him. I am going to have to really sit down and plan this all out.
I have a post planned in the next day or two with my 2013 goals. 2 of those goals are to keep selling our used and unwanted items and also my craft projects. By doing those to things I think I can easily bring in an extra $100 or more a month.
My husband also does alot of side work which brings in extra income. So with all of these things thought out I think the decrease in primary income will not hurt us to badly.
Our biggest obstacle in all of this is my husband is in need of a smaller fuel efficient car. Hopefully by mid summer if not before we will be able to cash purchase a new to us car for him to drive to and from work. In the mean time he will use my car during the week and I will drive his 20 yr old car around town. I don't really like his car much but I DO like being car payment free, so that out weighs my dislike of his old car :)
Here is hoping for a good 2013!
Friday, December 21, 2012
5 Things I Did That Were Frugal This Week
1. Went to work 3 days this week :)
2. Put a family pack of chicken thigh pieces ( 10 total) that I got on mark down for $3.24 in the crock pot. I got 2 meals from this family pack
3. Wrapped presents with paper I bought on clearance last year
4. Sold 2 more items and made $20
5. Waited until the last minute to get our living room Christmas tree. ( we put up 2, one real and one artificial) Because of that it only cost us $20. Which is cheap for a tree in our area
2. Put a family pack of chicken thigh pieces ( 10 total) that I got on mark down for $3.24 in the crock pot. I got 2 meals from this family pack
3. Wrapped presents with paper I bought on clearance last year
4. Sold 2 more items and made $20
5. Waited until the last minute to get our living room Christmas tree. ( we put up 2, one real and one artificial) Because of that it only cost us $20. Which is cheap for a tree in our area
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Started My Job
Today was my second day at my new job. Yesterday I worked at the Jr High which is the hub of the cafeterias in our grade school district. All the main cooking takes place there. Today I worked at one of the grade schools. I will also be working at the same grade school tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday of next week. I think I will really like working at the grade schools the best. I work 3 hrs a day which is just fine for me right now. Honestly though my feet hurt when I get done lol :) I am hoping that eventually this may turn into a regular job and not just a substitute position but if not that is ok too.
I will need to sit down and really think about what needs to happen with this extra money I am earning. I will also need to see how it can play into the goals I will have for 2013.
I will need to sit down and really think about what needs to happen with this extra money I am earning. I will also need to see how it can play into the goals I will have for 2013.
Monday, December 10, 2012
2012 Goal Update
I realized recently I had not posted much at all about how I was doing on the goals I made for myself at the beginning of this year. Here is my list and what I have managed to get accomplished. I haven't got everything done on it but I did accomplish my two main goals!
. Credit Card - Done as of 1/6/12 :)
2.Car
payment - Done as of September 2012 posted about it here
3.Kid # 1's Wedding - Done as of June 15, 2012
4.Kid # 2's Graduation
Party - Done as of the end of June 2012
5. Main Floor Bathroom
6. Downstairs Shower
7.Kitchen Floor - Done as of November 2012 posted about it here
8. 6 month Car Insurance
9. $500 School Fund
10. $500 Dog Fund
11.De clutter -this has been an ongoing thing and I have made over $500 doing it :)
12. Weight Watchers
.
2.
3.
4.
5. Main Floor Bathroom
6. Downstairs Shower
7.
8. 6 month Car Insurance
9. $500 School Fund
10. $500 Dog Fund
11.
12. Weight Watchers
Saturday, December 8, 2012
Saturday Night Dinner/ Taco Bake
Tonight we ha this Taco Bake, a recipe I found on Pinterest but originally came from the blog I linked to. This meal was awesome, we had it with a salad. Every single one of the kids ate it including my 5 yr old nephew. Kid # 3 even commented about how good it was and she hoped we would be having it again.
We typically don't have Doritos but we do usually have tortilla chips on hand. We all agreed it would be equally as good with tortilla chips as a topping. Every other ingredient I we always have. I love when I find recipes that everyone loves and that we usually have all the ingredients for!
One of my goals for 2013 is to try a new recipe that I have pinned from Pinterest every week for the year. I'll try to post about the ones that we really like and that will make it into the family dinner rotation :)
We typically don't have Doritos but we do usually have tortilla chips on hand. We all agreed it would be equally as good with tortilla chips as a topping. Every other ingredient I we always have. I love when I find recipes that everyone loves and that we usually have all the ingredients for!
One of my goals for 2013 is to try a new recipe that I have pinned from Pinterest every week for the year. I'll try to post about the ones that we really like and that will make it into the family dinner rotation :)
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Tomato Cage Tree
I have had a few requests to see the tomato cage tree I made. Here it is
The only thing I bought for this project was the lights to go on the tree. I had the pot it is sitting in, the tomato cage and the garland. It is pretty easy to make, wrap the cage in lights and garland, easy peasy! My tree cost me around $14. I just saw one similar to this at Walmart today for over $50. Of course it looks very pretty at night too by my front step :) ( please ignore the fact that we really need to sweep the leaves around it AGAIN. That corner collects them all year long!!)
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