Motherhood101Aplus

Summer Living

2011-05-25T13:18:00.002-04:00

Last summer we rented a three bedroom home for a week. Amenities included use of tennis courts, pool, a lake, a full kitchen, a charcoal grill and a washer and dryer. Being in a rancher with two crawling boys was a bonus. We visited a water park and two children's museums with our children ranging in age from 7 to 1.

Keeping our food costs down, we ate our breakfasts and dinners "at home". We brought our lunches if we were out. We traveled 1/2 hour away to purchase our food where we already had a gift card. Our food was paid for at the store we just had to go and pick it out.

I was thinking that to prepare for this summer I could organize all the summer items together in the basement. Items for the beach, pool, hot weather, bbq, outside toys, water cameras, suitcases, beach towels, coolers, flip flops, water shoes, etc could all be grouped together on a few shelving units. This could eliminate some last minute seek and not finds and avoid some overbuying.

Have a happy and safe summer!

Birthday Parties

2011-05-17T03:26:00.003-04:00

Do you need a kids party every year? Probably not, but what do you do instead?
Make the day special by having a play date close to the child's birthday. Go on an adventure. Make the child's favorite meal. Celebrate your child.

Our recent birthday party was themed as a kids sports party. They played duck, duck goose. Threw the ball to velcro paddles, took a lacrosse stick and a ball and tried to get the ball into the frog's mouth on a painted wooden board with a hole for the mouth, followed an obstacle course and they started out with a few exercises. Next they had pizza and drinks, pinata, and celebrated with a song and cake. The place that
hosted the party provided the pinata, pizza, birthday themed paper
products and the cake including candles.

Unexpected Hospital Bill in February

2011-02-08T09:55:00.005-05:00

Son 2 goes for a sick visit and comes home three days later. Parent portion of the hospital stay is $850. Now the fun part, having to pay this bill after paying all the holiday bills. Options 1) pay in full 2) finance 3)payment plan with out interest or 4)payment plan with interest.

Hopefully #1 will be the only option we need to consider.
If you are close to living paycheck to paycheck; paying an unexpected bill will require gaining more funds. So first we need to look at those options.

1) Are there any snowball payments that can be suspended temporarily?
Items that don't need to be paid immediately but you are doing snowball payments to pay down a debt or debts.

2)Use less of something or do without. Any unnecessary expenses?
Think about what you are doing in the upcoming weeks. Can things be cancelled or
postponed?

3)Grocery savings see www.couponmom.com and America's cheapest family website for ideas.

4)Adjust your thermostat for savings.

5)Pay bills on line to avoid cost of stamps.

6)Eat all your meals at home or bring leftovers from the night before.

7)Keep up with car maintenance. You don't want another unexpected financial problem to creep up.

8)Send in your taxes if you are getting a rebate.

9)If you are getting a rebate, look into adjusting your paycheck so that you rec. more money in your paycheck throughout the year.

10)Evaluate the things that you are paying other people to do for you. Can you do the job yourself? Plumbing, lawn care, babysitting.

Here We Go Again

2011-02-02T20:47:00.004-05:00

January always seems like crunch time. We refuse to finance on our credit cards and would probably sell some things before dealing with credit card finance charges.
The idea of switching to a cash system still has some draw backs. It is important to track the money. More important is to spend less than we make. No longer immune to the changes in the economy; everything has gone up in price. Has anything gone back down?
The real problem this year seems to be the higher price for oil heat. How can one home need $2000 worth of oil in less than two months? Last winter and summer (Dec 09 thru Aug 10) we spent $3,000. The year previous (Dec 08 thru Aug 09) we spent $2,400.00.
Our electric is on a monthly budget plan. It has rose 35%. From $200 per month to $270 per month.

What is the price of a smile?

2010-01-25T05:41:00.003-05:00

When planning a child's birthday party, what is your intended outcome?
A) For your child to be happy.
B) For your child to have fun.
C) For you to have a relaxing day.

Can all of these goals be accomplished without breaking the bank?
If your venue cost $200 or more without food you might be spending too much.
Let's start with the basics. Fun, fun, fun.
How do you accomplish this task?

Create your own party games.
Bake your own cake.
Skip the party bags.

As your child ages; the guest list increases. Sometimes you even have two parties. How can you have a party without cutting the guest list? Sometimes you can get a discount by having a party at a non-popular time. Skip the extra food. Try just serving the main event, beverages and cake. If it is not a long party this should be fine.
Entertainment
Plan your time well. Always better to have more things to do then not enough.
Location
Can you hold an event at a local park or at your house?
Party Favors
Maybe your party favors can be part of the activity that you did.

A simple snack, craft or game, drinks, cake and a camera might be all you need. Kids enjoy getting messy, being loud and having fun. Parents enjoy seeing a smile.

Happy party planning.

Grocery Shopping

2010-01-11T09:37:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of the year is the time to start analyzing your expenses such as grocery shopping. How much of your bill (dollars) is going to food and how much is going towards other items? Some grocery stores actually will give you your categories of spending. More likely, you will need to figure it out yourself.
Here are some percentages from a recent shopping trip.

Food includes fruit and Baby items include formula and baby food.

Food 21%
Beverages 11%
Snacks 14%
Household Supplies 13%
Baby items 41%

A few impulse buys are included in the household supply amount. Rather than hold an impulse buy to one or two items maybe a dollar amount might be a better approach.

Winterize Your Car

2009-12-13T09:01:00.003-05:00

You are at work and outside you car is being snowed on. You are prepared because you have your boots and your ice scraper. It is starting to snow pretty heavy. Your employer releases the employees but the parking lot does not get plowed properly. You are stuck with a snowed in car. What should you do?
Well you forgot to put your mini snow shovel in the car b/c frankly you do not own one YET.
Readers, please share your thoughts on how to get out of this jam and what to pack in the future.
My suggestions would be have an ice scraper at your office, at your home and in your car. Sometimes you just can't get to the ice scraper that is in the car. Have a spare car key in the house in case you accidentally lock your keys in the car while warming up the car. Have a small fold up shovel or a child size shovel. It is a good investment.
Without a snow shovel in this scenario you either need to stamp down the snow around your car or start making snow men to remove the excess snow. Happy winterizing!! Oh and take an extra pair of socks. Trust me, someone will need them.

Fees Paid for Making Partial Payments

2009-11-19T22:08:00.001-05:00

Does anyone have any issues with paying in installments for insurance and then getting charged a fee for paying in installments?
For example
Life insurance could be $150 per year but if you chose to pay monthly, quarterly or semi-annually you are penalized. The life insurance invoice does not state the obvious. There is a fee if you pay in installments.

Our auto insurance has a similar fee if you pay monthly rather than every six months. You are charged a set dollar amount with every installment payment that you make.

I would prefer that the extra charges were obvious. Always pays to do the math.
So if I am willing to pay for a full year of life insurance I could save up to 8%. 8% penalty or fee for monthly payments; 6% for quarterly payments and 4% for semi-annual payments.

Overdraft Protection

2009-11-19T01:13:00.003-05:00

If you decide to use your debit card; make sure you set up overdraft protection. There might still be a fee for the use but it should be less than without the overdraft protection. Normally you would need the bank to link the account or accounts for the overdraft protection. If you have multiple accounts; you should be able to designate which account can be used first.
Example:
You make a debit transaction and then have the debit transaction reversed for an error and the transaction is re rung. If you are carrying a low balance you will actually need enough money in the account to cover both debit transactions before the credit is applied. If this is the case it would be better to use a different account or a credit card (without a balance) to re ring the transaction then to risk getting a non sufficient funds charge or to use overdraft protection if there is a fee associated with the overdraft protection use.
My hunch is this is the same with hotels. They put a hold on more money then will be needed. This might give you a negative balance also.

My Mantra

2009-11-13T08:52:00.002-05:00

I think it is time to revisit my mantra.

mission statement

If you teach a child to fish he will become a fisherman.
If you teach a child to read he will become a reader.
If you teach a child to be potty trained you save on diapers.
If you teach a child to tie shoes you can stop buying velcro.

Winter is upon us

2009-11-11T09:04:00.003-05:00

Last weekend I spotted some hats and gloves in the center aisle. I thought I might as well get them now. Next I was hit by Christmas decorations. That makes sense but what I was surprised about was that the Thanksgiving merchandise was already priced at half off.
How do you prepare for winter? Do you buy hot chocolate, hats and gloves ahead of time or to you wait for the first snow flake to hit to find the boots?
Thinking about winter. One of the challenges is always to find snow worthy gloves. One of my friends said that only the first set of gloves need to match. After that you can have mismatched gloves. Wonder if that is the same for boots. (Just kidding.) Now back to planning for winter.
With five children, we are going to need to be prepared. Snow suits, snow gear oh boy.
What items are on your to buy list for winter?
Hats, gloves (multiple), coats, boots, rock salt, socks, slippers, pjs, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, winter stockings, dress shoes.
Things I bought this weekend were
Boys hats and gloves, pjs
Twins full body coats
Girls pjs

These were all impulse buys. Kudos to the store for actually having worth while impulse buys.
I enjoy seeing impulse buys but I realize that just because the item is on the end cap does not mean it is on sale.

Now I mentioned the to buy list. What about the find in your house list? If you start looking now, you might be able to cross one or two items off of your to buy list.

Now where do you store all of this stuff?
I was thinking about putting the items in reusable grocery bags. One for each child and adult. That could work for all the winter accessories.
Any winter thoughts?

How about books? Now is the time to start looking for the snowy type books. What is your favorite? The first Christmas or silent night?
That brings us to music. Do you have any Christmas / winter type music stored away? I am sure the stores will be willing to sell you some.

Christmas outfits. I was thinking that the zero to three Christmas outfits won't fit b/c they are already starting to wear 3-6 clothes. Then I got a brain storm. Take some Christmas pictures now.

After the Halloween party one year, I noticed the teacher took out a bin with her Thanksgiving items. It would be good to have one bin year after year just designed for the winter accessories. Books, music and winter coloring books could even squeeze in.

I guess we need lots of things for the winter season. But most of all we need to remember the spirit of the season.
Happy winterizing!! (Oh does that bring up getting the car ready?) Ice scrapers etc.

Missing Sock Pairs

2009-10-31T12:20:00.002-04:00

I discovered the mystery of the missing socks that come out of the wash.
You need both socks to go into the washer in the same load to get an entire pair to come out!

Happy Halloween.

Challenge: Can we spend less than $X,000 per month?

2009-09-03T10:03:00.003-04:00

For example:
$7,000 -Yes
$6,000 -Maybe
$5,000 -No

HOME
Mortgage
Snowball
Insurance
Lawn Care
Improvements
Repairs
Furniture
Decor Items
Landscaping
Pest Control

UTILITIES
Cable
Phone
Cell Phone Plans
Cable Modem for Internet
Oil
Sewer / Trash Pickup
Electric

CAR
Car Payments
Insurance
Inspections
Registrations
Maintenance
Gas
Repairs

SCHOOL
Tuition
Snacks
Lunch
Uniforms
Shoes
Gym Uniforms
Class Pictures
Class Trips
Holiday Parties (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines, St. Patty's
Day, Easter, End of the year parties)
Technology Fee
Supply Fee
Fund Raisers
School Supplies (backpacks, lunch bags, stationary)
Presents for Teachers

MEDICAL
Medical Plans
Flexible Spending Plans
Co-Pays
Pharmacy
Medical Products
Hospital Co-Pays

HOLIDAYS (Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter)
Decorations
Food
Drinks
Holiday Cards
Stamps
Presents

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS
Decorations
Food
Drinks
Presents
Party Games
Birthday celebrations outside the home

RELIGIOUS EVENTS

CHRISTENINGS
Presents
Food
Outfits
Decorations
Invitations

YOUNG CHILDREN (NOT POTTY TRAINED)
Diapers
Wipes
Burp Cloths
Bottles
Formula (1st Year)
Car Seats

FOOD
Dining Out
Take Out
Fast Food
Breakfast
Lunch
Dinner
Snacks
Drinks
Desserts

CLOTHES
Casual
Formal
Work
Shoes
Bathing Suits

PERSONAL CARE
Hair Cuts
Personal Care products

HEALTH CLUB / SWIM CLUB
Memberships

PETS
Food
Checkups
Tests
Grooming
Vacation Pet Care

VACATIONS
Travel
Hotel /Accommodations
Meals
Amusements
Entertainment
Souvenirs

TECHNOLOGY
Computer upgrades
Printer
Television
Paper
Ink

VIDEO AND PHOTOGRAPHY
Cameras
Film
Developing
Printing
Paper
Albums

DONATIONS
Church
Charities

CHILD CARE
Babysitting
Toys
Videos

PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS

CONTINUING EDUCATION

SPORTS
Registration Fees
Uniforms
Pictures
Snacks for teams
Tuition Fees
Equipment

ENTERTAINMENT
Movies
Admissions
Seasonal Supplies
Books
Music

How Do You Mentally Prepare For 4 Weeks Without A Paycheck

2009-08-29T13:32:00.000-04:00

--Due to taking four weeks of family leave this issue is upon us.

Prepare ahead of time
1) Take the rest of the paychecks and make up the difference. For example $26,000 per year becomes $24,000 per year. During the weeks without a paycheck you need to draw from previous paychecks. If you normally live on $500 per week you need to live on less, approximately 7 or 8% less. For every thousand dollars you make you need to save $80 or 8%.
2) Assuming you do not know ahead of time regarding the non paid leave or you are not prepared you need to draw from a separate source of funds. You need to repay that source within a set amount of time. Use the money to pay expenses. Return a set amount each paycheck to the borrowed upon source. This method would work best if you have some type of savings or emergency fund. A key is to pay back the source so your source of extra funds is not depleted next time you need to use the funds.

Cut down on expenses.
If you need to fund certain weeks with other weeks paychecks try to cut down expenses. Do you regularly donate to charities? Obviously you can't contribute without the necessary funds. But if the transfers and payments are automatic withdrawals you need to consider changing these before the transfers and withdrawals are set up for payment.
In our case this would mean revisiting saving accounts and retirement account transfers. In addition, charities and church donations need to be evaluated. Due to our family leave situation, we would not want to make any or as large a donation or transfer in the weeks where the paychecks were not present.
Now that a few weeks of no paychecks is looming upon us the time to prepare ahead of time is past.
We decided to take the unique opportunity of having both parents at home while caring for our newborn twins and their three siblings.

Financial Makeover

2009-08-29T13:00:00.000-04:00

It is always good to revisit your finances when changes in your life occur. In our case, we need to adjust for additions to the family, paycheck changes and school tuition increases.

Snowball Payments
Recently we bought a new house and set up snowball payments. Should these weekly payments be stopped because of a lack of paycheck? This dilemma is greater because this will affect when our home is paid off. My gut reaction is to definitely make the snowball payments because more interest accrues without the payments being made. Snowball payments are certainly voluntary but they are a form of debt reduction and still considered important to pay on a regular basis to pay off our house early.

Church Donations
If we regularly contribute a portion of our income (ex. 10%) to our church; what should we do during the weeks without a paycheck? Do we not make payments at all or do we reduce our payments by a percentage because our total income for the year has decreased? Our options are
A) No payments for 4 weeks
B) Reduced payments for the rest of the year
C) Combination of A and B

My instincts say that B is the best option. This way the church maintains a steady stream of income and there are no additional decisions to make such as when to start making the payments again.

Savings Transfers
We make 2 savings transfers each week. $40 for a savings account and $120 for future tuition payments, pool membership and funding a retirement account. Since the bills are going to be the same (no reduction); these transfers need to remain the same. The $120 amount needs to be revisited because this weekly amount was based on a lower tuition amount. Now we need to adjust the amount based on the higher tuition rates and based on additional students in school.

As we go further into this discussion, another item comes to mind. The reality of the downturn of the economy is that everything cost more. Many of us have broken the rule of spending less than we make. During this overall financial transformation we need to keep in mind that for the last year we have been regularly supplementing our income with our savings. Rather than waiting for the breaking point, lets prepare now for the ultimate goal.
Spend less than we make ALWAYS!

Investments

2009-08-29T09:38:00.003-04:00

A couple years back, Americans were afraid to open their retirement savings statements for fear of knowing how much they lost. Was that true? Wouldn't you want to know if your statement said zero? Is now the time to revisit those statements and try to pick up the pieces? Many people reported that their retirement accounts were not as much as they anticipated and they would need to work for a longer amount of time.
How can we learn from the turmoil of the last few years? Are we ready for more risky investments or should we stay with small but practically guaranteed returns? Should we continue to be risk averse?
Normally it is a good time to buy when markets are down if there is going to be an upswing in the near future. Has the economy rebounded enough to start investing again?

Brother John

2009-08-24T08:44:00.003-04:00

Are you sleeping, are you sleeping
Brother John? Brother John?
Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing
Ding, dong, ding. Ding, dong, ding!

We all love baby, yes we do. Yes we do.
We all love baby, yes we do. Yes we do.
Baby is going to sleep now.
Baby is going to sleep now.
His belly's full. His belly's full.
His diaper's clean. His diaper's clean.

Our 3 cribs

2009-07-26T10:04:00.003-04:00

1st -over 15 years old
2nd -less than 10
3rd -unknown, 2nd hand

*all pass the soda can test for the bars

When you have three children under 3 more cribs become essential but how many do you actually need? Our two year old rolled over at a month in a half making her bassinet unsafe for her.

With our 1st child we had 1 crib and 1 bassinet. He slept overnight in the bassinet and took naps in his crib. The problem was where to put him during the day. Son 2 rec. his own crib which he stayed in until age three. Even though we had a convertible crib, he rec. a plastic toddler bed similar to his brother. That left an extra crib. Good thing that crib did not get purged since we are now in the market for a third crib.

Now we are the happy owners of 3 cribs, 1 of which is a convertible crib. I would estimate that we spent about $550 for all 3 cribs realizing that the 1st was passed down.

Conversion beds are helpful but not always practical. I doubt many children will want to admit that their college dorm bed has the bars from their crib as the headboard. I can see using a crib as a toddler bed but beyond that I think the child probably needs an upgrade.

Next step is to find some mattresses. One of the allergist's questions for my son was how old was his mattress. So I guess that is an item that is worth buying new or fairly new.

Switching to a Cash System

2009-07-07T09:16:00.005-04:00

1) Spend existing dollars
2) Save more because you see the dollars leaving your hands
3) Do not need to worry about interest rates and finance charges increasing
4) Some stores offer discounts for paying with cash

Downsides for a cash system
1) Harder to track because a person needs to make an effort to track cash
2) Don't have the credit card warranties
3) Can't use cash for internet transactions
4) Need to visit the bank to obtain the cash

Compromise -Debit card for your bank
1) Most establishments accept debit cards
2) Should be easy to track the transactions
3) Same benefits as the cash system # 1 and 3

Downsides for using a debit card
1) Not recommended for internet transactions
2) Hotels put a hold on a significant amount of funds if you use at registration
3) Some point of purchase sales do not have the ability to put in a pin number
4) Using at a restaurant looks questionable because your pin # might need to be disclosed

Any tips on using debit cards?

Back to Square 1

2009-06-14T14:52:00.006-04:00

Our new mortgage needs to have a snowball payment otherwise we will not have our house paid off until 2038. Ouch! Ideally we could pay off our current mortgage in 10 years.
Here are the different choices.

This needs to be a substantial enough goal that we will be willing to make the payment each month. I found with our previous mortgage that the best way to do the snowball payment was automatic transfers in weekly installments for 52 weeks each year. This way there is no monthly decisions to make each month.

Refinance
In the past, we have not been in favor of refinances. Closing costs were too substantial. I would rather see a large chunk of money like that go to pay down the principal.

The other item to look at to boast moral is how much interest will be saved by paying off early. Let's assume that 2026 would be the longest we would consider going on this loan.

Our amortization schedule from the mortgage company has the finance charge for a 30 year loan at $340,000.

The Power of Technology

2009-05-22T17:30:00.001-04:00

Many changes in technology affects communication. Teleconferences, web conferences, smaller and smaller cell phones, email, voice recognition, live video from around the world and from outer space. The internet brought the world to our fingertips. You can purchase or sell anything without leaving your home.

When the internet first starting coming into our homes I saw it as a threat to have misinformation too readily available and it stealing time from individuals. People need to be disciplined not let computer use overwhelm and take over their lives.

Can you get thru a church service, a meal or a trip to the grocery store without your cell phone ringing. Some people complain that their spouse is not really on vacation if the pager, cell phone and laptop are along for the trip.

Technology is a tool to improve our lives. We just need to balance this part of our life with everything else we need to do in our daily lives. Parents limit their children's tv usage to create well rounded children. Do we limit our technology use so we can help show the next generation that there is more to life than the internet and cell phones?

The Expansion of Pawn Shops

2009-05-22T14:02:00.004-04:00

A pawn shop used to be a place where people put their items into hock and hoped that they would be able to redeem the items prior to a customer acquiring the items for themselves. People are foregoing the pawn shops and selling items on their own either thru yard sales, internet sales, trading items or bartering for good and services.

Buying 2nd hand is what the car industry calls pre owned. How many things in your home including your home are pre owned? For years we have had hand me down dining room tables and chairs. If it were a good set that would be considered an heirloom. In our home we have purchased a little furniture. The same pieces keep traveling around with us whether they fit in the space or not. My living room holds an O'Sullivan type entertainment center that has followed me to every home that I have lived in. Is it hard to say good bye to the pieces or is there some underlying memory such as my father put it together for me?

Do we hang onto things because of nostalgia or because of the person that gave us the items? If we sell or pawn items when they are newer we have a better chance at getting a higher value for the items. Does your child want a 6 year old bike or does he want his own? There is a toss up between buying new and buying slightly used.

Donating is a great alternative to selling items. Your items will get a 2nd life and you are helping someone else that needs the items.

Expectations vs. Reality of Selling a Home in a Recovering Economy

2009-05-21T21:52:00.003-04:00

Approximately 10 houses in our neighborhood are for sale. The average price of the homes can be found on a few websites, zillow.com, eppraisal.com, and cyberhomes.com. Unfortunately they do not show the true sales prices b/c sellers concessions are not deducted on these sites. Property tax documents can also show the most recent sales price.

history of the average sale price of homes on our street
end of 1970's 40K
mid 1980's 70K
end of 1980's 90K
mid 1990's 105K
2003 130K
2004 180K
2007/8 200K

The uptrend of these houses was significant. One real estate agent was surprised that I realized that I would not be able to sell for the 2007 prices. Inflated home prices take a toll on families' life styles when the homes are no longer worth the same or higher amounts. Was 2007 the peak of the real estate boom? What does that mean for families who bought on the upswing and are trying to sell now?
When we purchased our most recent home, the seller's agent mentioned that he has sellers that are bringing money to settlement. Sort of frightening. The home owners are paying money to be let out of their housing commitments.
Could the housing market slump have been predicted?

So How Do You Impulse Buy a Bedroom Set and Still Get a Good Deal?

2009-05-17T16:05:00.003-04:00

1. Wake up in the morning and realize the air mattress isn't cutting it anymore.

2. See signs on the road advertising 50% off sale of mattresses.

3. See more signs on the return trip advertising a mattress sale.

4. Visit an empty showroom -void of customers.

5. Ask for discounts.
a) returned, unopened bed.
b) % off the frame.
c) Free delivery.

6. Sign on the dotted line.

7. Review the purchase.
a) Didn't pay full price.
b) Mattress was a need.
c) Wasted 1 hour tops.
d) Not free delivery but next day.
e) % off the frame.

8. Problems
a) Low expectation of keeping with original mental price for the bed.
b) Price shopping didn't happen.
c) Two people sleep on the bed; only one person shopping.

Last mattress shopping trip was 10 plus years ago. Recall paying $400 for a queen mattress, box spring and delivery. Expectations for a king was around $500. Paid just under $1000.

Interesting approach by a salesman when a couple was not ready to buy. It sounded more like a sales pitch for a car than a mattress. I think he even asked what was the reason for their financial restraints on the purchase.

Now back to the original problem. Signs were indicating 50% off mattresses. The selected mattresses that were for sale were too expensive even on sale.

I think my husband should go to another mattress store and try to get the best offer possible. Then we can compare and see if I got the best deal. In reality, this is a waste of time because the purchase is already made. Move on with life. This particular store has a price match plus 10% so it might be helpful.

Sometimes impulse buys work but you never know for sure if there was a better deal around the corner. You just need to be satisfied that it was the best deal that you could make at the time.

Credit Card Spending

2009-05-14T18:20:00.003-04:00

How Does Credit Card Spending Get Out of Hand?

1) Spend more than you make each month.
A. Don't spend more than you are able to pay off each month.

2) Credit cards allow you to pre spend your future paychecks.
A. Set a cap on your credit card spending each month.

3) High limits allow us to charge more than we should spend.
A. Be disciplined and set your own limits that you do not want to go above. Some banks have high spending emails for your credit cards that you can set up through your on line bank account.

4) Store credit cards normally have a higher interest rate than non-store credit cards.
A. Try not to use the store credit card if there is a possibility that you will not pay it off by the due date.

5) Carrying a balance.
A. Do not charge on a credit card if a past due amount is on the credit card.

Reduce, Reduce, Reduce

2009-05-13T17:56:00.002-04:00

When we are younger, we have small bank accounts and small areas to store things. When we get older, our bank accounts hopefully grow and our storage areas increase.

Our need to have possessions unfortunately can overwhelm us. Our computers are maxed out of space, our credit cards could be maxed out and our homes are maxed out. Did you ever feel calmer in a hotel room rather than your own home? Look around the hotel room. You have no work to do and no clutter to clean.

Now imagine your home / room how you want it. What do you need to accomplish that goal? If your stuff = headache, get rid of the stuff. What is your weakness? Retaining books, gifts received but not used, stationary, computer equipment or toys. If you went to the store, would you rebuy the items you have now?

As you reach the end of spring, take the time to let some things go. Whether it is the picture frame that needs repairing, the tv that is outdated or your favorite pillow that you already replaced.

Buyers Remorse

2009-05-01T18:51:00.003-04:00

I don't have a lot of buyers remorse for items that I purchase. Upon cleaning out most of my receipts in my wallet I realized that part of my family and myself walked into or went to the drive thru at over 22 restaurants in February, March and April. How is that possible? Most were probably when we were out and needed to get something to eat.

I thought of another approach to cure the hungers or munchies. Rather than visit the restaurant, why not visit the grocery store. For $22, I purchased snacks for 16 people. The items were juice boxes, packages of peanut butter crackers and apple slices. You can also brown bag these items so the children feel like they are getting fast food.

Restaurants are expensive. Not to mention paying 15 to 20% on top of the already expensive meals. With a little planning and possibly research you can go to kids eat free places on the correct days and have bagged lunches ready to go for the entire family.

Incase any one is wondering the receipts for the restaurants totaled $300!

Effective Way to Prevent an Impulse Buy

2009-05-01T13:25:00.004-04:00

Let's assume you were going to a department store for a certain list of items. You thought about what was in the store and composed your list. Something catches your eye. You resist. Something else catches your eye. Obviously we can't put blinders on in the store but that item is a need. You just did not know that you needed it prior to entering the store. That is the key. The item that you did not need prior to entering the store now you suddenly need.

Sometimes you will make the purchase and sometimes you won't. The rational that even though this item appears to be a need; you had no idea that you needed it prior to entering the store. "It is probably a want." Maybe you could adjust your list to fit it by not buying another item. If you do that you might not have really needed the other item if you were so ready to give up purchasing a listed item. So cross off that item and skip the want posing as a need.

Saving for Something

2009-04-28T09:11:00.003-04:00

If you are saving for something; do you tend to spend less?

Back in May 2005, we financed / leased two new automobiles. We were told to pay these off within 3 years (lease) and within 5 years (purchase). Soon after I found an article on doing snow ball payments. The idea was that within 7 1/2 years you could pay off all of your debts including your mortgage. We tightened our belt straps and started on our journey.

By applying 10% of our take home income per month to our shortest debt we paid off the lease portion on one car. Then we applied the extra 10% to our financed auto, plus the payment that we used to make to the lease company. By March 2007, we paid off our auto and rec. our title.

In most circles we would be considered debt free but I "still" consider a mortgage a debt. Our next step was to apply the 10%, lease payment and the car finance payment to the house.

May 2008 we needed to make another auto buying decision. The result was a used car and no financing.

Needs vs. Wants vs. Emergencies

2009-04-23T16:28:00.003-04:00

A lot of times we buy replacement items but how often do we actually buy an item before it is needed? A printer could be showing some signs of wear and it will soon find itself out at the curb. An air mattress could spring a leak and see a similar fate. Would you need to replace a printer and an air mattress right away? Possibly.

Does that turn a purchase into an emergency purchase? What happens when your purchase becomes an emergency? You may pay top dollar and you might not get the exact item that you want.

A friend's parents evaluated how long items were supposed to last and started shopping / researching before "the emergency" occurred.

Can you live without a printer, an air mattress or even a lamp until you have time to get the best deal? PREPARE before the emergency occurs.

How To Prevent Impulse Buys

2009-04-18T08:34:00.003-04:00

1) stay at home
2) shop on a full stomach
3) bring a list
a) pair down the list prior to going into the store
4) write down all purchases when putting into a cart if going in for a couple of items (such as at a drug store)
5) write down the prices and add them up prior to going to the cash register
6) You have heard of trigger foods ... Do you have any trigger stores or malls where "stuff" just pops into your cart
7) price items at two or three places prior to making a significant purchase
8)set a dollar amount that you want to spend at the store or stores and reduce that by 5 or 10%
9) allow for a certain amount of impulse buys per trip
10)keep a list of things that you need; evaluate at a later date to see if you still need the items, add new items to the list and cross out items that you can do without
11) imagine a place in your house for the item
12) Do you really need the item or just want it?

Vacation Savings

2009-04-18T08:05:00.003-04:00

While at an amusement park how can you save $ when you want to eat?
While at Marine Land in Canada, we bought our lunch from Wawa, 5 hot dogs, very large bottles of water and a snack. Then we ate at the picnic tables outside the park prior to going into the park.

Home Management / Division of Labor

2009-04-13T10:23:00.004-04:00

I have heard that raising children is a labor of love. How would you define taking care of a home? There are many jobs that are involved with raising a family and taking care of a home. If we break the jobs down, define the tasks and put time estimates down will it make us more efficient or will we really see that yes we do need more than 24 hours in a day.

In an attempt to understand why our to do lists are still to do lists rather than completed tasks a breakdown of jobs may be helpful.

Savings Bonds That Have Matured

2009-03-21T06:47:00.004-04:00

Caution Regarding Savings Bonds That Have Matured

EE and I savings bonds earn interest for 30 years. HH savings bonds earn interest for 20 years.
Please check www.treasurydirect.gov prior to cashing in your savings bonds. Click on the get started link. You can also check when the next accrual period is on the bonds. You still may decide to cash the savings bonds in but try waiting until the next accrual period has passed.
An EE bond issued in 1984 for $50 (face value)would be worth over $90. The bond still accrues interest after the maturity date.

Blogs That I Read Has Been Updated

2009-03-21T05:53:00.000-04:00

Hopefully I will be able to reconnect with Anjali's and The Life You Choose's new blogs. New blog added is Uncommon Threads.

Ways to Obtain Money

2009-03-19T17:28:00.002-04:00

1) Collect outstanding money
a) referral money on contracts such as home heating oil

2) Seek reimbursement from employer
a) professional fees
b) travel expenses

3) Check your safety deposit box
a) savings bonds that have matured

4) Bonuses
a) save the money for a rainy day rather than splurging

5) Credit Card Rewards Programs
a) opt for the statement credit rather than the product or gift card

6) SKIP THE IMPULSE BUYS

7) Return items by the return date that you don’t want, can’t use or have buyer’s remorse

8) Sell used items to a 2nd hand store
a) books, toys, clothes, computer and audio equipment, dvds, cds

9) Cash in coins that you have been keeping

10) Find a way to bring in extra income
a) additional employment
b) trade services with people

Pet Peeves

2009-03-02T14:50:00.002-05:00

1) H not reading emails that I send
2) Kids do not do housework
3) Don't have a chef
4) Snow exists on sidewalks, porchs and driveways
5) They do not make diapers backwards for the child that insists on lying on their stomach during diaper changes.
6) Home heating oil is expensive

$50 Day

2009-02-15T09:27:00.004-05:00

Plans for the Day

Lots of people plan the events of a day but do we really plan the $ cost of the day. Yesterday, I left the house with an event plan but not a spending plan.

Basketball
-snacks for three $3

Library (free)
-ordered books, rented 3 DVDs, 2 games and 5 books

Lunch
-fast food for three $12

Gas
-$38

So everything was spent on fuel (gasoline and food).

Happy V day!

2nd Look at Monthly Expenses

2009-02-01T13:47:00.003-05:00

New
Storage Unit $60

Increased
Savings for Tuition / Pool $120 a week (needs to increase)
Babysitting $200
Credit Cards $1900 (no financing) 2nd card $320 average
Church Donations $560
Mortgage $1200, $2000, $300 (interest and some principal)

Maintained
Savings $40 a week (160)
Auto Insurance $200
Groceries $600
Electric / Gas -not clear on average yet

Eliminated
Cleaning (not currently)
Snowball payment
Water (in the process) -well water

Decreased
ATM withdrawals $20

Pink or Blue Times 2!

2009-02-01T13:09:00.000-05:00

God has blessed us with identical TWINS!!!

Food for Daughter

2009-01-15T11:14:00.002-05:00

Today daughter ate cantaloupe, hard boiled egg with mustard and maynaise, raisins and crackers. Interesting breakfast!

Pink or Blue!

2008-12-16T17:26:00.002-05:00

We will let you know! We are expecting =:)
Merry Christmas!

Being a Seller

2008-11-16T19:58:00.004-05:00

How can sellers avoid bringing $ to closing?
Shudder to think you are paying the buyer to take the house.
Hmm. There is an interesting website that says Sell Your House in 7 days.
http://www.sellyourhousein7days.com/

If you put your house on the market at a low price do you need to go lower b/c the buyer always wants to negotiate or do you stay firm with your price? 250K would enable a buyer to see the listing if he / she was looking in the 250K plus range and the 250K minus range. What about the appeal of 99s? 299 vs 300. Which would you be more interested in? Does 299K make it more likely that someone looking 300K or above will miss your house? Probably not. The buyers probably have maximum limits but are more flexible with their minimums. Never saw a buyer who would not agree to pay less.

Some days>>>

2008-10-21T13:33:00.004-04:00

Some days you just pause and think what could have been...

"Precious Child" song.

The song takes a few moments to load.

Orgasmic Birth

2008-10-19T14:52:00.003-04:00

One time, I read that child birth could be painless. I told my friend if I found this to be the case that I would let her know. Okay, no I definitely did not have a painless delivery. But now I heard that an orgasmic birth is a possibility. I wonder. Is that possible?
www.orgasmicbirth.com There is a documentary film that is being shown regarding orgasmic birth. It looks promising!

Energy Waste

2008-10-04T23:20:00.004-04:00

Right now or when you get a chance -today, unplug everything in your house except your refrigerator. Before you do this, go check how fast your electric meter is spinning. Unplug everything and check again. I hope you will now be able to read the numbers or words on the disc. My recollection is that disc spins pretty fast.
It is unbelievable how much energy is being used / wasted on a daily basis.
Many items are left on 24 hours a day for convenience. Cell phones chargers eat up power even when not in use. That old VCR flashing 12:00 probably is using some power. Land line phones sit on chargers, cameras and video cameras are powered by rechargeable batteries. The dust buster and the cat's water bowl are plugged in. Of course, the computer and the clocks are plugged in.
Wouldn't it be nice to flick a switch and all the power in the room is turned off? What else can we find? Lights turned on during the day. We can take advantage of the sunlight to illuminate our homes during the day.
Let's conserve power now. Don't forget to check those meters.

Preparing for a Famine

2008-10-04T22:55:00.007-04:00

This post is partly in response to Happy Rock's post regarding the Dow tumbling. Happy Rock has been preparing a long time for a famine. He is debt free and saving for a new house. He has a vision of what he wants for his life and his family's life. Bravo to Happy Rock for being so prepared to take on this economic crisis.
It reminds me of Joseph preparing Egypt for a famine. They grew and stored all they could so that when the lean times came they were prepared.
Normally, I have heard that new companies are the ones that fail during these challenging times. Now the companies that are falling apart have been around for decades.
How can we continue forward? Folks, the sky might not be falling but the famine is coming. Housing prices continue to drop and the interest rates for savings are minimal.
Please share your tips on how to stay ahead in this struggling economy.

"The Bucket List"

2008-09-28T23:22:00.003-04:00

Over the years, I have seen a few movies where people knew they were going to die. These people finally started to live. In reality, few get this opportunity.
In "The Bucket List" there were many ideas of things to do, see, experience and time to do, see and experience.
Taking the events of 9-11, everyone spoke about their last memories of their loved ones. Each day is precious. Each day could be our last. But how many days end in anger or regret.
I have heard that some people keep gratitude journals; while others, like us, keep blogs. But we all have something in common. We live each day, one day at a time.

Go out and have a great day!

Sunday Homily

2008-09-07T12:20:00.003-04:00

The priest had a very interesting homily today.
A grandson told his grandfather that he would get very angry. The grandfather gave him a box of nails and told him to hammer a nail into the fence each time he was angry. The grandson did this. After many days the grandson was no longer as angry. He was not hammering in any nails. Then the grandfather told the grandson to take a nail out of the fence each day that he was not angry. When there were no more nails he told his grandfather. His grandfather took him out to the fence and asked the grandson to describe what he saw. The grandson said that the fence had a lot of holes in it.
The grandfather said to the grandson that when you get angry at someone even if you say your sorry or ask for forgiveness that the scars will remain.

Close to Reaching my 100th Post

2008-08-30T12:55:00.004-04:00

Just checking how many readers I have.
Please let me know if you are out there. You can just say hi on the comments.
I assume I have at least 3 readers. Just kidding. It is at least five (O, J, R, M, and A).

Happy Labor Day!

My Visit with a Redesigner

2008-08-28T16:11:00.004-04:00

I contacted a redesigner to look at my home and make suggestions. For my time and money, I walked away with 5 drawings of ways that I could reposition my furniture. The money would be worth it if and only if we followed at least some of the designs.

The other alternative would be that the redesigner would come back after I make the necessary purchases and would redo two of the rooms for $700.00. The problem I see is that the redesigner is requiring that I buy certain items for the rooms. These items might spice up the room but might also be unnecessary. Only necessary for her to agree to do the work. The items in question are a large piece of art work for each room, three large lamps, light bulbs and some solid color pillows for each room.

The artwork and the lamps are what I would be questioning. There is also the possibility that the redesigner might add some things of her own that we can purchase if we like how they are displayed in our house.

I would have preferred a consultation that was free or at least the money could be applied to the cost of redesigning the rooms. Sometimes it is just a motivational issue. We can have the redesigner work on our house or we could leave it how it is. Yes we could follow the redesigner's designs but I would probably not make as many changes.
For example: my children would be switching rooms; my shelf in the living room (that is attached to the wall) would be coming down; my armoire in the bedroom would turn into an entertainment center in the living room; my vanity would turn into a desk for the living room

On the positive side I would get to purchase a coffee table (or sofa table) and an end table for the living room. That would be fun!

Ideally I would like a redesigner to use my existing furnishings and make magic happen!!

Ways to Improve our Home

2008-08-17T01:01:00.002-04:00

1. hire a housekeeper
2. rent a storage unit
3. take advantage of donation places pick up service

Traveling Expenses

2008-08-07T06:16:00.002-04:00

Our two trips / vacations were very different. One was spent traveling, hotel rooms and attractions while the other consisted of renting a home, grocery shopping and a few attractions.
It will be interesting to see which one was better financially. I guess it is time to tally the expenses!

Keys to Success

2008-08-07T06:14:00.001-04:00

Pray, Eat, Live and Love (Repeat)

And don't forget to surround yourself with good friends.

Have a great day!

Credit Card purchases for the Summer

2008-08-06T05:21:00.003-04:00

Here is a look at the percentages for July
Gas 37%
Food 17%
Dinners (out) 15%
Drug Store 5%
Gifts 5%
Car Main 5%
Baby items 4%
Online services 4%
Toys 3%
Hair Cuts 2%
Entertainment 2%
Clothing

August
Gas 45%
Eat out 21%
Entertainment 12%
Gifts 11%
Drug Store 5%
Groceries 2%
Internet Services 2%
Parking 1%

Normal Expenses

2008-08-05T15:27:00.005-04:00

To follow Debt Defier's, a writer at Happy Rock, post regarding his expenses; here are my normal expenses for a four week period.

Savings $40 a week (160)
Savings for Tuition/Pool $90 a week ($360)
Babysitting $100 -not normal
Cleaning $160 (that was for two weeks)
Auto Insurance $200
ATM Withdrawals $100 (varies)
Credit Cards $1300 (no financing)
Church Donations $500
Groceries $600
Mortgage $1200
Snowball Payment $1000 (250 per week)
Water $50
Electric / Gas $300 -seems really high
Cell Phone $100 -would love to drop this one lower
DSL $ Phone $100

debt defier July expenses

Money Spent with a Zero Return

2008-08-03T23:05:00.003-04:00

93 -$100 deposit to a dealership to hold a new car
93 -life insurance policy to pay off a car in case of death
97 -warranty and maintenance plan on a video camera
00 -charged for a night hotel stay for a hotel that we did not end up staying at
00 -paid for a gift certificate that was not used by the recipient prior to the shop becoming defunct
05 -charged for a night hotel stay that we did not use b/c we left early
08 -charged $600 for returning a lease vehicle
yearly -charged $3.50 each month to pay a bill monthly rather than biannually

Fun With Numbers

2008-07-24T10:51:00.004-04:00

Today my lesson plan is to work with numbers. Son 1 needs to be able to write his numbers while son two needs to be able to write his numbers and recognize his numbers.
The goal today is to work with numbers 1 to 10.
I have one Word (Microsoft program) table for each child with the numbers 1 thru 10 in order.
I have a scrambled table where each child can cut the table up and paste the numbers to the other table or put the numbers in order.

Next step is to gather the books together that have numbers. We should have several.
Curious George is one.

Challenge: Eliminate Possessions

2008-07-24T09:57:00.002-04:00

Okay I need some sort of small challenge to eliminate some possessions. Any ideas?
We can move to a larger house or start moving out some of our things. Moving is always an option but purging is always a good thing to do.
I know if you have not worn something in a certain amount of time that it should be tossed. I also know that we use and wear only 20% of what we own.
Why is it so hard parting with possessions? Clothes are easier for me that gifts of another nature to dispose of. Clothes are worn, outgrown and styles change.
Other possessions are clung to thinking they will be one day be needed.
Any idea for a challenge that others can do also?
I am willing to take on more than one.

For example:
attack the linen cabinet
donate some shoes

Cell Phones

2008-07-24T05:00:00.003-04:00

The wave of the future for technology is normally smaller with more features but this comes with a larger price tag. You used to be able to wait for things to come down in price but now new items are created and the old items become obsolete.
How many people still have a stereo with a turn table or a tape cassette (raising hand)
How about records? (raising hand)
Cassette tapes (raising hand)

Now how many people still have land lines? (raising hand)

One of our vacation places had a sign posted by the pool stating that there was a phone in the lobby and in all hotel rooms incase of an emergency.
Now hotels seem to be doing away with phones in an effort to save money. But in an emergency these phones are still pretty valuable. I really had not thought about that until now.
Now lets go into our own home. If an emergency occurs and you no longer have a land line does everyone that could enter your house know where your charged cell phone is located? Is there an extra cell phone left for the babysitter incase of emergencies with instructions how to use the phone?

Originally cell phones seemed to be used in the car for emergencies. Now they have replaced land lines either for long distance or all together.
Our cell phone is older and is starting to get less reliable.
You would think for $1200 per year the phone could at least hold a charge.
I guess it is time to start researching new plans.
Can anyone share their plan info?

We have 2000 minutes (certainly way too much); two lines; unlimited Internet (can't see alot of newer sites) and unlimited text messaging.

Where has the summer gone?

2008-07-24T04:34:00.003-04:00

Someone asks this question yesterday. From what I can tell there are still 6 weeks left and many adventures to be had.
A few years ago we stayed at home for our vacation to fix up my son's room.
Now many people are staying close to home due to the economy.
Getting away once in awhile is helpful. Gives you a chance to recharge and hopefully feel reenergized.
So whether you are able to go to Disneyland like KT or Starbucks; take some time out to smell the flowers while summer is still upon us.

Water Water Everywhere

2008-07-22T22:13:00.004-04:00

Everywhere you looked during our vacation was water.
The Falls, a pool, a lake, huge bottles of water and even water parks.

Water is needed to survive and it is also very fun to play in or get mesmerised by.

What is your favorite form of water?

My Story

2008-07-20T17:44:00.006-04:00

On January 6, 2006, we excitedly went to see the ultra sound of our baby. Our hope was not to learn the sex of the child. The news was devastating. We were told that our baby would not survive. 100% -no chance of survival.
Our baby had some birth defects including polycystic kidneys. On March 15, 2006 our baby died. We choose to carry our child as long as God gave us.
Our baby died! Michael's due date was May 24, 2006. Michael would have been entering PreK 3 the following year (September 2009). God bless Michael Shaun!

In March 2005, we were also hit with some very heartbreaking news. We found out we were pregnant and then "moments or days" later the baby was gone. After losing Michael we named our other angel, Kathleen Maurine.
God bless Kathleen Maurine!

Sleep tight our angels in heaven!

Seeing vs. Experiencing

2008-07-13T06:59:00.001-04:00

We drove by Niagara Falls looking for parking availability. My oldest son at that point "saw" the Falls. He was interested in doing another activity. I wanted him to experience the Falls.

Currency Exchange

2008-07-13T06:54:00.002-04:00

Most places in Niagara Falls, Ontario accepted U.S. money and gave change in Canadian money. Not sure if I made a profit or not. Maybe MommyChicky could comment on that. We didn't need to exchange any money since the U.S. money was accepted. At a 7-11, the total came to $22. I gave 22 U.S. dollars and they asked for another U.S. dollar to compete the transaction. That was the only time that happened.

Room Saver.com = Money Saver

2008-07-13T06:52:00.002-04:00

Try this website www.roomsaver.com next time you need to book a hotel or motel. It might save you a ton of money. Some hotels let you book the rooms ahead of time. On the coupon it will specify if it is good on the weekend, whether you need to pay extra on certain days, etc. You can also find the books along the highway rest stops. We were able to use three of these coupons during our recent trip.

1st Night of our Adventure (updated)

2008-07-05T05:35:00.004-04:00

My daughter and two sons had a very successful trip. Everyone traveled very well. Bedtime was not as pretty of a picture. Apparently my daughter did not like her pack and play. Instead she wanted the human comfort of Mommy and Daddy's arms while standing of course. Since we arrived around midnight we didn't want her waking our neighbors in the adjoining room. Normally we would let her cry it out. She slept comfortably in her car seat. Who knew?

The following night she slept successfully in her pack and play. Maybe the solution is to stick to her regular bedtime while on vacation to make for a happier child.

Traveling with Children

2008-07-04T04:56:00.009-04:00

Today we are taking our three children on a two country tour. Our vacation began on Friday, July 4, 2008. Back home my best friend is about to deliver twins.

Packing for our trip was unusually easy. Normally I rush out and buy all the needed toiletry items etc. This time I enlisted help. My oldest child packed clothes for himself, his brother and his sister. No kidding. He put the clothes together. We did it in steps. First my oldest son put all the under ware in two piles. Later we worked on the clothes. I handed him clothes and he separated the clothes into two piles. He also put all of his sister's clothes that I set out into a travel bag. Not bad for someone his age. Yeah!! On the day of travel both boys packed a bag with their toys. Hopefully their toys are not obnoxiously loud. I forgot to check that. They also selected their special blankets for the trip.

My former manager once mentioned that his wife enjoyed a clean home after vacation so she would spend time cleaning prior to their trips. Surprisingly I did make an effort to make the house presentable prior to our departure.

Approximately 5 years ago we made this same trip with our oldest son. Since that trip we upgraded to a small minivan and then to a larger minivan. We also have a roof top carrier. This will be the first time my daughter has been in a hotel. Her baggage is fairly light. She has a pack and play to sleep. For dining, she has two seats. One seat we can take into the hotel and the other we will leave in the car. She is not potty trained yet so no potty chair is needed.

Toys, did we pack any toys for our daughter? Hopefully. Her toys are always a mismatch of various parts of toy sets.

Our choices for our destination varied but being summer what we packed would be the same for both trips. I love to travel and plan trips. We selected b/w 1000 Islands and Niagara Falls, Ontario. In the 1000 Islands, rest and relaxation seems to be possible. I have only taken a boat cruise through the area on the Saint Lawrence River so I don't know much about the area beyond the boat tour. Another interesting location is Rochester, NY. It appears to be on the water and has lots of fun museums that appear to cater to children.

Niagara Falls, Ontario has a fabulous attraction called Marine Land. They have a wonderful aquatics show and the patrons get to touch and feed the deer.
My husband and I were here in 1999. Now we hope to bring our children to enjoy the fun.

Home Efficiency

2008-06-28T08:16:00.002-04:00

Mission statement options:

Create an environment that leads to the development of healthy and loved children who feel special and loved every day. Have a home that adds strength to relationships between family, friends and the community.

Create an environment that encourages the individual talents of all members and rewards teamwork and unity.

Some families have a mantra. What is your mantra?
Businesses and organizations have mission statements. Why not have a mission statement in our homes?

Have a great weekend!

The Day of Reckoning

2008-06-25T15:49:00.003-04:00

Do you remember the day of reckoning in the Game of Life? When you get your credit card statement, does it feel like the day of reckoning? Does the full amount due determine if you stayed in the black for the month? Do you currently know how much you owe on your credit cards?

Many if not most major credit cards have on line access to your current balance, current entries and the current statement. When you go on line to view your bank account you might be able to view your most recent credit card entries also.

Decide how much money you can put on your credit card each month and still be able to pay your balance in full. When you get to that amount either use cash or checks to pay for new purchases. Don't continue to use your credit card if you can't pay off the balance.

Do You Have A Passion for Decorating?

2008-06-24T22:38:00.004-04:00

I attended a very good class regarding color instructed by an interior designer.
Here are some tidbits of information that she shared with us.

The neutral colors are white, black, gray and green. Brown would also be included in the neutral colors.
Warm colors tend to make a room look large while cool colors would make a room look smaller.
Shades of color (hue) are mixed with black and gray. Tints are mixed with white.
Use warm tones in the downstairs. Use cool colors in the upstairs.
Windows that open to the north rec. cold and harsh light.
Southern exposure rooms rec. warm light all day long that changes throughout the day and the year.
East rec. sunlight first thing in the morning while west rec the sun during the hottest part of the day (red).
Use a foam tag for painting samples and move the samples around the room at different times of day for at least a week.
Recommendations for shades -cellular shades -have woodwork showing
Magazine -Ballard Designs

Colors to use in rooms
Red -Dining room -stimulate appetite
Peach, Pale Orange -expansive, dining room, kitchen, family room and bathroom
Yellow -warm, uplifting, joyful -use in hallways, kitchen, dining room and living room
Green -life, rebirth (both a cool and warm color) tranquil
Blue -awareness, unity and balance -use in bedrooms, main bathroom if it does not compete with skin tone
Indigo -stimulate learning, sensual, peaceful, magical -use in a library, study or den
Violet -nature, light waves, contrasting rooms, romantic, cool powerful, bedrooms

Lighting -recommend GE Reveal Lights

White recommendations -dove white and decorator white

Color schemes include -monochomatic, complementary (opposing), analogous (next to) and triad (evenly spaced on color wheel)

Projects

2008-06-16T02:02:00.003-04:00

Life Management
Be ready to reenter job market and handle all family responsibilities.
Update Resume
Create in case of emergency items

Digital Video and Photography
Put digital pictures and video into a usable format to share with others.

Basement Organization
Turn basement into usable space for family to use as a family room.

Debt Reduction
Pay down all debts to eliminate debts in the shortest time possible. Start saving additional money once debts are paid.

Home Maintenance - Outside
Have a nice appearance outside.

Travel - Family
Plan trips for family in advance. Utilize any savings possible for hotel, air, car, meals and entertainment. Reduce spending for meals when traveling.

House Swapping

2008-06-08T14:41:00.002-04:00

Interesting concept. I read about it in Tara Road. In the US, typical places to house swap to are California, Florida and New York. I am sure there are other places that are of interest also. Now this concept has been taken a step further to "swapping homes for good". It still looks like a real estate transaction to me. Although certainly a unique transaction. I think this would work better when the homes are priced similarly. Would you be interested in buying the home of the person that is buying your home if it is the home and the location that you desire?

Many times people are upgrading or downsizing or relocating due to employment, education, family etc. What are your thoughts?

I found this book in July 2006

2008-06-08T00:22:00.002-04:00

Mother's Manual Copyright 1941 Page 51

"To Her Infant in Heaven"

(petition)

"My darling (mention child's name), now in joy before the throne of God, you are close to God, and in your spotless innocence which He loves, you can speak to Him with a voice that He will surely heed. You are still my little baby and will surely regard the prayers of your mother, who bore you. I address then my petitions to you. Intercede for me and obtain the favor that I here ask as a mother from her child who stands before the throne of God (here mention petition). But if what I here ask is not for the glory of God and the good of souls, do you obtain then what is most conducive to both. Amen."

Chocolate Chip Recipes

2008-06-04T18:50:00.003-04:00

Here are two chocolate chip recipes that look enticing.

chocolate chip cookies

and chocolate chip coffee cake both from
Little Home

House Buying in a Slow Economy

2008-06-02T11:08:00.002-04:00

We stopped by an open house in our neighborhood. The real estate agent said that it was a good time to buy for those that were first time home buyers and for those moving to a larger house. 1st time home buyers were obvious. They would not need to sell their home in a slower economy but the buyers that were upgrading, I was surprised.
It appears to me that many people buying homes currently will need to stay in them for awhile to see any profit. For those selling homes right now they might not see any profit if they purchased the home recently.
Many homes have inflated prices right now. The homes are still coming down in price. The real estate agent's comments were very alluring to upgrade now. She thought that the people that would be losing money would be the people that were not going to re buy. She might be right that it is a good time to buy regardless of your situation. Only time will tell.

Car buying = rocket science

2008-05-28T08:46:00.003-04:00

Car buying = rocket science. I did not know that. Correctly reading and understanding the ads has to do with the rocket science.

Attempt 1:
Lease Price: $243 per month
Apparently this is just a number. On top of that we need to add back the information on the purchace side of the ad. $400 recent college grad and $600 stimulus check.

Attempt 2:
Purchase Price: $21K plus $400 for recent college grad
Nope this one we need to add back the $1500 b/c we want the low financing option.

On a positive note.
Some dealerships have special pricing for AAA members.

buying used

2008-05-27T09:24:00.001-04:00

It is a real struggle to get out of the leasing mode and buying a used car. Too bad that fits better into our finances.

car purchases

2008-05-26T20:02:00.003-04:00

Apparently it is cheaper to buy cars than to lease and it is cheaper to buy used then to buy new. There is such a discrepancy b/w the interest rate of new cars and used cars. Cars being considered are the Chevy, Toyota and Honda.

The Birthday Girl

2008-05-11T22:36:00.004-04:00

This month our daughter turns 1! Yeah.
Dear daughter,
You are a vision of loveliness. Everyone says how pretty your smile is when they see you. I hope you always feel special and loved.
Love,
Mommy

Happy Mother's Day to everyone

2008-05-11T21:32:00.002-04:00

Happy Mother's Day. Hope everyone had a wonderful day!

For those of you who have experienced miscarriages; your children are not forgotten

2008-05-02T15:59:00.003-04:00

I saw this and thought it was appropriate.

"No farewell words were spoken,
No time to say goodbye,
You were gone before we knew it,
And only God knows why."

There was also a reference to Isaiah 49: 15-16

Baby Items to be Used and Reused

2008-05-02T14:14:00.005-04:00

There are alot of baby items that we have been able to use and reuse.

One problem that I have found with recycling toys is that if the child remembers the toy; the child wants the toy. Go figure.
It was easy passing everything from my first to my second but passing onto my third is sometimes a struggle. Son 1 doesn't remember having the toy but reminds Son 2 that the toy is his (son 2's) rather than third child's. Bummer!
Here is a good post from Moolanomy regarding spending tips when having newborns.

Wondering ... What is Mommy Time?

2008-05-02T12:10:00.003-04:00

Is mommy time when you take time to be by yourself, with your husband, with your family or with your friends?
What does mommy time mean to you?
I tend to think that mommy time is time spent being a mom and you are having fun.

Things to buy

2008-04-30T15:30:00.002-04:00

If I could buy anything today I would probably make a Shutterfly album for myself.
Pretty small purchase but it would be nice to have. Too bad I have to spend all the time searching through the pictures to make it happen.

Items that can be sold or donated prior or after a Yard Sale

2008-04-25T22:05:00.004-04:00

Books
-Donate to a library or sell to a used book store

Children's Clothes and Toys
-Donate or sell to a kid's store

Kitchen and Household items
-Donate (any other sale methods) -ebay

Yard Sale

2008-04-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

Things to do before a Yard Sale

Any suggestions?

Decide on staging
Get or make signs
Have change
Don't bring unsold items back home

Memories of my Life

2008-04-20T22:26:00.012-04:00

Through the looking glass...

2000's

Riding in my car, looking ahead, realizing that we are following the hearse that my beautiful infant son is in. It just seemed so wrong. I have always heard that burying a child is the hardest thing for a parent to do.

Looking out the windows of a fabulous boat on the Seine River seeing the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris as the narrator sang Ava Maria in English and French.

Looking out the airport window at my friends as they boarded a plane to celebrate their wonderful honeymoon in Italy.

Looking up at Pope John Paul II at his window as he blesses the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square.

1990's

Looking down at myself as if I was in a dream during my marriage proposal.

1980's

Riding in a limo after my father's funeral looking out and seeing a house that I always have loved. Telling my brother, who is an architect, about the house. My brother offering to design a house for me someday.

1970's
Looking out the window of my front door and seeing my good friend, Amy, getting on a bus that is taking her to Montessori school.

Thank you to KT for pointing out this wonderful post from Jen called seven windows of my soul.

"Credit Withdrawal"

2008-04-20T02:17:00.009-04:00

There is a blog called www.creditwithdrawal.com.Just the name gives me an idea for a post. How much did we charge in 2007 on our credit card? 18% of our take home pay. And how about on our "2nd credit card"? 7% of our take home pay. A total of 25% of our take home pay went to our credit card companies. We really should be doing a better job on not relying on credit. The host of this week's Carnival of Debt Reduction,No Debt Plan, has a good approach for using last month's paychecks to pay for this month's expenses.
No Debt Plan's Life Changing Concept.

Car Shopping = More Debt!

2008-04-20T01:14:00.009-04:00

Car shopping (see Car Woes post) has been on my mind for awhile. I decided to listen to some of the call-ins on Dave Ramsey's show regarding cars. I thought this call was pretty appropriate. Call into Dave Ramsey's show "Wanna get back into debt". Actual call.
Currently I have no car debt. Why get back into car debt? There was another call regarding paying a large amount of cash for a truck and draining savings.
Call into Dave Ramsey's show "Trashing the truck".
So why do so many people buy new cars? Status, keeping up with the Jones. What is the motivation? I have leased two cars, bought/ financed two cars and paid cash for one car. All of these were new cars. I wonder what the total $ outlay would be on all these cars?

Advice from Edmunds

2008-04-15T09:59:00.001-04:00

Here is some advice from Edmunds regarding calculating lease payments.

Car Woes

2008-04-15T07:05:00.003-04:00

So how expensive would it be to rent a car for a few months? The problem. Our plan was to lease a car for another three years. We did budget for the monthly payments of around $240 per month. What we did not budget for was the $3700 down that we paid last time. Opps!
Our options are lease something lease expensive or finance a used car.

Quotes to date for leases:
Minivan midlevel -$379 per month; plus inception fees (15K per year for 3 years)
Minivan base model -$259 per month (additonal $12 for 15K); plus $2400 down plus inception fees

Day before Tax Day

2008-04-14T09:25:00.005-04:00

Funny how so many people wait until April 15 to get their money back. Everyone works with deadlines so this is not uncommon.
Credit Addict hosted this week's Carnival of Debt Reduction.
If time permits, please check out the great posts throughout the week.

Credit Card statement for March

2008-04-11T14:04:00.003-04:00

Boy for someone who does not normally eat pizza I sure have been ordering alot of it in March. Our fast food bill for March was pretty high just over $110.
Here are our percentages for the month based on only our credit card spending.
Gifts 30%; Gas 21%; Holiday (Easter) 11.7% Groceries 11%; Scrapbooking 10%; Fast Food 8.6%; Stores 4.5% and Haircut 2.7%.

$6,000 per year to save

2008-04-10T23:42:00.006-04:00

Can we save $6,000 per year extra to pay towards our mortgage? In April 2009, April 2010 and April 2011, I would like to have 6 grand set aside to pay down our mortgage. Can this be done or is it too hard of a concept to grasp? Certainly if I wait until April 09 I will not have the money saved. But if I break it down to a weekly amount of $115 per week I think it would be more doable. Yeah! Paying off the mortgage even faster would be exciting. $115 is really not a lot of money. If needed it could come from savings but better shopping practices, eating out less often etc. will help also. I easily paid off my car lease and car loan but the mortgage is a much longer and harder to stick with goal.
I currently have $250 per week being sent electronically to our mortgage company to pay down the principal. I could add the $115 per week to this or save it in a separate account. If I save it in a separate account I might decide to use the funds elsewhere. Not a good plan. The best way to handle it would be to use existing paychecks and pay it at the same time as the other principal payment.
Any ideas?

Movie Mania

2008-04-10T17:54:00.002-04:00

Nim's Island is a worthwhile movie for families. Nim is growing up with her Dad on an island. Her Dad is unexpectedly delayed in his return. Nim turns to her favorite author to save the day.

Links from the Carnival

2008-04-07T16:05:00.002-04:00

Wow. I have 10 links to the Carnival.
Thanks to everyone for the exposure into the PF world!
It was very fun doing the carnival.
Here is the carnival for this week hosted by RealWorldReally.com

This looks like a great post from
Finance Girl regarding snowflaking

Carnival of Debt Reduction #133

2008-03-30T18:50:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the 133rd Carnival of Debt Reduction!
Beginning January 1st of this year, I started my blog regarding personal finance specifically about debt reduction and frugal living. I have had the pleasure of reading many of the PF blogs and have been enjoying it a lot.

This is the end of the first quarter of 2008 so I decided to share with you some of the headlines from these past three months along with the great debt reduction articles.

So onto our carnival.

Editor's Choice
NCN presents Moving Debt Is Not The Same As Paying It Off posted at No Credit Needed.

Editor's choice
paidtwice presents Small Changes Make a World of Difference posted at I've Paid For This Twice Already....

1st Quarter -January 2008
source wikipedia January 2008
(If you want to see the articles you might have to click the navigation Current Events or Portal Current Events on the Wikipedia page.)

January 3: Caucus vote in Iowa (BBC)

The Happy Rock presents Why APY Matters And The APR Lies posted at The Happy Rock.

January 6: Greece is hit by an earthquake 6.5 magnitude (RTE News)

Steve Faber presents - How to Get Out of Debt Fast posted at Debt Free.

January 13: "A team of researchers from the University of Minnesota announce the creation of a beating rat heart using cells from the heart of newborn rats and a heart structure from a dead rat." (The New York Times)

Praveen presents IVA - British Alternative to Bankruptcy posted at My Simple Trading System.

January 26: "The United States government warns that a spy satellite is losing power and propulsion and could hit the Earth in February or March." (BBC News)

Jim presents 7 Steps to Debt Consolidation Using Balance Transfers posted at Cash Back Ideas.

1st Quarter -February 2008

source wikipedia February 2008
(If you want to see the articles you might have to click the navigation Current Events or Portal Current Events on the Wikipedia page.)

February 21: "Singapore is elected by the International Olympic Committee as the first city to host the Youth Olympic Games in 2010." (IOC)

Debt Freedom Fighter presents Debt Advice: How to Defeat Your Debt Once and For All. posted at Discover Debt Freedom!.

February 24: "A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 becomes the first commercial aircraft to make a flight powered by biofuel flying between Heathrow and Amsterdam." (CNN)

FMF presents 790s Credit Score Barely Enough In Today’s Loan Market? posted at Free Money Finance.

1st Quarter -March 2008

source wikipedia March 2008
(If you want to see the articles you might have to click the navigation Current Events or Portal Current Events on the Wikipedia page.)

March 4: "A manmade flood is created in the Grand Canyon in Arizona in an attempt to replenish the ecosystem in the gorge." (CNN)

FIRE Finance presents Three Quick Steps To Get Out of Debt! posted at FIRE Finance.

March 12: "The total amount of digital information is estimated at 281 exabytes in 2007, exceeding available data storage for the first time." (Ars Technica) (IDC via EMC)

Helen Anderson presents 8 Easily Avoidable Causes of Business Debt at Personal Finance Blog, Budgeting, Debt @ Bankaholic posted at Bankaholic.

March 16: "Italian airline Alitalia is purchased by a consortium of Air France and KLM for €138 million." (BBC)

sara l presents $500 Phone call posted at paying off my future.

March 17: "World War II Royal Australian Navy warship HMAS Sydney is discovered off the coast of Western Australia after being missing for 65 years with the loss of all 600+ crew." (ABC News Australia)

Broke Grad Student presents How To Quickly Pay Off Student Loans posted at Broke Grad Student.

March 24: "The Olympic Flame of the 2008 Summer Olympics is lit in Olympia" (CNN)

glblguy presents Gazelle Intensity: How fast is it? posted at Gather Little by Little.

March 27: "The oldest known recording of a human voice, created with a phonautograph by Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville on April 9, 1860 is replayed by American researchers." (The New York Times)

William Blake presents What Does Your Debt Ratio Mean? posted at Becoming Debt Free.

Have a great spring!!

Carnival of Debt Reduction

2008-03-30T08:11:00.000-04:00

This is the Sub Prime Crisis editon of the Carnival of Debt Reduction. Enjoy!.