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Sunday, February 28, 2010

Saving Sunday

Today, I successfully made homemade pretzels. Go me! They will be sent to my son's preschool for snack tomorrow. I hope they enjoy them.

On Sundays we do not spend any money. If something is needed, we improvise. Today, I ran out of milk so I mixed up some dry milk. I know my children will not know a difference tomorrow after I add a little homemade chocolate syrup in it.

I did list some items on half.com. I hope more is to come later. Tomorrow, I will grocery shop for our remaining groceries for the week. I plan to cook each night. I told the kids if we plan to take a short vacation over AEA week then we will be eating at home the next two weeks.

I created a menu plan for the next week, and I hope to have some time tomorrow to post it to the blog. I am hoping I can get my housework done this week along with work related issues so that I play on the blog and see what new features I can add. I am super-excited to see what I can do.

I hope you guys have a great day.

Friday, February 26, 2010

Crazy Day

Do you ever have one of those days when you would rather curl up and go to bed? Today was that day for me. It started with the craziness of taking everyone to school and preschool. Then my carpool buddy cancelled due to sickness so I rearranged the day to pick up my son from preschool. On the way to go across town to the school, someone called from Craigslist about some dining room chairs we have been trying to sale. I had to tell my son that I would be picking him up early so that I could show the chairs at 1:00.

Away we go! With the other two children in tow, I went on to Weight Watchers (still doing well - YEAH!), off to the gym to run 4 very hard miles, and off to Walmart to buy supplies for the weekend. I then went back to the preschool to pick up son so that I could save on gas. Now, if you will, picture what a harried mom of two toddlers looks like after running four miles and managing children who are passed lunchtime and ready for naps. That is how I arrived at the preschool. When I get there, my preschool son erupts into tears because I have come to pick him up just as he is going to the playground. Off to the van we go!

Please let the day end. I rush back to the house, unload groceries, and put children to naps. While taking a quick shower, the lady calls about the chairs. She will be here in five minutes. I meet her at the door, wet hair and all. She might want to buy 12 at $12.50 a piece. This is great news because the next month might be tight moneywise.

She leaves and I move on to kitchen and laundry duty. That goes for about an hour, and then I must wake youngest to feed him the lunch he slept through at 3:00. He refuses to eat until I go to put up food and then he screams so loudly I swear the neighbor can hear. I rush back to the table with the food I have just put away to feed him again. Off to carpool lane!

As I am typing this, I swear I might need a little vacation! I am whipped.

I am going to call this a Saving Day! I used as little electricity as possible.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Frugal Activities As of Late

Yesterday, I spent the day at home except for a quick run to drop off/ pick up oldest son. I spent the day doing laundry, mopping floors, and baking bread and pretzels. The pretzel recipe was from Heavenly Homemakers. It was good but after the rise time, I realized mine had gone horribly wrong. Rather than throw it out, I shaped it into pretzels anyway. The kids and hubby ate them anyway, but I am hoping to redeem myself later. I think I let it get to hot and it killed the yeast.

Today, I went to Target and returned some little girl panties. I had bought some even though we had plenty so I returned a pack. I then bought a candy thermometer so that I could try the pretzels again. I hope to also try yogurt soon. While I was at Target, I looked for the "free" yogurt posted at Money Saving Mom but was unable to find any. Maybe next time! Hope you have a great day!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Saving Sunday

Today, I used a recipe out of the All You magazine for banana muffins. The muffins worked out to be .22 apiece, but I wasn't really all that impressed. Next time I will add some free pecans from my pecan trees to add a little crunch. By using this recipe, I was able to use up some free bananas and some food storage items. They were very healthy. Overall, it has been a really lazy day. Hoping you guys are resting as much as I am. Tomorrow, I will be on to another consignment sale. YEAH! This is the last one. It is hard to get all of this together and keep the house and laundry done so I am glad that this is the last one.

On another note, we went to the rummage sale on Friday night. I scored about 6 pairs of sandal for my little girl for $6.00 and a lot of books. My husband is fairly sure that one of the books we purchased A Tree Grows in Brooklyn is an original edition. It is in excellent condition. When we looked up the book on the internet we found an edition in worse condition than ours for $2725. Not bad for a $1.00 book. This is all very exciting. I used to teach this book when I taught school, and my husband read my paperback copy. We both loved the book so much we thought it would nice to have a hardback copy. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed we would have purchased an original edition. I am trying to convince him to sale it to add to our new mortgage total. I don't know that I am going to have much luck.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Check Pick-up Time

Today, I went to pick up my check from one of the consignment sales I have done. Yeah! $95.05. I consider this a great success since these were clothes given to me for my boys as hand-me-downs. After they received so many shirts and pants, I consigned what we couldn't use. I also cashed some of my checks that I received teaching aerobics. That was about $70.00 worth. For a grand total of $165.05. I am very happy with that.

The rest of the day will be spent going through other clothes for the consignment sales coming up. I am also going on a date with my hubby to our local Junior League Rummage Sale. The cost is $5.00 per person. Usually we spend at least $100.00. This year I hope it is considerably less. I will be looking for cheap shoes for the kids- mostly my daughter. I also hope to find jeans for myself and pants for my hubby. We always go through the books. I also look for items that I might be able to resell on Ebay for a profit. I am so looking forward to my lovely date.

I am guessing today will be a Making Money and Saving Money day if I can find the right deals for the needed items for the kids. Go Me!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Today's Activity: Making Money

I have been designating days as either Making Money days or Saving Money. Yesterday's activity was saving money. I went and bought bargains with a stack of coupons at Walmart. I will not do that again, but that story is for another day. It really makes my blood pressure rise. Let's just say I ran into a cashier who did not understand the concept of doubling. If it says DO NOT DOUBLE, it means don't double the value of the coupon and not that I can't use two of the same coupons. Do I need to say more?

Here we go for today. I will be getting more items out of the attic to consign at my local children's sale as well as women's sale. I am going to start with the children's sale so I can say I have finished cleaning the attic. Next, I am on to my closet. Wish me luck. I really need it with the ambulance fee that is on my credit card and the snow groceries bought on hubbies card without coupons and without regards to price. I should be at least thankful I didn't have to take out all four kiddies for that expedition to the store.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

An Exhausting Day

Today was a whirlwind. I took two kids to another city for free childcare while I attended the other two kids' delayed Valentine parties at different times in different schools. By the end of today, I was totally spent. The kids had boiled eggs, bacon, and muffins for dinner. I had soup and a sandwich, and dear husband is eating on the road after a long day working. I am trying to muster the energy to do my taxes for the year. Thanks Turbotax! I will also be uploading my free-after-rebate Quicken. All I really want to do is devour a ton of chocolate.

Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday. I was up late trying to finish the homemade Valentine cards for today. I think they were pretty cute considering I did it. I took pictures and I will see if I can post the tomorrow.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valentine's Day 2010

This has been a great day (no money spent day!) My husband wrote me a lovely letter about what he appreciates about me that was really touching. He has also taken the children to Grandpa's so I can rest. I am cooking some steaks (reduced price) for adults, sweet potatoes (Aldi's) and leftover salad for adults. Children are eating popcorn chicken (free at Winn-Dixie Superbowl special), sweet potatoes, and pineapple. I am very excited about continuing the blog and saving every penny I can.

I am hoping to organize tomorrow so that I can earn money as well as save money. Looking forward to writing a post tomorrow about the results. Have a great Valentine's day.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

I'm Back!

What has happened since May 2009. My son was born and life has been a whirlwind. I am now on the frugal train once again and want to use this blog to talk about what I'm doing personally each day to "pay down my mortgage". Join me on this journey. Today's task is going through the attic to find things to sale at my local consignment sale for children's clothes. I have already consigned at two sales so far. Hopefully, they will go well.

Paying Down the Mortage Update:

We are now at 139,900. HOORAY! We bought this house a little over 3 years ago for 188, 000 so I am really excited about how far we have come. My goal is to still contribute as much as possible but with the economy many changes have come to my little household. We have had to contribute personal money to keep my other business afloat, my husband's business has seen a downturn, and medical bills abound! I feel blessed to have the savings to be able to handle these issues, but at the same time frustrated that the mortgage has been put on the back burner. It is time to "sock" it to the mortgage and get out from under the mortgage. This blog will serve as a reminder that what I do each day contributes to the overall picture.