Abundance

Back in January I decided this was the year I would focus on abundance. And in general I have. But I tend to have a fairly optimistic view anyway. I've been thinking I ought to have more of a plan though. Some way to track if I'm more focused on abundance or a record of my abundance mindset activities or something. So as a baby step I am going to record the things I think demonstrate abundance in my life here.

Here's my first one: Yesterday I went to the pharmacy to get a prescription for M. The cost is generally about $10 since it is a generic, but yesterday the pharmacist just handed it to me and said, "thank you". I stood there a minute with a confused/suspicious look on my face and said, "it's free"? He said the computer said it was. I replied, "I'll take it then"! and off we went.

I truly believe that the more you notice the good in your life, the more good you will have. Right now, $10 isn't chump change. I'm stretching every dollar. And I'm grateful to have an extra $10 in my HSA today! Thanks Universe! 'Preciate Ya!

Budgets Are Neat

OK, that might be a bit forced, but I am quite proud of myself for staying on budget the last 2 weeks.

A little while back I posted about our new cash budgeting system. And I have to admit that so far I am thinking it is a really great system for us.

Last week was harder than this week I'm guessing because I had more expenses and it was the first week of getting used to a budget. I also didn't plan for a few things, like teacher's thank you gifts and an impromptu ice cream night because M placed in the top tenth percentile nationally on his standardized tests. I have to admit I knew we didn't have the money, but it is a rare day that R suggests something of that nature, and I did want M to know how proud I am, so I figured we make it up this week. And I grossly underestimated my hair appointment, by $22! I really need to keep track of this stuff I can plan ahead better. All in all I went over budget by almost $85! So I had to take it out of this week's allotment.

This week I only had $100 for groceries, clothes, entertainment, gas and all other incidentals. It is also the first week that the kids are out of school. I can see that having them home most of the time will help keep me out of the stores. I detest shopping with both of them. It is such a stressful thing that I avoid it at all costs. I do foresee, however, that I could spend quite a bit on outings. So to make up for it I did a ton of research on what is available and also found some great websites with calendars of kids activities. I then, ever so cheerfully, declared this THE SUMMER OF FREE FUN!

M had golf lessons Monday thru Friday of this week. I paid for them in May. Totally worth the $40 fee. I will probably sign him up for another round later this summer. He also had cub scout camp Friday and Saturday which was $42. I bit pricey I think, but considering the rest of the year is pretty much free, I guess it really isn't.

Monday it rained and we just couldn't quite get our act together so we hung out all day. I even let them watch DVDs from the library for WAY too long.

Tuesday, racked with guilt, I decided I better get on the summer schedule. After chores and brain time we decided to go see a guy that rescues reptiles give a demonstration at the library. Cost-FREE. It was only an hour, but the kids really enjoyed it. Then we walked to a nearby eatery and had a snack. My plan was to get a cookie or share a larger dessert. This is where my new frugal parenting habits didn't quite kick in. They both wanted their own piece of chocolate cake. I wanted a fruit struesel bar. I knew the cake was too rich for them to finish a whole piece on their own, but I didn't want a fight, so I gave in. I was right, they ate half and threw it away. I ate half of mine and saved it for later. Cost-$11.04. Lesson learned-I need to be willing to fight the battle now so it will continue to get easier instead of giving in out of weakness. I went to the library by myself that evening for a little alone time. I like to read all the magazines I used to buy. At $3+ a pop, reading them at the library saves me some serious dough. I found some good DVDs for the weekend. Hooray for free books, magazines and movies!!!

Wednesday it rained some more. M had a playdate with his buddy. My neices came over to play with Z. Free fun for all. I went grocery shopping that evening because we were out of pretty much everything. I bought a very few basics. Cost-$45.74. M also had karate. Karate is expensive, $190 each month. He does several extra classes and has tournament team training as well. He loves it and it is so great for him. It's the only thing he is willing to work his booty off for. I'm willing to eat beans and rice for him to do this.

Thursday it rained. Seeing a pattern here? What a crappy way to start summer vacay. Oh well. We did our chores and then my kiddos went over to the neighbor friend's house for the afternoon. We went to a BBQ at a friend's for dinner.

Friday M went to camp. Z and I went to get my car from my dad. It has been making a disturbing clunking noise for months now. Everytime someone would look at it they would say they couldn't find anything wrong. Finally I told my dad I was too worried to drive it to Bear Lake, so if we didn't figure it out, I wouldn't be driving the boys up on the weekends. I didn't want the steering to go out down the canyon or something! He finally figured out it is just a loose cap on the McPhereson strut. It isn't dangerous, just annoying. I can replace the entire strut, which is still fine, for $85, or live with the noise. Just gonna live with it for awhile. So I gave him back their Durango, thank goodness because gas for that baby is ridiculous. Then I dropped Z off at his Granny's for their weekly hang out sesh. Salami, cheese, sourdough bread with butter, strawberries, soda and ice cream, plus TV! So totally bad, but I love the me time and they love going to visit. I picked up my sis and headed over to my friend's. We drove out to IKEA for the afternoon. I did very well. I bought 2 pillows for the couch, a whisk, an under the bed storage box for Z's out of season clothing, lunch and some candybars. Cost-just under $25. Which I had in my own checking account, so it didn't come out of the family money. Later P. and I went to Rio for a split salad and some queso. Oh yum! I ate way too much. Then we went to see Star Trek. It's good, I liked it a lot. I was planning on letting my kids see it but I'm glad I saw it first. I'm a bit strict, I'll admit, but I really think it is PG-13. Not because it is gory violent, it isn't. It is pretty scary. Evil aliens from the future already occupy way too much of M thoughts. If that wasn't the underlying theme, and that wasn't M particular anxiety, I would probably think it would be OK. Maybe. There is only 1 scene that is sexually suggestive, but I'm really trying to limit their exposure to that as well. So, I know he's going to be ticked off, but I'm not going to let him see it. And it is waaaayyyy to scary for a 6 year old. I didn't get snacks because i was already so full from dinner. So $6 from the family fund and $8 from my checking. M slept over at a friend's house and Z hung with dad.

Today, Saturday, M again had camp. Z and I slept in until 9:30. So delightful!!! Then we bummed around at home until about 1pm. I had thought I'd take him to the farmer's market down town, but it was, you guessed it, raining. So we went to lunch at Shivers. I had a coupon from our Happenings book for Buy 1 Get 1 Free. We also got a small shake. Cost=just over $9. Then we went to the store to get a prescription and buns for the hot dogs we are having for dinner. To my delighted surprise, the pharmacist told me that the meds were free. I don't know why, but hey! I'll take it!!! Then we bought buns, cheetos (on sale), toilet paper (4 rolls of the cheap stuff to get us through until next week) and 1 lb. of spaghetti in the clearance basket. Cost-$4.08.

So it is Saturday night and we have $6 from our weekly allotment. And I would say we had a pretty fun filled week and we ate just fine as well. My car is almost on E. I need to do a pantry inventory so I can spend as little as possible for groceries next week. Tonight we just plan on eating at home and watching a DVD. Tomorrow we are having breakfast at a friend's cabin just up the canyon and a BBQ with some other friends in the evening. R has a bike ride planned in between. Maybe we'll hit the skate park if it isn't raining. Or visit Nana and Pops.

Monday we start fresh with $172.89. I'm going to sign Z up for a round of flag football which will be $40. And I will need to figure out Father's Day gifts. It may be a good week to stock up on some pantry items as well.

It feels good to be in control and to be thinking before spending and aware of what we are spending our money on. I like having to pick and choose what spending items respresent our values and goals. And so far, I don't feel deprived at all.

Funny!

Yesterday I took my kids to the library to see a guy who rescues reptiles. All very interesting.

Afterwords we walked to a little restaurant down the street that has delish desserts. Both boys picked out a piece of flourless chocolate cake. I was worried it was going to be too rich and make them sick so I kept asking, "are you sure you want to keep eating that? don't you want to save some for later?". Finally Z looked at me and said in a sort of dreamy drugged voice, "this is so good I wish I was a tiny man...so I could live in it". I couldn't help but laugh out loud. He is so funny when he isn't TRYING to be funny. Love that kid.

Food Waste

I have seen this feature on several of my favorite blogs lately. I am going to take a picture of my food waste in the hopes that it will help me to waste less. I think the impact of actually seeing it all and then the embarrassment of posting it will lead me to try to get more conscious and creative.

So here is last week's. I figure the first week is bound to be the worst. The olive mix to the left was ancient, and while it didn't smell weird or anything, I decided I didn't see myself ever eating it because I knew how old it was. Next to that is some ancient cream cheese that was waaayy at the back of the fridge. The food in tinfoil is bread pudding I made for my son's Amish party. I ate as much as I could but it started to get really soggy and gross. There is about 2 cups of cream that went bad before I could use it up, cabbage that was turning brown and mushy, the vanilla sauce for the bread pudding that nobody liked. The other bottle of olives was really slimy so that had to go. The green tea was just plain nasty. There is 1/2 a tub of ricotta that was moldy, some pinapple juice I didn't quite finish up, a head of broccoli that was turning brown, shriveled grape tomatoes, shriveled squishy kiwis (3) and 1/2 a beer I didn't finish.

There should be less this week because we went out of town for the weekend, but also because I plan to buy less and use it up before it goes bad. I guess we'll see how it goes!

A Few Updates

Just thought I'd quickly do a few photo updates while I'm thinking about it.

For Memorial Day we went up to Bear Lake and witnessed the largest bonfire I have ever seen. Z was so worried about going to watch. He kept saying he didn't want to get killed. Finally I realized he thought we were saying bomb fire. Yeah, I wouldn't be hip on attending one of those either.

Last weekend we went to the best 40th birthday party EVER! It was our friend N's and it was an 80s theme. As you can see the birthday boy came in his best David Lee Roth/Van Halen gear. It truly rocked.

And here is a picture of our awesome cat, napping on some random tiny little piece of something. In this case it is the reusable grocery bags I haven't returned to the car. Funny little creatures, cats are.

They boys and I are getting ready to head down to Cedar City for M to compete in the Utah Summer Games. I'm looking forward to watching my little karate kid compete in weapons form, kata and sparring. He's a tad bit nervous, but he'll do great.

Going to Cash

R and I have decided to switch up our money plan a bit.

Up until now I've just told him how much I need each month and he transfers that amount into my checking account. That would be great if we were making beaucoup bucks and had more money than we could possibly spend. But alas, that is not the sitch. So it leaves a huuuuggge opportunity for living beyond our means. The other issue is that I was still overspending each month, leaving R wondering what the hell. I think it had to do with me designating an amount and not having a concrete amount.

So instead we have decided to live like we have a regular job that brings in a set amount. We'll leave the amount needed to cover the set bills in our checking account and transfer the rest into a different account. Each week we'll withdraw 1/4 of the leftover funds as discretionary expense money, i.e. gas, groceries, clothes, entertainment, etc. When the money for the week is gone-it's gone baby.

I realize this is hardly a novel idea, but it is new for us. I'm hoping it will help us prioritize and really choose how to spend our money. I'm also hoping it will teach my kids some money management skills. Money = cash, not a card that has an infinite supply of funds. And obviously I am hoping it will help us live within our means.

I'm actually excited. I think it could be a grand adventure to maximize our dollar!

Clear the Air Challenge

Utah is holding a Clear the Air Challenge. I signed up to eliminate 12 trips each week for 6 weeks. So far, by combining errands I've eliminated 2 trips. I could almost count it as 4 trips because I opened a checking account at the bank in the grocery store so I don't have to make a separate trip to the bank all the time.
We always complain about our air and all the junk we can see. It's time to quit complaining and DO something!!!