a new leaf

I changed my blog picture to leaves going on a new leaf is what I am calling it. Alot has been going on and I still haven't been taking pictures with my camera but alot with my phone. I got a new phone last month cause I dropped my old one and shattered the front of it and it was time for new phones anyways. I am still plugging away doing the same thing taking care of the kids, me, animals, and the house while Larry is away working in Canada and I think it is finally getting to me, honestly. But nothing I can do but just be thankful we both have jobs and keep plugging away here. The kids have been grumpy lately and trying me alot so I am trying to be strong and the disciplinarian but it isn't fun but I gotta do it. Hunter is getting so big and he is as high as the middle of my rib cage and keeps me on my toes. Grace talks me ear off and wants snacks all the time. Love them both but I crash when I go to bed let me tell you! Larry and I are doing good. Going to marriage counseling learning new stuff getting through the hard stuff but we are plugging away. We bought a couch for the living room and had fun going and looking at them and communicating in a way I don't think we have before so it was fun and a good learning experience for us. Now we both can't wait for it to get here! It is too big for our living room but since our living room looks like a bowling alley it will divide the living space into two different spaces. Super excited for it to come and we paid for it in cash which was even better. Got Larry on board with buying stuff when we can afford it and not putting it on cards like we used to. We are learning together! Yeah! My next post I will try to post pictures of my crazy whompers so you can see how much the have grown! But for now you can enjoy my new leaf...my new leaf look :)

paying off debt isn't fun...

but in the long run it is totally worth it! I have myself on the $200 to $20 bucks plan. Aka the 200/20 plan. I am on week 3 of this plan and it seems to be working but I still don't like it but I am trying not to complain cause it is totally worth it. I am on my last "big" credit debt that I am trying to get rid of then I just owe one more thing to someone and then all I have is student loans and then I am good. I am not going to stress about the student loans though. So my plan consist of paying off $200 dollars a week on my last big debt until it is paid off and allowing myself $20 cash each week to spend on me for coffee and lunches or whatever comes my way for me or if I have to my kiddos. Yep, every week I am going to do this. Doesn't sound like much but it totally is. That is $800 toward debt a month for a 4 week month and $1000 for a 5 week month and that isn't money I can spend it is money I have to give to the debt I have made. Total sacrifice but worth it in the end I keep telling myself. I so want so much right now for me and the house but I know and have learned that getting out of debt is more important than my wants right now. If I look at what I have done a year ago today I have paid off 3 big debts that were over $5,000 and bought furniture for my bedroom with cash or gift cards, kids room is totally redone and paid for by cash, pantry room redone and stocking up on food with coupons. I would say that I can keep at my new goal and realize I am alot better now than I was a year ago :) My next venture is a new couch and recycliner for the living room. Gonna save and budget for that but super excited to get something the kids and Larry and I can lounge on and veg on and enjoy and know that it is something I picked out and not a hand me down I have had for 10 years that the kids have pucked on and the cats have ruined. Gonna be cool let me tell you when I figure out which ones to get :) So there you go my 200/20 plan. It will take me tell Christmas to finish my goal but well worth it. My kids and me will just have to wait for new toys and new fun stuff until I get out of debt but that is less than a year away :)

pantry pics

Very embarrased to show these before pics but here goes! And remember this is where I would put everything at when I didn't want to go to the shed. The black shelving was holding my extra food and stuff. Very, very messy and not organized. So not me. But I did clean up and make room every once an awhile but not like I did this weekend.

The before pantry The new and improved and organized pantry! Yeah!
There you go! Tonight I cleaned out my laundry room had alot of what was in the first picture in the laundry room. Now I still have alot of it in my bedroom and carport and I hope to tackle it each night and finish it up and make my house all pretty again. But more organized and workable. Goodwill is going to love me this week!

my new project...the pantry

I am working on my pantry, which needed alot of love. I did take a before picture with my camera but the card isn't reading it right now and I had taken the "still working on it" after pictures with my phone. Once my computer recognizes my card I will post before and after just believe me when I say the pantry looks 105 times better! I traded file cabinets with my mom. The one we had was a four door one that was wide and low to the ground and took up alot of space. The one my mom let me have is skinny and taller. I still haven't put one thing in it yet just got it today and started working on assembling the pantry today. Yesterday it was disassembling the pantry to get the file cabinet in and my new pantry cabinet the one to the right of the filing cabinet. I bought this cabinet at Fred Meyers and it is supposed to have doors on it but it was short screws for the whole other door so once I had it in the pantry I decided to just keep them off and after I talked to fam about whether I should put them on or not. I kinda like seeing what I have in food and stuff instead of having to open up a door. The rest of the furniture in the pantry is stuff I was using to shelf other stuff around the house but instead of buying anything else I am trying to use what I have. So far the pantry cabinet is all I have spent money on and it was just over $50. I have been watching Extreme Couponing and I have learned alot from the show. I would not say it is my favorite show but it does teach me a few things. But I honestly think the people are a little crazy with their shopping but I am amazed at how much the do save. So I guess my pantry is what you would call my stock pile that is what they call their massive amount of food. Mine is not going to be that extreme. I am going to try to coupon and stock up on a couple items and buy only what I need and use and not go crazy on stuff I do not need. My other goal for this pantry is to just make it a pantry for food, filing stuff, and a place to put hand me down clothes that I get or have to bundle up because the kids grew out of it, and cleaning supplies. That is all that goes in here! In the past, I usually just throw whatever in the pantry and it grew out of hand.
I hope to have this pantry finished by the end of the week and my house back to normal my bedroom and laundry room are a mess it looks like I just moved into the house with stuff everywhere. Hoping for sunny weather after I get off work so I can start putting stuff in the shed. :)

easter pictures :)

Hunter would not smile so we told him to show us his guns and this is what he did.


I have no words for Hunter's look in this one! I was so trying to get a good picture with me and the kiddos!

It never failed one kid would look great the other would be blurry or move when we tried to get a cute picture with them.

Grace and Larry playing trains at my mom's house. Hunter wasn't really into the whole take pictures before leaving the house, but we powered through and did them. Grace's Easter outfit was all hand me down clothes I didn't have to buy a thing. I wanted to buy her a cute new dress and black shoes but we had what she needed so I didn't buy hers. :) Hunter's was handme downs and old stuff and I should have put a different shirt on him so he didn't match the red wall but oh well he probably would not have changed it anyways. Happy Easter everyone!

trying to be frugal and how I do it

So I have been budgeting and paying off credit cards for over a year and a few months and I was going to share some of my secrets. Don't get me wrong there is so much that I want to buy and I do buy it but now it is hard for me buy stuff without knowing I have the money for it. It has been 2 years since I used my credit card and I have no credit card debt on the one and only card I have it is just for big emergencies that come our way but right now the balance is 0! I am working on a debt that we used from a past patient who gave us money when we bought the house and I have since then paid that person off and gave the title of our car back to the bank and now I am paying the bank. The cool part of doing it this way is I can see my balance and I can pay it anytime with as before I was only mailing this person a check of $100 each month and since I am paying off this debt each month with more than $100 I don't have to put alot of money in the mail hoping this person gets it each month. And we had a car loan with my bank and I paid it off last year and the loan now is $100 less a month than it was last year! Sweetness! All I have for my own personal debt is this loan and my student loan and then I am done. I honestly do not think I am going to work on my student loan as hard as these last debts hope to help someone out with his next. So my goal is to pay $200 a week to this loan at the bank until it is paid off and Larry is not working out in the field in Canada and working the long hours anymore which was bringing in alot of money so I am on to being frugal and budgeting. Since paying off the debts I have paid off already I saved $662.43 on monthly payments that we were making a month on our credit cards and car! That is sweetness! So here is how I have been trying to be frugal and budgeting...

-Go to Starbucks once a week. I would love to go everyday but that is spendy. I know I should cut it cold turkey but I can't yet I love my caffeine!
-Carry $20 cash and that is all I get to use for the week for special things like coffee, lunches out, and things I want to get. This isn't for the kids it is just for me. I had to use it for Misha 2 weeks ago to get her toes clipped but she needed to be pampered!
-When I get coffee or lunches out to spend less then $5 on my meal or try to not go to much over. It actually is easy if you get soup or half a sandwhich or a quiche or Taco Bell thinks like that :)
-Go to the store 2 times a week and try to only spend $50 each time or $100 each time depending if it is the beginning or end of the month. Stock up on items in your house. If there is a two for one I grap it but one in my kitchen cupboards and one in the pantry.
-Use coupons! But make sure you use only things you need. I have a big ole purse that has my coupon binder (a must!), wipes the cheapest ever they are the Target brand, snack for the kids and I make my grocery list on my phone or on post its.
-Get hand me down clothes. Find some friends who can help you with this it is so helpful and you can save so much!
-Realize that your kids do not need everything else that everyone else has. I buy my kids one thing a month and sometimes I don't even do that.
-Keep every promo discount card that you get in the mail you never know when you need to use it! Like yesterday I went to Victoria Secret cause I was given money and I had kept a discount card and a free panty card that I got maybe a month or 2 ago and knew I could not afford it or use it and I was given $75 and spent $62 by using the promo coupons! If you keep them and they expired oh well maybe the next one that comes to you you'll use.
-Get the weekend Oregonian. It has coupons and if you see something you like then put it up on your fridge and budget for it instead of going and buying it that day. I just started getting the paper as a promo for 6 weeks and I like it now that it comes only friday-Sunday. I like going out and getting it or having the kids get it and drinking my tea with it.
-I love fuffy coffee drinks and tea so I stock up on my tea bags and use those during the week for on my way to work and when I get low then I get more. Don't get more until you either used stuff up or are close to using up the stuff you use all the time. Right now I am craving cold chai's and so instead of buying them at Dutch Bros, who make the best, I bought a container of Tazo Chai at Target, super cheap there like under $3.50 for one, and just use 1/2 Chai and 1/2 milk over ice and my craving is cured. I am on my second drink from this one box and I think I can get 3 or 4 more drinks. So find clever ways to make your drinks at home and see if you can do them for alot cheaper.
-Keep leftovers! This is a must especially for kids. I reuse alot of food and if it isn't giving it to my kids an hour later cause they are hungry or putting it in my lunch for the next day it saves so much it is crazy!
-Every month I boil eggs and make egg salad sandwhiches and they can last me a whole week for lunch! That is when I am on a crunch and want to make sure I am not spending any money or going out to buy lunch. Tunafish sandwhiches can be used the same way make a couple cans and you have 4 or so lunches! Savings!
-Use up all your household product before you buy another especially if you want to try something new. I am really bad at wanting to try new things like dishsoap or body wash stuff and I am still working on this one. But use up all you have in your house then get new stuff. Total savings there.
-Put your holiday items in bins for the next year. If you have leftover Easter stuff put it in a bin and save it. If you have suntan lotions or little swimmers put them in a bin for next year so you can save a buck or two next year. I love organizing this way and then you don't have to go looking for this stuff and wonder where you put it the year before.
-Use up all your lotions and perfumes before you buy more. This one is so hard for me cause I just found a new perfume at VS that I love! But maybe a coupon promo thing will come my way ;) I have alot right now and need to just be happy with what I have and be more girly and put them on.
-Plan your meals for the month. Put it on your fridge on a erasable calendar. Look in your fridge and freezer for what you have and make meals on what you have and put them on the calendar. Then if you are short on days then go to the store and get the things you need. I have on every Wednesday pizza night I either will bake a frozen one, make one, or order one depending on what we have in the house. I have a left over day which is on Sunday and I use and make something up with the leftovers in the fridge and if I don't have any than I just use what I have. I have friday nights as take out night. I am pretty tired by friday so I either take the kids out to Burgerville or get take out so I do not have to cook. Bad I know but for my peace of mind I need the break from cooking and most the time my kids do not eat dinner very well so it is one night of peace from that.
-I love to read books. I try not to buy books at cost. I either get them at the library and if I buy them then I go to the used library book places where they cost $1-4 each. I have about 3 authors I really like right now so I have been reading that way. If there is one I want to buy like I bought a canning book on Amazon I go to either Amazon and try to use my free shipping Amazon mom on things. I try not to buy anything on Amazon where I have to pay for shipping. My kids are sometimes hard to get out the door to go to the store or mall so Amazon is my friend and I love getting packages at the door. If I go to Borders or Barnes and Nobles to get a book I do not go without a coupon. I can't pay regular anymore I have to have some type of discount even if it is only 10% off. I know it is all in my head but once you do it so much with coupons it is hard to pay full price at places like that.
-Use your environmental bags when you go to the grocery store or any store you can save 5-10 cents each and they are so easy to use and I keep mine in my car and use them everywhere. If I don't remember to bring them to the store I have been this last week just asking them to put it back in my cart. Crazy I know but I am trying to be more efficient and I just can't store all those paper bags all the time.
-Don't toss or get rid of any type of tupperware container or bins you never know when you need to use it for something else. This takes up alot of room if you have alot that you aren't using. But it will save you money down the line I reused 4 different types of bins this vacation weekend by reusing them for kids toys and a bin to put toys in on the porch. And I have been looking for a seat container holder for the porch and now I don't have to cause I reused a huge red round toy bin that was in the shed housing a fake ficus tree. Not to mention Grace loves the new bin cause it is red and she thinks I got it for her. Priceless, literally. Reuse is a big saver!
-Use your resources. I get free bread the 1st and 3rd wednesday of the week of Oroweat bread, muffins, and pizza dough. Sometimes there isn't alot to take but I take enough to keep in my fridge and it has worked out great.

That is all I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps you be frugal this spring! I am venturing to the canning world. My goal with canning is to have food that I have made in the pantry to eat all year or 1/2 a year and to also make items that will work for birthday, get well or holiday gifts for my friends and family. If you have any ideas to add or ways you do it I would love to hear them. :) I need more inspiration.

Happy Sunny day to you all! I finally got batteries in my camera and I am going to take pictures today the day before Easter! Whoo Hoo!

numbers

Last night, I realized that Hunter, my 4 year old, can write his numbers and add numbers! I knew he was smart but I didn't realize how much he knows. He has been doing alot of kids online learning games and his explorer has a game where he can write letters and numbers but I didn't realize he could do it on his own! He isn't perfect at it but he sure does pretty good for trying! I took a picture with my cell phone so I will try to download the picture so you can see his numbers her wrote. And he can add! He can add in his head and tell you and he can add by counting 2 sets of dots or figure it out in his head. I know he isn't perfect with this either but he did 8 +3 and wrote out 11 without me even telling him! I just enrolled him in preschool for fall and I think he is going to be pretty smart by the time he gets there and he can even write his name! My big boy is growing to fast pretty soon he will be in highschool!

HT's 4 year stat's

Hunter had his 4 year well child check today and it is so different when your kids start talking to the doctor and they answer the doctors questions! DeOna was so cool with him and Hunter knew he was going to the doctor that mama worked for to have a check up cause he was 4. He was pretty excited about it. Grace came with us cause she puked in the car on the way to my mom's today the second time in 2 weeks but I am pretty sure it is her gag reflux so no more milk in the car! I was going to see if DeOna would look in her ears but forgot and thought if her ears hurt she would tell us. So Grace and I hung out with Hunter at his check up and he was such a little man! I let him do all the talking and prompted him a little but it was all him. I just couldn't believe that I was the quiet one while he was doing all the talking. It is an amazing transition let me tell you! He was more then happy to tell her whatever she asked of him. He was such a good boy but he didn't want her to shine the light in his eyes that was the downfall and he told me at the beginning he didn't want it done but we talked about it and he still wasn't a big fan of that part. DeOna says he will be tall and thin by they way his stat's are looking. She said the same about Grace at her 2 year check. He was awesome with his shots and I love that 4 of the shots are combined to 2 shots instead makes it easier for kids and mom's. He was a trooper and one of the best ever and I give shots everyday to kiddos! One of his arms is sore today/tonight and it is the one that bleed the most so I am just watching how he does. He didn't even want me to kiss it to make it better. He is getting so grown up :( So here is is stat's :)

Weight...40 lbs (81%)
Height...42.8 in (93%)

Both kids were awesome at the doctor's office and I was so proud of them the listened and obeyed and deserved their suckers that they had to earn! It is so weird and cool to give my kids suckers, stickers, and bandaids when I am the one that decides which ones to order for the kids that come in the clinic. Pretty cool, let me tell you! But I am very glad that I am not the one giving my kids their immunizations I will give any child one but mine.

Hunter turns 4!

Happy birthday buddy! I can't believe my boy is 4 time flew so fast and now he is 4 almost 5. He says he can't wait to be 5. Great. I didn't take any pictures at his party but hope to have some up soon! He had a Diego Birthday Party with family and it was a good time he was super excited to have family time today and have a party. He told me this morning when I woke him up to take him to Nana's that he was so excited he was 4 today and he had no more sleeps cause he was 4. I love my buddy so much :)

another debt paid!

I can't believe I did it! I paid off my Discover credit card! This was I believe my first credit card ever I had it before I met Larry and I spent alot of it on our wedding too. I finally paid off my part of our wedding and only 8.5 years later! That is pretty sad. So this is how I did it. I paid off my car last year and I started another loan at Onpoint and transferred my Discover card to Onpoint since my finance charge was 25%, with Discover card yep it was I don't even remember when it got that bad but it was. When I transferred it to Onpoint it was 7.9%! Major difference! I wrote in my debt notebook how much I would pay off each month and the only month I wasn't able to was Christmas cause I bought some presents. But the rest of the months I was able to keep my goal because I didn't buy my kids very many toys and I had friends handing me down clothes for the kids which helped a ton and I had friends hand me down clothes and shoes and family was helping with buying toys and clothes for the kids that I needed instead of me. I didn't buy much for me and I slowly budgeted for things around the house to make it look better and only bought coffee once during the week and sometimes on the weekend and made sure I always had my set amount of money left over at the end of the month to make a payment towards my credit card and it worked! I also carried cash. I never carried cash in the past but I would take out $50 every two weeks and use it on coffee, lunches, or things I wanted to buy. But it also helped big time that Larry worked in Canada throughout this time I am not going to lie. And that was my only saving grace for getting through the last year of having him leave each time knowing that him working the hours and being away I was working on our debt and the debt I had because he was gone. So there you have it how I did it. Hard work, budgeting, coupons, sacrificing not getting what I wanted and using my resources around me to help cloth me and my kids can really help out alot. And to except help and show people that you are seriously trying to make a difference in spending money because in the end there is a goal....paying off a debt that should have been paid off along time ago. So as of today... I have paid off over $15,000 of debt since 12/09! And I have less than that to go on my last debt. I am on the home stretch and it feels really, really good!

change

CHANGE...I stole this word from another person's blog. I don't even know the person so I hope they do not mind. It is pretty much a word that defies the last year of my life. It also helps me with the new year of my life. Alot has changed for me and for my family and alot of change is to come I have a feeling. So I am going to take this word and run with it. Change is good, change is needed, change hurts, and change strengthens. My kids are growing and they are changing and getting older and testing me. My marriage is growing and is changing and is testing me. My growth as a person is changing, I am getting older and alot of things are testing me. So I am ready for this year of change. I might love it, I might not like it but I think that I have to come to terms with how the change happens with me and all that is around me. I am happy with the word change and that is my challenge this year to take things that change around me and work through it and take every change as a grain of salt and not a boulder. So I challenge you who read my blog to use the word change and make it a positive in your life as I am going to try to in mine. :)

my fav's

I am bored so I wanted to just blog. So here are a few of my favorite things...

**hugging and kissing my kids and hearing them laugh
**my kids eyelashes they are so long
**decorating
**Rachael Ray dishes/pots
**couponing
**photography
**my animals, especially Misha she is my protector
**music
**reading novels
**reading Pioneer Woman's blog
**daffodils
**going on dates and eating big people food
**manicures
**a clean house
**drinking wine
**whoppers
**sleeping in (never happens but I love it)
**my girlfriends
**family

So there you go just a few things. I also can't believe my buddy will be 4 in 7 more sleeps. He is getting so big.

my bathroom

Today was the only productive day that I had in a week! Larry was home last week and left today so I had alot of laundry and many projects in my head that I needed to start. I do projects around the house to keep me busy and make the time go by quicker when Larry is gone. Doing this all by myself isn't fun for me so I try to do things that make me feel like I accomplish things. Hence, our bathroom. It has been on my mind for a few weeks. I hate the cat litter box and I wanted a big rug and a change.

This is how the new bathroom went down. I went to Costco yesterday got a nice size rug for under $15 and I have been looking all over for a rug for weeks and they are alot more than Costco! I got a new litter box at Target (but it is too small for the cats so I have to get a new one!), I put up my old coconut shower curtain that we got as a wedding gift that I had in the small bathroom before we had the kids and moved the silver shower hooks that were in the kids bathroom to our bathroom, declutter the counter, had a candle going all afternoon because it has been windy! Never know when the power would go out. Bleached and cleaned as well as I could before I put the new litter box and rug down. All and all I love my new bathroom. It still needs work but after I get another cat litter box and budget for cabinets over the toilet to put my towels in than I think it will be a done project!

Here it is the new look! I took this with my phone and no I didn't get a before pic I was working with adrenaline cause Hunter didn't go down for his nap and I banned him to the couch. So I attacked the bathroom :)

And yes it is a green rug with blue tiles. I was so shocked at the price at Costco I just went with what I thought would go the closest and it looks alot better in person. I promise!

Did I also mention I like to home decorate? I think this is my new calling. Decorating on a budget and using what you have. Maybe it will start something :)

in the dog house

I can't believe I haven't blogged in forever! I have been busy, lazy, and crazy. All at the same time. Life is just a blur right now. Grace survived having no sassy and they have all been removed! Thank goodness! The bad news is she keeps waking up at 5:30-5:45am since then. I even try keeping her up late but that doesn't work. So I have ordered the goodnite lite and I hope that works for her. I haven't taken one single picture from my camera I have been taking them on my phone so I am bringing out my camera today or this week. Hunter is going to be 4 in 10 days I can't believe it. I am planning his birthday party and super excited about it. Hope Larry is home for it but probably not. We are getting the kids bikes for their birthday's so we will get them later next month. I am so close to being done with another credit card debt! It is my Discover card that I had when I was single and living by myself. That was way to long ago and I should have paid it off years and decades ago. I transferred my Discover card to Onpoint so I can keep track of it better and the interest was way lower. So in the dog house with my past debt but feeling the relief a little bit with what I have left. I have one more debt to pay off and transfer to Onpoint and pay off some other stuff and then all I will have left is my student loans but I don't see myself paying that off until the kids are in college. So for the most part in the last year and a half I have paid off over $13,000! Yeah! We also are going to get a dishwasher soon! I thought we would order it this week but Larry wants to be home when it comes so we are on hold but that is ok I will just keep cleaning by hand and paying of this debt I am working on. So there you go my life in a nut shell. I will try to be better at blogging. But the house is calling my name to clean it. I have to take pics of my bedroom it is almost complete! Just need to get one more dresser and clean the closets and it is done! I am working on my bathroom at the moment but I have to clean and bleach the floors than the cats have a new litter box area and rugs go down! Then I have my laundry room project I have to move all my arts stuff and put all the kids toys in the shelves so it has been a slow work in progress. So these are just a few of my projects going on!

no more sassy!

My big girl loves her sassy (pacifier). She asks for it when she doesn't have it and she asks for it with her long list of things she needs with her on the couch. Mama can you get my sassy, my kitty cat, my puppy dog, my pink blanket, my blue blanket and my Dora blanket. No lie she asks me this about 2-3 times a day and more on the weekends. So I wanted to eliminate one of the items from her big ole long list. Hunter tossed his in the trash at his Ma's house a couple weeks before he turned 3 so I am way ahead on Grace. The reason is she is too darn smart and if I don't take it away now she will have it until she is 10 I just know it. I was going to get rid of it before she turned one but the drama in my life wasn't going to happen then. She also is getting a big overbite and she has a big gap between her two teeth always has but seems to be getting bigger. And her dentist said that if she got rid of her pacifier her gap would get smaller and her overbite will to. So she has an appt soon so I better get cracking. She was twitterpatted yesterday to say the least when I told her it was gone. So much that I was about to just toss in the towel and give it to her. Which I did but I gave it to her after I cut the top off. I didn't poke holes in it I just wanted it totally destroyed. She wasn't happy with it and wanted the other piece put back together. By the afternoon she wanted to piece found still and we were in the car and I had told her that the other piece must have been eaten by Misha or Kramer. She kept saying that they had to give it back to her and that she would look in their mouths. Hunter kept telling her that was a no we don't put our hands in their mouths they could bite us. Totally got that from me! She didn't go down well at all for her nap but after an hour or longer she finally lost the battle and feel asleep on my bed. She went to bed great that night and woke up asking for her sassy with the long list of other items. I told her it was gone she had a mini breakdown and I got the broken sassy and she didn't want it and hasn't asked for it since. :)