Saving Money

I like to think of myself as frugal person. I also have this terrible habit of having buyers remorse. Most of the time I feel like Ebanezer Scrooge, saving every penny. I love to shop but I HATE spending money. (Just ask Randy...he can attest to every time I go to buy any thing the mental tole it takes on me.) So, it is really scary when you have a spouse who likes to spend money. Now, before you think of that as negative, Randy NEVER buys any thing for himself. Most of the time it is on other people. In fact some times I have to push him to even buy new clothes. So, even though he loves to spend and I love to save....somehow we try and meet in the middle. (I save the money so he can later spend it all on me. :)) This has taken years to figure out and we don't have it quite down to an exact science. Although the main thing we both agree on is to be financially secure so we don't have to rely on others including the credit card company's. So I thought I would share some of my frugal tips. Most of you may already do these things or may think I am completely crazy. Either way, it might help you to save your penny's a little better. Please, if you have any thing to add I would love to hear about it...I'll start with 10.

1.Drink Water -we only ever buy soda or juice unless it is a party or a major coupon

2.Use coupons- Don't buy anything you normally wouldn't already buy unless it is under a dollar.

3.Reuse everything- Walmart sacks, yogurt, peanut butter, cottage cheese etc. containers, baggies and napkins from food places...anything you can use again.

4.Never by chicken or meat that is over $2.00 a pound...rule of thumb.

5.Read, read, read labels.- Make sure they charge you correctly while at the register. I have saved a TON by being an eagle eye.

6.Haircuts-I cut Randy and Jay's hair, can't get better than free.

7.Deals-when ever I see a deal I usual buy as much of the product as if it were regular price and put the extra in food storage.

8.Make it for less-If you see something you like and there is a way you could make it for less DO IT! You should also think of the time it takes and if it is more cost effective to buy.

9.Heating/Air- We close all of the vents except to the kids rooms. That way we know they are sleeping warm/cold enough and we just use more blankets. It cuts WAY down on the bills. I hate being cold but I just wear lots of clothes. I also always leave the oven door open after I bake and in the summer just use the crock pot so there is no added heat. Randy also put added weather stripping on all windows and doors.

10. Shopping-I always have a list. I mark a "C" next to the items I have coupons for. I add up everything as it goes in my cart. I never go over budget at the store because I know exactly how much I can spend. (I plan meals ahead of time and do a rough estimate of what if should cost.)

Now your turn....

What I have been up to this week....

Since Randy is gone so much I tend to spend most of my time doing little projects. Here a a few from this week...

Baking: Made too many whole wheat waffles to freeze. (My grandma's yummy recipe.) In fact, so many my waffle iron broke. I also made a couple of lasagnas to freeze. The orange stuff in the ice cube trays are carrots for baby food. (Steamed and pureed.) Which I admit I tasted it and it was dang good. I wanted to eat it like a soup.

Sewing:
I made a couple of head bands. This is just one of them. Stole the idea from here. So easy and cheap.

Also another stolen idea here. This WAY cute scarf. I probably should have only taken an hour or so to do, however, between dinner and feeding babies and what not it took me like 3 hours. Plus my sewing machine wasn't being my friend. I had to re thread like 100 times because it kept coming undone.

Snow:

Although this beautiful scene is what I got to wake up to, soon came the realization that I was going to have to shovel my drive way again. Really not that big of a deal but a total time consumer.

Friends:

My friend Shanda had her baby girl. Her kids got to come over and play with Jay while she was doing the hard part. They barely made it back in to the hospital in time to see their new little sister Channing Rose Sleater. 7lbs 7oz 19 inches born at 7:23pm...lots of dark hair!

Cari's House

The kids cookie decorating. Cari was such a good host.

Jay LOVED his cookie he made.

The girls...Me, Shanda,Cari and Erin. We all have known each other from high school or longer. We all went to church together and we had a little reunion minus a few. It would be so awesome to have a young Womans reunion with everyone. Somebody organize that kay? Oh, even cooler with our leaders too. It was so nice that all our kids got along, even the babies.

Sunday Snapshots

I'm 6 Months!

Stats:

1/11/2010

Weight 14.46 lbs 11.45%

Height 26.2 in 51.36%

Head 17 in/43 cm 60.54%

It is amazing that her head is so big because she is still so tiny. She's a walking candy apple!

Jensen is still an awesome baby. Minus the whole couple of weeks of teething, she is an angel. She is rolling all over the floor now. She doesn't mind tummy time at all now. She is still a pretty mild tempered baby. She has tried green beans, peas and sweet potaoes. I am not one for theories on introducing food so we just did what works for us. We didn't give her any solilds until she was 6 months. She is now no longer nursing. She just decided she was done and never wanted to. That made me kinda happy because I was done too. So long pump, I won't miss you one bit! She is also sleeping through the night for the most part. She goes to bed around 8 or 9 and then wakes up at about 6 or 7. Sometimes she will have gas or something in the night and I will pick her up, hold her for like a second and put her right back in her crib. She always goes back to sleep right away. She is WAY more advanced in these stages then Jay was. Jay was the never sleeping baby.

She got all of her shots and only cried for like less then a min. She is so brave. I think Jay told her she got ice cream afterwards. Ice cream/milk...same thing. All in all she is so sweet and I LOVE her little personality. She is still my little Dolly.

Peek a Boo!

Whats going on...

You have probably noticed a lack of posting. Well, it is the start of the new year and there is much to be done. I am trying to finish up projects (like my 2009 blog book) and other numerous things. My goals for 2010 haven't helped me out any either. I am trying to do more family history, more indexing, more exercising and more scripture study. So, With that work load added, it has become a little tough. I however, take blogging very seriously seeing how it is my only journal. I also have been a little side tracked with some reading.

I finished the Book of Mormon for the year in December. It really kinda came down to the wire. With all the craziness of the baby, it wasn't at the top of my priority list as it should have been. For the last 2 months I think I read 4 chapters a night. I kinda like reading it fast that way....I learned so much. I haven't started it on my own yet for this year. Jay and I are reading it together at night. He gets excited when it is his turn to read. I pick all the short versus from him. But, he really understands it and that is amazing. During the Christmas season I also read the book of Luke. This is my goal every Christmas season. If you start Dec. 1st and read a chapter a night it works perfect. (24 chapters in Luke.) It is a great way to feel the spirit of Christmas. Seeing as we were traveling, I had to do mine in bits and pieces. But, it helped me feel really close to the savior reading about his life. During the trip, I read a book called, For time and all absurdity by Robert Farrell. It was a quick read but very entertaining and funny. I laughed out loud at many parts. Then, last week I read Undaunted by Gerald Lund. It was really good. (A little long, like 800 pages or something.) It was a great history of Southern Utah and early pioneers. And now, I am reading Stepahine Meyers' The Host. I will let you know how it turns out but so far so good.

So you can see how distracted I have been. Not to mention I got photoshop for Christmas so I have been messing around with that. I am excited to get some new photos posted. SO, I will try harder, but that is it for now....

Mom an Jentsy

Jensen has easily become another love of my life. She is now 6 months old. I will post more when we have her doc visit next week. For Christmas she got her two front teeth. (Bottom ones.) I'll try and get a pic but she is a stickler for letting me get anywhere near her teeth. Couldn't you just munch her?