Excitement!

I am so excited for my new budget! I CANT WAIT to see the needle move! However, it will take a long time to get to that point.

That aside, Last night I observed an interesting thing. 
Some people were over at our house/my in-laws, talking with them.  Hubby and I were sitting on the couch and kinda half listening to the conversion, we were kind of a part of.  They were talking about some of their debt.  They have a RV on which they are WAY upside down.  They were talking poorly about the bank, and stating that the bank totally messed up the loan, and they owe way more then they should.  They were complaining it to their car loans, etc.   I sat back listening and smiling to myself.

In the middle of this conversation, my wonderful honey stated "we paid off our 4runner today" to which they snuffed, and between them and my inlaws, joked that they will never pay off their car, and even if they did, they would get a new one.  I understand that is how it is for some, but for me I don't care that much about cars.  You have NO idea how proud I was of Chris.  I swear I prob could have teared up!

Oh, sorry about that little moment! lol  However, they were going on that the bank says they owe 4,900 more then they think they do, and they are still further in debt on that one item, then hubby and I have TOTAL.  They also dicussed the frustration that the bank is stealing all of their money.

Me being, well me.  Sat listening and built an amortization table to see what they should still owe.  Chris was sitting next to me and tried to get me to speak up, but I didn't want to. But I did, I asked the wife, who was sitting near us about what they owed and according to my calculations the bank is shockingly... RIGHT on the money!

So, this got me thinking about how many of us BLAIM the banks, for our lack of knowledge.  It is quite sad if you really think about it.  It has gotten me even more excited about getting out of debt so that we can pay off the house faster and start giving and investing!!

Quote of the day

"never invest in anything you don't understand!" -Dave Ramsey

I love this quote because I think it can apply to so many things when it comes to money. Wither it be debt, investing, loans, etc.  I think that being able to understand your money, is the first step to controlling your money!

New Budget!

Well, I budget and plan and look over accounts over and OVER AND OVER again... and I feel like I'm a mouse on a wheel.  I actually love it when this happens... because I have the MOST AMAZING hubby, in the whole WIDE WORLD!!
So we are trying his plan.
We got the FANCY CHECK from selling our house.  Sadly it is MUCH less, then we would have liked :( welcome to paying Realtor fees.
However, thanks to that, we are now working to get our debt down, and get our down payment built up.
SO TODAY, we paid of......
OUR CAR LOAN and ALL our bills, so we are 100% up to date, and only have 2 debts
Credit Card and Student Loan.  EAK!!!


Chris' old budget was to have $1,000 in the account at all times.  I was never really sold on this idea, but I'm willing to try anything, so lets try something new.

We made a list of what is needed from each check.  and split our other expenses by 2.

I listed my budget here last week, however this is how we have split it.

	CHECK	Due	$0
BILLS check 1	Daycare:	1	600		Other:
	Rent:	1	300		Groceries	400
	Storage:	1	105		Dining Out	400
	TOTAL		1005		Gas	350
	Others Total		885		Shady	50
	TOTALS		1890		Medical	75
					Gifts	75
	CHECK		$0		Clothes	50
Bills Check 2	Tuition	20	380		House	20
	AT&T	23	150		Dates	50
	Insurance	24	100		Spending	300
	Student Loan	25	130		TOTAL	1770
	Netflix/HULU	25	20			885
	Visa	30	250
	TOTAL		1030
	Others Total		885
	TOTALS		1915

We get our paycheck, then we put $2,000 in our checking account.  As you can see our totals are just under $2,000, then we carry over ANY extra into our savings, to build up what we need for our house down payment (that is our next goal), then anything over our $13,000 (3.5% of about $350,000 average house price where we are looking).

From there when we get our second check, we SHOULD have left over money from our $2,000 and that plus ANY new money goes STRAIGHT into our savings...then onto debt. 

I have NO IDEA how this will work, but I will try to let you know on payday how we have done.  :) Im SO EXCITED!!!

I am still going to build my breakdown to see where it is going, and im really hoping that our "OTHER" category drops, and because we only have the $900 or so when it is gone it is gone, and both chris and i LOVE to see a bigger balance on payday.  SO... Wish us LUCK!!!

Meals!

The meals worked out pretty well I got a total of 4.
I made manicotti for dinner on thurs night, and MMM MMM it was DELISH. I also made a frozen one as well.

Then I also made 3 more meals.  My girlfriend made me promise her next time I want to to call her up.
The 3 things I learned
1: Doing it in your own kitchen is MUCH better then using somone else's I swear I felt like a chicken with my head cut off trying to find stuff.
2: What ever time to plan it to take DOUBLE it!  It took alot more time then I had expected.
3: DONT do it on a work night.  I started cooking at about 6:30 and finally give up at 9. and I was EXHAUSTED!! :)


All that being said.  I WILL TOTALLY do it again, and im really looking forward to it!

Freezer Meals Try 1

I have tried time and time again to make a meal plan and stick to it, however I have NOT been able to do it yet, and I have a feeling that it wont be happening any time soon either.  I try and it lasts a few days, but not long.  I am now on a new plan.  THINKING about it.  Each year during Lent, we give up something, the last time we lived with my in-laws we gave up eating out.  Over the past 2 weeks, with moving and stressing, we have eaten out $400+ worth.  Remember I am HONEST on here.
I am working on getting our new home (basement) settled, and with that, it also means preparing food so we are home. 
Pintrest has SO many ideas out there, and I am very grateful to all of you fellow blogger's and pinners.
A few weeks ago I went to the Dollar Tree and found some pans like this

mine are NOT fancy Hefty brand, however they were 2 for $1 so we will see how they go.  They sat on my counter at home for a few weeks, as we were preparing to move, it was time to make some freezer meals...? RIGHT?  Well I packed up our pots, and needless to say FORGOT. 
When I was at costco this weekend, I decided to buy a LARGE 5lb bag of mozzarella cheese, this is my motavation. I now HAVE to make these meals or all that cheese will go to waste.I have 4 pans so here is my current plan.
Meals
1. Spinach & Cheese Stuffed Manicotti
2. My Family's Mac and Cheese Casserole 
3. Parmsan Chicken: My HUBBY'S Recipe with a few alterations by me!
4. Chicken Bruschetta

When I went to the store to get my food for this I happened upon CHICKEN ON SALE for $1.99 a lb so I got a bunch of that, and pork ribs were on sale for $1.35 a lb so I got a nice amount of ribs to make a yummy  crock pot dish this weekend.
I cant wait to get all of my boxes unpacked so I can see what other food we have in our "home" and build at least a few more meals from that! :)

I'm hoping to plan other meals so I don't use all of these frozen ones, but now that we have them, we can use them.

And since it is FALL!!! I am wanting to make some soups and have them frozen as well.  Then we can run by the store and get some bread or soup bowls and then we can have a nice cold weather meal! 

HOUSE FREE!!!!

Not quite the same feeling of screaming "DEBT FREE" however that will hopefully come soon, now that we are NO LONGER home owners.

We are starting to build our new November budget with NO MORTGAGE!! it is INSANE to think about.
We will be getting the extra money from selling our house here in a few days where will then pay off our CAR!!  We then will start deciding what to do with our money next.  I would like to start building up a fund to pay off our credit card, however we are not sure if we will do that or if we will keep that money in savings so we can buy a home when we find it!

I am back to my budgeting AGAIN! :) Here we go

Bills:
Daycare:	600
Rent:	300
AT&T	150
Student Loan	130
Insurance	100
Netflix/HULU	20
Car	250
Visa	250
Storage	105
Tuition	380
TOTAL	2285

So here we are.  No still not as little as I would like, but it is what it is.  OH and THE CAR will be gone VERY soon!  Next section is on to other spending.
This is the TRUTH of the budget of the last 10 months.  I wish that they were lower, but they aren't.  My Goal with YOUR help is to lower that amount. 

Other:
Groceries	400
Dining Out	400
Gas	350
Shady	50
Medical	50
Gifts	75
Clothes	50
House	20
Dates	50
Spending	300
TOTAL	1745

So there you have it. We have LOTS of money going out :( The total outgo is just over $4,000. WAY MORE then should be.

So here we will be by the beginning of November.  Pay off CAR that adds $250, also Im working on getting some freezer meals together. My plan is to make some tonight and we will see what HAPPENS!!
I'll share once I get them done.

I will also share the tips that I have found and that are working for me!

Moving Out & Movin on!

Our home is about 80% packed and about 30% moved.  It is very exciting. 

Over the past week or so, my sister and I have been discussing budgets! :) I am enjoying it ALOT!  With this I have also looked over my families budget and looked at where we are.  We have been expecting to have a big new mortgage, however now we don't have one at all.  Im getting really exicted about paying off our debt. 

My sister was introduced by a friend to Dave Ramsey.  She knows that I listen to him, and understand his plan so we stared talking.  I built her a Google doc for paying off her debt and starting the debt snowball.  It has gotten me excited to be working on ours even more, with GAZELLE intensity!

Homeless

Needless to say we are not moving into the home I have shared with you.  For now we are moving into a storage unit, and my in laws basement.  My in laws are AMAZING and I really look forward to my boys getting this time with them, while we continue to search for our dream home.

HOWEVER this also gives us an amazing opportunity to PAY OF DEBT!
Our budget has flip flopped alittle and we are looking forward to what might be coming our way!

Overwhelmed

Have you ever felt totally and completely defeated. Your faith in humanity totally striped, and pain and exhaustion coming out of every pore. 

AKA 

NEEDING A NAP!!

That is how the past week has been for me!
I did say I wouldn't take such a long hiatus, however in this case, I feel it was NECESSARY!!
Here is my weekend in a very small nutshell

Friday: Get appraisal, house is worth $13,000 less then contracted price, ALSO home is 700 sq feet LESS then we thought.

Saturday: Official the house is only 2870 sq feet. Priced at $27 more per sq foot then we had originally planed.

Sunday: Alot of prayer and thoughts

Monday:  We looked at another house, and looked at "our" house one last time, and said good bye.

Tuesday: Pulled offer on the house.  Figured out where we will live, and found a storage unit, since we will be homeless in 2 weeks.

Wednesday: Sellers offer $20,000 under apprased value, we work thougth BUTT LOAD OF SUTFF, counter, they say no, and cancel the contract..... We offer one last counter.

Thursday: We are now waiting to hear back from the sellers to see if they will take the last counter, or if they will be putting it back on the market, once again, putting us homeless.

 

We have decided that God will provide and what ever happens will happen.  It is painful, and hard, but we know we have to just go with the flow, and know that what is ment to be is ment to be. 

May God Bless! 

Storage Room

I love organizing, therefore... I like my storage rooms to be 100% perfect! IN THEORY!! Lol

However storage rooms normally have the most stuff in them and are difficult to keep under control. 

Our new home has a very large beautiful storage room. I am excited to get started on it, and you have NO idea how excited I am to get ideas from Jen at iheartorganizing!!

Can some one say AMAZING!!!!! 

I seriously am in LOVE!! :) yes with a room!

Here is the space I am working with.

View from the door

Under porch cold storage

One of two walls of shelves 

Wall #2 of shelves.

I have already decided and asked hubby to be supportive. NOTHING goes in this room until I'm ready!! ;) hehe

Thanks to Jen. I have a whole breakdown of how I plan to do it.. However sometimes my ideas are bigger then me! ;) lol

I will start by painting the floor. Like she did here 

. 

When I shows hubby. He honestly laughed out loud. Really your going to paint the floor. "Whatever you want" 

 

This is the new catch phrase for me! 

 

I totally LOVE the blue she used, however hubby isn't quite on board.  So a few days ago, I sent him Paint color after Paint color after Paint color.. until he had had MORE then enough! :) lol

At this point we have decided on

or

Lush Sage                   or      Dusty Leaf

 

I love them both, so I am happy either way! I am using this type of paint and I am really hoping it will all turn out well!!

Beyond that, I want my storage room to look PRETTY!! :)

At this point I will be painting the wood White.  I have been on the fence between white and black, but I feel that at this point, nice clean colors would be very useful for this space.

I currently have alot of baby stuff to get organized, and I still have a huge garage storage area, so I think that for the most part, this will be the house to my scrapbooking stuff and baby items, until my little Ewan is too big for them!
Just imagine how BEAUTIFUL it will be, once I finish.

Budget for this project $50
I am hoping that the max I will need for this room is just Paint.
-Clean/Vacuum/Wipe down every service 
-Paint Floor
-Paint Shelves
-Match boxes
-Label EVERYTHING.


One day down the road. I would also like to add these

I have never been really big into food storage, however I think it would be very beneficial to get alittle stock pile.

I also want to put a deep freeze in this room as well

 

 

 

Coat Closet

 I love SMALL spaces.  I like organizing and figuring them all out, how I want to change them, and organize them. :D for me that is ENTERTAINMENT!! I also think that I can feel more accomplished with them.

I swear if the sellers of our new house knew that I was posting all these pics on the Word Wide Web, they would prob cringe.  HOWEVER, thats the joys of selling a house, EVERYTHING can be viewed. 

Here is our front closet as it is right now.  I totally love the french doors.  Not really sure why, other then I just dont like a BIG door right when you enter the house.

So far my hopes and dreams haven't gone TOO far! :) lol Because of the hopeful mud room in the laundry room this closet wont have too much use.  I am still not completely sure where the vacuum will be kept, if it does end up in this closet, i would like to build in some shelves like this. 

  

This isn't exactly what I want, but I cant find the proper picture.  

After we do that I would like to put some baskets at the top for our seasonal stuff. IE gloves/sunblock 

Then I want to keep our less used coats.  I am still not sure what i will do with the floor space.  I would like to keep all the shoes in the mud room, or in our personal closets, so at this point i would like it to stay empty, or possibly put a box for donations there so when we will be by DI we can drop it off. 

There are many ideas out ther to change their coat closet to a nice little bench area.  Needless to say I am NOT a fan.  If it is your cup of tea, go for it, it just doesnt fit me! :)

 No Thanks.  That's what my (future) mudroom is for!

I love how this looks

Im not really one for pastels, however I love how clean this looks.

 

I really like THIS one too! I just love how simple and clean it is.  

If you can't tell, this room will prob be the SIMPLEST to redo, however I think that is a GOOD thing!!!

I need some simple easy projects amongst all my CRAZY hard working ones.

New House Budget

Well, the excitement has subsided like A TINY ITSY BITTY BIT!! At this point, it is just time to pack and WAIT!!!
We have the appraisal back on our current home, and it is good to go, by the end of the week we will know about the new house (I don't really have any concern about that).  So here we are......Sitting..... Waiting.... oh ya PACKING! :) lol
I have been packing little by little and hope to have the whole house packed soon.  I will wait on the finishing things in the kitchen and the bedrooms until we are closer, but for now we just wait for 3 weeks for it to be finished.
NO! im not complaining! Because we still have SO much more that we need to do, and the #1 top priority for that is the BUDGET!

Yes, I already know I have a very unhealthy obsession with my budget! I love it! :)

And I have to say I think it is a good thing in this situation. 

I'm not sure if i have admitted it yet, but now is the time (enter confession) our mortgage is going to go up, like ALOT.  When looking for homes, we had a time frame on it all on purpose.  We were going to be debt free before we took on anything else.  Well, obviously we decided to try something else.  No I don't feel we were being completely reckless, however we did change our plan.  However that is what life is, plans changing and adjusting to these changes no matter how hard and frustrating they may be.

While looking for images for this page I found this AWESOME article from Lifehacker If you dont currently read likehacker you SHOULD! :) lol

I don't all the time, but my hubby reads it everyday and shares what he thinks I will like.! :D  I caught me a good one!

As I have posted over the past week or so, I am getting anxious about not filling our house, and I know me, I like things MY WAY! :) lol  However, I'm trying my best to slowly and consistently place my foot on the break and WAIT!

My GOAL now is to build our new budget!!

I am once again using the same categories that we had before, however with a slight change. 

As ALWAYS! ;) I created a new google spreadsheet with out bills, revolving spending, and income.  I started with the bills, paid them first, then went down entered in each category and realized I had more month at the end of my money.

OK, Try #2.  Start with income..... then take out BILLS ONLY... This leaves me with about $700! A Month YEAH??? That does not count gas for our cars.  When we pull that out, it leaves us with about $300 for EVERYTHING ELSE?!?

....hum....

So out of this $300 I need to find a way to feed my wonderful family of 4+dog.  take care of home expenses, keep clothes on my boys, and keep us from killing each other. 

Well today is day 2!!!! of this journey!

So far we are doing REALLY WELL!! ;) 

We have a kitchen full of food, and healthy happy kids.  So we should be good.

I wanted to do the CASH system.  However, honestly I just haven't made it to the bank yet! ;) lol

So, at this point we don't need any.  I plan to go to the grocery store on sat or sunday.  I'm gonna try my best to have a food plan before then, go though the adds, and shop from our home.  

Since we will be moving in a SHORT 3 weeks, i think there is VERY LITTLE that we will need to buy! :)

Here we go on our Next chapter of this adventure called LIFE!!!

Laundry room plan part 2

I'm gonna back peddle just a BIT.  You saw my beautiful lavender color I wanted to do the walls, well...I showed hubby, and he nixed that idea.  Needless to say, I was alittle sad :'( however, we have to work as a team right!
So I have NOT gotten the ok yet from hubby, but I think this is my new plan for the walls!
I love this TALL boards, so that is plan #1.  Add boarding and white to full wall, just like this.













However the top color, is NOT going to be my beautiful lavender.
So THIS is my How to from Young House Love (cause I know I will need alittle assistance) 

So I searched the wonderful internet, looking for a good paint color.  As I looked, I thought about my current house, and how I love the color of our current washer and dryer.  Needless to say, I have found a PERFECT color scheme!!

Blackstrap

Crucible

High-Speed Steel 

Porcelain Shale

Academy Gray

Iron Frost

Hopefully, it will look kinda like this (the walls) , when all is said and done. Now i just have to pick which ONE of those colors! :) lol

  OR

I really like the dark color, but im willing to compromise if chris doesn't like the dark.

I haven't asked the hubby  about the light, and since that is way down on the list.  I have even started thinking about some possible track lighting like we had in our family room, however they are not available anymore, i like this one 

However not necessary at this stage of planning (donesn't mean I cant Dream) :)

Also there is one last thing I would like to add

I think this will happen about the same time as the lighting, but I think that if I can find the right colors, it should look PRETTY!!  Here is how I plan to make it.
https://docs.google.com/a/utah.gov/forms/d/1AQYZ7BmnJKLB5oj0KVo2FK8gz8AokRa4CmdLSeIDysY/viewform
I am thinking of doing a gray or black with just a hint of color. But we will see how it looks!

Follow up: My wonderful hubby and I have now discussed the paint color, AND he approves.  Looks like right now my fave is Crucible and hubby's is High Speed Steel.  They seriously look almost the same, so we will have to look in person:)

     Lily's                        

Chris'