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Money Saving Mom

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Apr 2, 2012 comment

10 Weekly Goals

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10 Weekly Goals

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Last week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals

1. Read five chapters of Quest for Truth:Taken aloud to the children.

2. Continue our Countdown to Easter study as a family.

3. Write a love note to Jesse.

4. Grow Easter Grass with children.

Personal Goals

5. Finish reading One of Us Must Be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You and Unshaken: Rising From the Ruins of Haiti’s Hotel Montana.

6. Complete week 8 of the Couch to 5K program.

7. Listen to at least one more hour of The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers.

Home Management

8. Clean out our bathroom drawers.

Business Goals

9. Finalize the details for the live webcast next week.

10. Start working on my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.

This week’s goals:

Family/Mothering Goals

1. Read five chapters of Quest for Truth:Taken aloud to the children. Finish reading Mountain Born.

2. Continue our Countdown to Easter study as a family.

3. Write a love note to Jesse.

4. Grow Easter Grass with children.

Personal Goals

5. Finish reading One of Us Must Be Crazy and I’m Pretty Sure It’s You. Start reading The Three R’s.

6. Complete weeks 8 & 9 of the Couch to 5K program.

7. Listen to at least one more hour of The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers.

Home Management

8. Follow my Spring Cleaning plan & blog about it every weekday.

Business Goals

9. Host the live webcast on Thursday.

10. Continue working on my talks for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.

How did you do on last week’s goals? What are your goals for this week? I’d love to have you share your progress on last week’s goals and your goals for this coming week in the comments. Of, if you’ve blogged about it, leave your direct link below. Let’s cheer each other on to live purposeful and productive lives!

You can download a free customizable weekly goal-planning sheet here.

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home
Shared Apr 2, 2012 comment

4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #1

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home: Assignment #1

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4 Weeks to a More Organized Home

Spring is here and with that comes fresh resolve to get my home and life in better order. I’ve set aside the month of April to really focus on organization in my home and life. And I’d love for you to join me!

So in April, every weekday morning at 9 a.m. EST, I’ll be posting the day’s assignment and then every evening at 9 p.m. EST, I’ll be posting my progress and pictures, along with a link-up for you to share your progress and pictures, too.

Day 1 Assignment

::Get dressed in something that makes you feel great {there’s something about dressing in clothes that make you feel great that just gives you more energy and zest for life! Get your free copy of SarahMae’s ebook, Frumps to Pumps, if you need more motivation in this.}

::Sit down with a cup of coffee or tea and make a list of 5-10 goals for this week.

::Complete your morning routine {if you don’t have a morning routine, take some time to create one today! Read my How to Develop a Routine That Works–And Stick With It series for step-by-step help.}

::Set the timer for 15 minutes and quickly pick up the main living areas of your home.

::Clean out your purse and/or diaper bag.

::Find 7 items to get rid of today. Throw them out, stick them in a donate or garage sale box, give them to a friend who can use them, or list them on Craigslist or eBay.

Note: If you work outside the home or have a really busy week with little time for extra projects, just do the bolded project above.

 

photo credit


Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 31, 2012 comment

2012 Goals: March Update

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2012 Goals: March Update

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How are you doing on your goals for 2012? March wasn’t the best month for me when it came to goals, but I did make some progress…

Personal
Read through the Bible in a year. {I’ve been keeping up with this faithfully.}
Read through the 24 books on my 2012 booklist. {I’ve finished all the books through March plus read quite a few other books!}
Listen to 12 audiobooks. {I’m still working on March’s audiobook–it’s a longer one and it’s taking me awhile to get through!}
Run in at least one 5K race. {Almost finished with week 8 of the Couch to 5K program.}
Complete the Couch to 10K program.
Tackle 12 Do-It-Yourself Projects. {I bought the stuff to make March’s DIY project, but after my allergic reaction, I decided to postpone the Face Wash project for another month or two!}
Focus on one habit per month. {So I totally bombed the morning routine goal in March. Can I try for a redo in April?!}
Learn to use my new DSLR camera (huge surprise Christmas present from Jesse!!) & improve my photography skills.
Take at least one photo a day and put together a page every week for my Project Life album. {I kind of fell off the bandwagon with keeping up with my album in March, but I have high hopes of getting caught up in.}
Memorize Colossians using the plan and free download here. {I’m almost caught up with this.}

Marriage
Go on the Love Like You Mean It Cruise. {Done–read my recap here.}
Go on two Marriage Retreats (overnight trips sans children for planning, talking, goal accountability).
Have monthly date nights. {We had one date in March.}
Read four books together. {We didn’t read anything together in March… must try to make this more of a priority in April!}
Read at least 3 books on marriage. {Finished Rekindling the Romance in March.}

Children/Homeschooling
Continue regular dates/outings with each of the children individually. {I went on at least one outing with each child individually in March.}
Continue Grace and Truth memory book. {The children memorized part of the Lord’s Prayer plus two verses of a hymn this month.}
Ice-skating lessons for all three children. {We started the second round of ice-skating classes in March.}
Swimming lessons for all three children.
Finish second grade, begin third grade with Kathrynne. {Plugging away at this!}
Finish kindergarten, begin first grade with Kaitlynn. {Plugging away at this!}
Start preschool with Silas.
Go on at least one field trip every month. {We went to the park multiple times and on some family bike rides, but didn’t actually make it on any “official” field trips.}
Go on at least one family vacation.
Finish at least 15 read-aloud books. {We’ve finished seven read-alouds so far this year.}

Ministry/Friendships/Extended Family
Write at least two handwritten notes every month to encourage someone. {I wrote & mailed two handwritten notes this month.}
Continue being involved in our local church, homeschool group, young couple’s group, and blogging accountability group. {Ongoing}
Continue with weekly get-togethers with both sides of our extended family. {Ongoing}

Business/Blogging
Continue to take Sundays off from blogging/business work. {Ongoing}
Continue keeping strict Office Hours for the business/blogging time each day. {Still plugging away on this!}
Switch to a paperless planning system. {This is going well for me, though I’ve decided I’m probably never going to be 100% paperless for all things.}
Follow my weekly blogging plan. {I didn’t do this perfectly in March, but I adhered to it somewhat.}
Plan blog posts out at least a month in advance. {Not quite there, but I’m at least being much more intentional with my blogging this year than I’ve ever been before!}
Write and schedule blog posts at least a week in advance. {Making some headway with this, though I’m far from where I want to be!}

Financial
Continue to tithe 10% of our income. {Ongoing}
Give generously to needs in our community and around the world, as God prompts us. {Ongoing}
Pay cash for a new-to-us vehicle to replace our family’s van. {We picked out the specific vehicle we’re planning to buy and started our vehicle search in March!}
Finish saving for and purchase a rental property with cash. {We were able to set aside some for this in March.}

How Are You Doing on Your Goals for 2012?

If you’ve posted goals for 2012, I’d love for you to post an update on how things are going and share your link in the comments. If you don’t have a blog, feel free to just leave your update as a comment. Let’s encourage one another to live lives of intention and purpose!

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Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 31, 2012 comment

4 Simple Steps to Start a “Fun Money” Cash System

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4 Simple Steps to Start a “Fun Money” Cash System

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Guest post from Jadah of Family Sponge

My friend Linda introduced me to the term “fun money.” It seems like a funny concept, and it took me over three years to finally adopt it into my own life, but now I want to share this life-changing and simple cash system to you.

My husband and I have always had a toxic relationship with money. If we have the money, we spend it. If we don’t have the money, we spend it. Then one day, we maxed out our credit cards, and we could no longer spend money we didn’t have.

I actually used to be good with paying my full credit card balances at the end of each month. I had an excellent credit score, owned my own condo by 22 years old, and was very responsible with bills and credit card payments.

But then I had a baby and fell in love! I left my job to stay home with my daughter, our income got smaller, and our expenses increased. I mean I “had” to have a Phil and Ted’s stroller. I had to.

Even if I already had a Graco stroller and Peg Perego stroller and was a baby-wearing enthusiast who didn’t even use a stroller much. I thought I “had” to have that $400 stroller!

Fast forward three years later: my husband and I use a cash system.

We were forced to really look at our budget and enter the world of conscious spending. The funny thing is, we never had a budget, so I had to create one.  We only use our debit cards for paying for gas, a few random online purchases, and our online bill pay. We use our cash system for groceries, toiletries, and “fun money.”

Here’s how the “fun money” cash system works:

1. Designate what the “fun money” will be used for.

Our “fun money” is for anything that is not a living or survival expense: movies, eating out at restaurants, iTunes music, clothes, tickets to a concert or game, gifts, enrichment classes, books, office expense splurges, etc.

2. Budget a set amount of money per person.

We budgeted $200 per month per adult and $100 per child (Zoe’s fun money goes towards her classes like ballet). So that’s a total of $500 per month budgeted for “fun money” in our family. That might sound really high to you. If so, choose a number that is doable with your own budget.

3. Set up a “fun money” payout date on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis.

We chose to distribute “fun money” bi-weekly based on my husband’s paydays since his checks from work get direct deposited into our bank account.

4. Choose a person who will withdraw and distribute the “fun money.”

Since I work from home, I make a visit to the bank on payday and put our “fun money” into an envelope labeled with our names on it.

It’s nice to have this fun money to do what ever we want without having to worry about going over budget or spending money we don’t have.

Do you have a system for “fun money”?

Jadah Sellner is the editor of Family Sponge and a work-at-home mom who blogs about creative inspiration and balancing family life. Her passion is to build a community who strives to reach optimal levels of love, respect, and healthy living.

photo credit

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 31, 2012 comment

Super Savings Saturday: Our 7 (yes, really!) shopping trips this week

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Super Savings Saturday: Our 7 (yes, really!) shopping trips this week

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I didn’t do a lot of grocery shopping or couponing the first three weeks in March because I somehow ended up with three trips scheduled those first three and a half weeks. {I enjoy traveling, on occasion, and I love the opportunity to get to speak and meet some of you, but I’ve decided that three trips in three weeks is definitely not something I want to make a habit of! I much prefer quiet days at home with my family! :)}

However, I think I made up for my lack of grocery shopping and couponing this week. Here are the groceries we purchased:

My husband’s shopping trip at Dillon’s that ended up being pretty “screwed up” thanks to both of us miscalculating and misreading ads — Spent $34.97 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.

Health food store shopping trip — 7 pounds of fruit for $0.99/lb.

Target shopping trip — Spent $38.01 (most of that wasn’t grocery money, though, since the games came out of our household envelope and the girls paid for the Hello Kitty house) — See the full details and price breakdowns here.

Dillon’s shopping trip #2 — Spent $1.26 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.

Walmart shopping trip — Spent $1.17 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.

Dillon’s shopping trip #2 — Spent $5.16 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.

Aldi shopping trip — Spent $15.19 — Read the full details and price breakdowns here.

Didn’t You Waste a Lot of Time and Gas Making All Of Those Trips?

I’m sure that some of you are wondering why I made all these little shopping trips and thinking that I could have saved myself a lot of trouble, time, and gas money if I would have just gone to one store.

Well, yes, I definitely did do more shopping trips than I usually do this week. However, all of the stores were either on my way to somewhere else I was headed or they are really close to my house. I also had extra time this week since we didn’t have that much planned outside of the usual homeschooling and household life.

And finally, it was so nice to be able to just have fun shopping and getting bargains again, after taking a few weeks “off” from it. Yes, I know, I’m crazy that I consider grocery shopping a leisurely activity! 🙂

Would you like to know what the best deals and coupon match-ups are for your local stores? Be sure to check out the Store Deals section of our site where we post the best deals and coupon match-ups each week for over 100 different stores across the country. You can sign up to receive the top deals in your email inbox each week as soon as they are posted!

Find

Did you snag any great deals or bargains this week or save money in other ways? If so, be sure to post about them on your blog and leave your link below. Please remember that this weekly round-up is to share deals you personally got and/or money you were able to save this week. In order to keep this weekly round-up focused on helping and inspiring others in their efforts to save money, links which have little-to-no content other than promoting affiliate links, etc. will be deleted. Also, to make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Super Savings Saturday post.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 30, 2012 comment

Today’s shopping trip: Dillon’s & Aldi

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Today’s shopping trip: Dillon’s & Aldi

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I needed to head to Aldi to pick up some produce, so I swung by Dillon’s on the way there. Here’s what I got:

Dillon’s Shopping Trip

2 cans of Dole pineapple — $1 each, used $1/2 coupon = $0.50 per can after coupon

2 tubes of Colgate toothpaste — $1 each, used two $0.75/1 coupons (“doubled” to $1 off) = free after coupon

2 Snickers eggs — $0.50 each, used $1.50/2 Mars Easter candy coupon from the All You magazine = free plus overage after coupon

2 packages of Land O’ Lakes butter — $2.50 each, used 1 $0.50/2 coupon (doubled to $1 off) = $2 each after coupon

Total with tax: $5.16

And here were the great deals I scored at Aldi:

Aldi Shopping Trip

1 gallon milk — $2.77

3 packages of strawberries — $0.99 each

2 bags of sweet potatoes — $.099 each

1 bag oranges — $1.48

3 cantaloupe — $0.99 each

10-lb. bag of potatoes — $1.99

Total with tax: $15.19

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 30, 2012 comment

Free live webcast on April 5, 2012 + iPad 2 giveaway (submit your questions by 8 p.m. EST tonight!)

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Free live webcast on April 5, 2012 + iPad 2 giveaway (submit your questions by 8 p.m. EST tonight!)

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

As I mentioned recently, I’m working on stepping outside my comfort zone this year. So, with the help of the fabulous folks from LitFuse Publicity Group, I’m hosting my first-ever live webcast next Thursday, April 5, 2012 at 8 p.m. EST.

I’m excited about it–though a wee bit nervous since this is completely new territory for me. But I know it’s going to be fun and I’m especially excited at the opportunity to get to interact with you all in a more personal — and live! — format.

I’ll be sharing 7 simple things women can do to contribute to their family’s finances, I’ll be giving away a lot of fantastic prizes (things like Vitacost.com vouchers, Starbucks gift cards, iTunes gift cards, books, + more!), I’ll be doing a live Q&A chat with you all, and my husband’s going to be joining me for an pre-recorded Q&A session.

Enter to Win a Free iPad 2!

Would you like to win a free iPad 2? I’m giving one away during the webcast!

To enter to win, all you have to do is Enter the Sweepstakes here. That’s it!

Submit Your Questions For the Q&A With My Husband

Jesse and I are shooting our joint Q&A video tomorrow (he’s watching the children during the webcast, so we’re pre-recording it!) and instead of me coming up with questions to ask him, I thought it’d be fun for you all to submit questions you’d love for me to ask him in the video.

So, put on your thinking caps, and then leave your questions for Jesse in the comments on this post or submit them through the contact form here. If you could have them to me by 8 p.m. tonight, that’d be fabulous.

I’m looking forward to sharing/chatting with you next Thursday!

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

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Need chore ideas for toddlers? This is a really helpful list or practical ideas!
Shared Mar 29, 2012 comment

10 Chore Ideas for Toddlers

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10 Chore Ideas for Toddlers

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Need chore ideas for toddlers? This is a really helpful list or practical ideas!

After I posted about our success with a paid and non-paid chore system yesterday, many of you wrote in and asked if I could share some specific chore ideas. So, I thought I’d share some lists of age-appropriate chores that we assign in our home in order to give you some ideas and inspiration for what might work in your home.

Today, I’m tackling chores for toddlers. Before I share our list of toddler chore ideas, here are a few tips for encouraging your toddler to help with chores.

1. Keep It Simple

Don’t try to have your toddler learn how to do five new chores at once. Start with one simple chore and then gradually add a few more after they’ve gotten the hang of one chore.

2. Shower Them With Praise

Remember to enthusiastically praise your toddler and to make chores a fun and exciting thing. Work alongside them showing them the right way to do things and giving them lots and lots of positive affirmation for their efforts.

3. Don’t Give Up!

Training requires a lot of repetition. Don’t get discouraged if it seems you’re not making any progress or getting anywhere with your toddler. Just keep praising, encouraging, teaching, and helping them with their chores. They’ll eventually get it!

10 Chore Ideas for Toddlers

::Get Dressed — They can also learn to put their dirty clothes in the hamper.

::Brush Teeth — with help from mom or dad to make sure they are thorough!

::Help Pick Up Room

::Water Plants — a watering can or small cup works great for this. Outdoor plants are best since toddlers tend to be a bit enthusiastic in their watering! 🙂

::Fold Washcloths

::Put Away Laundry — Silas has learned how to put away his pile of folded laundry in his drawers.

::Pick Up Toys & Put Into Tub — Cleaning up a huge mess is overwhelming for a toddler so it’s better to give them a simple task like putting all of the books back into the basket or the Duplos back into the tub.

::Dust — Give a toddler an sock to wear and let them dust all of the surfaces in a room.

::Wipe Down Sink/Toilet — Cleaning wipes work especially well for young children to use. Or, you can spray some nontoxic cleaner onto a rag and let them wipe down the sink, toilet, or floor in the bathroom.

::Empty Trashes — If you have small trashes in some rooms in your home, this is a perfect job for toddlers.

Want to help your youngsters develop a morning routine? You can print these free morning routine cards from Living Locurto.

Looking for other age-appropriate chore ideas, you might find these chore lists helpful:

What ideas do you have for other simple chores that toddlers can do?


Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 29, 2012 comment

We Paid Cash: An 8-passenger SUV

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We Paid Cash: An 8-passenger SUV

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

We paid cash!

A testimony from Carrie from Natural Moms Talk Radio

Today we drove our “new to us” Ford Expedition (with room for eight passengers) off the lot. We’ve been waiting for this day for over two years and we’re so excited that we paid cash for it!

You see, we have six children and ever since our youngest was born 16 months ago, we have not fit into my beloved Toyota Sienna minivan. This means that when we went somewhere as a family, we had to take two cars–a major inconvenience.

During my pregnancy with our sixth, we saved all the cash we could, and thought we would be able to buy a bigger car by the time baby was a few months old. Unfortunately, the tax man came knocking that year, and we wiped out every cent of our savings.

My husband and I are both self-employed, but with several little deductions we weren’t expecting to owe much in taxes. Sadly, we miscalculated and ended up having to pay a lot more than we were expecting. However, we had a very good year! While on the one hand we were thankful that we were able to pay our taxes by stroking a check to Uncle Sam, we were so disappointed not to be getting our larger car anytime soon.

We were back at zero. It was discouraging at first.

My husband and I have weekly budget meetings, so we hunkered down and started thinking of all the different ways we could cut spending and get our savings back up.

Here’s how we rebuilt our savings:

My husband and I are so relieved to have a car that fits everyone in our family and no debt! In fact, once we sell our Sienna, we’ll have a nice sized “car savings” account again.

Financial Peace University graduates, we ascribe to Dave Ramsey’s “How to Drive a New Car with No Debt” plan. We’ll continue to put money aside each month, and buy a newer large family vehicle every six months or so, until we’re driving something with low miles. And who knows, in a few months we may need a nine-seater!

Carrie is a wife and homeschooling mom of six, a writer and reader of great books. She blogs about living more naturally at Natural Moms Talk Radio.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 29, 2012 comment

Today’s Walmart Shopping Trip

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Today’s Walmart Shopping Trip

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I also stopped by Walmart today. They didn’t have some of the deals I was hoping to find, but I was happy to pick up a few things at a great price. Here’s what I got:

4 bottles of Glade Room Spray — $0.98 each, used 2 $2/2 Glade coupons = free after coupons

5 lbs. of bananas — price-matched to local store’s sale of $0.18/lb. = $0.90

Total with tax: $1.17

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 29, 2012 comment

Today’s Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $1.26, Saved $5.38

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Today’s Dillon’s Shopping Trip: Spent $1.26, Saved $5.38

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

So I stopped by Dillon’s today to check on a few of the coupons I had that I thought might made good deals. Unfortunately, I didn’t find much, but here’s what I got:

2 bottles of Ragu sauce — on sale for $1.50 each, used 2 $0.50/1 Ragu coupons (doubled) = $0.50 each after coupons

2 Snickers Eggs — $0.50 each, used $1/2 Mars candy coupon from the All You magazine = free after coupon

1 Suave deodorant — $1, used $0.50/1 Suave deodorant coupon (doubled) = free after coupon

Total with tax: $1.26

See the full list of deals at Dillon’s this week here.

Money Saving Mom
Shared Mar 29, 2012 comment

Flint, Texas Reader Meet-up

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Flint, Texas Reader Meet-up

Published: by on   |  This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It was so fun to get to meet a group of you all last week when I was in Texas. Thank you to those of you who made the drive to come and for all the fun stories and wise advice you shared. I left inspired, blessed, and encouraged.

And for those who didn’t get to attend, I thought you’d enjoy seeing a photo of all the lovely ladies (and babies!) who came. Truly a beautiful group–and I could have spent hours with you all!

A big thank you to Stephanie for hosting this event at her house!