Goals, Software, and a Couple "B" words (Budgets and Blogs)

This year I have tried a few new things to help me stay on track of finances here at the funny farm. Seeing how our economy has tanked in the past year has been frightful, and I am thankful for the steps we began taking years ago. We have been refining our finances for the past 4 years or so. There were many times when it seemed difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is coming along. Also, I have found some really great (free or really cheap) resources along the way.

For a long time we ran our budget using excel and it worked well. It was very basic, and I still keep some of my info in excel documents just to have it handy in one place. This past January I started using Microsoft Money Plus and I am now a HUGE fan of it. I admit it was frustrating to figure out how to set up all the little features, and I still fiddle with it now and then. But, it has been great to see what categories can still be trimmed, or need to be expanded.

When we first got married, I read a book about budgeting by Larry Burkett. I cannot remember the name of the book, I just remember that it was way to complicated and I overspent the first week and then felt guilty, and I stopped all together. Since then, we have tried different methods of managing cash flow, but it seemed that I was spending hours on end trying to plan for the unexpected. Didn't work so well. About 4 years ago, we found a way that both Scott and I could understand and use easily to manage cash flow. The excel spreadsheets were born out of the fact that I was too cheap (and broke) to buy expensive software for it. Since that time, I have learned that the word budget is actually a really good word, and even better if used properly (unlike my early attempts). I have come to enjoy seeing our financial picture improve over the years, and I am excited to be able to plan better for the future. We have learned to really determined needs and wants, and we save for big expenses. Of course we have our set backs, and the term "emergency fund" seems to create little emergencies (like a $700 repair bill on my car last month), but overall my budget is my friend. And with the help of free online resources we are on our way to a debt free life.

The other thing I have found this year has been personal finance blogs. Just like I still garner encouragement from adoption blogs, and large family blogs, I am now building a small list of personal finance blogs that encourage me to stay on track with our goals. One of my favorites so far has been "Budgets are Sexy" (see the link on the side under Blogs I follow). This is written anonymously by "J. Money" and I found him originally from MSN Money's Smart Spending Blog (another really good resource). As I find some that I really enjoy, I will add them to the list on the side. I hope that these resources are helpful to you as well.

Till next time.
E

Home Management with Lots of Kids...

FYI: I posted at Lots of Kids with our homemangement tips. Here's a copy:

Divide and Conquer

Hello all. I am happy to report that Scott and I are back home from China with our new daughter and everyone is making a pretty good adjustment. We learned a lot on our trip, and there was one night at dinner when it occurred to me that this was what it was like to only have one child. It has been so long since we only had to get one child ready to go it felt kind of odd.

It was so nice to return home to be with the other kids, and it felt good to get back into our home schedule and routine. We have now been home for one week, and it has been a week of discovery in so many ways. One of them is how Scott and I work to accomplish the task of managing the house. Running a house with lots of children is a tough job. I can understand how people with smaller families can be overwhelmed by the thought of keeping everything running smoothly. Well, here is a little peek into our system.

First of all, Scott and I both contribute to our home management. We both work outside the home, on opposite schedules, so we do have to "juggle" a little, but it all runs pretty smooth. Our system can be called Divide and Conquer the Chaos. We each have our own tasks, and the kids chip in as well. Each child can contribute based on their age and ability.

Food: I do the main grocery shopping, maintaining a pretty good level in the pantry and the freezer. Scott stops at the store for between-main-shopping-trips for things like milk, eggs, or special items for dinner. He can stop on the way home from work, and he is able to focus on the task at hand without getting distracted by the weekly sales and specials. I evaluate the weekly sale ad and stock up on our staple items when they are on sale. We maintain an on going grocery list on a magnetic list on our refrigerator door. We all check off items as we are running low. This helps make sure we don't run out of necessities at inconvenient moments.

Laundry: Laundry at our house got a whole lot more exciting just before we left for China. There was a long period of time when we would have 2 laundry days a week, and it was an all day affair each time. We were forced out of that routine this past year and it may be one of the best routine changes we have made in a while. We were without a dryer for several months, and it forced us to change the way we manage the laundry pile. We had established a routine of 2 loads of laundry each day so that we had enough time for the items to hang dry. This system also made sure that we didn't really get backed up on laundry. Well, the exciting part is the brand new super capacity front-loading washer and dryer set that we bought before we left for China. This new set washes and drys wonderfully fast, and we are still keeping up with laundry daily. Now, we still wash a lot of clothes, but in smaller doses so it is not overwhelming. When life throws us a change, we can skip one or even two days, and then catch up relatively quickly. I *heart* the new washer and dryer. Scott does the bulk of the laundry for us, and the children are tasked with putting their own clothes in their drawers.

Kitchen Patrol: This one is managed pretty equally between us. Kids must clear off their space at the table before they are excused, and the dishwasher is loaded after each meal. Snack dishes may be stacked next to the kitchen sink for a little bit, but in the dishwasher before the next meal. Generally, I do the dishes during the day while Scott is at work, and he does the dishes in the evening. I do the majority of the dinner cooking during the week, and since I work overnights at the end of the week, Scott does the cooking on the weekend. The two older kids sometimes help make lunches when they are home, but Scott and I still handle the dinner cooking.

House Cleaning: This is the part of the post where I get to say I am the luckiest woman in the world. My wonderful hubby actually relaxes by hand washing the wood floors and disinfecting bathrooms. This may sound weird to some of us, including me, but after 15 years I have just accepted this is one of his quirks that I enjoy the most. He has tried to explain it to me, and I don't get it, but I am thankful. On the weeks that he is out of town, I take over his regular cleaning routine, and I admit that scrubbing toilets is my least favorite job, EVER. But, I do *love* the results of a clean house. :-)

Bills, Bills, Bills: This one falls to me. Just like Scott relaxes by scrubbing floors, I relax by maintaining our finances. It wasn't always like this, but I have my little routine, and I like routine. I enjoy following the news, world events, and economics, Scott hates it. I get a happy little thrill to mark the statements "paid" each month. The biggest change in this over the years has been the fact that we talk about the bills and goals on a regular basis. The finance gurus are right that open communication means is a good thing.

I know that each family divides home management differently. Feel free to comment with your tips and tricks. Calming the "chaos" of a family with lots of kids is a good thing. Although really, I shouldn't say chaos. Just like businesses are big and small and managers use different techniques to run them, families are big and small and each one needs different techniques to run smoothly.

Have a blessed and organized New Year.

(This was originally posted at the 4 or More: Lots of Kids blog)

A Day at the Funny Farm

Ever wonder what a typical day is like around here? Well here goes. Today I:

*Had one child home from school recovering from a fever last night,

*Got one kid out the door to the bus stop at 6:30 am,

*Got two younger kids out to the bus by 7:50 am,

*Enjoy a cup of coffee and newspaper, and explain stock market investing to 10 year old daughter,

*Cleaned the kitchen, boiled eggs for dinner salad,

*Ran the dishwasher,

*Ran two loads of laundry in the am,

*Made lunch for child at home, no more fever, yippee!

*Went to PetsMart for more kitty litter and a second litter box (mental note, NEVER run out of kitty litter), bird cage litter, bird treats, and fish food,

*Changed cat litter, and set up second litter box next to the original box so the two cats don't have to share,

*Put away clean dishes and start beans soaking for tomorrow night's dinner,

*Play card game with daughter,

*Visit with middle school child when he arrives home,

*Pick up younger kids from bus stop,

*Snack time, listen to Jenna state that she will not be eating dinner tomorrow night if I am serving beans,

*Return neighbor child's jean jacket that was found in the pile of our kids' jean jackets on the arm of the sofa,

*Check and sort the mail,

*Dinner time (simple tonight, salad with spinach, romaine, almonds, sliced egg, cheese and ranch dressing)

*Kids' shower time,

*Hunt down Halloween costumes for two youngest kids,

*Find a disaster under the girls' bunk bed (seriously, a small child could be lost under there for days) and haul in the trash sack to help get it clean,

*Haul 2 trash sacks and a full load of laundry out from under girls' bed,

*Start another load of laundry,

*Check the boys' room for garbage (they only had a half a sack) and dirty clothes,

*Take a break to type this up,

Right now it is 6:45pm. Somewhere in the day, I also got to sit and snuggle each of my three youngest (the 12 year old is "too old or that stuff" so he sits next to me while we discuss his day at school). Still on my list for today, brush kids' teeth, and put them to bed at 7:30 with a story, and then maybe I will get to sit down and call my hubby who is out of town for the night.

Tomorrow, it starts again.

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Here's a copy of my 4 or More: Lots of Kids post for today:

Blessed By Frugal Living:

These days, it seems that reading the newspaper or watching news on television has become scary. But some days it just makes me laugh. No, really. I sit with my cup of coffee and peruse articles online or in the paper about how families can make their dollars go farther in today's economy. These so called financial experts are recommending things that many large families, including my own, have been doing for a long time. It has been very encouraging to be reinforced by the "mainstream media" for some of the simple things that we have tried to do over the years. Now, I have not figured out how to keep my kids from having sudden growth spurts and needing longer pants, nor have they cut back on the amounts that they are eating. In fact, the older they get, the MORE they eat. But, we have found some simple ways to avoid waste if possible. My focus this year was to stretch our budget as far as possible and still provide for all our needs; and quite a few of our wants too. Our system is not perfect, but maybe one or two of our tips will be helpful to your family, or maybe it will just encourage you that you are on the best possible track. Either way, whether the economy is good or bad, living a frugal life won't hurt (after the initial lifestyle change). The easiest budget item in my control is the grocery bill.

So, here are a few things I have learned so far this year:
*We really don't NEED as much as we think we do. Once I got this through my thick skull, decisions became so much easier.
*I learned how to cook a whole chicken fryer or roaster. Yeah, I am way behind on this, and I hate to admit that I only bought boneless skinless fresh chicken for 12 years. Oh my, was that dumb. (see the next tip for more on this)
*Our family doesn't do well with leftovers. The kids say "this AGAIN??" Oh wait, that is me. OK, there are very few leftovers that I like to reheat and have for myself, so we were wasting a lot. Hmm, let's think about this, it doesn't save me money if I throw out half of it. So, I started planning completely different meals with planned left overs. For example, when I cook a chicken roaster, we have a big meal with roasted or rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes and fixings for the first meal, then I can pull off plenty chicken to make chicken pot pie or soup for a different meal later that week.
*When I make soup, spaghetti sauce, or chili, I end up with a very big crock pot full. In the past, I would waste too much, so now, before I even serve it the first meal, I set aside half and freeze it. It isn't really leftovers 3 weeks later, right? Cook once, serve twice...I Love It!!
*Hang clothes to dry. My electric bill went down $20 per month versus last year by not using the dryer.
*Combine trips in the car. Yes, today I was out of kitty litter, and had to go out only for that, but before I left, I checked all other pet supplies, to make sure I wasn't going to have to return in two days for bird treats of fish food.
*Keep a master grocery list and check off items needed throughout the week. Oh yeah, I actually take the list with me to the grocery store now. Radical, I know.
*I add $20-50 to each week's grocery store run in order to stock the pantry with sale items. I am not disciplined enough to read the ads ahead of time, but I grab one when I hit the store. If chicken fryers are on sale for $0.79 per pound, I buy 5 and freeze the extra. I stock up and freeze or store seasonal items for use later. I plan meals around what is on hand at home, and rotate first in, first out for the pantry and freezer items too.
*We have a lot of pets... We love our pets, but they eat a lot too. So, I do the same thing with pet supplies that I do with stocking the freezer. I try to keep one on hand, and add it to the list when I open my last item (treats, bag of food, kitty litter). This way, when I find a good deal and save $3 per package of cat litter, I buy two, and rarely ever pay full price for anything.
*Swap babysitting time with the neighbors.
*Plan at home date night. Kids go to bed at 7:30 anyway, so we plan to have our couple time with homemade snacks or a carry out appetizer at home. A card game or movie rental is much cheaper than eating out or going to the movie theater.
*Look for sales on kids clothing and try to buy a season ahead for basics when they are on sale. Guess what, that cute little Gap t-shirt is just as cute on sale for $5 as it was full price for $20.
*Switch to a cheaper cell phone plan. I don't use a gazillion minutes, and I don't send text messages, why was I paying for it? I was able to cut $20 per month from my cell phone bill by going to a cheaper plan with fewer minutes.

Well, this certainly doesn't make the stock market any less volatile, nor does it make my retirement account look any bigger, but every little bit helps. Cooking at home saves a ton versus eating out, and these days every penny counts. If you have frugal tips, please leave them in the comment section, I am always looking for another way to stretch my dollars. If I could share one piece of advice with the world... Just remember, when things look scary, count your blessings. Family, Friends, Health, and the ability to do my best to care for those I love; these are all things to help me sleep well at night no matter what the stock market does.

Needs, Wants, and Good Old Convenience

I've been pondering the process of prioritization, and it has me examining my decision making process in the simple everyday bits and activities of life. I like things organized. I like to know that everything can fit in a neat little box that can be labeled and pulled out as needed. Well, the same goes for thought processes and priorities, in budgeting and time management. You know the old mantra, "Do I NEED it or just WANT it?" when making purchases? Well, this has led to an interesting couple of weeks around here. To us, it is no big deal, but after a conversation at work last week, I realized that maybe for some it is a big deal. Let me explain:

A few weeks ago, our dryer was giving us fits. Can you really blame it? After all, it has faithfully dried as many as 10-12 loads per week for years. Once again, Scott worked his magic on the poor old dryer, and it tumbled away, but couldn't really handle the heavier loads. So, we compromised. We washed the loads as usual, but hung up items that would air dry quickly and only loaded the dryer with about half of each load. After doing this several times, I realized that I was hanging almost the entire load of laundry to dry either on the rack in the laundry room, or on the shower rod in the bathroom across the hall. Then, the dryer gave a last tumble and went kaput. No biggie, we just kept hanging the clothes as we had been doing, and we draped the towels and sheets over the banister to dry.

We mentioned to each other that the dryer really has had it this time, and needed to be replaced. OK. We'll get to it. It is not that we can't replace it, but neither of us really wanted to go scouting the different models and compare prices to get the best deal. We'll get to it. Now, it has been a couple of weeks since the dryer went out, and it is still sitting there unplugged in the laundry room. No new machine yet. We'll get to it. We have talked about those new large capacity, stacking washers and dryers... Mmmm. Yep that is what we decided on about a year ago, and we still haven't made the leap yet, but maybe soon now that the dryer needs replacing anyway... and if we can swing it, I want to invest in 2 sets; after all, we are still doing 10-12 loads a week, and the kids are growing so as their clothes get bigger, there will be more loads.. add to that we are adding another child, and 2 sets would be very convenient.

Back to the issue at hand. What would have happened if the washer went out? That seems to be a no brainer to me, we would have piled in the car and had a new one purchased within 2-3 days (if not 2-3 hours). We just cannot go longer than 3 days without becoming buried in dirty clothes. But, is a dryer a need, a want or just a convenience? Well, we certainly need to have clothes. We need to clean those clothes, so I drop the washing machine in the need category. But we have been without a dryer now for several weeks, and we still have clean clothes. I can even see benefits of not running the dryer. For one thing, we are saving on electricity. I haven't seen the bills come through yet, but that is a pretty easy benefit to come up with. Next, we are forced to do at least 2 loads a day so that we have enough space for everything to dry. I mean, I don't want the laundry to take over the house literally, we may lose each other, and I only have so much "drying space." But, this means that we don't get bogged down and behind on the laundry either, so it is a benefit. And, finally, my house smells WONDERFUL! Let me tell you that whoever thought of combining Downy softener with Febreeze is just plain brilliant.

So, my conversation with a coworker last week was an eye opener. For us, it was maybe a little inconvenient to have to wait for the clothes to dry, but it isn't really a big deal. We deal with laundry daily anyway, so by the time I need to hang something today, the items from yesterday are ready to be put in the closet. But, when my coworker found this out, she was pretty shocked that we have waited so long, and I have still not set a date to go dryer shopping. It will get done eventually, but there are just so many better ways to spend my time right now. Air drying clothes doesn't take up any more of my time than the dryer. They just hang there and dry all by themselves. It's not like I have to stand there and watch them. I'd rather spend quality time with my hubby, or my kiddos. This is where I was pondering my process of setting priorities. A dryer is only a dryer, but having the windows thrown open and watching my children play outside on a beautiful spring day, or cuddling up with them and a book on the sofa on a rainy spring day just seems to be so much more important than carting them off with me to look at dryers. Besides that they are expensive, and I can still come up with ways to spend my money on other things, and still have the laundry done.

After all this rambling, you may just think I have finally lost my mind for good. But as silly as it may sound, being without a dryer has been a blessing in disguise. Sure we have our needs met; we have a lot of our wants met too, and, there is nothing wrong with convenience. But every so often we are allowed to see convenience for the blessing it is and be grateful for it. So I am grateful that I have the opportunity to examine what I have taken for granted (a functioning clothes dryer), and it only reminds me that God is so amazingly good to us, He will always meet our needs, and He will teach us something new everyday if we are willing to listen. He can even use an old worn out dryer as a teaching prop.

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Here's my post from the Lots of Kids blog last week:

Fresh Paint:

Oh, I love it! OK, so I don't love the clearing out the rooms, taping off the trim, etc. But, once it is done, I love the way it brightens up a room and makes it fresh and new again. We spent this weekend painting into the wee hours of the mornings, and there is still some finish details to do, but it is beautiful.

The girls' room is bright with a soft lavender on the top, a mint green stripe around the middle, and a robin's egg blue on the bottom. We rearranged the furniture, and hung white paper globe lanterns from the ceiling. It wasn't my first choice of color scheme, and is a little funky for my tastes, but I wanted them to have their say too. They said that they have gone from a little girl's room to a big girl's room. :-)

We had plenty of the green paint left to paint the girls' bathroom a solid green. We added new green and blue "frog" bath accessories to complete that one.

The boys' room is a rich red. Their bedding and decor is "Country Americana" and with a blue carpet, and white trim, the red is a perfect match for their quilts and such. We have to finish a second coat of paint down there tonight, then we can put the room back together tomorrow. The red is warm, and cozy. The boys (and Mommy) love it.

Finally, the new guest room (used to be Joesph's until he decided to move in with his brother), is a butter yellow on the top, and navy on the bottom with denim and multi colored bandanna accessories.

We will add new molding in all of the rooms to really make the colors pop and give them all a finished look, but the painting was enough for one weekend. Who knows, I just may get motivated by how good those rooms turned out to paint the whole house. :-)

Hmm. Fresh Spring breeze coming in the window and the sun is shining on fresh new paint.