How Long Should You Store Hand Me Downs?

This question is on my mind again this week.  With the girls, it’s not really an issue.  Colleena is petite, and Lily is average, so even though there are three years between the girls, there is only one size in between them.  Shirts generally go straight from one to the other, and I have one diaper box of pants in their closet. ( Have I mentioned how much I LOVE diaper boxes for storage?!)

Now… the boys… There are 7 years in between my boys, and although Bremen is bigger at weigh ins than Baden was at the same age, and even though I just broke out the size 24 month t shirts for an 8 month old, he isn’t likely to make up THAT much ground! ( yes, seriously.. he is almost 25 pounds, so while he isn’t tall enough to need the 24 months/size 2 stuff, he needs them for width. hahah!  He could probably make due with 18 months stuff, but I don’t have much left, and I do have a lot of that next size, so I figured I’d move him up a bit early and things could be a tad bit big)  When we weren’t sure if we wanted to have more than two kids, I pared down the baby clothes, figuring there was no sense in keeping boxes and boxes of clothes, not to mention the fact that there weren’t that many clothes to hand down from Baden, he wrecked most of them.  I had to buy new ( used) boy clothes after Bremen was born, since I hadn’t kept enough to avoid having to buy more.

And then, we had two more kids, hahah!  Right now, girls clothes can go as soon as Lily out grows them.  Baby toys, seats, swings and the like are leaving as soon as Bremen is too big for them ( he weighted out of these types of items!). I have been keeping, boxing and labeling boys clothes in each size as my oldest, Baden out grew them.  I tried to keep mostly things that are timeless, selling or giving away items with “in” characters or styles that were likely to be dated too soon.

Besides my own in house generated hand me downs, I recently got several huge rubbermaid containers full from a mom with two boys and way better taste in clothes than me.  I know her mom and she just wanted them out of her house, so she boxed them all up and her mom brought them over.  Everything two kids could wear in sizes 18 months to 5.  Gorgeous, really cool clothes.  I keep them in that crawl space behind my wall over the stairs where we have our tv mounted.  Today, as we were emptying that space to do some work up there, the kids were playing in there having a great time, and I started wondering… should I really be keeping all these clothes?

Big items seem like a no brainer to me.  Snow suits, winter boots, shoes… all have large bins in my garage and are worth saving.  What do you think about the hand me downs?  How much is worth storing in boxes for up to seven years? How much work re-sorting, re-organizing and moving around these boxes is worth it? What will still be good?  I have noticed that some of Baden’s old outfits that I pulled out of bins smelled old even after I washed them for Bremen.  Sometimes shirts with that plasticy printing are all stuck together and gummy after sitting in a bin.  Elastics in socks seem to be brittle.  Should I put a time limit on it, as in I will keep what he could wear in the next two years?  I could sell or give away the rest.  Are boys jeans that manage to make it through without holes in the knees worth keeping for seven years?  Five?  Two?  The cheap ,ahem, frugal, part of me wants to keep them all, since it’s such a good way to save, make due with what I’ve got and a great feeling of being prepared for years to come, but is it really worth it?  How long would you store hand me downs?

Nifty Thrifty Gifty: UV Sensitive Beads

I first heard about these beads in our Apologia Astronomy book that we are using for science this year.  They were recommended as a neat extra project to learn about the sun’s rays and how UV light exists even when we think it’s cloudy or not overly sunny out.  I found them in lots of places throughout the states, but it took a bit more looking to find them in Canada.  Once I ordered them, I got to thinking : Not only is this a fun science project, it would be a great gift idea!

This is the item that helped me to stubble on www.science-is.com, the neat site I mentioned in my earlier post.  The owner is great, they have awesome customer service and I would recommend checking out their site for all kinds of interesting science related gizmos!

The beads are white when they are in no UV light.  This package of about 100 beads is enough to make a few bracelets, or a couple necklaces alone, more if you mix them with regular pony beads. 

Once exposed to UV, they start to turn color.  These are the beads after sitting in the sun for a few minutes on my kitchen table.  It’s winter light here, so not bright, and it was through the window, so it’s amazing that there is still enough UV to change them!  Still, you can see how the colors start to appear.

My kids have t-shirts that work the same way, and they have always loved them.  They are looking forward to making bracelets and “testing” to see how much UV light there is in different situations.  Homeschool-wise, there I think there are several interesting projects I’d like to try with them.  You could smear your sunscreen on them, and see how much UV is really blocked by your favourite brands, or put some behind your sunglasses and compare them to a set right out in the sunlight.  Either the kids will learn the value of wearing the sunscreen and sunglasses, or maybe I’ll learn that they aren’t providing as much protection as I thought!

Gift-wise, I think they are just plain cool. I mean, common, they change color!  So many little girls love making bracelets etc. from beads.  This would be a more unique kind for them to play with, or share with their friends.

These bags were $5.95 each.  Granted, this is more than regular pony beads cost, but I think it’s worth it to have a few of these to play with.  I found them at www.stevespanglerscience.com too.  They are in the states however, and I figured that any cost savings on the beads themselves would be erased by the extra shipping, exchange and fees.  That site has a lot of cool science games and experiments too, and I may try ordering from there in the future.  If any of you do order from them, let me know how it went!

Cost Breakdown: Home-Made Coffee Creamers

I stumbled upon this site a few days ago and have been sooo excited to try her recipes.  The writer wanted to come up with home made creamers because she is trying to cut out everything that isn’t natural or organic from her diet and she couldn’t stand knowing what is really in those flavoured creamers in the bottle.  I can’t blame her, I don’t like what they are made of either, buuuuut they are so yummy!  I however, am not worried about the complete absence of any real food item in bottled creamer, I’m just cheap!

She uses lots of fancier ingredients, which I freely and guiltlessly substituted for what I have on hand.  The first recipe I tried is for Pumpkin Spice.  Many of my friends are loving this flavour right now, and there is something about fall that makes me crave pumpkin… plus I had some left over pureed pumpkin in the fridge…

1 cup whole milk ( ahem,  2% worked just fine for my purpose here)

1 cup heavy cream ( table cream)
3 Tblsp pureed pumpkin ( I had about 1/2 of a cup left over, so I just chucked it all in)
1 tsp pumpkin spice ( I don’t buy the blend, so I threw in some cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger)
4 Tblsp maple syrup ( I don’t buy the real thing, I use the NN fake stuff because it’s super cheap, but I figured this is how she is adding sweetness and a bit of thickening.  I used corn syrup and it worked perfectly!)
1 tsp vanilla extract ( for this I did use my real vanilla)

Wisk ingredients in a med pan over med heat.  Cook until milk starts steaming then pour into a glass jar and refrigerate.  You don’t want to actually boil the milk or you’ll scold it, just get it so its starts steaming lots.

Let me just say YUMMY!!!!!  Because you are cooking the milk, it will store well for a bit in the fridge.  With this one, I got about 750 ml of creamer once all the ingredients were added and they thickened that bit on the stove.  I don’t know what you pay for creamers that size?  Anyone help me out on that one?

The great thing is, this creamer took maybe 5 minutes to make, and from stuff I often have on hand.  If you’re making pies with pumpkin, keep out 3 tablespoons and make a batch! 

So, wanna know what it costs?  $1.30. Yup, that’s it!!!  I’m totally guessing the cost of the spices and pumpkin, since those are things I had on hand.  The cream cost 82 cents and the milk cost 28 cents.  That’s $1.10, so I’ll generously round up to $1.30 to account for the spices.  It’s nice to have the cream in it, but if you didn’t care that your creamer wouldn’t be as thick, you could always make it with all milk, and the total cost would be a measly 56 cents plus spices, so maybe 75 cents.

The next one I made was Peppermint Mocha, and it was just as delicious!!  Most of the creamers on the website will work out to the same price.  If you, like me, already have most of these ingredients on hand, it’s incredibly fast and super cheap to whip up a batch!  And hey, throw it in a pretty jar, it would make a great present for any coffee drinkers on your list this year…

Tomorrow I am making the caramel one Mmmmmmmmmmm.

Here’s the link to her page so you can copy all the nummy recipes(Deliciously Organic)

Cloth Diapers Again??

Every time I have had to buy diapers lately, I’ve set off on a huge rant.  The rapidly rising cost has got me thinking… is it time to consider going back to cloth?

When I was pregnant with my first child, I did all kinds of reading about how to choose between cloth and disposable.  I know, I know, but I have warned you all before that I am a nerd!  Plus, I had tons more time then, and the decision seemed so important.  We chose cloth, despite taking a lot of teasing about it and hearing lots of predictions of our future failure at it.

My mom sewed me several sets in different sizes.  They look just like disposable ones, except they have velcro at the waist.  I found great breathable diaper covers and a really cool “diaper pail” bag.  Instead of a big pail, there are these neat bags in various sizes.  You literally just dump the whole thing into the washer and toss the bag in too.  I loved it. 

You know, I really liked cloth diapers.  I packed them with us and took them when we went on trips.  I used the flushable liners to make clean up easier.  I used small baby cloths to wash instead of wipes.  I hung them on our clothes line and enjoyed the look of them in the breeze while the sun naturally bleached out all the stains.

I eventually topped up the pile my mom had made me with some store bought ones.  When our second child was born, I decided to use disposables through the new born period.  We then switched to cloth, and continued with cloth diapers for both kids.  But then, we started going out and about more often.  Workers in the playroom during church or play groups didn’t really know how to deal with them, or really want to change cloth.  It became easier to put them in disposables if we were leaving the house.  When I was having trouble with my kids waking up a lot at night, another cloth diapering friend of mine was surprised that I was using cloth through the night.  She used disposables at night, she said, because then they weren’t being woken up by a cold wet diaper.

Then, my oldest was mostly potty trained and we were home so little.  Our daughter might only use three or four cloth ones over two days.  You couldn’t leave the diapers longer than that, and we had to run a full laundry cycle for just those few diapers.  The conviction that cloth was better softened and before we knew it, we were using disposables exclusively.

With our third child, we never even got them out of the bin.  I have to be honest, I didn’t plan to use them now with our fourth either, I just left the bin in the storage room.  But rising cost has got me thinking about this again.  A year ago, the regular cost of a box of 140 sz4 huggies (our fav brand) was $29.  They were $32 when the store pumped up the prices for a busy check weekend, however there were sales on a regular basis where you could snag a limit of four boxes at $20 each.  I would just wait patiently for a sale and stock up.  In the last few months, the price has risen steadily and the sales are no more.  Regular price is now $39, and today was the first time I have seen them marked down in about six months.  I was O-U-T of diapers and had to buy them no matter what they cost. $32 is the sale price now.

I did muse about going back to cloth a few months ago and Shawn just laughed.  He can’t see going back to the extra washing and the small changes in planning for outings etc.  However, my disgust at the cost of a box of diapers, as well as what I see was highway robbery for a box of wipes makes me want to consider it.

Here is what I personally see as the pros and cons of each.

Cloth Pros:

Better for the environment.
   It just is.  No manufacturing, no untreated waste in the landfill. 



Free… almost.  I already own them, so now there is no real cost.  Washing a load of diapers might add up to about 70 cents in cost, which is less than buying three diapers.  As long as I am washing more than that, it’s cheaper.

Can never really be out of diapers. No realizing that you are out of diapers and the stores close in ten minutes.  You always have them there.

Some say it helps potty train earlier.  First, let me say, this was not the case for me at all!  But some say that the feeling of being wet will encourage kids to train earlier.  It also helps with the recognition that poop belongs in the potty as they will see you emptying it out of their diaper and into the toilet.

Disposable Pros:

EASY.  Change bum, throw out diaper, forget about it.  Easy to take in diaper bag, easier to dispose of while out and about.  Others that may care for your child are comfortable with them. 

Everyone else has them too. If you run out while at a friend’s house, they probably have one you can borrow.  For a long time, a lot of our friends all had kids wearing the same size diaper, it was like an awesome safety net, someone always had a size 4!

 

Cloth Cons:

Can be more work.  You do have to wash them, which is adding another thing to the to do list. Changing #2 diapers can be more work to clean out before you toss the diaper in the wash pail. 

Not always easy to use in public places.  You can’t just chuck them in the nearest garbage pail, so you need a plan for changing in public spaces, like a bag within your diaper bag.  Others who care for your child, in the church nursery or at a play group for example, may not want to deal with cloth diapers. 

Baby feels wet. Even if baby only has a little tinkle, they are going to feel the wet against themselves and will need to be changed sooner.  If you use disposables, you can delay changing baby until they have filled the diaper more.  This, however, could also be a pro as older children may want to potty train sooner.

Clothes don’t fit. Ok, it’s silly, but it is something to consider.  Because cloth diapers are bulkier, not all clothes fit your baby as well.  I did have to search out clothes that were cut wider to fit my little man, who was quite a moose even without diapers!

Disposable Cons:

Expensive.  You are literally throwing away money each time you change your baby.

Can be used up.  Last night was not the first time we were running around the house saying “ check the diaper bag, there must be two or three in there!!”.  I find it easy to forget that I have opened the last clip in a box and be completely out of diapers at the worst times.  But don’t worry, I always have those cloth ones I can grab in an emergency!

Sooooo?
I know that there are many more things that could be added to this list, but I think this gives a pretty balanced idea of what is in my head.  While I am not quite ready to go back full time to cloth, I’m not certain I won’t either.   Paying $26 for a box of wipes that last us around a month is the most galling to me right now.  I may have to make a point of using the little baby cloths and warm water when we are at home. In the mean time, I will just continue to rant and rave about the cost of disposables !

It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas…

…Everywhere you go!  Just kidding, I’m sure the snow is not that far off but I don’t want to think about that yet!!!  It is, however, the time of year that I start planning for my favourite holiday, which just also happens to have the potential to be a real budget wrecker!

I really enjoy giving hand made gifts at Christmas time.  I have always enjoyed planning them out and working on them.  I get the kids involved, which requires a lot of prep time on my part.  So this fall, I’ve been dreaming about this neat little sewing project.  I had planned to take the one idea and make basically the same item for all the kids on my list.  I began to plan out the pattern and was setting out to acquire the material when it dawned on me:  I don’t have time for this!

Who am I kidding?!?  When on earth am I going to sew, make hand made ornaments, and make a pile of gifts?  Our fall has felt so busy with activities, schooling, appointments and life in general.  How can I squeeze more in?  The answer is, I can’t.  Not without being a frazzled mess and getting frustrated while trying to work on the things with the kids.

So, I am facing the reality this year that I cannot make presents as I usually do.  Another change this year has been that I wasn’t out garage sale-ing this summer.  Most years I stock up on small, neat gifts at garage sales.  I’ve used these as stocking stuffers and gifts for the kid’s friends etc.    This year, though, because of Bremen being so new and little, and Shawn working so much, I wasn’t able to get out there.  I may have to plan a bit more budget for stocking items this year.  I have managed to accumulate a pile of presents from the consignment sale the mom’s group had and from a few good catalogue toy sales.  I’ve been ordering the odd thing here and there to put away.  I have a pretty good start on the presents this year, but I still have a few biggies left to plan for.

I think for the annual grand-parent gift of ornaments from the kids, I will buy a kit.  I still want the kids to make something, but I can’t put the time in to find an ornament idea and prep and pre cut all the steps.  I’m going to make it easier on myself and head to the craft store to choose a simple kit.  A brand new Michael's just opened in our city…which might just be the biggest budget busting temptation of all!!

Warning…Renos Ahead!

  This is the first in a new series of posts that I plan on using to chronicle our attempts to renovate on a budget.  I am at the same time excited and dreading starting this process.

I’m no stranger to renovating, we’ve done this before.  In our last house, we spent the entire six years we owned it slowly renovating.  Now, I don’t regret doing it, we made a lot of money off our house when we sold, since we had done all the labour ourselves.  Buuuut this means I am not ignorant of how annoying and challenging it can be to live in an on-going construction zone.  I had no fronts on my kitchen cupboards for over a year ( yep, a whole year, really) last time.  And, I had a nine month old when we started, so you can imagine the mess!  Baden loved to pull everything out of the cupboards, and there was really no way to stop him.  So, to save my own sanity, I stopped trying.  I left all the dishes and pans where he last played with them, walked around them, and just washed them again as I needed to use them. 

When we moved, this house we moved to was finished.  I wanted it that way, it was our deal, see.  I made Shawn promise me that we would have a finished house, even if I hated every colour in the house, for five years.  After we moved in, we painted only the bedrooms and decided to ignore the green everywhere else.  And I mean literally EVERYWHERE else.  This house was painted the same shade of hideous green in every single room, except the guest room.  Every piece of trim, every window frame, even the doors are painted the same green.  I think they bought one giant can, then mixed it with white in some places so they could have three different shades of the same green.  They painted everything that would hold paint.  The door bell cover, the thermostat, the towel rails in the bathroom… all GREEN!  You know that shade of green that went with peach in the ‘80s… kind of a “dusty” green… well that’s the one!  I used to like green, and maybe it’s not the worst shade ever ( could be lime green afterall) but the overwhelming reality of the same green everywhere is what makes me hate this colour. 

And the lino! What was she thinking??  I know for a fact they had three kids when they chose to install it.  Every lino in the house is the same… WHITE!  No pattern, no squares, just all white, in the kitchen, in the PORCH and even both bathrooms.  I seriously hate this floor, I have cursed it since we moved in.  Not only does it show every single speck of anything, the finish is all worn off so it always looks gross.  Their grandson, over for a visit one day, decided to attack the floor by pounding a butter knife into it… so there are tiny stab marks all over which collect dirt.  Where Shawn had to peel back a bit to install the dishwasher, it cracked… another spot collecting dirt!  Recently, Shawn set down an oven rack he believed to be cool on it… but it was hot and melted into it.

Despite our agreement, the reality is that after three years of living in this house with (now) four kids and the dog ( up until this month, she’s gone now), the house is showing signs of wear.  We took out two built in bookshelves to wall mount a tv and never finished the drywall.  A piece of baseboard was under a leaky window and needed to be removed.  The wiring for said tv is draped across the curtain rods ( yes Shawn does work for the cable company but the last thing he wants to do when he gets home is more wiring!).  I cracked the moulding when I took it off to paint our room.  We ripped out the carpet because of the dog ( a whole other post about that here ).  We scabbed together the railing after Lily fell through it.  Water leaked into the downstairs bathroom ceiling and made a paint bubble.  The upstairs bathroom needs a total overhaul. The porch addition wasn’t done properly and doesn’t have heat, so it freezes in the winter. This is only a partial list, but you get the idea.  It’s just time to stop ignoring the list.

So, as much as there are difficulties to living in a reno, we’ve decided it’s time to start.  It means that we may not be making as much progress on paying down the debt, because some funds will have to be allocated to the renos.  We’ll have to do it slowly, piece by piece to avoid going into any more debt.  The good thing about having done this before is that I know the end result will be worth it.

We’re starting in our kitchen.  It’s the room that annoys us the most, and now that we are homeschooling we are in it even more.  It’s not large, so we have to make the best use of space that we can.  So far, here is our plan:

#1: REPLACE LINO!!!! : Because it will make me so much happier, I placed this at the top priority.  Funds are going to this first.

#2: Build banquette seating around table.  We only own five chairs.  We bought the kids some really cool adjustable chairs from Stokke, but they are expensive and we don’t want to invest in another one.  However, we now have 6 people in our family… and Bremen needs to start eating soon.  The Stokke chairs can be made into a high chair, but that would leave someone without one.  For the same cost as one chair, Shawn can build the entire bench.  We decided on the bench, and it will include storage for things like our hot tub towels ( door to hot tub is beside table area) and homeschool supplies.  I am already gathering materials for this project and plan a post on it by itself when we reach that stage.

#3: Install pocket door at the end of the hallway where it meets the kitchen.  This will cut down on noise when kids are sleeping, and let us visit with company in the kitchen more often.  The downside is, we need to remove all the drywall off one wall to install it.  We’ll have to repaint almost the whole house to finish the work.  We were originally going to attempt this project on it’s own but realized we couldn’t until we were ready to start a full out reno.

#4: Repaint.

#5: Refinish kitchen hutch and cupboards.  This project scares me the most, since I remember all too well living without cupboard fronts last time.  I can’t afford to replace them though, so we are just going to have to fix them up.  At least they are oak and so a great starting point!

#6: New Countertops ( new sink and taps at this stage).  The counter was peeling and separating when we moved in.  The previous owners apparently did not know what a cutting board was for, and the entire counter top is marked with years of knife cuts.  It’s lifting at both corners ( it’s a U-shaped counter) where they seamed the top.  Very gross.  Then, I added my own mark to it when I accidentally set a mini torch on top of it.  I thought it had an automatic off , but it didn’t and it burned a hole through the back.   That is a whole other story though…

That about sums up my plan for the kitchen.  Right now, I have money set aside for the floor and the bench.  We already have the supplies for the door, bought when we first started thinking about that project.  Hopefully I will be able to squeeze enough out of my money for paint too.  That way the kitchen will feel mostly finished as we save for the counter tops!

I’m scared and excited all at the same time!!

So, Can You See Progress?

Having coffee with a friend of mine last week, we were talking about my goal of paying down debt, and she asked me "So, can you see progress?  I mean, can you see real, measurable improvement since you started?" I've been discouraged lately that our progress has been too slow, but when I took a second to think about her question, I realized that, yes, we have made huge progress in the last 14 months!  To encourage myself, and maybe you too, I thought I'd take a moment to sum up what we have achieved so far!

We have found a "budget sweet spot" that works for us.  Enough structure to avoid surprises with enough flexibility built in that we don't freak out over a few dollars over or under in a specific category.  I make a plan at the begining of the month, trying to leave a bit of room in case something does come up.  But I have given up on trying to track every single item with a software program.  I just didn't have enough time, and being behind was just one more thing to feel guilty about.  I know it wouldn't work for everyone, but this middle ground way is working really well for us - right now anyway! I no longer worry that we won't have enough to cover expenses because I have a plan to save ahead for things we know are coming up.  Less stress all around!


We are working together.  When I was the only one paying attention to the bottom line, I resented being stuck with all the responsibility and Shawn felt left our of the decision making.  Now we have more equal input on where money is allotted.  I know when we need to spend on groceries and he knows when we need to spend on vehicle or home maintenance.


We welcomed our fourth child, and made it through a pregnancy and newborn period without overspending!

We celebrated halloween, Christmas and all the birthdays in our family without overspending!

We started homeschooling and adjusting to this new way of life.

We payed off over $6,000 that was on our visa, and burned the cards! ( fun pictures here! ).

We lowered the interest rate on our mastercard, and have paid off about a third of it.  We sold some belongings to pay it off faster and continue to make progress monthly.  Our goal is to have the remaining $7,990 dollars paid off by next October.  We were so excited to get that number under eight thousand!!

We put aside an emergency fund and have been able to leave it intact!!

We have saved ahead and paid cash for all the activities our kids wanted to participate in, which at different times has included ballet, gymnastics, swimming, soccer, 4H and piano lessons.

We bought a piano and built the girls a bunk bed.

Yes, I'd say we have made lots of progress in 14 months!  We still have a long way to go, like paying off the mastercard, then tackling the credit line, but when I look back, I can really see how well we've been doing!  What's up next for us?  We'll be continuing to sell some items, working out a plan for Christmas which may include a trip to BC this year, and we need to start work on renovating our kitchen.. besides all the normal stuff!

Missing Out On School Photos

When I decided to home school, I knew there was going to be some things we'd miss out on, and one of them was school pictures.  Like most parents, I have relied on the annual school photos to have up to date portraits to send to friends and family.  I have been considering what I would like to do instead this year. 

I looked into taking the kids to a local Wal-mart photostudio to take advantage of those back to school special packages.  But, I can't order four separate packages at the sale price, and I want each kid to have their own portraits.

Now, those of you who know me, know that I am an amateur photographer, and my favorite subject to capture is my kids!  I decided that when the mood struck me, I would attempt to take some pictures myself.  This way, I can order only the exact prints I actually want ( instead of those school pre-set packages).

Today we realized that the public schools started back to class.  Shawn had the day off, so we decided to have a NOT back to school celebration.  We headed out to Little Red River Park to run around and enjoy the nice weather... with camera in tow of course!  The light was perfect, and I was able to get some nice pictures of each of the kids.

So, this is a sneak peak at what the grand parents will be receiving this year for annual photos...

Baden

Grade 2

Colleena

Kindergarten

Lilyanne

Age 2

Bremen

2 months

So what do you think?  Will anyone miss the school style portraits?  I've already ordered prints, which means they will also be in the mail a lot earlier than usual too!  Not only do I like my portraits better  (I'm allowed to be biased) than what I had gotten from the school, but they are cheaper!  Because I was able to order only what I wanted, portraits for all four kids cost me only a little bit more than what I paid for Baden's alone last year.  Besides what I ordered for each set of grandparents, they can always have printed what ever sizes they want!

Maybe we're not missing out after all?

The Thank You Loaf

I am a huge fan of the good old fashioned art of writing a thank you note.  Don't get me wrong, I still fail to keep up on writing my own, but I am going to ask for mercy because I have four young kids at home.  I try to keep up, I honestly do! I think it's a little courtesy that has been going out of style and that's a real shame.  It's always good to take a moment and thank those who have done something nice for us.  I have a stack of postcards that I ordered from VistaPrint ( 250 of them for FREE) that have "Thank You" printed across them and this has helped me for sure!  But the title is not a typo, it says loaf, not note...so here's my story.

We've recently adopted ( or been adopted by?) our neighbors.  They're about the right age to be "grand parents" to our kids and they are very sweet.  Last week, they gave our kids the most beautiful child sized garden bench I have ever seen!  Within minutes of seeing it, the kids decided it was a train station bench and played "waiting for the train" all morning.  I wanted to find a way to thank "Nannie" and "Poppa" for their thoughtful gift, and a post card just didn't seem like enough.

I had baked some banana bread that day, and decided to send a loaf over with the post card.  I realized, though, that I didn't know what to wrap the loaf in.  I didn't really want to just put it in tin foil, and I didn't have a ziplock bag the right size.  Then, this idea struck me.

I got a piece of the flour sack tea towel material and fabric markers and had the kids write "thank you" all over it.  Then, Baden and Colleena each wrote their names, Lily scribbled across it and I added Bremen's name as well.  We wrapped the loaf in the towel and carried it over next door. 


It turns out that "Nannie" used to embroider and decorate tea towels as well, so she appreciated the flour sack material.  I think it turned out to be a bit more personal and a nice way to show our gratitude.

It didn't cost me anything to make (because I am the strange sort of person who has flour sack material on hand), but it turned out to be a priceless gift idea I'll probably use again in the future.

Empty the Pantry Challenge

In the last couple of months, my brother and his family, my brother-in-law and his family, and our close family friends have moved away.  It has left us with a big hole in our lives, and and overflow of "pantry" items.  You know, those things that you might have used once or twice? Those big and bulky, unusual items? The ones you wouldn't want to pack up and take with you if you were to move?  We've all got 'em somewhere, whether it's a half empty bag of egg noodles you've forgotten about at the back of the cupboard, or that wheat bran you bought for something or other a year ago.

When they moved we inherited a motley assortment of interesting items from each of them.  While I was wondering why on earth they even had such items ( easy blend flour...what will I use that for?), it got me wondering just what was buried in my own pantry??  Turns out, I have just as many unusual things!  Most of the time, these items represent a waste of money.  Either I didn't know they were there, so I bought it again, or I used only a small amount of a large item, or I just didn't think of using them, leaving them to sit in the pantry and go to waste anyway.

So, I decided that it would be fun to challenge myself to use these items.  Some were easy. Baking items like icing sugar, brown sugar, vanilla and food coloring will all get used up with no extraordinary effort on my part.  Extra bag of egg noodles?  Just have a pasta dish for supper.

One of the inherited items I found most entertaining was sunflower seeds. You know, the ones you use for baking that are already shelled? From one household, we got three separate containers of them (clearly I am not the only one who does that haha!).  From the other household, I got a bulk bag the size of a four liter milk jug of them.  What's up with all the sunflower seeds?  I did find a neat sunflower seed bread recipe.  Shawn and I liked it, but the kids gave it mixed reviews.  Besides, using the one cup that the recipe calls for, I'd still be ages using them all up.

I was POSITIVE that I had seen three bags of poppy seeds in there, I must have thought I was out and bought them on some occasion.  I remembered a wonderful poppy seed cake that a friend of mine made recently, and called her for the recipe.  When I got out the ingredients to bake it, I realized they were sesame seeds! Haha!  When I told the friend about my mistake so we could share a good laugh, she suggested a recipe she has for granola bars that calls for both sesame seeds and sunflower seeds.. two for one!

I also inherited a bulk bag of slivered almonds that must weigh five pounds.  I can think of a few good ways to use them up, like putting them in beans,  baking them in cookies, and candying them.  I'm always open to new recipes, though, so if you have a neat one for almonds, let me know!

In my pantry, from a previous try at homemade granola bars, I had a bag of wheat bran.  I have no idea what I am going to do with it ( the old recipe was a bust, and it's not called for in the new one)!  Coupled with the wheat germ I inherited, and the wheat berries I always have in there, I have a lot of wheat parts!  Any good ideas out there?  Bread or something?

The partial bags of chocolate chips, raisins and dried cranberries will probably get tossed into the granola bars.  I might even toss in some of the random sprinkles and decorating sugars I have left over from previous baking projects.  The duplicate bags of cinnamon will get used up easily, but what about that bag of cinnamon sticks? Any suggestions?  The saskatoon jelly will get used up, but what about that jar of sauerkraut?  I must admit I have never ever tried the stuff, and didn't think I was missing out.  But, I'm willing to be adventurous if someone can tell me what I am supposed to do with it?

It turns out, easy blend flour is for things like cheese sauces and gravies, helps keep them from getting too lumpy. Huh! Cool, who knew?  So far, my empty the pantry challenge has been fun.  I'm thinking it might also be fun ( and just plain 'ol a good idea) to do an empty the freezer challenge, or an empty the cold storage room challenge!  I'm sure there are lots of items going to waste, and creating clutter in those areas too!

So, what would you do with these items? What's the most unusual thing buried back there in your pantry?  Dare you to try this challenge too!

No Fair!

No, I am not quoting two year old Lily, or that would be " No fair! Never!!" which is her newest thing... I'm talking about the summer fair.

Yup, it's that time of year again in our city, where the fair comes to town. As a kid, and a teenager, I loved the fair.  Shawn and I would go and enjoy the rides and games, the competitions and displays... all the fun stuff that goes along with the exhibition.  Sometimes, we went everyday the fair was in town! Now, as parents, we usually dig up the cash and take the kids.  They love it, and we grit our teeth and bear the mess, noise and crowds.  But, boy, does it cost!!

Last year, at this time, we were just returning from our big trip which included a stop at Calaway park.  We decided that in comparison, the local fair would not be worth it.  Calaway was so clean, and fun and had so many great age appropriate rides.  And, it cost less!

Gate admission this year is $13, and ride bracelets are $40, tally up the various pieces we'd need for our family of six, and you get a pretty steep hit... and that's not even counting the food and games that one always manages to spend money on.  I know the fair wasn't cheap even when we were teens, but, at risk of making myself sound like a crazy old lady, I swear it's waaaaaay more expensive now!

So, we sat down and discussed it.  We looked at the budget with it's narrow margin for extras.  We decided that this year, there would be " No Fair".  I just can't justify that cost.  As much as I know this decision makes sense, I still feel a little sorry about it.  My kids feel the loss.  When a friend phoned to invite Baden to join him at the fair, I had to tell Baden that we weren't planning on going this year.  He was sad, but we were able to plan a play day with the friend instead.  A day playing at the friend's farm will be more fun anyway ( and cheaper, for sure!).  Still, I can't quite shake the guilt of not taking the kids.  I wish I could afford to take them, but in the end, I know the things I am choosing to pay for instead (piano, ballet, a week at the campground with Grandma and Grandpa) will be enjoyed longer and are more valuable experiences anyway.

Are you taking your kids to your local fair this year?  Did you budget in the cost and plan for it?  If you don't plan on it, how do you handle your kids' disappointment ( if there is any) ?

Duvets: Dry Clean Only??

Yesterday, while Baden, Colleena and I were sitting at the table, enjoying some coloring time, Lily decided to curl up on Baden's bed.  She looked at some books, wrapped herself in Baden's blankets and fell asleep.  It was so sweet!  The only downside to Lily putting herself to bed for a nap was that she was not wearing a diaper... Yup, you might be able to guess where this is going!  She peed all over Baden's bed.  Now, I am no fool, and one thing I have learned for sure as a parent of young children is that every bed in the house, even ours, should have a waterproof covering.  The bed was fine.  The problem is that Baden's blanket is a queen size, white, duvet.

It used to be on our bed, before we bought a king sized bed, and I used to have it dry-cleaned on a regular(ish) basis.  A few months ago, Baden discovered it on the linen shelf and claimed it as his very own "marshmallow blanket".  But, I don't have the money to dry clean it this week, and I had to wash the pee out..soooo I headed to google to see what I could find.

I found several sites that say it's possible, though not advisable, to wash your duvet at home in the machine.  Basically they all said to check the tag, and wash it ONLY if the tag did not read "dry clean only".  Ok, I have to admit here that I have always been skeptical of dry clean only.  I mean, why is a garment dry clean only?  Is it so poorly constructed that it will fall apart in my machine?  Will it shrink? Whats up with that?  I generally avoid clothes marked dry clean only, or if I do have them, I have always washed them anyway. Gasp! I'm such a rebel! Well, I decided I would check the label, out of curiosity to see what it would say, only to see that I had already ripped it off at some point.  Oh well!

I decided to give it a try anyway.  After all, it's not like I could leave it unwashed, and I had nothing to lose.  I don't care that much about the duvet ( which is probably obvious given the fact that I gave a white duvet to my seven year old son!), and if it got wrecked, I could live with that fact.

So, after the necessary warnings, the next step in the instructions is to make sure you do not use regular laundry soap, but to use a gentle, no suds variety.  Haha! My homemade stuff will fit the bill nicely!

Next, make sure your washing machine will be able to handle the sheer bulk of a duvet.  Well, I have a ginormous machine I bought because we have a large family.  The queen sized puff fits very nicely, still with room to spare!

Then, wash on gentle and run an extra rinse if possible.  Check and check.

Now, according to numerous internet sites, drying is actually the main reason it's difficult to wash a duvet at home.  You have to make sure you dry it thoroughly so the feathers don't moulder, but you can't use too high a heat either.  Line drying is not advisable since the feathers can clump together and leave the blanket lumpy and hard.  "They" say you should put a tennis ball, or some such object, in the dryer to help fluff the duvet and dry it evenly.  Well, since we can't use dryer sheets at our house, I have always used those little spiky dryer balls anyway... suits the bill I'd say!

Ok, yes, I had to dry it for a loooooong time, and I had to keep taking it out and fluffing it, bunching it back into the dryer in different ways so that there wouldn't be any still wet spots in the middle of the blanket.  But you know what?  It worked.  There are no feathers flying around my laundry room, no terrible thing happened to the blanket, and it didn't cost me anything to wash it at home.  Just a nice clean, fluffy white blanket I can hand back to my son :)

Epic Grocery Shopping Trip

Now that we are going to be homeschooling, I have been trying to figure out just what life will look like, how I will make it all work, this fall.  I've been reading lots of blogs of other homeschooling moms, interested in how they juggle running their homes and homeschooling at the same time.  One area I know I need to re-do is grocery shopping.  I've been heading to the grocery store about once a week.  But, next year, I don't think I can dedicate an entire morning each week to a grocery trip, unless I squish all the homeschooling.  I've been looking around for some suggestions as to how other moms do it.

One of my favorite new blog finds is raising arrows.  Amy is a great, inspiring writer and I have been enjoying reading through posts while nursing.  I decided to give her system a go.  Basically, she figures out how many meals they will eat for an entire month ( number of days minus how many times you normally eat out, add how many times you normally invite others over etc. ) and then grocery shopping for every item you will need.  She keeps a huge master list and writes down how many of each item she'll need in stock to make it through a month.  I could go into all the detail she does, but instead, if you are interested, head on over to her blog to check it out :)

So, with this system in mind, I sat down to think up 30 meals for a month.  A couple will get used as lunches, when we don't have left overs, and the rest will make up suppers for a month.  I planned on cereal, pancakes,fruit and yogurt or toast for breakfast, so I made sure that we had the fixings for those items.  Coming up with 30 meals all at once is harder than it sounds! Go ahead try it!  Shawn laughed when I told him it was hard.  He started tossing out ideas, but I had them all already, and we were only at 15!!  Once we had all the meals picked out, I started making a grocery list.  I made sure we'd have fruit and veggies for about half the month, and, like Amy's system, will plan on a quick trip mid month to pick up whatever fruit veggies and milk I need to finish out the month.

With my enormous list in hand, our entire family headed to the grocery store.  I knew I would never be able to accomplish this trip with all four kids unless Shawn came with us!  I put Bremen in a wrap style carrier ( more on that in a future post) so I would have free hands.  I directed the kids which items to grab off the shelves, and Shawn pushed the cart.  By the time we were ready to check out, our cart was piled taller than Shawn!! I could not even move the cart!  It was crazy but we got it all in there somehow.  Passersby actually stopped to ask Shawn if he was " one of those crazy coupon people" hahah!  The tally felt huge even though it's less than I would have spent if I had spread the shopping out during the month.

It took over an hour to put it all away when we got home, even after Shawn carried it all up the stairs for me.  We had to stash some of the food out in the commercial cooler in his shop, because we couldn't fit it all in our fridge, even though it's huge.

I have the list of meals stuck on my fridge and each day, I can pick something off of it and know that I have what I need on hand to make it.  I like having the flexibility to chose from a selection, instead of a set meal each day as I was doing before.  It allows for me to change based on how we are feeling, what we plan on doing that day and even the weather.  If it's hot, I just pick something we can cook on the BBQ.

I'm not sure yet if I will be able to keep using this system or not.  I don't know if I can accomplish the epic shop if Shawn isn't able to come with us.  The problem I face is purely space related.  If I take my stroller so the two littles can sit in it, I can't fit the groceries in my van.  If I carry Bremen, and don't have help, I don't know if I can manage Lily without putting her in the cart.  If I put her in the cart, I don't know if I can fit all the food in.  If I carry Bremen, I don't know if I can get groceries in and out of the cart easily.  I might always have to make sure Shawn can come with me, so I can carry the baby, he can manage Lily and push the cart, and the back of the van is free for groceries.  Sheesh! I may need a bigger vehicle!

I like that it helps me stick to our budget, and I like not having to go to the store each week.  For now I'm going to keep using this new system, and I'll keep you posted.

I'd love to hear how you manage your groceries??

Pay As You Go Or Lumpsum?

So many things in life now have the option to make monthly installments, and many times it makes life more convenient.  Car insurance, heating bills, property taxes, house insurance and many more can be equalized over the year so you can pay one same amount every month.  Shawn and I have opted for this so many times, but lately we've been rethinking the practice.  We're noticing all the little ways it costs us more to do it!

Kid's activities are the first area we're addressing.  Take dance for example.  Yes, you can pay a set amount for 9 months of the year, and figure it into your monthly budget.  But, if you pay the whole amount at the start of the year, our school gives you 10% off.  We've decided that next year, we'd like to pay for the things the kids would like to sign up for outright.  Why not save 10% if you can?

Not all the activities our kids would like to try offer discounts, but knowing that it's completely paid for means I don't have to figure them into our budget.  I can't end up with any fees or charges for being late either.  But, I do have to come up with a larger amount of money in one month, which will require some saving over the summer.  We're not 100% sure which things the kids will want to sign up for this fall, but we are bouncing around some ideas with them, trying to offer them some choices.  Piano and ballet are for sure already.  Scouts and certain sports are still being considered. 

Over the summer, any extra budget money, overtime or proceeds  from some of the things we are selling will go to the kids activity fund first.  When we reach the goal we've set, we'll resume paying off debts and saving for the home repairs that keep popping up. 

While we don't have the extra budget room to address all the other things we could move off of monthly payments, I did take a second to check into what fees we pay for the service.  We pay our auto insurance monthly, and yep, they charge a bit extra for that.  Did you know you can save a percentage off your city tax bill if you pay the whole amount yourself at the start of the year?  We pay ours along with our mortgage and the bank submits it for us.  Eventually, we'd like to be in a place where we have enough saved up to pay out the tax bill and move away from the installments.  The problem is, once you start paying monthly amounts, it's hard to switch.  The first year feels like paying twice! We need to save the same amount we pay that month so that when the year is over, we have an entire year's payment saved and free to use.

While we'd like to get there eventually, for now, we'll start with what we can do, the kid's activities, and go from there.  Do you prefer the monthly payments? Or do you tend to pay for those big things annually?

Flooring Dilemma Update

Thanks for your suggestions everyone!
In the end, we decided to live with the subfloor.  We ripped out the carpet one Saturday afternoon, and were pleasantly surprised to find the chip board underneath in great shape.  We decided to stain it to even out the multiple colors, and used a gift card we had at the home improvement store to buy the one small can we needed.  Shawn had a can of Verathane in the shop, which he used to seal the floor.  It actually looks pretty nice, I have to admit.  Several people have commented that it looks like flooring!  So for an actual out of pocket cost of nothing,  we are really happy with the floors.  I'm sure we'll be living with them for quite some time.
Before the clear coat was dried, I went into labor.  Good thing we got the floors done when we did!  While I was in the hospital, Shawn finished the floor and got the furniture out of the kitchen and back where it belongs! 
The above photo is of our newest little one, Bremen, with the rapscallion dog that caused the whole thing in the living room.


Wondering what dilemma I'm talking about?  Read the original post here (Does This Justify Raiding the Emergency Fund? ) 

Does This Justify Raiding the Emergency Fund?

What makes an emergency worthy of a raid on our hard earned savings fund?

This is the question on my mind today, let me tell you why.  So, our dog is getting old and has been peeing on the floor more and more frequently.  We do own a carpet cleaner, and have been able to clean it time and time again.  I won't bother to go into how much I hate this, because you've all probably heard me rant about it already, and it's totally beside the point of this post.  The second last time Jinx peed on the floor, I followed my usual routine of cleaning it up immediately with our Bisell Little Green Machine, treating the carpet with pet stain and odor remover and then shampooing it again with the full size cleaner.  (ok, technically, Shawn does all of this, I played the sensitive pregnant nose card and got out of it).

The problem is, this time it didn't work.  I shampooed several more times, and still the whole house smelled like a combination of wet dog and dog pee. Niii-iiice huh?  I kept apologizing to the kids' piano teacher, since she had to be just feet from the odor that week.  A week of nice weather so I could keep windows open and air out the house, and a whole box of baking soda later, it finally smelled ... a bit less gross.


One week later, the morning of the next piano lesson, the dog peed again.  Now, I don't think the dog just has it in for the piano teacher, but I did feel bad for her again!  It had dried completely before we saw it in the morning, so Shawn poured a bit of cleaner and water on it before starting to suck it up.  The smell was so horrid, I almost threw up and had to run out of the room.  We followed our usual procedure again, and it did not work at all.  I covered the spot with an upside down bin so the kids wouldn't walk in it ( it was conveniently right in the middle of the main living area, thanks Jinx).  I cleaned again and again.  I dumped baking soda in it, and left it over night.  I tried odor removing sprays, desperate to at least cover it up.  Nothing has helped at all.  Over a week later, it still smells so strongly like ammonia that I don't even want to sit in my living room.  And there is no way any of us can sit on the floor to play!


Now, this carpet is not in the best shape anyway.  It's original to the house (1986) and a torturous shade of off-white.  It's sculptured-textured beauty has long faded, but at least I could always get it clean, if not completely stain free.  Having carpet bothers my allergies, but it was nice to have been able to sit on the floor to play with the kids. 

Shawn's theory is that the poor carpet is just too saturated to salvage anymore.  We suspect that the dog is getting old enough that she may not be around forever.  But we can't keep living with it until she is gone.  It's now so gross, that I wouldn't be able to let baby lay or sit on the floor.

So this is why, with only about 10 days until my due date, we are having to rip out our carpet.  But then what?  I have lived with bare floor boards before.  For many years, while we renovated our previous house, we had bare floors in one room or another..or all of them.  If we're going to have exposed floor boards, though, we will have to seal them with something, so that any future accidents aren't just going right into the floor itself.  If we're going to buy cheap paint, stain or sealer, would that be money well spent, or should we just suck it up and buy flooring?  If we buy flooring, what do we get?  Do I want to settle for just whatever I can find cheap enough by this weekend, Shawn's only day off before baby's arrival? How long will it take us to replenish the emergency fund if we do?  Do I want to spend more than that and look for something I like? Do I have time for that?  Should I just seal the floor and save for what I'd like? 

Of all the reno projects on my dream list, I really didn't want to deal with living room flooring first.  But, now that I don't have a choice, what should I do?  I feel so frustrated, because there are so many other things I'd rather have paid for first, like the bench we need in the kitchen, the activities the kids want to do next fall and at least one fishing trip this summer, to name a few!

So, to answer my own question, I don't think this is an emergency worthy of breaking open my piggy bank.  I may be living with bare floors for a while, but at least they won't smell like dog pee!

What would you do?

Here's how it turned out... (Flooring Dilemma Update)

Beating the Budget Busters: Spring

If the amount I spend on gardening every year was any indication, one would be sure I lived on an acreage.  I don’t know what size my imaginary acreage is, but it must be huge because boy is it costly to maintain!  Ok, all joking aside, every year I seem to manage to spend a small fortune on my postage stamp sized yard.  Something about spring makes me want to run out and buy a zillion plants. 

I head to a local garden center, or three or four, and load up on annuals, seeds, perennials and the odd bag of peat moss or compost.  Somehow I always manage to pick up enough to supply a hobby farm.  Last year I gave the extra annuals to neighbourhood kids to plant in their flower beds.  Even when I have enough plants for the few spaces I can plant them in, I inevitably find some beautiful little flower that I would love to have, which leads to me having to buy more pots.  Then, I can always squeeze another plant or two in…  You get the idea!

This year I determined to be more realistic about how much space and money I have.  I should have written this post a week ago, before I went to three local greenhouses…  Ok, yes, I went, and yes I bought a couple more things than I planned, but mostly I am on track for the year.

I decided to plan how many plants I could fit in the pots I already have, and only buy those.  This way, I know too that I will have the time to maintain them.  Besides spending too much, the problem with buying extra plants is that I always manage to kill most of them because I don’t have the time to water and maintain them all.  The girls want two hanging baskets on their playhouse, Baden wants two tomato plants, beans, peas, carrots and parsley in our children’s garden, and then I have three little window-box like containers that are hung on our fence.  That’s all, and this year I mean it! 

Buuuuuut, the previous owner of this house was an amazing gardener with no young children and therefore more time on her hands.  Front and back, this house has lots of perennial beds.  Over the last three years, I have changed and reduced them to a more manageable level for me, but every year, there is always more I’d like to do.  Just a few boards to make edging here… the odd plant to fill in where one died… and all those doggy spots on the lawn.  You get the idea.  I never seem to be able to leave well enough alone!

In this too, I resolved to do better this year!  I am 9 months pregnant, and cannot do a lot of the yard chores anyway.  Once I have the baby, the yard will be lucky if I remember to turn on the under ground sprinklers once a week!  Well, that determination lasted until my wonderful husband offered me a day of his labour.  All I had to do was sit in a lawn chair, and he would do whatever chores I asked him to.  Shawn got a lot done, and I got a nasty sunburn.  “ Hey hunney, you know, a few boards along here and this flower bed would look nice and tidy, it would really finish it well” he says… on his way to the garden center.  “ This old shrub is over grown and not too nice anymore, I’ll rip it out for you” was quickly followed by “ Hmmm, what should we buy to plant in it’s spot? Maybe some cedars?”  “ Would be nice to buy some boards and finish the walking path this year” had to be quashed, though.  “ You know, that edging in the back looks great, maybe I should grab some for the front yard too” is still in the negotiating phase.  I’d love to rip out the dead bushes in the front, change the shape of that bed and edge it, but I don’t really want to spend the money either.  I can’t decide, which is worse: the dead bush, or a huge bare hole?

Ok, there are some ways I’ve been frugal about my yard wish list.  Almost all of my perennials have needed dividing over the last few years.  I’ve used a lot of these cuttings to fill in spaces when needed.  I’ve also given away enough daylilies, irises,  and hostas to stock several friends’ yards.  This year, I’m mooching a few things from a friend who is cleaning up her yard.  There always seems to be someone dividing and cleaning out plants if you are looking around.  Also, because Shawn is always at construction sites as part of his job, he often finds odd scraps of sod.  Contractors order in enough for the project and then toss aside the one or two lengths that are inevitably left over.  He’ll grab them and use them to fix up the doggy spots in the lawn.

We’ve Frankenstein-ed together the sections of our fence that are the worst with scrap boards we had laying around, and determined to ignore how ugly it looked until we could afford to fix it.  But, in order to keep the neighbourhood kids out and the 70lb dog in, we really need to address the fence, or at least portions of it, and soon!  Several spans of the thing are rotted to pieces.  I am constantly hollering at the kids next door “ Get off the fence! You’re gonna get hurt!” and “ Don’t hit the fence, the boards are falling off!”  We had some wind this week, and the fence flaps like wind-chimes!  The back section is supported because our boat is behind it… classy, I know!  Several sections have been tied up with rope.  I don’t know how much longer we can ignore it!  I think we may have to pick the worst parts of it this year, and plan on replacing it section by section.  I remember from the last fence we built, fencing is a lot of work, and it’s expensive!

Alright, so if I was going to make myself a score card of how I’ve done so far this spring? I’d have to give myself koodos for improving, and tsk a little at how we did too.  Next on our plate this year is the job of finishing the playhouses.  Shawn built them the year Lily was born, two years ago, and has put time and money into them every year.  This year, we plan to finish the few details that remain, and stay on budget too!  Stay tuned!!

Hooray for Tax Season!

I have to confess, I LOVE tax season.  Now, I know I am a nerd, but it most likely has to do with the fact that I get a refund every year…  I sure didn’t like it as much the one year I had to pay a huge sum while home on maternity leave! 

Now, I know they say you should file the deductions form at your work place to adjust what they keep back from your pay.  The goal really should be to have a refund or payment within $50.  I have tried, believe me!  But one of the reasons we get a refund every year is because we donate to our church .  Because this is a donation deduction, the forms would have to be resubmitted every year, special approved by the CRA and by the time the necessary permission had been given to Shawn’s employer, it would be time to start the process for the next tax year.  I looked into it, trust me, remember, I said I’m a nerd!  You also have to show that you have done this several years in a row ( with previous tax forms) and that you are on track to do it again this tax year ( with cheque copies or pre-authorized debit receipts) for the first 6 months of the current tax year.  We could do it, but as I said, it turns out to be a bit more of a pain in the butt!

So! Every year, we have a nice refund to look forward to.  I know it shouldn’t be our enforced savings or payments plan.  Each refund we get, we sigh wistfully and say something along the lines of “ Wouldn’t it be nice if we could do something FUN with this, instead of paying for ( insert new bill or debt payment here)?” or “ Wouldn’t it be great if we could invest this in something?”.  And I know if that I actually did file the forms for the deductions, I would have that money in smaller instalments throughout the year.  I could put that amount on debt, and save interest.  I could invest that money and earn interest.  Hopefully, within a few years, we will be in that place!

In the meantime, I still love tax season.  I get all the papers ready, wait for any that are still outstanding and enter everything into a tax program ( I use TurboTax).  The program makes it quick and easy, even if you have small business expenses ( I used it the years I had a home business too).  I am perfectly capable of doing the math with the forms and a calculator, but I don’t mind paying the $40 or so to have the program do all the thinking for me.

This year, our refund will go a couple of places.  One, we still donate a portion to our church.  A friend of mine gave us the idea to donate it to specific “fun” causes instead of the general fund, where we would donate our regular amounts.  It feels great to contribute specifically to a cause or drive that we care about.

Second, some of it will go to fill in a (relatively tiny) hole that has come up in our finances over the past few weeks. I know, I wish none of it had to go to that!  But, at least the tiny hole won’t become a gaping one and keep us down for a couple months either.

Then, third, all the rest is going on our credit card, and I will reduce the limit! YAY!! This is the most exciting one for me.  I am so excited to get out from that high interest! Let’s be honest, it’s not fun paying the price now for things we wasted money on ages ago.  And let that be a lesson to me, not to do it again!!! 

Ahhh, I am so glad to have submitted the taxes today!! Now I can look forward to seeing that nice deposit arrive in my bank account!!!

Beating the Budget Busters: Planning Birthday #2

Okay, I know I haven’t been writing a lot lately, but I’ve been so busy

that I haven’t had time!  I hoping to catch up and let you know what we’ve been up to.

Coming up right away here, is Colleena’s birthday party.  She wants to have a Hawaiian theme this year.  This is how we plan most parties, by asking our kids what theme they think would be fun, and building on that.  Then, I think about what games, decorations and cake ideas would go well with that theme. 

I browsed around on the internet to find some neat game ideas, but didn’t really find anything super extraordinary, so we decided to plan a few traditional games and add a Hawaiian twist to them.  We’re going to play musical beach towels, instead of musical chairs.  I have lots of beach towels, and will just use them, still folded, on the floor.  Then, we’re also planning on doing the limbo.  We’ll have silly freeze hula dancing, while the kids are wearing grass skirts.  Three games will most likely be enough to occupy this gaggle of 5 year olds for a good chunk of time.  If not, maybe we’ll break out the Wii-fit and do the Hula-Hoop challenge on the Wii Fit board hee hee!  We’ll also be doing piñatas!

The time window we used for Baden’s party worked out great, so we’re doing the same thing for this party.  I invited guests from 3 until 5, so we don’t have to plan a meal.  Plus, it means that my youngest will still get her nap before anyone gets here, and that way she won’t be a tired, crying mess during the party.

Having the kids birthdays so close together has some benefits.  Mainly, that I am able to buy some supplies in bulk and save money by dividing them over the two parties.  When I was stocking up for Baden’s party, I bought lots of individually wrapped candies in bulk.  Things that could go in the piñata, like pixie sticks, fizz strips, ring pops and suckers.  I divided them up and stashed half for Colleena’s party, so I didn’t have to buy them this month.  I also bought those little rubber bracelets that come in different shapes and are so cool right now. I got a container of 200 of them for $2 at Dollarama. I set aside all the “girly” colors and the shapes that went well with Colleena’s theme (fish, sea horse, palm tree etc).  The rest, we used at Baden’s party last month.

Baden’s entire party cost me about $60, but some of that amount was candy, which I spread over two parties.  I bought a  flower lei to greet each guest with, grass skirts to give out and a couple of little gimicky toys at Dollarama for Colleena’s party.  That all added up to about $30.  Even if you add it up and average it out, it only cost us $50 per party.

I’m planning on making the cake a pair of flip flops this year.  Making the two cakes myself will only cost me a couple dollars, and it is always my favourite part of the birthday season, I just love baking fun cakes!

Just last night, Shawn and I were reflecting on birthday season this year.  Baden’s party seemed the most complicated one that we have done, having all the different carnival games set up, but it was easy and no-stress to plan. It was tons of fun to do, for us and the kids.  Colleena’s is almost effortless, since so much of the buying is already done, and the games will be easy to set up and need no real equipment.  Even the prep has been fun.  We made the piñatas with the kids, who had a great time making, painting and stuffing them.  And this year, both cakes were easy to plan and execute.  This is the least amount of time and stress I have put in pre-party, and the most fun we’ve ever had!

Ahhhhh… simple is good!

“Free Stuff” E-mails

When I started seriously looking at what things I could find out there for free, I signed up for a couple of e-mail services that promise to send you leads on great free stuff.

After a couple months of daily deleting these e-mails from my inbox, I unsubscribed this week.  The one I did like was from PG&E, and the first time I was there to sign up, I got to choose a pack of products to sample.  It included things like mouth wash, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, tooth whitening gel, etc.  I really like some of the products, and it came with great coupons. 

I signed up to get a sample of three different BIC pens.  They never came.

I signed up to get offers of free products from LivingWell, but all I am getting is junk “information” mailings, and offers of coupons.

Then I signed up for “free parent stuff” and “free stuff”, and I have to say, that personally, I found them useless.

Maybe there are better ones out there? Do any of you have some that you love?  Oh well, it was worth a try!  For now, I have unsubscribed from these particular ones, let me know if you discover one that is interesting!