December Update

Happy December!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I spent the weekend cleaning out storage to save us $100 a month. I needed to work off all of the ham and turkey I ate on Thursday! We had a good reason for storage. Our house is only 2 bedrooms and less than 1000 sq feet with no garage. We just couldn't see where we were going to put all of our stuff. I finally made the decision last week to use our screened porch for some of it. The rest I threw away in the storage dumpster. It was hard to do, but we really need that extra $100 every month to pay bills.

I have also made the decision to make all of my Christmas gifts this year. I just can't afford to buy all my relatives and friends gifts. I do however have plenty of fabric, scrapbook supplies, and jewelry making supplies to make plenty of gifts!

I will update when I can!

New Budget Update

The last time I posted was in September. I have been so busy keeping up with every little dime we spend, and selling things on Ebay, that I have not had time to post. We made it through September and October OK. I am trying to stay current on all the bills. Some have been a little late, but they have all been paid. This month will be a little harder. I'm going to have to step up Ebaying to make it through this month. We are also looking towards Christmas. It will be small, but then again, it's not about the gifts we get!

Although the thought was there, we have not accepted any government help. People keep pushing us to do it, but I just don't think that's the way my family should go.

I will post more when I can. I'm going to make a real effort to post on a weekly basis while I try to keep this family financially afloat.

The Simple Womans Daybook

FOR TODAY...

Outside my window... the cool breeze is scattering leaves all around

I am thinking... about my relatives that will visit on Wednesday

I am thankful for... the ability to be a stay at home mom

I am wearing... a pair of jeans and a long sleeve shirt

I am remembering... my time in the Midwest where I would be bundled up in layers this time of year

I am going... to Target later to look at fall candles and possibly purchase a few

I am reading... The Shack by William P. Young

I am hoping... that God continues to provide for my family

On my mind... All the Christmas gifts I am sewing this year

From the learning rooms... we are learning some great things with the classical approach

Noticing that... with God all things are possible

From the kitchen... I am thinking of making some homemade chicken soup this week

Around the house... there are lots of chores to be done

One of my favorite things... laughing with my son

Medications

Last night I went to the pharmacy and spent $115 on one medication for my husband. I have to go back today and pick up another one that costs $119. His insurance doesn't kick in until October, so we are going to have to rearrange some things in the budget this month to accommodate this.

A New Month ~ A New Budget

Some of you know that my husband lost his job in April. He found a temporary job, but that only lasted through the first week of June. The last 3 months have been hard. We have been living on our 401K retirement fund. NOT something I recommend doing, but we had no choice.

My husband recently found a part time job, and took it since jobs are scarce out here. It pays 1/2 of what he would normally bring home which makes me kind of nervous. My husband is a school teacher, and they don't get paid much to begin with. Now, to only have half, made me really buckle down and delete things from the budget.

Or budget was set pretty low to begin with (compared to others I have seen), so I was confused as to how I was going to get it any lower. Then I decided to cut the extras....cell phone, long distance, past medical bills, fast food, etc. We just can't afford this stuff. I cut $500 off the budget in the matter of 15 minutes.

Now we just need to stick to it!

Stick with me as I ducument how we live on $15,000 a year! It should be very interesting, and a very big challenge!

First Day Of Summer

Today is my first day of summer! We finished school on Friday and we are now free to be somewhat lazy. Well....my son is. I still have to put his review book together for review this Friday. After Friday I am free to sleep in until at least 7:30! Of course I still have to cook, clean, wash clothes, and take care of the pets. I might just need a break after my summer break!

Last Day of School

Today (hopefully) is our last day of homeschool. We will finish the 2nd grade and summer will begin. I still have the review book to put together, but it will only take a few days to type everything up.

I haven't decided what we are going to do this summer. We don't have the money to put our son in a summer camp. I will just have to plan some fun activities to keep us busy.

Sorry I haven't been around much this week, I have been busy busy with school and the baby.

A Day In The Life of Me

Happy June everyone! I thought a great way to kick off the month would be to post a typical day around my house. So.....enjoy the first day of June!

5:45 AWAKE! Feed dogs, cat, and clean litter box. Wake husband for work. Make him breakfast and pack his lunch.

6:00 Unload dishwasher.....load dishwasher (I take Sundays off of any kitchen chores, so Monday there are lots of dishes to do.) Make sure husband takes his morning meds, and has his afternoon meds with him.

6:10 Chase dog outside to keep him from eating the frogs in our garden. (The last time he got one he threw up in the house. I try to avoid that from happening!)

6:20 Start a load of dark clothes in the washer.

6:30 Update Netflix Queue to make sure there will be movies in the mail this week. Wipe off white board and write June dates on it. Clean husbands desk.

7:00 My son is up and asking for breakfast! Time to cut up some fruit for a nice fruit salad with some yogurt.

7:15 Vacuum master bedroom, and ceiling fan. Dust TV and shelf. Change sheets and blanket.

7:35 Start a load of towels in the wash. Eat breakfast and catch up on my favorite blogs.

8:00 Fold and hang dark clothes that just finished drying. Feed sour dough starter and place in fridge.

8:15 Take out recycle and trash.

8:20 Make beds, and get crib ready for God daughter. ( to save space, I put all of her things in the crib when she is not here. )

8:30 Straighten kitchen

8:40 Go next door and get God daughter.

8:50 Put towels in washer

8:55 Get sons school books ready for teaching

9:00 Start school with son. Start with Reading book. Fed baby, rocked her to sleep.

9:30 changed a VERY smelly diaper and took it straight outside to the trash can.

9:35 Rocked baby back to sleep while helping son with reading questions.

9:45 Folded towels from the dryer. Put them away in the closet.

9:50 Had a snack ( a whole wheat apple muffin I baked Sunday before church). All this work is making me hungry!

10:00 Mix a bottle up so it will be ready when the baby wakes up.

10:05 Continue to help son with reading. We are reading 4 short stories in his book today.

10:10 Started a load of sheets and blankets in the wash.

10:15 Spoke to father in law on the phone

10:30 Baby crying...have to change her diaper and warm a bottle

10:40 Feed baby and rock her.

11:00 Put sheets in the dryer.

11:10 Put baby in Snuggli and walked around the house with her. We walked in the backyard, and went to check the mail.

11:30 Catch my son goofing off, so I added an extra page to his school work.

11:45 Rock baby back to sleep

11:55 Make lunch for my son and I ( a fresh hand cut salad for me, and a PB&J sandwich for my son)
12:15 Baby crying, rock her to sleep again - Eat lunch while she is asleep in my lap.

12:45 Update this page!

1:00 Get son started on Language Arts book.

1:10 Baby hungry....feed her again and rock her to sleep. Continue to help son with Language Arts lessons.

1:50 Baby finally sound asleep. Give my son a break from his lessons and try to fix the sound on computer.

2:00 No luck on the sound to the computer! Make another bottle for later.

2:05 Unload second set of dishes from dishwasher.

2:15 Rocked baby and sat her in bouncer so she can watch a movie with son (while I take a 5 minute break!!)

2:25 Rinse off dishes in the sink


2:30 Baby crying again.....warm up bottle and feed her.


2:50 Baby is finally asleep again! Fold sheets in dryer.


3:10 Baby up.....I am having a long day!


3:20 to 4:00 It all went by kinda of fast, but this is what I think happened! Husband comes home, phone rings, baby is crying, husband tries to talk to me while baby is crying, try to rock baby, babies mommy comes home and needs to use computer, baby finally falls asleep in my arms!


4:20 Baby wakes up and I take her home.


4:30 Can I go to bed now? NO! I need to call and see if my husbands prescription has been filled at Target. Keep in mind that I have not had any caffeine today. I am running on empty and could fall asleep at any moment! Oh...I also sat down to update this post.


4:50 Start dinner - whole wheat spaghetti with garlic and herb sauce


5:15 Dinner served


5:35 Check emails


5:50 Clean up dinner dishes, load dishwasher, wipe down counters, put dirty kitchen towels in basket.


6:20 Talk to neighbor about scrubbies I sell on Etsy


6:40 Take a long hot well deserved shower


6:55 Make some decaf tea


7:00 Send son to take a shower, get husbands evening medicine ready for him in case I fall asleep.


7:05 Log into Library and renew books that are due this week


7:10 Pop some popcorn for desert


7:15 Update this post, then I am going to go lay down and watch a movie I got from Netflix today.

Goodnight everyone. I finally finished 'work' today! I put in a good 13 1/2 hours. And it all starts again tomorrow!

Why Can't I Sleep In?

Saturday is my 1 day to sleep in, and I just can't get my body to do it! I am up at 5:45 every morning with my husband to help him get ready for work. And Sundays I have church, so I'm up by about 6:30 to prepare to teach Sunday School. So....Saturdays....the day I love getting to....a day with no school, and no lunch to make before the sun comes up. And for some reason my body says ' nope, your not sleeping in!'.

So, I have been online reading my favorite blogs, and washing laundry.

I will then go to the grocery store to buy next weeks food.

I'm not sure what I will do after that, but I have a whole loooong day to do it!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Job...Money...Budget

Ok...so I didn't get a lot of homeschooling done yesterday. I was busy planning our summer budget. Why? Well, because my husband doesn't have a job for the summer yet!

Here is the story.......

When my husband lost his job (that he was at for 4 years) he found a temporary job teaching that only lasts until school ends (the first week of June). After much discussion, we decided to cash out our 401K (that didn't have a whole lot anyway) from previous job and use it as a backup for summer. I do not recommend doing this! We only did it because we had no other choice. My husband has been actively looking for a job, but hasn't had much luck.

Our base budget is low enough that the 401K money will get us through the 3 months of summer. He can then go back to teaching on a temporary basis for the next school year if he hasn't found a job. We have also been entertaining the thought of me going back to work and my husband staying home and home schooling our son. I can work during the day, and he can teach at night. It's not the ideal situation, but the bills have to be paid.

So, yesterday I planned our base (live on the least amount of money) budget, and put it in writing. I also created a plan to sell stuff on Ebay again, and start making things to sell on Etsy.

So, that being said, I had to get it done so we had a real plan.

Today I feel like a weight has been lifted, and I can now focus on school!