Do you want to hear more about my communicating about money with my DH? Sure you do!

It reared it's ugly head last night, when I brought up the piano lessons that he and my youngest daughter want to take. I was reading the information about make up lessons and that each individual teacher set their own policies. This is something he needs to make sure he's clear on since, he will likely miss quite a few lessons because of his travels.

He's says...I thought you said we couldn't afford lessons! What? Really!? When did I ever say those words...ever? No, I did not. I'd love for them to take lessons. My youngest daughter would probably be taking them already, but he wants to go with her. Since he is the adult in this situation, I waiting for him to handle it. We have the money...sure a little less to the home equity loan, but we CAN afford it.

I proceed to tell him that a few days ago when I was overwhelmed was NOT the same as putting the brakes on all the spending. Which is apparently what he decided I had said. Did he ever say this to me? Did he ever ask questions or communicate in any way? No...only listening and interpreting what he THOUGHT I said.

In hind sight, I should have been a little more proactive in getting him to communicate with me. But I was the one breaking down, crying....letting all the overwhelming feelings out. I wasn't exactly in the best state to do so. I'm sure I scared him. Yes, I scared him into silence. The complete opposite of what I was looking for.

We make more money than we ever have, our income is doubled and it seems that the decisions are much much harder. You would think after almost 13 years of marriage we would have some of this down. I guess we are still growing in this department.

I told him about sending in the $145 to the home equity loan yesterday. He says, is that all?

Read with sarcasm: Yes, dear, that is all. On my own I decided with the money I normally send in to the home equity loan some needed to be set aside for our mini vacation taking place BEFORE the next pay day. Sorry, you weren't available last time I checked to discuss it!!!

Thanks for letting me vent. You know that I don't usually have these issues. He and I did talk right before bed last night that we should talk through some our upcoming spending plans...so that we are on the same page!

Finally, we are making progress...I think.

for this payday. Tomorrow is the big day!

I will have $645 extra funds to allocate somewhere. I would love to send all of it to the home equity loan, but it turns out we have planned a spur of the moment mini vacation. Of course, it needs to be paid in cash! I will allocate $500 to the vacation. The remaining $145 will go to the home equity loan.

This is so hard for me to only send in such a small amount to the HEL. I'm on a mission, I wasn't ready for a detour.

The vacation is important too. And we will be taking several of these over the summer and fall. It has been a few years since DH was deployed, so it just feels like it could happen again. We want to spend quality time together while we can.

As I write this, I'm feeling better about my debt payoff detour. It is after all a vacation...not something worse!

In my last post, I explained that DH took a week off from work. We always spend too much money when he's home. We had talked about buying a new kitchen sink and faucet and installing it while he was on leave.

But, then I had a break down. Yes, there was crying involved. I was having irrational feelings about buying the sink. It didn't feel right. DH didn't get why I would say it was okay one day and change my mind the next.

Here's a little context...On Monday we had some car maintainence done to the tune of $225. I had the money in our second checking account to cover it. But that only left another little cushion. The month isn't over and we needed groceries, and DD12 had a sleepover, with friends who needed to eat. The money for the sink would have to come from the emergency fund...until payday.

DH didn't think of it as a big deal. He was off work, and wanted to do it then. In the end, no sink was purchased, but I was still really annoyed by all my feelings on this subject.

I feel like I'm the only one making decisions based on money in the bank. He couldn't tell you how much his paycheck is each pay period, how much the phone bill is, how much I send to the home equity loan. It's true, I like doing this stuff. I'm the nerd.

But, when it is time to make a decision that involves our emergency fund, or sending in less to the home equity loan...it falls on me. I'm tired of it. I feel like a parent with a child. I even tried the 'let's prioritize these wants' approach. I showed him details of the budget. This is before we went sink shopping. I didn't get much of a response.

As soon as I said, I wasn't sure about buying the sink this week, he just said okay. I don't think he agreed. He sees the money we have and the money coming in. It does look like we can afford it...BUT, is it the right decision? I can't seem to get into a conversation with him about the pros and cons, or other approaches to spending the money on the sink, or the 8 other items on the list, including vacations.

I'm just frustrated that our communication skills on these money decisions stink right now. Payday is coming up, and I'm still not sure what to do with the extra money. Set aside some for a sink or send it to the home equity loan? We are taking a trip in two weeks so some it needs to be set aside for that.

I think I'll try to talk it through with him again...I've got two days until payday.

This week is my husband's turn to have the week off for vacation. He couldn't get it to coincide with my daughter's spring break last week. So far, we have spent money everyday. It's hard to say no to the person who works so hard to make the cash that makes our world go round.

My oldest turned 12 today! Next year she'll be a teenager. We bought her a digital camera that she has wanted for a couple of years. It was less than $80, but better than mine that is now over 4 years old. She will have a slumber party on Friday...more money to be spent on feeding the group.

Since DH is off, we are going to install a new kitchen sink and faucet. Price will be about $400. Although it isn't a need now, it will be a necessity when we move. This sink stains everytime you put something in it. It's awful. We'd like to enjoy the new sink for the little while longer that we live here. The funny thing is...we have picked out the same style sink that we put in our last home!! I think I'll try to sell the old one on craigslist or on the garage sale in May.

So, if you don't hear much from this week...you know I'm either spending money, helping to install the kitchen sink or fighting off the pre teens at the slumber party!!

Make it a great week!

My neighbor wants my soon to be 12 year old daughter to watch her 2 year old dog this next weekend. The dog will need to be let out 3-4 times per day from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening. She will also need to feed/water/play and walk the dog.

The neighbor wants to pay her $50. My first reaction is that is too much. But is it? I don't even know how much teens get for babysitting a child!

I want it to be fair, but not over the top. Help! What do all of you think? Any advise or thoughts are welcome.

There's no heat or air conditioning running. Yippee!!

A couple of days ago, I closed the gas line to our gas fireplace. Why keep that pilot light running through the warm months, right?

It's also time for spring clothes! The girls are growing, so we will head to Old Navy today to pick up a few items. I plan to spend around $50. I have a coupon, too!!

We have already taken advantage of the warm weather with a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood. There were lots of signs of spring. Enjoy the day!!

It's done! And that was hard. I have a headache. I had to take an hour nap in the middle. It felt like we were in slow motion today.

My youngest daughter just likes to keep her junk...or stuff. Unfortunately, I found some BAD stuff. A baggie of pretzels in a mini back pack for her Build a Bear, an opened bag of gummy bears, with three still in the bag. I also found mini candy cane's from Christmas. The worst one, however, was a baggie with a water/cornstarch mixture. It was originally colored green, but since it has been laying on the floor of her dark closet since who knows when, it hardened but developed orange spots and black spots...which I'm sure were mold! Ugh.

Here are the before pictures...see if you can spot the baggie of mold. Just kidding!





Here is our progress half way. It has to get worse before it gets better!! Really.


And finally the finished results:







Yes, the comforter was still in the dryer when I took this photo. But we can imagine how it would look, right?

Oh, and here are the bins I put in the hallway of things that have to leave her room.

There are plenty of clothes she has outgrown and a few things that are being moved to the basement. I test things I think they don't use to see if they ever make it back up to the light of day! If not, they go on the garage sale. I'm sneaky!!

Turns out we didn't work on my younger daughter's bedroom yesterday. She wasn't motivated and I really was just plain tired.

We will start in again today. I really hope I can convince her to get rid of as much stuff as my older daughter. I'll let you know how that works out.

Actually, I did do a little work in her room. My memory is coming back!! I pulled down her curtains and washed them. I also set up the sewing machine to repair three of the tabs that the curtain hangs from. And, I even put it back up in her room. One less thing to do today.

I'll get the pictures up as soon as we are done! Anyone else doing spring cleaning or organizing tasks today?

So far I have only completed my oldest daughter's room. She did great! I was mostly there for support and guidance. We took pictures of clothing she was still attached to, but has outgrown. She did a great job of letting go of some of her possessions. She still has a ton of stuff, but it is getting better. I'm sooo proud. I'm almost happier about that than the cleaning.

It turns out she needs an entire new wardrobe! Everything is way too small. So, ebay will be hopping with that stuff in a few days!

I ran out and bought a shelf for her books. She's wanted one for so long. I told her that she can only keep books that fit on the shelf. Price of shelf: $20. I was disappointed that when you buy assembled furniture now you don't even get real screws...plastic the whole way. Now, I have little plastic pieces to throw away that attached them all together. Ugh! I HATE plastic.

Okay...here are the before pictures:










Here are the after pictures:








Much better don't you think. Wow, we got a lot done, too! Here's one last picture: of our cat Riley. She wanted to help hang up clothes!



Now, I have another room to do!

Today will consist of some spring cleaning in my daughter's rooms. Things to do: wash the sheets and curtains, vacuum, dust, pull everything out of drawers and closets. They are on spring break...so they get to help!

We need to go through everything. I'm sure there is stuff to trash, donate and sell. Both rooms just plain need to be reorganized. My kids aren't too bad compared to others, but it's enough to get on my nerves at times!!

Who wants pictures?

I have two daughters. One takes hip hop and the other is in tumbling. The oldest doesn't want to take tumbling next year. So, I will save over $350, unless she decides to do something else.

Registration for next fall will happen in June, so I need to start saving for this. I used last years numbers to get me to a ballpark figure of $390 for just one hip hop class. It's possible the prices may go up, but I should be able to make up the difference if it does.

Here's the plan: Save $56 each payperiod for the next 7 pay periods! That gets me to $392. I'm glad I'm thinking about it now, so that I have time to save it up gradually. I could have been saving since last June, but I just didn't know whether they wanted to keep this dance and tumbling stuff up. This way will work, too.

The dance studio does have the option of paying monthly, but I would have to tag on an additional $47 for the recital fee. If I pay in full, then I can have this fee waived...that is then more than enough to cover her shoes.

Right now, I have buy recital tights and a cd of her dance music to practice at home. Luckily...only $13.60. I think I can handle that.

I have decided to stop some medication I'm taking with the consent of my doctor. I'm thrilled, since there have been a few unpleasant side effects.

Savings: $22/month

Just so you know and don't worry...this was entirely a health decision, not a financial one! The savings are just a bonus. I hope to pass this on to that home equity loan payoff!!

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I took my mother out to lunch yesterday for a wonderful mediterranean meal. We spent $28. Yummy!! She treated me to a new organic cotton shirt from the Life is Good line. It will be a great shirt for spring. I will wear it today since it will be about 70 degrees!

Make it a great day everybody!

Yesterday, I baked homemade bread. The recipe is

Yep, there is dough sitting on my counter. I'm baking bread today!! This is the first time I have ever baked bread with yeast. The recipe seems simple enough, so I'm giving it a go.

I'm attempting bread making for several reasons. The main one is to get away from bread that comes in plastic bags. Along with reducing our plastic consumption, I'm looking to find healthier alternatives. Bread without preservatives is healthier, right? I haven't calculated the cost yet, but it may be slightly less expensive. I'm okay if it is not.

This particular recipe will make three loaves of bread!! I will update you all later with the results and the recipe if it turns out okay.

Wish me luck!!

We spent $66.67 on groceries this week. That is really good. That is for all four of us, too! We had several things in the cupboards and freezer that we can make for dinner.

I made the girls friendship bread from a starter I had in the freezer. This is a replacement for prepackaged preservative laden sweets. They will take a slice in their lunch each day this week.

Only 5 more days until payday! We have about $60 left. I will need to use a bit of it for a haircut! It just can't be put off any longer.

I'm going to use the rest of the week to start looking ahead to March. We have a birthday, school spring break, and a small out of town trip planned. I may also be purchasing some living room blinds since they are now on sale. These things will effect how much I send in to the home equity loan at the beginning of March. I'm sure I can get the balance under $9K!!!

There were only three things in the mail yesterday. No junk mail. I love that!

Item I ordered online arrived (Quick)
$3 Pinecone Check
TSP Year End Statement

The TSP statement showed a 45% decline so that is not exactly good news. Oh well, we are still young enough to make it through this! And we are buying tons of shares at rock bottom prices. Can't beat that!

Pinecone check will go in savings account for now. Eventually, I will put this money towards the home equity loan.

Today, we need to get groceries for the week and buy bedding for our pet mice and hamster. This is the most expensive part of having these types of pets.

I wrote a check for DD2 yearbook. It was $16! She's only in 3rd grade. I don't think that younger kids really need yearbooks, but it becomes an emotional issue if they feel left out by not having them. I found that out last year when I didn't buy them. We can afford it...so it will be purchased.

That's the news from here. Make it a great day!

Lots of military families gripe about medical care. We have not had a bad experience yet. We are fortunate to have the ability to use local doctors that are on the plans list.

Today, we had to use that insurance. My youngest daughter did a cartwheel in the family room last night and landed her toes on a desk chair. Oops! She complained that it hurt last night, but we dismissed it a bit. The complaining was much louder this morning.

So, she missed school. We went to the doctor and then to another clinic for x-rays. Turns out the x-rays are clear. So, she'll just be sore for a few days.

Out of pocket cost: $0
Expected cost sharing: $0

Can't beat that! I'm very grateful that nothing is broken, too.

Reading Monkeymamas blog about Suze Orman and teaching kids about money, got me thinking about the allowance we give our girls.

Our girls get an allowance, paid at the beginning of each month, based on how old they are. My 11 year old gets $11. The 8 year old gets $8. It's about to go up by $1 as the oldest has a birthday next month.

They each have a ATM type bank they stash their money in. It helps count the money for them, even though they both know how to count it manually. The oldest has over $100 tucked away. The youngest just under $50. I think they like having large balances. Well, large to them.

The youngest doesn't seem to mind spending her money. In fact, she's donating $10 to a charity later today for a girl scout event. She decided the amount!

The oldest is more contemplative about her purchases. She tends to wait until she feels she has an excess. She's a bit like her me that way. She prefers not to have less than $100. Right now she is saving to accumulate $200. She will open a bank account when she does. She actually wants to start saving for a car!! It sure isn't too early for that.

They do spend some of their money. I've made them pay me back for candy or gum!! Those are luxuries I don't need to pay when they have stacks of bills at home.

Although their allowance amounts are fixed, they are expected to work around the house. They make their beds, clean their rodent cages, make their own lunches, put away laundry, clean up their toys and numerous other daily living tasks. Occassionally, we will offer to pay extra for extra chores. I remember last summer, we paid $2 for the oldest to vacuum out the minivan. She did a great job, too!

It works for us! What works for you?

Our simple valentines day will consist of the following:

1) Girls will get books for gifts. I shopped for them in my basement because they were a previous purchase. I will wrap them in valentine's bags I have used several years in a row. If I give cards, I will make them myself.

2) We will eat manicotti, broccoli, and cresent rolls for dinner at our kitchen table. I will use our white table cloth and light candles. We will eat by candlelight.

3) We will have poundcake, with strawberries and cool whip for dessert.

Earlier in the day my oldest daughter has a solo flute performance at school. I hope that we can dig ourselves out of the snow to go bowling or see a movie as a family, too.

What are your plans?

My buying habits for just about everything are changing. In the past, I have based many purchases on price. The lowest price. It has served us well in the past. And, it will still factor into my purchasing decisions.

I will now factor in the ingredients, looking for natural, rather than chemical and synthetic. I will also factor in the packaging. The less packaging the better, the less plastic the better.

I'm doing this for my family's health, as well as the earth. I would like us to generate less waste. I already use reusable bags when I grocery shop. It has cut done on the usage of plastic bags significantly.

I'm not worried about global warming. Maybe I should be, but for now I'm making the changes because I can. I can afford to spend an extra dollar or two on something with natural ingredients that is better for our bodies.

From now on you won't see any posts from my on Walgreen's savings. Unless, the purchase is a product that meets my new buying criteria. Right now I can only think of a few things I've purchased in the past at Walgreen's that qualify. Sure, I can get makeup for free, but it has so many chemicals that are bad for my skin that it is no longer worth it to me.

In the future, you might find a few posts about the changes we are making and what the financial impact is as we start buying in a new way.

Any one else making these types of changes?

Monday and Tuesday were no spend days for me. I expect today to be the same. It sure helps to just stay home and out of the stores!

Today, I will clean and keep my eyes peeled for ebay items to sell. After the girls are home from school we will decorate for Valentines Day. They also need to address their valentines for their classmates. We are making our own and using leftovers from other years!! It should be a fun and frugal time.

Here's to a day of no spending!! Do you have the same plan? I'd like to know I'm not alone.

Last weekend, as I folded clothes I came upon a few socks with holes on the bottoms. I jokingly said to my girls...want to make sock puppets? They said, "Yes!"

My oldest pulled out the sewing items to create these:


Besides two new sock puppets, they created names, personalities, accessories and video taped puppet shows. All four of us had quite a few laughs from these new characters. They are now folded up somewhere for another day of play.

Out of pocket cost: $0

The memories and fun: priceless

Both of my daughters are girl scouts. Do you know what that means at this time of year? Cookies. Sales begin tomorrow in our area. Now the problem: I didn't budget for these. Did you? Do you even buy them?

They EACH have a goal of 100 boxes. Each box is $3.50. Of course, I won't be buying all 200 boxes. We have neighbors, co-workers, family and friends we will be hitting up. I'm sure they all want a little more sugar in their diet, right?

So, I'm curious what is your favorite girl scout cookie? I am partial to the Thin Mints, with Shortbread a close second.

It's bound to come up. There are different names for the same cookie in different parts of the country. Check it out

I'm taking a few days off from blogging to celebrate Christmas with my family. I wish each of you peace filled days!

Merry Christmas!

Yesterday, we received our Christmas card from my mother in law. It contained a check for $50 to buy the girls gifts. This is the second year in a row that she has done this, although last year it was $100.

She is on a fixed income and has 11 grandchildren. I think it is great that she is willing to pass the shopping duties on to me. As she said in the card, I will do a better job shopping. I actually forgot that she might do this. So, now I'm back to buying more gifts!!

Once the gifts are bought and wrapped we will take them with us so the girls can open them in front of their grandma.

Make your own bookmarks!I found this idea in the Family Fun magazine for December.

Use 12-14 inches of ribbon. Attach buttons on each end with hot glue...front and back. Add another on the top of the front side if desired. Easy!!

My daughter and I just made three in about 5 minutes! She will give two to friends and keep one for herself.

We did buy our materials, but if you are a crafter, you may have ribbon and buttons laying around.
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I'll try to upload a picture later...my documents are being transferred from one computer to another! Yikes...looks like that will take awhile, too. Oh, and if you are wondering, we did not get a new computer. My older and slower HP is starting to really annoy me...so moving all items to our laptop!!

Quality isn't the greatest,but here's the picture of two of them:

My daughters have a holiday dance/tumbling recital today. They are to wear black pants, capris or shorts with their dance t shirt.

My oldest daughter specifically wanted capris...those are kind of hard to find in the middle of winter!! Youngest daughter wanted to do the same thing. Ugh!

So, yesterday I spent 45 minutes hemming the both pairs of black pants they wore to last years holiday recital into capris!! Free dance wear...can't beat that!!

I would have spent at least $18 on two new pairs from Children's Place. I guess I even saved a trip to the mall!

Since all the gifts are bought it is now time to set up for wrapping. I brought all my items for wrapping up to my living room and set it up on a folding table. The basement is unfinished and a bit too cold. In fact, I even need new light bulbs down there!

Here's my wrapping station:

I was able to get all of the girls presents wrapped today in about an hour. I like how they are all coordinated in red and green.

Here's the pile before I put it under the tree:

I hope to finish all the other wrapping by tomorrow. The wrapping station needs to come down before my parents arrive on Saturday! Oh, and I have to clean too. Tomorrow will be busy!!

Amazingly, for the first time, I have finished my holiday shopping by the 10th of December! I just can't believe it. Everything has fallen into place beautifully.

Next on the list is wrapping!! That part I really like. I bought 6 rolls of wrapping paper for $3.98 at Walgreen's earlier in the season. Actually, these may have been free, I might have used my rebate money!

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My great deal today was on snow globes. Each daughter wanted one. At Kohl's I found two. Original prices were $19.99 and $24.99. They were marked down to $5.99 and $7.49 respectively. So, guess that makes them 70% off. Subtotal was $13.48...and I had a $10 off coupon!! With tax, I paid $3.69 out of pocket for these two beautiful snow globes. I am, of course, thrilled!!

Yesterday, I took our van in for a scheduled oil change at the Honda dealership. We had an appointment at 10:30am. The girls went with me. When I dropped it off the service advisor said he had me on the list and we went to wait.

It's a nice waiting area and it was pretty busy. The girls got a donut and hot chocolate. We brought books to read.

After 45 minutes, I see people there before me leaving. I figure we'll be told soon that our van is ready. At just under an hour, I see someone who came after me leave. So after 65 minutes, I inquire with the original service advisor how much longer I will have to wait. He gets my name and says is that your Odyssey over there...I look and yes it is mine. It has been moved, but not out of the entrance bay!!

He says he didn't realize I was here...what? I spoke to him and he had my name on his list. I guess the list showed I had a red Odyssey...rather than a gray one! When he realizes the error, he tells me he'll get it in right away and there will be no charge. Good news!

Good news follows better news...I get three free car washes, too! They finish the van 20 minutes from my initial inquiry. An hour and 25 minutes later, I'm on my way! It was free, but quite a painful wait!!