Holiday fun on a budget: Total Money Makeover

It's hard for me to digest that Halloween is two short days away & November three!  That means Christmas is right around the corner!  Christmas is by far my favorite time of year, but with it comes stress.  Get togethers & parties cramming every weekend, shopping, wrapping, trying to fit in as many magical moments as possible for the kids.  But most of all, the stress topper tends to be all of the money flying out the window $$$$$$! 

 

Money doesn't have to be the star topper on the Christmas tree of stress though, if you're prepared & on a budget.  I've blogged about our budget, but not lately.  We follow Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover & stick with a completely cash-based budget to help pay down all of our debt.  We've been doing this for nearly two years & we've made a lot of progress & hope to be debt free in the next year or so (minus our mortgage).  I keep envelopes in my purse that my sweet friend Lesli made for me, take cash out of the ATM each Friday & use no more than what we allot for each household expense.

 I keep six envelopes: Groceries, Entertainment/Fun, Gifts, Clothing, Pets & Personal/Home Care.  Sometimes I get strange looks when people see me with my stash of envelopes, but it doesn't bother me.  I get harassed the most at Target since the cashiers are always looking at me with shock, "You DON'T want to get a Red Card & save 5%?!?!?!?!!?"  Um, no, no thank you.  Just today I was asked & my response was, "No thank you, I'm a cash girl!" 



Week to week, things go very smoothly with the budget since we only spend what we have, never using our debit or credit cards.  Vacations, birthdays & holidays take much more planning though.  Last year I worked out a Christmas budget including anything we'd be spending money on:  Who we shop for, how much we spend on each person, the Christmas tree, Christmas cards & postage, teacher gifts, etc, etc, etc, etc.  For us, this adds up to $1,500.  Sometimes it's not fun to budget & plan, but it's a must for us to stay on track.  Like Dave Ramsey says, Christmas comes every year in December, it's not unexpected & our budget shouldn't be blown because of it. 

 

When we hit the stores last year, I literally had a calculator out to stay on budget for each person we bought for.  That curbed the tempting, "Oh, but he/she would love this!"  Those little extra buys throughout the holidays seriously add up. 

 

I find that so many people live in a world of excess with instant gratification & unnecessary purchases happening constantly.  Your kid loves Lightening McQueen so he has every car available in stores.  Minimizing is another perk of staying on budget; it keeps your house less cluttered & your kids less distracted.  So here's to hoping we all have an awesome holiday with less stress & less unnecessary money spent!

Trip to St. Augustine

A month or so ago my friend Kelly asked if we'd be able to take a birthday trip with them to St. Augustine & I immediately thought no.  Of course I wanted to, but when you're following the Dave Ramsey cash budget, you don't have dispensable money laying around.  When I finally accepted it wasn't possible, Lauren offered her aunt's house up for all of us to stay.  Suddenly my mom was free to watch the kids & we were on our way.  I picked up Wednesdays all last month & even worked overtime so we treated ourselves to an adult weekend away with no kids!

Touring around the fort

We saved money by carpooling with Lauren & Marc, eating breakfasts in, skipping lunch & sharing entrees at dinner.  All in all, it was a pretty affordable trip.  If you've never been to St. Augustine, it's absolutely beautiful & you should definitely go!  Lucky for us, it's only three hours away.

Flagler College

We had an absolute blast & every moment of the trip was awesome, I ended up laughing my butt off most of the weekend.  I've only been away from Cameron a handful of times & Reese about 3 nights in her life, so as much as it's nice to get away, I miss the kiddos so much too.  But, it's good for everyone to have a breather!  After Reese bolted up to me Sunday evening & showered me with hugs, she promptly reported, "I have poop, you need to change my diaper!"  And it was back to business.

Cheers to awesome friends!

On our pub crawl ghost tour

We had the best dinner EVER on Saturday night at Caps' on the Water!!  It was the best ambiance, amazing food, beautiful views & we even got to see a fireworks show over the water on our way out.

We ended our trip perfectly with lunch at an Irish pub looking over the water.  I was definitely not ready to leave & wished we had one more day, but all good things must come to an end!

Meehan's Irish pub

Unfortunately as good as the weekend was, yesterday was awful.  I got up early to hit the gym before work & felt a little nauseous.  Fast forward an hour & I was barfing, fast forward a few more hours & I full blown flu symptoms with aches, chills & all.  I was absolutely miserable, left work early & laid in bed ALL DAY LONG.  I'm so much better today & back to having Wednesdays off which I'm exceptionally thankful for.  Both kiddos will be spending the day with me & I look forward to a relaxing, low-key day at home!  Hope you're all having a great week!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

We had an awesome Thanksgiving & I was very sad to be heading back to work this morning after five glorious days with my family.  Wednesday ended up being great; I spent the day with the kids, prepped for Thanksgiving, listened to Christmas music & enjoyed the quickly cooling breeze through the open sliders.

I was so surprised when my mom called & said that my sister would be joining them to spend the night (as well as my nieces).  As we all gathered around the table talking & drinking chocolate peppermint martinis, we wondered why my brother & SIL weren't coming after my brother got off work.  A quick text later & they decided they'd come too!

Documenting what we're thankful for!

After the kids played together until they crashed, the adults hung out on the patio chatting it up & having an impromptu dance party.  Chocolate peppermint martinis do that to you!

I was positively giddy when we woke up to 39 degree weather on Thanksgiving morning!!  It's not often that we get to feel cool weather in November, so I was thankful that it truly felt like the holidays.

Since we were in Asheville last Thanksgiving, this was our very first in our "new" house.  It was so awesome to actually have room for everyone to sleep & eat!  I was very thankful for that.

I caught this little stinker sneaking candy from the lingering Halloween stash right before dinner!

Friday was equally as awesome & spent buying & decorating our Christmas tree.  Yes, apparently my son enjoys decorating in his undies.  Hey, whatever floats his boat.

This was the first year that Cam was really into decorating the Christmas tree & he did such a great job!  We watched Elf as we decorated.

Unfortunately I woke up super early Sunday morning with some mega anxiety.  I didn't want to go back to work after having so much fun with the kids, I get anxiety on Sundays in general, I was sad the holiday was already over & with it being officially December, my to-do list was screaming at me.  Luckily I worked hard & got my annual Shutterfly picture calendars done, so that took some pressure off. 

 Mike's taking the day off with me Wednesday & hopefully we'll be getting the majority of our shopping done.  I'm trying to keep the month manageable so I can enjoy it instead of stressing.. sucks to be a worrier!

In keeping with the Dave Ramsey cash system we've been following, we're completely budgeted for Christmas which also takes a lot of stress off.  No more January dread with a massive credit card bill.  It is amazing though how much everything involved with Christmas quickly adds up.  I create one of the more reasonable Christmas cards from Shutterfly, but those + 60 postage stamps = $60 alone.  

We don't go insane buying gifts for our kids either since they have plenty of toys already & we certainly don't need more "stuff" taking up space in our house.  Christmas definitely doesn't have to mean going broke

And I have to admit, one of my favorite things about Christmas is having Fella our elf hanging around.  I love this little guy & so do my kids!  After my little bout of anxiety in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I've gotten it together so I can enjoy the holiday & not stress myself through it.  Happy December, Happy Christmas! 

Woke up, got out of bed...

Every so often I like to do a day in the life post so I can look back & remember what my day looked like in different seasons of life.  I find that any time I think about doing this post, A Day in the Life by the Beatles pops into my head.  Woke up, got out of bed, dragged a comb across my head!  Anyway...  So, I'll do a run through of what a typical Monday looks like in my life.  Not that I imagine you care so much, but I do!  I'll post pictures from my cell that I took over the week as I babble.

Enjoying the lake near our house last Wednesday

My alarm blares out at 5am as I miserably drag myself out of bed & head to the gym.  Most mornings I think that I'd give my right arm to sleep a little longer.  Then I tell myself that I'll go to bed super early that night, though I rarely do.  I'm back from the gym & in the shower at 6:30, get both kids up around 7 & head out the door at 7:30.  I drop the kids off at daycare & clock-in at 8:15.  After screening patients & figuring out who I'm seeing that day, I head up to ICU rounds at 10am, see patients until 12:30 & then head to lunch.  Thirty minutes go far too quickly.  I chart for the rest of the day.

I clock-out at 4:45pm, get the kids & get home by 5:30.  I've changed my Tuesday/Thursday schedule & work from 7:15-3:45 which is awesome.  Mike takes the kids to school those days & before he's home from work, they're already bathed & in their pajamas & we've even had time to take a walk around the neighborhood.  When I get home on Mondays, I bathe the kids, get them in their PJs, reheat leftovers from Sunday & by that time Mike is getting home.  

Bath time!

 

We eat, play & put Reese to bed by 7pm the latest.  The girl is out cold within minutes since daycare wears her out so much.  Cam goes to bed a little before 8pm.

I try to take a 15 minute afternoon walk everyday

Mike & I hang out & watch TV until I head to bed to read until around 10pm or so.  As much as I'd love to stay up later, it's not worth feeling exhausted the next day, so I make myself go to sleep.  After about fifteen minutes of reading my Kindle, I can no longer keep my eyes open & I go to sleep.  Wake & repeat, wake & repeat until it's TGIFn'F!

Our meals are usually pretty quick & simple during the week.  Monday is always leftovers from Sunday, Tuesday is something quick like these make ahead muffin melts from the Pioneer Woman.  Mike was sweet enough to make the mixture Monday night as I watched the Bachelor finale at Lauren's house.  I topped English muffins with the mixture, popped them under the broiler for about ten-fifteen minutes & dinner was served.  Since I'm home Wednesday, I make a better meal that extends leftovers to Thursday & Friday is always pizza & salad.  Since we're following a tighter budget, we've switched from Perno Pizza Friday or pizza delivery to frozen pizza.

Speaking of budgeting, I'll be following the envelope system in style thanks to my incredibly sweet friend, Lesli.  No plain, boring envelopes for this gal; I'll be toting these colorful babies that Lesli so craftily made!  Thank you so much, Lesli, I love you!

Recent happenings

We have had a very busy week!  We've been working through Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover & getting into a more solid budget & routine.  I'll blog more about that later, but one of the biggest things we've changed is completely planning out our weekly meals, shopping for everything on Saturday and paying with cash from a budget we've set for ourselves.  I made a list of meal ideas on the dry erase board in our laundry room & pick from it each week.  As I come up with more ideas from shows I watch, I add them to the board.  It's made menu planning a lot easier!

 
If you're at all familiar with Dave's program, you create an envelope system for any of your non-bill needs & budget each paycheck down to the dime.  When the cash is out, the cash is out.  No borrowing from another envelope.. if you don't have it, you wait!  It's teaching me a lot of patience!!!  We've been thinking more & more about our future & want to be sure we have our ducks in a row so we can retire at a decent age, send our kids to college, be able to travel, etc.  Working through this book has really, really helped us get on the same page financially.  We used to get into a fight any time we had a budget talk, but this has seriously made a world of a difference.  We've set weekly budget meetings for every Wednesday night.  I'm sure you'll hear me blather on about this more in future posts, but I'll stop now!

I'm still working on The Happiness Project too, but February somehow got away from me!  Last month focused on marriage.  Since a solid marriage is strongly associated with happiness, this is a big goal for the project.  Mike & I met when we were 16, started dating a month after I turned 17 & got married on my 23rd birthday.  We have always had a very solid relationship, even as high schoolers.  We've never done the drama bit, breaking up & making up.  But like any relationship, if you become complacent, things can suffer.  The book states that marital satisfaction drops substantially after the first child arrives.  I found this to be very true... the sleepless nights & stress of having a new baby really tested our patience with one another.  I feel like the foundation of a good relationship is sticking together through the tough times.  I recently read someone from a long-term relationship say that they're secret was knowing there would be some bad years mixed into your marriage.  Can't just expect peaches & cream all the time; I know I'm certainly not always a ray of sunshine!!  Especially when it's PMS week... yikes, run for cover, Mike!!

Weeknight walk in our PJs!

My biggest goal for making a positive change is to think before I speak.  When I'm tired, stressed & frustrated with things that have nothing at all to do with Mike, I tend to be snappy, impatient & rude.  He doesn't deserve it!  I also want to be more outspoken with my appreciation of him & more considerate.  Do you ever notice that sometimes you're more considerate & charming with a stranger than your own spouse?  It's crazy when I think about it.  

Reese, where's your belly?!

Look at that big attitude in such a small package!

As I'm rambling, I'm posting pictures off my cell that I took throughout the week.  The kids are celebrating Dr. Seuss week in honor of his birthday & Monday was mixed-up Monday.  We sent the kids totally mismatched so I was shocked when they were seriously the only mismatched kids in their classes as I dropped them off!! 

About two weekends ago, our girl decided walking was a great idea & she's never looked back!

So, back to The Happiness Project..  My goal for January was to tackle some nagging tasks & I really feel like I succeeded.  I finally went to the dermatologist for a skin test & I'm so glad I did.  I had three moles removed & biopsied.  I got a call back last week; two were benign & one was dysplatic which is also benign but has an increased risk for developing into cancer.  Once the scab is gone from the biopsy site, I need to make sure there is no trace of the mole; if there is, I have it further removed.  The latest I go back is 6 months from now.  I've also been hammering away at my continuing education hours.  When I started 2013, I had zero & now I have 13.5 out of the 30 I need by mid-May.  It feels so good to get things that have been bugging me off the to-do list.

My big helper!

We've been having some issues with Cam & his teacher lately.  Daycare pick-up has not been pleasant since I'm getting a negative report nearly every day.  I'll never have the mentality of "not my child!" but I do feel like his teacher is part of the problem.  She is so abrasive & impatient.  I see her yelling at other kids when they're doing nothing but being kids.  Monday, he was so happy when I picked him up & she was quick to swoop over & ask me why I didn't return his soccer coach's phone call.  (Every Monday he is part of a soccer team that comes to the school.)  I told her there was no phone call to return & she told me they were not happy with his behavior.  Mike called the coach who said there was no true problem & that's why he hadn't even bothered to call us.  He said Cam's attention span was a little short, but otherwise he was great.  That tells us that Cam's teacher is just looking for trouble.  If this keeps up, we'll have to call in a meeting with her & the director.

And lastly, our little Drama Queen has gotten into throwing little tantrums on the floor.  They are hilarious to watch, let me tell you.  It starts with a very ungraceful belly flop where she then rolls & flops around like a fish out of water!  Such a nut!!  Anyway, that's what's going on in our neck of the woods.. hope you're all having a great week too!