life in a nutshell

I think the title is misleading but then again I have never been good at titles. My life is always overly busy and I guess that is the nutshell but other than that it never goes according to plan or in a smooth line.

Last week every night had a 10 item long to do list and I was just frantic running around trying to get things done.
My budget for August was hurting until a random check from my mom came in the mail. It was a godsend and I truly appreciate it. I was able to pay the sitter and then used the 1/3 rule for anything extra. This 1/3 rule applied to the extra from that check and the other items I sold through Amazon and FB allowed me to put $37 in our emergency savings account, $37 toward a bill and $37 I used for some groceries, a haircut for Logan and some needed items for the dog. $37 does not sound like a lot to put in savings but when you have been living paycheck to paycheck for so long it sounds amazing. There is a comfort knowing that this method may mean money if something comes up without us having to borrow or do without.

I have mapped out my September budget and made my budget notebook so I can keep up with where the money goes and there are no surprises.

August was also a month where I was lacking inspiration for meals and I ended up throwing together a lot of junky type quick fixes. I am looking at planning better for September so I will be hitting up the recipe books and pinterest to make a skeleton menu for the month before hitting the grocery store this weekend.

One other thing this month is I have been able to barter and resell a ton of items from the house. Having some non cluttered surfaces makes my soul happy and I can see craft projects getting accomplished soon. This is much needed since we always make almost our Christmas gifts and to get them done I need to plan and get started. I am going to can some more stuff and that will be part of the gifts but I also want to get some sewing and art projects done.

Trouble in Grocery Land

If I stay away from the store I would have no trouble with keeping the totals below $200 but the lack of a freezer and a toddler who inhales milk is keeping me in the store.

The total so far was 158.81+19.77+10.08=$188.66

I am still below the total with very little left in the month but I am sure if I could have avoided the last couple of trips to the store I could have saved a ton of money.

Trying to avoid the grocery store

Trying to avoid the grocery store is easier said than done. I called home on my way home from work on Thursday and asked if we needed anything before I made it home and was asked to stop for some yogurt. It ended up being a pleasant surprise. I picked up a package of spinach that was marked down as well as some organic baby romaine that was also marked down. Bananas,yogurt and some ink pens rounded out the bill. I had a coupon on the ink pens which gave me money back on them and a $3 off purchase catalina that had printed previously. When I checked out though the cashier told me that I would get $.54 back. I thought she was mistaken but it turns out that Kroger had refunded the amount of the receipt from my complaint onto my card and so I walked out with the groceries and $.54. I did end up going back tonight to pick up some milk, bananas, bread ( I could not remember if I had some in the freezer, I did), some flank steak that had marked down and some biscuits I had a coupon on. The total for tonight was $13.27 and so the new totals are below.

August totals: $146.08-$.54+$13.27= $158.81

Rain and line drying clothes do not mix

Last night I remembered to run my errand on the way home so yeah me. I stopped at Target hoping to get some crayons for the munchkin's birthday goody bags but alas they were out. While there though I took advantage of some awesome coupons from the Sunday paper and a bag discount managing to score 6 shave gels and 2 shampoos for .94!!! I dropped off the trade items and then turned in some books at the library before heading home.  Of course by the time I did this and made it home the clothes I had on the line were getting drenched by the surprise rain storm and had to end up in the dryer.



Last night I made burgers for dinner from patties and buns in the freezer. It was quick and pretty yummy.

Info on August totals: $.94 added to $145.14 for a total of $146.08

FB and my stress level

I am a FB addict which I freely admit but this addiction is causing me some horrid stress lately. I have had to leave several of the groups because of hysteria inducing posts. For some reason people think if you garden and try to live green that you are ok with all the prepper information and other practices they consider "granola". I do not think the US is in danger of being run by the military or that I need to build a bunker to live. I also resent the word sheeple for people who do not turn to this hysteria. That is my other current beef with FB, the ease with which people call each other names.

Sorry for the unrelated rant but I am just tired of it and thinking my life would be simpler without FB.

Work and other activities

I am seriously a creature of habit and I like my habits! After work today I was supposed to drop off a trade item but instead drove straight home like I had nothing else going on. The best excuse I can come up with is it was not my trade, I am just acting as a go between so it was not on my radar. To prevent this from happening again tomorrow the 2 parties who the trade is for are supposed to remind me. We shall see how this goes!

We went through all of our DVDs and downsized them. I have listed a ton on amazon and the few that are not worth a lot for sale value I will try to trade. The cash can be used for bills and anything I trade for is something I do not have to buy. Getting rid of a ton of DVDs allowed us to fit the remaining in our cabinet and clean up our fireplace. I totally cleaned the floors tonight ( swept 4 times, steam mopped twice) and now as soon as I go through the munchkin's toys and clean my couch cushions the project will be totally done. Decluttering is helping us pay bills and I think adding some peace to our lives with the lack of clutter. As soon as I am done with the livingroom/kitchen and have traded all my listed items or found them new homes through another means I am going to start on the bar area which is where my crafts are. The last frontier in the house them will be our room/bathroom. I can almost taste the zen feeling of having a clean and clutter free house, of course with a toddler and a collector for a husband it will never be totally clutter free but at least there can be some order to my world. After the house I am going to tackle the porch and yard.

As far as totals on groceries I went to Kroger on Friday to use up some of their coupons for free items that were downloaded to my card. I then ended up back at Kroger last night for more milk. My totals for the 2 visits were $3.04 and $2.78 so the total for the month is $145.14. We are almost half way through so I am hoping to keep it to a minimum. I lucked out and got a $3.00 off any purchase at Kroger coupon so I can get another gallon of milk free this month plus some change off something else. I will try to plan accordingly.

Saturdays at our house....

I would say today was a normal Saturday and part of it was but truly what are normal days?  This morning I had to get up earlier than I would have liked to get to the co-op for my basket pick-up. The basket this time was a good mix and the couple of items we will not eat I am trading for some more mason jars so it is an amazing win for me. After coming home Phillip was off to mow the church's lawn and I laid back down since the munchkin was still asleep. I ended up getting up, hanging a load of laundry out and getting a shower before he woke up. He got up just as I was headed in there to get him dressed so we could go to Lowe's for the build and grow clinic. He enjoys the builds and gets free toys out of it. We left Lowe's and went to the library which is another of our favorite places to be. After the adventure in books we went to the bank which I will say is sheer torture. I generally never go through the drive through but I needed non twenties so I had to actually cash a check instead of using the ATM. Literally 20 minutes later with only 1 car in front of us we were home. I bartered with someone for a bicycle and was paying gas money for her to deliver and so we made sure we were home and she has as of yet to arrive or message me. I am afraid I had the wrong day but really afraid that I have been stood up. Logan, Phillip and I just hung around the house and by that I mean Phillip took a shower and then checked his email and then a nap. Logan chased the dog around endlessly until I finished listing items on ebay, fb and craigslist and suggested we go outside to plant the garden. Getting the clothes off the line was my main objective but we also cleaned out my irises, planted some bulbs that were laying around, and put in our fall garden. All of this allowed the sprinkler to come on and the munchkin to play in the water, that is until his dada reminded me it was not Sunday which is our day to water and then we ceased the sprinkler fun. Logan still managed to have fun playing in the mud we created while I cleaned up the garden tools and then in for baths. Dinner was quite simple but yummy all the same tonight. I fixed chicken and parmesan pasta with a side salad using lettuce from the co-op basket and watermelon also from the basket. Dinner is cleaned up and I am getting ready to get off here and play Uno Moo with a child who is tired but trying not to fall asleep. We had to pick up his room earlier and he used that time to pick out his 3 books for bed time tonight.

So for the day off "work"

I am not sure how the child magically knows when I have a day off. He is almost always still asleep when I take him to the sitter at 7:30 each morning and yet today when we could have slept in he was up at 6:00am, so needless to say that is when my day got started. Despite being off I still took him to the sitter so I could try to get more stuff done than is possible with a toddler who sprouts 20 hands anytime I am trying to clean. Out of my list of 20 items to do today I have so far accomplished 7 and there is still time left in the day. Unfortunately since the child decided to get up early I am exhausted but really need to get a couple more things done since people are coming by the house tomorrow early enough that I will not have a chance to get a bunch done. The excitement tomorrow will be my new bike! It will be way to hot to ride tomorrow but I am excited all the same to have a bike finally. There is an amazing amount more I could type but I need to get off here and get the munchkin in the bath and remake his bed so he can got to sleep.

Yeah for unexpected days off work!

A fabulous surprise that makes my week, we have to close tomorrow for new flooring so I have the day off work! My first thought was to keep the munchkin home but I checked that train before it got to far from the station. I will take him to the sitter in the morning and then come back to the house to tackle some of my list! There are always a ton of things I want to do that are to much of a hassle with the boys ( the munchkin and his dada) at the house. Plan so far is to take the munchkin to the sitter and come home to do some yard work before it gets to hot, I need to tear out my garden and get the fall garden started. I am going to use the square foot gardening method I believe for the fall. Turbo has also got to get a bath and then I can get showered and tackle the house. I need to get ready for the JBF sale when I do not have small hands trying to clean all the toys out of the to go pile. I am hoping I can also organize my ebay and amazon items in the office closet and reclaim so space for crafts. If I amazingly have any time left I think I am going to get started on some sewing projects. This is of course my vision of tomorrow and who knows what it will actually look like.

As for the menu this month, last night we had hot dogs to use up some buns I bought at the day old store. This was served with homemade shells and cheese. I have not a clue what we are having tonight but need to start thinking about it.

The September debt free budget is tossing and turning in my head so I will probably get it down on paper over the next couple of weeks and try to convince Phillip to put his on paper.

Grocery totals for August

Grocery totals for August this far:

Mrs.Baird's Outlet store (Day old bread)- $14.00
Kroger: $1.49
Sprouts: $18.57
Target: $94.26
Co-op: $11.00

for a total of $139.32


I managed to only have $72.99 come out of my bank account because of some rebate cards I received from AT&T($10.00 as a customer reward) and Hyundai (gas mileage class action suit).  Trading will net me some more items through the month I hope so I can minimize any further hits to the bank account.  I am also ramping up my items for sale on ebay, etsy and amazon trying to generate the extra income needed to get some bills paid off and some more put away for a rainy day.

The weekend has come and gone again

I feel like this could be a revolving post that I put out every Monday morning. I overcommitted this weekend and had a to do list that was way to long and did not get it all done. Logan stayed up to late on Friday night so we missed the books in the garden event in the morning but that is ok. We cleaned up some around the house and then had lunch with Grandma to us, Mimi to Logan. It was a nice visit and I am glad that Logan is able to get to know his great grandmother and spend some time with her. After we came home I dropped him with his dada and headed to Target to finish the monthly grocery shopping. I had made the mistake of trying to do the shopping on Friday night with him in tow, lesson learned. When he was younger, heck until a few weeks ago he was easily entertained in the store and actually enjoyed going with me but now he has turned into a wanting, grabbing, not listening tiny human who I stress over. Grocery shopping done on Saturday night and then on to more cleaning and getting ready for Sunday. Church on Sunday morning, potluck after, home for quick naps and some more trying to clean up the house and then on to a local minor league baseball game. Our local team is really great for the kids. The field is small and you get to sit close to the field, the prices are fantastic and the players chat with the kids. After the game the kids are allowed on the field to run the bases, my child made us all laugh. He did not understand the base running and has never been one to follow the crowd so he headed out to run the perimeter of the field. He was giving players 5 and running his little heart out. Finally after making it nearly to the home team bullpen a player stopped him to give him a ball and this allowed Phillip to catch up with him. They then went to run the bases properly. The ball was the highlight of his night though, he was happy with his "spaceball".

The menu over the weekend looked like:

Friday: I made spaghetti using left over meatloaf muffins that I ground back up as the meat.
Saturday: I made ranch pork chops in the crockpot which we had with leftover baked beans
Sunday: Grilled cheese sandwiches after the game since we had a big lunch at the church's potluck


I am right at $100 for the month's groceries and should be able to maintain close to that total.  The precise amounts will be up after I go home and get the total off my Target receipt. There will be 2 more co-ops this month for fruits and veggies and a couple more trips for milk where I will need to watch myself and the clearance section.

As far as becoming debt free a big leap was made in that direction, we terminated our cable as of Saturday the 3rd of August. This put my bill with AT&T down from $142.00 a month to $46.00, since we are keeping our internet connected. I will be able to use this money toward paying off one of my student loans this year. This will be another small weight off my shoulders and will make it easier to put a little more money into our savings account for emergencies as well as for a vacation. The goal after that will be my larger student loan which is going to be a more long term goal.