Family Goals -- We're All In This Together!

(above image from The New Yorker)

Continuing our "Dollars and Sense" series:

When trying to budget and save $$, it's wise (after the parents have discussed a plan first with each other) to sit down for a family meeting! :)

1. Use this family meeting time to discuss things positively, honestly, and age-appropriately! Even younger kids can understand that the family is going to be careful spending money, and that everyone in the family can be a helper with this! Be sure not to worry your kids, but sound positive about changes and the ultimate outcome. Let them know "We're all in this together! :)"
2. Brainstorm as a family some ways to save $$ around the house. Use this time as a reminder to turn off lights, unplug items not in use (energy is still being used when plugged in), turn off water faucet when brushing teeth, etc.
3. Talk about how everyone is going to be making a few sacrifices to save $$. Give a couple examples of sacrifices that you are willing to make (giving up coffees, color your own hair), and let everyone come up with a few ideas of things they could give up/cut back on. Talk about how everyone has to work together to reach the family goals. Add up what these savings would be each month, and get excited!!
4. Let kids know if they want something they can either: 1) put it on a future gift list, 2) think of a low-cost version of the same thing, or 3) come up with a way to earn the $ themselves! Remind them of what is a Need vs. what is a Want, and let them know that they might not get everything they want & that's ok.
5. Have a list of fun, free family events that you could do together (we just went to a free kids Fall Fest and had a great time), and vote on something to do each week! Just because you're on a budget doesn't mean there can't be amazing family fun!!!
6. Discuss where monthly family savings will be used. Maybe the extra $$ will go toward paying bills, saving for a new couch, or a family vacation! Kids feel excited to know they are saving for a goal. You could even create a chart to color in the money saved until the goal is reached!
7. Have family meetings once a month to do an update on things!

I'd like to add that even if there are no kids at home, you can still meet as a couple and have this discussion! :)

I hope this will get you started on your own Family Meeting!

Have a blessed day, and tomorrow for "Creating a Welcoming Home Thursday" I'll give you my plans for a dinner party we're having Sat. night! It'll be a fun twist on things!!

Thinking Outside The Vase?!

I got an award today from Ms. Sandy Toes at Shell in Your Pocket!! THANK YOU, Sandy Toes!! Y'all should really check out her lovely blog! I love reading it, and seeing her sweet little moppets, and her decorating ideas -- she did a great, inexpensive re-do of her kids bathroom -- go take a look!

I'd like to pass this award on to:

Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam--Jen has a passion for homemaking, hospitality, saving $$, being a great mom and finding the beauty in things...all amist the crazy bedlam of everyday life! I just love reading her blog and would love to meet her in "real life" someday! Go & get ready to love this blog!

ALVN at WhisperWood Cottage--I met ALVN through the junk community online, and met her in person at Junk Bonanza! She is so sweet and fun, and I just know we'd be junkin' together on the weekends if only we weren't half a country apart! :) Check out her blog to see her amazing garage sale finds and read about her junking adventures!!

Dawn at The Feathered Nest --*sigh* I want to be Dawn when I grow up! I literally sigh everytime I click on her blog! She is an amazing artist, and has such lovely things to share!! Dawn loves birds as much as I do, and often has pretty art for us to click on and use ourselves :)! Thanks, Dawn! She also has her work featured in Somerset Life, and has online tutorials for sale for all of us artist wanna-be's like me!!! Go get a cup of tea, and enjoy the loveliness!

Ok...what's this picture of, you ask? Why is it so...empty...bare...dare I say...plain?!

Well, dear friends, today I'd like to do something to stretch your decorating and budgeting imaginations! Get you to think outside the "vase", so to speak!!

:)

I try to buy things only if I know several ways or several places to use it! The reasons: It saves money to get lots of use out of something, plus I like to have lots of options since I change my decorating mind often :)!!

I got this "vase" at Wal-Mart, and there are quite a few ways to use this!!

Here's just 3: bouquet of gorgeous flowers, holding bath salts with a ribbon tied around, flipped upside-down to hold a platter on a buffet table!

There are tons of other ways to use this/decorate this up!

What would YOU do if this were yours???

Sunroom -- Before Pics

Here's our sunroom! I mentioned in the last post that this is the room that I want to really "makeover" by the end of the year, so I thought I'd show some "before" pics for y'all!

This is also a good example of a room done on a budget!!

(I apologize for the terrible lighting/color of these pics -- it's a horribly gray, icky day today! But this will just make the "after" pics look that much better, right? ;) Humor me!)

The sunroom is at the very back of our house, and overlooks our deck and garden in the backyard. We just love this room! It's a great place for snuggling up with a book, or having breakfast with my hubby on a Saturday!

How did we/are we doing this room on a budget? Let's take a look!

First of all, this room (along with the rest of the house) is ever evolving, a piece at a time!

This is actually the 2nd couch and chair that this room has seen in 1 1/2 yrs. The originals were a loveseat from our former home(s) that is now in our master bedroom, and a wing chair we got free from my husband's former workplace when they were going to throw it out! It has a slipcover, and is in the "bonus room/playroom" now!

This couch and chair we also got for FREE from my sister when she bought new furniture!! Score! I had wanted a larger couch in here, but wasn't going to purchase one. This worked out perfectly. The exchange for my sis? When we end up donating or selling a couch of ours in the future, we give her the tax write-off or $! Sounds fair to me! This set fits nicely with our garden cottage style for this room, but it won't look the same when we're done!

This is the french door going out to the deck. And the oh-so-loverly "playpen" where my puppy stays when we leave the house. This room has a wonderful large tile floor, which can any puppy mess can be easily cleaned up from! Also perfect for kiddo shoes covered in NC red clay after playing in the backyard!

I just love the architechtural piece above the door! I got that at Kane County Flea Market (in IL) years ago. It supposedly came from a house in Wisconsin! The tin tile hanging on the wall also came from a flea market. I think I got that for $9.

The large tree is actually a fake from HomeGoods, and the iron & glass end table bought at 1/2 price when I hosted a Southern Living @ Home Show!

The potting bench-type piece above was bought secondhand, and filled with thrift & flea market items. The Pepsi crate holds my gardening magazines!

This is the opposite side of the room. You can guess how high the ceilings are by the scale of the furniture! The round end table is a cheap particleboard with 3 legs you can buy anywhere, and it's covered with inexpensive white toppers from Target or someplace like that. The other end table is from a flea market, and is the base to a sewing table re-made with a new chippy white, wood top!

The seagrass rug & coffee table I had seen in the builder's model home and I fell in looove! We asked for the rug from Ballard's (on sale) for Christmas from my parents! The coffee table was a Broyhill piece that was no longer sold in stores, but I tracked one down at their clearance warehouse a couple hours from here, and ended up saving a bundle!!

Recognize the items on the round table? Got them a couple months ago at a shop's 50% off everything sale! Seriously inexpensive!! The large wire basket? Wait till you see what we do with that!

This old scale below was a fun find! My cloche fit perfectly on top!! I used a garage sale green depression glass plate and a rusty fairy girl (I may put some moss under that), along with a bird nest& greenery spray I used as a decoration at my sister's baby shower (you know, for the "Nesting Instinct"? :)

This is the view looking back into our breakfast nook, and down the central hallway!

The reason there are 2 little things hung all alone on that great big wall, is there used to be another cabinet piece there (now holding soaps and cleaning supplies in my laundry room!). Ignore that!

Well, this should give you a blurry idea of what the sunroom currently looks like! It'll look quite different when I'm done with it :)!!

I hope you enjoyed these "before" pics...can't wait to work on this room with you guys over the next month or 2!!

Grocery Shopping -- Getting the Most for Your $

Yay!! We've been getting some GREAT comments and ideas from you over this series! I just love that everyone out there wants to help each other :)!! Let's keep up the "discussion" today!!!


Today let's share tips on ways to save $$ at the grocery store! I decided to do this post today so that you have the weekend to learn, clip coupons with the Sunday paper, organize, & plan your meals! I am first to admit that I HATE grocery shopping. So, anything that will make the process faster and easier (on me AND my wallet) is ok by me! :)

• Gather the Goods! Get yourself a binder, Sunday paper, scissors, etc., and start clipping those coupons! Also, if you Google "coupons", you'll have TONS of sites pop up where you can print out coupons for everything under the sun! Ms. Jen at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam has a WONDERFUL TUTORIAL for getting started with a coupon binder! She has been a great inspiration for those of us in blogland oblivious to the true $ saving power of the coupon! Also inspired by Jen was Imperfect at Beautifully Imperfect, who showed off her lovely coupon binder and how she put hers together! I'm going to try this this week! Thanks you guys! :)
• Learn about your Grocery Store! Check if your grocery store has a free customer card that will save you $ automatically at check out -- most do, and you should ALWAYS use it! Plus, this alone will more often than not spit out an extra coupon or 2 for your next visit attached to your receipt! Find out if your stores accept coupons printed from the internet. Watch for when certain stores have double or triple coupon days!
• Look at the Weekly Flyers! Check what is on sale at your local stores by reading those grocery flyers stuffed in your mailbox each week! Compare the stores to each other, and make your weekly grocery list/meal plan from what is on sale. Be sure to check the lesser known brands at the store to make sure that you are really getting the best price. See what you have a coupon for that's also on sale -- this is how you save big!
• Organize your Shopping List! Once you've made your meal plan for the week based on what's on sale, combined with what you have coupons for, you need to make your Shopping List! I like to organize mine by what goes together at the grocery store. For example, I list all of the frozen things I need together, the dairy items together, baking needs, etc. I think this makes it easier when I go down an aisle to just glance at one section of the list, not having to scan up & down over and over again to make sure I didn't forget anything, and thus having to backtrack in the store!

Now, I'd like to stop right here and go over the past 2 lessons: Know your Budget, and Needs vs. Wants:

You must have a grocery budget for the month in mind, a $ amount that you should stick to to keep the rest of the monthly budget in line. Split this over the number of weeks, and there's your weekly grocery budget. STICK TO IT!!!

Honestly think about what is a Need and what is a Want! You NEED things like: milk, bread, meat, eggs, etc. You do NOT need things like: pop, alcohol, chips, packaged cookies, or individual frozen meals. These things are NOT necessary. They are fun, they taste good, our families may love them, but push come to shove, they are the last things to use our grocery $$ on! I know a lot of us want to just save a few dollars and we'll be happy with that, yet there's a lot of us who also have to streeeetch those few grocery dollars for everything they're worth, and I really believe that we need to make healthy, smart grocery choices as a priority. I'm sure that your family would agree to skip getting so many packaged snack foods in order for the family to have $$ for other necessary things, or even a family fun day with saved $$!

With this in mind, here's some more Grocery Shopping Tips! :) :

• Don't go to the store hungry! That's how you end up with so many chips and ice cream and checkout candy items on the conveyor belt! If you're hungry, you'll grab more stuff. Go shopping with a satisfied tummy, and your wallet will thank you!
• Just because something is on sale, doesn't mean you have to get it! So many of us are LURED like sailors to a Siren (anyone else remember Homer's The Odyssey?) when we see a SALE sign!! We think, "What a bargain! This is a great price! I. must. have. this. item!!! I don't know if my family will: wear/fit/eat/like/want/need this particular item, but it's on sale! Look how much I saved on this possibly useless item!" (And this applies at the grocery, garage sales, mall, etc.) Really think about every purchase that you plan to make, and see if it's truly necessary. You may save some money on a sale item, but money is also usually SPENT! Pennies and dimes add up to money lost, my friends. Shop sales wisely.
• Check the Bakery for FREE treats! If your little ones are with you, often times a quick swing by the bakery for a free cookie will keep them happy as they "help" mommy around the store! Lots of groceries do this -- just ask!
• Stick to the List! Don't sway from your list -- this just adds $$ to your total bill. Resist. Stay firm! You'll be glad :) you did!
• Always compare prices! Sale prices aren't always the cheapest. Sometimes a store or generic brand will be less than even the sale price. Compare, being sure to factor in coupons too, for the best bargain!
• Carry a Calculator! This is something I'm going to start to do! Add items up roughly as you shop, and you'll know you won't go over budget!
• Split with a Friend! Some of you like to shop the warehouse type of store for items in bulk. My warning: know your prices. Sometimes this is a deal, and sometimes the Grocery chain store sales are cheaper! Divide it out, and check the math. If you find a good price at the warehouse store, ask a friend to split the cost! Don't need 40 chicken breasts? Split with a friend. Can't eat 25 apples this week? Ask your friend to split the cost and the apples. Just be sure to work this out ahead of time! :) My sister and I have done this sucessfully.
• Decide How Far You'll Go! My mother in law and best friend will happily drive all around because this store has berries on sale, and that has chicken breasts on sale. I don't have the time or energy to do that. We stick to one or 2 stores, and get the job done. Decide for yourself. You may be able to save some $, but how much would you spend on gas? Know your store locations and different sales, and see what's worth it to you.
• Shop discount stores! Anyone have an ALDI near them? They have great items for super-great prices. We recently found that Wal-Mart has good grocery prices too, though not the full variety of a regular store.
• Share With Others! Think about getting a couple of non-perishable items every month to donate to a local food pantry. There are lots of good people who could use the extra help that these services provide. Bless someone else this week!

That's it for today! Don't forget to check out Jen and Imperfect, and let's continue to share ideas with each other!! Leave a comment with how you like to save $$ at the Grocery Store!

Dollars and Sense 2 -- Needs vs. Wants

Okay, everyone! I'm going to be continuing our "Dollars and Sense" series today (read yest. post to catch up if needed!) by talking about Needs vs. Wants. Did you take a look at your monthly finances yesterday? Are you bringing home more $ than you spend?? Could some things be trimmed from the list? Could we just stand to be better stewards of our $$? Let's take a look:

Needs: what you absolutely must have! Housing, food, major utilities, adequate clothing, transportation, medical care options, insurance (medical, house, renters, car, life, etc.).

Wants: things you might really really desire, but are not necessary! Things like: getting your nails done, eating out, coffees, video games, tanning beds (hopefully for the cancer risk you aren't doing this anyway!), extra home accessories, etc.

Okay, got the basics? Pretty easy, right? Here's where the hard part comes...You have to adjust your way of thinking! You MUST if you want to save $$!!! Every time you go to purchase something, you must think: is this a NEED or a WANT.

Do not fall into the trap of thinking "Well, it's on sale"....or...."I deserve to get xyz because I've been doing well"...! This only sucks away your $$! It's a lie we tell ourselves to justify our spending. Think only : "Need or Want?"

WANTS can be added to a gift list for Christmas or birthday possibilities (with the knowledge by the family that not every item on the list will be given), or WANTS can be purchased with extra money available only after all of the monthly NEEDS have been paid, and some is placed into savings.

NEEDS may be purchased if they fall into your budgeted amount for the item (say, $40 for a new coat for your child) and after doing some comparison shopping for the best price! Also, for NEEDS such as this (a coat) you must make sure that all of your regular monthly bills--the most important NEEDS-- are paid for first...otherwise that coat may have to keep kiddo warm because the gas heat has been turned off for late payment! ( Late payments on your mortgage or utilities being shut off also get reported to the Credit agencies, and your chances for future loans/good rates are very much affected by this! Please pay on time!)

Where can we trim our monthly expenses? Ask what is really necessary, and what is fun but not a NEED right now.

Could you do without eating out so often to save some big bucks? Could you do without cable? Paint your own fingernails at home? Start to cut your families hair yourself? How about choosing healthy, needed foods at the grocery, and do without buying pop or chips or many expensive, packaged foods! Call the credit card companies and ask for a lower interest rate? Have friends over instead of spending money going out? Ask your families to add things they desire onto a gift list (knowing they might not get it all!) instead of buying the latest video game or sweater or book right now?! You can do it!!

I feel so strongly about this, about being personally responsible for our financial choices, dear readers, that I ache! I could get on a serious soap-box. I could be Drill Sargeant Stacey and give you true stories of irresponsibility and how it has ruined families. I could cry because I know that some of you want to cut back on spending, and some of you are truly truly struggling financially. But all I can really do is pray for you all, dear readers, and try to give some basic guidance. The rest is up to YOU!! Ultimately, YOU YOU YOU are the ones responsible for being caretakers of your family's finances. YOU must make the daily choice to stay on task. To do your best to stretch those dollars. To be responsible. This road may not be fun, and it won't be easy for all...some of those dollars are going to have to really stretch far...but it can be walked down successfully! I really believe that you can do it!!!

Yesterday and today's posts are just the basic foundation for the rest of our series! What you'll have to keep in mind for everything else! :)

Take a look at your monthly expenses.

Ask what is a NEED and what is a WANT. Find ways to trim the budget accordingly.

We'll go into more ways to do this starting tomm., when we'll do ways to save at the GROCERY!

ps--my friend Angie at Sandals and Daisies made a great list yesterday of ways to save money! Go check it out!!

Making "Dollars and Sense"!

With rising unemployment rates, dropping rates of stocks, and gas prices going nowhere soon but up (NC has the highest gas prices in the 48 states--I'm not including Alaska & Hawaii) we've all been feeling the need to make our dollars stretch further. I'm going to do a little series and hope to share some ideas for doing things that make "dollars and sense"!!

• Decorating on a Budget


• Ways to Save $ Around the House


• Grocery Shopping -- Getting the Most for Your $


• Spending Less for the Holidays


• Needs Vs. Wants


• We're All In This Together -- Family Goals

These are just a few of the topics I'll be covering, and I really hope that this will be a "discussion" where you, dear reader, feel free to join everyone in sharing your ideas on the topic in the comment section!!! The more ideas that we have and share, the better all of us can be in saving $$!

I really think that the foundation for all of the rest of our series should be an honest look at our current financial situation. There are many great books and worksheets out there that can walk you through the financial steps, and I think that they're great! (If anyone wants some recommendations, I'd be happy to do a list of some to read)

However, they all start with sitting down and making a list of how much $ you bring home every month and how much $ you spend every month. Include all bills, fun expenditures like movie rentals, eating out, kids' allowances, babysitters, gas, lunches or coffees during work hours, clothing, etc, and make sure you really, honestly list everything! This won't work otherwise!! A great way to do this is for one month track everything by entering your reciepts in a notebook at the end of each day...this will help you really see where your money goes!

Now, the goal in all of this is that hopefully we are bringing home more $ than we are spending. Unfortunately, due to job loss, tough times, or just poor spending habits that isn't always the case. That's when the budget needs some adjusting. Here is where the next part comes into play: Needs vs. Wants!

Tomorrow I'll continue with Needs vs. Wants! Take some time today to make a list of where your money really goes each month. If this seems overwhelming, at least get the basics down. You may want to do a comprehensive list later on, though. Get thinking about your current spending habits. Take a deep breath in, say a prayer, and let it out! Because this is the beginning of a new way of thinking...one that will benefit your family and get you breathing easier!!! :)

Are you ready?!! Let's go!!!