Living on a Budget

I read somewhere recently that the two biggest New Year's Resolutions had to do with weight loss and finances. Not really a big surprise, but the same article also said that by the second week of the New Year most people have already thrown their resolution out the window. Another thing that really surprises me is the number of people that do not have a budget in place for their finances. Art and I have lived both ways at one time or another and I have to say that living on a budget is much easier than trying to live without it. You have much more control over your finances if you know where all of your money is going. I am not a financial expert, but I thought I would share what works the best for our family.
You need three things in order to make a budget successful: you need to spend less than you make every month, you need to be honest about what you spend, and you and your spouse need to agree on your budget, and hopefully sit down and work it out together. All of your income should have a specific category, and you should put your budget in writing. Art's check is direct deposited every two weeks, so I pay all of our monthly bills using online banking. It is faster, more convenient, and less expensive than writing checks. After money is subtracted out for our regular monthly bills, I withdraw the rest as cash, and pay cash for everything else. We use a system you may have heard of called the envelope system. We have several different envelopes that each get a set amount of money. When the money is gone you can no longer spend money on that category. If you have money left at the end of the month it carries over to the next month. Some examples of our envelopes are: groceries, gas, clothing, savings, camping, Christmas, car maintenance, misc. household expenses (taxes, vehicle registration, etc..) Different families would have different categories and different amounts. As you go along you may discover that you run out of gas money every month, but have a surplus in your clothing envelope, then you can make adjustments to your budget. I feel in much more control of our money when I know exactly how much I have and how much I have spent.

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Tasty Tuesday: Lasagna

Did you ever notice that if you don't make something for a while it is more enjoyable the next time you eat it? Well, I haven't made lasagna for several months but while I was making my grocery list at the beginning of the month I discovered a box of Oven Ready Lasagna noodles in the cupboard, so I added it to my menu plan. I made it for supper last night and there wasn't even any leftovers. Here is the recipe that I used.

9 oven ready lasagna noodles
1 container cottage cheese
2 cups mozzarella cheese
2 eggs
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 lb ground beef
1 cup water

Combine, eggs, cottage cheese, and 1 cup mozzarella cheese. In another bowl combine water, sauce, and ground beef. In a 9x13 pan spread 1 1/2 cups of sauce, lasagna, cheese mixture, and sauce. Repeat layering once. Top with remaining lasagna then sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese, wrap with a double layer of foil, and bake at 425 for 60 minutes.

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Happy Birthday Nicholas!!!

January 12, 2002 at 2:16 pm Nicholas Arthur was born weighing 8 lbs 6 oz and was 21 inches long. After an early morning check-up, my doctor decided to put me in the hospital and break my water (I was full term and almost 5 cm dilated with no contractions.) We went in, filled out paperwork and at 10:00 am my water was broken. My doctor said she would see me around supper time. Boy was everyone surprised when 2 hours and 16 minutes later the baby was born. He has gone from a beautiful sweet baby to a handsome young man right before my very eyes. To celebrate turning 7 we went to Simple Simon's on Saturday when my mom and dad could be here to eat pizza and play video games. He got new Star Wars Legos (he loves building them) and a pair of Roller Blades. He had a great time and is already talking about turning eight. Why are they in such a hurry to grow up?

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On a Scrapbooking Mission

A couple of years ago, I started making scrapbooks for all of the children. I really enjoyed doing it and completed the first couple of years of each child's life. Since then, I made a scrapbook for my parents 35 Th anniversary with one page for each year they had been married, and I started a scrapbook for Christian, but I never really intended on going back to the individual children's scrapbook's. I thought maybe down the road I would just start doing a family album. Well, right around Alex's birthday in November he kept telling everyone that even though he was going to be 5 years old he had only ever had 2 birthdays. Reasoning with him did not work at all. he was convinced that he had only ever had two. I couldn't figure out what gave him this idea, until one day we were looking in his scrapbook and I had only completed a little past his second birthday. He thought that since it wasn't in the book he had never had another birthday. I decided then that I should continue working on their books but my supplies were very depleted. After Christmas and a birthday I have enough supplies to do some more work on them, and now it is like an obsession. I spent 2 days uploading pictures to http://www.walmart.com/, enough to get me caught up on everyone. I think it is a pregnant nesting thing, but I am determined to get these books caught up before the baby is born (I only have 10 weeks left so I am working a little bit every day during nap time) I almost wonder if I am setting myself up for a project that will never be completed, but I have fun doing it and some day the children will have this book that I made to look back on, and they will know how many birthdays they have had. I hope they enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoyed working on them.

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Happy Birthday to Me!!!

Today is my birthday, the big 31. My wonderful husband is bringing me home supper from my favorite restaurant and my children are baking me a cake. Last year I wasn't at all happy with turning 30, but somehow 31 doesn't seem like a big deal at all (funny how that works isn't it.) Since there are hardly any pictures of me I thought I would post this one taken at Art's Christmas party this year.

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A Little Fun With Dr.Seuss

Since we have been on vacation for 3 weeks and we have a short school week (I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday and it will take up most of the day) we decided not to do a Five in a Row book this week. Instead I found some Unit Studies on http://www.homeschoolshare/ that were on Dr. Seuss. The first book we did today was The Cat in the Hat and we talked about weather, telling the truth and what to do if a stranger were to come to the door. We also listed all of the things the Cat balances at one time. Then, just for fun and a little PE, we tried to balance books on our heads and walk around the room. Chelsea actually balanced seven books at one time, but the boys were pretty happy just to balance one.

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Monday Morning Project- A Simple Sewing Project

Yesterday afternoon we watched an episode of Little Bear on Noggin. On this episode, Little Bear decides that his friend Emily's doll Lucy needs a friend. So Little Bear and Mother Bear make Fisherman Bear to be a friend for Lucy. This morning we decided to sew some stuffed animals out of felt. I have several paper patterns of different shapes and animals so the boys chose what they wanted to make, picked a color from our felt supply, cut out the pattern, sewed up the sides, and stuffed their creations. Nick made a pumpkin, Alex made Cuddles the Bear, and Anthony wanted a Christmas Tree (I think he is missing our Christmas decorations.) Nick and Alex did great sewing (only one finger got poked )and stuffing their projects and just needed help cutting it out and threading the needle. I had to make Anthony's for him but it took less than 10 minutes. Chelsea was busy sewing some doll clothes and Christian wasn't very interested in what was going on. The boys had a lot of fun with this project and it was great for a rainy day.

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