End of January ramblings

It is hard to believe that the first month of 2008 is almost over! Time flies when you're cleaning out the basement!!! Yes, one of our major goals for this month is well under way. We've made 2 huge trips to Goodwill and we've been throwing things out that can't be reused, donated or recycled a little at a time so our trash company will take it. We are making great progress and hope to have our contractor over by the middle of February (at the latest) for a final bid and then to start the even bigger project of finishing the space.

January has been very frugal for us. I have watched my spending (because I am the spender in the family) and I'm proud of myself. We are under budget by a good bit, I canceled my biweekly cleaning and I'm putting that $120/month directly into savings, I've planned menus and stuck to them, we haven't eaten out on the household budget (it has come from our weekly allowance) and I've been very aware of what I buy at the market. I'm cooking more from scratch and I'm thrilled with our efforts on the money front so far in 2008.

My serious case of the "I wants" has subsided for now. We have a wedding to attend out of town late in the summer so I'm rather focused on saving money for that as well as our planned vacation at the beach. I've put off our Disney trip (which we will combine with visiting my family) until 2009 to help us plan our savings better. Not too mention saving as much as we can so we can finish the basement and furnish it the way we want within reason... as in quality furnitre and not just whatever will do for now :)

As far as doing my best to live simply, this is and probably always will be a work in progress. I am using my Chico bags and I love them! I am only buying what we need and taking the time to help my older girls understand the difference between what we want and what we need (this is not easy!!!). We are planning our spring plantings, yard work and garden. I'm hopeful that most of our butterfly/hummingbird garden will come back this year (it was new last year so we're hoping everything made it in spite of the new puppy trampling things). We are making sure that the activities and outings we agree to attend are what we really want to do instead of going out of obligation. No is a powerful word... not just when I use it but it makes me feel powerful instead of a "yes girl". I'm enjoying this power and making sure I don't abuse it :)

Overall, I'm happy with our start to 2008. With some hard work and fun mixed in, we should have a simple and fiscally sound year!

The safety of my skin

I've noticed that stores already have out summer clothing - how crazy is that at the beginning of January?! This may not be that bad since we are currently planning a trip to FL over spring break to visit family, but it has made me start thinking about sunscreen. I am leary of what is really in some sunscreens and are they really that safe for you? I was told about this great database at Skin Deep. I checked it out last summer and was shocked at what I learned about some of our favorite brands of sunscreen! We made a switch for what we feel is better - or at least less toxic!

The database will give you the low down on all of your favorite cosmetics. Check it out... you may be surprised at how toxic your brands are. One word of warning... making changes to your cosmetics is not cheap in the short run... I'm looking at it as a frugal victory for the long run in terms of health.

Happy researching!

I want...

I'm going through a serious case of the "I wants" right now. Not with my kids - I'm the one who wants :) I haven't given in to myself and I'm using this serious case of the "I wants" to really look at what I do want/need v. what I just want because I want it.

We are clearing out the basement so we can begin finsihing it. This will give us a guest room for grandparents who visit (none are local) and a large rec area with a wet bar. While I'm excited about this on many levels (think kids in the basement with the door closed making as much noise as they want while I sip coffee in relative peace and quiet during the winter months!), I'm also struggling with keeping our purchases in line with green living. Carpet or laminate? Sofas, chairs, tables, bed for the guest room? Cabinets and counter for bar area? What will dh do on his own, what will contractor do? Time for all of this? ACK! I know, one step at a time! So, first step is clearing it out. Why does clearing it out make me feel this huge need to buy more stuff?! We don't need more stuff. ~sigh~

I'm going to keep working on not buying more stuff until it is time to make actual purchasing decisions that are for the basement. We still have a couple of weeks before we nail down start dates and whatnot. Until then I will finish my huge pile for an Amvets pick up next Monday!

Cleaning out the basement...

OK, so cleaning out our basement stinks! I hate going through everything, I hate dividing up what will be donated v. trashed because it serves no purpose whatsoever anymore (then why were we keeping it?!) and I hate having to create a list of everything (and photographing) that is being donated. Then I actually have to load the van to deliver it! Grumble, grumble, grumble...

In the end the silver lining will be that our basement will be clear of junk and ready to finish and be turned into a usable space. Right now it is simply a vast wasteland of junk!! We are making headway though and maybe I'll feel better once I get a load or two out of here and to Goodwill (at least then I'll be able to see what my basement actually looks like!!!!). And this will make our lives more simple... at least that is what I keep telling myself as a pep talk every time I head down to the dungeon to work!!

I scored one for the environment today!

I used my chico bags today and I loved them! I also have a huge "cooler" type bag that I use for all of my cold items. So between the cooler bag and my 5 chico bags, I did not use one plastic or paper bag for my shopping. I also used a "recycled" container for my bulk salt purchase, bulk shampoo purchase and my castille soap purchase.

Another big victory for me today was that I have planned 3 weeks of menus (mostly dinner but when I shopped I factored some lunches into it too). Aside from perishables, I will not need to do a major shop for 3 weeks!

So, my goals for the rest of this week are to continue keeping my heat set at 67 during the day when we're not here and at 69 when we are. I also only want to do one day of errands to help conserve gas. I may have to do 2 because my glasses should be ready by Friday, but I'm not sure I can wait until Friday to do the rest of my errands. Plus Friday is going to be crazy as it is between volunteering and interviewing a vendor for an event I'm heading up... hmmmmmmmmmm, may have to play with this one a bit! I also want to avoid eating out of any kind for 1 week. We have plenty of food and a large variety (especially once I do a little baking) so this shouldn't be too hard. Continue drying the dishes out of the dishwasher and only use my reusable bags when shopping!

My bags arrived!

I have never been so excited about receiving mail as I was today! My Chico reusable shopping bags arrived... I suddenly feel a need to shop so I can use them :) I won't but I am sooo excited about them! I have been saving containers for my bulk purchases at my co-op as well so I'm not using more plastic. I am looking forward to my big shop next week so I can use all of my recycled and/or new stuff! Who knew that grocery shopping would ever prove to be this exciting?!

Beautiful weather = frugal for me!

Alas our beautiful weather is ending, but I can at least look back at the past 3 days as a total frugal victory for us. Let's see... no heat used for 3 days and instead we enjoyed a total airing out of our house. Since we spent so much time outside we weren't out spending money. I made all of our meals with items here in the house. I did do a necessities only grocery shop, but that was it! So, now that the heat is back on and life is catching up with me (as in laundry, cleaning and whatnot - stuff didn't magically take care of itself while we were playing LOL) I am going to focus on staying out of the stores and spending money because I'm suffering from cabin fever. Between now and next Friday I only want to do my biweekly large grocery shop, a trip to Costco for some items that we are running out of and I have coupons to use, Target if my list of needs is more than 5 items (shouldn't grow that large before the end of next week) and one trip to the mall before Saturday to spend my free $25 on a future bday gift for one of my dds (earrings). I'll keep myself honest by reporting back :)

The great outdoors...

I spent the morning outside with my youngest dd. Actually we were out walking and playing for 2 1/2 hours! It was absolutely fabulous (insert High School Musical 2's Fabulous right about here LOL)! And dinner is on the stovetop simmering away (Chicken chili) which means when my older girls get home from school we can have our Wii boxing matches as promised. Life is good...

You want me to what?!

I explained to dh this weekend that we are no longer going to use the heated dry on the dishwasher... I plan to save money by hand drying not too mention that it will save energy (a precious resource today). He balked and didn't get it. To his credit, he is going along with it and actually dried the clean dishes one morning. But, he did make sure to let me know that he isn't happy about it yet :) C'est la vie!

Define simple...

It occured to me that simple may be slightly different to each person. I looked up "simple" in the dictionary and the definition is anything but!! I am going to focus my efforts on this portion of the definition:
not elaborate or artificial; plain; not complex or compound

I want the basics in life before "life" took over. You know, the endless activities, gatherings, parties and running around. I don't want to feel rushed or short on time anymore. I want to fully enjoy the things that we choose to do. Simple.

Reflecting on my weekend... it was simple. Saturday could have been crazy, if we allowed ourselves to feel that way. We scaled back and my middle dd went to dance and my oldest dd went to a skating party. I was able to incorporate 2 necessary errands with the party and our carpool drove to dance. Other than that... we hung out here at home. Our youngest dd even took a nap! Sunday was more hanging out at home. I did spend close to 2 hours in the basement and as a result I have a HUGE amount of "stuff" to donate to charity. I also had 2 large trash bags of pieces parts that didn't really go with anything anymore. Lesson learned... we don't need the toys with hundres of pieces parts - ugh! Now I need to organize the donations, list them and photograph them for tax purposes. Then it can all go - my goal is to have it out of the house by Friday.

We are in the middle of a warm spell - woohoo! Heat is off during the day, windows are open and at night the house is still over 70 degrees from letting the sunshine pour in through the windows. It feels good to save energy in the middle of winter. One 1 or 2 more days of it though and then it appears that winter will return. I plan to take advantage of it while I can :) Actually, my youngest dd and I are headed out for a walk... time to soak up that Vitamin D!!!!

Errand day...

Other than a trip to a friends' for New Year's Eve and taking the kids to school, I haven't left the house this week. I ventured out this morning to accomplish a few things like picking up a few essentials from the market, ordering my glasses and finding a birthday gift for a party tomorrow. Oh and it was my morning to volunteer at school. Mission accomplished! I actually saved all of my errands until today and finished them all! I even stuck to my lists so there weren't any unforeseen expenses (well except the M&Ms to keep the 2 year old happy toward the end of the morning - need to plan to bring something like that from home next time).

I did use some of my Christmas money (a gift to me) to purchase a small fake decorated and lit tree for next year in my foyer. I have been eyeing these since Thanksgiving when they were going for $135. The day after Christmas they were down to $65, but I still wasn't willing to pay that price. Well, I happened into the store today to pick up a birthday gift and there they were marked down to $25! I am so excited to have it in place next year! I spent the beginning of my decorating season pulling out decorations that I knew I wouldn't use anymore to donate. I ended up only purchasing 3 new things and I honestly think that's all I want/need to create the look I want. I am in a good place with my Christmas decorations and that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Tomorrow will be a busy day between dance and a skating party. DH and I will have to split up kids to get everyone where they need to be. I didn't know what to get the birthday girl for her birthday, hopefully the t-shirt decorating kit will be a hit. Honestly, I never know what to get most kids unless my girls are good friends with them. I usually try to stick with something educational (books or puzzles or something like that) or crafty that causes them to use their imagination (scrapbooks, this tshirt thing). In a culture where kids seem to have everything they could possibly want, what do you get them? I have seriously thought about donating to a charity in their name, but I'm guessing that wouldn't be too cool. ~sigh~ At least I got a good deal on the kit!

I'm also planning on finishing the huge task of sorting through my middle daughter's room. I started yesterday and got through her desk and the top of her dresser. This alone filled half a trash bag and added a large stack of papers to the recycling. She is such a pack rat! ACK! I still need to get through her closet, baskets and books. I need to do it when she isn't around or there is major drama over everything. When she isn't here and doesn't realize that I've taken out a piece of paper the size of a 1 inch square, life is wonderful and drama-free :) Drama-free is good!

Dinners are planned and Saturday's dinner is already marinating - chicken teriyaki, rolls and green beans. Sunday we'll have meatloaf, mashed potatoes, rolls and a salad. I'm also planning to make banana chocolate chip muffins (mini muffins) out of bananas that are ready to ooze or be used. I should have enough to freeze a fair amount for later snacks.

My food-related goal for next week is to eat all of our meals here at home and to cook at least 1 warm breakfast during the week to avoid pre-packaged foods. So, Sunday night I'm planning to mix up pancake mix for Monday morning. This should make enough to freeze some for use later in the week. I would also like to make eggs, toast and potatoes one morning. If I can get away with only 3 mornings of cereal or some other breakfast-related convenience food I'll know we can get to 2 the following week. Two convenience breakfasts a week is my goal (including weekends) for the winter.

May your weekend be simple and fulfilling!

My first blog!

OK, so I'm new to this whole blogging thing but after reading so many I thought, "why not?!" So, here I am writing about my journey to simplicity. By simplicity I mean frugality and simple living. One would think that they go hand in hand but I've discovered that is not always the case. For instance, for the most part my family eats organic food. This is not very frugal for my bank account. That being said it is rather frugral in the grand scheme of things. I guess I'm seeking balance in my journey to simplicity. I have decided to set some goals for 2008 to help us keep moving to a simpler life:

1. Clean out the basement! This will keep us moving because I will be able to reuse or recycle just about everything down there that we never use (some of it is still in boxes after our move 4 years ago!). Less stuff down there will enable us to work on finishing the space as well as relieve our stress of knowing it is all down there. The bonus for us is that we can donate to worthwhile organizations that will be able to reuse and recycle our perfectly good excess :)

2. Finances. I have created a working budget for this year. My goal is to stick to it thereby creating less need for spending. How? By staying organized and knowing what we have on hand. This will keep us from spending needlessly and bringing more "stuff" into the house.

3. Recycle more and reduce trash. I am on a mission to reduce our trash and increase our recycling. Part of this step is to start a compost bin (my dh will LOVE that one, NOT!).

4. Make the switch to cloth napkins. I made the switch to rags for everything in the kitchen (much to my dh's horror) and I love it! We hardly ever use paper towels now. By the end of the year I want to make the switch to cloth napkins and never go back to disposables.

5. Cook more from scratch. I think this one is fairly self-explanatory.

Looking at my goals, they seem simple enough. I realize I'm an infant on this journey compared to so many who are already living simply. I am on the right road and know that I am making a difference. Oh and just to toot my own horn for a moment... I have reusable cloth shopping bags on the way :) I found a great deal on 5 Chico bags and I'm anxiously awaiting their arrival. I don't sew so this was the best option for me (maybe I should take some sewing classes?!).