Busy busy busy, and also poor. Yay!
Such a busy month! We have activities going on pretty much every day and night of the week. Fun but truly exhausting. Will be glad when soccer is over Thursday and we can have two nights back.
I made the mistake of volunteering for something at the school... apparently, they think everyone is loaded with cash just because their children attend a private school. In reality, a lot of the parents are working their tails off to afford it and have little left for extras. I thought "volunteer" meant volunteer time and work, not get hassled for the payola. Happy to work, not so happy to spend what I do not have. Live and learn! Next time I will make sure that I am volunteering actual labor, which I am capable of giving a lot of most weeks and happy to do so. *sigh*
Trying out a new budget and some conservation ideas. The old "turn off the lights when you leave the room" is proving to be a difficult habit for some of us to develop. I got it in under a day and Aidan seems to be catching on, but Brad is just dang annoying! I am forever turning lights off after him. The tedium and frustration threaten to drive me to a madness from which there may be no return... people could be seriously hurt. Male people who are too lazy to flip switches as they pass them by!! Also limiting the weekly expenditures on extras like snacks out and books or toys or other forms of entertainment beyond Netflix. My style is seriously cramped, but there are surgical bills pouring in now and they are GINORMOUS. We give ourselves a 20 dollar bill and spend no more than that on extras, then save any leftovers. That money can go to paying down a debt or paying cash for a night out in a few weeks. We have really been thinking twice about those little dollar here, dollar there expenditures and it really helps us remember to bring snacks and pack lunches. I even bring a cup with me most days so that I can save 20 cents by getting a refill instead of buying the plastic cup that I would just end up throwing away anyway. That saves me about a buck a week, which sounds like small potatoes but if you get enough small potatoes you can have yourself a nice side dish or two ;)
Christmas looms just around the bend, a cackling red suited specter lying in wait for unwary wallets... determined not to let him suck the life out of us this year. In order to avoid his clutches, most, if not all, toys purchased for the munchkins will be secondhand. They have so much already. Really, what point is there in breaking the bank when there are landfills chock full of toys that are in great condition? Why not buy some at yard sales, consignment sales, thrift shops and help keep up the demand for used toys? Green living that saves some green, and the kids are too young to notice anyway. I will tell Aidan that we saved the toys from being thrown away and saved some of our dollars for other fun things. He understands that if we take snacks with us instead of buying them at the gas station then we have dollars to spend later on something like a trip to the bowling alley.
Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow and early at that. Looking forward to Movie Night on Friday! Watching Star Wars with the kids and eating popcorn. Aidan is SO excited! It really pays to plan these things in advance, the anticipation is half the fun!
I made the mistake of volunteering for something at the school... apparently, they think everyone is loaded with cash just because their children attend a private school. In reality, a lot of the parents are working their tails off to afford it and have little left for extras. I thought "volunteer" meant volunteer time and work, not get hassled for the payola. Happy to work, not so happy to spend what I do not have. Live and learn! Next time I will make sure that I am volunteering actual labor, which I am capable of giving a lot of most weeks and happy to do so. *sigh*
Trying out a new budget and some conservation ideas. The old "turn off the lights when you leave the room" is proving to be a difficult habit for some of us to develop. I got it in under a day and Aidan seems to be catching on, but Brad is just dang annoying! I am forever turning lights off after him. The tedium and frustration threaten to drive me to a madness from which there may be no return... people could be seriously hurt. Male people who are too lazy to flip switches as they pass them by!! Also limiting the weekly expenditures on extras like snacks out and books or toys or other forms of entertainment beyond Netflix. My style is seriously cramped, but there are surgical bills pouring in now and they are GINORMOUS. We give ourselves a 20 dollar bill and spend no more than that on extras, then save any leftovers. That money can go to paying down a debt or paying cash for a night out in a few weeks. We have really been thinking twice about those little dollar here, dollar there expenditures and it really helps us remember to bring snacks and pack lunches. I even bring a cup with me most days so that I can save 20 cents by getting a refill instead of buying the plastic cup that I would just end up throwing away anyway. That saves me about a buck a week, which sounds like small potatoes but if you get enough small potatoes you can have yourself a nice side dish or two ;)
Christmas looms just around the bend, a cackling red suited specter lying in wait for unwary wallets... determined not to let him suck the life out of us this year. In order to avoid his clutches, most, if not all, toys purchased for the munchkins will be secondhand. They have so much already. Really, what point is there in breaking the bank when there are landfills chock full of toys that are in great condition? Why not buy some at yard sales, consignment sales, thrift shops and help keep up the demand for used toys? Green living that saves some green, and the kids are too young to notice anyway. I will tell Aidan that we saved the toys from being thrown away and saved some of our dollars for other fun things. He understands that if we take snacks with us instead of buying them at the gas station then we have dollars to spend later on something like a trip to the bowling alley.
Time for bed. Busy day tomorrow and early at that. Looking forward to Movie Night on Friday! Watching Star Wars with the kids and eating popcorn. Aidan is SO excited! It really pays to plan these things in advance, the anticipation is half the fun!