February Double challenge update, week 4. We did it, we did it, we did it!!!

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It was a good week and a good month for us! I am finally done with all the numbers for this month, and I'm so excited!

First, I am done with my "dreaded" part of the de-cluttering challenge. Here are again my before pictures:

The bathroom "reading" basket(no comment...it was terrible...)

 

The paper drawer in the kitchen (long overdue...)

Under the side table in the living room:

And these are the after pictures:

   I sill need to enter all of the Coke rewards in a baggie in our paper drawer. We rarely drink soda now but my Hubby drinks quite a bit of Powerade, and we get soda lids from family parties. And I love how clean our space is under the side table in the living room. This table sits in the corner next to the staircase, and Hubby just loves to put his stuff under it. NO MORE!! Now I just wish I could get rid of this ugly carpet too...Oh well, one day...So total de-cluttered this month- 49 items (my goal was 29).

   And now to the no/low spend part of the challenge:
Feb 22- no spend day
Feb 23- $3 parking at the airport when Hubby took my parents (misc. budget)
Feb 24- spent $25.73 on food at Walmart
Feb 25- $6.05 at Reams (food budget). I also went to the baby sale and grabbed couple of things for the kiddos. This sale wasn't as good as before. I spent $12.99-budgeted for it before, not part of a challenge.
Feb. 26- no spend
Feb 27- grabbed a gallon of milk from Reams, $2.25 (food budget)
Feb 28- had a doctor's appointment and didn't have time to make dinner, so we decided to use my Applebee's gift card that I got for my Birthday and eat out on Tuesday instead of Saturday, as we planned before. Total spent after card(including tips): $8.53 -from our eating out budget.
Feb 29- no spend

So these are the numbers for the month of February:
Food- spent $207.65, left $72.35
Misc.- Spent $71.93, left $48.07
Eating out- Spent $32.13, left $27.87

I'm so excited that we have some money left in every category!!! We also saved $95 in utilities this month. And my baby got $30 for his Birthday from his aunt and great-grandma towards the trampoline.

So with all of these total we now have $313.29 in our trampoline fund!!! I can't believe it! It's way more than we hoped for. I'm so excited!! Now we can go ahead and buy our kids a trampoline for summer.

I really can't believe we had such a wonderful month in February and just so very grateful for it. Especially because after we did our budget for March, we can see it's going to be VERY tight.Among other things, I decided to lower our food amount to $250. We'll see how that goes. But today we will celebrate (with a homemade dinner, of course)!!Wohoo!!

Shopping trips from last week(very quick update)

Pin It    I was working on  the final numbers for the double challenge and just realized that I never posted shopping trips from last week. I just had a very crazy weekend. So here's a very short version:

    I went to Walmart on Friday. I usually shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays but last week it was Friday and Saturday too. I'm not going into much details but total spent was $25.73, total saved- $8.09, coupons used- 2.

   I also stopped by Reams really quick (no picture) but I grabbed  more milk, blackberries, a yellow and red pepper (69c each), string cheese. Total spent: $6.05, total saved- $3.34, no coupons used. Or and I sent my Hubby to grab another gallon of milk on Monday. Totals spent:$2.25 . I've been doing some baking on Sunday for Baby's Birthday , and we when kids are here, we usually go through about 2 gallons a week. Luckily, this week my sister will give me some milk that she got for free.

   So these are my numbers for the this week. I was hoping to save a little more this month but I'm pretty pleased with these numbers:

Total spent this month: $207.65
Total saved: $107.76
Left to spend this month: $72.35
YTD spending: $482.86
YTD savings: $258.87
 YTD coupons used : 59
YTD waste: $27.18

Food waste Monday and a menu, week 2/27-3/3

Pin It I really was hoping not to have any waste this week. And I was so close, so close...Until I found some tomato sauce in a fridge. Look for yourself. The picture says it all:

Not happy!! Especially because I wanted to use it tonight. Oh, well... Our fridge is actually VERY empty right now, so unless I want my family to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches all next week, I really need to go shopping.

But our freezer is still very full, so we'll eat out of it quite a bit this week.

So here's our menu for this week:
Mon.-crock pot garlic ranch chicken,roasted veggies.
Tues.- baked fish, brown rice, peas and carrots
Wed.- spaghetti with pasta sauce, salad
Thurs.- Scalloped Potatoes 'n' Franks (need to use up some Swiss cheese)
Fr.- pizza, fresh vegetables and fruit.
Sat.- eat out/leftovers
Sun.-soup of some sort/ sandwiches

And a picture of a delicious Lara's spinach potato bake from last week (sorry for the quality of the pic. It was taken late at night). But it was SO GOOD!! Even my picky kiddos asked for seconds (and the older Kid NEVER eats spinach). Thanks, Lara!

So, my total food waste is about 50c (I don't really  know the price for it because it was homemade)

Total spent this month: $173.62
Total saved: $96.33
Left to spend this month:$106.38
YTD spending: $448.83
YTD savings: $247.54
YTD coupons used : 57
YTD waste: $27.18

The Inspire Me Sundays

Pin It Well, I was thinking a lot about it and I decided that I'm not going to post anything frugal or anything about money at all on Sundays. Sunday is a day of rest and spiritual worship for my family. So I think at least this year I will instead post a quote that inspires me. And if you have any quotes or stories that inspire you, please send them all my way, and you might be featured in the upcoming posts.
 I'm going to call it The Inspire Me Sundays.

I was kind of busy with the Birthday of my little guy today and completely forgot about The Inspire Me Sundays. But two of my dear friends Jane and Rafiki sent me some inspiring thoughts to share with you (click on their names to check out their fun blogs). Thank you, ladies! I love these quotes:

"You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy"
                               Garth Brooks
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Courage is fear that has sad it's prayers"

                          Unknown.

Today my baby turned two!!!

Pin It My Baby turned 2 today!! Where did the time go? I still remember holding this tiny 8 pound baby in my hands and wondering how I am going to do it with two and feeling my heart slowly expanding with everlasting love.

It feels like it was yesterday! Yet these two years were so great! Thank you, my dear baby, for bringing so much sunshine and happiness into our lives. Happy Birthday, baby boy!! We love you so much!

Another order.

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I've been busy all day making a diaper cake. I'm really happy with this order. I haven't had one in almost a month, and life started feeling dull... I LOVE making diaper cakes! I guess, it just opens up my creative side:) I especially like getting challenging orders when I have to use new for me color combinations etc. I've made quite a few of the same  diaper cake styles, and it can get boring. So here's a new cake:

The order was for a mom-to-be of two twin girls, and she wanted it bright, spring-looking, pink and green. What do you think?

These are a few more pictures:

I had so much fun making it! If you want to see a few more diaper cakes that I made before, click here

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Today my parents went home...

Pin It    This morning we woke up at 5 am and took my parents to the airport... I can't believe how quickly these three weeks flew by. This was by far their best visit. Not all of our visits with them went smoothly. My Dad can be somewhat controlling, and the had a bit of a thing with my husband before. But this time it was peaceful, pleasant, and we just all enjoyed our time together. It was hard to say our goodbyes because we don't know when we will see each other again...I'm really going to miss having them here...

   Plus, with the leftovers of my cold still lingering around and 4 children here today, I'm not a happy camper.  I also received a medical bill for the Baby for $125! I thought we already paid off all of his bills but apparently not! And that to top off the $430 bill we paid on Monday for my Hubby. We did get a 25% discount that they promised (the total bill was more than $600!) but we had to pay it off right away. And now this bill...I'm going to be very grumpy today...

February Double challenge update, week 3

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   It's hard to believe but we only have 1 week left until the end of the month. It's time for another update on Carla's double challenge. Again, I did OK on the low-spending part of it, de-cluttering- not so much.

So here are my numbers:

Feb 15- spent $23.33 at Walmart (food budget). Also went to Kid to Kid and DI and got my older Kid some pants, shirts etc.Total spent on clothes-$14.47 (Misc. budget)

Feb 16- no spend day

Feb 17- got some ice-cream cones at Walmart, spent $4.74(food budget)
              got "Courageous" movie from Redbox, $1.28

Feb.18-  That was my biggest spending day of the week! First we went to IKEA. They had queen size  200 thread count  sheets sets( well, actually any size ) for $14.99!! We've been looking for some new sheets for a while but just couldn't fit it in our budget. Our sheets that we use right now are about 8 years old, and well..they needed to be changed. So we got 2 sets. Total spent: $ 32.03 (misc.). But I'm so excited to finally have new sheets!

   We also had a breakfast at IKEA. Breakfast itself was free but we got some applesauce for the boys. Spent $2.14 out of Eating out budget. Then we went to Walgreens for diapers(I got 3 packs of Huggies, $5.99 per pack after sale and coupons) and a bottle of Tide. Total spent :$ 23.15 (food budget)

Feb. 19- no spend day

Feb 20- no spend day

Feb 21- I was sick and didn't want to make dinner at all, so we got Subway, $10.79 (Eating out budget)

So here is where our numbers for the month so far:

Food- Total spent $173.62(left to spend this month: $106.38)
Misc- Total spent $68.93 (left to spend this month: $51.07)
Eating out-Total spent $23.60 (left to spend this month: $36.40)
Total saved this month so far for our trampoline fund- $95

   I think we are doing really well this month. Can't wait to see how much we'll be able to save for our trampoline fund.

   As for the de-cluterring challenge, I can honestly say that I failed. I did not do anything this week :( I had lots of plans for the weekend and Monday but got sick, and I'm yet to be healthy again. But because it was a "Productivity week", I still feel that I was productive. I decided to limit my computer time to 2 hours a day, and only after I will do all things on my to-do list for the day. I achieved it about 90% of the time. I'm pretty happy about it, especially with being sick!

   And I'm fully ready for next week "Dreaded challenge" Here is the sneak pick at what I need to accomplish (not a pretty sight...sigh...):

Have a nice day, everyone!!

Our Save on Electricity Project.

Pin It    I know, I promised to post it like a week ago but I just could never get to it.
 So here it is.

    As part of a Double Challenge this month, I wanted to save some money on our bills, especially electrical bill. Ever since winter started, our bill just sky-rocketed!! I always try to conserve electricity. We keep our thermostat on 68F (can't go any lower 'cause our basement bedrooms are already super-cold), I cook a lot in microwave and slow cooker, we wear extra layer of clothing, I turn off the lights after everyone, wash clothes and do dishes at off-hours etc. My loved ones...not so much. Especially, my 5-year old. He just always leaves the light in his room or bathroom on, and doesn't turn off his humidifier or heater. So I came up with this system:

   We separated our house into 3 "zones". My Hubby is in charge of upstairs bedrooms, a bathroom and a hall in between, I'm in charge of a kitchen,a pantry light,a living-room and a half-bathroom and the Kid is in charge of his bedroom and a guest bedroom,a laundry room and  an entrance area. Oh, and his heater, of course :) Every time we turn off all the lights in our "zone" we get a point. Whoever has the most points at the end of the month, gets a candy bar of choice. This is what our month looks so far (it's me,Dad and a Boy). And of course, I turn off the most lights after myself and others but I occasionally "forget" to put them on our chart:) .We keep this paper on the  Art shelf in between the kitchen and the living room.

 
   And let me tell you, it works!!Now every morning my Kid turns off everything in his room, and he does it through out the day. I can't say he wasn't tempted at first to turn lights on and off just for the points :) But we warned him that we will only count it if it's honest.

   And the best thing is our last bill was $17 less than the previous month!! I was absolutely ecstatic about it. It was such a small change! I didn't expect it to make such a significant difference  but it did. I know they days are longer right now so we turn the lights on later but even with that I'm very pleased with our results. And it's another $17 for us towards the trampoline.

   

Food waste Monday (well, Tuesday yet again)

Pin It    I really wasn't feeling that good yesterday, so I just crawled in bed early and slept. But today I'm feeling much better. I'm still a little weak and my nose is running but at least I don't have a sore throat or chills any more. And it seems like I'm getting into a new habit- I forgot yet again to post our food waste.

This week wasn't very good for us. We threw away this:

Yum.. some of our bread got moldy. Then some wilted salad:

And now this:

   This is a big orange elephant sitting in my refrigerator...My Dad got it when they were here, and for the past ten days I've been looking at it and moving it around (as much as you can move around a whole gallon of Sunny D...). When my Dad bought it, he thought it was orange juice.Yeah, right! After just a couple of sips he realized his mistake! My kids can't stand Sunny D and so is my husband. I can tolerate it but that's just it-tolerate!! And there is no way, I could drink the whole gallon of it. So I deliberately let it expire...Bye bye , Sunny D. Finally, I can claim my fridge back!

   I have no idea how much Sunny D usually costs but I've seen it in the ad for $5/2  on sale, so I'll say $2.50. And bread was $1.67 for 4, and we ate 1 little loaf (so, what...$1.24c?), and salad was 99c for the whole bunch but I threw away about 1/3 of it-33c.

   So total wasted this week: $4.07. I wasn't sure if I should count Sunny D because I didn't actually buy it but then  it was something I wasted anyway, so I decided to add it to my total.

Total spent this month: $118.94
Total saved: $56.60
Left to spend this month: $161.06
YTD spending: $394.15
YTD savings: $207.81
YTD coupons used : 46
YTD waste: $30.70

Menu, week 2/20-2/27

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   I've been feeling a little under weather in the last few days, so I wasn't cooking much. Instead we ate pizza, popcorn and watched the movies. So I bumped a few things for this week's menu. So here's what our week looks like for now:

Mon-crock pot beef ribs, egg noddles, salad
Tues-some sort of a soup
Wed-meatballs, mashed potatoes, frozen veggies
Thurs- Potato spinach bake
Fr-leftovers
Sat- breakfast for dinner
Sun- Birthday party with a family

The Inspire me Sundays

Pin It Well, I was thinking a lot about it and I decided that I'm not going to post anything frugal or anything about money at all on Sundays. Sunday is a day of rest and spiritual worship for my family. So I think at least this year I will instead post a quote that inspires me. And if you have any quotes or stories that inspire you, please send them all my way, and you might be featured in the upcoming posts.
 I'm going to call it The Inspire Me Sundays.

"The real measure of your wealth is how much you'd be worth if 
                                       you lost all your money." 
             
                                          Author unknown.

Shopping trips this week

Pin It This week I went to Walmart, as usual, and also Walgreens to get some diapers. When I was pregnant with my second, there were so many diaper deals that I would never pay more than $5 per pack. Now $5.99 is a deal for me! I can't wait until my baby is finally potty-trained. He already recognizes when he has a #2 and tells me about it but making him sit on a potty is a whole other story...

Anyway, this is what I got this week:

Walgreens:

   I bought 3 packs of Huggies diapers- 2 little movers, size 5 and 1 Snug and Dry, size 4. Size 4 is a little too small for my kid but I still use them during the day.Used 1 $3 off coupon (from a diaper box that I got from Amazon months ago), then 1 Walgreens baby book coupon for $2/2 and 2 manufacture coupons for $2 off Little Movers from Sunday paper. I also got Tide 32 loads, on sale for $4.99, and I had a coupon for $2 off (from Vocalpoint??).
So total spent: $23.15
Total saved(Walgreens prices): $21
Coupons used: 5

Wednesday Walmart shopping trip:

    Highlights of this trip:
2 gallons milk- $1.99, price-matched to Rancho Market, plus used 2 75 c milk coupons
1 pound of strawberries-99c, price-matched to Rancho Market
1 red pepper-49c, price-matched to Reams
Zucchini-59c/lb, price-matched to Reams
1 Avocado-20c, price-matched to Rancho Market
red grapes-$1.29/lb, price-matched to Smiths
big sliced tomatoes-59c/lb, price-matched to Reams

So total spent: $19.83
Total saved:$12.31
Coupons used: 4

Shopping trip at Walmart on Saturday(just a couple of things):

 Got cucumbers-7 for 99c, price-matched to Rancho Market Saturday deal
More tomatoes for 59c/lb, Activia-$1.98 minus $1 coupon( we've been having some tummy issues n the house this week), Equate version of Immodium. I also got 3 Hallmark 97c cards and used $2/3 coupon.

Total spent: $6.96
Total saved: $ 6.42
Coupons used: 2


UPDATE on 2/22: I completely forgot that we spent $4.74 on a box of ice-cream cones on Friday. I'll add it to my total.

Total spent this month: $173.62
Total saved: $96.33
Left to spend this month:$106.38
YTD spending: $448.83
YTD savings: $247.54
YTD coupons used : 57
YTD waste: $26.68

I need help with my blogging. And some thrift store deals.

Pin It    This morning I checked something really quick and then turned off the computer. Instead, I cleaned all the  bathrooms, scrubbed the tubs, cleaned the kitchen, dusted, vacuumed, got all the rugs in the washer. I'm still looking for this balance between blogging and life. I feel like I'm behind on everything. Ever since I started posting again about 1.5 month ago, I met so many wonderful people. I love to know about your life and how you manage your finances. I admire your strength and perseverance in working towards being debt-free or other financial goals. I enjoy reading about your frugal crafts, recipes and shopping trips.

   The problem is that I feel like I don't do anything else any more. I'm constantly here on Blogger. How do you manage your day? How do you find time for everything that needs to be done? And how much time do you usually spend blogging? I'm still new to all of these, and I'll really appreciate your help.

   On the other note, I hit jackpot in thrift stores yesterday! So far this winter my older kid managed to get wholes on the knees of three pairs of jeans!! I don't know what he's doing, crawling?? I was thinking of putting those fancy, cute patches at first but then I realized that he grew quite a bit in the last few months, so all his pants were getting too short anyway. So I decided to cut and hem them to turn into shorts for summer. And I started looking for new pants for him. I didn't want to buy brand-new jeans because I know, in summer he'll live in shorts anyway. I just needed something for the next couple of months. So on Wednesday I went to the dentist and stopped by Kid to Kid and DI in that area. Here's what I got:

DI- I picked up 1 pair of nice-looking jeans for $3. I was surprised that they actually sell some jeans with wholes on knees for $4!!! So it was a good find.

Kid to Kid-
1 striped shirt, size 6- clearanced to $1
1 striped shirt, size 8-clearanced to $1 (for when he's a little older)
1 pair black pants, size 6- clearanced to $1
1 navy polo shirt, size 6, brand new with tags- clearanced to $1
1 brand-new pair of navy Wrangler jeans- $5.99
1 red and black striped sweater( apparently, I like stripes :)- clearanced to $1

Total spent with tax: $14.47 which makes each item about $2 per piece. The jeans that I got are a little more expensive but they are new and a very nice quality. Now I just need to look into those patches that go inside on the knee to keep them to last longer!!

I think I might go to our local Kid to Kid tonight too to check them out. This other one had a winter clearance going( which for some reason include t-shirts and tank tops...), I wonder if ours has the same thing too.

Everyone, have a wonderful day and a great weekend!

The Versatile blogger reward

Pin It My dear friend at Little Lamb wants to be debt free has nominated me for a Versatile Blogger reward. Thank you, dear! I'm so honored!! And I'm happy to get to know you a little better!

The rules of the prize are:

 

1. Thank the person who gave you the reward

2. Link back that person 

3. Select blogs that you've recently discovered (and think deserve it) and nominate them

4. Tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

 

OK, 7 things about me:

 

1.  I'm terrible at baking! I'm an OK cook, and I love to try new recipes but when it comes to baking I'm one of those people who can mess up cupcakes from a box (true story!!!). I do have, probably, about 5 recipes that I always turn to if I need to bake something.But I rarely try to expand my horizons beyond that.

 

2. I only learned to drive a car two years ago. My parents don't  own one, and my Dad doesn't even know how to drive.  In Russia public transportation system is so huge that you don't even need a car. Cars there are more of a luxury than a necessity. And here it took me a while to get enough courage to give a try. Now I still drive like a Grandma but at least I can go shopping by myself without dragging my Hubby everywhere!

 

3. I know how to knit, crochet, cross-stitch and embroider but I'm not very good at sewing.

 

4. I've never had a pedicure in my life. First, I can't bring myself to paying $20-30  for something I can easily do at home. And second, I just really don't like when people touch my feet. I don't know why.  Even my husband.

 

5. I grew up in the USSR when economy was terrible in my country. I remember the times when we would go to the store, and they literally sold three things in there- pasta, bread and gum(??) .I remember when I was about 7, we've heard that they will sell bananas in Moscow (about 3 hours away by train from my city). We got there, stood in the line for 3.5 hours and bought about two pounds of extremely green bananas. I ate them as soon as we got home with a peel and for a while I wondered why anyone would like their taste.  It's hard to believe that things like that were happening about 20 years ago in my country. Now all the stores and supermarkets are full of whatever you want and more, and overall the country just transformed.

6.  The worst temperature I ever had to endure was -45 F when I lived in Siberia.  The next year after I left, they had -70 F.

7. My first child was definitely a surprise baby. I got pregnant 5 weeks into a marriage!

 

And these are 3 blogs that I discovered recently. They  really inspire me and definitely deserve a reward:

 

Upendilife 

 

North of Wiarton and South of the Checkerboard 

 

New Beginnings 

February Double challenge update, week 2, part 2

Pin It I didn't do as much de-cluttering as I wanted this week. I think, it's was a combination of being busy and being lazy. I had some big plans that just never happened. I did organize the kitchen cupboard:

                                                  The before picture

                           
                                                And another angle

                                                  And the after pictures:

 
   At least, I now know where my water bottles are and how many cutting boards I have (7!!!! And I could never find them!). I was thinking at first to get rid of some but than they do get nasty with time, and they don't take much space, so I decided to keep them all. Two of them are brand-new, one is for meat/fish only, one is huge, and then I have 3 small ones. But I did get rid of the old and scratched pot (who knows why I kept it before??) and bunch of lids from bowls that I don't have any more for one reason or another.

   I also tried to organize my magazine box in the living-room but I never finished it. I guess, I got too caught up on "looking through" all of these magazines. So I recycled 11 today. I know, it's sounds a lot but it doesn't feel like it to me because I have at least that much left, if not twice as much. Most of them were either free or very cheap subscriptions (other than All You). I do keep all of my gardening and crafting magazines.

   And  finally I organized boys' socks drawers and threw away all of the single ones. I still need to mend a few socks this weekend.

So this is pretty much all de-cluttering I did this week. 

So total things gone this week: 16 (count socks as one)
Total this month: 24

February Double challenge update, week 2, part 1

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   Time for another update on Carla's double challenge .It's hard to believe that it's already half of the month! So far this month has been pretty good for us (other than a $300 bigger medical bill). Medical bills are not part of my challenge but it's kind of sad that we'll have to dig into our savings to pay this off.

   Anyway, that is what our week 2 looks like:

Feb 8th-shopped at Walmart, spent $58.88, out of the food budget, bought mostly food for the Birthday party we had on Sunday.

Feb 9th- no spend day

Feb 10th- spent $13.53 at Smiths (food) and ordered a book from fab.com about canning and preserving. I had a $15 credit with them, and I've been thinking of buying the book for a while. So when they had a book sale, I jumped on it.I ended up only paying for shipping,$4.95. And I still have a few dollars left with them. That also came from a misc. budget. If you are interested, this is the book I got. Sounds really cool! I did quite a bit of canning last year but I'm always on a look out for some new recipes, and I plan to can a LOT in summer.

Feb 11th-spent $4.88 at Reams (food) and $4.20 at a Dollar store (misc. budget) 


Feb 12th-spent $6 on parking downtown. We went out with my parents and an old friend of ours (my parents paid the bill, and they wouldn't take No for an answer!!).We only have a small car, so we had to take our 18-year old Saturn. We hardly ever use. The mechanic told us that it only has a few months left in it, and I'm honestly always concerned when Hubby drives it anywhere. But we couldn't all fit in our tiny Corolla, that's why we had to take both cars and pay for two parking spots. We really need a minivan!!

Feb 13th- no spend


Feb14th- no spend

So these are our numbers so far for this month:

Food- $118.94 (have $161.06 left to spend this month)- I actually did a little bit of shopping this morning but it will go towards the new week. I'm really happy with this number but the thing is-my parents got quite a bit of food for all of us while they were staying with us. I didn't really expect that. So the low number is not necessarily our personal achievement.
Misc.- $21.15 (have $98.85 left to spend this month)- this number I'm ecstatic about!! I don't  think we ever had  a month  in our married life when we spent so little on miscellaneous stuff! I hope, we can stay very low for the rest of the month.
Eating out- $10.67 (have $49.33 left to spend this month)-again this number is so low because we didn't pay for our outings ourselves. We went out 3 times last week but one of them was our date(different budget), one time my Father-in-law took us all out, and another time my parents took us out for my Birthday to a Brazilian place. We were thinking of going out with my parents to grab some Chinese but I doubt it's gonna happen before they leave.
Date- $17.77. -still have $12.33 that will roll over to the next month unless we decide to do something else in February.

Also we paid our mortgage and our light bills this week. Our mortgage bill was $7 less than last month and last year, so it's an additional  $7 towards the trampoline. And our light bill was a whooping $17 less than what I budgeted for. More on this tomorrow but it means that we have $95 saved for a trampoline out of our goal of $100. I can't  believe how close we are!! Wohoo!!

 I do have some updates on a de-cluttering part of the challenge but I will post it later tonight( kids demand lunch right now :)  As for a mini-challenge, I wrote a letter to my friend in  Russia. She and her husband are going through a rough patch right now but I really hope and pray that they will be able to overcome all of their challenges and misunderstandings, and stay together. I was going to write this letter anyway and give it to my parents, so the mini-challenge this week was just perfect for me! :)

Food waste Monday (well, Tuesday again this time)

Pin It   One more thing that I usually post on Mondays but I just never got to it yesterday. I was really hoping for a no waste week, and I was doing really good. But then I found an almost empty can of peaches that just didn't taste right. There were only couple of pieces left, and I have no idea why we didn't even finish it right away. But here it is:

   I got this can on clearance for 49c, so I probably can safely say that we wasted no more than 5c. But it's not about how much we wasted, it's about why...Oh well, let's hope for a no-waste week next time.

Total spent this month: $118.94
Total saved: $56.60
Left to spend this month: $161.06
YTD spending: $394.15
YTD savings: $207.81
YTD coupons used : 46
YTD waste: $26.68

Happy Valentine's Day!! And a menu for this week.

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    Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!  I hope, you'll have an amazing day with your valentine and your loved ones. We will have a very quiet evening together, with some apple cider and ice-cream. And we'll probably work on our taxes tonight. Boring, I know...

I realized that I didn't post our menu for this week. Last two weeks weren't very good for my weight- with all the sugar that my parents brought in our house (it's not an excuse, I know!!) and too much of the Birthday cake, I gained 3.5 pounds. In two weeks... But I also didn't exercise at all while they were here. So I'm back to exercising and making better food choices(minus some ice cream tonight)

Mon-leftovers from the Birthday party, salad
Tues-leftovers again, asparagus, a bit of ice cream
Wed-pasta with marinara sauce, steamed broccoli
Thurs-chicken ceaser salad
Fr-brown rice with shrimp,frozen veggies
Sat-some sort of a vegetable soup
Sun-crock pot beef ribs, egg noodles, carrots
 

I don't have any pictures of our meals last week, so here's the picture of a chocolate that my Hubby gave me yesterday. Now I just need to control myself when it comes to Lindt...

Today I'm turning 30...Picture post!

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                              The beautiful, tender lilies from my Hubby

                                                  Russian food!

 
                                                       My boy!!

                                      Delicious honey cake from my sister

 
                                                         Our family

                                        Oh, and a new hair color!!

                        Hello 30!! Hello, a new decade of my life!!

I've been tagged!

Pin It Kim at Out My Window got me! She actually tagged me on Wednesday of last week, and I feel really ashamed for not finding time to respond. But last week was really crazy with my parents here! They went to spend a week with my sister, and I already miss them...Oh well, they will probably stay for couple more days with us before going home next Thursday.

Anyway, I want to answer all of Kim's questions but I don't think I will tag anyone. I honestly ran out of names:( So:


1. Why do you blog about personal finance? I think it just helps me to stay on track with our spending, and I make wonderful friends on the way that can relate to what it means to be poor, or in debt, or just to be frugal and use money better. And when I participate in challenges and post it here, I feel like I have more responsibility because somebody else will read my blog and know that  that's what I signed up for.
2. What is your favorite vegetable?

Cucumbers! Oh, I love them! I can make a salad of cukes with a pinch of salt and eat it all day! And I love pickles (but mostly Russian style-less strong and a little sweeter)
3. What is the worst financial mistake you ever made?  Was it a mistake or on purpose?
I am not even sure. I was always very frugal. That's how my Mom taught me. I could probably guess, it was buying our current house. It has too many stairs to be our last (we have pretty much three floors), and with the house market where it is, there is no way we could even brake even( OK, this sentence sounds weird...). But on the other hand, we have plenty of space to live and even grow here, so we can stay here for a long long time.
4. Do you like that new car smell?

I don't know.We've never had a new car, and we've never even shopped for one :) Maybe, I need to go get one for a test drive... But as long as it doesn't smell poop or cigarettes, I am fine with the older cars.
5. Do you own pets?
Unfortunately, not. I'm a dog person, I love dogs. But we simply can't afford pets right now especially because my Hubby is allergic to most of known household pets. He can tolerate some kinds of dogs but there are usually more expensive.
6. Do you have a bad habit you would like to quit?
I do bite my nails when I'm nervous or deep in a thought...I really need to stop doing this!

7. Are you going to watch the Academy Awards?
Probably not.
8. If you were debt free, what would you do with all your extra money?
Our only debt at the moment is our mortgage, and it's not going away any time soon. But if I had that money in my pocket, first thing I would do is to buy tickets for all of us to go back home and see my friends and family, and to expose my children to Russian culture and language.
9. How much time do you spend blogging on average?

Too much! I'm still learning to balance blogging, reading other people's blogs and every day life.
10. What is your favorite season? Why?  If you can't choose list the order.
Oh, it's definitely summer! I love sun, light clothes, yummy seasonal fruits and veggies, and just being outside all the time. Or and digging in my little garden.
11. Do you ever look back at your life and think okay that was one thing I did right?  What was it?
Saying Yes to my hubby. It was a hard decision to make-move to a different country, a whole new world for me, different culture, language, food, you name it.But he's the best thing that ever happened to me. He's amazing, loving, caring and keeps the toilet sit down most of the time

The Inspire Me Sundays

Pin It Well, I was thinking a lot about it and I decided that I'm not going to post anything frugal or anything about money at all on Sundays. Sunday is a day of rest and spiritual worship for my family. So I think at least this year I will instead post a quote that inspires me. And if you have any quotes or stories that inspire you, please send them all my way, and you might be featured in the upcoming posts.
 I'm going to call it The Inspire Me Sundays.

"Some people, no matter how old they get, never lose their beauty- they merely move it from their faces into their hearts"
                    
                                          Martin Buxbaum

Shopping trips this week.

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  I went to a few stores this week. First, we went to Walmart on Wednesday with my Mom and got quite a bit of stuff for my Birthday party tomorrow and overall for the rest of the week. Highlights of this trip:
1 White cloud toilet paper- $5.97 plus used a $2 coupon(not available any more)=$3.97
2 Bear creek soups- price-matched to 2/$5 at Maceys plus used $1 of 1 coupon=$1.50 each
Green peppers-29c, price-matched to Reams
Asparagus-1.49, price-matched to Reams
4 Betty Crocker fruit snacks- 89c/ea, price-matched to Fresh Market.
2 Kraft dressings-$1.88, price-matched to Maceys, used 2 50c/1 blinkies plus $1 off produce if you buy 2=$1.38/ea plus $1 worth of produce free

Total spent in Walmart: $58.88 (but I will get $5 in Bud beer rebate for paper plates-my friend sent me that one)
Total saved: $13.72
Coupons used: 6

I also went to Smiths and Reams this week but forgot to get pictures. At Reams I got 3 6oz boxes of blueberries for $1.25 ea (gave one to my Mother-in-law. She babysat for us while we spent some time with my parents) and 1 orange pepper for 99c
Total spent: $4.88
Total saved: $2.85
No coupons used

At Smith we got Cottage cheese on sale, some discounted produce, big thing of hand soap( we completely ran out here!!Never happened to me before) and some other stuff.
Total spent: $13.53
Total saved: appr. $5 (can't find the receipt but it's pretty close estimation)
Coupons used: 1 (for cottage cheese)
 
We also went to the Russian store this week but my parents paid for this trip.

Total spent this month: $118.94
Total saved: $56.60
Left to spend this month: $161.06
YTD spending: $394.15
YTD savings: $207.81
YTD coupons used : 46
YTD waste: $26.63

Our first date of the year!

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   Remember my goal to go on a date once a month with Hubby? Last Christmas I gave my Hubby a basket with 12 pre-planned dates for every month of the year (inspired by Shannon from this fun blog). The goal was to spend less than $30 per evening by using coupons, discounts etc( and whatever is left will roll in the next month) and still have lots of fun. Unfortunately, we never had a date in January due to our kids being sick, so we carefully planned our date for February.

   My Hubby took half of the day off today. First, we went to the movies. Last year we got two free certificates from a local car dealership that we could use to purchase tickets. We couldn't use them for any recent premiers or blockbusters,so we watched Sherlock Holmes 2. Robert Downey Jr. is absolutely brilliant! We haven't been to the movies for months, so it was a really enjoyable part of our date. And the fact that there were only 5 people in the theater including us made it even more romantic...

  Then we wanted to go to a local Thai restaurant. We had a buy one, get one free coupon, and I've never tried Thai food before. So it sounded perfect! But when we pulled to a parking lot, we realized that this place was closed!! There was actually a new bar there! What a bummer! So we ran quickly home, and I found a tiny Happenings book that we got from a school fundraiser. It mostly had BOGO coupons for fast food places but there was also a coupon to a local restaurant called Francesco's. So we decided to go there.

  I have mixed feelings about the place. The inside and the service was pretty nice.They brought us water and some cheese sticks before they even got our order. But the entrees were interesting. I ordered Chicken Cordon Blue, and that's what I got (please, forgive the quality of the pictures- it was pretty dark there):

   They basically took a piece of chicken, put ham on top and melted some cheese. It tasted OK but IT'S NOT Cordon Blue! And the gravy was really salty. Also on the menu it says that you get veggies on the side. I guess, carrots are veggies but I was kind of hoping for some variety. My Hubby ordered stuffed lasagna, and it came looking like this:

  Yep, it really did look like soup! Again, it tasted OK but to be honest, not much better than Stouffer's stuff from a supermarket. Overall, with a coupon, food was fine but I don't think we'll go back there any time soon.

  But I still enjoyed our date so much! It was nice to just spend some time together, away from the kids( They stayed with my parents). And we still have $12 left from this month (we spent appr. $18 with tax and tips at a restaurant, and skipped concessions at the movies ) and $30 from last month to add to next month's date fund. We might do something really fun soon:)

                                                 Love you, Hubby!