May update on my yearly goals

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1. Blog at least 15 times every month. Doing great! I posted 22 times in May. This is my 23rd post :)

2. Have a "money meeting" at least once a month with my husband. Absolutely awesome!! We had a "money meeting" every weekend this month. Hubby really enjoys keeping his own budget (even though I do all the calculations :)

3. Save enough to pay for Christmas with cash. Our goal is $550. We added another $110 to this account which brings total to $330.59. We also bought a couple of gifts to stash away, I'll update on them later.

4. Save as much as we can for a minivan. We put aside another $750 this month. Hubby was supposed to receive a little bonus in May but he never did. Hopefully,he'll get it next week. June is also a 3 paycheck month for us so we really hope to put a little more into this account too.

5. De-clutter 366 things this year.  I got rid of 64 things in May. I did not sell anything but I gave away tons and threw away tons of things. We had a Church clothes swap, and I took two bags full of clothes for it. (and I didn't bring anything home. The swap was actually on the weekend when we were away, so it's a good thing:)

6. Keep track of our food waste.Done. Still doing pretty good with it.

7. Start putting again some money for retirement. We didn't put any money in but we finally figured out our accounts, and we'll put $20 per paycheck starting June. it's not much (I know it's pretty much nothing) but it's the beginning for us.

8. Have 1 date night every month with my husband. DONE!!! Hubby actually had a surprise movie night planned for us :) Love you, darling!

9. Lose 12 lbs in 2012.  This is the one I'm struggling with :( I'm not a complete failure, I lost another pound in May (3 lbs total loss). But I'm so far from my actual goal. I know it's mostly my fault because I hardly exercised in May. I really need to get back on track!!

10. Read 12 books this year. I didn't read anything worth mentioning. I reread a couple of Russian books and another Agatha Christie's novel but nothing new here.

11. Write in my journal at least once a week. This is the one I failed :( I only wrote once in my journal. I just didn't feel like there was anything worth writing about. I need to get better with it!

12. Create mini-goals every month through out the year.Done! Updates are coming tomorrow!
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   Overall, I'm pretty pleased with our success in May. I even think it was our best month so far this year! I love to see all these "green" and very little "red". I updated my side bars, and we are above 50% everywhere. That feels nice!

   How are you doing on your yearly/monthly goals?

Craft closet reveal: before and after

Pin It    Where did I disappear? Well, we are still working on our yard and some landscaping. I really hope we will be done tonight. And I'm working on a garage...Sigh...All the crap there is about 80% contained but I still have quite a bit of work to do. I mention that in order to finish cleaning our garage, I also needed to clean my craft closet.
   I decided to take it a step further and re-do it. I haven't had any diaper cake orders in the last few weeks (some fell threw because of our little vacation). But my closet was a hot mess. These are some  before pictures:

   Man, it looks even worse than I remembered!! It really needed help! Please, don't judge :)

  And  these are some after pictures:

   I cleaned it really well, Hubby made a little shelf for my paints and then I painted it all this beautiful mint green:

I added some new storage for ribbons and other stuff:

  And for craft magazines, etc:

   Then I added some decorations (including my very first diaper cake that was not for sale but it brought me some amazing clients that i just loved to work with) and "art":

   Aww...much better! The best thing is the price of this re-do was $0!! Yep, you heard me right! Here's how I did it:

paint- free from last year's Glidden promotion when they gave away free quarts.
storage- already had  in the house
shelf - used some leftover wood from the garage and hardware already had
vase with flowers- the only vase left from our wedding and I got these fake peonies for one of my orders but ended up using something else.
"art"- my own embroidery that I found among other stuff. I just used an old frame that I spray-painted textured brown.

The big bins hold diapers, artificial flowers and some fabric. Or, and the last little thing:

   I just used empty metal cans from corn, washed them and wrapped with some leftover fleece. It's free and great for storing pencils, pens, brushes and markers.

   I'm so happy with the results. Everything is a lot more accessible and I just love to work in my little closet. Now I just need to tackle this chair that I use (another project for June):

Food waste Monday and a menu, week 5/7-5/13

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   I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day (for those who celebrate). We tried to take advantage of Hubby's day off and spent most of our day digging in the yard. We'll plan two rose bushes tomorrow. I'm super tired right now but I wanted to post a quick update on our food waste last week.
  We did throw away some stuff:

  These taco shells expired a few weeks ago and they tasted rancid. And this frosting was hiding in my pantry (that I cleaned a month or so ago...Really??) and it expired a long time ago...A long time...
   Also some of the salsa that we opened last week started growing something green in it. It says all natural, no preservatives on the can, and apparently it's true. I didn't really like this particular brand but Hubby was upset. He really enjoyed it.
   As for what we are eating this week, I made an approximate menu. Our fridge is pretty bare right now, and I'm not going shopping until the end of the week but the pantry and freezer are still fairly stocked:

Mon.-leftovers
Tues.- spaghetti, steamed broccoli
Wed.- plov, salad
Thurs.- leftovers
Fr.- grilled salmon with all the fixings
Sat.-cheddar broccoli soup
Sun.- TBD (depends on a weekend shopping trip)

OK, I'm really tired and I better go get to bed. Good night, everyone!


PS-I will link this post to the amazing Kirsten's blog The Frugal Girl and her Food waste Fridays.

The Inspire Me Sundays

Pin It   Today is a very special day in our family- our amazing, handsome, wonderful husband and Dad turned 31. I love him with all my heart and I'm so grateful for every moment that we spend together. It's not always perfect, and we do have occasional fights and all (What? Not everyone can be Dr. Phil and never argue with his wife ?!) but I believe after the storm our relationships grow even stronger. And I'm so grateful for every happy memory we have and for all the many more to come!

  And because I'm in this mushy mood today, I wanted to share with you this quote that I stumbled upon the other day :

  " You can't make someone love you, all you can do is be someone who can be loved, the rest is up to the person to realize your worth"

                                                Author unknown

                                              About 6.5 years ago...

   All those of you out there who found your right person, cherish them. And those of you who are still looking, don't settle for less. You deserve to be happy!!


   Have a wonderful Sunday, everyone!

Monthly goal updates and a giveaway winner!!

Pin It     I'm back!! I missed you all guys! I hope, everyone is doing great and ready for a weekend. We are doing much better, thank you all for your support. Baby's fever finally broke and he slept pretty good the last two nights. I felt pretty crappy on Wednesday but I'm much better now too!

 Some updates on my May goals:

Eat vegetarian twice a week: week 1 done! week 2 going strong, week 3 another great week, week 4
Have a vacation/getaway DONE, DONE, DONE !!!
Organize hutch in the living room done
Paint picture frame in a bathroom painted yesterday
finish Hubby's Birthday gift (stay tuned...:) done!
clean/organize a garage working on it. We could probably fit 1/2 of a car there right now :)
switch all the bills to paper-free (I still have a few) done
list more stuff on KSL not yet but I will list some stuff this weekend
have a date yes, we did! Hubby gave me a surprise movie night. It was so much fun!!
get garden ready for more planting done, all dug up and ready to plant
plant beans, kale, tomatoes, zucchini everything from this list is planted. Cucumbers, spinach and a few more things are now on the list for next week and the beginning of June.
exercise : week 1 kind of. I only exercised twice last week :( But so is Hubby, so we are on the same page so far, week 2 oh yeah, baby!, week3 failed :( Exercised only once last week, week 4
send all the rebates all sent. More to come in June
do front yard landscaping not even happening this month
declutter more did tons yesterday but I'm not done yet
wash windows not yet.
buy gifts for Birthdays/ Mother's Day done
have a 7-day fiscal fast (only necessary spending)- it's this week, and we are going strong!
wash all the garbage cans in the house nope

   I love to see all of this green!! With the upcoming Memorial Day I hope to be able to finish a few more things and finally completely be done with our garage!! It looks so much better already!

  And now to a more fun part. I have a giveaway winner!! I did  it old-fashioned way- wrote down all the names and let the Kid draw one:

   And the winner is SuperNeena!! Congratulations, Teresa! I sent you the e-mail with your code. Thanks everyone who entered!!

   And I better go and work on this garage of mine a little bit more :) Have a wonderful day, everyone!

    

Spending, fiscal fast, menu and food waste

Pin It I never got to post our grocery spending last week but we spent quite a bit. I had a great beer rebate that I wanted to use before the end of the month:

   Basically, I would get back $25 via mail-in rebate if I spend $40 on Beef, chicken, seafood in one transaction. I just didn't want this rebate to expire. So I bought enough chicken and seafood to last us for the next 3-4 weeks. I also bought lots of fruit and veggies, more diapers (yes, I know, I'm hoping Baby is really considering to start potty training very soon :), toilet paper, condiments, you name it:

   I didn't get all of the pictures of what I bought last week but I spent tons. We actually only have $6.75 left from our grocery budget plus $3 RR from Walgreens. Hence, FISCAL FAST is coming this week! I'm a little scared with just 9 dollars left for the rest of the month but technically we shouldn't really need anything but bread and milk, and maybe, bananas. So it should work. I hope... And overall, we decided to stay away from  the stores this week and spend as little as possible.Maybe, I can do something more useful this week and work on some projects around the house:)

  On a good note, this is my food waste this week:

   Yep, I have none! I'm really happy with it. Kids were actually eating pretty well, and  there was no more spilled cereal anywhere :)

   As for menu for this week, that's what we are eating:

Mon.-crock pot chicken stroganoff, mashed potatoes, broccoli
Tues.-basil pasta, salad
Wed.- salmon, rice, green beans
Thurs.- soup of some sort
Fr.-leftovers
Sat.- potatoes, crock pot ribs, corn
Sun.- Hub's choice for lunch, dinner with a family (Hubby's Birthday)

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Total spent this month :$273.25
Total saved: $107.47 (plus about $45 in rebates)
Left to spend this month: $6.75
YTD spending: $1406.46
YTD savings: $774.27
YTD coupons used: 175
YTD waste: $30.92

The Inspire me Sundays

Pin It  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. 


"When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."
                                                        Franklin D. Roosevelt

Hubby's Birthday Gift and my first giveaway!

Pin It    This year I had a very limited budget for Hubby's gift because he really needed some new pants, and we decided to use his Birthday for it. But I still wanted to give him something special. A few weeks ago I   found this cute idea on Pinterest. I could not afford their design but I happened to have a Shutterfly code for free 8x8 hard cover book, so I decided to create my own (I still payed shipping and handling but it made the whole project about $8):

   The kids drew some pictures, made hands and feet imprints:

They cut out hearts:

   I asked my older kid to answer some questions about his Dad:

 Honestly, the possibilities are endless! I even added a little saying that I found on Pinterest too:

:) Cute, isn't it?
   A few questions I asked my Kid were:

What does Daddy love about Mommy?
How do you know your Dad loves you?
What do you like to do with Daddy?
Do you want to be like Dad? Why?
Where does Daddy work?
How old is your Dad?
Can you describe your Dad?

   And even: Who is better - Dad or Scooby Do? I got a very long hesitant pause until he finally said that he just can't choose because he likes them both :) Some of these answers can be absolutely hilarious! I really enjoyed doing this little project with the kids, and I know my husband will cherish this gift more than anything we could buy him.

   And I happen to have another free* Shutterfly 8x8 hardcover book code to give to one lucky reader of my blog. Unfortunately, this giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only due to some Shutterfly restrictions. I'm really sorry, all my wonderful friends from Canada, Russia, Australia and other countries :(


MANDATORY ENTRY: Follow my blog (if you don't already) and leave a comment telling me the best gift you've ever received in your life.

ADDITIONAL ENTRY: Mention this giveaway on your blog. Leave a comment that you did it here.

This giveaway will end next Friday, May 18th. The code doesn't expire until Dec. 2012 so you have plenty of time to use it for Father's Day gift or even save it for Christmas if you'd like.

GOOD LUCK, EVERYONE!


 *This offer valid for (1) 20-page hardcover 8x8 photo book only (leather, padded and soft covers excluded). Shipping, handling and taxes are not included. Additional pages incur a per-page fee and additional taxes and shipping charges. User must have a Shutterfly account, and the offer code must be entered into the account. This offer is not redeemable for cash and cannot be combined with other offers, discounts promotions or credits. Shutterfly is not responsible for lost or stolen codes. Not for resale. Void where prohibited or restricted by law. The use of this code is governed by the laws of the State of California, USA. Shutterfly reserves the right to change any of the terms and conditions from time to time without notice.

May goal updates

Pin It   I progressed a little on my list but good thing I still have a couple of weeks left :)

Eat vegetarian twice a week: week 1 done! week 2 going strong, week 3, week 4
Have a vacation/getaway DONE, DONE, DONE !!!
Organize hutch in the living room nah...
Paint picture frame in a bathroom painted yesterday
finish Hubby's Birthday gift (stay tuned...:) done! More on this tomorrow
clean/organize a garage
switch all the bills to paper-free (I still have a few)
list more stuff on KSL
have a date
get garden ready for more planting done, all dug up and ready to plant
plant beans, kale, tomatoes, zucchini
exercise : week 1 kind of. I only exercised twice last week :( But so is Hubby, so we are on the same page so far, week 2 oh yeah, baby!, week3, week 4
send all the rebates working on it. Already sent 6 rebates. 5 more to go.
do front yard landscaping not even happening this month
declutter more did tons yesterday but I'm not done yet
wash windows not yet.
buy gifts for Birthdays/ Mother's Day done
have a 7-day fiscal fast (only necessary spending) went shopping today and we'll be forced to have one next week :)
wash all the garbage cans in the house nope

Have a wonderful day, everyone!

Food waste and a menu, week 5/14-5/20

Pin It    I was trying to find time to post all day but something would always come up. I spent almost 4 hours (!!!!) helping the Kid to clean his room. We did top-to-bottom-get-rid-of-half-of-the-junk cleaning today but now I'm not going to step on Legos all the time and I can actually see the floor in the room. And I'm not even exaggerating...
   And I was doing so good with no waste this week until I come upstairs and find the Baby in the kitchen with the box of Cheerios all over the floor and he's quickly trying to eat it all!! So no picture, sorry.  I did put on the bowl what I could steal away from him. Here it is:

   It's actually a pretty big Tupperware bowl aka half a cereal box big. I usually don't even count kids' food waste but by their waste I mean whatever is left on a plate (did I say, half of their dinner??...). But this is different. I only spent 99c on Cheerios but I'm still upset because they are Baby's favorite and that was our last box that I got on sale. Oh well, at least now I will triple-check that the pantry is always closed and the only things that are within his reach there are canned beans:)

And here's our menu for the week:

Mon.- shrimps, brown rice, frozen peas
Tues.- shepherd's pie, salad
Wed.- cheese quesadillas, steamed broccoli
Thurs.- leftovers
Fr.- grilled something :)
Sat.- vegetarian chili, cornbread
Sun.- crockpot chicken, pesto pasta, salad

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Total spent this month :$161.94
Total saved: $53.36
Left to spend this month: $118.06
YTD spending: $1295.15
YTD savings: $720.16
YTD coupons used: 161
YTD waste: $30.92

Our amazing little vacation...lots and lots of pictures!!

Pin It     This year we decided to go to Page for our little getaway. Page is a small town on the very border of UT and Arizona. It was about 7-hour drive one way for us, and it was absolutely worth it! Page was originally built to house workers during the construction of the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River: The population of it is about 7000 people but it attracts for then 3 million tourists every year.  I want to share with you just a few reasons why.
    The first thing you notice as you get closer to the Arizona border is a breathtaking landscape:

   Most of this land belongs to Navajo Indian tribe. On all the sides you are surrounded by magnificent red rock mountains and canyons. From what our tour guide explained to us, it's red because of the high level of iron in it. Over millions of years the canyons have been forming by water that also reacted with iron and "rusted" it.

  This region is very dry. I think, now I have a slight idea what it feels like to be in a dessert. Even though I didn't find any cacti the size of a man, I still found some. And lizards:

      As much as I was amazed by the beauty of this area , I doubt I could live there long term. I would miss green trees too much!

     We left home at around 4:30 pm on Friday and got to Page just short of 11 in the evening. It was already pitch dark outside, so we decided to just go to bed. We stayed in a little, cheap hotel there (sorry, no picture) called Americas Best Value Inn. It was old, outdated but clean and for the price of $80 (after tax, half of what some other places asked) a night it was quite decent. They also had a continental breakfast included which was surprisingly not bad. Their beds though weren't very comfortable, so I couldn't really sleep there. So I was up for the day at around 6 am, and well, I didn't let Hubby sleep much longer than that. :)
   So we had our breakfast and went around to look at the Dam and explore the city a little:

Here's my very helpless attempt to make a picture of the Dam through a fence. But it's humongous! We enjoyed the breathtaking views of Lake Powell:  

    But our main attraction and the whole reason for this trip was the amazing Antelope Canyon. We had a tour reserved at 9:30 in the morning. Entry to Antelope Canyon is restricted to guided tours led by mostly Navajo guides. When we got there, turned out that they overbooked, so they added additional help for our small group. There were only 6 of us, and it was awesome. Other than us, there was a couple from Moscow, Russia and another elderly couple from Europe (didn't catch exactly from where). So my husband was the only American :) And I actually had somebody to talk to in my own language! The other advantage of such a small group was a little more time for picture taking. And it was so worth it:

                                   
                                         (that was a group before us)

   The canyon is about 40 feet deep.These wavy rocks were created by sand and water over the millions of years. They have a few flood seasons a year when water goes up to 20 feet even nowadays:

         
   We loved every minute of it! It was so beautiful, more amazing than any pictures can show:

   And the picture with our wonderful guide. She was so helpful and nice :

 I have tons more pictures of the Antelope Canyon and some other smaller places that we visited but I think this post is getting kind of long :) So the last picture is a little souvenir made by locals that I couldn't resist buying (on the right). Navajo people are very talented . Isn't it so cute?? And matches our living room decor . Honestly my other  vases on this shelf just look so primitive next to this little gem :

 How was your weekend? And what are your vacation plans this year?