What is Your Weekend Latte Factor?

What did you do this weekend? And more importantly, what was the cost of your weekend?

Tom and I have been striving toward living a more frugal life. I color my own hair, do my own manicures and pedicures. I get my books from the library instead of buying them and owning them and loving them forever. We determine our weekly menu, make the grocery list and then shop for ONLY what is on the list. I have found some amazing deals on beautiful designer clothing at a local resale store.

There are some things that have been difficult to give up, however. My weekly People Magazine is one. I know I can read the gossip online-and I do. But I love holding that glossy magazine in my hands each Friday evening while I sip my wine and relax after a hard week at work.

Another vice I have been working to give up is my daily drive-thru Diet Coke. My husband calls this my latte factor® .

My love affair with diet coke (from a fountain with lots of ice, thank you) costs $1.38 a day-$9.99 per week. You want to die just a little bit more? Over a year's time, that is $502.32! On pop! And yes, there is nothing like the jolt of goodness that courses through my body with the first sip, but is it worth that much of our hard-earned money?

I recently started buying a 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke to keep at home and at my office. It's not the same when I'm jonesing for my DC fix, but I have to do my part to save money so we can achieve our financial goals.

Now my Tom allows himself NO luxuries, no vices save his weekly beer (yes, just one) at the brew pub with his buddy Ron. And he's in the Pub Club so that beer is only a buck. He really is a saint.

What about you? Are your kids involved in sports that have you spending money at the concession stand and then going out for pizza afterwards. Do you go out to dinner and a movie every weekend because it IS the weekend? How much is that costing you?

Are you a bored spender? You have nothing to do so you stop off at Target just to walk around and get out of the house? And then you see some cute notecards you have been needing.

Then there is an adorable pair of shoes on clearance for only $5.74. And you can't turn down adorable or clearance. Or $5.74 for that matter.

That would be crazy.

And on the way to the check out, look what else you see. This sweet wrap that would be perfect when you're a bit chilly at the office, but don't want to throw on your old cardigan. It's only $4.99 so it would practically be a sin if you didn't get it.

And then you see this fabulousness. It's a natural pine cone tree that would look per-fect in my home. And it's only $7.49. And what if I never see anything like it again?

So, where are we now?

Note Cards $5.00
Adorable Shoes $5.74
Cute Wrap $4.99
Pine Decor $7.49

Grand total for crap you don't really need: $23.22.

Not a huge amount, but what if you do this a couple times a month? That's over $600.00 per year of unnecessary stuff you're bringing into your home.

And it's not just the Target/Wal Mart/Meijer shoppers either. I have witnessed people walking into my local dollar store with the intention of buying some cheap cleaning products or something and LOAD up their cart with all kinds of other one-dollar items. That trip for $1.00 bathroom cleaner turns into $20.00 of well, crap. Every Saturday.

Think about it this way. That is money that could go toward your family vacation, paying off your car early, buying new clothes for summer for your family, or whatever you have been wanting but can't find the resources for.

I have been following this site and this one as well and am inspired (and a little obsessed) to not accumulate more anything. To only spend when it is necessary. It will not only be a good thing for our community, our world, but for my marriage. 'Cuz there is nothing that makes Tommy happier than a little extra money in his pocket. It'll make him slop sugar all over me. Of that, I am sure .

What needless spending do you participate in every week? What can you give up? I am really curious to hear your thoughts on this topic. Now I'm going to go to the fridge and pour myself a glass of pop. And save a $1.38.


Sister Honey Bunch's Family Lenten Devotional
GOD TAKES AWAY YOUR WORRIES!


Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you; He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved -made to slip, fall, or fail.



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Get Your Church On, with Sister Seven

Sister Seven is just that, the seventh child in our very large family. She lives in AL where she dotes on her cutie-patootie husband and homeschools her two beautiful daughters. Sister Seven does love her some Jesus and is bringing church to us this Sunday morning.

I was going to talk about home schooling, but during a conversation with my Sister HB, I told her my awesome God story and she said I should write about that. So, I will. Because she is my favorite.

Psalms 68:35 "You are awesome, O God, in your sanctuary; the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!"

God is so awesome. I know this and have always known it but there are some days when I feel/know it more. Some of you are familiar with our situation. I am a stay-at-home mom of two beautiful girls. They are 3 ½ and 5 years old. As with most stay-at-home moms, money is always tight. That wasn’t always the case.

When both my husband and I worked full-time (before kids) we made great money and really didn’t have to budget much. We got married when I was 23 and he was 22(or so). When I was 26 we started trying to get pregnant. We succeeded almost immediately, but I lost that baby at nine weeks. After that we could not get pregnant. After trying for over two years we started fertility treatments. We did almost a year on clomid and one month on injections and other hormone medications, which was very expensive.

We were getting ready to do our next month (out of pocket) fertility treatment when God gave me something else to focus on. I started listening to Dave Ramsey and got carried away with him and his financial philosophy.

My husband (K) and I knew that we wanted me to stay home with our kids when we were finally able to have them. We also knew that wouldn’t be possible unless we got a bunch of stuff paid off. In 8 months we paid off $17,500 in debt and made our last car payment.

The next month I got pregnant.

Five years later we had two kids and our financial situation was very depressing. I was scared to share with K. how bad things really were. I didn’t know what to do.

What I did know, was that God put the desire in my heart to stay home with the kids. Going back to work full-time wasn’t the solution for our family. So I tried many different part-time jobs. As is the case with part-time employment, my bosses needs increased and they wanted me to work more hours each day and more days each week.

The last job I had paid $10.00 per hour. I was assured that my schedule would match my daughters school hours-Tuesday and Thursday from 9:30-1:30. Shortly after I started working, my manager changed my schedule from what I was promised, to two full days. I had to find a babysitter who could pick my girls up and keep them until I got home from work. My babysitter charged me $5.oo an hour, which didn’t leave me much money to add to my family's budget.

By February 2007, we were upside down approximately $400.00 each month and my job wasn’t working. I was getting so stressed out trying to figure out what bills to pay and when to pay them. At the same time I was starting to feel that I should homeschool Audrey. My plan was to begin when she was in first grade. I talked to my husband and he wanted me to start home schooling her for kindergarten.

We were MINUS $400.00 each month. Homeschool my daughter was on the horizon. I had no idea how to get the bills paid. I start to pray. I feel like God has called me to homeschool. I know I am suppose to stay home with the kids. I pray, and I pray. And I keep praying

In June my friend came up with the idea that we clean houses. So we prayed about that too and before we know it, we each had one house to clean.

Now I have the tendency to sometimes think that I may know a bit more than God. So I asked Him to give me four or five houses to clean each month. (Because I am Super Mom.) I figured I could manage cleaning two homes each week and earn an additional $400.00 a month. Exactly what we needed to break even. (Of course, God had other plans.)

I started my new cleaning career and was doing great. Before I knew it I had Nasty Nancy (a very nasty house) every other week. Mini Mansion Morgan (a much nicer but bigger house) every other week. Perfect Pam (a perfectionist house) every other week. I also cleaned a few others once a month.

At the same time I start trying to home school Audrey. I was very busy with the house cleaning and not able to school her like I wanted. I was having to either take Audrey with me when I cleaned, or pawn her off on other people. I hated doing that.

Madison was attending a Christian preschool two days a week. I was trying to take care of my own home as well as other activities I was involved in. I was getting tired and stressed and I wasn’t doing school like I felt I should. I felt like Audrey was getting the leftovers and we were doing only what was required. That was not at all how I envisioned things to be. I wanted to do more than the minimum but I couldn't figure out how.

So I start praying again. I said “OK God you were right, I really don’t need this many houses and I want to do the right thing and teach Audrey well. But you know our finances. Please work out a way that I don’t have to work as much and we are still able to pay our bills and have a savings account and a cushion in the checking account.”

I began praying about this in October. Now remember, we were negative $400.00 every single month. When I was cleaning all of the houses I was able to pay the bills and usually have about $12.00 left in our account before my husband got paid again. I was expecting a miracle - and as always God is faithful, especially when you are doing his will for you in your life.

In November, I received an offer to clean at BellSouth. The contract would go through December. I accepted the position and recruited a few of my friends to help me clean. This was a great job. We were paid $15.00 an hour to clean offices. Shortly after I started cleaning the offices I was FINALLY able to get rid of a few of the houses I cleaned every week.

One afternoon, my husband came home and told me he took the whole week of Christmas off. Now most of you would be saying "Great! Now we can stare into each others eyes and cuddle all day long." But that is not the case with my husband.

When K. is home too much he gets bored. Then he gets depressed. It all goes downhill from there. So, rather than do cartwheels at the news, I told the man he had to find something to do to keep himself busy. Or I might have to pull my hair out. And I have cute hair.

I was still working too much so I kept praying. I prayed that God would provide a way for Ken to make some extra money. I also prayed that God would find a way to keep him busy during the Christmas holidays.

(I'm sure some of you are going to wonder, “Why should you make your husband work two or more jobs just so you can stay home with your kids?”. My answer to that is this. In our family my husband needs to feel like he is providing for us the way he wants to. He is also a man who goes stir-crazy if he is home more than a few hours a day. He needs something outside of work and family to feel fulfilled and satisfied.)

Shortly after I got the BellSouth job, K. asked to be put on the access list so he could help. That was awesome because I wouldn't have to work so much, and he would work his butt off happily bringing home more money.

He worked an extra 67 hours in a two week period! His normal work days are 6:30 am until 5pm. K. worked his regular job and every night he would go to BellSouth and clean. It was so great. He was happy because that is what he has wanted all along, and I was happy because things were getting less tight financially and I knew he would have something to do the week of Christmas.

God had even more in store for us! K. talked to his boss the Friday before Christmas and told her that since six people were off the week of Christmas he would be happy to work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday (his vacation days) for his normal pay rate. She said no. She didn’t think she would need him. When he got home he told about their conversation. I told him he should have told me earlier so I could start praying. I decided to start praying about it anyway and on Wednesday morning she called K. and asked him to work. He worked four hours but got paid for the whole day. I continued praying and he got called in to work Thursday and Friday as well. We made an extra $680.00 plus what K made cleaning BellSouth.
We decided to take the $680.00 and purchase a Wal-mart gift card so I didn’t have to take grocery money out of our budget.

Right now I clean one house every week and we have $175.00 cushion in the checking account, $850.00 in our savings account and a $200.00 check waiting to be picked up today. I have been able to spend as much time on school these last two months that I felt I needed to do. Audrey is doing amazingly well. I took Madison out of pre-school and am teaching her at home now as well.

God knew all along that I only needed two houses. He just waited for me to realize He knew best.

God is our Jehova-Jira, Our Provider, for all things, not just money, but family, friends, peace in times of trouble, joy etc.

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$545 Kitchen Makeover? Oh, yeah baby.

When we were house hunting, the real estate market was booming and every house we put an offer on already had about four or five offers ahead of us. It was very frustrating.

One afternoon we looked at the house we ended up purchasing. I hated, hated, hated everything about it. It had the wallpaper from hell. The kitchen made me want to curl up in a ball and cry like a baby. There was no separation between the living room and the dining room. The space didn't flow. At all.

After I spent a few minutes looking around I was ready to leave. Tom asked me to open my mind to the possibilities that this place had. So I tried. And I couldn't see any. We left, but Tom kept talking about this house and how great he thought it was. I thought he was smoking crack, because I promise you when I say there was not one charming thing about the place.

Because I love my husband (and wanted him to please shut up already), I agreed to look at it one more time. I am nothing if not (begrudgingly) fair.

We walked in and Tom immediately started describing the different things we could do to make it beautiful. I seem to have no vision when it comes to home decor. (Which is why I am in desperate need of help from The Nester. Go there. You'll thank me.) because I wasn't able to see what Tom saw.

I did appreciate a few of its qualities though. The neighborhood was one we really liked and this particular house was located in a cul-de-sac. The yard was nice and big and surrounded by beautiful trees. So, we bought it.

Since we didn't have a bazillion dollars (or $25,000) to have someone come in and help transform the place we did it all ourselves. And by "we", I mean "Tom". Well, I did help with some stuff. Like cleaning. And choosing paint colors. And handing Tom the whatcha-macallits when he asked for them.

We put knotty pine paneling in our family room along with gorgeous built-in bookcases (because books are my friend). We installed a wood burning stove to make us all nice and cozy on movie nights. And Super Bowl Sundays.

We pulled up the nasty carpet and put down wood floors. We replaced the hideous gold toilet and sink in the bathroom. And that was just plain gross.

Tom also put up wainscoting to show my much-desired definition between the living and dining rooms. Because he worships the ground upon which I walk. Doesn't it look great?

When the time came to remodel our kitchen, I felt like it was my wedding day. Except I wasn't pregnant.

We (and again, by we, I mean Tom) pulled off the HIDEOUS faux wood-grain countertop. We removed the nasty, dirty, chipped ceramic tiles from the floor and got rid of the sink.

While I was cleaning up his big, fat mess (he is a very messy home remodel-er), Tom painted our cabinets and installed new knobs. I just have to call your attention to my knobs. Are they not adorable? They're twigs!
They make me happy every single solitary day. It's the little things, you know.

We also put in a new countertop. It is faux granite, (and lovely), new flooring and a new (to us) sink. All for $545.00.



Here are some Before and After pictures to inspire your own Kitchen Makeover on a Budget.

Ok. First, ick. Look at those NASTY brown cabinets. I Know! I hate them too. And what about the faux wood-grain countertop? Could anything be more wrong than that? And what is with the weird counter arrangement? Don't worry. I came home one night to my Tommy with a power tool in his hand. He took care of that bad boy.

Here is another view of those hideous cabinets. Ugh. Look at the dirty looking grout on the tiles. Gross, no?

Ok, for fun, let's just take a peek through the door here at check out the wallpaper I told you about. I had to steam that nastiness off. It took about a month. Or maybe it just felt like a month. I don't know.

Now we will check out the fabulousness that is my new kitchen. Hi pretty painted cabinets! We are so thrilled to have you here.

Aren't my floors so warm and inviting? And my cabinets (again)! And my countertops? And my knobs! (You're wishing you were married to my Tommy, aren't you? Yeah, I don't mind picking up his socks off the floor. Look what he does for me. Plus, he's cute.)

Here is my new sink. Well, new to me, anyway. Apparently, it has some fancy schmancy garbage disposal unit that everyone raves about. I'm not sure how it is so much greater than your average garbage disposal, but I feel pretty darn special all the same. I heart Tom's brother for giving it to us. (Hey Nester!What should I do with my naked window?)

My coral/salmon/orangey colored walls make me smile. You know what else makes me smile? My lightened grout. I still need to tidy it up, but it looks so much better.

This green bin here to the left? That's Tom's catch-all. When he comes in the house, he throws random "stuff" in there. Let's take a peek and see what's in there today, mmm-k?

A gift receipt from Christmas. (He's a bit of a saver.) Chewing gum, razor blades (in case some type of razor-blading emergency comes up, maybe?), sun glasses, an itunes gift card (also from Christmas. Maybe I'll just use it.), his phone charger, a cell phone, bills to be mailed, and boat keys. For a boat that is in storage. Because it's February in Northern Michigan.
What's that?
Oh, and look what else. A picture of me and my dad when I was thirteen. Now, that's just the sweetest thing ever.

You're probably just dying to know how we were able to achieve all of this fabulousness for so cheap? Would you like me to break it down for you?
Flooring: $200.00
Countertop: $225.00
Mini Tiles: $ 25.00
Paint: $ 50.00
Knobs: $ 45.00
Sink: $ 0.00
Happy Honey Bunch: Priceless. Because, really. If I'm happy, everybody will be happy. Am I right?

Have you done a Home Makeover on a budget? Please share your tips in our comments, or post a link to your blog with your own story.

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