Weekly Money Checkup

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on Christmas gifts. I was planning on waiting but Friday night we went to rent skis for my husbands dad and brother and they had the gun safe I was planning on buying $40 off the regular price. Guess I should have checked the black Friday ads. Thanks Jenifer for bringing it in the house!

2. Today I am thankful I have only 3 things left to buy for Christmas gifts. Saving $40 means I can get my husband 2 of the big things he wanted since I was already under the budget I set for him. He is going to be happy!

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was decorate our Christmas tree with my mother in law. It looks great and usually I decorate it by myself. Now I really want to decorate the mantel but am holding off until my husband gets his wiring done.

4. I will consider this week a success if I can check off 5 of the 8 crucial things I need to finish before the end of the year. The sooner I get them done the better. Tomorrow I am going to help my cousin organize/watch her youngest since she just moved and Thursday I am helping my Mamo wrap gifts for the family she adopted for Christmas. Thankfully my crucial list is mostly computer/telephone related so I can fit them in easily.

5. My favorite Christmas song/album is ? There are so many great songs, I guess Silver Bells (not sure which artist) because my grandpa used to sing it and my mom still does around this time of year. It reminds me of the holiday spirit and those we love.


Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Since this is a money related post I am proud to say we paid off our mattress Friday and we are down to my husbands student loan and our credit card (medical expenses) so I am now going full force on our credit card so we can be almost debt free again. It feels great to see the end in sight (again sadly) and I haven't borrowed from our savings at all. Cheers to soon paying off the card and saving more again. I can't wait because it is a HUGE weight off our shoulders to not worry about extra bills. Cross your fingers that medical costs stay low so we can pay them off sooner rather than later. Have a great week!

Weekly Money Checkup

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on wires etc? I am not really sure what we ordered but it included speaker wires, some outlets specifically for stereo/tv components etc. The order was $87 and should be the final supplies to finish this project we started on a whim almost a year ago. I have a new better plan as well....we figured out how to use that giant hole in the wall to hold all the components so we have built in storage and no cords!

2. Today I am thankful my husband is so resourceful. He managed to run cable through our garage and up into our master bedroom so our tv that has been sitting for 9 months can be turned on! He only spent $10 because he was able to use cable that we had. And that $10 was free because he used my Amazon $$ from Swagbucks.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was get house work done as a team. I dusted the whole house while my awesome husband vacuumed. He also raked up leaves in the back yard so the dogs stop tracking them in. Our house being clean makes me SUPER happy.

4. I will consider this week a success if I finish cleaning (I have very little left) and get some of our basement furniture on Craigslist to sell. I keep meaning to do that and haven't gotten around to it.

5. This Thanksgiving we are kind of relaxing. My dad will be home from traveling for work so we are smoking a turkey for him and not doing much else. My husband is excited because his parents and brother are coming Friday and it sounds like they are going skiing Saturday. He is REALLY excited to use the skis he bought last year.


Life is good here, we are getting lots of little house projects done and catching up on bills. We have a plan to pay off our recent stream of large bills, a timeline for a new vehicle, and some plans for the house. I can't believe that 2011 is almost over and how much we have accomplished. I hope 2012 has a few less hiccups and is as wonderful.

Online Shopping is the Best

Online Christmas shopping is the best! I sat on my computer yesterday and got most of it done! I still need to buy two things for my husband (shipping was too much online) and something for my dad. Other than that I need to wrap a few things and make a couple of things and I am done. 

My plate is full at the moment so getting this out of the way makes me so relieved. That and the money I had budgeted for Christmas can pay off medical bills since I have extra! Sad I know that I am excited about that but not owing money makes me happy! Getting just a little bit behind makes it hard to catch back up!

Since we are staying home for Christmas this year I think I am going to get my tree out Thanksgiving day and decorate so I can put things under it once I wrap them. I wish I could share all the things I ordered but its a secret!

Have a great weekend!

Christmas Lists

I am REALLY struggling with this right now. I asked my husband early for his this year so I could watch for sales and he usually only has really expensive things that he would like so he has a hard time coming up with a list.

His list makes me laugh because it is kind of random.

-New Slippers
-3 Fire Extinguishers
-Snow Boots (he wants lace up hunting/camo ones from somewhere like Bass Pro or Cabela's so they can be used for more than one activity)
-A heater for his garage (I took a picture of the one he wants)
-A new Ipod dock for our stereo system, our really old one wont charge his phone and play music apparently. This one is hard because I only seem to find the ones with speakers attached.

And whether or not he likes it he is getting a locking gun safe from me. We have WAY too many guns. If I am able to find a reasonable small hand gun safe he is getting one of those too. He very rarely spends any money on himself though so I try to get him things he wants. Good thing I have a small fund set aside just for his Christmas gifts. :)

Making a list for me is hard, mostly because the things I usually want are household needs. For instance my new vacuum (that was a need having two dogs).  On Monday I had one thing on my list.....paring knives (they are always dirty because I eat so much fruit.) But yesterday I saw one of those SodaStream machines and saw you can make flavored carbonated water with them. I LOVE that. Not very practical and it would take up room in my limited cupboard space, but I really think I would use it a lot. I am not very good at making lists like this. Now if you asked me what I would like done around our house I could make a huge list.

At least I have his stocking done. How is your Christmas List/shopping going?

Weekly Money Checkup

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on necessities like food and toiletries. We spent plenty the previous week on a new vacuum and my birthday fan. I am overwhelmed with things that need done so I will get around to pictures hopefully soon.

2. Today I am thankful I am feeling good. Yesterday I didn't feel so swell and had a lot of things I needed to get done. Hopefully I get a few done today.

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was make a decision on health insurance issues for next year and have my husband to give me his Christmas list. I also figured out a few ideas to fill stockings with. Now I have a plan so I can budget since we have so many expenses right now. I need to be very tight with our Christmas funds.

4. I will consider this week a success if I get all orders out the next day and a few sewing projects done I have stashed away.

5. I am looking forward to checking things off my list that need done before the New Year. I am a compulsive list maker, we have so many notepads around the house you would think I hoard them. :)


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Have a wonderful Week!

Weekly Money Checkup

1. The most I’ve spent this last week was on ....oh dear. I was REALLY bad last week! I bought a new vacuum, a bench with tubs for our laundry/mud room to keep gloves/hats/shoes in, a new faucet for the kitchen sink, and my husband bought me a fan for my birthday. That fan sounds boring but our current one is ugly, has weird glass, and isn't made to hang flush with the ceiling so its too low and blocking my tv view from the kitchen while cooking. Thankfully I have been saving for most of those purchases. Now the fan just needs to arrive in the mail.

2. Today I am thankful we gave the dogs baths yesterday. They needed them Friday but my husband had a poker party Saturday and our poor puppy Max that likes beer was hanging out with the guys also smelled like cigars. Yuck!

3. Money can’t buy happiness. One free thing I did last week that made me happy was put my new storage bench together in our laundry room. We have a nice hall closet in the front of the house but we use our garage entrance with no storage and I was tired of piles of gloves/hats/shoes etc. So I fixed the problem and now have a spot to sit and put on my shoes. :)

4. I will consider this week a success if I take our 5 oak bar stools to the consignment store. I think I can make more money there than Craigslist so I am going to try. We spent last Friday drawing up a plan to remodel our basement sans 80's pink 16 foot bar. My husband hasn't decided exactly how he wants the details but told me to start clearing it out. My mom seem's to want to buy the fooseball table so that should be easy.

5. I didn't really notice Daylight Savings this year. I didn't go to bed until 2am though and then got up at 7:30 or actually 6:30am. What is wrong with me? We made up for it by going to bed an hour early though last night and lounging all day.


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