I remember reading an entry a few weeks ago about frustrations with visiting the "less fortunate" relatives over the holidays and how it made for some uncomfortable moments. I am finding that same situation occurring on a daily basis in my life here and I am frustrated with it. The state that I live in has not had the real estate bubble trouble, we are begging for workers to fill empty job positions, and the local economy seems very sheltered from the nationwide downfall. There have been small bits and pieces of things trickling into our state from "the recession", such as an Office Depot store that was just built and opened in 2007 announcing that they are closing. This type of thing in general seems to be coming from bigger up the chain decisions. I have friends who are out of state who I love dearly, who are hurting because of the economy. I don't want to minimize what they are going through, but I am having a hard time not saying "JUST MOVE!" to some of them. I think when everyone around you in your "circle" is struggling, it is easy to think that the rest of the world is in the same shoes. The media and their constant pounding in our heads about "the recession" adds to this. My bestfriends husband came home with a paycheck for less than $100 this week. That's it! They know there is no work where they are living, and the chances of things picking up anytime soon are very slim. It isn't the "end of the world" everywhere like the media has led us all to believe. So my biggest frustration is why do people allow themselves to just sit and be kicked and kicked and kicked when there are certainly other opportunities out there? I can understand if you have a home you own and can't sell that it can be near impossible to move right now. But I know lots of people who just don't have those strong of roots in a community who seem content to just be "down on their luck" and not do anything to change. If your money isn't enough to pay for bills and necessities- you either have to lower the amount of your bills, or INCREASE INCOME. Seems simple enough to me.

Sigh. Just venting because I can't vent anywhere in real life about this...

I wanted to post some pictures of the stroller that DH made for our youngest daughter for her birthday this week. It came out so nice!

Today I am trying a new butternut squash soup recipe. It smells wonderful and I always feel so much better when I COOK a meal- rather than going out.

Today I also purchased plane tickets for a surprise trip to visit someone close. I hate to put details on here in case she DOES read this. LOL But we did find a good deal on airfare and I am excited about making the trip as cheep as possible without ruining the "fun" factor. It is a splurge that definitely isn't a necessity. It wasn't a step towards paying off debt so that doesn't give me "happy butterflys" but... I am being conscious of how much I will spend and I do think it will be beneficial to me to have some Fun Time.

Roll back 14 years to when my first daughter was the birthday girl and you would see her surrounded by heaping piles of the latest and greatest PLASTIC toys. I was a single mother and I thought that the way to success was to show the world that I could indeed provide for my daughter by giving her quantity. I don't think we still own even a single toy from her childhood. I kick myself thinking "If I had only saved that money, she would have so much more right now."

Tomorrow our youngest daughter will turn 2. Her daddy jumped at the chance when I asked him if he could make her a wooden toy stroller for her birthday. I only asked him this last night on his way home from work. He however went to the lumber yard when he got home and I heard all the power tools working in the shop late into the evening. She will have a single beautiful gift that will last through her childhood and perhaps more siblings.

I am much more wise now when it comes to how our family spends. We seek simplicity and quality. These choices provide much more in the long run than plastic mindless clutter.

We fell off the envelope wagon over the last few months. In August we welcomed our 6th child to our family- which meant a lot of precooked meals and processed foods blew the budget. THEN we had to refinance before December 1st to avoid our nice ARM adjusting, so it was massive home renovation time so our appraisal would come back high. Literally all our savings was used up and credit cards were maxed out to acomplish getting all of our jobs done. We went from a 10.25% rate that was adjusting to 10.5% to a 5.87% 30 year fixed which I am very happy about. BUT I'm not too happy about our financial status now- so I am going back on the Dave Ramsey envelope system and am going to aggresively be paying down debt and sticking to our written on paper before the check comes budget. I DO love squeezing the pennies- but I also admit- I did enjoy the little reign of "freedom" we had the last few months too. It's hard to juggle and find the nice median. Having this blog to write in about our success and sometimes not so successfulness is an encouragement for me- so I am back!

Today our family has been frugal by...

Using the crockpot for tonight's dinner, rather than heating up the oven, which will in turn heat up the house on an already HOT summer day. We are having pot roast, carrots, and potatoes. Yum


Monday is our get back on track day of the week. If we had a bad week the prior week, TODAY is the day to start fresh and try again. If that pertains to homeschooling, or finances, or cleaning, or whatever our responsibilities are- Monday is the greatest gift to mankind- because it truly does offer a new start.

I clean our bedroom on Monday. Usually this entails taking a lot of dishes to the kitchen and cleaning up our weekend mess. I also go through all my paperwork/bills that came the week prior and prepare for Thursday which is my budget day. I shred what I don't need in the paper shredder. I also log onto all of our online bill pay accounts and make sure that transfers were made and that bills were paid as scheduled.

To do List:

Return DVD's to the library
Pick up Holds while I am at the library
Drop off dentist insurance paperwork and information while I am out.
Declutter 5 items from our bedroom.
Finish going through papers on desk.