Week 9 of 52 - First name basis with our pharmacist

This has been one of those weeks that if not for this blog, I wouldn’t have even picked up the camera.  All but one member of my household has been sick this week. 

We started out our holiday Monday with S running a 102 temperature.   Tuesday he was pronounced flu- and strep-free but in need of an antibiotic to treat his congestion.  Total cost:  $35.

On Wednesday, we decided W’s presumed spider bite might not be a bite at all.  I did what I do best – Google research and bet him my next paycheck (as if it wasn't already allocated) that he had shingles*.  Doctor confirmed on Thursday and total cost was $35.

Not to be outdone, I got pollen in my eyes while walking on windy Tuesday.  I woke up with yucky eyes on Wednesday.  Determined to self-treat, I found a tiny tube of only slightly out-of-date erythromycin. I filled my eyes full of the goop and for a brief moment wondered if I’d lost my vision.  

On Friday I admitted my home remedies were not working and went to the doctor.  I was prescribed several medications for my allergies.  Total cost: $111.54!  

Saturday rolls in at 3:51 a.m. with a crying baby and I can’t open my eyes, double-yuck.  I do the courtesy of waiting to call until 9 am and the doc on call gives me another medication to the tune of $10.

I’m very thankful to have health insurance or this would have been far more than the $191.54 we incurred.  Still, the total exceeded my usual allotment of $70/month for medical expenses.  Far more importantly than the cost, by week end, S was perking up quite nicely.

In other news, I went consignment shopping for the boys’ summer clothes.  To buy their summer clothing, I’d saved about $300 from my Craigslist sales (this week’s sales included a pair of W’s shoes – yes, he still has a pair left and S’s too small - and unused – diapers).

$164.79 yielded 44 pieces of name brand clothing @ an average cost of $3.75/item.  Bring on summer!  

Oh and as for the grocery challenge, we are finishing out the month with $6.24.  We had to buy milk, eggs, and Gatorade.  I also used $19 for some of the pharmacy bills.  We made it!! 

*OK since the word shingles used to freak me out (as recently as Wednesday), I am doing a PSA on how it is (and is not) transmitted:  http://www.cdc.gov/shingles/about/transmission.html    For anyone who cares, he’s only a risk to people who haven’t had chicken pox and if they come in contact with the fluid of the blisters (and if he’s in that close of contact with anyone besides me and the boys, then he has far more to worry about than shingles - grin).  Thankfully, W’s blisters have healed and he is feeling better. 

Week 8 of 52 - What the Receiver Receives

My February challenge has been to reduce our grocery budget by almost 30% (27.2% to be exact, but this reveals far more about my personality than you want to know).  As of today we have $41.12.  Yesterday, we only had $21.72.  Let me explain.   

When faced with the option of entertaining an infant and toddler or go shopping, W eagerly agreed to hit Kroger and Publix for a few “must-have” deals.  I quickly wrote a short list of 6-7 items in the corner of the page where I’d printed the Kroger shopping list and said, “Just get these items.  Here are the coupons.  I’ll leave this longer list here in case you need to see the prices of anything.” 

When he returned home, I was surprised to see several things that weren’t on the short list.  Things bought at full price no less! When I asked, he pointed to the Kroger list and proudly said, “I got everything on your list.”  

“But I showed you the list and I said just get these things here in the corner.”   

“Why would you give me a list of things you didn't want me to buy?"

"Because I told you what you to get and I thought you were listening.  But I must talk too much and you just tune me out."

He smirked a little, decided discretion is the better part of valor (or so he tells me later), and replied, "Honey, communication is not what the sender sends, but what the receiver receives.”

I pondered his thought and resisted several eye-roll urges while the "receiver" hustled back over to Kroger and Publix to return a few items. 

To meet our grocery challenge, I mentioned earlier that I coupon and carry an oversized pink binder, but even my mom was a bit startled when she saw it, “Do you really take that big thing into the grocery store?”  

 

Besides couponing, we've been eating out of our freezer and pantry.  Unbelievably, we found 20 different meals we could make.  This weekend we ate a mountain meal of pinto beans and cornbread.  Simple and yum.

So here’s hoping I can resist the remaining sales of the month and hang on to $41.12 for 8 more days.  Thank goodness it’s the shortest month of the year!

Week 7 of 52 - Working hard for beauty

As part of our new budget, we cut our non-essential spending to the bone.  If you could see my hair right now, you would quickly surmise hair highlights must have been on the chopping block.

So to support my foils habit, I began filling out focus group research recruitment surveys with more fervor than ever.  I do this all the time, but haven’t been selected since testing out a dog food meal replacement bone a few years ago.  Yes, I did have a dog at the time.

This week Geo and I scored participant status!  I say Geo because he was my key to getting in the group.  The researchers were seeking mothers of 3- to 5-year old boys to preview a Chuck and Friends TV series and answer questions about the episodes.  This focus group was unique in that rather than a face-to-face group, you participated via a closed Facebook group.  I bragged to W about the $100 I would earn and never even leave our home.

So for three nights, we watched Chuck and his pals learn life lessons as only little trucks can.  The following day I would answer questions and share our thoughts and reactions to the pilot episodes. 

We were rolling along just fine, I was getting up even earlier than my usual 4 am, answering a few questions, and catching back up with the group after the boys went to bed.  W would occasionally comment, “Seems like you are earning that $100.”  I would scoff, “Are you kidding? I’m on Facebook anyway, only this time I’m getting paid to upload photos and comment on photos of others.”

 

Until Day 3.  I had coasted through to the final day, each day becoming a bit more boastful to W about my $100.  Funny how in a tight budget, $100 seems like an absolute windfall.  That evening, I tuned in to the Facebook group prepared to share a few more opinions and bid adieu to this group of ten mothers from across the country.

 

As I read the final assignment, I nearly choked on my oatmeal raisin cookie and spewed my vanilla almond milk (I had a coupon for the almond milk, it’s actually quite tasty):    

Design your own toy
Please sit down with your preschooler and design an ideal Chuck & Friends toy (or bunch of toys!) together. You can draw, paint, act out, or mold the toy (whatever works for your son’s creativity!). When you’re designing the toy, also make sure to identify its functions and how you would play with it.  Take a picture or include video of your toy and post it with a description of what is so great about it.

What?  Isn't CHUCK a toy?  Why does a TOY need a toy?  This was beyond me.

I quickly yelled for W, “Honey, you’ll need to do this.”

“Why should I do it?  You are the one getting the $100.”
 

“One of the reasons I married you is because I knew you would do the science fair projects and build crap like this with them.  Give me the spelling tests, the last-minute reports, but I hate this stuff.”  (Note gentle readers - I could pretend I didn't murmur the words crap and hate, but I did (out of earshot of little ears of course), so why lie? 

After some begging and boosting of his ego (“but honey, you are SO good at this”), he rolled his eyes one last time and worked with G to make a ramp for Chuck and friends.  I posted the photos to the group, breathed a sigh of relief, and said thank you to my man (but haven’t agreed to share the $100..after all, it's not like I can get only 1/2 of my head foiled).

Whew, never worked this hard for a beauty routine.

Week 6 of 52 - Visualize the Victory

As I shared with my spiritual mother about life, she reminded me of her mantra: Visualize the Victory. When she was diagnosed with breast cancer ten years ago, she clung to her faith in God and adopted this mantra of Visualize the Victory. Today, she is a survivor and remains strong in her faith.

Now when I am tempted to look at the past and say “if only” or look at the future and say “what if”, she repeats “Visualize the Victory” and encourages me to pray and focus my thoughts on what can be achieved. (She also tells me loudly – and repeatedly if needed - to get out of the way and let God handle things as this is almost always applies to how I'm reacting to the situation).

In our attempt to Visualize the Victory with our money management goals, we made a banner that reads: “WE ARE WEIRD AND DEBT FREE!” Each time we pay off a certain amount of debt, we color in a letter. This banner hangs in my bedroom where we can see it every day.

W expressed some concern the scotch tape will pull off the paint when this is over. I feigned surprise at the notion of needing to repaint the bedroom walls! That outcome never crossed my mind…

So for us, coloring in these letters is proving quite motivational. I’d love to hear from others about how they stay motivated to stick with a goal.

As for the rest of our world, it’s been a damp and cold week with few opportunities to be outside. Today I unleashed G on the mud puddles and he had a grand time splashing around.

He saw mud, I saw a small load of laundry in exchange for a tired toddler at nap time.

Verses that stuck with me this week...
Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Paul ~ Philippians 3:13-14

These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.
Jesus ~ John 16:33

Week 5 of 52 - Living Intentionally

I knew this day would come.   My favorite TV channel is fuzzy.

When we decided to go gazelle*on our budget, we asked ourselves, “What could we live without for six months?”   As timing would have it, while we were asking that question, our TV was scrolling a message “this channel will no longer be available after January 11”.  Faced with the decision to upgrade our cable package, we decided to add No Cable to our list of weird things we could do for six months.

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say we did keep our $8 Netflix subscription where Sponge Bob can stream into our home on-demand.  I am all for being weird, but I’m not crazy. I have moments when I need to park our 3-year old for a few minutes and catch my breath… or simply go to the bathroom alone.

The budget savings?   Sixty dollars/month between cutting the cable and switching the Internet to DSL. 

Some of my friends and family may wonder about this “eliminate non-mortgage debt” challenge.  Perhaps even some rumblings of what is REALLY going on with us?  Why are we doing this?  

The truth is a bit dull, but we want to live intentionally.  Whether it is our family or our finances – that we become better stewards of all we have been given.  For me, I realized that some days I had spent more time looking for the right purse than I had spent preparing for things that will matter a lifetime.

I also believe our resources are blessings from God.  Most of our world will never have the opportunity to live as we do.  I want to get to the end of my life and see how my time, resources, and abilities were used for a bigger purpose.   

It’s not about Dave Ramsey.  It’s not about a financial crisis.  It’s about being intentional. Purposeful.  Joyful.  It’s about being able to someday look these guys in the eye and know I did right by them. That’s all.

*Proverbs 6:5: Deliver yourself like a gazelle from the hunter's hand and like a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Week 4 of 52 - Comparing prices

Ok, my odd behavior this week may land me in the People of Wal-Mart line-up but let me try to explain.  While we have an overall monthly budget, I realized I had no idea what we pay for many items we buy.  So I decided to go on a pricing mission.  

W suggested rather than take the time to record prices, I simply take photos instead - brilliant.  Up and down the aisles, my camera snapped at rollback prices while my eyes darted at unsuspecting blue-vested employees.  Fortunately, I completed my mission with some strange looks and questioning glances, but no Wal-Mart interrogation or demands to erase my memory card full of pricing information.  

Engergized, I continued my pricing mission at a local discount club.  One of my objectives was to price diapers, because as any mom knows, each sweet little baby bottom goes through a multitude of diapers each month.  My price comparisons revealed the Amazon Mom Subscribe and Save was a full $10 cheaper per box than the pre-tax discount club price!  Caveat: I’m positively addicted to the baby fresh smell of a particular diaper brand.  Perhaps a generic store brand would yield similar savings, but I admit I'm a sniffer of new diapers.

This week’s photo is S with the diapers he uses in a month.

My February challenge:  lower our grocery bill by 30 percent.   In preparation, my couponing friends took me on a field trip – it was a morning filled with new couponing actions and lingo: BOGOs, stacking, and even a rain check.  When I checked out and was a little too enthusiastic about my sales receipt savings, the cashier peered over her glasses and said, “You new at this?”  Yep, for now at least.

Week 3 Supplement - Learning to D.I.Y.

So in another eye-opening moment, we learned from Russ that our 12-year old car with 180,000 miles wasn’t really THAT old.  He didn’t even take a breath when I told him our 5-year old car has 120,000 miles. He calmly replied that he drives all of his cars to the 300,000 mile mark and it was very unlikely we would have to replace either of these cars, let alone BOTH of these cars in the next two years as we had planned.   

I’m sure I missed the next few comments about avoiding car payments.  Instead, I was thinking about how this put a kink in my “next car” plan!  It no longer mattered whether it would fit comfortably in our one-car garage.  My friends and I could debate something besides paint color – crystal black pearl versus glacier blue would no longer occupy our noon conversation.

Given it wasn’t going anywhere, we decided to fix the radio in the 12-year old car.  Doubtful that Russ intended for his remark to justify a bit of spending.  This time was different though.  Instead of spending hours researching features and deciding whether I also needed speakers and a satellite radio receiver, I sorted by price and chose the cheapest radio that fit.  

When it arrived, W asked when we would take it down to get the radio installed.  I reminded him the custom installation would cost twice as much as the total purchase.  He sighed deeply, procrastinated on the couch (until I found him), and then trudged out to the car as if on a death march.  

In no time at all (he made me say that) and with only two calls to Crutchfield tech support (at my insistence), he installed it with ease.  And we can now hear Dave’s podcasts and stay motivated to drive these cars for a very long time.  Maybe we’ll keep them long enough that we'll even be able to flash cash instead of dig for a pen to sign the finance offer.