Inconspicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 5

Alas, the time has come! This is my final post for this series. I hope you've all enjoyed the posts, and if you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment. I'd be glad to answer them!

The last two tips I have for saving money in ways that might not be obvious are both tips that took me a very long time to decide to implement. I wouldn't be offended if you didn't want to put them into action right away; I've had to make a conscious effort to use both of these tips myself!

9) Don't order name-brand ink for your printer. I know, I know: Your printer's manufacturer clearly states in no uncertain terms that you are to use only their brand of ink in the printer. However, this can be extremely costly!

I know these pictures aren't great (I just had my iPhone handy when I started this post, so I took them with that!), but do you see any difference(s) in any of the three ink cartridges (besides color)?

Let me give you a hint: There isn't any! The top cartridge pictured is not manufactured by Epson; the other two are!

We generally purchase ink once every other month or so, depending on what we've been printing and the quantities of what we've printed. At $28.01 per cartridge, and $69.99 for a 4-pack (all the ink my printer takes - black, cyan, magenta and yellow), that can run us between $419.94 and $672.24 per year in ink costs!!!

That was an unacceptable price to me, even purchasing it once every other month.

I talked to my friend Bryce, who is very computer savvy, and knows what you can use and what you can't in nearly any computer-related situation. He advised me to quit buying the name-brand ink immediately, and that there was really no drawback. The computer gives you a warning that leads you to believe you wasted your money when you put generic ink in your printer, but I never experienced lower quality printing, and I will never purchase name-brand ink again.

Instead, I order from inkquik.com. Their customer service is relatively speedy, and I get my ink shipped to me and received within 48 hours.

And I only pay $27.50 for it!!!

That's all 4 ink cartridges - same sizes and colors as the name brand ones are sold in - AND it includes shipping!

I highly recommend that everyone switch to inkquik, and I rarely do that.

10) Don't over-extend yourself. Instant-gratification is the root of 90% of the debt problems people have, in my opinion. Just because your friend wants it, or your parents have it, doesn't mean you have to leap at the opportunity to get something! Be patient; have faith in God to provide, and in His timing, He will bless you abundantly.


Some examples from my life are as follows:

• I really wanted a piano. A real one. Right before Robert and I got married. My dad and I looked and looked, and never found one worth buying. Within 1 month of us moving after we got married, a friend let me give their upright grand a home temporarily. Eventually, that friend turned around and blessed us by saying I could keep the piano! Amazing how God worked that out! My friend was thrilled the piano got a good home and an owner who loves it!
• We had plenty of televisions in our house when we got married. Even though all of our friends and most of our family had brand new, big, flat-panel HD TVs, we were still watching the old RCA box from 1983, and didn't get our next hand-me-down for several months. When we got it, we kept it until we had saved enough for a small (but new), inexpensive television. We found a great one at Wal-Mart (40"!) with a 2-year warranty for a fantastic price, and purchased it as our gift to each other for Christmas 2011.
  
  
  I could go on and on. But I don't need to; I know you all get the point! I am so very thankful that we have all that we do, and I feel 100% confident in our decisions regarding what we have purchased to live with - and even the things we said, "No" to, or even "Not right now." I have learned that patience and preparation are the keys to living beneath our means. It is definitely not always fun! It's really hard sometimes! One instance in particular is saying "no" when everyone else is saying "sure, why not?" That could be anything from having dinner out with friends and or/ family to buying a brand new car! And let me just say that the day-to-day decisions to live and spend frugally are the most trying decisions. But we've seen it pay off! As mentioned previously, we were able to pay for a trip to Las Vegas this year completely off of what we had saved in coupons, sales and discounts!   

I could go on and on. But I don't need to; I know you all get the point! I am so very thankful that we have all that we do, and I feel 100% confident in our decisions regarding what we have purchased to live with - and even the things we said, "No" to, or even "Not right now." I have learned that patience and preparation are the keys to living beneath our means. It is definitely not always fun! It's really hard sometimes! One instance in particular is saying "no" when everyone else is saying "sure, why not?" That could be anything from having dinner out with friends and or/ family to buying a brand new car! And let me just say that the day-to-day decisions to live and spend frugally are the most trying decisions. But we've seen it pay off! As mentioned previously, we were able to pay for a trip to Las Vegas this year completely off of what we had saved in coupons, sales and discounts!

The savings adds up, my friends, when you are careful, purposed and intentional. Always discuss your goals as a couple, pray about it, and above all remember the words of Mark Hall (lead singer for the Casting Crowns): "You'll live what you believe." So, if you go out and spend $500 on food for your family for one week, you must believe that's an acceptable standard of living cost. (That is just an arbitrary number! I know everyone has different budgets, and it's not meant to point any fingers). Contrarily, if you want to spend $500 at the grocery store to feed your family for one week, and you instead only purchase what you need and a couple of extra items, combine it with sales and coupons, and walk out only having spent $50, then you must believe that is an acceptable standard of living cost.

Thank you for the emails you all have sent me regarding how you're doing with your goals, and telling me that you're implementing some of my ideas! I'm so happy for all of you! Feel free to post comments here, too, if you want! :)


Keep saving!! :)

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Incospicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 4

Some of us fill up with fuel in our vehicles when we have to, and that's it - you know, when the "E" light blinks at chimes at you unceasingly! Some of us fill up consistently on a particular day of the week, or at least once a week (no particular day).

And then there are people like me - perfectionists - who don't like their tanks to drop below 1/2 tank of gas.

This post is only going to contain two money-saving tips, because I have a little story to go with it. It's taken me a lot of courage to muster up to post this, so please be understanding, as this is a delicate situation to write about.

It's a very harsh reality to face - losing your job. To make a long and painful story short, I had worked for the same company for 7 years, and upon graduating with my bachelor's degree, I requested to be permanent staff with benefits and better pay (I also request a performance review, just so you understand it wasn't just demands I was placing). While the company gave me a shining review and a decent raise, they refused the benefits and permanent staff position. I asked them if they would support me in a job search, in that case, knowing I was looking, but allowing me to keep my job there anyway. We came to a mutual understanding (eventually).

I found a job 5 minutes from my home that would offer benefits and everything - but I would have to take a deep pay cut. This was less than 3 months into our marriage, and after a lot of discussion and prayer, Robert and I decided I should take it, as the work environment I was in currently was quite toxic for me for many reasons.

Less than 6 months into that job, I was told that I was no longer needed. The reason stated was unjust, in my opinion, but it was what it was. I had to deal with it. I think I was only shocked for about a week, numb for a week and a half, and over it by the second week. However, we'd lost a great percentage of our income. Robert was content to work what he was given as far as his hours went, but as soon as I lost my job, he ramped up the shifts he was picking up, worked twice as much as he did before (currently, he works quadruple the hours he did when we were first married), and it was still difficult to make ends meet.

I was granted unemployment after a short battle with the benefits people over it, but I ended up winning. Even with me collecting unemployment, teaching 6 students piano lessons, and nannying as much as I could for the family I was already working for, we still had an extremely tight budget.

Thankfully, less than a month and a half later was tax season, and I picked up still more hours doing that. But money was still tight.

All that to say.....I had to let go of my perfectionist tendencies related to my gas tank. That halfway mark hardly ever meant anything - we got gas when we needed to. For that matter, Robert was forced to learn to drive the Focus better (it's a manual), and leave the Trailblazer at home, since he did far more driving than I did.

And we made it through.

I'm not sorry for the circumstances; I'm grateful. We were taught to rely on the Lord so much more than we ever knew we could. We grew closer together as a married couple. The financial burdens lightened as we trusted the Lord to provide for us (and worked as much as we could!) Despite my expansive and unending quest to find work, I was never able to during the summer of 2011. I finally found part-time work in August, which we decided to settle for, even though I wanted full-time.

Us on Waikiki beach in May 2011. 

We learned through those situations that God had a plan each step of the way. We're starting to see a lot of that now! Because of the generosity of several family members, we were able to take a week-long trip to Honolulu for free, simply because those family members love us and knew we would be greatly blessed by the trip.



















This leads me to my two tips for this post:


7) Fill up with fuel once per week, in the middle of the week. Yep, it's actually proven (by me! haha), that gasoline is cheaper on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays than it is any other day of the week! I can't remember where I first saw that pointed out, but I thought it was bogus.

It's not.


If you don't believe me, do a month-long test and use an app like Gas Buddy to help you price out fuel in your area.


It may not be much - just a few cents here and there - but the prices are legitimately lower by an average of $0.03-$0.10 per gallon on Wednesdays, especially! So, if you have a 12-gallon tank (like one of our vehicles), and you fill up once per week on Fridays or Mondays, the savings for you could be as follows:


Friday/ Monday price: $3.95/ gal. = $47.40/ week = $189.60/ month = $2,275.20/ year
Wednesday price: $3.85/ gal. = $46.20/ week = $184.80/ month = $2,217.60/ year

                                                 Total savings = $57.60/ year!
That may not seem like much, but wouldn't you prefer that $57 and change going into your savings account instead? Imagine the savings on a bigger vehicle! Our Trailblazer's savings (18-gal. tank) is as follows (for the scenario example above): 

Friday/ Monday price: $3.95/gal. = $71.10/ week = $284.40/ month = $3,412.80/ year
Wednesday price: $3.85/gal. = $69.30/ week = $277.20/ month = $3,326.40/ year
                                                                            Total savings = $86.40/ year!


Really and truly, it's worth it to fill up once a week, in the middle of the week for several reasons:

• You save time, only stopping once, as opposed to several times. (And stopping in the evening will save time waiting in line for fuel!) 
• You save money (as outlined above)
• You end up getting more bang for your buck

My last tip for this post is closely related to the first one here:

8) If you own more than one vehicle, drive the one that gets the best gas mileage as much as you can. Pretty self-explanatory. If you drive 8 miles to work and your spouse drives 20, ask your spouse if he or she is willing to take the more economical car. If you're the one doing more driving, step up to the plate and take one for the team! (Remember, if you're married, saving money is a team effort, not a spectator sport!) As you're deciding who drives which vehicle, you may find it helpful to write down all the errands you're doing, and add the mileage together (use Google Maps to help you!)

Let me tell you that my husband did not under any circumstances ever want to drive my car! He completely refused to learn how to drive it for months while we were dating, until I finally convinced him to do what his entire family thought was impossible: TRY to learn how to drive my car. And try he did. Again and again. Popping the clutch, laying rubber on the ground - it was hilarious to watch! My hubby doesn't like to fail in front of people; he's so hard on himself! However, this is what he has to say about our circumstances and having to learn how to drive my car, and how he reflects on the whole situation today:

"I understand and respect my wife's desire to save us as much money as possible, which means making sacrifices here and there. I really don't enjoy driving a manual at all. I don't like having to think about my feet and shifting while driving. I want to get in, turn on the car and drive. Due to the price of gas and the mpg each of our vehicles gets, it's more economical for me to get out of my comfort zone and help my wife save us some money. We coordinate which vehicle each person drives on a given day, based on who is driving the furthest. I appreciate all that Kimi does to help save us as much money as possible."

I'm so thankful that my hubby is willing to work together with me to save us money, even when he may not enjoy it! He is so right when it comes to sacrifices! I prefer getting a Starbucks on my way to work every day, but I refuse to do it - based on the principle that I have to save us money. Now, if you see me with a Starbucks for any reason, you would rightly assume one of two things: 1) It was a gift or gesture of a blessing, or 2) I have a Starbucks gift card I am using to pay for it. Period.

Additionally, the two of us may want to go on vacations and purchase extravagant items, but we're willing to wait on the Lord to see what He has in store for us before we go wasting our money and our time. Because of my determination to save us money using coupons, sales and only spending what we needed to (with a few exceptions, of course), we were able to pay for our trip to Las Vegas in January of this year on the savings I had accumulated - just from coupons and sales, and combining that with self-control!

Las Vegas! New York, New York hotel & casino on January 20, 2012.

Quite honestly, we aren't striving for spending not a penny more than what we are required to in order to live. We are only striving to be the best stewards we can be with what we have!

Getting out of an instant-gratification mindset early is the best way to accomplish our goals, we have found.


If you missed my post about our new couch, be sure to check it out here: The Lord had a plan for us to get a new couch in His timing, and we were patient and waited nearly 2 years to purchase one! Oh, sure, we found several that we liked and wanted. But our self-control and discipline to stick to our budget really and truly paid off!
He blessed us in His own way when we were more willing to wait on His timing for it, rather than force the issue and end up spending money we really couldn't afford to spend on a couch at a time that wasn't convenient for anyone. As it is, our neighborhood garage sales were happening right after we bought the couch, and my family ended up selling the old one at one of theirs less than 3 weeks after we bought the new couch! There's no way we could have timed that better, and we're so thankful it happened the way it did!


I am praying for success for all of you, my dear readers, in your money-saving endeavors! Please let me know how it's going for you! I love reading your comments. :)

Inconspicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 3

This post is going to be a short one, but I believe it's got some tips that anyone can put into practice immediately. :)

5) Be conservative in consumption. That is a really broad statement, I know! Please don't roll your eyes. :) Have you ever taken a few moments to look over your utility bills? It might surprise you if you haven't. Let me give you a few quick go-to pointers to put into use right now if you believe your bills are too high:

• Lights out! Turn them off when you leave a room, unplug any unused lamps, and try investing in some inexpensive solar pathway lights (about $1.99 on a good sale at Fred Meyer) to use for lighting outdoors as opposed to leaving your porch lights on all the time. If you'd really like some higher-quality pathway lights, though, try these:
• Electronics not in use should not remain "on." It does consume a little electricity, even if they are not in use. A good example is our receiver for our surround sound in the family room. We have a tendency to turn off the TV, but forget the surround sound. A friend (who happens to work for our local PUD), suggested to me that I ought to pay more attention to turning that off at night, instead of leaving it on. As a result, I'm currently considering researching just how much that one electronic device saves me when I turn it off at night. I promise to post the results of my findings. :)
  
• Efficiency is everything. I don't mean you ought to run out and purchase brand new appliances. I simply mean for you, my dear readers, to be efficient in everything you do. When I do laundry, being that the laundry room is in an area of our home that doesn't have any windows, I have to use the lights when I do it. Therefore, I try to sort the clothes during the daytime, in the daylight, and change loads as quickly as I can. That doesn't mean I move so fast that I end up mixing colors, forgetting the fabric softener, or spilling the laundry soap everywhere; it means that I try to be intentional and purposed in my actions. The more efficient I am, the more I save - of my time, my resources, and from our family's hard-earned money! The less time I use under the glow of the lights in the laundry room, the more money and time I preserve for other uses. 

 6) Don't buy into bread. Does your family consume a lot of bread? Do you find yourself wishing you could save $5-$20 on your grocery bills? Wonder and wish no more! Shop the 1/2 price bread racks only! You'd be shocked to learn what you can get there - gourmet bagels, specialty breads, and general breads like whole wheat and white. You can also make your own bread at home - there are plenty of recipes online for simple and reasonably-priced homemade breads, and if you have a breadmaker, that will save you time, cleanup and it's amazing what you can do with them!

That's it for today! I hope you can put to use a tip sometime today or tomorrow! :) Let me know how it goes, I'd love to read your comments!

Incospicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 2

Understanding of Frugality

This is typically not an easy concept to grasp, especially if you have no experience in budgeting, living beneath your means, and/ or you just may not be interested in it.

I really want to encourage all of my readers (and anyone you may share this with!) to stretch yourselves and try to understand the operational definition of the word, "Frugality." It's not to be confused with the word, "Cheap."

The Wikipedia definition of frugality is as follows:
"Frugality is the quality of being frugal, sparing, thrifty, prudent or economical in the use of consumable resources such as food, time or money, and avoiding waste, lavishness or extravagance.
In behavioral science, frugality has been defined as the tendency to acquire goods and services in a restrained manner, and resourceful use of already owned economic goods and services, to achieve a longer term goal." 

This is vastly different than the definition of "cheap," (choose your own; none of them are pleasing), and cheap is a close relative to "Miser." Trust me; this association does nothing good for anyone! The reference in the Wikipedia definition of miser includes a reference to a Scrooge! If you've ever read Charles Dickens'
"A Christmas Carol," you know that a "cheap" person isn't respected or honored in society - as portrayed in the movie, of course.



(For further study on this, check out Proverbs 31:10-31.) 

When I was working at my old company several years ago, a man I used to work with was sharing an anecdote in which he declared, "I am not cheap; I'm value-oriented!" I laughed, but really - that's true. He is not cheap. He is a generous person who is always on the lookout for a great deal. Truthfully, that's the day I started to pray about how I might better use my time and budget/ resources!!


On to the good stuff....

Some of you may remember my post last year  in April that featured my Homemade Laundry Soap recipe. This is going to be my first tip for this post! :)

3) Make your own laundry soap. I really love making my own laundry soap! I saw the tip years ago on 19 Kids & Counting, and thought, "That might be a good way to save money....but I doubt it works." I waited quite awhile before I decided to try it. Despite many nay-sayers' opinions, after I made it and we tried it out for ourselves, I have to say that this is an awesome recipe, and it really does work. I have come to the conclusion that if you make it and you don't think it works, you might have done something wrong along the way. (As I have previously!) There are many recipes out there, but we use this one: 

4  Cups - hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar
1 Cup - Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

- Grate bar of soap and add to saucepan with water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until soap dissolves and is melted.

-Fill a 5 gallon bucket half full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill bucket to top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken.

-Stir and fill a used, clean, laundry soap dispenser half full with soap and then fill rest of way with water. Shake before each use. (will gel)

-Optional: You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons. Add once soap has cooled. Ideas: lavender, rosemary, tea tree oil.

-Yield: Liquid soap recipe makes 10 gallons.

-Top Load Machine- 5/8 Cup per load (Approx. 180 loads)

-Front Load Machines- ¼ Cup per load (Approx. 640 loads)

*Arm & Hammer "Super Washing Soda - Baking Soda will not work, nor will Arm & Hammer Detergent - It must be sodium carbonate!!

We still use buy our fabric softener, but because the homemade laundry soap isn't nearly as sudsy, we use far less than we did previously. Thus, we saved a lot of money on it, and stretched our dollars much further than we would have using highly-concentrated laundry soap! See details about this in my post from last month. 

Today, we went to Winco, and I found all the items needed to make the laundry soap there. The price breakdown is as follows:

20 Mule Team Borax (4lb. 12oz. box) $3.38
Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (3lb. 7oz. box) $3.17
Fels-Naptha Bar Soap $0.97 each

This breaks down to approximately the following cost per batch: (remember that each bar of soap yields one whole batch, each box of Borax yields 19 whole batches, and each box of Super Washing Soda yields 6 whole batches).
Borax: $0.18
Super Washing soda: $0.46
Fels-Naptha Soap: $0.97                              Total cost = $1.61 per batch!!!

This next tip is related to convenience and money leaving your wallet before you even realize it. Brace yourselves...  

4) When banking, only use the institution's ATM/ Debit card machines. Quite frankly, I know many people who just run to the nearest ATM when they need cash. This can get very expensive, and the fees range anywhere from $0.50-$5.00 per transaction! Stop and think about it before you make that decision: Can you really afford to do that even once a month? If you only get cash out of a random ATM once a month, but the fee is $2.00, that's still $24.00 per year! For many of us, that's at least a half of a tank of gas now. If you do it every week, it's $96.00 per year. That's money that you are literally giving away to banking institutions for convenience. You wouldn't want them charging you fees on your checking/ savings accounts, so why give them money to pocket in another realm? Plan your trips accordingly, and stop to get cash from your banking institutions' ATMs only.

A little anecdote on being open-minded about saving money. 

I could never do any of this without my sweet husband! He's so supportive of me, and always respects my jurisdictions as my own. I try to do the same for him! Today, when we were at Winco, though, he made the comment, "Sweetheart, I am making an executive decision. From now on, when we purchase cheese, it will be from Winco." I smiled and whole-heartedly agreed! Generally, we do not shop at Winco, because I struggle with big crowds (slightly claustrophobic), and we don't generally have time to do that kind of shopping when it's the least crowded in there. However, because my husband requested it - and because he had our best interests at heart - being frugal and responsible, good stewards of our resources - I will make the effort to get up early on my days off, or stay up late one night every other week to go at a quiet time. :)

The moral of this little story is to be open. God will provide the resources, if we are good stewards - that has always been my motto! I do not have all the answers, and neither does my wonderful husband. But if we pray for and with each other, help each other, and strive for common goals, we can accomplish anything with the Lord!!

Incospicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions Part 1

As a married woman, I am convicted with my responsibilities as a wife and homemaker.

Don't get me wrong; I do have a job outside of the home, too, and I absolutely love it. But even though it's a fantastic job working with people I love in an environment that I thrive in, it doesn't hold a candle to my calling to my husband and my home.

One of the many responsibilities I have at home is to save money and conserve. A few of my friends and family members have asked me over the years how I save money, and whether I have specific tips or tricks that I employ to help me utilize our budget to the best of my ability. So, I decided to do a few posts in a series about it. :)

Here, in the first post, I'll identify a couple of key "ingredients" to my success in managing our budget. Please know that by success, I am using the yardstick that Robert and I have decided upon based on our individual situation.

I'm going to also identify a few necessary points that I use (that may be redundant, if you have read some of my previous posts - so sorry!), to keeping my budget under control. 

1) Remember that having a budget means that your money is working for you - not the other way around. While it is our responsibility to earn money, there is no reason we should have to work to keep it working for us the way it ought to. What I mean by this is simple: The money that we earn is God's provision for us. Thus, it is His before it is ours. We are called to honor Him with what He provides (Pr. 3:9-10), and to be good stewards of our blessings (1 Cor. 4:2, Luke 16:10). This is something that everyone has to pray about and decide for themselves within their homes and with their spouses. I am personally convicted that the best way to honor the Lord with what He's blessed Robert and I with means to stretch our dollar as much as possible, and be conservative.

2) Having a budget is worthless unless we know what it is, what it means, and how to use it. For us, that means that I am responsible for the planning and execution of our budget. But there is a step in between those two that Robert and I do together - that is implementation. We are both convicted to be in open communication about our finances, and this step means that we talk about what's going on with our budget. Robert may not sit down and "pay bills," as some refer to it. Instead, he has entrusted me with that part of our budget. But he knows what's going on with it, and gets a "bottom line" every week or month, or whenever he wants it. :)

I'm hoping the aforementioned information about how I do things in my home will help form the foundation for this series. :)

Now onto the good stuff!

Some Inconspicuous, Pioneering Money Saving Solutions:

1) Examine your insurance policy. I'm referring to automobile/ homeowner's/ renter's insurance. Do you know what you are paying for? Most people really don't! As for myself, I actually did something that is completely against my convictions about dealing with services I pay for: I put 100% of my trust in our insurance company, and truly believed that they would catch any extra expenditures coming out of our pockets and tell me about it. Ha! How naive! I finally decided to call them about this time last year when Robert turned 25, knowing that we were entitled to a rather significant discount for his age and experience. The woman I spoke to told me that was unfortunately not true. I was shocked. I was certain we had it all lined up! Disappointed, I hung up and didn't give it a second thought. A couple of weeks ago, I called again to have them go over our policy with a fine-toothed comb. The gentleman I spoke to ran what is called a comparative analysis. After 10 minutes of many questions and confirmations, I learned that we no longer needed to pay for "gap" coverage on my vehicle! That was such a relief. The sad part about that remains that I should have called and asked for that review about 6 months ago. But I'm thankful for the opportunity to save a little extra money monthly and semi-annually upon our policy renewals, as I know that it's in our best interests.

2) Check out your subscriptions. When we get our renewal notice in the mail for our local newspaper, I always call the customer service department about it. The big payoff for us was about 2 months ago. I got a "DailyDeal" update through the newspaper which I signed up for as a "loyal" customer at the State Fair last year. These deals were supposed to reward customers who had been subscribers for their loyalty. The offer was for 20 weeks of services for $14.95 (regardless of what day or days you subscribe. We only subscribe to the Sunday edition of the paper.) I paid for it, and when I called to redeem it, I was told that I was unable to use it because it's only for "new" customers. I was transferred to the marketing department, and calmly explained the situation to their marketing agent. She apologized, explained that she understood my concerns that a service for loyal customers was unable to serve them, and transferred me to the cancellation department. Because we had dealt with about 8 out of 12 weeks of late or no delivery at the beginning of this year, I made sure that I brought that to the attention of the representative I was speaking to. She was able to pull up the notes on our account and see that we, in fact, had called for several weeks regarding our issues with the delivery service. She was able to give me a big discount for our renewal, refund my money I paid for the "DailyDeal," and now we have service through January 2013 for less than what I originally paid for 3 months of service! That's equivalent to about 5 months for free! Also, we only subscribe to magazines when we get at least 50% off the cover price. In fact, I recently subscribed to Country Living magazine for 3 years - and only paid $14.99. That is such a treat for me, and pleasant for Robert, knowing that I got such a great deal on something that I will enjoy!

The bottom line notes of these tips are as follows:

• Always speak kindly and graciously with customer service representatives. Give grace and be humble and honest. You are way more likely to share your concerns and have them heard from an understanding ear, and the representatives are more likely to be willing to work with you to find a common ground, discount, refund, etc. to correct a mistake or continue your loyalty to them.
• Ask if you don't know. Take control of your finances, because ultimately, you are responsible for those blessings which the Lord bestows on you!
• Good deals are good, great deals are better! Make sure you really seek out and do the research before you spend money on something, whether it's groceries, insurance, or magazine/ newspaper subscriptions.

May Update and June Goals

Well, well, well. Here I am again! Another month gone by, and another list of goals to post about!

Here is how I did:

Get caught up on ironing - Yes! I so did!
Have a garage sale - Yes! Just this past weekend!
Get back into listing on eBay again - Yes!
Practice piano 1/2 hour each day - No. Epic fail.
Keep flower beds looking sharp (we've been doing so good!) - They look MARVELOUS!
Find 4 recipes for dinner and 4 for dessert to incorporate my homegrown herbs & veggies into - I only did 3 - so sad!
Pick one organizational and one cleaning task per day to achieve - I thought about it....lol
Finish my one book and start another - Um, this would mean I'd have to start the first....
Keep desk cleaned off in office - Sort of. But not really.
Buy that shower curtain liner for the guest bathroom - Not yet, every time I thought about it, they were too expensive!
Organize shelves in office - Not. At. All.
Find a home for our bobbleheads (i.e., not in stacks, as they are now!) - No... :(
Work on getting to bed by 10:30 Sun.-Weds. - I did try!
Schedule 3 coffee dates or lunch meetings with friends - I did!  Yay!
Learn how to knit! (Barbara, you have GOT to help me with this one!) - Sadly, not yet. I was way too busy.
Post Spring Cleaning/ Amitions & Goals lists (yes, this is coming!) - Yes!
Make the Info board at church beautiful for May - Yes!
Stay caught up in Bible studies (Including Sunday School, I've got 4! 2 Ladies' Bible Studies, a small group study, and Sunday School). - For the most part, I did okay. But Sunday always seemed to creep up too fast, and I'd forget about the Sunday School class material.
Work the floor cleaning into my week more often (like, more than twice a month!) - It definitely gets done at least once a week now!
Make my office (at work; not home) more beautiful - Yes! My boss even complimented me on my "nesting." :)
Organize pantry/ cupboards in the kitchen with my hubby - Um, this would mean he would have had to be home for longer than 8 hours to sleep....
Take a bubblebath when I need to relax (I probably should have done that today!) - Didn't really see a need.

I also did some extra stuff, with the help of my husband, friends and family!

Get rid of TV (it's in the garage, we just have to load it to go to the recycling place).
Get new couch
Rearrange furniture in family room & living room


Here are my June Goals:

Meal-planning every week
Post about meal-planning at least once
Read one book
Organize shelves in office
Organize pantry/ cupboards in the kitchen
Keep bedroom clean
Get dusting back on schedule
Keep up with FlyLady
Sell 10 items on eBay
Read Proverbs & Psalms (1 and 5 per day, respectfully)


I took some pictures of our living room and family room. :) I was super lazy with my pictures and the focus/ lighting is not perfect, but here are some of the pictures from our newly re-organized and re-situated rooms!

From the front door

Looking towards the south from the front entry way

Looking back from the entry way

From the dining room threshold

From the south looking north

Family room: from the dining room threshold

Looking south: No gigantic TV hogging all my space!

Looking back towards the dining room: Newly decorated wall by my hubby!

Love our little shadow boxes :)

Re-arranging of the cabinet in the dining room.