Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Eek! Where did the Frugal Dani go???

I'm still here. Less frugal then before perhaps. It's been a crazy couple of weeks. I realize I skipped a week, and I apologize. Here is the breakdown of last week (unfortunately not by day, because I didn't have time to keep everything very nice and tidy).

I got a starbucks about 5 times last week. I have downgraded from a venti to a grande. Total- $19.52

I NEEDED to go grocery shopping. I've really been putting it off lately. It's actually good. You'd be surprised how much food you have in your house that you forgot existed. I was trying not to spend too much on groceries for awhile there. Two separate stores... Total: $80.90 (please note that probably about $30 of that is organic formula. Why oh why does it cost so much to eat food that isn't covered in pesticides or pumped with hormones?)

I made a stop by the corner store for an ice cream sandwich for Jake and a juice or something similar. Total: $5.58

There's an amazing little children's consignment shop by my house called Mimi's kids. I love the gal that owns it, and I like to go in every once in awhile and give her a bit of business. She has the BEST prices. I've seen her selling Medela Pump In Style breast pumps for $30. These things are normally $350 brand new! Anywho, I went in and spent about $21.69. It was snowing and I wanted to find some snow pants so Eli could go outside and wallow around. (It didn't last as long as I hoped). I also got this awesome little baby pop up tent thing for going to the beach!!!

There were a couple days I got a little breakfast in the cafe at work. Total: $3.

Final total for the week: $130.69. I suppose that's not as bad as I thought....it's also not amazing though. Hmmmm. I will focus more for next week.

: D

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Carly

I can't seem to edit my last post, and I really wanted to include a photo of Carly (I hope she doesn't kill me). Don't be jealous. Ok...be jealous. >:)


Quick Hello!

I'm sad to report that I am on frugal hiatus for last week. Carly was here on vacation (is it vacation if you actually live here???), and we decided that if we tracked our spending than we perhaps wouldn't have had as much fun as was necessary. It was such a breath of fresh air to have her around. I always assumed when I was younger that EVERYONE has a best friend as I do. This is not true, come to find out, and I now realize and accept how completely blessed I am to have her in my life. Carly is not just any best friend, she is THE best friend. She is the yen to my yang. I am uplifted from just having seen her for the short week she was back. She will be back again in April at the latest, and I cannot wait.

So any old way, I will finish my gushing (to Carly's displeasure, I'm sure!), just to note that there are magical happenings afoot! I'm not going to go into details right now, but this blog will be getting more and more interesting in the months to come I am guessing. It's a new world.

Love and blessing to everyone!

Monday, January 8, 2007

Manifesting a Home Part II

It's getting down to it now. We are going to move no later than the first of March. I am really going to focus my energy on what we need so that it will pop up for us.
On top of what I requested previously, we would also like these things:

1. We are looking for something with two semi separate living spaces. Sarah and Abe need a living space, and Jake, Eli, and I need a living space. Maybe a split level? We want the downstairs to have a rec room, bath room, and hopefully a bedroom. Upstairs can have the master bedroom with attached bath, second bedroom, kitchen, and living room (maybe even a third bath...?).

2. Closer to work to lessen commute. I think if I can remove even the smallest amount of stress out of my commute, it would be a good thing. It also has to be a neighborhood everyone is happy living in though.

3. W/S/G paid. : )

4. Fully fenced back yard so Sarah's dog can roam free.

5. A good landlord! This is crucial. Someone who isn't going to stress me out and drive me nuts.

You know, I think that's everything that is a NEED other than something that is within our price range. Now that all is noted, I am going to go find our house!

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Resolutions!

I don't generally do resolutions, but there's a few things I'd like to focus on this year. With having a sweet baby last year, I didn't focus much on anything else. It honestly felt like the year passed and I didn't do anything aside from having Eli (which is no small feat, don't get me wrong!). So here's my list:

1. I am going to be more outdoorsy. This is my number one goal. I am a prissy city girl and I feel like everyone knows it and is secretly laughing at me behind my prissy back! I am a little bit, honestly, but I'm going to get past it. It's hard in the winter due to the insane amounts of rain, but as soon as it goes away, I'm outdoors darnit! I'm going to start gardening a bit and I'm going to hike and swim and camp and before the end of the year I should be able to roll around in the mud with the best of 'em!!!!

2. The cliche I'm going to lose a few pounds. Thought #2 was a good place for it ; )

3. Carly is going to teach me how to knit I decided. I get so excited when I look at all of her patterns and I want to make stuff!

4. I have a little sewing machine I got for Christmas and I'm going to make baby slings like a crazy woman! Tons of people are having babies right now and I think everyone MUST HAVE a baby sling.

5. I am going to be greener. I already started, but I'm going to get more militant about it. We are moving closer to our places of employment soon, so that will cut back on gas usage. I'm thinking I might be green and outdoorsy enough soon to maybe think about a composting pile. That'll save garbage. I've been pretty intense with my recylcing lately and will keep that up. I just recently started cloth diapering and I'm going to try desperately to keep that up (Eli pees so much and you have to change them a lot more often! In the name of being green though!). We don't use paper towels anymore. It really wasn't a hard transition and I can't believe we didn't do it before. You can create a lot of waste with just paper towels! Sheesh! We are using canvas shopping bags now instead of plastic (we try our darndist anyway!).

Just a little tidbit about that- I read somewhere (this isn't an exact quote, but I'm pretty sure it's close to right anyway!) that plastic bags and disposable diapers are the #1 and #2 things in land fills. Food for thought.

And 6. I want to play guitar more. Well, at all really. I say more as if I've been doing it. I have two guitars and I love the idea but I'm a lazy bum when it comes to practicing. I'm one of those people that expects to be a rock star the first day and is discouraged when that doesn't come to pass ; )

Wish me luck guys!

Frugal Check in #4

I did amazing last week!!! I think I may have beat Carly again : )

I went to QFC to pick up some creamer for coffee, some vegetarian corn dogs (mmm!) and some food for baby. $20.27 (Those corn dogs are expensive! Like $5 for 4, but I love them.)

I stopped by Walmart (hissss...I always end up there even though I make a point not too). I got some groceries for the house. $$18.15

I had to go one morning and get another can of formula for Eli at Haggen. $19.99

Grand total last week: $58.41

Woohoo!!!!

It may also be good to note that I paid off two credit cards this week as well. It can be fun being frugal.

Ooooh! Forgot to mention- a couple of things happened last week that could have caused me to lose (the universe still loves me though!)
1.) I ordered pizza. I wanted it so bad. Vegetarian pizza with a garlic cream sauce. It was calling my name. When the pizza got to my house, it was the wrong pizza. I was already in a bad mood and all a girl wanted was some pizza. I called and made my bad mood known (I do kind of feel bad about that...), but! FREE PIZZA! Savings: about $20

2.) I went out to eat with a girlfriend from work another day to Taco Del Mar ( I was in an eating out mood this week!). I was so proud of myself for doing such a good job, that I thought I could just treat myself to a lunch. I get there... I order my food... I get in my wallet... I have two taco del mar punchy card thingys, with a total of 10 punches. Free taco del mar! Savings: $8

3.) Sis, Abe, Jake, and I went to Red Robin to have a veggie burger on New Year's Eve. I had a gift card so it was also free. Savings: about $20

Total Savings: about $48. That's almost as much as I spent!

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Frugal Check In #3...I think...

Hello everyone!!! I will post about my frugality today, but I didn't keep amazing track of everything because of how hectic last week was. (I do *promise promise promise* to jump back on the frugal band wagon this week and post better from now on). I'm pulling up my bank statement and my cash receipts right now so I don't forget anything...

Honestly, I think I did alright last week because I bought all of the things I needed for our Holiday party the week before. Wahahahahah!!

Yup, just as I suspected. Nothing on my debit card. Heck yes. I will mention that I did in fact buy coffee like 4 times last week, but it was ALL on starbucks gift cards. I know to some, gift cards seem impersonal, but if you want to get me a starbucks gift card I will love you to the moon and back. Jake's sweet little brother and his gf gave us a $50 gift card. That's love right there.

We did buy a couple of last minute gifts last Friday and Saturday. We spent $63 at the craft store and bought gifts for three family members. I know at some point we also went to the corner store and got some iced tea and a coke. That is ~ $3.50. That's it. I did pretty good last week (thanks to my starbucks gift card mostly). I guess I should mention that I had to return something to Fred Meyers and used that money to get the last minute dinner party things that I needed, so that helped also. And on a side note, I got a random $50 in checks in the mail last week. The universe still loves me. :)


Carly- I beat ya this week on spending! You beat me on the difference between random checks and spending though. Total spending: $66.50. Total random checks in the mail: $50. Total gift cards received (not so much random since it's the holidays): $86. Difference (not counting gift cards): -$16.50. Not too shabby my friends.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Busy busy busy busy!





Hello everyone! Very sorry I haven't updated you on my frugalness among other things. We are much too busy right now for me to sit and do too much on the computer. I will note that I haven't been very frugal at all!! I had to buy Christmas dinner for 15 people and finish up on gifts. I probably spent $300 for last week and another $300 this week. That's my best guess. I am still getting random checks in the mail though. Oh yeah, and we're about to win powerball ; )
I don't normally buy tix, but sis says that it's at like 60 mil right now. If I win, all of my family and good friends can quit their jobs and we can start a commune. More about that later, after I win our 60 mil.

I mostly wanted to post some new pics of my little mister for All to see. I know that my Carly misses him, and everyone should really just take time to bask in his glory.


Tuesday, December 12, 2006

I am grateful and I am blessed/ Part 1: December



So I've decided that it is very important to acknowledge The Good Things in your life. It's easy to not take the time to focus on the blessing that have been bestowed upon you, and rather, to pay attention to the stress and grief, and Things To Do in your life. I myself do not take time to write down what I'm grateful for. Carly once got me a gratitude journal, and I think I wrote in it once. I'm of the impression now that if you show the Universe that you are happy with the things she has given you, that maybe she'll send more happy things your way ; ) In either direction, if you are taking time to focus on happy things, that is time not spent dwelling on unhappy things, and that is always good. So, let's start! This month, I am grateful for:




*My beautiful son. Awwww. He is so smart and learns new tricks every day! ; ) He likes to pat me on the shoulder when I hold him and he looks up at me with big baby eyes when he nurses. He's too cute. Here is a photo of him painting for the very first time at Emma's 2nd birthday party this last Sunday:


*Random money in the mail. I've decided this is going to happen more often and the universe agrees. So far this month, I've gotten a random $96.30 in the mail (on three different occassions combined). Jake didn't realize you could get random money in the mail. Hee hee. (FYI- people aren't just shoving cash in my mail box- althought that would be pretty awesome. These are random refund checks and the such).


*Jake. I am going to start being nicer to him too, that's how much I am grateful for him. I still need to lose 15 lbs to be prebaby weight, but he's never said anything. He always tells me I'm beautiful. And he takes out the garbage. And he let me open a Yule gift early... it was really great makeup from Benefit. He remembered the things that I was pining over when we were there a couple months before, and he went back and bought them. And he's cute. See:

Be still my heart.

*The perfect Yule tree (I'm having a hard time saying Yule instead of Christmas. I know it's all the same traditions, but it belonged to Yule first dammit. And I'm going to say Yule. Or is it Yuletide? Hm.) Anywho, we got the perfect tree. It is the perfect height and it is the perfect bushiness.<-- Is that even a word?

*The perfect father time ornament for the perfect Yuletide tree. After walking around Fred Meyer in despair, thinking I would never find the perfect tree ornament, there he was in all of his father time glory. Yessss.

*Sarah and Abraham (Trippy, isn't it?) They are fabulous. I would lose my mind without them.

*Coffee. Everyday I am grateful for coffee. Everyday, coffee is there for me. To pick me up when I'm down. To put a smile on my face. Mmmm. I'll have some now.

More next month!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Frugal check in- Week 2

Hello everyone. I was horrible last week : ( Carly is going to blow me out of the water. Well, not as horrible as I could have been, but definately not what I would call frugal I guess. We are hosting Christmas at our house this year, and I want everything to be perfect. I have been trying to get all of the gifts together for everyone and make the house cute and festive. I certainly could have done a lot worse....

Anywho, here's the basic breakdown (not to the cent, I forgot to keep all of my receipts).

Monday: A gal on mothering sent me a gift card for $25 to Sur La Table. Hurray! That's basically money in the bank ; ) Except, I went over a couple bucks...so,
Monday = $2.13

Tuesday: I bought my dear sweet Carly a gift (this shouldn't count! He he he > : ) I got part of it too though. We now each have super cute twin goddess necklaces! It was of the utmost importance that I buy them, so I don't feel too bad. My Carly deserved a gift. On a much sadder note, Tuesday I bought myself a starbucks. Oh the shame.
Tuesday = $19

Wednesday: $0!!! Heck yes.

Thursday: $0 (I'm on a roll.)

Friday: (Notice the downhill snowball starting on Friday...) Grocery shopping for everyone in my household: $90 (Not too awful for basically 5 people and I haven't really grocery shopped in a couple weeks. Please note also that I have to buy formula about once a week at $20 each or so).
Ordered a movie online/ The Secret $4.95 ( http://whatisthesecret.tv/-- worth the $5! It doesn't matter that I wasn't the most frugal this week because money is on it's way!)
Friday= $95

Saturday: I bought myself Starbucks yet again on Saturday. I am shameless apparently. I did, however, buy a grande instead of a venti. At least there is some kind of conscious effort happening here...
Also Saturday, Jake went to Haggen to pick up more groceries. We needed coffee syrup and things to make banana bread for my sweet Emma's 2nd birthday! I don't know how this happened, but it was $21.50. I had a strong urge Sunday night to go to the thrift store (at least it wasn't the mall?). I bought three pair of fabulous shoes (I can never find three pair of shoes at the mall that I like, much less the thrift store!), and one bread machine (this will save money in the future, right???). $20 there.
Saturday total: $45.51

Sunday: (Please forgive me...) Sunday morning we went to Emma baby's 2nd birthday. All was well during that time and we had fun. We decided afterward to get our Yule/Christmas Tree! How exciting, right? Yes, but pricey. Hmmm. We stopped at the thrift store and got a tree stand and what we thought were strands of lights (all of my lights died last year and I'm not going to twist everyone of those bastards off trying to figure out which one broke it!). That and Jake decided to buy every episode of Starwars on video tape (wha?). You can't stop that boy when he thinks he wants something. I can't complain because he basically lets me have anything I want and doesn't ask for much. So every Starwars movie on vhs it is, even though I doubt they'll get any use. Total at Value Village: $20.31. Then we went and met sis and Abe to get our Christmas tree at Fred Meyer. I fell in love with a really cool Father Time/ Green Man/ Santa Claus type ornament. Ornament was $7. Our part of the tree was $12.5. FM total: $19.50. We get home and remove the lights from the lovely plastic bag that VV puts them in. These are icicle lights. These will not do. Back out to K-mart (what a trip that was! I haven't been to K-mart in at least ten years...). Kmart- we get 450 white lights for $16.99. We also get more bulbs, we did not have enough. 18 bulbs for something like $9. They didn't have a nice mix of the colors I wanted, so my lovely sis mixed and matched a box for me and I was the lookout. ; ) On our way back , I was thirsty for something bad. Had to get Jake something too. That was about $6 or so. So...I need about ten minutes to total up Sunday (hahaha).
Sunday= $72.73 (oh my)

Total spending for the week: $234.37

Frugal? Not so much.

On another note, however, I am also in the process of decluttering my house. During this adventure, I have sold quite a few things on my works 'for sale' page. I think I probably made about $20 last week or so. Not amazing, but better than no money. I am going to post our crappy Subaru Justy later tonight on Craig's List too. We should get about $1100 for it, it's a sought after car (Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue. I bought it on a fluke, not because it's a collector's car- hee hee).

So anyway, not a frugal week. I will try harder next week. : )