Day 530 and another quiet Saturday

It was not supposed to be a quiet Saturday. I was supposed to go to Moore for a meeting of the Family Child Care Sub-Committee that I am on. Was going to go to Norman after and see Serenity. But that meeting got rescheduled for August 8th. I got grocery and Wal-Mart shopping done for this weekend. So I got a quiet, relaxing day instead. Yeah! I hope to get a few things accomplished, but haven't done much yet. Does anyone have a hard time getting motivated when it's this darn hot?

Day 529 and more clothing bargains

Last night, Tasha and I went to Enid to do some Wal-mart shopping. Our first stop was at JCPenney's to see if we could find some more jeans for Tasha. She found another pair of jeans that were marked down to 15.99 that she liked and she also got some shirts that were marked down to between $5.50 and $7.99, too. So she is well on her way to being ready for the school year. Yeah! Then we went to Wal-mart. While Tasha was looking around, I found a clearance rack with some dressy slacks on it all marked down to $5 a pair. Even better, they had some in my size! I got three new pairs of slacks; black, gray, and tan for $5 each! Now I can finally throw away my other two pair that I had, they were getting to be in very sad shape. LOL.

Happy Friday and have a good weekend!

Day 528 and some short term goals

Okay, it's time to pull myself together and set (and actually follow through!) with some short-term goals. So here we go.

1. I've been working on the July budget. Finish it up and have a budget meeting with Tom this upcoming weekend.

2. Continue to work on getting caught up on paperwork. I actually got several months of receipts logged, but need to go through and work on some other stuff too. My first goal will be to catch up parent totals by next Monday.

3. I must get to work on my proposal for my study-in-depth class. I have to find several references, so I'll start my goal by saying I"ll find five quality references by next Monday.

Hope everyone has a great day (and stays cool!)

Day 527 and the teeny-tiny baby emergency fund

Well, in the last few weeks, our baby emergency fund has dwindled down to where it's teeny-tiny, almost premature. LOL. Seriously, it is under $100 right now and we've got to get it back up there. We've still got the money set aside for Tom's car repair ($400 since March), but it hasn't been done yet. I'm trying to come up with some ideas of ways to pull in extra $'s, but until summer vacation is over, that's going to be hard. I've got two kids who are on DHS payment and spending time with their dads this summer. I don't get paid when they are not here, and that along with other things combines to drop my income in the summer. Don't get me wrong, the break is much needed and appreciated, but it does make the summer stressful. This coming year, I'd like to try to finally put aside some money to help get through the summer. I've tried to do that for years, but never seem to manage. Maybe this will finally be the year!

Day 526 and Bargains from JCPenney's

Earlier this month, I got a $10 of $10 or more purchase at JCPenney's. Now the first one of these I tried to use back in December, I couldn't use it on the one thing I needed at the time (new shoes). It expired that day so I just gave it to the cashier and asked her to use it for someone else's purchase (hopefully she did). I got another one in May so Tasha and I went in there hunting for stuff. Tasha needed socks so we found her some socks, got a 6 pack of socks for $1 and change. That was pretty exciting! Then I got another one this month. Tasha is going to be needing jeans for Falls Creek and school and she had already ripped one pair (it was a pair she'd had a while though) at work. So we went to Penney's to see if we could find some jeans to use the coupon on. After much searching, she found a pair of jeans that were normally $46 and they were marked down to $19.99. That's not bad for a pair of jeans for a teenager so I was happy with that and hopeful we'd be able to use the coupon. She also picked out a shirt that was marked down from $20.00 to $9.99. When we checked out, the jeans rung up at $15.98, then the shirt was 9.99 and we got to use the coupon. With tax our total was $17.xx!!! For a new pair of jeans and shirt, I thought that was awesome. The sad thing was that even before the coupon, with the markdowns, those jeans were less than the ones we bought Tasha at Wal-Mart to work in (they were $16.92). That is a lesson for everyone-don't assume that things are always cheaper at Wal-Mart. Sometimes sale prices and markdowns make things cheaper at other places (and those items are often of better quality). This weekend we are going to try to find her some more jeans for Falls Creek and school (I'm trying to avoid having to buy a bunch of stuff right before Falls Creek). At camp, they are allowed to wear shorts during the day but they have to wear jeans during the evening church services.

Day 525 and last Financial Peace class last night

We had our last Financial Peace class last night. It was on giving and how giving can help make you more Christ-like. Tom & I do give to the church, but we are still not up to the tithe (10% of our income) yet. I sometimes wonder if we increased our giving how it would affect our debt repayment. But yet we should never give with the idea that we will get something in return. At any rate, I definitely think that the most important lesson learned from last night's message is this: "God owns it ALL!" We are merely stewards or managers of what God has blessed us with.

Tune in tomorrow for info on Tasha & I's visit to JCPenney's on Saturday and our bargains there.

Days 523 & 524 and Father's Day Weekend

Here's hoping all the dads out there had a great Father's Day. Our day was nice. Serenity came up last night to surprise Tom for Father's Day. She took us all out to lunch today. Josh had to work at 1:00 so we went into town early and ate before the lunch rush so that was nice. I feel incredibly lucky and blessed with our children. They are all growing into such wonderful young adults.

Tomorrow I'll talk about our last Financial Peace University class tonight.