More Financial Planning

MORE FINANCIAL PLANNING

Who ever thought financial planning could be so flipping exciting?  Seriously, I get a major buzz every time I save $20 bucks at the grocery store and up until 6 weeks ago I was paying full price for everything!  So, here's what I've done to gain complete control of our finances:

CREATE A BUDGET:

Man, this is a lot harder than you would think but from what I have learned it's crucial to designate every dollar you earn.  If you don't pay attention to your money, those that are paying attention somehow manage to wiggle your money away.  So, for the month of April here's a small snippet of our budget:

• Groceries - $1050 - plus $180 for school lunches
• Vehicle expenses - $600 (maintenance, insurance, gas)
• House Maintenance - $100 (we painted in April)

The point is to take in your revenue and deduct your expenses so it equals zero so you know exactly where every dollar is going.

The hardest part for me -  I neglected to calculate (o.k. I forgot) how much money the kids would need for field trips, book orders, school potlucks, baseball, track etc.   But, I'm new to this so I hope to do some better planning for May. 

SPEND LESS:

Now this is the part I'm SUPER excited about.  For the month of April I set aside $1050 for groceries but ended the month spending half as much - just $575!!!!  I saved over $180 in grocery store coupons alone.  I'm not going to lie - it takes organization, time and zero ego but it's well worth it.   So, if you see me at the store avoid my line because I'm holding everyone up behind me!  And, just so you know - I'm still buying organic whole foods but for less money (another tip - I buy my organic apples, organic potatoes, and organic salad all at Aldi's for a fraction of the cost as many grocery stores).

I even managed to buy these super fun shoes (you won't believe this)..........................................for $4.00 at JCPenney.

Check out my hot new shoes - only 4 bucks!

I've been getting my coupons from 3 main apps:  coupon.com, retailmenot, and snipsnap. 

MAKING CUTS:

So in addition to shopping with coupons, I've given up many things over the past 6 weeks and I'm still fine.  It's not that I'm broke or in the poor house, but I have one goal and that's to GET COMPLETELY OUT OF ALL DEBT and to do that I need to make a few sacrifices!  I've had student loan payments for so long (my husbands too) that I feel like Sallie Mae is part of the family.  With my new focus on living debt-free I know I can kill off  my nemesis Sallie Mae and I'm VERY happy about it.  And guess what, by the time this is said and done I will have paid longer on my Sallie Mae loan than on my house - how messed up is that.

Here's my cuts to date:

• Backroads Coffee - When I step into Backroads in the morning it's like stepping into Cheers (hey, Norm I mean Kristin) only it's 5:45 in the morning.  But, guess what - I'm making coffee at home, I'm surviving and it's shaving 15 minutes from my day
• Kombucha - I developed a pretty expensive Kombucha daily habit but I ordered a mother mushroom online and I'm making it myself and saving TONS of money
• Eating out - I would eat lunch out one time per week (usually Thursdays) but I also eliminated that from my budget.  I would also take the kids out for a treat once per week (i.e. ice cream) and we've limited that to once per month.
• Paying retail - is something that no longer happens in my world
• Credit cards - I can not tell you the rush I felt from cutting up my Amazon, Younkers, Old Navy, Macy's and Scheel's credit cards.  It took me about 2 weeks to do it but once I did I felt a total sense of relief.  No more temptation! 

I have a lot more to share about my new found financial plan, but for fear that this will get too long I will save the rest for another day.

Guess what I did today?  I skied in the morning and laid out in the sun in the afternoon.  Only in Wisconsin.

Skiing with friends this morning (4/26)

Soaking up the rays this afternoon (4/26) - look at our snowy yard!




 

What tips do you have for staying on budget or saving money?  Have you ever skied and laid out on the same day?  C'mon - you have to admit that's pretty cool?!

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Project Organization - 2013

My 2013 Resolutions includes organizing our house room by room so by the end of the year I will have cleaned and organized every room, cupboard and closet.   My goal is to not only to tackle every single space in the room, but also to evaluate the paint job, fix anything that is broken, find a place for everything and my plan has kept me focused and not so overwhelmed. 

PROJECT ORGANIZATION TIMELINE:

January:  KITCHEN
February:  BATHROOM 1 and HALL CLOSET
March:  LIVING ROOM and ENTRY WAY CLOSET
April:   GRAHAM's ROOM
May:  GUS' ROOM and GUS' OFFICE
June:  GRETA's ROOM and SCREENED IN PORCH
July:  EXTRA BASEMENT BEDROOM
August:  LAUNDRY ROOM
September:  BATHROOM 2 and BASEMENT LIVING ROOM
October:  MASTER BEDROOM and BATHROOM 3
November:  HALL CLOSET IN BASEMENT
December:  For me this is the month to survive :) Lol.

JANUARY'S PROJECT:

I've been busy cleaning every single cupboard in the kitchen and I've been able to purge a ton of stuff.  In order to make the project manageable, I divided the kitchen into fours and tackled one section each weekend.  We have a few issues yet (stove has a glitch and we need a new dishwasher) and they may not be resolved until February but it's in the works.   In an attempt to eliminate plastic from our house, I've also ditched most of our Tupperware for glass quart jars which work just as well for storing almost everything.

The organized lazy susan - A before picture would've been embarrassing

UPDATE ON RESOLUTIONS

In addition to implementing the plan to organize the house,  I've successfully implemented my daily gratitude journal and our Family Meal Planning has been so extremely helpful - wow.  I forgot how much stress, money and time it saves to plan ahead!!!  Of course, I'm working on my ski goal which has been more difficult because we had a period where we lost snow and then when we got it back we had frigid temps.

OUR WEEKEND:

Our weekend consisted of skiing, skating, swimming, out to eat (Famous Dave's), skiing again and the movie Lincoln (fantastic) - in that order. 

My 2 favorite 2nd Graders LOVE Famous Dave's Corn Muffins

How was your weekend?  And how are you tackling your goals for 2013?

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Working Out: Gotta' Vent

The Norwegian in me has a really hard time complaining about ANYTHING.  Seriously, if someone says, "it sure is cold outside", I'll say "sure, but it's great to see the sun" or if someone says "it sure gets dark early" I respond with, "only 4 more months until Spring."    Most of the time I can turn any negative into a positive, but I do have a few complaints tonight.


MY LOCAL FITNESS CENTER

My winter workout plan was absolutely perfect - the ideal blend of outdoor activities and some challenging indoor classes but on 01/01/13 the price is doubling.  And if you want to take a shower it is even more.  Granted, there's more included with that increase but doubling the price is just a hard pill to swallow since I can only take a couple of classes a week because of my ski training.  Bummer.  Especially since I was LOVING the classes.  Once I'm done skiing I hope to join up again during the transitional months between skiing and running.

Lifetime Fitness by my sister-in-law
Amazing place and pool for $49 a month
Lucky for me, I have the amazing Birkie trail for only $40 a YEAR

MOM GUILT

When I've been out skiing on my own during our Christmas break I've had extreme guilt and I've cut myself short to rush home to be with the kids.  Every time I've rushed through the door to find them totally engaged in activities and then I'm mad at myself for skipping out on my workout time.  Ever since the kids were in the car accident last year I have a hard time leaving them.  I found a great article about mom guilt:  Mom Guilt - Get Over It.  My favorite quote from the article:   "So many devoted moms think that no matter what they do for their children, it's not enough -- and our culture plays into that insecurity,"    Moving forward, I'm going to remind myself that a happy mom equals happy children.

Skating Again Friday night - how can I NOT feel guilty leaving these cute munchkins (and Graham too)

SERIOUSLY, CAN YOU JUST SAY HEY?

My biggest pet peeve when I'm skiing on the Birkie trail is people who do not say hi back.  Since the trail is almost in my back yard and I know it really well, I feel like a piece of it belongs to me.  Lots of times I'll run into people I know which is always fun, but when I ski past a visitor and they don't say hi back it really bugs me.  I'll give a pass to people under the age of 20, and to those that are clearly giving the trail hell but with everyone else I'd appreciate a little love back.  Hey, life is short - check out your surroundings and say hi. 

If you see us coming down the trail, say hi

THE PLAN

I have a great plan lined up to get me in shape for the Birkie without the use of the gym but I'll share my 50 day Birkie Training plan on my New Year's blog.

Hey, I feel better - I should vent more often.  What's your workout complaint?  Certainly, I can't be the only one with mom guilt?


Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Making Lefse

Lefse has always been a part of our traditional family get-togethers but up until last week I'd never been a part of the lefse making fun.  My friend Sue Scheer was on schedule to host our December book club but because of the busyness of the holidays there were only 3 of us in attendance so we had the chance to make some lefse!  Lucky for us, Sue had already peeled 10 pounds of potatoes and processed the dough.

STEP ONE:  Making the dough

STANDARD LEFSE RECIPE:

10 pounds potatoes
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/2 cups flour

Peel potatoes and then boil until tender.  Run potatoes through a ricer and then add all ingredients except flour.  Once mixed, add flour until dough forms.  Refrigerate for one hour.

Me and Colleen making lefse at Sue's house

STEP 2:  ROLLING OUT


Break off 1/8 inch of dough and roll out on a floured pastry cloth using a rolling pin with a white sock over it - roll until extremely thin.

STEP 3:  COOK

Slide a lefse pastry stick underneath the middle of the dough and lay it out flat on 400 degree griddle.  Brown on each side.

STEP 4:  COVER

Once cooked, place lefse in a white towel that has been washed and dried without dryer sheets or else your lefse will taste like Bounce.     

I will end with some lefse pictured on my Grandma's dishes.  I think she would be proud.  Thank-you Sue!!

Lefse on my Grandma's dishes

And we just got in from a ski - how very Norwegian.  My dad has created some really great trails in and around Osseo, WI.

My Dad, Greta, Me and Gus going out for a ski

 

What traditional food do you make???  Have you been skiing lately?  We are off to go bowling - wish mw luck.  I'm a pretty bad bowler.  Merry Christmas!

Kristin

Back in the Saddle: Working Out

I've been a little slow to blog on my "working out in the moment" routine because I was unable to exercise for a l-o-n-g five week period (varicose vein surgery) but I'm so grateful to be back in the saddle.

MY TIPS FOR STAYING MOTIVATED:

1.   Schedule exercise by adding it to your daily calendar.   Some days are more difficult than others, but if I have it blocked off on my calendar I will make it happen.

2.  Exercise first thing in the morning.  Of course this doesn't work for everyone, but for me personally I find that if I put it off until later in the day I'll likely find a legitimate reason for skipping out.

3.  Partner up!  Right now I'm in the midst of some classes so I feel like I had better show up.  As the ski season gets rolling I'll try and partner up for some ski time on the beautiful Birkie trail.

4.  Sign up for a race.  I've signed up for the 50K Birkie ski race so even though we don't have tons of snow yet, you can guarantee I'm going to be out there skiing at least twice a week because for me that distance would be impossible if I didn't train - it's really hard even with training.

5.  Switch things up:  Because I prefer to exercise outside, I'm forced to change my workout routine about 4 times a year.  Right now I'm smack dab in the middle of a transitional season (not enough snow locally because of some warm weather this weekend), but I'm really enjoying the mix of activities.

Here's my TRANSITIONAL workout schedule over the last week:

Last Sunday:  Skied for an hour
Monday:  Day Off
Tuesday:  Run 5K (this next week SPIN)
Wednesday:  Strength Class
Thursday:  SPIN class
Friday:  Ski - 1 1/2 hours
Saturday:  Yoga (trying to stick to once a week - good for balance, strength and mental health.  I've been following YogaToday on YouTube).
This Sunday - snowshoe

And, as winter enters full swing I'll be taking out a SPIN class and adding in some more skiing.

My best early morning tree pose - Go Packers!

BACK IN THE SADDLE

Even though my cardio workouts seem extremely difficult, I'm trying not to get discouraged because if I don't keep at it I'll never get back to where I was AND I'm telling myself, "you are doing laps around those on the couch" because I tend to compare myself to others which is never a good thing.

Hustling on my Snowshoes

When I took the time off I found that I was pretty crabby, I gained a few pounds (could be Thanksgiving and Halloween too) and I didn't sleep as well.   I really missed those daily endorphins and I'm glad to have a piece of me back.

We've had such a great weekend - mostly revolving around Bentleyville in Duluth which I will blog about tomorrow.  Oh, in case you missed it - here's a few ways we're celebrating the advent:  counting down until Christmas.   Kids really make the holidays so much fun.

What does your fitness routine look like?  Have you been to any amazing light shows?  So far we've visited Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls, Hayward's light show, and Bentleyville. 

Greta and me at Bentleyville - poor thing lost even more teeth this week

Thanks for reading,

Kristin