April Projects

My Resolutions this year included going through the entire house one month at a time to organize, purge, and fix up if needed.  This month my goal was to jump start my financial planning and work on 14 year old Graham's room. 

Graham's Room - before

Graham's Room - after



While it's not perfect, it's a vast improvement from where we were earlier in the month.  We found this electric fireplace at a thrift shop, we found a large blue and brown print at another thrift shop and we ordered a new bed for him but it was back ordered until this week.  I shopped around and saved $300 by waiting a month to purchase the bed.

Guess what?  I'm also making money after I purge the rooms but I'll fill you in on that on Sunday's blog.

What are you organizing?  I'm actually enjoying my new system of organizing a room a month.  Next up:  Gus' room and office.

Thanks for reading,

Kristin

Great Aunt Helen's May Basket Jelly Roll

My Great Aunt Helen, who started the Norske Nook in Osseo, gave me a recipe many years ago for a May Basket Jelly Roll.   I was invited to a potluck affair this weekend, found the recipe and decided to whip it up since I had the ingredients and I did not want to go to the store.  Not only was it super simple, quick, cheap and delicious - but it was also very pretty.  This week I plan on making a few more so the kids can do a surprise "May Day" drop-off but I plan on trying poppyseed and lemon next.

Here's the recipe:

May Day Jelly Roll

4 eggs
1 1/3 cup sugar
7 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
Enough powdered sugar to lightly cover a small dish towel

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.  In a large bowl bet the eggs until thick, then gradually beat in the sugar.

2.  Beat in the water and the vanilla all at once.  Then add the flour, baking powder, and salt at once and beat just until smooth.

3.  Prepare the jelly roll pan by lining the sides and bottom with wax paper.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

4.  Cover the dish towel with powdered sugar and flow the jelly roll from the cookie sheet upside down onto the towel.  Peel off the wax paper, spread the cake with jelly (I used strawberry jam I made last year), and rolled it up.    Slice and serve.

May Basket Jelly Roll

May Basket Jelly Roll - Beautiful Once Sliced

And we are still skiing in Northern Wisconsin.  Greta got in another kilometer on the Birkie Trail yesterday.

Greta out for a ski 4/27 - through the mud puddles and all!

Oh, I am so happy with the recent shift in weather.  I'm finally blogging, reading, and putting together puzzles, outside in the screened in porch where I feel most at home.  And best of all I finally got out running and on my road bike.  Wooohooo!

Thanks for reading and Happy May Day (Wednesday)!

Kristin

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

Step One: Financial Planning

My New Year's Resolutions included getting serious about money management because I'm the lazy type who rarely balances my checkbook or keeps track of our money.   As a step in this process I started listening to Financial Peace University by Dave Ramsey which really has me fired up.   Up until this point I felt like as long as the bills were paid, we could buy new clothes on occasion and go on vacation once a year life was good but now I'm in the position to think it's not quite good enough.    It's going to take 3 months in order for me to fully embrace my new fiscally responsible lifestyle.  BUT, here's the steps I've taken in March to get me closer to my goals and I'm feeling stoked about the plan:

1.   COMPLETE A QUICK START BUDGET:  This is the WORST part but it's the most important step.  After you write down every expense for the month in black and white there's much less stress (at least for me) because you know exactly where you are sitting financially.   I first used a regular paper calendar but have recently converted my expenses to this form.   I discovered some surprises - for example we spent $1,000 in groceries for the month - I had no idea.  I'm hoping I can scale that back but I'll get to that part.

You can find this budgeting form here:  Quick Start Budget

2. DO SOME PLASTIC SURGERY - CUT THE CARDS:

I'm a TOTAL sucker for those credit card deals:  "if you sign up for our card you'll save 15% off today"  - in fact I have 5 department store cards.  Well, I did have 5 cards - ha!

3. SET UP A COLLEGE FUND:

I finally did it - I set up automatic withdrawals into a 529 educational fund for the kids.  While I REALLY regret not starting with Graham sooner, I know that Gus and Greta will be in great shape.  Did I tell you that Chad and I still have student loan debt?  The payments and interest rates are low but they won't be paid off until Graham graduates from high school - isn't that depressing?  That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid for my kids.

4.  AUTO BILL PAY:

Don't ask my why I've resisted this for so long, but I have set up my bills so that I can pay them all on-line or they are taken automatically from my account once a month.  I love how much easier it is for me to pay bills and I'm saving on stamps.

5.  BE A BETTER SHOPPER:

Just this week I discovered the best App from the App Store EVER suggested to me by my cousin Erinn.  It's called SnipSnap and in 3 days I spent $100 on groceries and a new outfit and saved $35 in a snap (hello, 35 percent!!).   This app. has every coupon imaginable from Subway to McDonald's to Target to Victoria's Secret.  If you need something, more than likely this app has a coupon for you.  All you do is hand over your phone and the cashier gives you the discount.  SO EXCITING!!

Recently I started shopping for some groceries at Aldi's too.  Forgive me for this - but I used to put my nose up at Aldi's thinking that I could only find some processed crap but guess what?  I ALWAYS find products we keep in our pantry and I can find certified organic produce for dirt cheap.    Love it!

I got this entire outfit at Kohl's this week for $20 thanks to SnipSnap

Obviously, I'm a little late to this game of financial planning but I guess better late than never.  I have a long ways to go but I'm already feeling so empowered about this recent mindful shift of our finances so I wanted to share.   What tips do you have? 

I better get back to dying Easter eggs. 

Time to dye the eggs

Have a great Easter!!

Kristin

Seven Healthy Breakfasts to Start Your Day

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and also my favorite meal.  My breakfasts are less than 300 calories, contain some healthy fats and fiber to keep you full until lunch, and they all contain over 10 grams of protein.  And, the experts say breakfast is especially important if you are trying to lose weight.

Here's my 7 healthy breakfasts for every day of the week:

• Monday, 1 cup of kefir with 1 cup of berries and 1 tablespoon of 3.6.9 flax oil / or flax seed
• Tuesday, an egg sandwich consisting of an 100% whole grain English muffin, 1 wedge of laughing cow cheese and 1 egg from my neighbors farm.  300 calories, lots of protein and SUPER delicious
• Wednesday, crockpot steel cut oats
• Thursday, 1 apple, 1 ounce of cheddar cheese, 1 ounce of nuts - YUM!
• Friday, Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal with 1 cup of milk
• Saturday, 1/2 grapefruit cut into wedges, 1 orange cut into wedges with 1 tablespoon of flax
• Sunday, Baked Oatmeal with Berries

Fruit in my Grandma's Dishes

On occasion I will also eat Kristie's homemade granola or gogi berry flax seed oatmeal which I can only get at Weaver's located by my parents.

So, what do you eat for breakfast?  Or do you eat breakfast?

Egg Sandwich on my Grandma's Dishes - love my Grandma's salt and pepper shakers!

My weekend was so crazy.  Friday night I went to a fun birthday party and listened to a fantastic band, Saturday I saw my dad in the play 7 Brides for 7 Brothers (wonderful show) and today I took the kids shopping for their Easter outfits (success!).

What did you do this weekend?

Kristin