Snow in FL

We have decided as a family to donate our snowflakes for the next year to Anthem Church in Gainsville, FL in an effort to show support to our friends there. We know what they're doing isn't easy but we have faith that they will be successful and that what they are doing is something that the folks down there are in need of.

Please be with them and us in this.

August goal recap and September goal setup

Here's how our August goals panned out:

T's goals:

• build shelving in master bedroom closets - FAIL but that's because we changed our minds and built shelving in the garage instead!
  
• learn another new dish to cook - DONE - Honey mustard vinagerette chicken, yummy
  
• get AC hooked up in the house - DONE - Finally, 10 months after we moved in, our AC was working and it felt so good in the end of August heat!
  

RA's goals:

• shop only from a list - FAIL - bought a pair of shoes that definately were not on my list when I walked in the store.
  
• bring lunch to work every day again - DONE! - It is starting to just be a habit but it still feels good to do.
  
• say "no" to one outing every week - better but FAIL - still "over booking" myself, though its fun
  
• $100 total in wedding fund by 8/31 - DONE! - finished August with $141.17 in that account...its a start to fund an expensive wedding season next year.
  

And now that we are a week into September, new family goals:

• add at least $75 in snowflakes to wedding fund
• read a book of the bible together during the month of September - Mark
• no eating out all month - so far, so good...I'm starting to have Jet's Pizza withdrawls...

Goals: a reflection

Here are some goal updates so far:
Brought lunch all last week...still haven't decided on reward yet for attaining this goal but I think it involves a dress for Mr. & Mrs. G's party at the end of August!

Bought a sweater that was on my list of clothes to buy for fall! Well to be clear, this actual sweater wasn't on my list (my list gets kinda detailed sometimes), but a similar sweater was and besides specific sweaters I had the vague "2 sweaters" to save myself in case I found something I really liked...even better, it was on sale! That's what we call a win-win-win!

It just keeps snowing...the snowflakes are just showing up from everywhere...we just got a rebate check in the mail from some oil we bought last month to do an oil change...also, I took the change in from our piggy bank and came home with 23.24! ("Not to shabby for sitting on the desk," says Piggy.) This is a good start for our wedding fund but we have a long way to go.

Stagnant

The one thing I'm not liking about the diversion of our snowflakes to the wedding fund is this:

Though I see our savings growing for some really memorable occasions, I don't get to see our debt go down little by little each day like I'd become accustomed to. It still will go down by big chunks every month, but I miss the instant gratification of a snowflake sent to combat debt.

On the bright side, every dollar we save now is one we don't have to charge later to enjoy our friends' big days!

Goal reached

I have already accomplished one goal and it's only 8.11!

Well to be very upfront its only a planned accomplishment. I have enough snowflakes planned this month to have over $100 in our wedding fund before 8.31. The money isn't in the account yet as it will trickle in over the next week or so but to tally as of right now is $102.53.

I say lets keep up the good work.

Goal rewards

I was trying to figure out a good reward for taking my lunch the entire month of July, other than the savings (read: unspent money) from not buying lunch out every week.

At the jovial prodding of one of my favorites, Mrs. O, and at the invitation of another favorite, Mrs. L, I've decided that I will go to a Tigers game as my reward! It will be a fun filled afternoon with the ladies enjoying hot dogs, beers, and men in tight pants with high socks (though I only have eyes for T!)

Though the game is before the last day of July, I feel this is an appropriate reward. I would have easily spent the same amount of money on my ticket and food as I would have if I'd allowed myself to eat out this month for lunch. If I happen to break and buy lunch out during the 4 days following the game, I will pay the price of my game ticket, out of my spending money, as a snowflake to our CC debt! How's that for motivation?

So far I've been doing really good, despite my lack of preparation one day that lead me to eat cereal for both my breakfast and lunch at the office! Wish me luck, only 10 more days!

*update*: If I break and buy lunch before the game, I have said that I'll give me ticket away.

Week 1 - done

Just a small check in on some of my July goals:

Went on 3 walks this past week (some harder than others) and mowed the backyard, in a triangle!

Found a recipe for Lemon Roasted Chicken that I plan to try, along with a Chicken and Couscous recipe from Mrs. O that I have to pick up

I did say no one outing this week and though it was hard, I felt much better afterwards

Somehow I still have 1/2 tank of gas so I think I kept it under $30 since I didn't spend anymore...we'll see about this week, we have some travels about 30-40 minutes away at least 2x this week in addition to work...

Up to $2.70 in personal snowflakes, due to buying dinner for T and I last night and "keeping the change"

P.S. I have another challenge that I never posted, to take my lunch to work everyday in July. Last week I made it through, and so far, so good with this week ( I have leftovers in the fridge today). My treat if I make it to Friday without buying lunch...I get a chocolate shake on the way home from work! Wish me luck.

Auto Insurance Surprise

As I was rifling through the sites that I use to pay our bills, I thought to check in on our auto insurance site. I have this set up to automatically deduct every month, so there really was no need to check in on this. The amount is always the same and it is always deducted on time.

As I log in I see the upcoming payment is way less than normal! Surprise, USAA decided to credit our account due to policy program changes they implemented back in April. It basically cut our July payment in half.

And what are we going to do with that savings...you guessed it! Snowflake right to our CC debt. I love finding money in the least expected places, like your bills. Thanks, USAA. Perhaps you can have Christmas in July!

We're going camping

In light of the wedding being called off, we decided to go ahead and cancel our trip to NY, for good. The hotel cost will be refunded minus a $25 cancellation fee. The refund will be split up as such.

25% - Travel savings
75% - Debt snowflake

Our travel savings is now going towards our camping trip, with any leftovers being snowflaked to debt as originally planned.

T and I are really excited to go camping. This will be our second camping trip together and our first since getting married. Actually (hopefully!) this will be our first successful camping trip, since during the first one we took we both were sick and left after one night!

We will be camping up in northern Michigan, near T's hometown, for 2 nights. There is a lake, beach front, trails, and best of all, restrooms with showers!

I'm looking forward to this much needed mini-vaca!

Unexpected Thank You

I had been helping out with my church's high school ministry, assisting a bit at the large night get togethers and tri-leading a small group of girls with two other 20-somethings a while back. Some time after my birthday in April, my participate and invitation to participate (equal parts) began to wane. The school year started to come to an end and I figured that my "job" was done for now and I would look forward to the new school year and the opportunity to volunteer again.

I enjoyed my short time with both the teen girls that were part of the group and the two old women (guess you can call us women - I was the oldest one!) It was inspiring to hear high school girls speak about issues and things openly and honestly. It brought me back to different discussions my friends and I had at that time of our lives. How I miss my youth sometimes.

Well when I checked the mail on Friday, there was a card in there from the high school ministry staff. It was a thank you for the time I had given to help out, for the passion I must have to work with kids and for just being a part this experience. That was thank you enough but they also included a $5 gift card to Starbucks. I'm not the largest fan of coffee but T is, so we walked up to Starbucks near our house, bought him some beans and walked on home.

Since we buy him coffee anyway as part of our grocery budget, we decided that we'd snowflake the $5 as a payment to our CC debt. Thanks to our church we are $5 closer to our goal!

Carnival!

I participated in my first personal finance carnival! The Carnival of Snowflaking to be exact! It was hosted by Finance Girl over at Finance Gets Personal.

I submitted my post on the recent Ebay auctions we had and the snowflaking that was to become of the proceeds and it was accepted! Check it out here along with some other snowflake savvy posts.

Snowflaking is a concept that T and I have completely gotten behind with our budgeting and debt repayment and I'm glad that this carnival is my inaugural step into the PF world!

Also, a big hello to anyone that is stopping by for the first time! Here's where it all began if you'd like to know where we started.

Update on Ebay "windfall"

We have decided to put the money towards our trip expenses and any money left over after our trip will be snowflaked to debt.

This way we feel even less stressed on our trip about covering meals and fun activities in our free time. Also, it kinda gives us an incentive to not spend it all in NY since we get to pay towards our debt free future if we are frugal.

It is times like this, when we discuss an issue and come to a decision together that I really feel like a team with T and not just like individuals running around doing whatever makes each of us happy.

Snowflakes in June

I decided to put some things on Ebay during Memorial Day weekend in an effort to de-clutter the house a bit and make a dollar or two.

Well the auctions are over and we are $42.32 richer!

When we first decided to list the items, mostly books that I had no use for any longer, my intention was to send the money as a snowflake to debt. Once the auctions ended and I saw how much we'd brought in, though not much, I still wanted to send the money as a small payment toward our CC's. In comes T with his ever giving nature with, "You can just keep the money and spend it on clothes. Most of the stuff sold was yours to begin with."

I'm having a hard time indulging lately, and hearing this is not helping me. In the end, I think I will still send it as a debt payment, but its nice to know that if I wanted to, I could have "splurged" with the money.

Side note: The other option for the $40+ is to save it as spending money for our trip in August. The plan with the travel money earmarked for our trip is that what is left over can go to debt after we get back.