January Spending Freeze, Day 7: Cutting my son's hair at home

I should have gotten Robert's hair cut a couple of months ago.  It's just hard to find the time, and to remember to make an appointment.  That's how he ended up like this.

Just for fun, I stood him where Ivey wrote "Rodert" on the wall a while back

I have cut Jordan's hair before and have even tried cutting my own, a long time ago.  Since then I've been going to a friend who does a great job.  But the other day when I was reading The Tightwad Gazette I came across Amy's home haircut tips and thought maybe I'd try to cut Robert's myself, since we are on the spending freeze and he needed a haircut so badly.  I looked to YouTube for advice and found this video, which I thought was very helpful.

Cutting Robert's hair was slightly more complicated than what I've done before, but I figured if I really screwed it up, Jordan could always cut it with the 1" guard on the clippers.  I mean, it's been shorter!  

Someday I might like to get better scissors, but for now I used the ones that came with Jordan's clipper set.  They seemed to work a little better than my small, sharp fabric scissors, which surprised me a little.  It took at least an hour, Robert and I got rather annoyed with each other, and we made a huge mess with all the hair.  But in the end, it turned out better than I expected!  Maybe next time I will take pictures of the process, but things were looking pretty bleak there for a while and I didn't even think about the fact that I might want any pictures of it!

This is Robert's favorite photo of the new haircut.

I think this haircut should last a while, and trimming it up should be easier for me than cutting a shaggy mop like I did today!  My hair and the girls' hair I'm not so sure about--but luckily long hair doesn't need to be cut nearly as often.

January Spending Freeze, Day 6: Fixing our storage issues without spending a fortune

We've lived in this house eight years--and we have never felt like we had enough storage.  Some of it, of course, is an issue of too much stuff, and we're working on that too.  I'm about halfway through the KonMari method and love it!  But it really sucks not having a decent place to store the vacuum cleaner, or a few tubs of stuff.  Those things are the worst eyesores when out in our living space, but that's where they've had to be...  Until now.

Can you guess what we did the other day to help with this problem?

We'd love to someday have a house with a basement or a garage, but due to a variety of issues, moving is not a great option right now.  Neither is adding on to the house.  I cannot stand rental storage units.  BUT we had a pretty big chunk of empty space under our stairs!  We just couldn't get to it!

So, the other day we cut it open!  Jordan pulled a stair tread off, climbed in, cleaned up a bunch of garbage, dust, and dirt left by our lovely builders...  And finally, we worked together to be sure we were cutting in the right place.  We still need to go back to even things up and smooth them out, but this part of the project didn't cost us a dime. 

We couldn't put a door on it without doing some serious rearranging in our living room so that the door could swing open.  So, we bought a thin piece of oak plywood to use as a cover and hung it on two hooks.  Then we used a little E6000 to glue two magnets to the wall and two to the wood panel at the bottom to hold it shut (mostly so our cats can't pull it open and go on an adventure).  This all cost under $20, and we bought the supplies before the spending freeze.  Yes, we have quite the backlog of projects.  It feels good to check a few of them off!

We were able to fit four storage tubs, several large toys, a folding table, and the vacuum cleaner under there with room to spare!  This has already given us a little elbow room in several cramped areas of our house, and it looks so much nicer having them tucked away.  I may paint something on the plywood later when I have the time, but for now I'm just happy to have this area functional.

BONUS:  Our illustrious builders not only threw their garbage under our stairs (fast food wrappers and other junk!), they also left it very drafty under there on the exterior wall.  We've been paying more for heat every winter than we should have been because of the cold air that creeps up through the stairs.  As soon as we got it open and cleaned up, Jordan took a $3 tube of caulk and his caulk gun and sealed up the cracks.  We can feel a dramatic difference when walking up and down the stairs now!  I'm sure this effort will make a difference in our electric bill.

January Spending Freeze, Day 5: Tightwad inspiration

When I was about 14, I stumbled upon a copy of The Tightwad Gazette at my house (the first volume; now there is a complete version combining all three books).  My mother had bought it, and it was full of money-saving ideas I had never even dreamed of.  Of course, most of it didn't apply to me at the time because I wasn't running a household, but the writing style, layout, and illustrations appealed to me, so I read most of it.  I looked through the clever ideas, but I also read Amy Dacyczyn's reason for becoming "the Frugal Zealot," which was to be able to have a large family and stay at home with her children.  I can't remember exactly what I thought of that concept back then; my own mother had always worked and some of the ideas in the book seemed rather extreme.  It wasn't until years and years later that I finally came to love thrift shops and yard sales.  However, I think it must have helped to have these ideas in the back of my mind over the years, especially when we had to quickly save up to pay for Ivey's homebirth out of pocket while simultaneously preparing for me to quit my job to stay home with the kids.  I've always loved The Tightwad Gazette--and now, I have all three books!

Today we had to drive out of town for an appointment, so before we left I grabbed the first book and handed it to Suzi, telling her to look through it for ideas.  She found a few things that interested her, particularly the ideas for making popsicles from various ingredients.  Then when we got home, I let the kids watch this video...

When I first saw this video a while back, I enjoyed being able to put a face and a voice with the words and drawings I had enjoyed for so long.  But what I hope they take away most from the video is this:

"Saving money on small things adds up...  Little behaviors add up."

When the video was over I showed the kids how I had budgeted the next couple of paychecks.  In particular, I pointed out the amount we planned to put into savings and the amount we planned to spend on groceries.  I explained that if we went to Aldi for most of our groceries and shopped carefully, we could spend less than planned and put even more money into savings, reaching our goals faster.  I told them that avoiding little things like fast food dinners could add up to helping us reach the big things we really wanted.

Then I explained that this not only applies to our household budget, but to their personal "budgets" as well.  We talked about big things they might want to save up for (Ivey mentioned an American Girl doll) and I asked them what little habits they could change that, all together over time, would make a big difference.  Two things they came up with?  Stuffed animals, and dollar store toys.  I added candy to the list, and they agreed.  Praise the Lord, they are getting it!  As always, The Tightwad Gazette served to renew my focus as well.  These books will always be a fixture in our home...  But if you haven't read them yet, check your library!

January Spending Freeze, Day 4: An open letter to my future (Christmas shopping) self

My post for Day 4 is a bit late.  I tried to write it last night, but by the time I had a moment to work on it, I was just too tired to think.  We watched Downton Abbey instead.  So here's a little something different for today (or really yesterday), something that won't help me as much this month as it will later:  An open letter to my future Christmas-shopping self.


Dear Future Self,

It's time for Christmas shopping again, huh?  Halloween is over.  (How was Halloween, by the way?  Magical, I hope!)  Thanksgiving is swiftly approaching.  Maybe they are just starting to put Christmas music on the radio, and the kids are writing out their wish lists.  I bet you have a few items "saved for later" in your Amazon cart, don't you?  Maybe you're price-tracking a toy or five to get a better deal?!  Just can't wait for your Amazon credit card points to hit so you can buy some "free" stuff?!!  And you're just certain you're going to find that PERFECT gift, that toy that becomes an iconic memory of their childhood, or the most wonderful educational thingamajig that will revolutionize your approach to homeschool math.  This will be the BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!

Okay, calm down.  This is how it always starts.  You think, well, I'll find a good deal on the one big thing on their list, and I'll get 2-3 of the smaller things, and then a few surprises.  No, seriously, just a few!  Small ones!

Jenny, I think part of the problem is that you start shopping too early.  According to Amazon's record of past orders, you began buying gifts for the children on November 2.  By the time the Christmas order cutoff date rolled around, you'd had a full seven weeks to worry whether you had bought them enough, or if you were missing out on a great deal that would be THE perfect thing to complete their stockings, or (and this is probably the worst part!) if you'd bought for them all equally.  So you buy just one more thing.  Oh, and that cute thing too.  And now Robert doesn't have as much as the girls so let's just get him this.  Aw, but that's the perfect thing for Ivey...  And Suzi has just written the sweetest letter to Santa saying she knows it's late in the season, but if it's not too much trouble for him to bring her these other little things she needs for her future career in showbiz, she would be forever grateful and would make him some cookies...

You know I normally don't say things like this, but STAAAAHP!!!

I know holiday amnesia has likely set in and you aren't going to want to hear this, but you must.  I'm going to remind you of how you felt January 4, 2015 upon entering the children's room to put away laundry and seeing the state in which they had left it.  Toys, those precious toys you had shopped for so carefully, along with others lovingly purchased by relatives and even more toys from years past, were strewn everywhere.  Pop-O-Matic Trouble had all its pieces thrown about; who knows if they were all there.  Robert's Lego set was in complete disarray--and those pieces are so tiny and impossible to keep up with!  A game you'd bought for the children because you thought it would be just the thing for family time is open in the floor with its container possibly broken and its pieces scattered.  Nerf darts are everywhere.  This is all in addition to the dirty clothes you came to collect.  Now your laundry momentum is derailed--and this is but the tip of the iceberg, Jenny.  It was a truly sobering scene.  I could have taken a photo to share here, but I don't want to be petty.  I just need you to remember this, because you know what comes next.  Oh, yes.  The cleaning.

The children don't understand how these things happen.  Maybe it's because there are three of them.  There was only one of you to mess up your room as a child.  Nevertheless, you must help them pick it up.  This wastes at least an hour of everyone's time.  Robert isn't helping.  Suzi is being bossy.  One of Ivey's toys is broken but I guess Casper the ghost did it because it certainly wasn't one of the kids, they swear!  You feel heartburn coming on and ask if you need to put some of these toys on vacation.  You inevitably lay a guilt trip about how they don't care for their things.  Sad faces all around.  I have to ask you, Jenny--is this the JOY you hoped to ignite when you purchased these wonderful playthings?  Sure, some of the gifts are from relatives, but they were generally quite thoughtful in their shopping this year, giving things that would be useful, educational, or at least not take up much space.  Look at the gifts that were your idea.  You created your share of this.  It may be small compared to our society's average Christmas haul, but it's most certainly more than your family needs.  So, please--let's not repeat it.

Here are some things you might do instead of buying more gifts for the children:
 
1) Read the Christmas part of Little House in the Big Woods
2) Watch Little Women
3) Buy gifts for (or donate money to) someone who really needs it
4) Make them hot chocolate again
5) Watch the old Christmas specials while cuddling on the couch
6) Read them all of the Christmas books - at least once
7) Attend Suzi's annual Christmas party she throws in her bedroom
8) Make handmade ornaments for the people you love
9) Find the Advent calendar and use it
10) Go caroling
11) Let them set up the Fontanini nativity scene where they can see it and touch it every day

Are you still worried they'll be disappointed on Christmas morning?  A little underwhelmed?  Well, what if they are?  The best part is not the unwrapping.  It's not the getting what you want plus loads more.  The beauty of Christmas is that the very best part stretches from Thanksgiving all the way to Christmas Eve, and if you do it right, maybe even through New Year's.  Putting up decorations with your family, helping a four-year-old proudly wrap a gift, seeing them spend time with their great-grandmother, going to church and seeing the Advent candles lit one by one, the kids being so happy on the days Daddy is off work.  Taking the kids to the tree lighting and the parade, driving home when it's dark and seeing the neighbors' Christmas lights, watching the kids in the church pageant, taking them to see a Christmas play, watching the Grinch for the umpteenth time and remembering how the music always gave you butterflies because it meant Christmas was right around the corner...  And Jenny, as a homeschool mom, you get so much time to experience all of this joy with the kids.  Soak it all up.  Wallow around in it.  Toys break, but the time parents spend with their kids lives on forever.  It shapes their hearts and flows into future generations.

I have to go now.  It's time to homeschool the kids.  I think we'll play one of the games they received for Christmas--because that's what iconic childhood memories are made of--the fact that your parents took the time to play a game with you, make you hot chocolate from scratch, read you a book.  What good is a game if you don't have time to play it?  Mull that over, will you?  Think on that before you shop, and maybe next year you'll end up with less mess, more time, more money, and happier kids.  And a happier YOU.  Because that's important too, Jenny.

Love,
Your Recovering-from-Christmas-2015 Self

January Spending Freeze, Day 3: Using up the fridge treasures (and saving $$$ on groceries)

As I mentioned on Day 1, I have a bad habit of forgetting about items in my fridge (or anywhere in the kitchen, but it's usually the fridge) until they spoil, and have to be thrown out.  I feel so terrible when that happens!  So the first thing I knew I needed to do during this spending freeze was to find those things and figure out how to use them.  Here's what I have found so far, and what we did with it all.

1) A turkey carcass.  We boiled this, simmered it for about a day, then strained it and threw in some small pieces of turkey that were left on the bones.  I make turkey noodle soup with some of it--easy lunch, plus leftovers for dinner!  The rest I froze to be used later.

2) Rotel/sausage dip.  I reminded my husband to eat it, and he did.  Easy!

3) Overripe bananas.  This is something we waste regularly, and I need to quit.  They are so easy to save and use that there's no excuse not to!  I used about six bananas to make these mini-loaves of gluten-free banana chocolate chip bread.  I wrapped them in plastic while they were still warm (it forces moisture back into the bread) and am storing them in the fridge to be used for breakfast and snacks.  There were still several bananas left, so I peeled those, broke them into pieces, and froze them.  I'll tell you what I used them for later.

4) A whole pomegranate.  This one must have gotten shoved to the back, or we would have eaten it sooner.  The outside was dry and hard, which worried me a little, but it was still beautiful on the inside!  The kids love these, so they had some with their lunch.  We'll eat the rest soon.

Ivey decided to photobomb, eggnog mustache and all!

5) Eggnog.  I didn't like this when I was a child, so I hadn't tried any in a decade or two.  A few weeks ago I thought I'd try it again, and bought myself a carton.  Turns out I was right the first time.  Even with alcohol added, it is much too sweet and thick for me!  I started googling for ways to use it in a recipe, and found that it can be used as coffee creamer.  Alcohol optional--it's good either way.  The kids didn't seem to mind drinking it plain, but I don't think they'd be able to drink much of it.  Either way, I'm happy it's getting used up--and since coffee creamer is NOT an essential grocery item and I can't buy more until February, it's nice to have a little bit extra!

6) Cottage cheese.  After years of thinking it was gross, one day I was out grocery shopping and had a strange urge to buy some.  I'm so glad I did, because cottage cheese is a delightful, affordable, protein-packed food that can be eaten lots of different ways.  I enjoy having it with vegetables, chips (especially spicy ones) or crackers.  I also eat it with quinoa or dirty rice.  At least two of my kids will even eat it!  The problem was that I accidentally bought extra cottage cheese, and this was a nearly full forgotten container that didn't have much time left!  So, I decided to use some of it to make "milkshake" smoothies for the kids.  This is where the frozen bananas come in, too.  I didn't measure anything, but here's about what I used:

~3 frozen bananas, in pieces

~1 cup cottage cheese

3+ tablespoons cocoa

~1 cup milk

honey (kept adding until it was sweet enough)

I threw it all in the Ninja, blended until it was smooth, tasted it, and adjusted the honey and milk until it was the right flavor and consistency.  When it was done and I tasted it, I was worried the kids wouldn't like it.  I think using sugar instead of honey would make it taste more like a conventional milkshake.  But I served it to them and they enjoyed it!  The lumpy bits were pulverized, making the cottage cheese unnoticeable as an ingredient.  There was some left over, so I poured it into these little popsicle molds my mom gave me.  The kids are already asking when they will get to eat them.

As for the bit of cottage cheese left in the container, my husband plans to mix it with hot sauce and eat it with chips.  Such a versatile fridge treasure!

7) Spaghetti sauce.  We opened a new jar of spaghetti sauce a few days ago when we made quinoa crust pizza.  It was lovely.  Next time I'll make the crust a little thinner.

Sometimes when we make pizza and use just a little spaghetti sauce from a jar, the rest of it gets left for too long, or we can't tell how long it's been left, and it goes to waste.  Fortunately, we are having spaghetti tonight and will use it all up!

Confession:  We did lose most of a jar of salsa that had been shoved to the back of the fridge for an indeterminate amount of time.  It was just too late for that one.  I'm going to try to do better from now on.  It's amazing how far groceries can be stretched when you're careful to make sure they get used!

January Spending Freeze, Day 2: Confessions

Have you seen this movie?

(Here it is on Amazon)

DON'T go buy/rent it now if you're in a spending freeze (we already had it)--but someday, you might want to check it out.  The reviews are very mixed, but I think it's a cute, funny movie.  Also, though I've never blown my finances in such a spectacular fashion, a couple of Rebecca's thoughts and behaviors were familiar to me.  After she has realized how badly she has overspent and is trying to get things under control, a big, important SALE tempts her back off the wagon.  Who doesn't hate missing out on something special?  It feels terrible.  And advertisers know this and use it all the time, don't they?

One of my favorite quotes from the movie is this one: "When I shop, the world gets better, and the world is better, but then it's not, and I need to do it again."  This could describe addiction in general, but I also think it applies to occasional or intermittent shopping while not content.  A new outfit found on sale, or the UPS man arriving with a box of fun stuff from Amazon does make my world feel a little better... for a minute.  I know, of course, that it doesn't really improve anything.  In fact, it might even make things worse by adding clutter.  But since actual, lasting life improvement takes time, energy, and hard work, sometimes when we are stressed or upset it is tempting to try a shortcut.

For these reasons and more, this movie helped get my head in the right place for tackling a spending freeze.  The kids and I watched it together, and although I'm not sure Ivey and Robert understood many of the details, it offered several opportunities to point out what certain money mistakes might look like.  It also reminded me of something important I wanted to share with my children.  I mostly discussed this with just Suzi, because the others are a little young to fully understand and I'll revisit it with them later.  I wanted to "confess" some of our financial mistakes, in the hopes that our children can avoid them.  I am sure we will talk about a variety of increasingly complicated financial missteps as the children grow older and closer to being in charge of their own bank accounts, but for now, I simply explained to Suzi what it meant to have an overdrawn bank account, and why that might happen.

I realize that some people might have a negative balance because they are living in poverty, and I don't mean to dismiss anyone's genuine need for help.  However, that was not the case with Jordan and me.  It has been many years since we have had this issue, but the few times we did, there are several reasons it could have happened:

1) We shared a bank account but did not communicate about it
2) We did not keep a budget or keep track of transactions
3) Instead of building an emergency fund, we made dumb purchases

I explained to Suzi how the initial impact of the negative balance can be compounded by fees, especially if several transactions hit after the account is negative but before you can correct the situation.  We talked about what it means to bounce a check.  Most importantly, we discussed the importance of having money in savings.  If you have an emergency fund in an easily accessible savings account, preferably linked to your checking, a minor overdraft is a non-issue.  All you have to do is transfer the appropriate amount of money to checking, avoiding a barrage of punishing fees, and then make it a priority to rebuild the emergency fund as soon as possible.  If you don't have that, you could end up way far down in the hole.  I told Suzi about a time or two that this happened to us when we did NOT have savings available, and the unpleasantness of dealing with it some other way.  I even sheepishly confessed some of the dumb things we spent money on instead of saving.  The saddest part is that I can barely remember most of the stupid stuff we bought... or I remember donating it later after hardly using it.  Shortly after I had Suzi, I am sure some thrifty ladies were thrilled to find my beautiful but painful like-new high heels on the thrift shop shelves!

In conclusion, I told my kids today and I'll tell them again (and again):  You should have at least $1000 in savings at all times, and if you don't, you should be actively working toward it.  We will delve further into how NOT to end up with a mangled mess of a bank account later on, when I show them the basics of building a budget.

January Spending Freeze, Day One: What do my kids know about money?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!  I hope it's off to a great start!  We haven't spent on non-essentials since December 26th, but today is the official first day of our New Year's spending freeze and I'm excited!  I think the approach I'm going to take is to post about a project or issue we tackled each day, as well as a topic or project we did with the kids.  For the grown-ups, today we have...

Fridge treasures!

How many heartbreaking times have you looked in your fridge and found food that WAS perfectly good a few days ago, but ended up spoiling after you forgot about it?  This happens here far too often, and it really hurts my feelings.  However, we recently caught two almost-victims in the nick of time.  The first is a turkey carcass that we used to make broth.  We covered it with water, brought it to a boil, simmered it for about a day, and salted and seasoned to taste.  We will probably boil some noodles in some of the broth and have turkey noodle soup for a lunch.  The rest will be frozen and used in potato soup or any recipe calling for chicken stock.  The other treasure we found was leftover sausage dip made with Rotel and cream cheese.  This made the perfect snack for my husband while he watched our bowl game!  I'm planning to go through our kitchen again in a few minutes and look for other useful items that are running out of time.  I know I have a bunch of bananas I could use to make muffins or mini-loaves of banana bread!  My kids love it when I throw a few chocolate chips into the banana bread batter, and I already have everything I need to make it.  Putting these items to use helps keep grocery spending to an absolute minimum.  Taking homemade snacks when you go places can also help you avoid fast food purchases!  What forgotten treasures are hiding in your kitchen?  Is there still time to save them?


And now for the kids...

All four of my spending freeze buddies during a recent shopping trip.

We won't be doing this again for a while!

I feel like my parents set an example of good financial stewardship for me.  As a child, I watched them wait until they could afford the things they wanted, make smart purchases, and plan for my college education and their retirement.  I remember my dad sitting at the dining room table with his threadbare plaid checkbook, looking over his glasses as he wrote checks to pay the bills and balanced his checking account.  However, I was not privy to details.  Several years into our marriage, I realized that I actually love keeping track of our finances, and I worked out my own little system for doing it.  It works great, if I do say so myself.  Sadly, during those awkward years between getting married and figuring out how to do this, mistakes were made.  It was not always pretty.  I am hoping to help our kids learn how to make a budget and keep it early, so that by the time they have their own first checking account, they can avoid the dumb mistakes we made.  Maybe they can avoid the sweaty panic of an unexpected negative account balance!  They are only 8, 6, and 4 years old, so we are keeping it simple for now so I don't bore them.  It's so simple I hesitate to even write about it, but here it is.

I told my kids we were having a voluntary spending freeze.  I explained that we did have money, but we wanted to use it to accomplish certain goals, and therefore we were choosing to save it.  I asked them to tell me a few things we might need to save money for.  Here is the list they gave me:

Vacations/travel ("Disney World!!!")
Birthdays
"Important property" (I think Ivey meant things like expensive tools)
Garage (adding on to our house)

Then they seemed to be drawing a blank.  Since we have discussed money with them before, of course, I was surprised they did not mention the most important things!  I added to their list:

Emergency fund
Kids' education/future
Vehicle replacement
Retirement

Then I explained why it's important to save for each one.  We briefly discussed the debt that can result from NOT saving up for these things, and the consequences of that debt.  I explained the concept of interest--both paying interest on a debt you owe, and receiving interest on money you have saved/invested.  I'm sure Suzi will retain a lot more of this information than Ivey and Robert.  One of the benefits of me blogging it is that I'll be able to refer back and offer a refresher course in a year or two!

As we talked, I made a list of questions they had and things I wanted to discuss in more detail later.  So far, we will be going over the basics of a monthly budget, how and why to avoid a car loan, and the importance of an emergency fund.  I'm looking forward to diving into these topics and many more!  Of course, they will also see Jordan and me working on our little projects and participate when possible.  If you have any tips or ideas for helping kids learn about money, please share!