My husband just got a raise. Yahoo! No, we are not going to go out and blow it. It is just one more step for us to not count on overtime. We are getting close to not counting on overtime to meet our budget. We are down to needing very little a month now and I am looking forward to the day when all our overtime can go towards debt reduction, savings and investments. It will happen, IF we don't increase our expenses by accumulating debt.

I hate debt. God was right when he said that debt is a chain around us and we are enslaved to our debtor. That is why we are working hard to get rid of our debt. If you'd like more information about being debt free, check out Dave Ramsey's website. I've read all of his books (free from the library!) and wow he's got his cards right.

With every debt we've paid off, I feel more freedom and less bondage. That is a great feeling. Not only that but my husband gets a boost for knowing he is providing well for his family and that we are all being good stewards of what God has provided for us. This brings me to talk about the grocery budget.

With less pressure financially around here, I can at times feel too at ease with my grocery budget. I find I don't try as hard to stay within the budgeted amount. I know I can do it, even when I don't want to. I know that money is better spent towards debt right now. We are by no means not able to feed ourselves well with lots of fresh fruits and veggies with what we have allotted weekly, but still I find myself tempted to overspend in this area.

It is when I am struggling like this that I pull up an old article from No Greater Joy. If you have never received this free magazine, I would highly recommend it. It is part of the ministry by Michael and Debbie Pearl. Many months ago Debbie wrote an article entitled 'Corny, Ten Different Ways.' It is about how they literally survived on corn during an extremely lean season of their lives.

When I need a fresh perspective, I pull it out and read it. When I need some motivation to be frugal, it is the first article I read. When I need to be thankful for our bounty, and need a creative touch to do with what I have, I pull out this article to inspire and convict me.

Read it. It will make you so thankful for what you have and challenge you to take on a fresh perspective with your bounty.

This is my Frugal Friday tip! I hope you enjoy it.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

We have always had a budget. Before we were married I can remember sitting down with our wedding budget, narrowing down our expenses. Since then we've managed to always keep a budget one way or another.

We've done the envelope method, a stint using Microsoft Money, a full-size ledger notebook, an excel spreadsheet, and a written budget in Word. No matter what method we try, we keep coming back to the simple one-page sheet in Word.

Our budget lists every category of expense in a home, plus additional line items for birthdays, Christmas, vacations, fun money, car expenses and clothing. I'm sure there are more than that but those are the ones that I can think of at this moment.

The top half of our budget sheet lists the actual bills that must be paid. After that is all the extras which get cut back to $0 more often than I'd wish.

For variable expenses we simply figure our weekly amount and multiply by the number of weeks within that month. For groceries, I have a note next to the line item of my weekly allowance.

We copy this budget off and keep it in our checkbook. This is the real reason I like it. I always have my budget with me so I can always see if I have funds for an item when I am shopping. It helps us to not go outside of our budget and has served us well over the years.

If you are new to budgetting I wouldn't recommend this method. Its just too easy to overspend. I think for newbies the envelope method is best.

Anyhow my Frugal Friday tip is keeping a budget! It has helped me to stay home all these years and I hope it will continue to keep me home where I love.

Janelle

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Play Happy - Formally The Special Needs Homeschool Family

About two weeks ago I went through the kids' closets and put up the summer clothing. In the process, I sorted through the winter clothing and made my list of needs for the upcoming cold weather. I've had some ask how I keep this system and I thought I'd share it today because it has saved me so much money!

First, I have two large rubbermaid bins for out-of-season or too large clothes. Most of these I have gotten via hand-me-downs or through garage sales. Yes, I do keep some clothing that my kids currently can't wear, even if its in season. My rule of thumb is if I think they can wear it in 18 months and its in great condition, I keep it. My only exception with this rule is with snowsuits. Snowsuits are expensive, wether new or used, and our snow normally doesn't stay too long here, so I don't like to spend a lot on clothing for what is a short period of time that they will wear it. Even so I want my kids to enjoy the snow while we have it and stay warm too! Most of this comes from my own experience as a kid where one winter all I had to wear was clogs and I can remember playing in the snow in clogs, freezing my feet off. Yikes.

Anyhow here in Western Washington we have only two season - 9 months of wet and 50 degrees or under, and 3 months of summer. Consequently I only go through these large bins two times a year. If I lived in a different climate I would have to adapt my system to the weather.

With that said here is how it works. At the end of spring and the beginning of fall, I drag out my two large rubbermaid out-of-season clothing buckets from the garage. I go through these items, which is kind of like a treasure hunt of sorts. I often will get rid of things in these bins as well as sort out what we'll need for the upcoming season. Once that is done I move the clothes to the laundry room to be washed. I then take one empty bin and go through each kids' rooms, removing all of the previous seasons clothing and putting them in the bin. I keep this bin in the laundry for a week or so until any dirty or missed soon out-of-season clothing has been washed and thrown in the bucket. After this the bucket goes back in the garage for the next season.

Its very simple but in the process I truely see what is needed for the next season and what is not. Since I do this right before or at the beginning of the new season, I have some time to buy what we'll need before the new weather hits full force. This allows me to shop any garage sales, second-hand stores and sales.

On average we spend about $700 a year on clothing for a family of 6. I think that is pretty good. Between storing away some things, garage sales, and using clothing for birthday gifts, we come out saving a bundle.

Janelle 

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Hello fellow readers. Yes its time for another edition of Frugal Fridays! Gotta love it.

My frugal tip isn't a newbie, but I fling in an organizational element to it. I'd like to bring up the old yard sale. You know, next to freecycle and generous friends and relatives passing along their quality stuff for nothing, its the best thing for getting what you need cheap. Now notice I said what you NEED, not to pile junk in your house! I hope my organizational tip will help you decipher need from want.

I have an ongoing garage sale list. I put things on it that most folks would put on a Walmart or Target list, such as cookware, basic clothing (or not so basic), lamp shades, furniture, etc. Garage sales can be magnets for this kind of stuff at unbeatable prices. I keep this list in my kitchen and make notes on it as needed.

Now the next question is when and where to garage sale. I prefer to garage sale alone, without kids. If you bring the kids you will always come home with junk. You know, stuff from the free boxes? The quarter toy that will eventually end up in your garbage, that kind of stuff. When that isn't an option, I limit one item to each kid from the free box (that means one item no matter how many garage sales we hit), and they must spend their own money on stuff.

The best place to garage sale in my area is at a large community garage sale. We have a, lets say, more affluent neighborhood up on the hill that has a twice a year community garage sale. One of them is today and tomorrow. I hope to get out and look at what's up there, but we'll see. My garage sale list is short right now so I'm reluctant to go. Again, getting what you need verses what you want - i.e. the accumulation of junk.

Most areas of the country tend to have garage sales from May through September. This is the 'season' as it may. So, if you get the bug to go out and hit some of the last sales of the season, keep your head open for these items: (okay think fall/winter now) rubber boots, rain gear, snowsuits, sleds/outdoor winter toys, nice items for Christmas gifts or Christmas decor, Fall decor, Thanksgiving/Christmas dishes, winter coats.

One note on the garage sale items as gifts. Personally, I don't have issue with giving a garage sale item as a gift IF it doesn't look like it was purchased and used over and over for 20 years. Yeah, its got to look new or you need to dress it up enough at home for it to look new. I've gotten brand new clothes, stationary, toys and the like at garage sales. Some of them have turned into nice gifts and no one is the wiser (okay, well my youngest daughter did once tell a cousin that I bought her birthday gift at a garage sale, but it made for a good laugh and you know, the cousins are frugal too and thought it was cute.) Lets chaulk that up for yet another reason to garage sale without the kids! :)

Janelle

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Today is the first edition of Frugal Fridays. I love frugality as it has kept me home for close to 10 years now. Without living a frugal lifestyle I would have had to return back to work. I believe that part of my job description in being home is making what we have stretch as far as possible. Now I'll be the first to admit that we've had times with more rather than less and I've let my frugal nature slide. But even in those times there is just so much sliding I'll do. Lately we've been tightening the belt a bit more. Sometimes it can be painful and other times it can be a lot of fun. Its all in the attitude.

Since this is the beginning of our new homeschool year I'd like to discuss my favorite FREE homeschool resource - the library. Our library system is awesome! I can go to the library and copy off up to 75 pages of worksheets a week at any website I chose. This costs me nothing. I also just discovered that I can access all of the Rosetta Stone language programs for free from my home! Wow! That was a find!

Not only that but my library allows me to place holds, pay my overdue fines (yeah that happens on occasion) update my account/renew items all from the comfort of my home computer.

There are a lot of sites on the internet that have great free homeschool materials too. But my fav of all is my library.

Blessings - Janelle

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We will be starting school in 8 days. At day 21, I put a note on the chalkboard that said '21 Days Till School Starts!' The kids and a few cousins were faithful to add to the sign with their little 'yahoos!' and 'Oh yeah!' and other things. Everyday I have changed the number. Today it says 8 days. Yikes.

I am feeling ready. I am ready for the change. School is the season of changes. Fall is coming. Here in the NW it feels like fall already. The days highs last for about 2 hours at the most and the mornings and evenings are getting colder. The sun is up later and down earlier. All things I love. I love living here.

Fall is my favorite season. I am looking forward to decorating my porch in all its fall splendor. My girls are already talking about how they'd like the porch to look. A few more weeks, girls, and we'll decorate it.

I am definitely a fall junkie. I planted corn just for the stalks to put up on my porch and fence, and pumpkins for their fall look. Sure the corn tastes good but the stalks look great all bunched up! Pathetic, I know.

Along with all of this change of seasons comes the change in schedules around here. We are finalizing everyone's activity schedules and I have our daily schoolwork schedule in place. Everyone's books are organized, the last of the curriculum is bought and we are ready for day 1.

Even with all of my ducts in order, I am still feeling that old anxiety creep in. I am homeschooling four kids this year - all four of our blessings. Our oldest will be in 4th grade and so I am feeling like I need to get more 'serious' about her studies. Consistency is key here.

Then there is our son Noah. This will be his first year completely home with no outside help. Remember he is my son with autism. I am nervous about how he will do. I was praying about that some this morning when my dear sister pointed out what Noah did in Sunday School last week. He pointed at a word - a big word - on his bible cover and asked his auntie "Auntie what word is this?" He knows the word Bible, but the Bible he had also said "Adventure" on it. He wanted to know what word it was. I have seen him do this a lot lately. I wasn't making the connection so much between this and his eagerness to learn to read. My sister made that connection for me and it really encouraged me. It was a good reminder that yes, home is where he belongs and the boy will learn! I have been so caught up in my worry that I haven't seen the progress going on right in front of me. It has been a good reflection to step back and observe my children. Something I hope to do more of these 8 days before starting our school year out.

With all of these changes I hope to make a few updates to my blog as well. Check out on the left the Jane Austen quiz on which character you are. If you have yet to see "Becoming Jane" you must! Wow it was great and I can't wait to add it to my movie shelf.

I've also added a frugal blogger button. If you know me I love to be frugal. I have gone through phases of downright tightwad-frugal when we were laid off, to being just stay in my budget frugal when there is money. So, in celebration of my new button on my sidebar, I will share a frugal tip!

Frugal Tip Tuesday: Burning Wood for heat

Okay I'm sure there are some environmentalists out there who will get after me on this, but hey, I live in wood country and we all burn wood here! If you don't, well then your not a local! (okay at least your not a lifetime local!). Here is my list for why wood is a great frugal buy.

1. Wood is cheap. You can get it for free from folks off of freecycle and craigs list, who don't know that they are handing out free gold.

2. Wood is great exercise. I don't want to count how many cords of wood I have stacked and loads I have hauled into my house over the years. Plus have you seen my husbands forearms and chest?! Yeah that stud didn't get that way just turning on the furnace!

3. Wood will keep you warm when the power goes out. Not only that, it'll give you some light too! We had a huge windstorm last December and had no power for 8 days. Yeah, that will make anyone thankful for a wood burning stove! My family stayed warm!

4. Wood smells good. Seriously, there is nothing that brings up more urges to cuddle up with a good book and sit in front of the fire than the smell of cut, seasoned wood.

5. Wood is so Washington! Being the native of Washington that I am, it should be a requirement that all Washingtonians own at least one cord of wood and use it at all times.

Feel free to share your frugal tips with me! Gotta love that stuff. Oh here's a great new blog I discovered on frugality: www.frugalhacks.com Great stuff!

I'm still working on my pictures problem. Hopefully I'll have conquered it this week and you'll see some pics up soon.

Happy school planning!

Janelle

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