Live to Learn! - Homeschool Blogger

It's all about the perspective

Thu, 4 Sep 2008 20:31:00 -0500

This weekend I posted several articles on organizing your finances and preparing for your future. I am thankful we had the foresight to actually live those words on frugality and saving not living them in theory.
Let me begin with John is OK.
He was in a car accident this morning that totalled his car, completely. His air bags deployed and his seat belt did it's job. He is super sore but no broken bones. I expect he will be in pain all weekend long. I have heard that the pain from the seat belt is terrible. I told him I much prefer to lose that hunk of metal, gas guzzling Jeep than to lose even part of him. :)
The car appears to be a total loss though. On the good side it was a paid for, 11 year old car, on the bad side the insurance company will surely see it as just that, an 11 year old car, valueless. We tend to drive our cars until the don't run or we outgrow them ;) , so this is new to us. We pray that the insurance company is fair and upstanding.
After John's health and well being were confirmed, I sat down and ran some numbers, all day long. I had to find some way to distract myself as he drove home. Did I mention he was out of state! I feel so blessed that we have been saving for an emergency such as this. I am so grateful that it is a steel and metal emergency and not a life and death emergency. We will have enough to pay cash for a newer vehicle for John and leave a little in emergency savings. We are going to really test the frugal tips I have been picking up recently and put them into action. I want to have the savings built back up to sustain us for 6 months.
Knowing that the cash amount will not vary depending on the type of vehicle, we are trying to decide if we should purchase a new to us Honda, that will seat 5 or if we should find a minivan that will seat 7+. We have always talked about having vehicles that could seat most of our family or at least an adult and the 5 kids. I just don't know if John will want to drive a minivan everyday to work! :)
We have a week or two or three to decide. Those of you with large families, what do you think, practical minivan or small, efficient Honda?
We'd love the prayers as John heals and we sort through all the paperwork involved.

Don't forget to bookmark the new blog and add it to your feedburner or your favorites.

Organizing Your Finances: Part 3

Mon, 1 Sep 2008 16:50:00 -0500

Don't forget to change your feed burner or your favorites link to my new blog at www.livetolearneveryday.blogspot.com

Only 6 more days of posting here. Can't wait to see you at our new "home",by the way I have had NO comments at my new blog yet so maybe you can be the first! :)

In step 3 of organizing your finances I propose that it is time to set up where your money is going to go each month, yes, a budget.

I set up our family budget in Excel but you could use paper and pencil just as well. I have my budget categories on the left side and the headings of “estimated expense”, “actual expense” and “amount left over”. I like knowing that if I have a surplus in one category that I can roll the money to cover another category. Now you can set up your budget with all of your expenses and list everything out. If you have extra left over after paying all household expenses and the minimum on the debts, start applying all the extra towards the debt with the smallest amount, not interest rate. This is where I recommend Dave Ramsey’s books or his website for more details on a debt snowball. The simple Dollar wrote a review on one Ramseys books here. Here is a handy online calculator to help set up a debt snowball plan.

I love having a budget. It lets me feel like I am in control of the money instead of the money controlling what I do. I decide each and every month what I want my money to do for me and then put it into a budget category. This plan has worked for us for the past several years. I have been able to be a stay at home mom to our five kids and John has been able to support all of us. We just decided a few years ago that we didn’t want to be in debt and we did not want to live a life so stressed out.

Our goals now, are to always pay cash for our vehicles, to pay off our home early, to set money aside for retirement, and to maintain 6 months of living expenses in the bank at all times. We do plan on some vacations but for now camping and visits to family have been great for us.

What are your goals?

One other technique I wanted to share is our budget binder. It is simply a 3 ring 1 inch binder with lots of clear sleeves inside.

Inside the binder:

1. Budget: printed off and in the first slot

2. Bill Calendar: a plain 12 month calendar that I print off and use to write down the exact date I expect to pay a bill

3. A color photocopy of all the cards in my wallet and John’s too

4. A list of all online passwords and websites that we frequent: be sure to include any trust words, hints, codes etc

5. Any goals lists I have made

6. My financial update worksheets that I create to show where we stand currently with our savings and goals

7. Any major financial paperwork

8. My checkbook register: I print one that is half the size of a sheet of paper and stapled together so I can easily reconcile it and see what is written down

9. A folder in back for tax papers for the next year

10. All information about life insurance, typed up on one sheet of paper with all details: no need to make this confusing because if one of us ever needs it we won’t be thinking clearly anyway

Organizing Your Finances: Part 2

Sun, 31 Aug 2008 19:12:00 -0500

Organizing Your Finances: Part 2

In Part 1, I asked you to organize and collect all the details about your debt. This first step is to bring all the hard to face facts out in the open.

In this entry, I want you to collect all the information you have on income coming into your home. If the number you come up with is lower than you know you need, start looking into ways to raise that number for next month. Start making plans now, so that next month isn’t as tight. Sell something, like books at the used bookstore, on eBay, etc, babysit, get a part time job or whatever you can do to bring in extra money. I personally like to sell items in my house that I know I can live without.

After you identify all sources of income, list out all of your household expenses. These are the budget items that you pay each month to keep your lights on and food on the table. We start with tithe in our home and then follow with mortgage, groceries, gas for the cars, and then the other smaller items. Dave Ramsey’s method says to pay yourself before the creditors.

Household expenses may be the area you have to pick apart and remove some items. You may have to choose between cable and internet service. Or Netflix and neat, but unnecessary features on the house phone. Even if you cut out $20 a month, over a 2 year period of paying down on debt, you will have freed up $480. We gave up all the extra features on our house phone 6 years ago for a savings of about $1080. We don’t notice a quality of life difference without call waiting. Read what others have to say about cutting costs on your home phone. We also choose to have Netflix but not cable TV for a savings of over $3,000! Also, we know that if we had a hard month coming up we could drop the Netflix or suspend our account without penalty. Get creative with what you think you need to have and what you really need.

It will take sacrifice and your friends and neighbors will think you are really weird. I love this article written by a mom who has become intense in her debt repayment. :) But who cares if you are able to pay all of your bills every month and you don’t have last year’s debt hanging on like a deranged monkey! I love living life today and not carrying the burden of my past spending.

Project Organize Your Finances:

1. Collect all the information about your debts and write the details down

2. Tally up your income and write it down next to your debts, also brainstorm how you can increase your income for next month

3. Collect all the information you have on your household expenses, also deciding what you can trim from the budget

Don't forget that in a week I will be blogging fulltime over at www.livetolearneveryday.blogspot.com

Feel free to add me to your feeds list at the new blog.

I am moving over to a blogger site

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:44:00 -0500

I have been setting up a new blog at www.livetolearneveryday.blogspot.com

I thought if I was ever going to move I needed to do it now. I love blogging and am excited that I found a place to blog where it is helpful to the computer non savy. :) I like to just click on a button and have them do all the html.

I will continue to blog here and at www.livetolearneveryday.blogspot.com for the next several days so I can get the word out about the move.

Organizing Your Finances

Sat, 30 Aug 2008 20:40:00 -0500

I thought I would share some tips that I use when I work on our family finances. I'll admit right up front that I am a numbers girl. I love to set up budgets, write new goals, and balance my checkbook! I look forward to playing with the numbers and seeing what we can do and how are savings are coming along. But, I do believe it is possible for non-number people, even those of you who are allergic to a budget, to know what your money is doing and create a plan.

I will break these tips down into several entries to give you time to think about the information and not get overwhelmed. I want you to come back and pick up a few more tips the next day. :) I believe that no matter where you are in the month, or in your budget, or in your life, get together with your spouse,if you have one, and pray about what God would have you do with His money. That's right, it is ALL God's money anyway, entrusted to us. God wants us to be a good steward of His money. Once you have prayed together and are in aggreement, let the numbers person, or less budget phobic person, hold the pencil and you can begin.

If you have any debt, your first list needs to be these. Include the monthly minimum payment required, interest rates, due date, and the name of the debt. You need to know all the information inside and out. Hiding from the hard truth will NOT make the debt go away or even make you feel better. In our home, we followed the Dave Ramsey principles of paying on the smallest debt you have, no matter the interest rate. It truly bolsters your confidence to say good bye to one whole debt. Here is another version of debt repayment that Trent at the Simple Dollar uses.

Make your list and then set it aside. This would be a good time to cut up your credit cards or freeze them in a block of ice! You do not want to put any more money on credit cards. It may sound really basic but you need to pay for all of your expenses in a month with the money that comes in that month. I would even go so far as saying that you need to pull cash, you know, paper money, out for some of your monthly expenses. You will succeed in being financially free if you have a basic plan that you can stick to.

Project Organize Your Finances: 1. Collect all the information about your debts and write the details down

I'll post the rest of Project Organize Your Finances next.

Not Just Another Quiverfull Blog Entry

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 21:18:00 -0500

There is something to say for long conversations with your best friend. It may take up time in my day when I should be teaching, cleaning, or some other busyness but I really need these conversations to keep me grounded and to help me firm up what I believe and why. (Thanks, Jenn)

So on to my thoughts for the day. We are a quiverfull family. We truly want as many blessings as God sees fit to give us. I don't know how many that will be, we may even be done, I just know that I find great peace in leaving family planning up to God. He is the only One we seek guidance from in making these decisions. We do NOT look to our peers, the TV, our family, or even to our current circumstances. Actually if we start to "look" like the world around us then we must be doing something wrong. Scary, no,not really. We trust that God has a plan and He knows what is best for us.

Some may see a new pregnancy as inconvienent or even as a terrible mistake, but God makes no mistakes. I believe that God has a set plan for our lives and that includes our family size. If He knows the number of hairs on our heads, how could He not know the number of our offsprinng. Therefore,if He has a set number of children for me I have the choice to delay or completely close the door on His blessings, but I can't increase the number He has already set. I know of several families that love God and greatly wish to increase their family by just one more child, and yet their great desire has yet to have created a child. Only God opens and closes the womb.

Does that make sense? I don't see it as a sin to have a sterilization but you WILL miss out on blessings God planned for you. I actually feel sorry for those who follow through with a sterilization, you don't even know what you might be missing out on. A child is a bigger blessing than a new job, a promotion, a new raise or even winning the lottery.

I wonder about families that choose to limit their famliy size and think about their future. Who will help them as they age and all sorts of issues that may arise as time passes. I know people prevent blessings because of current situations but doesn't God see what is going on in your life today? He knows.

Think about the faith that Noah had in building the ark in an area that had never seen rain with friends and neighbors who scoffed at his faith in an unseen God. He continued to follow the path that God chose for Him and Noah was mightily blessed.

I can't tell the future but I have faith that God knows what He is doing. I do not ascertain to have all the answers, I am still trying to understand this call myself. I just know that putting God in charge of our fertility has given me peace and a greater faith in my walk with Jesus.

I guess I say all this to ask for respect in our choice and those who choose a quiverfull lifestyle. Yes, we know what causes it and yes, we enjoy making these blessings.

How much I have saved making my own bread

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 18:39:00 -0500

I was chatting with a good friend, hey Jenn, and thought I would share the recipe I use for our homemade bread.

It's not as radical as you would think to make your own. I always have the ingredients on hand and I can make it as I need it. I have been making my own bread for 5 weeks with about 3-4 loaves a week. We enjoy the fresh flavor and taste of homemade bread and love the smell of it baking!

In the past I bought 3 loaves of bread per week at $2.25 each. So I saved $2.25 x 15 loaves for the 5 weeks= $33.75. In order to make the 3-4 loaves of bread a week I bought slightly more unbleached all-purpose flour which cost me about $10. I already had a year's worth of yeast in my freezer, from Sam's club in bulk, and I already have sugar and oil, etc on hand.

What I do is make up a batch of bread in the bread machine and make up 3 dry batches in clean and dry yogurt containers, the quart sized ones. I put all the dry ingredients except the yeast and set them up in my pantry as a ready to use bread mix. That saves me so much time. I know I wouldn't make bread if I had to get all the supplies out each and everytime.

I use the bread machine to mix, knead and rise the dough one time, about 1.5 hours total. Then I pull it out and put it in a Pampered chef loaf pan and cover loosely with a napkin. I then set the oven temp to 350*. When the oven beeps that it haas reached the right temp I uncover the loaf pan and set it in the oven to bake. I bake it for 30 minutes until the top is golden brown. I pull the loaf out of the pan immediately and let it cool on the counter on the napkin. I usually slice it with our electric knife after it has cooled completely, if the kids can wait.

I love to use the bread for PB&J, garlic toast, french toast, croutons, and snacks for the kids.

Here is the recipe:

Country White Bread

8 1/2 ounces water 80-90*

3 cups flour

2TBS dry milk

2 TBS sugar

1.5 tsp salt

2 TBS olive oil or butter

2 tsp active dry yeast

Add the ingredients in this order, making a little well in the center for the yeast, and adding the oil or butter around the perimeter of the pan.

I know some of you will read this and think I have gone off the deep end with homemaking but there will be some of you who will say I really need to grind my own wheat to make it super nutritious. I say to all of you,making bread works for me in this stage of my life and even though I appreciate the nutritional value of freshly ground wheat, I am not there yet. :) I am just grateful that I can be a step above store bought preservative laden bread.

Here are a few links on frugal bread making.

This one and this one includes video how tos.

Optimism put to the test

Thu, 28 Aug 2008 12:23:00 -0500

I am by nature an optimistic person. I don't have to think very hard and long to find the positive in any situation. Even in Rachel's cystic hygroma ordeal last summer, I found several things to be grateful for. For instance, I was grateful that she was diagnosed after she was born, due to chromosomal issues if found in utero, that John had a great situation at work with time off and insurance, and that it was summer time and I didn't have to worry about schooling and surgery. See, I took a trying time and found blessings in it.

The problem is that today I strapped, ok supervised, all five kids into their car seats and boosters and then I started the van with its new battery. The good news is that today the van started! Yeah! We had battery issues yesterday and the kids sat in the car for 30+ minutes while the neighbors tried to help jump the van.

So, the kids are all buckled up, journals in their hands so we can do our school work at the playground while we eat, the van is started and then I put the van in reverse. It felt really weird, unlike anything I have felt it do before. I was sure I had run over a toy so I sent Sam out to look under the wheels. No problem there, so I put the van in drive to pull forward and try again. It lurched to a complete dead stop instantly. Picture the scene, I am going under 5 mph and the van comes to an absolute complete stop in a second, which makes the girls sceam and the boys look amazed that I would do that to the van. It actually made the tires squeel, similar to a teenaged driver who is heavy on the brakes. Every time I tried to drive forward it would abruply stop no matter my speed. Needless to say I didn't even leave the driveway.

I have no idea what is going on now, so I called John,and he said to let the car idle for 30 minutes and then try to drive it again. He thought it might have beena computer gliche from changing the battery. So I left everyone strapped in and we just sat, and sat, and sat for 30 minutes. The boys wrote in their journals and the girls complained about how hungry they were. Austin actually wrote a few more poems and Sam wrote another journal entry about his friend Noah.

I prayed out loud, Austin prayed silently, Sam prayed silently and yet, the van would not move properly. So I gathered my little cranky ducklings and went inside to fix a non Zaxbys lunch.

So without further ado here is my list of blessings in this situation:

We saved gas money for two days in a row
We saved money being spent on my meal (the kids had coupons)
I saved myself about 1,000 calories :)
We spent time together as a family, in a locked down van with seatbelts on
We finished up all the leftovers in the fridge, finally
My fridge is a lot cleaner and streamlined looking now
I probably saved myself a load of dirty, wet laundry from the playground visit
Naptime started on time, even Sam and Katie in their crankiness earned a naptime today
I had time to read the business meeting notes from our church, they had taken up residence in our van for some reason
And lastly, not having a working van for 2 days has made me appreciate having a van at all!

To be continued . . . . . .

Update later on tonight.

So, John left work to service my van and see what was going on. Right before he came home I went out and tried the brakes again and sure enought they wouldn't function properly.

When John gets home he goes straight for the van, starts it right up and drives away! Not a single problem with the brakes! I couldn't believe it. I seriously checked them 10 minutes before he came home and they were still terrible and then he just sits down and drives away. It's a good thing he loves me because it really looked like I cryed wolf. I'll have to say that I am not one to waste such a great opportunity to have another adult on hand, so I took Sam and we ran several errrands, in Daddy's car!

I finished Katie's corduroy dress!

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 21:01:00 -0500

I had a few hours this afternoon with my chick-a-dee and I assembled Katie's dress to match her 2 sisters. Rachel was a big help to me today. She has a runny nose and so she needed me to be within touching distance of her all afternoon. ( I actually find it harder to be alone with her and not have any one for her to play with.) So she sat on my lap while I ran the sewing machine, learning how to sit still. Which is probably a good trait to learn anyway. Then, she helped me to pull ALL the yellow tipped pins out of the material as we sewed. She loved pulling them out and I loved telling her what a good job she was doing. She really understood and appreciated me telling her that every time she pulled one out. I just had to keep her from pulling out the pins from an unsewn section!

I love how Katie's dress turned out! It is just like Lily's style just longer. Each girl should get 2 winters out of these dresses. It has a set of ties that will cinch it snugly in back, a scoop neck front, two pockets for trinkets on the front skirt, and a delightful ruffle on the bottom hem. Katie loves her new dress too. I think she just likes having matching dresses like her sisters and to have something that I worked on just for her.

Here are some fun pictures of Katie bug modeling her new dress.

Haiku Digi-Scrap Style

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 21:02:00 -0500

The kids have been bored with ther Lifepacs for Language Arts these last few days so I decided to teach them the Haiku basics. Austin took right to the activity and recited several for me to write down for him. Sam, my literal, verbal child, struggled with this activity. He does not come by the creative arts naturally. You gotta love him though! It is probably the one area where Sam does not soar, yet!

Here is a page for the Yearbook with the Haiku poems they wrote today.