Q and A Debt

I love reading debt saving, meal planning and organizing blogs but the one thing I've noticed is that the majority are written by people who have kids under 7. While, I still enjoy reading I've been on the hunt for a blog that can provide some guidance for those of us with tweens and teens. Because as we all know they eat a WHOLE lot more than little ones.  As well as make a WHOLE lot more mess, have friends over and require a WHOLE lot more money.  And for me personally I have the added cost of a special needs child so I'm the odd woman out when it comes to finding a blog that fits our lifestyle. So I figured if I can find a few I can Frankenglue them together to give me a great guide to organinzing, saving and meal planning. LOL! So if you all have any good suggestions please do share, I would really appreciate it!

Meal Planning has always been a challenge for me. Making a menu is easy but keeping to it is another story completely.  I may have found a middle ground that works for us.  While walking on the treadmill (I'll get to that in a bit), I was watching Youtube and came upon several meal planning videos.  The majority involves prepping food to be cooked/snacked on/prepared. So now, what I am doing is separating my fruits and veggies into small containers/baggies.  Like these: I wish I had more containers to show but kids have been eating the fruit like crazy, which I'm pleased about because its a much better alternative to just eating junk. I have also started to make a large pot of oatmeal. We have it for breakfast and if we want a snack. Its so yummy and so nice on the pocketbook!  We are still in the early stages of our meal planning tweaks but I'm very hopeful we will make them lifelong habits. It doesn't hurt that its a big help to our food budget. I starte...

A small bit of good news.  I received our new payment book from the mortgage company.  Our house payment came down $45 per month.  That was enough for me to shout "Woohoo!"  The reduction is due to our property taxes falling a bit. These past few years I had complained to Mr. Man that they seemed a bit high for the area. I guess the appraisal district did some tweaking :)  Yay for us.  Aside from that, I've been trying to work on our income taxes.  Finished up the bulk of the work...just need Mr. Man to find a paper or two and I should be done. This next week will entail lots of filing, shredding and organizing.  I've made quite a bit of headway today.  I'm trying to make the most of my time at home.  I've been staying with my Dad 1/2 of the week so a lot of stuff at home is piling up.  I'm trying to manage my time better little by little.  I actually feel a bit accomplished and just wish there was more money to pay bills s...

So happy that we have a three day weekend!  I plan on listing and relaxing tomorrow :) This month was great on the Ebay front.  I need to keep the momentum going. I still have plenty to list so that is good.   I made dinner tonight and plan on eating in for the rest of the weekend.  I went to the grocery store yesterday so there is no excuse not to eat in.  Right now, I'm going to pop in my favorite dvd and start rearranging the closet. Its an absolute mess. We will see what I accomplish! Wish me luck :)

So this month has been interesting...I've been trying my hardest to not only reduce our daily spending but stay away from credit.  In years past, January has always been a very tough month due to being wiped out by Christmas spending but this month has been good so far. The next 11 days will prove a bit challenging but I think we can make it through the month only spending cash we have.  I am strongly considering using the jar method of budgeting but I need to get my husband fully on board with that. The bulk of today's to do list will be organizing. Wish me luck!

So I've decided to tackle my organizational goal today. Luckily, I give all my unwanted but yet usable items to my mom (she will either donate, use or sell it at the fleamarket).  I do keep the items I can sell on Ebay but everything else goes to her to help supplement her income.  I'm debating whether to post any pics because frankly I'm embarrassed by all my small piles.  I'm by no means a hoarder or anything just have piles here and there of either homework, unopened mail, pictures and items for Ebay.  I'm hoping to make some real progress today so off I go...

I kind of started on this in a post or two ago but decided I needed a more concrete list to stick to.  Here it goes: Pay off a total of 4 Credit Cards - total of $5600 Stay current with medical bills - total of about $1500 needed to pay to catch up Organize my home - this will most likely be a yearlong task but I know being organized goes hand in hand with being financially stable Start and keep an emergency fund - Goal for 2012 will be $3000 If I decide I'm at a good place to be able to add to my list I will.  For now, I think its a great starting point and I think I can meet all my goals above by the end of 2012.  Wish me luck!

Hip Hip Hooray!! Received a check in the mail.  It was $98, totally unexpected and very much needed.  I promptly deposited it and hope to put it towards this weeks medical bills. I always feel like my disorganization goes hand in hand with my debt. So with that said my shredder will be getting a workout these next few days.  I'm also getting rid of a lot of clutter around the house.  Trying to start the new year off right!