Not back to blogging just yet, but back to Arkansas. It turns out that even with a transfer within the same company, California is just WAY too expensive for us. We can't support our family on the same budget as we could in Arkansas (as if that wasn't obvious). We would literally have to double our income in order to live in California, and that's just not an option right now.
I wish in a lot of ways that we had not moved to begin with, but it was something that needed to happen. Sometimes in life, you have to take a step away from things for them to change. Im almost positive that this was the case for us. Altho it is a very costly move, we are willing to pay the price. That's not saying that we have the funds availible right now but that will come. We will be making a very simple move right now and we will come back for the remainder of our things when we've accumulated enough money to get a uhaul to move the rest of our belongings. This move however will be our final long distance move for a long time I believe. Unless the Lord calls us to move in another direction, I believe that Arkansas will be our permanent home.
The benefit to that is that Arkansas is much cheeper on almost everything. Sure they have a 9% sales tax on food, but at least I can afford to buy food there! The price of registering my vehicle wont be astronomical, my mortgage is super cheep, gas is cheeper, and college is cheeper. When I can pay ALL of my bills in Arkansas for the same price that I would be paying for RENT in California, I know Im doing well.
It might be a while yet before I get a chance to post again, but know that I love you all and I look foreward to blogging again when things settle down. Who knows, I might even have a more productive blog once we get back. ;)
Monday, August 24, 2009
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Once a Year Shopping
Over on Frugal Hacks they posted an article about Shopping Once a Year. I wanted to give my thoughts about it. I had read the article that DL had read. It was about a couple that shopped only once a year for things that they could store. They didnt buy perishables in bulk of course but the idea is to stay out of the grocery stores and to save money by not spending it on the items that are impulse purchases. They started out slow and worked their way up to a year's worth of food.
My husband and I looked at the article and actually thought about trying it. We got so far as to write out the list of things that we use on a regular basis to see how much it would cost if we were to buy enough for the year. It would have been a little more than $1000, and it would have taken us a few months to gather the cash to buy all those things. I had also looked at the possibility of working our way up to the big once a year shopping trip. Shopping for one month at a time for three months, then for three months at a time, then six months, and then for one year.
We also looked at the fact that because we were still young, things would change drastically in a year. We only had one child at the time. There was always the possibility that we would have another child. There was always the possibility of our jobs not working out or having to move and having to start over again. Now granted this idea would work if it was just the job, but what would happen if we had to move to a smaller home (or across the country, as our hometown was 2000 miles away)? Then we would have been stuck with a lot of food and no where to put it.
Things like spices, canned goods, and cleaning supplies are good to have on hand, but I think that you could do just as well with coupons and get the things you need. People have been known to get a lot of items (enough to store for the year) for either very cheap or free by using coupons at the drugstores. It's just a matter of preference.
Personally, I like to buy a few items in bulk (because I have a large family now) to last a few months so Im not constantly in the store trying to get those items. Its not very fun to have to buy a box of pancake mix every time you want to make pancakes. So instead of buying that at the grocery store, I buy it at Sams Club and get a large bag of the mix to last me a month. (We really like pancakes here!)
What's your thoughts on Shopping Once a Year?
My husband and I looked at the article and actually thought about trying it. We got so far as to write out the list of things that we use on a regular basis to see how much it would cost if we were to buy enough for the year. It would have been a little more than $1000, and it would have taken us a few months to gather the cash to buy all those things. I had also looked at the possibility of working our way up to the big once a year shopping trip. Shopping for one month at a time for three months, then for three months at a time, then six months, and then for one year.
We also looked at the fact that because we were still young, things would change drastically in a year. We only had one child at the time. There was always the possibility that we would have another child. There was always the possibility of our jobs not working out or having to move and having to start over again. Now granted this idea would work if it was just the job, but what would happen if we had to move to a smaller home (or across the country, as our hometown was 2000 miles away)? Then we would have been stuck with a lot of food and no where to put it.
Things like spices, canned goods, and cleaning supplies are good to have on hand, but I think that you could do just as well with coupons and get the things you need. People have been known to get a lot of items (enough to store for the year) for either very cheap or free by using coupons at the drugstores. It's just a matter of preference.
Personally, I like to buy a few items in bulk (because I have a large family now) to last a few months so Im not constantly in the store trying to get those items. Its not very fun to have to buy a box of pancake mix every time you want to make pancakes. So instead of buying that at the grocery store, I buy it at Sams Club and get a large bag of the mix to last me a month. (We really like pancakes here!)
What's your thoughts on Shopping Once a Year?
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Homesick
Im feeling just a wee bit homesick this week. I keep seeing pictures of my home and the town I lived in. Six years really is a long time to live somewhere. Essentially, I have lived one third of my life there. My sons have lived all their lives there. It was quite daunting to move back after such a long time away from my hometown. Im glad to be back and to have more people around me, but I long for the lush green of my Arkansas Summers.
I got just a glimpse of the beautiful color before we moved and was able to get a few pictures of it. So, inspired by this post by KimC, here are a few pictures for you. These pictures are off my front porch and they were taken at the end of April before it bloomed completely.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Menu Plan Monday
In my attempt to work the Weight Watchers plan, Im going to be posting my weekly menu here. Along with about half of the blogosphere! Im not the greatest at it yet but give a newbie a chance. :) So here it is:
Monday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and bananas, Dinner - Roast (crock pot) with veggies
Tuesday: Breakfast - Cereal and peaches, Dinner - Spaghetti with salad and bread
Wednesday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit, Dinner - Sweet and Sour Chicken with veggies and rice
Thursday: Breakfast - Pancakes with applesauce and raisins, Dinner - Stew and homemade bread
Friday: Breakfast - Cereal and fruit, Dinner - Hamburgers with baked beans and salad
Im not including the weekend because it is never a solid schedule and I dont usually know what is happening until we are there.
Visit Orgjunkie for more menu's.
Monday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and bananas, Dinner - Roast (crock pot) with veggies
Tuesday: Breakfast - Cereal and peaches, Dinner - Spaghetti with salad and bread
Wednesday: Breakfast - Oatmeal and fruit, Dinner - Sweet and Sour Chicken with veggies and rice
Thursday: Breakfast - Pancakes with applesauce and raisins, Dinner - Stew and homemade bread
Friday: Breakfast - Cereal and fruit, Dinner - Hamburgers with baked beans and salad
Im not including the weekend because it is never a solid schedule and I dont usually know what is happening until we are there.
Visit Orgjunkie for more menu's.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
29 Points
Thats how many I've got. I've decided to get on the bandwagon and start losing some weight. I've lost about 5lbs since we moved but that's only because I've been up moving around more. My sis-in-law had lost about 60lbs using weight watchers and so, having seen the success with my eyes, I am going to start as well. This is going to be an interesting journey. I hope that you will be my accountability. I will put up a ticker to show my progress each week, and hope that you will remind me when I get off track or encourage me when I'm doing good! Right now Im at about 210lbs (Isn't that scary!), and my goal is to lose 80lbs.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Told You So ...
I had mentioned before that I might open up an Etsy Shop. I've had it open for a while, as evidenced by the notation in my sidebar. However, I never really had anything in there until recently. Now that Im settled in the new place, I wanted to get my shop up and running. So I now have items in the shop with more to come. I have a better sidebar gadget so you can see what I have and possibly even click over to buy something (hint hint).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
