Challenge # 5 For The New Year

This will be the last challenge for the upcoming year. This one is more of a personal one than a financial one.

Both Harvey and I would like to get healthier, after all having good health is just plain frugal in the long run.

Every year I say I am going to lose 20 lbs, and end up just maintaining my weight.

This year Harvey wants to lose weight as well so we are going to do this together!

I am thinking portion control and more exercise is the way to go.

Looking forward to a new me come June!!

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Challenge #4 For The New Year

My fourth challenge for the upcoming year is to continue combining trips in order to save gas and cash. My reasoning is this, if I combine my trips together I will spend less time in the stores, thereby saving!

On a forum I belong to we have a No Spend Challenge every month. Now there is always something that needs to be bought, or bills to pay, but by combining trips to the grocery, paying bills on line, and going straight to and from my subbing gigs I have cut down on spending, plus the use of the vehicle and the fuel to run said vehicle!! I chose to do categories for this challenge. I have three I use: Allowable Spend --- that is groceries, bills and things that have to be paid no matter what
No Spend --- these are days when I spend nothing whatsoever
Spend --- these are days when I spend money that I shouldn't have, or that is not budgeted for

This past month I have done very well, even with our trip. I am hopeful that I will make the number of No Spend Days I chose. I am going to try and increase these days each month next year.

Take today for instance. I needed fuel for the next two weeks, and we were at Mass anyway, so I had Harvey drop by the bank to pick up the cash for our household after Mass. From there we went to the grocery store and I picked up what I needed, and then to the gas station for fuel. We then arrived back home and as I put the groceries away, Harvey made us a brunch of bacon and eggs. We were only gone for an hour longer than if we would have come straight home from Mass. We also saved warming the car up again, and a trip back to the bank and the other stops were on the way home as well.

Tomorrow will be spent at home getting a few things accomplished and watching the New Year arrive. It will also be a No Spend Day to finish out the old year.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Christmas at Kurts'

For the first time ever I did not host the family Christmas. Instead we loaded up the car and went to spend the holiday at our oldest son's place. This was the first time that Kris our youngest got to see his brother's house.

We had a wonderful time and once again Christmas was shared by all of us being together.

We were met with a roaring fire in the fireplace. Just perfect to take the chill off. Kurt was kind enough to light the fire every night we were there.

He even went out and bought a tree and decorations which he had set up in the corner of  the man cave.

For someone who did not enjoy reading when he was younger (not like his mom in that respect), he sure changed as he got older. Now I can honestly say he is more like me than he would like to be. Just look at all these books.

Floor to ceiling bookcases surround much of the room. The shelves also contain little trinkets he has picked up on his travels. The bookcases were one of the first things he did in his basement.

Here is a picture of the proud house owner.

Like me he Kurt does not enjoy having his picture taken.

Harvey relaxing after the long 9 hour drive to get to our destination.

This is our youngest son Kris. He always enjoys getting his picture taken and was very happy to be somewhere different.

Notice the phone in his hand. He just needed to check an email he got from work.

The last visitor to Kurt's place was Kris' cat, Ray. After the long trip and hiding behind the tree for a few hours........

he just had to go exploring.

The one thing you might not know about Raymond is that he is an extremely large cat. He weighs in at 26 lbs. None of us can understand this as he really does not eat a great amount. In fact Kurt watched and said he only eats about as much as my cat Shania does. Hmmm, wonder if he is sneaking food at home.

We are home now, things are put away and I have caught up on laundry. I have started a new knitting project (after finishing a couple of projects I had set aside). All is right with the world.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Christmas

Here we are at Kurt's place enjoying our after dinner rest.

Just a few pictures of our visit.

I am playing with my new tablet, so please forgive any errors I
I can't see

A picture of our oldest son Kurt.

Enjoying the fireplace.

Challenge # 3 for the New Year

My third challenge for the upcoming New Year is to use what we have to the best advantage, to recycle more, and find new and inventive ways of using up what we do have.

In previous posts I have talked about my stash of fabric and yarn. Now I do know that any serious crafter has quite the stash, but I am noticing that some of the items are getting....well a little outdated looking. Here is where my inventiveness will come in to play.

Money was spent on these items and they are NOT going to waste!!!

Now I do know that I am going to want new yarn or fabric, so I am going to haunt the Salvation Army to see if there is anything I can take apart, or rip back and use for crafting. Who knows perhaps I will start refashioning some of my clothing!!

Another part of this challenge is to finish all of those UFP's that are haunting my dreams lately. I have made a pledge to myself that until at least two projects I set aside are done I will not start anything new. Thinking that this will give me incentive to get more done.

Hopefully this will save money and my sanity over the next few months of tightening the budget.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. (Hopefully will have pictures in a few days once we get home of our Christmas here in Drumheller).

God bless.

Just In Case

Just in case I can not get on while visiting Kurt, I want to wish you all

May you all have the very best of times with those you hold dear.

God bless.

New Year Challenge # 2

I have come to the realization over the past year that I do not use coupons.... Well, I do use them once in a blue moon, but not as often as I could.

I used the excuse that coupons were not as readily available in Canada as they are in other countries and when I did use a coupon it was grudgingly.

This year I am really going to buckle down, search for and use coupons regularly. If I want to get my grocery costs under control this is one way of helping with that. After all I spend time doing surveys, so searching for coupons should not take up much more time.

To start off the New Year I have figured out two ways to help with grocery costs. One is of course using coupons, the other is using our credit card to get money back at the end of the year. I am hoping that by doing this we can have enough cash back to buy Decembers groceries. Cutting a month out of the budget would make a great difference in our bottom line. We also do most of our shopping at our Co-op and because we are members get money back every year on our purchases.

I will let you all know at the end of next year how this went.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.