2014 Resolutions/ Goals/ Etc....

It's here.  Another year has come and gone.  A new one is afoot.  There's something refreshing about that.  Something invigorating.  Something that inspires us to look inward and assess where we are, and where we intend to go.

So, I'll start with looking over my goals for 2013 to see what went right, what went wrong, and what was successful....

In the area of finances we pretty much crashed and burned at the end of the year...  We're not starting off on a happy note there, but there's plenty of room for improvement, so onward!

In the area of kids, I'm so glad that I set goals in these different areas specifically, because if I were to generalize my self with the kids I would say I'm in the tank there too, but not so!  I just looked over my goals for the kids and I actually accomplished several I had for them this past year- Auston is driving, Shea graduated therapy, and Gregory is more social.  I've monitored William for needs and he seems to be doing fine :)

In the area of my marriage, we've continued regular date nights (until the last couple months of the year when our lives spiraled out of control with me having Shingles and the finances went in the tank).  We never got a separate get away together outside of the MUD conferences, so that is on the list again.  I need to dress up for him more still...  I've convinced myself that yoga pants are ok to wear All.The.Time......  probably not so.....

In the area of friends and family, I did a fairly good job with the birthday cards this year, could use some improvement..  And I had a couple of get aways with Jess for races, so not too shabby...

In the area of health and fitness I again am thankful for specific goals.  My health has pretty much sucked the last 2 month of the year, but that doesn't paint a clear picture of where I was last year when setting my goals!  I did run several races, and even PR'd my 10K time.  I completed another Half Marathon and quit the soda!  The last 2 months have been brutal, but I'll get back up on that horse and kick butt :)

In the area of Home improvement: FAIL......

In the area of Spirituality, that has not gone great either.  I finished out Bible Study last year, but did not return in the Fall because we started at Liberty.  I'm having a struggle finding my niche now....

In the area of other personal goals, life did not slow down....  it sped up.  Still need to work on that.  I have started to read a little more, the last couple of months, but there's some definite room for improvement there too.

So- let's get to it:

Finances:

• Create and maintain sinking funds for various projects around the house and car
• Fully fund our family trip to Disney World in December through Pampered Chef Commissions
• Menu plan and start a Meatless Monday habit
• Pay down remaining debt
• Reestablish emergency fund (got depleted this year on emergencies)
• No more than 4 total late payments on all bills total in 2014
• Buy a "new" car for me
• Pay off Durango

Children:

• Get William’s belly button fixed and circumcision done-seriously!!!
• Start teaching Grego to drive *gasp* *ack!* *I'm not ready!*
• Graduate Auston
• Find the joy in my children, and see less of the work and burden
• Figure out whether to continue homeschooling Shea, or not
• Teach the kids how to pick up after themselves consistently
• Institute regular kids cook nights

Marriage:

• Continue regular date nights, but add some variety, spice
• Carve a weekend away (In addition to MUD conventions)
• Get dressed up for him more
• Less nagging, more fun

Friends and Family:

• Consistently send out Birthday and Occasion cards
• Pray for my friends and family more specifically 
• Do at least 3 RAK's this year to my friends/family
• Be more present in real life instead of relying on social media

Health and Fitness:

• PR my 5K time, (I’d like to get closer to 30 mins)
• Run Every Day in January
• Participate in at least one race that is longer than a 5K
• Watch my eating, cut way back on the junk food
• Do at least 1 14 day no sugar challenge
• Drink more water!
• Encourage at least one person to start running
• Start some strength training
• Stay off the soda....  
• Move to a more "clean" diet
• Lose weight.  I want to be specific, but I also want to be realistic.  So, I'm going to set quarterly goals for weight loss and assess where I am each quarter...  1st quarter- I want to lose 20 pounds.  There are 13 weeks between now and the end of March, so I think that's doable :)

Home Management:

• Redo William’s room
• Replace furniture (from thrift store)or recover my couch that needs recovering, but I love it so much....
• Redo Deck (maybe a covered patio?)
• Plant flowers
• Get a cleaning schedule/rotation going again 
• Get the rest of the family involved and invested in maintaining the house so it isn't all on my shoulders :) 
• Fix garage door 
• New Oven

Spirituality:

• Tithe Consistently
• Find and keep a regular quiet time to reconnect with God
• Read at least 2 books on spiritual growth
• Restart our home group (going to be more important than ever with getting a new pastor)
• Be more consistent with Prayer list for DOK
• Start a prayer journal 

Business:

• Sell an average of $2500 each month
• Fully fund our trip to Disney in December through commissions
• Recruit at least 4 team members
• Increase show average.  Current show average is around $500.  Want it to be over $600

Other Personal Goals:

• Make sure I have the time and money for regular massages and pedicures
• Steal away some time for myself
• Read at least 4 books this year
• Craft more
• Keep my car clean
• Take some items off my schedule to get out of the excessive busyness cycle
• Continue with my list of 6 daily to stay on task
• Paint my nails
• Wear Perfume 

I think that about covers it :)  Here's to a prosperous 2014,

-May you all find your plumb line and stay true to it.

- May you all define your own "lines in the sand" and find some sense of ownership in your lives through them.

- May you all give more grace than deserved to those around you, and may you all find grace when you're not expecting it.

This past year I used Hebrews 12:15 to shape how I tried to deal with the people around me:  "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God".  I think we can ALL use an extra dose of grace...

For 2014 I want to focus on Joy....

Philemon 1:7

Your love has given me great joy and encouragement, because you, brother, have refreshed the hearts of the Lord’s people.

Monthly Menu Plan and Grocery Shop

Recently I’ve started reading a book called, America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money: Your Guide to Living Better, Spending Less, and Cashing in on Your Dreams, and I am really enjoying it. I found it through another blog, Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling, which I found through Pinterest……  Isn’t the internet great?  LOL

Anyway, one of my New Year’s Resolutions is to reduce my grocery/food spending, and the Book encourages you to shop once a month.  Now, I’ve been doing Weekly Menu Plans for a while now, and can throw together a weekly plan of dinners in about 10-15 minutes…  But a monthly one?  What’s more, they encourage you to plan all meals (so you’re sure you have enough food)…. 

Ok, I think I can try it, we’ll see how it goes.

They do say that they make a mid month trip for more fresh produce etc, which helps out a bit….  If I get to the month and realize I’m missing some stuff I can get it at the mid month milk and produce trip…  In fact I’ve already figured out something I missed when I shopped today LOL…

I figure this will be a learning curve and take some time, but I’m willing to tackle the task, since the blogger on Holy Spirit Led Homeschooling claims to feed HER family on less than $400 a month.  I average closer to $800, sometimes $1000 on groceries alone!  I have long known something needs to be done.  We do have 2 growing teenagers, and a family of 6, but this still seems like an awful lot to spend on groceries….  especially when I almost NEVER buy things like steak

So, as the book told me to do, I first set up and inventoried my pantry, snack cupboard, fridge, and freezers.  It seems I have quite a bit on hand, and that was a task in itself.  I’m hoping next time will not require an entire clean out of the pantry ….

Then, you are to sit with your inventory lists and the weekly sale paper and come up with a menu plan.  While I did use my inventory list, I did NOT use the sale papers, it was just TOO much for me to handle this first time around…  I needed much flexibility in what I was planning for food.  Maybe next month I’ll use the sale papers to save even more money…  Baby Steps

I found that Money Saving Mom had some great monthly menu printables that really helped me through this…

Here’s what I came up with for a Menu:

2
B: German Bread, Homemade Yogurt
L: Black Eyed Peas
S: Yogurt
D: Snack Dinner

3
B: Oatmeal
Gone for the rest of the day at MIL’s

4
B:Eggs, Toast, Bacon
L: Ramen Noodles (Don’t hate me for my nutritious lunches)
S: Goldfish
D: Spaghetti, Crazy Bread

5
B: Breakfast Tacos
L: Spaghetti
S: Goldfish
D: Brisket, Potato Salad, Green Beans

6
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables (church lets out at lunch time)
S: Grapes, Pretzels
D: Brisket Sandwiches, Trifle

7
B: Yogurt, Graham Crackers
L: Lunchables (Shea), Noodles (others)
S: Carrots and ranch
D: Turkey Soup, Rolls

8
B: Yogurt, Banana
L: Turkey Soup
S: Carrots and Ranch
D: Stuffed Baked Potatoes with Brisket

9
B:Yogurt, Granola
L: Turkey Soup
S: Carrots and Ranch
D: Snack Dinner (Left overs)

10
B: Cereal
L: Noodles
S: Carrots
D: Totinos Pizzas

11
B:Cereal
L: PB &J, Carrots
S: Yogurt
D: Pineapple Rum chicken over Rice (New Item)

12
B: Crock Pot French Toast (New Item)
L: Mac & Cheese
S: Gogurt (Homemade)
D: Burgers, Fries, Layered Salad

13
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables (After Church)
S: Gogurt
D: Mexican Beans and Rice, Dump Cake

14
B: Granola, Yogurt (Both Homemade)
L: Lunchables
S: Carrots
D: Snack Dinners (Pizza at scouts for older boys)

15
B: Granola
L: Layered Salad
S: Carrots
D: Beef Stroganoff

16
B: Cereal
L: Layered Salad
S: Chips and Queso
D: Snack Dinner

17
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables
S: Chips and Queso
D: Frozen Pizza

18
B: Eggs, Toast, Bacon
L: Noodles, Cheese
S: Carrots and Ranch
D: Taco Soup

19
B: Baked French Toast, Fruit
L: Taco Soup
S: Carrots ad Ranch
D: Chicken Salad, Fruit Salad

20
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables
S: Fruit Salad
D: Pizza, Birthday Cake (BDay Party for Shea)

21
B: Granola
L: Lunchables
S: Fruit Salad
D: Fish Tacos

22
B: Granola
L: Taco Soup
S: Apples
D: Pancake Supper

23
B: Breakfast Tacos
L: PB &J
S: Apples
D: Snack Dinner

24
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables
S: Applesauce
D: Nachos

25
B: Cereal
L: Mac and Cheese
S: Apple Sauce
D: Pizza, Brownies

26
B: Cereal
L: Noodles
S: Carrots
D: Corn Dogs, Fruit

27
B: Cereal
L: Noodles
S: Carrots
D: Mac and Cheese, Hot Dogs, Fruit

28
B: Scrambled Eggs
L: Lunchables
S: Gogurt
D: Lasagna, Garlic Break, Salad

29
B: Cereal
L: Lasagna
S: Applesauce
D: Mikey Throw Together, Chopped version

30
B: Granola
L: Lasagna
S: Oatmeal Cookie
D: Snack Dinner

31
B: Cereal
L: Lunchables
S: Oatmeal Cookie
D: Corn Dogs, Fries

Some things I did- Sundays we are always hungry when we leave church.  In order to avoid driving through, I just bought a bunch of the $1 Lunchables and I’ll supplement with water or capri suns.  Mondays, same problem, but only with Shea- the other three are home.  Some days I’ll let them all eat them just for fun   And Thursdays are particularly crazy, we have Bible Study and it lets out at nap time, so we have to eat…  So, we’ll use Lunchables to keep my self sane

Wednesday nights (and a couple others are Snack Dinner, meaning we try to eat some of the left overs

Also, the majority of our lunches are left overs.

I will have a paper on the fridge of what’s “free to eat” (meaning I don’t have it again on the menu), that way the kids can have some flexibility if they don’t want what’s listed for a meal or a snack.

Now, I mentioned that I normally spend between $800 and $1,000 on groceries a month.  I’ve budgeted $650 for this month.

I went shopping today, and here’s how it’s shaken down so far:

Bread store:  $8.19
Walmart: $459

My PLAN is to stay out of the store until the next paycheck (2 weeks), at which time I will pick up ONLY milk and fresh produce and any items I’ve noticed I forgot on my list…..  I’ll keep y’all posted!

I’d love to hear how y’all save money on your expenses too!

GratiTuesday-God’s Provision

My husband recently took a HUGE pay cut.  I mean a 20% pay cut.  We were already on a tight budget and this is making a VERY large dent.  As I come to grips with our new income level a couple of things are happening.  First, I have had it on my heart for a while now that we need to be giving the full 10% tithe.  We have never done this.  It isn’t because I don’t believe it’s important.  It isn’t because we’d rather not give so much money.  It isn’t because we want “stuff”.  It is truly because before the tithe became important to us we racked up our monthly bills too high to afford it.  Add to that the rising cost of gas and food and 2 extra people to take care of, and well……  So, I’ve been in prayer OFTEN about how to do the 10%.  Lord, I want to give you the full 10%, but I wrestle with how to make it happen without not paying something else.  And, I’m pretty sure God wants us to fulfill our obligations too.

So, when we found out we were going to take a 20% cut after the initial shock and fear wore off I heard from God.  He said, “Semalee, you’re going to learn to live on 80% percent of your income one way or another.  I know what’s best for you, and I will take care of you, but you need to trust me.” 

He He He He…..  God is so funny sometimes

So, here we are.  I’m not going to tell you it’s going great.  But, we’ve committed to continuing with our pledge amount for the church no matter what.  We’re starting there.  And, we’re learning how to live on this amount, and working on adjusting our budget.  We’re looking at what things we can cut, and hoping that, through this process when my husband’s income is restored we can remain at this amount and sent 10% to tithe and 10% to savings as it should be.  What’s been cool, is so far we’re squeaking by.  I have a friend who is a nurse and she needed someone to watch her kids 3 days a week, and so that gives us a little extra cash that isn’t in the budget.  Michael’s been picking up extra jobs and we’re making it so far.  We have a plan to pay off our debt, but it involves our tax return, so we have to make it to next year where we’re at.

So, I’m thankful for God’s provision, and for God’s grace