No Spend January

We got home from Christmas, looked at our bank account and freaked out. We decided we needed to do something drastic to get our spending under control. And with that, our "No Spend" month was born. We set a few rules:

1. We can pay bills (of course) and put gas in the car as needed. I also decided that any preschool related expenses were fine too. For example, we didn't have to go on this month's field trip that cost $11, but we decided not to punish Hannah in our experiment.

2. We agreed that we'd buy milk, eggs and a few leafy greens every week. I didn't want my stomach to fall out or anything from not getting anything fresh for a month. I also broke down and bought 2 pounds of cheese when I ran out of cheese the first week. There is no way I can go a month without cheese.

And that was about it. No spending other than that. No eating out. No impulse buys at the supermarket. Cut off.

Now, I feel I need to tell you that I am a food hoarder. Our church encourages us to have a food storage and I love it. I love to buy things when they're on sale and know that if troubles befall us, we'll still be able to eat. We bought half of an organic cow this fall for a screaming deal --$3 a pound. You can barely get ground beef for $3 a pound around here and this meat was 1/3 ground beef, 1/3 steaks and 1/3 roast. So, we're set with meat for the year. We have so much pasta and wheat and flour and sugar. We really are set. The problem is, there have been times when we haven't had money for food, but rather than use the food I have stored, I've continued to buy more on a credit card. I just couldn't bring myself to dip into my safety net of food. Well, I decided that I need to use it for what it's for, and a month where we only make $600 is a month when we probably shouldn't be spending any money on anything. And we didn't

We did well. We made it the entire month of January only spending money on our bills, gas, and our few predetermined perishables. It was so good for us. We started making bread again. We got more serious about cloth diapering. When we ran out of something I had to either go without or learn how to make it myself. I learned how to make tortillas, granola bars, and ice cream in a freezer bag. I feel like we had more time together as a family too, not having to run to the store 2-3 evenings a week. I lost 5 pounds which was really surprising for me since I was eating far more simple carbohydrates (at meals) and far fewer fruits and vegetables than I was used to. The difference was, this month I didn't have store bought sweets or snacks to binge on at night and I wasn't eating fast food a couple of times a week. If I wanted something I had to make it. So, I did eat popcorn and cookies and I even made potato chips. But let me tell you, if you're making your own potato chips, you are not going to eat them everyday. They took me 3 hours to make 4 cups.  But we sure did enjoy those chips and it made them taste even better knowing that my hard work went into them and knowing that feeding my family potatoes with a little oil and salt was so much better for them than anything out of a bag. I learned that almost anything homemade is better than store-bought and it's always cheaper. Tastes better and costs less...hmm...

We were invited to a couple of birthday parties and baby showers. Instead of running out to buy a gift, I had to find things around the house to make things. I felt like it actually took some pressure off. I had to make due with what I had, and if it wasn’t perfect, too bad. I did a ton of sewing. I learned how to make raggy quilts and made 3 in the month of January. I also made superhero capes for the two preschool boys whose birthdays we went to.

My first quilt with my third baby.



This month we're back to spending money and it's hard to find a balance. I'm so much better at quitting something than I am at doing it in moderation. I've slipped back into some old habits, but I feel like January made me more mindful of what I spend my money on and what is actually a necessity.

Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time

This is going to be a long post. It's been hanging over my head, preventing any more recent blogging for a month and a half, so here it is. As quickly as I can, this was our Christmas season...

We went to the Festival of Trees with my mom.

And saw Santa.

Devan was there too, but I preferred to pretend to be a single mom to see if I could get any sympathy or money. I got neither.

We did get a free clown nose though, so that's almost as good as money.

Kids in Christmas clothes!

We made salt dough ornaments. I was too lazy to hang them on the tree.

Josh had fun along with the rest of us.

Ben tried over and over to eat the dough. It never seemed to taste as good as he would have liked it to.

Joshua quickly grew bored of us.

We went to Devan's company Christmas party at Famous Daves. We enjoyed the food.

We opened presents with my Mom and Aunts. I didn't take any pictures. Kory bought them these Santa outfits.

We headed to Utah and spent a couple of days with Chad and Ashley and Steph and Xay.

I miss that little boy so much I can't stand it sometimes.

The kids had so much fun together.

We had a 3, 2, 1, and 0 year old all in the same house for 2 whole days. What could be more fun?

Sunday night we had a Christmas dinner and then Aubrey came over and we stayed up way too late baking. By "we" I don't mean I did any baking. I just sat. And it was great. I've missed Ashley's almost all nighters.

We got all the cousins together for a picture for Nana (and because I really, wanted one.) 7 kids, 5 of whom were under 4. So fun and so crazy.

We took lots and of course very few had everyone looking at the camera.

This was going to be the one. 

And then I did a little work on this one and...

Voila! Aren't they just the most beautiful group of kids you've ever seen?

I was especailly excited to get to meet our new little neice Sarea. She is 3 weeks and 3 days older than Joshua and I love her. I so wish that they were going to be able to grow up together.

We stayed at Kevin and Dawn's house for the rest of our trip. They just bought a house so they had a guest room for us to stay in. I dream of the day I will one day have a guest room. We had so much fun. Our kids loved playing together all week. We also got to go on a girl's night with Nicole Fish. I only go out with friends without my kids once or twice a year and I always have so much fun and wish I could convice myself to get out more often. We went to the mall and for dessert at The Chesecake Factory. It felt like we were in Jr. High again!

Christmas Eve we went to Nicole Steele's house for a breakfast dinner and ping pong. We had so much fun.

Before bed, Ben and Hannah got to open their birthday pajamas.  This was something my mom always did for us and I wanted to continue. But we got home late and I hadn't wrapped them yet and the kids were tired. Devan tried to just give the kids their pajamas, not wrapped, and then I got sad. I think I was just tired. This is the second year in a row we've been traveling on Christmas, and I felt like I hadn't been able to start any of the traditions I wanted for our family. I started getting the kids ready for bed, and then without me realizing it, Devan snuck out and wrapped the pjs. I was so grateful. It was the first present that Ben opened all by himself and the kids were really excited about them. It was a nice moment with our family in the midst of all our running around making merrry. 

We had to wake up at 6:30 the next morning so the kids could open their stockings and then we get to Nana and Papa's house for breakfast and church. The kids were a little hard to wake up.

Church was wonderful. Then we went back to Nana and Papa's and hung out until everyone came for Christmas dinner.

Then we opened presents...

Nana made monkeys for all the bigger kids!

A few days after Christmas, the kids all got into the leftover wrapping paper. We just laughed and took pictures. They all had so much fun together, it was hard to leave.

We stayed in Utah for 3 days after Christmas. We shopped and ate and visited. I had so much fun I felt guilty. It was like a real vacation. But by the time it was time to go home I was ready. We did the trip all in one day and it felt so good to get home.

Books I read in 2011 - September through December

What a wonderful year of reading this has been. As geeky as I know this sounds, my books gave me something to look forward to on so many of my hard days last year.

September

 I finished the Hearts of the Children Series. I love this series so much!

October

I read the Wizard of Oz in one evening. It was a fun book. It made me want to read all the Oz books, but I think there are about 15 and, although they are probably all quick reads, I have too many other series I'm in the middle of.

Wicked was not my favorite book I read this year. It had a lot of sex in it and it was pretty dark. However, when it was over I found myself missing the characters.

I read Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way a couple of weeks before I gave birth. I was worried it was going to be too little too late, but I drew upon some of the things I learned while I was in labor. It was especially helpful to learn about the different emotional signposts of labor. I'd think, "Well, I'm still smiling and laughing. I know that means I have a long way to go still."

I loved The Help. I knew that I would. There were some disturbing scenes, but everything turned out alright enough in the end.

November

I loved The Two Towers even though I had a hard time getting through it. My mind wandered a lot during the descriptive paragraphs, but I love this story. I love Sam. He reminds me of my husband.

Oh how I love Percy Jackson. We really didn't enjoy the Lightening Thief movie, so I didn't expect much from the books, but they are so fun. Devan and I both flew through them. They inspired me to brush up on my Greek mythology too, so that's a bonus.

Magpie and Dilly is the first in a spin-off series and it's a prequel to the Buggy Crenshaw books. My aunt Mickey writes these books and this was definitely the best one yet. I loved the characters and loved the ending.

After reading the prequel I had to reread the first Buggy Crenshaw book. I enjoyed it so much more having just read so much background on it.

December

I like to read Pride and Prejudice at Christmas time. I think I've read it 5 times. This year I decided to do something different and read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It's the original book, with extra zombie scenes thrown in. It was, of course, not as good as the original, but I did much prefer how Lydia and Wickham ended up in the end.

And of course, A Christmas Carol. I love this story so much. It makes me want to be kinder and more understanding. It makes me grateful for my family even if we have a tiny home.