The Plan!

Hello friends!! So in the last post I  briefly talked about living on just my husband's (Eric) income. I have devised a plan to help us do just that. Let me say this, I do not make a lot of money at my job, I work part time. So it won't be a terrible adjustment, living on half our income (which we have not figured out how to do yet )will be harder. This is just our first baby step in that direction.

We have cut down a couple categories in our budget.

The first one being our pool. We have a 16x48 intex pool that we have used the past couple summers, we love it. It's expensive though.

Xander playing in the pool last year

At the end of last year the liner got a significant un-repairable rip. The new liner would cost us 200 dollars plus shipping. We started saving for it, but quickly realized there just wasn't enough room in the budget to save up for it by summer. We also realized the pool costs us an extra 50 dollars a month in chemicals, water, and electricity. If we didn't replace the liner and didn't put it up this year we could save ourselves about 400 dollars. So although we will be missing our pool very much this year, we will be closer to our goals. We will continue to save a little bit each month towards a new pool but it is probably 2 years away.

We are ditching Amazon Prime. We have loved this service a lot, but it just doesn't make financial sense to pay to have free shipping. I will just wait until my amazon purchase equals 35 and buy it then and get free shipping. I have heard people say they save money using their bulk purchasing options but I myself haven't been able to find anything with significant savings.I know there are other benefits like the prime video but honestly, it's almost exactly the same as Netflix with maybe a few more titles in it's library. I happen to like Netflix's selection a lot better. Then there is the kindle lending library which is great if you have a kindle, but we don't. That's fine by me I have a free lending library (the actual library) a couple blocks away and they have a lot more titles :)

 All in all I don't feel it's worth it to pay 99 dollars a year for prime. We also decided to get rid of Hulu plus. We just don't use it anymore. Together that saves us 17 dollars a month.

We cut our spending money a little. Not a lot. Five dollars each per week. No biggie to us but it adds up to 40 dollars a month.

We cut down the amount in our clothing category. We have 100 dollars in there right now and no one is using it. We are cutting it in half saving us 40 dollars a month.

We turned our date night envelope into a day trip envelope. We just haven't been using our date money. Though we love spending time just the two of us it's very easy to do for free. We have our daughter Hannah who loves her brother and offers to watch him a lot. She is 15 and a very good, sweet, patient sister. Yup, we know how blessed we are :)

So we opt for free date nights so we can put that money in the family fund to do some fun stuff with our kids over the summer. Thus eliminating the camping/day trip fund saving us 20 a month AND we still get to have a good time!

We will be doing a spending freeze in May when it comes to food. We will only be buying fresh produce, dairy and eggs (with the exception of Eric's Veggie sausage for breakfast). This will continue until we have used up all the stuff in our freezer because it is SO FULL. This won't be a reoccurring monthly decrease in spending however, it will give us an extra savings boost for our poor drained emergency fund and save for yet another car repair.

So that's that for now as we do more or think of more I will let you know!! Thanks for reading guys and thanks for being awesome.

6 Ways to Have Fun On a Small Budget

Hello friends!!!I know a lot of you out there are in the same boat as us so, I thought I would share some of our very, very favorite activities we do on our super low budget.

1. Board games. Seriously guys we love 'em. It's a great way to have fun and bond. We have bought games new once in a blue moon after saving up holiday or family money we have budgeted BUT a great free  way to get games is to borrow them from friends or family. You can also find very cheap board games at the thrift store or yard sales. Along these same lines are doing a puzzle together, or play cards.

2. Spending time outdoors. Take advantage of your local parks, you help pay for them with your taxes so don't forget to use them :) We do all kinds of different outdoor activities. Take a hike, if you have small children try to make them a scavenger hunt sheet to take on the hike. Include things that are easy to find for littles like leaves, a bird, a squirrel, a flower. For older children you can make it more difficult looking for specific animals and plants. This is great for learning, exercise and fun!

Don't underestimate the simple joy of just taking a walk and talking.

You could try geocashing  read  all bout it here- https://www.geocaching.com/play.

Have a picnic. Food tastes so much better on a park bench, just trust me ;)

Don't forget to bring a ball and Frisbee to the park or your backyard and play some catch!!

Get out those bikes and go for a ride.

3. The library. Friends, I love the library. SO much. There are a ton of things to do there and they are all free! Eric and I even had a date at the library a couple weeks ago and I can't wait to do it again. Check and see what is going on at your local library. Ours have family movie nights, indoor play areas for kids, story time for kids, workshops and fun activities for teens and adults. Not to mention all those books, movies and music there!

4. Check out what your town or city has to offer. Become a tourist in your own town. Check out some historical sites, or a beach or river or pond, take a walk on another side of town you don't go to often. Find your city's website and see what free activities or festivals are going on, you might be surprised.Or check out the next town over :)

5. Dollar menu date, we do this more in winter. Make sure to give your family a big breakfast at home first. Make it a fun one have pancakes or waffles or whatever your family loves. Find a fast food place that has a indoor playground for the kids and get yourselves a cup of coffee. (I pack a few snacks for the kids shhhh don't tell!) let the kids play and enjoy your coffee.


6. Make a time capsule. We did this last year and it was a lot of fun. Find things that represent you and your family at this point in time. Take a picture of yourselves that day and include it in there. Make it as fun  or silly as you want. I buried a Twinkie.  Here is a video of us doing ours.

Remember money doesn't buy happiness or quality family time! You can make your own fun for free

or very cheap. What do you guys like to do for fun on a budget?

Cheesy Zucchini Thingies

Hey you! How are you? You are looking stunning as usual, thanks for dropping by! I thought I would share with you guys the easiest, yummiest, laziest way to make zucchini I have come across yet. Try it, trust me you won't regret it.
P.S. I take really crappy pictures of food. It's good I promise. I don't think I have a future in food styling though :)

2 Medium zucchini
about a 1/4 cup of cheese (I used Provolone and Parmesan)
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
olive oil spray or enough to brush onto the zucchini
1 Roma tomato sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
splash of balsamic vinegar (optional but tasty)


Preheat oven to 425

Cut zucchinis in half length wise then in half crosswise and then in half lengthwise again. I am sure there is a way easier and more understandable way to put that but the little dude still isn't sleeping through the night and my brain is well...mushy.

Brush or spray zucchini with olive oil

Sprinkle on salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder.

Put on cheese.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes, add tomato slices and cook for 5 more minutes

Finish with a splash of balsamic.

Eat it, it's so good.