52 Week Money Saving Challenge

Happy New Year and welcome to 2014.

I don't know if you've seen it or not but the 52 week Money Saving Challenge is all over the internet right now.  I have no idea how one would go about finding the original post for this idea because there are just too many of them.  Do a search and you'll see what I mean.
 
The concept for this plan is that if you make yourself a savings jar and put in $1 the first week you have started the plan. 
Each week you add one more dollar than the previous week. Week 1 deposit $1,  week 2 deposit $2, right up to week 52 depositing $52.   If you follow this plan at the end of the year you have saved almost $1,400.

I think it's a great idea and decided this would be my New Years Resolution.  There is one big drawback. I never have an extra $200 in December. I don't make a set amount of money each week because the number of children I care for fluctuates ...... and December is always the slowest month  because of  Christmas. I had to adjust the plan if it was going to work for me.
 
 
I found this chart  at www.savingadvice.com  and liked how it was more flexible with the deposit amounts. At the bottom of the chart it has the amounts from $1 to $52.   


Each week I put my deposit into my jar and cross off the amount I used from the bottom.   If I have a short work week I can deposit one of the lesser amounts and in the summer months when I  make larger paychecks I can make the larger deposits. In the end I will have the same total because all the deposits are in the jar. 

So that's my New Year's resolution... to work on my savings challenge for 2014.  Did you make a resolution? .. and if you did ,  did you come up with a plan to make it work?

Back to school lunch choices

This post is a bit out of the norm for me but I really wanted to share this. 
I saw this post for a really great idea for back to school lunch prep that allowed kids to choose their own lunch and snacks each day for school. 
I remember from the days when my own boys were still in school how frustrating  it was when their lunch boxes came home half eaten because they weren't happy that day with the choices I had made for them.  I also remember how hard it was to get them to eat healthy from a packed lunch. 
This post is about a way to let your kids pick their own lunch and snack items and still know they are getting a healthy balance of food items.  It also means they might actually eat their lunch because they picked it themselves. 
I know a few well organized moms who do up a ton of food choices on the weekend to make lunch making easier through the week, but why not take it one step further and actually let the kids pack their own lunches.  This method lets them do that while still maintaining the control over their diet that you need to keep them eating healthy.
An added benefit of this idea..... it helps develop good decision making skills. 
 
I recommend this post to anyone with kids.  Just click on the highlighted words above to read the complete post with the instructions.


Bye for now ... and have a good day everyone.

Little desk and message center.

I can't wait to show you the  message center in the corner of my kitchen .. It didn't start out as a planned project,  but for some reason it just ended up as the perfect pairing.  Does that happen to you too?  Things just seem to go together naturally.

First I fell in love with this little yard sale desk set.  It's very petite by todays standards, but it's the regular height of a modern desk and chair. It was made in the early 1900's long before we needed extra space for all of our electronics. Back then people still wrote letters .





It had some little scratches  on the desk top and the chair was broken at the top cross bar.  A little Gorilla glue fixed up the chair and the hole was filled with some wood filler and sanded.

 
 
 
Just look at this seat,  its hideous.  It is definitely going to need an update.

I painted this set in my favorite (right now) colour, and after a little distressing and wax I thought  it was looking quite beautiful. 

 

 

And the damage on the chair? Can't even tell where it was.

 

 

Isn't this a pretty colour? It's no wonder I'm hooked on it right now.  :)  It's such an improvement over the dark brown finish and those horrible harvest gold flowers. 

 

 

Take a look at this stash of stuff again. Do you see those rectangle shaped trays piled on the desk. There are four of them and they are truly ugly, and cheaply made. 

 

 

 

A coat of blackboard paint and some paint on the boarder to match the desk set and look at them now. It's cool how you can turn almost anything into a blackboard now.

 

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
There were four of them so I labeled them according to what I needed most.  I actually missed  a shower invite on the weekend which inspired one of the labels. I won't forget another invite again.

 

And here they are in their new space, doing a wonderful job of keeping me organized ...... If that's possible. Just enough room inside for my daycare schedule and a phone book.

 

Of course all my pieces are for sale, but I won't be too sad if this one doesn't go for a long time.

 

 

Bye for now.... and have a great day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Shopping List

Did anyone watch Steven and Chris today?  They were cooking some Portabello mushroom pizzas and Ceasar salad that looked super yummy but what I really liked was the grocery list template they shared.  It can be found on their website here ..  shopping list

I'm like a lot of people when I go shopping for groceries, I'm not prepared.  I make a list but its all over the place so I have to go up and down the aisles and backtrack a dozen times to get what I need. The biggest problem with this is that by the time I get out of the store there are a few dozen things in my cart that I didn't intend to buy.  And most of them aren't good for me. 

This list is designed so that you travel the perimeter of the store and don't go up and down the aisles at all.  Because all the healthy foods are on the outside aisles, this keeps you from making those impulse purchases.

You are only supposed to go into the center aisles to pick up the items that are on your list and then head to the checkout. 

I'm thinking this will help keep my diet in check, as well as save me a bit of cash because I'm not impulse shopping.   Just thought I'd share.

Bye for now ... and have a good day everyone.

Pantry Envy

I hope everyone enjoyed a fabulous Easter weekend.  We had no special  plans this year so hubby and I spent a few days at home actually having some well deserved down time.  This doesn't happen that often so it is really appreciated when it does. And he even made his lasagna for our Easter dinner.  I must say it is to die for.  I'd ask how he does it but then I'd have to make it myself and it wouldn't be the same.

I spent a bit of time looking at some pics of pantry's today and I have to say I am suffering some serious pantry envy.  Right now I have things stored in a number of different places, including the guest bedroom closet and the  laundry room.  I have a dream of one day turning a full wall in my laundry room into pantry storage, but nothing is going to happen very fast in that department so I thought I would share some of my favorite pantry pics here.



This  would be perfect. Right in the kitchen, and so convenient. The only problem, it's bigger than my tiny kitchen.

Both of these are great with everything in plain view.

And this one is just so pretty. I love the wallpaper behind the shelves.


















All these were from  here   .  There are so many wonderful ideas, its worth going to the originals to see the full stories.


But for now I am just going to keep putting things wherever they fit.  I did do this today though.

An empty pop can case

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Some wallpaper.  Just because it's nice and thick.

 

 

A little glue .  Clothes pins are the best when you need a helping hand.  Next time I'm getting out my glue gun though,  it's so much faster.

 

 

This is the front. Just a few more minutes of drying time.

 

 

 

And it's filled with cans. 

 

 

 

 

The hardest part of this was waiting for the glue to dry. 

All it takes is a half inch rise at the back and the cans roll easily into the front so I don't ever have to worry about  outdated cans. 

I plan on making more of these. 

If I can't have a pantry at least I can be  organized. 

Have a great day everyone.