Blog Hop!

I found some fun new blogs from this Blog Hop today! :)

Goals Poll

Here's the new poll. Again, it is found on the right side of the blog and you can answer through the rest of the week. This ones should be interesting! I can't wait to see the answers that come in. I've already marked mine and I'm sure you all are very familiar with the answer! Getting out of debt. So, how about you? What is your goal? By the way, these answers are anonymous. So you don't have to feel self conscious of your answer. No one but you will know which you picked, unless you decide to share it in the comments.  So vote away!

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS YOUR FAMILIES' CURRENT FINANCIAL GOAL?

An attitude of Gratitude

I just ran across this quote on another blog and it got me thinking. So, I'm sharing it with you too. Thankful for a lot today! How about you?

Not a Website Designer!

SORRY!! I seem to be having some serious issues on blogger right now. My posts are showing up strange and I have all kinds of random 'error' messages showing up too. I'm trying to figure them out, but I am not a web guru! So please be patient with me as I try to get these things OFF, but it'll all be on "bloggers" time frame, since I'm not the one actually fixing it. Hopefully for some of you, it's still showing up as it should!

Poll Results

Last weeks poll is over and I have a new one posted currently, but I wanted to give you the  results of summer splurge poll. The question was, "This summer, what big items are you  most likely to splurge on?" The answer choices  received the following votes:  A. Vacations, a big family trip or several small getaways, 2 votes/ 50% B. Shopping for summer accessories, can be home/garden or clothing, 2 votes/50% C. Lots of little treats (eating out more often, fun drinks, family outings), 2 votes/50% D. I'll be extra diligent at sticking to my budget this summer and will not have any splurges,  0 Votes. This time you were allowed to select more then one option, so that's why the results aren't perfect  percentages. There were 4 people who voted on this one, so some voted for more then one.  My thoughts?  I think it's SUPER hard to stay on track during the summer. It's so easy to be in a  better mood, getting out more often, doing more family activities and all around more active.  I know for myself, this time of year is hard for me to not over spend. Of course, we'll also be  going on a vacation, and even though we've got the money saved and set aside for that,  it's a reasonably sized chunk that would otherwise be going toward our debt. We do see the  value of that for our family time and quality time, memory building is important to us,  so we make it work. And, who doesn't love to just get away for a while and have a change of scenery and routine? I'm not at all surprised that all three choices got some votes, they are all so tempting and  easy to do!  My goal?  I know these are hard areas for me, so I'll be working harder at allowing some spending  money in our budget for a few extra splurges, but then being strict about staying  within those limits so we don't over extend ourselves.  How about you? What do you plan to do to minimize the 'damage' done to your budget and make room for a few splurges along the way?

Party on a Budget

It's time for me to start planning another birthday party. Since that's what's happening around here-and we're always on a budget-I figured I'd share some of our ideas with you. We've always had our parties at home, at least up to this point it's been cheaper that way. I know we're currently an extreme example on these things, but we keep all our party expenses (including gifts) under $100. So, it's TIGHT to have a lot of people over, give them some food and enjoy celebrating our kids' special days. The good news is that it can be done! :)

Here's some ideas:

1. Keep the food simple and cheap
-For my daughter's party we did a light lunch buffet with several selections, some fresh fruit and veggie trays, mini sandwiches, dips and pita chips, crackers and cream cheese dips--that sort of thing. It turned out to be a wonderful selection and all were yummy!

-You can also keep the food in line with your party's theme to minimize some of the selection/expense. Our son's party will be an All-Star Theme, so it'll be a brats/hot dog kind of dinner. We'll try to keep all the food selections along that theme. The great thing about it being summer is that all those types of ingredients will be on sale and a lot of fresh fruit/veggies are in season! yay!


2. Decorating on the cheap
-Two words: Dollar Tree! You can get so many great decorations along a specific theme at the dollar store. They also have the paper goods, table cloths and treats for kids' goodie bags.

-We've added our own homemade decorations too or used things we've already got to add to the theme for the party. I also like to keep the goodie treats to coordinate with the decor, so as they sit out they add to the pretty/theme-feel of the room/space.

3. Keep it homemade
-Almost everything in our parties is made my me, from the food to the cake. Cakes can be extremely expensive, especially for the really elaborate ones. So I took a cake decorating class a couple years ago and have been making and decorating my kid's cakes ever since. The ingredients for a homemade cake (once you have the decorating supplies) is easily less then $5! Once you've got a few basic skills you can make it up as you go along from there if you have a creative gene! :) Otherwise, maybe a friend or family member would like to do the cake as part of their gift to your child.

4. Make it special and meaningful
-There are ways to make a party special without spending any money. I like to decorate with a lot of pictures of the kid's year. It doesn't cost me anything, but it adds to the atmosphere. I also like to have their scrapbooks out because people love looking through them and finding memories that they've shared with us throughout the year.

-Having a few favorite games or toys out as part of the decor or plan for the party adds more to the 'special' factor too. In a lot of ways the meaningful elements help put the party over the top, and it's the free stuff! :)

5. Buy it on clearance/Plan ahead
-If you know what you're going to be doing, even months ahead of time, you can be looking for things and can wait for them to go on clearance. I did a lot of this this year, because I knew what our parties would be I've had time to buy things along the way and not doing it all the week or two before the party.

I also came across this article that has some more money saving ideas.

What do you do to keep your party expenses down? I'm open to hearing all kinds of ideas while I'm busying planning my son's bday party this month!

Paid in full!

We just got another 'paid in full' letter from one of our Sallie Mae loans. It was one that totaled $19,779.07 and it is DONE! We no longer have that stress in our lives, it is so exciting. We still have our final loan, but we are making progress one pay check at a time on that one. Hopefully soon we will have our final 'paid in full' letter in the mail. :)

Cheap & Easy Dinner

It's been a while since I've posted a cheap and easy dinner. I have a few to post, but today I'll link you up to this article that has 7 one pot meals for under $10.