Becoming My Mother … Happily!

May 13, 2012 By 2 Comments

I think every girl wonders if she will become her mother. Some hope they don’t become their mother at all and others long to be exactly like them. I never really thought about this … until two weeks ago.

I came home from work with my hand looking like this …

You see I was on my way home from work and I remembered that I forgot to order the cake at Sam’s Club for the Girl Scout Birthday Box Event. At a red light, I found an ink pen in my purse and wrote “Call Sam’s Club” on my hand. The kids noticed it as soon as I got in the door and fussed at me. I found this overly funny but realized that they get fussed at for writing on themselves.

The next day my parents came out to see us. My mom saw my hand still with the writing on it and laughed. I told her I thought of her writing on her on hand as soon as I finished writing on my hand. I explained that I didn’t have any alcohol pads in my pocket to wash it off and she smiled.

You see mom always wrote on her hand when we were growing up … the writing would start when she was at work as a nurse at the hospital. It would be codes or phone numbers or a reminder of this or that … at home the lists would get “washed” off with an alcohol pad in her scrub pocket. The lists would sometimes start off with reminders about us three kids or something that had to be done that night.

The good thing about writing on your hand is you won’t lose it but you will wash it off so make sure you can get to it fast when you write on your hand. I admit that I scrubbed off the “Call” and left “Sam’s Club” on there until Sunday so I remembered to actually pick up the cake! As I scrubbed the ink off my hand, I smiled once again.

Yes I am becoming my mother in more ways than I can count and you know what … I am happy about it!

So Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and all of the other moms out there!

 

Filed Under: Parenting, Simply Family Tagged With: , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Christmas 2011

December 28, 2011 By 22 Comments

We hope you had a Merry Christmas! We sure did and enjoyed the joy on our kids faces at both our house and at my parents’ house. My brother-in-law described Christmas at my parents’ house as “paper flying, trashing being gathered, and people yelling “Thanks Mom!” across the room”. That is so true.

Our Christmas in pictures …

Where is your Wordless Wendesday post? Link up and let us know!

Leave us a comment and let us know what your favorite Christmas present was!

Filed Under: Kids, Memes, Simply Family, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , ,

Holiday Gift Budget Pie

November 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Remember all of those posts on The Budget Pie?

Yeah, that Budget Pie concept can come in handy for the holidays too. I saw a list today but of course I can’t find it now. It had four things on it but I like threes so here is a great gift giving Budget Pie!

1. Something fun

2. Something to wear

3. Something to eat

Maybe the pie isn’t balanced into to thirds but if you set your pie to $20 or $50 or whatever your budget is for the person, you will end up with a great holiday gift they are sure to love.

Yes, this is simple but something simple like this can help keep the holiday simple and let you focus on the “Reason for the Season!”

How do you determine your holiday budget? Leave us a comment and let us know!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Budget Pie: The Present

October 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

Remember July’s post on The Budget Pie? Here is the second of three detailed posts about The Budget Pie … The Present. If you missed the first slice of the pie, check out The Past and The Future.

Here is The Budget Pie to remind you …

Back in July’s post I left the present for last so that is the topic for this post.

The present is what you need to spend right this minute to get through your daily routine and all of your extras. This category is your groceries, gas for your car/transportation costs, and clothes. Your extras are eating out, the dessert that calls your name as you walk through the grocery store, that fancy purse that your girlfriend just bought and now you must have too … anything that isn’t a monthly expense but you spend money on right now is your present spending!

The present is full of questions which is why the present is so hard to look at in my opinion. Some present questions are … Do you need it? Do you have money for it? Why are you buying this? What would happen if you didn’t buy it?

Sometimes limits work good for the present. We like limits like eating out once a month is a limit we have used. We will only use cash for some purchases. If we don’t have cash, it doesn’t happen. That makes some decisions really easy!! We also have a limit to what we will spend without asking each other. If a purchase is over that limit, we wait and ask. If it can’t wait then we must not need it.

When you think about the present, don’t be afraid of the questions and also don’t be afraid of admitting something really isn’t need right now.

The Present finishes the details of The Budget Pie but don’t fret this won’t be the last post about The Budget Pie! We have noticed all of the keyword searches for “The Budget Pie” so we will keep talking about it. Feel free to leave us questions and comments as we want to make sure we are answering them!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Wordless Wednesday: Kings Dominion

October 5, 2011 By 15 Comments

A couple  of weeks ago, we took the girls to Kings Dominion. We left Little Dude with my parents (good decision on our part!) The girls had never been to anything more than a local fair before this so this was huge to them! I went to Kings Dominion growing up so it was interesting to see how it changed since I had last been there.

 

 

 

Let us know where your Wordless Wednesday post is so we can come by and leave you a comment!

Filed Under: Kids, Memes, Simply Family, Wordless Wednesday Tagged With: , , , , ,

The Budget Pie: The Future

September 25, 2011 By 2 Comments

Remember July’s post on The Budget Pie? Here is the second of three detailed posts about The Budget Pie … The Future. If you missed the first slice of the pie, check out The Past.

Here is The Budget Pie to remind you …

Back in July’s post I skipped from the Past to the Future so I am going to do that here too.

I think The Future is my favorite piece of The Budget Pie. It has hope and dreams associated with … not as many promises and no old baggage hanging over your head. The future piece of your budget pie is your savings. This might be your retirement savings or your car repair savings or even your Christmas present savings. All of those are items that we should be saving for in our budget. Are you?

Now when I say savings, it doesn’t have to be official like your 401k or a savings account at the bank. Those are both GREAT techniques that will lead to good saving paths though. Your savings plan may just be planning. Wait, wait, wait. Planning isn’t a dirty word. See I added the “-ning” at the end so it isn’t even a four letter word for you to call it dirty! I know how you think and make excuses! Planning maybe your key to your saving success because it makes you think again. Buying Christmas presents through out the year and stashing them in the closet is a great way to do this. Some people like to put a set amount a week ($1, $5 … something) in a jar and then use that for their vacation or gift fund or even a personal reward.

Now I know how some say to pay yourself first. I don’t really believe this and believe you pay your Past first then your Future. But be realistic with your Future planning because remember you still your Present slice of the Budget Pie too!

Now that we have The Past and The Future out of the way, watch for post next month about The Present!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Masters of the Hunt

September 20, 2011 By

Details …

We specialize in creating one-of-a-kind treasure and scavenger hunts for team building, corporate hospitality, promotions and personal celebrations. Want to know why you should work with Masters of the Hunt?  Follow the MOTH:

MASTERFUL: Our experts have over twenty years of experience creating hunts. We know what works…and what doesn’t! So, you never have to worry.  Some of our Hunt Masters have degrees in Leisure Services & Recreation, which means they know the mechanics of how to implement a hunt.  Other Hunt Masters have degrees in Business and Marketing, ensuring they deliver a quality product that looks great.

ORIGINAL: We do not operate typical, run-of-the-mill hunts. When we create a hunt for you it is clever, unique and customized for your needs, venue and guests. Even our do-it-yourself scavenger hunts are customized because we’ve designed them so they can be personalized.

THRILLING: No matter what the end goal of your hunt is – whether you want to educate, entertain, promote or train – your guests will have a great time.

HASSLE-FREE: We ask questions up front, so we can create the perfect hunt for your goals. Other than providing us with those answers, you can just sit back and enjoy the hunt as we take care of everything else.

My Thoughts …

So Grace told us she wanted a balloon and rainbow birthday party. ummm, sure. So I figured out a rainbow cake and balloons are easy but how else do you do rainbows. Well I was thrilled to find Masters of the Hunt Rainbow game. Her party was small due to holiday weekend but this game was loved by all of the kids. The best part it was easy for us. We just printed it out and filled in some information.  No crazy planning on our part which is perfect for my complete lack of time these days (I was still finishing the cake as the kids arrived so yeah I had no time to plan a game!) We put a treasure box at the end of the hunt with all of the birthday party goody bags in it. The kids LOVED this!

There are not only children hunts but tween/teen, family, corporate, holiday and even free hunts on Master of the Hunt’s site. You can stop the crazy treasure hunt planning now and just leave it up to the pros! ;)

After our great experience with the Rainbow Kids Scavenger Hunt, I can think of so many other places to use these great hunts so I can wait to do just that and impress everyone with my planning skill (haha! … I totally give credit because I want others to know about this great product.)

The best part is that you just download files so you are ready to go in no time at all. So last minute planning is no issue at all!!

I am so excited that we get to offer a reader a hunt from Masters of the Hunt (up to a $37 value)!

This drawing will end Tuesday, October 4th at 11:59pm EST.  The winner will have 48 hours to reply to confirm your win! You must include your email address in the comment form so you can be contacted if you are a winner!  You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.

This giveaway is open to US residents who are 18+!!!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell us what group you would buy a hunt for (children, tween/teen, family, corporate)!
Additional Entries:
1) Follow us on Facebook HERE. Worth two entries so leave two comments here! (Psst … we love comments on Facebook so maybe you can leave us one!)
2) Follow SimplyBudgeted AND This_Cookin_Dad on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name. (worth 5 entries!)
3) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a @MastersOfHunt game at @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/opPgY1 #giveaway #birthday #party #game #scavenger ends 10/4      

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
4) Follow us publicly through the Google Friends Connect on the footer. Leave a comment with your name that you subscribe with. (worth 3 entries)
5) Subscribe to the daily email here at Simply Budgeted. It is at the top of the sidebar!;) Leave a comment. (worth 5 entries!)
6) Follow Masters of the Hunt on Facebook! (Worth TWO entries!)
7) Follow Masters of the Hunt on Twitter! (Worth Two entries!)

NOTE: We received a complementary hunt to provide a review of this product. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions of this product our own and based on our experiences using this product.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Memories of Fall

September 4, 2011 By 3 Comments

As fall approaches and we begin making plans for the holidays, I can’t help but think back to our first Thanksgiving in this house.  We had been here for less than a year, but were fully unpacked and excited to have enough room to invite our families over for dinner.  We had the meal planned out; we had shopped ahead with coupons and sales to get the best prices; we even had a schedule together for when we were going to make-ahead certain dishes so that Thanksgiving Day would be less stressful.  About two weeks before the big day, just when we thought we had our acts totally together, our dishwasher breaks!  Tell me…how can you have a stress free Thanksgiving with no dishwasher?  This was the one that had come with the house and it was pretty old so the fact that it broke wasn’t disappointing, merely the timing.

Well, of course, we immediately went out to look at dishwashers with a very pregnant Beth (Sophie was born less than a month later) and a 1-year-old.  We had heard good things about Bosch kitchen appliances, so we checked them out.  They cost a little more, but everything we read told us that they were worth the difference.  The only problem…it was near Thanksgiving!  They had trouble finding someone to deliver and install it.  Finally, two days before Thanksgiving, the drama was over!  We had our beautiful new (super-quiet) dishwasher and were ready to host our families.

Our advice:  If you are hosting family for the holidays and think that your dishwasher might break down…don’t wait to replace it!

Filed Under: Home & Garden, Promotional, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , , ,

The Budget Pie: The Past

August 28, 2011 By 4 Comments

Remember last month’s post on The Budget Pie? Here is the first of three detailed posts about The Budget Pie and first up is The Past.

Here is The Budget Pie to remind you … 

Why start with The Past? The Past is history … but it is history you are STILL paying for in the present and have to plan to pay for in the future. Why do you have a past to your budget pie? The past is anything you signed for using credit … your credit cards, that department store card, the student loans for that awesome degree you hopefully use and don’t wonder why you majored in years later, the car you drive and dinged in the parking garage the first week you got it, your house that love where it is but you kicked the dryer when it suddenly died on you … all of that is The Past. You have pay for it now because you used it then or you are stilling using it.

The good or some times bad thing about The Past portion of The Budget Pie is that the payments are fixed. Like a car payment or a mortgage or student loan, you have a set payment to pay it off. If you have credit card debt, you need to give yourself a set payment so you can pay it off and not keep it for 30+ years! This can be hard to do but there are often online tools that help determine amounts for paying off debt.

The Past isn’t a bad thing though. In today’s society, we need a credit history to do stuff like buy a house or a car. At the same time that credit history can bite you in the butt when you don’t watch it and nurture it like a second husband or another child or a stray cat that suddenly adopted you instead of you adopting it. It is there and you must care for it. Remember it is credit history that is part of The Past of your Budget Pie.

The nice thing about The Past in your Budget Pie is that you can work to change it. You can work to make it SMALLER. It should be a smaller part of your Budget Pie. You can be responsible with The Past portion of your Budget Pie. If you messed up and The Past portion is HUGE … not small … then you can work to not only make it smaller but learn a lesson to not let it be HUGE again.

All that being said, this isn’t a lecture that The Past of your Budget Pie is something you have decide on just like the rest of YOUR Budget Pie. The key to The Budget Pie is that you make it your own … all pieces of it, even the one that no one seems to like the taste of … The Past.

Now that we have The Past out of the way, watch for posts about The Future and The Present in the next two months!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

The Budget Pie

July 19, 2011 By 11 Comments

When talking about your budget it is important to remember that there three pieces to your budget. An easy concept for thinking about this is the past, present, and future of your spending … or a budget pie. So in budgeting terms that would be what you already spent (past), what you are spending (present), and what you will spend (future). Simple enough, right?

So what does that really mean when it comes to your budget? You can think of your past as what you already committed funds to so your mortgage/rent, car payment, student loans, credit card debt … or in other words you already signed on the dotted line to pay someone for something. The Past.

Now let’s skip ahead to the future which is your saving . This is where you need to not only think about your emergency fund and your retirement but you think ahead and save for the holidays, your vacation, your bi-annual insurance bill. These are upcoming commitments that you won’t be able to pay for when they hit you over the head but you can spread it out and save for them because you already know they are coming!

Why did I skip the present? Because you should really think about the present last in your budget pie. This is where you probably have the most room to save money and push it to the other pieces of your budget pie. The present is what you need to spend right this minute to get through your daily routine and all of your extras. This category is your groceries, gas for your car/transportation costs, and clothes. Your extras are eating out, the dessert that calls your name as you walk through the grocery store, that fancy purse that your girlfriend just bought and now you must have too … anything that isn’t a monthly expense but you spend money on right now is your present spending!  Some questions to ask yourself when thinking about your extras … Do you need it? Do you have money for it? Why are you buying this? If you take an extra second to think about what you buy, you might find yourself putting items back on the shelf at the store or not finishing that online checkout. Think about it.

Does the budget pie have to be equal like that picture? No way! Ours sure isn’t. Our budget pie changes every month but our challenge is to stay in that pie. We don’t want to borrow outside of that pie to get something that is an extra. Staying in that budget pie also makes sure that we evaluate what is in piece of that pie. Over the next couple of months, my budget posts will go into more detail on each area of the budget pie.

For this month, your challenge is to figure out what is your budget pie shell. Or in other words, how much money do you have coming in each month? This is what your pie is made of and you need to fit your three pieces of pie in that shell. Up for the challenge? Let us know by leaving a comment on if you are able to figure out what your budge pie shell consists of for your family. Have a question or a comment? Leave those too and we will do our best to answer them!

Want more detail? Check out the detailed posts about The Past, The Future, and The Present of The Budget Pie!

Filed Under: Budgeting Advice, SimplySaving Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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