Yellow Wallpaper

A few weeks ago I checked out a book from the library called The Cure for Money Madness . I don't normally check out books like this but it was on a display shelf and caught my eye. For years I have tried to do a better job at living within my budget and dealing more effectively with money, and for years I felt like I have not done as well as I would like to. I didn't expect to learn much from the book because I feel like I know a lot already but I just don't know how to do it. It turns out that I've really been converted to this book; it's not the most well-written book and some of it is kind of lame, but the central ideas have been really eye-opening to me. It's actually a pretty simple concept: budgets don't work if you don't fix your emotional issues regarding money. He calls these ideas 'money madness' and talks about how everyone has certain money beliefs that drive their behaviors. If you don't confront those beliefs then you will spen...

I wrote a few years ago about some of my grocery shopping tips that I follow, and I still use most of them (I hardly buy meat anymore, so that saves money). I'm proud of the fact that even with four people in our family eating almost every meal at home I keep our food budget under four-hundred dollars a month. Lately 'couponing' has become the big thing and I keep hearing people talk about how wonderful it is. My sister told me about her friend who spends hours each week dumpster diving for multiple newspaper copies, clipping coupons, and running multiple transactions at the grocery store stocking up on cheap food. I just don't have that time or energy. But, I have actually been using coupons during the last few months and getting some good deals so I thought I'd share a few more of my new shopping tips for making couponing work for you: 1. Plan your shopping trips well in advance. Using coupons isn't usually a great deal unless you strategically pair them wit...

The 'nesting instinct' is a common trope of pregnancy; there's something about a new baby that triggers women to want to clean, purge, organize, and otherwise get everything 'perfect' for their new arrival. I have been feeling that a bit of late, though moving last month certainly helped to quash most of my desires to do any heavy cleaning or organizing. I'm not much of a decorator and we don't have a designated nursery so I haven't done much of that kind of nesting either. For some reason this time around my nesting instincts have gone in an entirely different direction: food storage. This doesn't surprise me that much. I've always found it easier to blow money on food (boxes of cereal are easier to justify than new clothes or furniture), and we just moved into a new house with a lot more storage room. Several local grocery stores had their case-lot sales last month and so I indulged a bit. I do think food storage is important and right now I...

Yesterday morning I decided it was time for another trip to DI with Little Dude. I love thrift store shopping and have done it for years; some days it's a total bust and other days it's a gold mine. Thankfully yesterday was a good day and I got a lot of useful things: two new maternity shirts for me (warm ones, thank goodness), pants for Little Dude, a crib bumper, size 6 snow pants that are black so they can be passed down through several kids of either gender, and a bunch of books to give the kids for Christmas. I got a big pile of Magic School Bus books for S-Boogie. Personally I hate reading those out loud, but she loves them and is just starting to figure out reading on her own so I'm hoping they'll help her practice. That means our Christmas shopping is almost done since we're keeping things fairly simple this year for the sake of our budget. One of the main reasons I went to DI yesterday was to buy myself some new pajama pants. Mine have developed a big hole...

I had a good day today, and I think it went well because I got up and went to the gym for the first time in a few weeks. I only walked on the treadmill because I was feeling out of shape, but it was still a good way to start the day. It was a little weird because the counselors in my bishopric were at the gym working out this morning too. That's the funny thing with being in a student ward; last quarter I had a class with my home teacher. This morning I had to go to the Verizon store to get a new battery for my phone. It was a surprisingly painless experience; I had worried that the salesperson would pressure me too much to upgrade, but he didn't at all. I do have to say that he has a job I would never want to have. There were five salespeople all sitting around this little store in a strip mall just waiting for someone to want to buy a phone. I think that would make me want to scream. I also went to Walmart this morning. I almost never shop there anymore; partly for philosophi...

I went to Costco today to return the other lotion and buy some new stuff. And now I like to sit here and sniff my arm because I really like the smell of it. Also, I will now confess that I really like cheesy Europop music (not sure if I've confessed that on here before). The other day in the car we were listening to Laura Pausini and S-Boogie asked me "why is she saying 'Safeway'?" The song actually says " se fue " (he left). Cracks me up now every time I listen to it.

This afternoon I was in Costco heading for the checkout when I rounded a corner and saw a large display of this lotion in front of me. A few years ago my dad brought back some Ahava products for me from Israel when he went on a business trip. I loved them, but after doing some research discovered that they are somewhat expensive and harder to get in the US. So I haven't used it since, but I do occasionally think about how nice it felt and smelled. Costco has a 14 ounce bottle (I think) for only fourteen dollars, which really is a great deal, but it still isn't the best price for lotion. My usual lotion is quite a bit cheaper than that. Plus I just bought a giant bottle of some other lotion at Costco two weeks ago. I haven't opened that lotion yet, so now I'm seriously considering taking it back and spending the money on some luxury for myself. I don't always have to go for the lowest price or the best deal, right?

So I'm taking a little breather from writing papers to write a post. By Friday I should have my final projects all finished up and turned in and I hope I'll have a little more time to write things on here. I'm really looking forward to having three weeks of time off to do whatever I want. I've been having some trouble with my Amazon wish list, because the email connected to it no longer exists and I have no way to log in and update it anymore. Apparently changing the email on your Amazon account does not affect the email on your wishlist , but my password got changed and I don't know how to figure it out. I need to call customer service one of these days. I'm not really sure what I want for Christmas; there are a few kitchen things I wouldn't mind getting, and I'd really like this book , but that's about it. What I'd really like is for an angel to appear and lay out my future for me (or for someone to make housing prices drop here), but that'...

If you have a Safeway near you, you really need to go try the following foods: Pumpkin Pie yogurt--I've never seen this flavor before, but it is really tasty. It's a "limited edition." It's the Safeway brand (Lucerne). They also have pumpkin flavored cream cheese, but we haven't tried it yet. Gingerbread Cookie Ice Cream--Also Safeway brand. It's super tasty ice cream with soft little gingerbread cookies in it. I think I'm becoming addicted.

I have a confession to make: I'm bad at managing money. It's true that I'm good at finding bargains and I'm good at finding discounts and sales. The problem is that I'm also really good at spending money. I have a "budget" and keep track of where every penny goes. My checkbook is always balanced and I usually have no credit card debt. The problem is that I spend everything I get. Looking at my budget for this year, I've spent my entire income each month, and usually even a little bit more than that. I have little in savings, and when we get extra money we tend to spend it instead of saving it. There are some legitimate issues we have as far as budgeting. For most of our marriage our income has really fluctuated. We've often had periods of lower cash flow, like this summer when I wasn't employed. Those are problematic because what we tend to do is to build up savings during good times and then blow it during lean times. Or, even worse, use the c...

I love to go grocery shopping and I love figuring out meal plans. I guess I'm just a little obsessed with food. Since we moved in I've been spending a lot of money stocking up our pantry because we used up most of our food in an attempt to save space in our moving cubes (and I'm glad I did). I'd love to get more long-term storage things, but right now I feel good about having a pretty decent supply of stuff that could get us through a short time without major trips to the store. I realized today, though, that my shopping is probably getting out of hand. For one thing, the food budget is a bit excessive and I don't actually get a stipend for another month. And then as I was putting away the four boxes of cereal I got at Target today (they were a great deal), I remembered the two large boxes of cereal I got last week at Safeway and had forgotten about. That doesn't even include the extra-large box of Raisin Bran we got last week at Costco. So this is a note to my...

I know I've posted some grocery shopping tips on here before and I feel like I spend way too much time on my blog bragging about shopping, but I love saving money and I love food! I have really gotten into stocking up my pantry and saving money, so I get excited when I can do that. Today I went to the grocery store and managed to save 35 dollars while spending 40. I love it when I do that. First of all, I've recently realized (duh) that many dairy products like cream cheese and sour cream are sold at least a month or so before their expiration dates. So now when I see them on sale, I buy a few packages and just keep them in my fridge for when I need them. For example, I've decided that I really like Daisy sour cream since it has no additives. Our store had it on sale for $1.50 off the regular price, so I grabbed three containers this week. Same thing with cream cheese; I'd rather buy a few bricks while it's only a dollar each than suddenly need it and have to pay $...

Hopefully this is the end of my shoe-buying saga and I can move on to blogging about something else. Last week I ordered some Softwalk shoes from Endless.com; they came on Thursday and I wore them around for a little while. They really felt tight, both in the toes and the heel. So I tried ordering the next biggest size. They came today and I excitedly put them on; the toes felt great, but my heels were popping out every time I walked. I got really frustrated and decided that I was never going to be able to find shoes that fit. Then I remembered a coupon for a nearby shoe store that had. I decided it was time to get over my fear of sales people and go shopping. Mr. Fob was here doing homework and Little Dude was napping, so I ran away to the shoe store for a little while. At first things didn't go well. Things were either crushing my toes or flopping off my feet. I think the sales clerk was getting a little frustrated. Then he brought out these shoes in an 8 1/2 wide. I slipped th...

I just realized that I'd better write something today, since I won't have an opportunity to post on February 29 th for another four years. We celebrated today by going to Costco. It was actually a bad idea since we just got our tax return and I was feeling spendy . Thankfully I really didn't do much damage to the budget; my biggest splurges were an Easter dress for S-Boogie and a new Crock Pot. We've been looking for an Easter dress for a while, so it wasn't an entirely unplanned purchase. I liked it, she liked it, and I didn't want to have to drive all the way back up to Costco next week just to buy a dress. The Crock Pot was also somewhat planned; I had a coupon for ten dollars off and had just planned to look at it. I've been debating replacing our Crock Pot for several years now. It works, but shortly after we got it the knob broke off and it's really difficult to change the setting. Usually I have to get pliers out to grip the little plastic stub o...

I often think "it's been a while since I posted on my blog", and then I go look and realize that it's only been a day or two. I have an entire folder of bookmarked articles labeled "blog fodder" that I hope to someday rant about, but for some reason I never get around to doing it. Instead I dash off random entries when I feeling cranky or excited about something and feel like I never say what I really wanted to. This entry is another one of those catching-up sort of things. February is almost over; it's not quite spring, but the last two weeks (almost) have been sunny and warmer. Trees and flowers are starting to bloom and the earth is waking up. It will still be cool here for quite a while, but the increased light and green are really helping my brain out. I'm going to Davis next Thursday and Friday for a visit. I feel really weird--like my first day in the MTC or driving home from the hospital with S-Boogie in the backseat. I have a new label--...

I've discovered that a great way to save money is to never look at catalogs. For several year now I've thrown away catalogs without even looking at them. If you don't see it, you're not going to want it. Unfortunately I've gotten in a bad habit at looking up some of my favorite stores online. I just found out today that this is the last week Eddie Bauer is having their winter stuff on clearance. I bought these pants in brown a few weeks ago and I am in love with them. I'm seriously considering ordering them in gray. Twenty dollars is a great price for quality pants, especially since they come in petite. If any of you need new pants, you should buy them. They are fabulous! Then I found this dress and now I'm really trying to talk myself out of it. Having a job makes it so much easier to justify impulse shopping, although I still can't afford stuff like this. I'm supposed to be saving up for new shoes!

I don't know if I've mentioned in earlier grocery shopping posts, but one way I save money and have fun while shopping is by using the day-old bakery rack at my store. Not all stores have one, but usually hidden somewhere in the back is a rack with day-old goodies that are half-price. Pastries are sometimes kind of gross by the next day or two, but I usually don't buy them anyway. I love picking up some fun, fancy bread to eat with dinner or a nice loaf of French bread to turn into french toast. Most breads are still fine for a few days after the sell-by date, and if they're getting a bit stale I just butter them and toast them under the broiler. This afternoon I got a loaf of some fabulous rosemary bread from La Brea Bakery . It was so yummy, I could have eaten the whole loaf myself. Also we had another great experience at Deseret Industries today. I've been meaning to get the kids new coats for a while now since theirs are both starting to get small. I had planned...

I have a problem when it comes to buying shoes. Well, it's actually a problem with buying clothing in general. I'm cheap. Very cheap. I tend to have arbitrary price limits in my head and refuse to buy anything that costs more than that. This does come in handy considering our limited funds for things like clothing and shoes, but it also means that I tend to have a wardrobe of odd, non-matching, ill-fitting clothes. While it's true that I have found some great things at thrift stores and on clearance, I definitely have other clothes that are just plain lame. I will often choose to buy things because they are cheap, even sacrificing what I really want because it doesn't fit my predetermined price conventions. I am convincing myself to buy this jacket because it is comfortable, stylish, fits a wardrobe need (I don't have a blazer or jacket), and matches a skirt I already have. Oh and it comes in petite, so I can get a large that won't squeeze my tummy and not hav...

Now that she is in school Monday through Friday, S-Boogie is learning about the concept of a "weekend". It's been nice lately that neither Mr. Fob or I have to work on the weekends, so we've been trying to get out and have some fun as a family. Yesterday we drove out to a pumpkin patch over in the Snoqualmie valley. The scenery was worth the long drive. Although it had been rainy and cloudy, the autumn leaves looked gorgeous with the misty clouds over them. The skies were clear during our time at the farm, though it started pouring as we drove away. We did go to the outlet mall because we've been trying to find some good pieces for S-Boogie's Halloween costume. I seriously doubted that we'd be able to find her a blue shirt and red skirt; it can be hard to find basic kids clothes like that. But we actually found a shirt in the perfect shade of blue as well as an adorable red velvet skirt that will work for Supergirl. With a new cream-colored sweater it als...

Today I finally realized something that I wish I had learned about ten years ago, at least. It all started a month or so ago when I saw this sweater in the window over at Eddie Bauer. It's perfect: stylish and practical at the same time. I love cardigans and I don't have a dark brown one. Unfortunately the regular price of the sweater is 68 dollars, and I think it's insane to spend that much money on one item of clothing, no matter how nice it is. But I didn't stop thinking about the sweater. Then I got a Chadwick's catalog that came with a nice coupon for 20 percent off your order. I looked around and saw a shirt that I liked and that came in the perfect shade of blue to match some pants I have. But the shirt wasn't on sale and I didn't like the idea of spending 20 dollars for only one shirt. Instead I looked around on clearance and found a few things I liked and ordered them instead. A six dollar shirt is a better deal, even if it's not exactly the o...