Princess Perky's Page

It cost an arm and a leg, but it kept my daughter warm even when we had a river in our tent.

The rest of the kids fared marginally better in their bags and ours was I guess ok considering how soaking wet it was when we finally got up in the AM.

Between the bag and the food for camp, we might not make paying the CC off just yet. Rather annoyed about that, but at least one out of the 5 kids was warm.

Our next big purchase, before March of next year, will be a tent that doesn't leak!

I have completely paid off the dental bill as of...well however long it takes ing to pay a bill once you tell it to do so...

Which is cool, sadly the CC will not be paid off this week. Most but not all. Prolly in two weeks. Not sure because I am not the one who pays it, I could be, but every time he shows me the info I forget.

Bad news for the week. I went camping with my daughters sleeping bag, it sucked, she needs a 20 degree or even a zero. a 40 degree bag means you wont die in 40 degree weather, since we camp down to 30 ish we really need to be a bit warmer when we sleep.

So birthday present for my younger son, Birthday party for both him and his sister, sleeping bags for the two of them, and.....tennis shoes for my oldest son. He keeps ruining his shoes. Not cheap, and this is why the CC will wait another two weeks.

While I frequently counsel my kids, friends and anyone else who wants to listen, that counting chickens is best done after they hatch (actually after they mature and manage not to die of diseases...)

I still like to waste a bit of time dreaming about my 'chickens'. That being a metaphor for money that may or may not ever appear.

So here it is, Of course 'regular bills' need paid first, and right now they are, debt needs gone (looks like end of Oct), and the EF needs restored....

but then....after we take care of real health insurance, like for the whole family. Then we want real retirement savings, Not sure how much that would be, but more than current.

And THEN...my dream of dreams...a maid.

I am currently putting a maid before a bigger house, what good is more space if I can't spend any time enjoying it because I am constantly vacuuming, mopping and cleaning bathrooms?

I really really hate cleaning, and I hate being in a house that needs cleaned......

Unfortunately with how many folk we have here, and all being way to messy by nature, we would need a daily maid.

After the maid, then yeah, sure a bigger house would be lovely, or an addition to this one? But really I would rather live a bit closer to all the 'stuff' we do.

My husband had a chat with my one son today about cheap vs value.

They were in the store buying groceries, saw an item with a $40 price tag, and a similar item right beside it for only $6.

Happened to be wine.

Both wines were rated the same or nearly the same from several magazines. So they talked about how, while there is a chance the expensive one tastes better, it is more likely they are both good, and we can save a good deal of money by sticking with the $6 stuff.

I love how many lessons can be learned while shopping. From discussions of how 'having' money and being free to spend it are not the same to talks of health (why buy the expensive bread?) And conversations on value, we really learn more at the store than most other places.

Now if I could only get a free night to relax and enjoy that wine!

I work very hard to keep the initial cost of scouting in both my troop and my pack low.

But I am failing miserably to keep MY costs low. Between the enormous amount of printing, the last minute nuke a dinner, and the constant outflow of food or supplies for den meetings, I am going broke.

Not that we didn't have scouting last two years when I Was broke, just that this year is far better than those. Things are just easier with enough money that I don't have to ask for donations, money to pay for he camping supplies/printouts/food/whatever.

This year the GS is really making it even harder, they have upped the book requirements and made every rank need to do a journey for their badges. I really don't know why they went with such an expensive model. In cubs you can avoid paying anything for a book, all the information is online. We do still buy some, but not nearly as many as the GS is asking for.

Why would you choose to make the program so inaccessible to girls? The point shouldn't be about making money, it should be about helping girls grow strong and responsible.

Before I got married I held down 3 jobs to pay the bills. (and before that I had two, but lived in my car). I wouldn't call that spoiled. Yet I really in many ways was, what I really wanted I got, every time.

After we got married I worked with kids, he worked with computers money was just fine, not dealt with the smartest way, but it was fine. I have no recollection of the total income, but it covered the bills and left too much for being silly (dinner out every night, really?) Though since I couldn't drive I still packed lunch every day!

Even though we both had jobs, we combined the money and spent it together.


Then when we had kids - I stopped working to take care of them. I haven't really had money to call my own since.

It is our money, if I wasn't here to take care of the kids, he wouldn't be able to go make the money. Conversely if he wasn't out making money I wouldn't be able to stay here. I can't possibly see how we could separate it into 'his' or 'mine'.

Most of the money goes to bills (including debt, and savings), then way too much for the volunteer organizations, and after that a bit of splurging I don't think either of us keeps track but all told we both splurge about the same amounts, though not at the same time. He gets more junky chocolate or pops, I get big stuff less often. When he gets big stuff he waits for the amazing deal, and even then doesn't always take the plunge.

All in all though it averages out, and the basics are all taken care of.

It is our money, it has to be how can we possibly claim to be deeply in love if we are not interested in looking out for the others best interest, monetarily and otherwise.

So about that windshield...it is awfully hard to pay someone to fix it if they wont come fix it!

First they said they would be here on Monday, then when I didn't answer the phone the figured we weren't here and didn't come. I know I should have been holding the phone close all do to make sure I could answer, but...somehow 5 kids got in the way.

Then when I call them the said it was too late so they would try again today. (my first free day)

Apparently they called again yesterday, of course I didn't answer, I never answer the phone! I was prolly in a meeting anyway. I called them three times this morning - no machine! How do you run a business with no answering machine!

When I finally get a hold of them to confirm they will be coming he tells me he wont get to it till after lunch time. Now I am glad you have a lot of business, but this is starting to get on my nerves!

Monday I had all day to wait, today I HAVE to be back at church at 5:45pm (preferably earlier)

Sheesh buddy, come take my money! (and fix the windshield)

Someone commented on an old post of mine from 2007 (not the reading addict one). I was trying to remember what was going on at that time, so I peeked at the rest of my posts that month.

It was a lovely walk down memory lane. The Thanksgiving we were all puky (and wonderful friends brought us food).

I was pregnant, but the rest of the house was sick.

That was also the first Winter I realized we had nearly halved our electric bill. (partly with reducing the temperature, partly with minor changes in curtains and such)

One of the neat things about blogging is the joy of looking back, seeing how far we have come, and how much has stayed the same.

I don't know that I would ever do this if it weren't for a few readers though. Some how keeping a journal or diary just for me never really seemed worth it. Between all the effort involved in spelling things actually using a pencil, and bothering to find the same book I wrote in last week was all just too much work! I know I am lazy.

But you give me an audience, and all of the sudden I am desperate to share! Though in my partial defense, some of my audience is family, and it is sorta the lazy way of keeping up with them....

Question: "Why are we keeping a bunch of broken chairs?"

Answer: "Because I don't have a welder to fix them."

Really? Because we do not have the means to fix something we must save it? I don't have room for more chairs, I don't exactly have a use for more chairs, and I really can't see why I aught to use up garage space so that I might someday fix these broken chairs!

Now I do save something things, I have a broken skateboard, that the kids use as a balance tester.

We also have several old peanut butter containers, just so the kids can dump and fill. Lots of other spare pieces of wood or whatnot for the kids.

I just can't justify 5 broken chairs.

So I get up early, lots of plans of getting things done, since time is what I am always short on I figure all I have to do is get up a bit early.

Well since I was holding my phone with the alarm I figured I would take a quick peek at my email, it is right there only one click. TimeSuck! 10 minutes later I actually roll out of bed.

Then I threw a load of laundry in the washer, tossed the few cups randomly around the house in the dishwasher ran that and made a healthyish smoothies.

So far so good. Then WHAM TimeSuck, I sat down to drink the smoothies, and thought I could peek at FaceBook while I drank, I have to sit still to drink don't I. Way later than I want to admit I dashed out the door for a quick walk before the kids woke up.

Now here I am much later in the day, and trust me, between Wikipeadea, Reddit, and Pinterest I am hopelessly behind!

Long ago I stopped buying clothes. While I enjoy the fun of buying things, and feel the lure of adorable kids clothes. I also know that my kids have plenty of clothes that fit, and plenty to grow into.

I don't even save most of the stuff they outgrow for the next kid. I know my friends and family will buy or pass down plenty of clothes.

I have a few sentimental items in each size, but other than that too small stuff goes out the door.

Someone can enjoy the clothes for years before I would need it again.

Once I made it known we loved hand me downs, we were flooded with clothes, and continue you to be each season.

We still buy underware and socks, plus the occasional coat, but other than that the kids are clothed for free.

We got a crack in our windshield somewhere in the middle of our unemployment. At first it stayed up, but as it grew it slanted down into the passenger side field of view.

I have grown to barely notice it, but it does stop us from getting inspected.

And nowadays you need to be inspected before you can re-register your plates.

So with all our extra money we have been paying off the debt...not getting the windshield replaced, because it isn't bothering us.

Apparently it bothered the cop that pulled my husband over today.

So I guess we will be replacing the windshield this weekend, and then inspecting the car, and then dealing with the plates, and then dealing with the ticket.

Today is one of our super busy days, we have this to do all afternoon and evening, and not all in one place.

We flu ally figured out a sequence of events that squeezes the errands in between. And has all the right kids at all the right places.

And one of the biggest obsticals is food. We all eat a lot and eat constantly, food is the key to my kids behavior. Well fed they are not half bad, underfed or an hour away forms avoid and they are royals PIAs.

Toaday I packed dinner, I am staying home, so my husband has to cook. I made it easy on him. Chicken nuggets veggies, fruit, and some snacks. We can use the microwave at church, which is very nice.

It has been a long time since we were caught needing to eat out. Ihave become rather good at quick foods, or cooking the day before. If all else fails I throw PB and bread plus apples in the bag.

I am often surprised at the number of folk who think packing dinner is too hard. Don't get me wrong, my memory is lousy, I am lazy, and really I hate PB sandwiches. But that doesn't stop me from doing what has to be done to save money regardless.

We still eat out once in awhile (less often when unemployed). Just it is usually a planned event.

Not that I am one of those 'forever alone' types that only reads. But that as a homeschooler I visit my library constantly and use it for all sorts of curriculum.

Right now we are working on biology, so I looked up books on cells, ecology, food webs, and a few random 'biology' topic books. At the end of two weeks the kids have learned a ton all for free. The kids pulled out a few experiments from one of the books, pulled out the microscope and watched a few Khan videos.

All in all I am quite happy with what they have learned, and all for not one penny spent.

I also borrow videos for my 3 year old, long since given up on nap, she hasn't yet learned how to be quiet for the 2 hours of nap (that I need even if my baby doesn't) so a bribe of an educational movie helps each day. The movie doesn't last the whole time, but it covers the most important settling in time for the baby, for the rest of the time she practices the oh so important 'shush' skills.

History is another great place to utilize the library. Right now we are working on colonial history. A story book about Abigail Adams, or a story of Ben Franklin, and George Washington is far more helpful than a text book, or workbook.

I also use the library to find books related to scout projects, 4H, and FLL. I could never manage without my local library.

Funny thing, the library I use isn't even local! We travel 20 minutes cross town to get to it, still in county though.