Furniture List for Craig’s List or Thrift Stores

Since I’ve given up on traditional furniture shopping, I’ve decided to post my list that I will be looking for online and at thrift stores in the next few months.

1. Dining room table with six chairs…need a really good sized table and would like a table big enough for 8 chairs. 

2. Sleeper sofa or sectional with a sleeper…gotta have extra room for Mimi and Poppy.  Although she claims the camper will be her “guest” house!

3. Two full size loft beds…yes my beloved and a friend will build these.  We also need two desks, two chests and one large mirror for the “prettiest” child.  Her words, not mine. For the first time the two teens will be sharing a room. Extra prayers for me!

4. We are debating the benefits of a bunk bed/trundle bed or raised bed with storage for one child.  She can’t make up her mind other than she wants pink, purple and zebra!!  Won’t that be bright!

5. Of course, a big concern is a washer and dryer.  Ours are pushing 8 years old.  They have been a great set and have done tons of laundry.  I found a local place that sells last year models and reconditioned sets for a great price.  I’m budgeting for a “like” new set of uprights.  I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for a red set.  I also want an upright freezer. 

Per Mr. Germ-phobic, I will break down and budget for all new mattresses.  I thought my idea of blow up mattresses was excellent…no way the kids could hide stuff under their beds.  Looks like I’m getting vetoed on that as well.

There are a few kitchen things we will pack, but it’s not going to be an all-out packing marathon. The girls and I are looking forward to plundering the excellent thrift stores in and around Athens.  We are blessed to have my Mother’s retirement camper to stay in while we assemble our furniture.  It is certainly making the move less stressful for me. 

We Will Just Sit on the Floor

Our impending move is almost here.  I suddenly realized, duh…we must have some additional furniture.  Our plans are to be back and forth between both houses.  When we are home, we will still need beds, pots and pans and something to sit on.

So Mimi, Maddie and I went to Albany to look around.  My original game plan was to find some of the basics used on Craig’s list; table, sofa, dressers, etc. My husband, the nicey nice germ-phobic, went all “yuck” on me.  I’m like OK, I’ll go look at new stuff.   Besides, most of what we have is old or hand me downs.  It would be wonderful to have brand spanking new “adult” furniture.

Or so I thought. Boy did I get my feelings hurt.  Since when did the price of furniture nearly double? Mattresses, most especially, have gone up since we last purchased one new nearly 7 years ago.  And for the record, I have great taste.  Or at least the price tags that I had the nerve to flip over said I had great taste.

I’ve never been a dress to impress, drive to impress or “house” to impress type of person.  I am more of a good quality, long lasting purchaser.  I’ve never bought much into any type of trendy stuff.  My style has definitely evolved into sturdy stable Southern Living without all the flowers. By the time we had hit the fourth furniture store, my “style” had reverted back to garage sale and I was ready to go home.

I had a list, and really just wanted to get an idea of how much new stuff cost as opposed to used.  However, between the wallet shock and my joints screaming in pain, I think returning to plan A is our best option.  So it’s back to Craig’s list perusing for high quality furnishing from those trendy folks that like to redo.  Not only will that help me stick to my “budget”, my knees will love me for it too!

UPDATE: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Or How to Make $108 Per Hour

Just made the 2nd batch...again it took much longer to assemble my antique food processor than to mix it all together.  I am staying with the same "recipe" for right now.  The clothes appear to be clean and smell fine, so I'm not going to change anything up.

The 2nd best news:  I still have enough washing soda and borax for at least two more makings, effectively reducing the cost per batch to really cheap.  I originally bought the washing soda, borax and two bars of soap from Walmart.

The washing soda was about $3.50, borax $5.00 plus each bar of soap was $.94. I will have four makings out of this for a total cost of about $3 per batch.  That is 12 weeks of laundry or $4 per month vs my normal expenditure of $13 per on detergent alone. 

So even though I'm only saving $9 per month, that equals $108 per year.  At five minutes for batch, that is one hour per year of my time.  I only wished that I made $108 per hour back in my working days. 

The hated Chore of Grocery Shopping

Am I the only one that detests grocery shopping?  I don’t think it’s just the RAD even though lifting cases of water and jugs of milk can be painful.  Partly I don’t like spending the money and then having to unload the stuff, generally by myself, and finally put it all away.

Last week, I managed to stay out of any large grocery store except for one small trip Wednesday.  I wouldn’t have gone then had I not needed one item to complete our meal.  Sigh.  I did a pretty good job of using what we had in the large freezer and the pantry.

But this week I had to go.  And I went alone.  Of course most of what I needed was for Scott.  I hate for him to have to work all weekend on the trucks and trailers and then have to do his own grocery shopping for the truck.  Plus, I probably spend less than he does and buy him healthier stuff.  Except the Oreos, I caved on the real, name brand Nabisco Oreos. 

I don’t count the specific items I buy for Scott for the truck in my budget.  The poor fellow has to eat, right?  I would like to be able to save a little more and cut our weekly grocery budget down to about $50/60 per week without extreme couponing and eat healthy.  Is that asking too much?

I had hoped that by planning menus and shopping wisely, I would be able to avert the dreaded weekly shopping trip.  That’s all good, but unfortunately, none of my “help” plans to eat next week.  So I had to lift all the heavy items and load them in the bus myself.  Then, unload it all by myself.  Do you have ungrateful little grocery eaters at your house too?

I am continuing to adjust our budget to reflect one income.  Of course, next to housing and utilities, food tends to be the next largest expense for us.  So, how do you buy groceries? Especially my fellow autoimmune sufferers…do you go once per month and stock up on everything? 

Do you go once a week because you like to escape?  Scott use to accuse me of that when the girls were very little.  Do you use a menu plan to save money?  I'm open to suggestions.  Got to get those dollars and our budget tighter!

Budgeting…Yuck

This post will have to have a sequel...it just went on and on and on.  When I quit work, the number one question people asked me was how could I afford it? Well, I had a plan and a budget.  Plus I'm only out of the workforce temporarily, while I rest and get my RAD under control.  I have every intent on returning to some type of employment within the next year.

If I’ve learned anything the last few years it has been that money, and managing it, is more psychological than financial.  Everyone brings their on idiosyncrasies into how they earn and spend.  Without a budget, you lack a financial road map.  And without a map, you are liable to just meander along and “fritter” away your resources.

I’ve worked since the beginning of time, inserting newspapers, babysitting, flipping burgers, waiting tables, Wally World…you name it and I’ve probably done it.  I also spent most of what I earned…clothes, college and racing. Maybe a little more racing.  From all of this, I did learn a great work ethic…work hard or have no money.

It wasn’t until I graduated from college and was officially out on my own did I discover the power of budgeting.  And I basically figured it all out for myself.  Yes, even with a financial related degree, I had very poor personal finance skills.  A few years down the road, I married, had a child and chose to quit work and stay home.  Again, without a concrete ( yes, folks, I mean set in stone with mortar) budget I would have been stuck working full time in the ATL with small children.

During this time my time as a SAHM, I used the Dave Ramsey approach to snow ball debt and save for us to buy our first home.  I am not endorsing Ramsey’s products, because even though I find his message on track I don’t like his “selling” of financial products, especially to people who may be financially vulnerable. There are tons of financial blogs and resources out there today.  So if you are struggling with your finances, put some work into figuring it all out.  But start with a BUDGET.

Today I use an excel spreadsheet to budget each month.  I didn’t say I stuck to it, but it is a starting point.  At least I know my targets and how much is going out. 

I also like the plan found here 50/30/20.  I also recommend the msn money website as a place to start working your way through some financial planning.  This plan comes from the book "All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan" by Elizabeth Warren.

I also read a lot of blogs like Get Rich Slowly , especially the older posts.  I also like Surviving and Thriving and The Simple Dollar. These are real people who have overcome a lot of debt and other financial barriers.  So read and come up with a budget solution that will work for you.

Now, more than ever, having a life altering illness means that Scott and I have to also alter our financial plans.  I know that we have to stay on top of our budget and know what it costs to live...and eventually retire...

It is a tradeoff...how much money is enough for how much life you want to live.  Luckily, I've realized I control those choices.  It goes back to the psychology of money and personal goals all within the framework of a budget that works for my family. 

 

 

Making Powdered Homemade Laundry Detergent

Here are a few things I learned as I made the detergent:

1.      It takes hardly any time at all.

       2.      Start with a small batch.
       3.      My food processor is going to be amazingly clean

How this all got started…I ran out of liquid clothes washing detergent for my ginormous front load machines.  And I do a tremendous amount of laundry with 3 girls and a husband who believes in extreme dirtiness.

I figured it couldn’t be too hard to make my own and it has to be cheaper.  I spend about $15 a month on detergent alone, plus $3 on spray and wash and about $6 on the big bucket of oxyclean.  That is a whopping $24 a month on laundry.  I consulted with the Web’s and Facebook’s most knowledgeable on homemade laundry detergent.  I also perused pinterest.

I concluded that the liquid would be too much work for a very tired mama.  Two consultants recommended the powdered detergent.  I figured to make a small batch for a test run.

I had previously purchased the ingredients…one box of washing soda, one box of borax and one bar of Fels Naptha.  It took me longer to get out the food processor and put it together than to shred the bar of soap.  I selected an old ready to be trashed Rubbermaid container to store this batch in, mainly due to being lightweight.  These days, ease of use far outweighs price.  But it is awesome to have both!!

 

First Step…shred that bar of soap.  Again, I used my old food processor because my wrist couldn’t handle using my old box grater.

 

Add one cup of borax (per Aunt Gigi don’t inhale at this point), then add one cup of washing soda.

 

Look at those lovely layers.

Last give that container a shake. 

 

So far, I’m on my 3^rd load of laundry.  I have been using two tablespoons and putting it directly into the machine along with the clothes.  They smell great and look clean!!  I’ll update as we use this and let you know how it handles the diesel grease and grime from Scott.

Menu list for Back to School

I am a natural planner.  I like to have a Calendar and put everything on it.  I use the Calendars on my phone, the school’s google Calendars and several different ones for work.  Just love to have stuff written down.  Back to school is no exception.

So, I have started making a menu plan for the month of August.  It isn’t done yet…but when finished, I will attempt to post the calendar as well as the list of meals. The game plan is to utilize a monthly menu for ingredient shopping. Not only am I hoping to save time and trips to the grocery store, but I'm also hoping to avoid those last minute fast food runs. You know, rolling through the DQ drive thru because there is and I quote "nothing to eat in this house!"

I am trying to incorporate some precooking, the crock pot and casseroles.  I have found some great websites and am still looking for a few more kid friendly ideas of almost made from scratch meals. I am also looking for healthy ideas with fewer "processed" foods, more fruits and vegetables and even some meatless meals.

Suggestions are welcome!!