WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Laundry Basket Find

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Wordless Wednesday

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Tipster Tuesday - Marriage & Budget

Well, this weeks Tipster Tuesday is a little different than usual!But there are actually two tips I'm gonna share that I've been very excited about.

My hubby and I had fallen into a "rut" for the last few monthes or so. I was working about 50 hours a week with mixed up hours/shifts so I had been either at work or asleep, literally! That's not only wearing on the one doing it (me!) but it wears down the other half as well. I had to take a step back and remind myself of all that is important to me in my life. The top of the list being my children and my hubby. While the rest of the world looks on and things things are going so well for you, they have no idea. Working those kind of hours every week takes it toll on everyone. And it's only when you take the time to slow down and analyze things that you realize it. It's so strange how people around you can praise you for "doing so well" based on their own idea of what "success" is. Well, I'm sorry, but working 50 hours a week, rarely getting to see my children other than late at night when they are already asleep or early in the morning long enough to say I've gotta go to work...that's NOT my idea of success or of my life "going so well". It never has been. I went back to work in 2008 because circumstances called for it, but as always, circumstances change and priorities reallign :) In the past 15 years, I've worked a total of 3 years outside the home, the rest was either with my own business, or my extra money making ventures. I'm an obsessive budgeting, penny pinching, thrift store shopping nut(!), have no debt other than house & a very manageable car payment, so to conform to someone elses idea that I am "doing well" only when I am working outside my home, just because that is the "normal" thing to do...well, it's just senseless to me. I'm grateful that God has planted in me some great creativity and skill to be able to predictably earn money from home with various outlets. So anyways, yes, I'm bucking the "normal" and the "doing so well" comparisons that I get measured up with!

Anyways, my point before I rambled...hehe...was that in the last couple weeks, my hubby and I have been working through a lot of issues that stemmed from me working so much. We really just needed to spend some time together...amidst the craziness of life, kids, bills, etc., etc., sometimes we forget that. That's Tip #1 this week...to make a conscious effort to reconnect with your spouse. So I've done a couple things that I'm excited about and just had to share with you all!

First of all, I booked us a little getaway to a really nice 4 star hotel(Big Savings at CheapOStay!)...just 2 nights and not so far away, but with two purposes in mind! Joyce Meyer is coming to Winston Salem which I had planned to go to and carpool with friends, but he said he wanted to come with me! I thought that would be the perfect time for us to get away from everything and have some alone time. So we'll be heading to Winston to see Joyce on that Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I can't wait! I told him I booked us a room, but didn't spill all the details about it, so our very nice suite with a jacuzzi tub will be a surprise!

To top it off, ( and FINALLY, here is my other tip!)I decided we needed to make a weekly date night. Always say it and never do it...so it got added to my schedule. And, of course, eating out usually blows a budget and completely absorbs any money you saved on other things, so I found a way to eat out with my husband once a week, for less than I can cook at home! Here's how !

Tip #2 this week :

With this site, you can purchase gift certificates online any day of the week to some of your favorite places! The savings are unbelievable! You can get a $25 gift certificate for just $10.

To top that off, when you sign up to get their emails, you'll get the discount codes, so here's what I did:

I purchased $100 worth of gift certificates to 3 of our favorite restaurants and I only paid $6..yes, SIX BUCKS for $100 !!! That was one $50 gift certificate and 2 $25 gift certificates. You print them out and they are valid for 1 year. I love it! I don't know why I didn't know about this before now, but now that I do, IT IS ON !!

So do you need to spend some more time with your significant other? Need to plan a date night but don't want to blow your budget? Go snag a gift certificate for $10 or less!

That is a definate Frugal Fabulous Find! And spending some alone time with my awesome husband is the icing on the cake !





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Have you or are you "putting in your years" ? And a question....

I recently posted about a sort of "freedom" that comes as your kids get older. It's so easy as your life changes for someone else to forget the years that you most dedicated to raising your babies. The years that we ourselves spend doing so, are forever etched in our memory. I'm so grateful for 8 years that I spent completely at home with my children. So this is a random post of some wonderful memories of those years..the children may grow older and life changes, but the memories never will. Or maybe it's a pat on my own back, because as moms, rarely does anyone else do so. I encourage you to post and comment about things that you either have done or are doing that have an everlasting effect on your life and/or your childrens life.

Random blurbs from my life as a stay at home mom, things you may not know about me and things I am very grateful to have been able to do!

My first son was born in 1995 and I chose to stay at home from his birth until he started kindergarten. He never even saw the inside of a daycare. There are positives and even some negatives of this, but I am so grateful for those years.

During those years, I chose to homeschool my daughter from mid kindergarten through the 3rd grade. We had other homeschooling friends that we schooled with at times as well that enriched our experience. I used every resource available through the state and county to pull daily lesson plans and adventures.

We volunteered with our county's "Meals on Wheels" program. Twice a week, every week, we delivered meals to homebound senior citizens. We had the same route every week and became very attached to those we delivered meals to. It was very rewarding to me and taught so many lessons to my daughter.

On Wednesday nights, I volunteered as a teacher for my sons age group. I spent about 2 years and watched those babies grown into toddlers, into preschoolers and on. I loved planning our lessons and activities each week! I had the same group of kids each week along with visitors and tag along friends. You just never know what seeds you plant into young hearts.

One Saturday per month, we participated in a group called " The Peanut Butter & Jelly Club". We went into the public housing area of our county, knocked on doors very early on Saturday mornings and got kids of all ages, from toddlers to school age, to come with us to their community center. While we presented a puppet show, we distributed PB&J sandwiches to the kids. There is no description for the love that you feel doing something like this. I remember so well the little girls that would want to sit on my lap or hold my hand. They were like sponges, soaking up the affection and love that we poured out to them in that tiny hour, one Saturday each month. It is an experience I will never forget and hope to be involved hands on like this in a needed area ,again sometime.

Sunday mornings meant Sunday School Lessons in our house! I was fortunate again to be serving in the class the age of my son. Sharing unconditional love to tiny hearts souls is an indescribable experience.

Amidst all of this, I look back and know that I was a budgeting, baking, money saving, cleaning and organizing machine! After all, for a stay at home mom, your home IS your life. It was during this time that I perfected my trash to treasure decorating, learned to flower garden and landscape, learned to power shop with coupons and deals, etc.etc. These are lifelong lessons that I continue to build on and directly effect my life today.

So where are you at in "putting in your years" ? Are you there now, raising your babies? Are you pulling your hair out? LOL Or are you finally breathing and building on those years as I am ?

I'd love to hear from you! Leave me a comment and let me know what activities as a mom have influenced changes in your life, or even just something you are doing or have done as a mom, wife, etc. that you want to pat yourself on the back for :)



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SPEEDBUMP on the Highway !!!!!

Can you imagine what it'd be like...you're going 65-85 mph (depends what state you live in!) on a major highway and with no warning and out of nowhere....BAM!!!!!.... You hit a speedbump?!#?@#!

That's exactly how I feel right now. Completely in shock, disolutioned, angry because I didn't have any warnings and saddened by the damage it's has or will cause!

OK, so I didn't really hit a speed bump on the highway...at least not in the technical sense of the words. It's the proverbial "Highway of Life", yet again, with unexpected and unplanned changes.

I'll try to give you a very brief rundown. After nearly 15 years of being a stay at home mom, divorce forced me to jump back into the rat race. BUT, ( yea, there's always a "but" in my stories!) I eased into the change..started at a bottom level position, making nearly nothing just to get back into the work routine. As time passed, the "former" me ( before being a SAHM ) started to show back up and I was excited about the company I was working for and the opportunities for growth within my grasp. When a shift manager position fell into my lap, I took some time, prayed about it, weighed the changes it would mean with more responsibility on the job and maybe being not as available to my kids as they were used to. With their ages of 18, 14 and 9, their need for me to be home all the time has changed greatly and I decided to go with it! The last year, while still adjusting to working a full time job, has been really great! I love the company and the people I work with and started to feel that it was really meant to be.

In September, my General Manager (GM) let me know that he was ready to take a store closer to his home, as he drives an hour each way, every day. My initial reaction was that I did NOT want his job! The added hours, stress and responsibility...I thought of a million reasons why I did not want to fill his shoes. BUT, ( told you there'd be another BUT in my story! )over the next few weeks I started to realize that I might actually be meant to take the GM position. My marketing background and local connections, being in my hometown, have been a huge plus and it began to seem only natural that I would takeover as GM, instead of transferring another GM from another store and causing our small town store to go through even more changes. I got excited and it continued to build. My goals kicked into career mode, as if I'd not had a 15 year lapse:)

The store he wanted to transfer to became available and I was rushed to do the "formal" interview/meeting with other GM and District Mgrs. Everyone seemed to approve and agree that I would be taking over the store. I just had to get to a training session at another NC store location, and then we'd have the green light.

And so I waited. And waited. Twiddled my thumbs and waited some more. October passed. November passed. Christmas came and went. Each time I asked when I would be scheduled to finalize my training, something else came up to delay. So at Christmas, I asked again and was told it would be the first of the year, that the year end budget just couldn't send me, so First of the year, no doubt.

Okay. HEELLLLOOOOOO !!! Today is January 20th. I was told I got the promotion in September AND received a nice pay increase to help me wait on! For the last week I've been back and forth about how firm I needed to be or not be when asking for training dates one more time. I got my answer today. "The company has decided since we demoted all Asst. Mgrs. to hourly pay from salary, that it would be better to transfer someone from another store."

I think THAT needs a moment of silence..........

Within an hours time, I've very quickly been reminded of why I was so ready to leave the workforce to become a stay at home mom....why when I did desire to go back to work, I opened my own business and swore I would NEVER work for anyone else again. Ultimately, your future, your finances,etc.etc., is in their hands. THANK GOD I learned that lesson years ago and still live basically debt free (only a car payment!)and still obsessively budget, coupon, hunt deals and all that I do to extend every single penny that I'm entrusted with. That's a whole other story....so let me get back on track.

So ummmm.....yea....Do I keep working for a company knowing there is no more room for pay increases or promotion? I have never believed in just "putting your time in". Do I look for another job? Do I go back to putting more into my work from home efforts? I'm still in shock that what was promised to me and what I've been planning on for the past 4 monthes, has now been taken away.

I know there is always a lesson to learn, always a Bigger plan and it does Always work out for the best, but at this moment, I just want to sit on my pity pot, for at least a couple hours :)



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