Back from Shopping

Just back from a two hour shopping trip, but it was so worth it.

Here's what I got:
Pack of AAA Batteries
4 lbs. dry cat food
1/4 watermelon
10 (6-oz.) packs of Raspberries
5 (6-oz.) packs of Blackberries
Bunch of Cilantro
Bunch of Green Onions
3 Bartlett Pears
Bunch of Bananas

Total was $72.86
Subtract $43.80 in coupons, I only spent $29.26!

Cheap! Cheap!

Well, this week's grocery specials have been pretty sparse. After weeks of awesome deals, things have slowed down.

Here's the summary of my shopping specials this week...

8 bottles of Benevia (energy drink) for 17 cents, but after tasting one bottle, we decided to give them away. Yuck!

$5 coupon at CVS and will be able to get the AAA batteries free for my son's calculator for school.

Raincheck for two Lowe's Foods for blackberries and raspberries. $5 for 5 for 6 ounce packs.

Overall, I think I have done pretty well over the past few weeks. I wish I had kept track of the back to school supplies I scored. I figured I spent around $30 where in the past I have easily spent $150+ for supplies for two kids.

Shadow or Light

Which are you?

Who do you follow? Who do you want to be?

I find myself shadowing people I admire. I'm listening, reading and learning from them. It could be either their excellent business/financial management, wonderful personality or amazing faith. By following, I hope that I am in effect showing a light for others to see.

CVS Money Maker!

Here's my money-maker at CVS today:
(2) 4-pack Sharpie highlighters. I had a raincheck for 99 cents each plus had two coupons for $1 off each.
(2) packs of Carefree pantiliners at $3.79 each. I had two coupons for $1 off each. [Extra Bucks: $3.79 each]
(2) Composition Books at 99 cents. [Extra Bucks: 99 cents each]
Overall, I spent $8.40 and got $9.56 in Extra Bucks!
Thanks to Money Saving Mom! Please read her blog, she uncovers incredible savings for your family!

Blessing in Disguise?

No, it's not fall yet.

This once beautiful tree struggled through the years of drought and just couldn't go another season. I am so sad, I feel like I've lost a family member.

When we were building the house 10 years ago, we had it written in our contract that all the large trees in the backyard must stay. We had just moved from a house with a heavily wooded area and we loved the trees and all the wildlife that came with it. The builder fought with us over keeping the trees because it was more difficult for them to build with the trees so close to the house, but we were persistent. He predicted the trees would only last 10 years. At least he was right with this tree. There are others still standing and we hope they stick around for a while too.

I knew it was too risky to keep a dead tree standing so close to our house and it must come down. I had no idea how much it would cost, but fortunately, with our Dave Ramsey emergency fund, I knew we could "probably" cover it, but didn't know just how much.

The first tree trimmer came by and gave me an estimate of $825 with a discount of $125 bringing the total down to $700. He also offered to trim our crepe myrtle trees back for free since they are scraping the roof and will damage our shingles. He seemed nice and very professional. I thanked him and told him I would get back to him.

Wow, $700. I knew we could cover it, but it meant either a large dip out of our emergency fund or canceling a big snowball payment I had planned on sending to our smallest credit card. I hoped to pay off this card in the next month and it made me sad to think my plans would change due to this "Murphy".

I went to sleep that night wondering what I should do. The next morning I woke up too early, 4:30, and could not go to sleep. I laid awake and just started casually praying to God. I'm never formal, by any means! I just asked him how I should handle this dilemma and asked for help on how I could possibly make more money this week to cover the excess cost.

I got out of bed and started working on a few projects for my clients. I also listened to Dave Ramsey on my ipod. After working for a few hours, I decided to check my phone. There was a message from another tree trimmer I called the night before and he wanted me to call him back.

As I dialed his number I was thinking of the tree and remembered a conversation I had with my husband regarding the quote from the night before. He said he wanted to keep some of the wood. Of course! We could have the tree cut down and split into firewood! We go through at least one cord of wood a year and it's very expensive.

I called the tree trimmer back and he came over within a few hours. I showed him the tree and explained that we would like to keep the wood. We could stack it in one of the gardens and split it later. He and I talked for a while and he finally gave me a quote of $325! He also asked me how wide we wanted the pieces cut! So, not only was he going to cut down the tree , he was going to cut it to the size we wanted. All we have to do is split it.

I worked out the numbers and figured a full cord of wood delivered cost somewhere around $450. We are actually going to save money this winter by burning the very wood that is in our backyard.

Although I am sad to see this tree come down, I am thankful that we can recycle it and use it to heat our family room this winter. Talk about a blessing in disguise!

Financial Peace

We are currently on month 8 with our Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University plan and are proud to say we have knocked out 40% of our debt, not including the house! We should be debt free by this time next year! If you don't know who Dave is, visit his website.

We keep a posted chart on the refrigerator door that marks our progress and keeps us on track so our children know what the plan is. Throughout these months, the children have seen that even though we tightened our budget, we have what we need. They have their own envelopes and know how much money they can spend on clothes. They have their own chores and get a weekly allowance so they never ask us for money — they already have it!

I have also become a coupon clipping addict and love going to the store and paying 70%! I also visit the blogs of other coupon clippers and get a wealth of information from them. Check out Money Saving Mom, what a wonder woman she is!

Next month (September) we are hosting the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University class at our church. It's a 13 week program and we could not be more excited! Peace is the key word ... I am so less stressed now that am on my way to being debt free and cannot wait to share this information on how others can achieve this goal, too.

Blessings,
Stacie