Rough Couple of Weeks

First our air conditioner unit went out and completely wiped out our vacation fund, but at least we paid cash for the repair. Then, I got hurt at work. Then C got really sick so needless to say I haven't done much this week.

How I Save Money Each Year by Being Our Own Tailor

I refuse to pay for someone to do something that is an easy fix and I can do myself. Sewing our clothes is no different. DH needed 4 pairs of work pants hemmed so he can wear them. He wanted to buy new shorts because the shorts he has have broken buttons.


I am not great at sewing but I can sew on buttons. I can use hem tape and an iron to hem our clothes. Hem tape costs about $3. It took about 10 minutes. Hubby always wears a belt so the color of the buttons don't really matter and I save the buttons off of all of the outfits we buy.


By hemming his pants myself, I saved $40 per pair. By fixing the 3 pairs of shorts he has, I saved $10 per button as my dry cleaner charges or $20 per pair for him to get new shorts. Not to mention it felt good doing something for him. I also love the old show like Leave It To Beaver and The Wonder Years where mom could fix everything. I live in the wrong era.


Total Savings: $200

My Freebies This Week

Not a big week for freebies for me, but got three of my favorite kind of freebies:


Yogi Tea- I got two free bags and a Coupon

Thanks to Swagbucks I received $10 in Amazon gift cards.


I also received a coupon for a free 12 pack of Coke thanks to My Coke Rewards.


I have made it a point in the past couple of years to not buy what I know I can get for free so I do not purchase coke 12 packs (I will cave and buy the 20 oz bottles)


I very rarely buy coffee or hot tea because of all of the free samples. I have bought K cups because I do not get that many free samples of them. I have even been known to make "Thinking of You" gift bags with the free coffee or tea or really any freebies I receive.

Shh... It's a Surprise Week 4

Well we turned in our metal this week, continued with my coke rewards and put back tips. We also sold two items on an online yard sale. We also were able to cash in some more My Coke Rewards.


Total: $778.58. 2 more free 12 packs and 2 $3 off a 12 pack coupons.We are expecting a bit of a set back as our A/C went out. We are also expecting a check for $1000 to come from our secondary insurance. That will put us at $1778.85. Our goal is $2000.

We Paid Cash!

This week we bought a new dining room table. The boys are now big enough to play upstairs and my dining room is no longer a play room. The table we have had for years only sat 4 people and we have quickly outgrown that. So we took to saving. We put back tips and finally had enough to buy a beautiful table that I wanted. We put a good chunk down and took part in a 4 months same as cash program. We should have it completely paid off in 2 months.


We are so excited to finally have family meals. This is the first start to many starts for our sweet family. I am so excited and can't wait to share with you in the up coming months.

We also sold our old table for $20 on online yard sale sites. That money goes to the vacation fund.

Food Waste Fridays- A day late

I failed to take pictures this week of the food that we wasted due to being sick yesterday. But here is what we threw out:


- 2 stuffed bell peppers
- 1 serving chicken and rice soup
- 1 serving cheesy pasta


Might as well count what I tossed out of the staff break room fridge yesterday:


- 2 servings of yogurt
- 3/4 a bottle of juice
- 2 packets of sauce from a fast food restaurant
- 1/2 a cake
- a 1/2 ate cup of applesauce


It's really a shame the food that we waste.

Dipping into the Bucket

Our air conditioner decided to stop working last night. It has been burning up in here while I am trying to clean. It just stopped raining so I can open the windows. My parents let us borrow their spare fans to help cool us off since we can not get a repair man out until Monday. We certainly do not have any money set aside to pay for the repair (do not tell Dave Ramsey on me, he'd be mad), so we are going to have to dip into the vacation bucket. That is okay though because it can be replaced. I am just thankful that we have the money here at all. For now we are opening windows and using fans. I am glad that our electric bill will be lowered next month. We have to wait until Monday because I refuse to pay the hefty weekend fees.