Hello world! Welcome to a new day. The sun is shining, what could be better?
I almost finished reading the book, "The World's Cheapest Family, Gets Your Right On The Money," by the Economides family. It was a really easy read and I tore through 260 pages in about 2 hours. I actually have really enjoyed this book. It is authored by a husband and wife team effort, both of which have the same writing style as I do. There are so many eye opening facts in the book about the enormous pile of debt that Americans faced, especially before our current depression. The book was written in 2007, and is kind of like peering into the economic window right before everything collapsed. The facts are staggering such as in 1982 Americans had 70 Billion dollars worth of debt altogether. In 2006 Americans had almost 800 billion dollars! 800 billion! The average house size in the past 30 years went from around 1700 sq ft to just over 2700 sq ft. I wish the president would have read this book when it was written, I think that a lot of things would have been different. "Dear Mr.President, Please read the book The World's Cheapest Family."
Every since we went BK just over a year ago, I have been trying to find some kind of budget system to help us build our saving up. This year has been especially hard because one month my husband worked over 50 hours a week and only brought home $850. With my unemployment, that's $2000 monthly income. That's not really enough to support our family of three without any assistance with our student loans and car bills. This book really gave me a more simple way of budgeting called "emergency room" budgeting. This is where you don't spend any extra money for a whole month, and then begin a system of only keeping in the bank what you need to write checks for. Then they have an envelope system where they put their monthly allowance of expenditures in each envelope in cash. I think I am going to try this. It requires a lot of set up and planning expenses every paycheck, but I think that it might get us back on track. I highly recommend that anyone who wants to learn about budgeting family money (especially for large families) to read this book. It's easy to read and packed full of great antidotes.
Yesterday we went to feed the ducks with a few extra slices of bread that we had left over from a clearance loaf. The weather was a chilly 30 degrees and the geese and ducks were hungry. We first feed this large majestic pair of swans. They were beautiful and polite. Then we went down the walk a little further to where the ducks and geese where. It quickly got aggressive after a large Canadian Goose bit a piece of bread out of Little Man's hand and the rest of the gaggle of geese started to encroach around us. We quickly just dropped the rest of the bread and left. The geese just flown in from being south, so I am just going to say that they are HUNGRY.
I wanted to make this special mozzarella chicken breast ciabbata for dinner, but alas ciabbata is another product that is not available in my town. The local bread bakery that bakes artisan breads here said that I can call in the day ahead and they can make any bread that I wanted. I also stopped by Panera, and no ciabatta there either. I'm pretty sure that I am saying the word "ciabatta" wrong. The lady at the artisan bakery said you mean, "shhhaaaabaaaataaa?" I said yes. I think that's what she said, I will have to google it. I ended up giving up and purchasing a loaf of the most delicious brown sugar cinnamon swirl bread that I have ever tasted. Needless to say, I made some wicked bomb french toast last night.
When we got home we played hide and seek in our apartment. It really consisted of LM staying in the same place and hiding, and me hiding in different places in a hurry in case LM decided to count to 13 instead of 20. It was a ton of fun. After that we played with our potato heads, and settled down before bed time.
Our local aquatic center just added a 3 and 4 year old swim class for next month, so I signed up Little Man. He loves swimming, and just reinforcing his love makes him incredibly happy. Soccer starts in a week, and it should be a lot of fun. I have to go in today and pick up his uniform, and get his pads and a number 3 ball. I can't wait to snap his little picture in his uniform and text it to everyone. LOL.
Today we have a few things to do. It is the 25th, which means that I have to write out our monthly bills. That means I have to reconcile our bank accounts, and pay our money to the man. I am probably one of the last people that writes out checks, but I find it really cathartic to write the checks out and put stamps on the envelopes. It helps me to feel the money going out. We also have to take our Little Kitty into the Vet for her one year check up. My Little Kitty is soo big tooo! Then pick up our uniform.
Last night I had another dream about Charlie Sheen. We met once again, and we were once again madly in love. I have no idea what is firing in my head to create these dreams, but they make me feel good so I'm not going to complain. This one we were just living life together. I'm pretty sure that this time we went to Cedar Point.
Anyways, there are other things that I am thankful for today besides my Charlie Sheen dreams, here they are:
1. For all of these great books I get to read
2. For my wonderful son
3. For deciding to do the Pet Smart Health Plan
4. For the food on my table
5. For a roof over my head
6. For my lovely friends
7. For my family
8. That a new swim class was added
9. That soccer is starting very soon!
10. That there is a bakery that I can get all my wierdo gourmet bake goods that I want
11. For the Economides Family writing such a good book. God bless you guys!
12. My smart Little Man
13. Money to pay the bills
14. Extra money to spend on whatever
15. For the job openings that I can apply for
16. For the interwebs
17. For the sunshining
18. For the gift of being a mother
19. For all of the kind people out there
20. For a moment in time to relax and renew.
Thank you for viewing this blog and God bless. If you read this, please say a little prayer for my family.
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