Show Us Your Life--Fashion Tips....
This week over at Kelly's Korner, Kelly has asked us to share our fashion tips. Is Kelly not the most adorable thing in life? I just want to bottle her up and take her home, she's so lovely.

But....Ummmm....yeah.
I have zero fashion tips. Sorry Kelly

Z...E...R...O

Though if Anthony, from the current season of Project Runway is available to come revamp my wardrobe, I'd be all over it. I love that guy!

But here is what I do need.....I need wedding day help. YES! Wedding day help. I need help picking out shoes and even a head piece.

Here is what you need to know:

1. My dress has shorter (read: no train and you will see my legs). So I need a cute shoe. I'd prefer a shoe with a small heel. I'm in a garden, in May (read: wet ground after a long MN winter). Any idea on a shoe? Here are some ideas I've found.




From those that have done this, I need your 2-cents. Good idea? Bad idea? Should I just buy some white converse and call it a day?

2. I'm not wearing a veil. I didn't look good in any veil I tried on. But the little headbands and such? Yes! Loved them. Here are a few I've seen that I like.

However....

I will not wear anything like this....reminds me of the old hats my grandmother gave me to play dressup.

So....what do you suggest?
Help a sister out!

Don't Leave Home Without It....
This is what happens when you go the grocery without a calculator.

OK. Well, it at least happens to me, anyway.
There is no excuse. While I did pick up some items for an upcoming Once a Month Cooking, I could have planned so much better than this.

So, what did I learn?
Don't take the calculator out of your purse. Even if you are tutoring a friend in College Algebra. Because the calculator does you no good on your shopping trip if it's sitting on a pile of math books on your bedroom floor.

Sounds like a bad word problem, doesn't it?

Friday I'll share with you the plans for the Once a Month Cooking. If you want to look at a cool site that has it figured it, check out Once a Month Mom.

Our menu this week is (was):

Saturday: Orange Raspberry Chicken
Sunday: Huli-Huli Chicken with brown rice & carrots
Monday: Asian Peanut Butter Pork Roast
Tuesday: Turkey Burgers
Wednesday: Panni's & Tomato Soup
Thursday: Left overs
Friday: I realized I didn't make plans for Friday...so, we'll see what we come up with!

You can bet though, that Friday's meal will not consist of Toasted Coconut Vanilla yogurt or croutons.

Stupid Couple Argument #6894

**Edited to add: The Big Guy left a comment--you'll have to go check it out. The best part? Last night he said, "Think of my taking your yogurt, like you eating all the croutons that I bought especially for salad."

Guilty as charged.
I like croutons and can eat an entire bag--none of which touch a salad.

Well played, Big Guy.
Well played.

------ORIGINAL POST------

Yogurt.

Yes. Yogurt.

He tells me a few weeks ago, "I really love Old Home yogurt, so if we could stock up on that for me, that would be great." I don't care for it, personally, and actually like the store brand yogurt (read: cheaper).

So, when I did the shopping this week, I did not pick up any yogurt for the Big Guy for 2 reasons: it wasn't on sale and he had some in the fridge. I got my usual raspberry and vanilla flavored yogurts and as I was starting to walk away, this little beauty caught my eye.

Toasted Coconut Vanilla yogurt.

Doesn't that sound good? With a little homemade granola? YUM.

Well, I wouldn't know what it tastes like.
The Big Guy had the same idea.

I got up on Sunday morning, ready to have some yogurt and granola when I noticed it grew legs and ended up in the Big Guy's lunch bag.

When I told him he took my yogurt he said, "I didn't know it was special yogurt."

Does anyone else have this issue as a married couple?
Is this discussed in the pre-marriage counseling classes?

Show Me Friday--Favorite Place to Shop!

Kelly, from Kelly's Korner, has a Friday blog carnival with fun topics each week. This week? We're asked to show our favorite places to shop.

I know.

I know.

I'm not spending money on anything new this year so why am I promoting a store? Remember how I said that I wanted to find cheaper alternatives to some everyday items? Well, I want to share with you a website that I have spent a grand total of $75 in 2009.

What did I buy?

Eyeglasses.

And not just one pair of eyeglasses. I have purchased 5 pairs of glasses from this site.

I see you doing the math. $75 divided by 5 = $15 a pair (roughly).

Please don't get freaked out because you can't try on the glasses.

Please don't feel that you're going to get chinzy, so-so glasses.

Embrace the internet, people.

Embrace glasses online.

I promise it's OK.

I'm here to give you some tips.

1. When you go in for your exam, you should be given your new Rx for your glasses. If you don't get it, ask. In the state of MN, it is against the law for an eye doctor to withhold this information.

2. While at your fancy-schmancy eyeglass place, try on glasses. Take notes. Be honest with the employee who is stalking you (I usually say, "I'm not going to purchase today, but would like to take notes on what I'm trying on." Works every time.).

3. Visit this website (click here). The various eyeglass sites are on the left. Personally, I like Eyebuydirect.

4. Search, click, buy. They will show you how to measure your glasses--it's pretty much fool-proof.

They frequently have BOGO (Buy One, Get One) and let me tell you--to get 2 pairs of glasses for $30--including shipping, it's worth it.

Take it from someone who not only has worn glasses since 1980, but has paid through the nose for fancy, schmancy, glasses....this site does not disappoint.

Promise.

Cross my heart.

Money Dare #1--Bank Statements

As you know, I took on the challenge to not buy anything new in 2010. It's a big challenge, but amazingly, so far, it's been pretty easy.

Then again, it's been 3 weeks.
3 weeks down, 49 more to go.

Let's face it. This is not a challenge to take lightly. Therefore, I needed to think about how in the world I was going to tackle this. I decided to get down and dirty with that monthly mailing that I would never, ever, ever look at.

The Bank Statement.

My challenge for you is to take a look at your bank statement. Where is your money going? Afraid to look? Not sure you want to know?

If you're not willing to look and get real with your spending, you're not ready to make the change. Plain and simple.

Here's a story. The other day I was working with a student who was upset that he was going to be charged $480 dollars because he passed the drop deadline for his class to get a full refund. All universities have these deadlines, and all universities have heard the stories about why a student doesn't think it's fair that they don't have to pay for their class. When I explained to the student we could try to appeal the charge, he was all for it....until he had to do a little leg work.

"Why do I have to do this?"
"This is really a pain, can't you just waive it for me?"
"I think this policy is really poor customer service."
"If you don't waive this, I'm going elsewhere."

He wanted the fee waived, but didn't want to own up to anything.

You want to make a change in your finances?
You need to own up to it.

Are you spending $80 a month at your favorite coffee place?
$200 a week at the grocery?
Another $20 a week at the grocery to pick up a few things to have at your desk?
Are you guilty of buying gas, but going inside to pay and pick up a Diet Coke, a snack and maybe a few lotto tickets?

For the record, the only one of the above that was a true reflection of my bank account was the coffee. You know it's bad when the people at Caribou know your name.

You're not going to know where you're money is going until you see where you're spending your money. Don't like the idea of shuffling through a bunch of paper copies? My bank statement is also available online and can be exported into an excel document! Talk about easy sorting to see what goes where and when!

The crazy thing is....that money I could have spent at Caribou could have been another deposit into my money market savings account.

There you are, my friends.
Challenge number 1. Look at the bank statement!

Nothing Smells Better Than a Newborns Head....
Anyone who has ever held a baby knows what I'm talking about. That little round head, resting on your chest. Inches below your nose.

How can you not just get in there and smell it.

And for a boy this handsome, it's hard not to just walk around with your nose buried in his hair, ear and neck.



I don't know how his mommy will get anything done.

I know what you're saying. "Hey! Wait a second. That nose and chin looks familiar!"



Yep! It's my friend Amy! You know, my amazing friend who beat breast cancer? The one who had dreams about waxing her eyebrows and I laughed at her?




Well, she and her husband just adopted the adorable, Mr. J. I've known about this adoption since October, but due to the sensitive nature of adoption, I promised to keep it secret until Mr. J. arrived.


He's here now.
And he is beautiful.

Now I have even more reasons to go up and visit my friend


like I needed an excuse.
(Perhaps photography should be that excuse, because clearly, I'm no good at baby-swinging-in-their-swing-action-shots.)

Someone is Making BIG Changes....
Our local NBC Station is doing a little weight loss challenge.
Look who threw their hat in the ring?


If the Big Guy is picked, he'll have 14 weeks of meals prepared for him by Seattle Sutton's Healthy Eating (read: no cooking for me!) and a 4 month gym membership to Anytime Fitness. He has to commit to staying on the food plan, working out and adapting a healthy lifestyle.

And if he wins?

A get-away to the Kalahari Resort at the Wisconsin Dells.

Can we say, free honeymoon!

So, keep the Big Guy in your thoughts, prayers or whatever you do. This would be great for him. He told me on Tuesday that he was ready to lose weight. Then on Wednesday night I saw this on the news.

If that isn't Divine Intervention, I don't know what is.

A New Name for "The Plan..."

Introducing....

The Money Dare



As I've been thinking about this project, I've been mostly thinking about what you--the reader--would want to read about. Anyone who has been around my corner of the bloggy internet knows, my blog is a random bunch of nothing.

So for me to say, "So, I wanted a new pair of shoes and didn't buy them" isn't going to keep people entertained.

When we were headed over to a gathering with the Big Guy's family recently, I was thinking about the book, the Love Dare, and I got my ah-ha moment. This is not in reference to the band a-ha. Just so we're clear.

In the Love Dare couples are asked to try something new every day to help better their relationship.
While I won't have a daily dare for you to think about, I will have a set of things to challenge you to not spend money on unnecessary items! Right now, I'll be posting a dare every month, but as more and more ideas come about, I'll post them more frequently.

Rome wasn't built in a day people!

I'll post the first dare next week.
Got an idea for me? Let me know! I'll post it and give you the credit--including a link back to your blog!

And because I know you're on the edge of your seat wondering what I spent this week at the grocery.....

$57 thankyouverymuch

On the menu this week--a week of crock pot meals!

Sunday: Chicken & Dumplings
Monday: Seasoned Pork Loin & Sweet Potatoes
Tuesday: Chicken, Brocolli and Brown Rice Hot Dish*
Wednesday: 10 Layer Hot Dish*

*Hot Dish: definition: the Minnesota term for what most people call a cassarole. Found at most Lutheran church suppers, along with a side dish of some sort of bread, potato and jell-o salad with fruit and marshmallows.

Where I Discover I'm a Big Snow & Cold Weenie....

Sledding with the Big Guy....

Can....

Be....

a...

Lot....

of....

Fun....

However, I prefer to view it from indoors. My thumbs were frozen (even in my mittens), my ears were burning (even when wearing a hood) and my toes were cold (even in boots).

Guess my days of being outside for hours on end ended at the age of 12.

Marriage 101: Bank Accounts
OK, folks, before we can go any further with this grand plan of saving money and no buying anything new so on, I've got a big question.

One that both the Big Guy and I need some help with.

For those that are sharing a bank account with their special someone--how do you do it?
Does all the money you earn go into one account and you each get an allowance?
Do you have three accounts--yours, mine and ours--and a portion of your check goes into the "our account" and the rest stays in your own account?

What do you do?

I appreciate your thoughts!

Grocery Trip #1...
Well.

We went over budget by $13.48.



Now, as a first time shopping trip trying to keep it down to $60 or less, I can say that we still saved $50 from last week's trip. But we were off the goal.

Here's a recap....

Pre-Grocery Prep
We knew that we were going to be shopping in Eden Prairie this weekend, so we decided to shop at Cub. My meal planning was based on what was on sale this week.

Per a tip from my friend Chris, I joined CouponMom.com to browse coupons for items that we may find helpful. I compared couponmom with the Cub add and actually found some additional savings on things we planned to pick up.

I also broke out the calculator and put that in my purse. I learned this trick from my mom. Sadly, since living with the Big Guy, I've stopped using it. Time to go back to the basics!

At the Store
Well, here is where we had a communication break down....

This is new for the Big Guy, so I can't say "...if only he would have....", but the problem the Big Guy has is that he just grabs and goes. He isn't the best at comparing the labels or prices. He made an effort today, though, and for that, I am proud of his effort.

Where we had our communication break down was over pork loins.

Here's the thing. The Big Guy loves, loves, loves pork. And pork loins are his weakness. Guess what was on sale? Pork loins. In fact, they were buy one, get one. As we were leaving the meat dept. he asked me if we should pick up 2 loins. My reply was "Find out how much they are, let's see where we are at before we check out and if we are within budget, we'll get them."

He came back and said, "The sign says $5.20."
I said, "$5.20 total?"
He said, "Yes. $5.20 total cost."
I said, "Go for it."


When we checked out, I went to the end of the belt to bag the groceries. The Big Guy paid and I asked, "How'd we do?" Because I was excited, people!! Excited with a capital E!

"Not bad," was his reply. "We spent about $75."

The look on my face said it all. I was frustrated. How did that happen? I used a calculator! I had coupons! I made a list!

I looked at the receipt thinking maybe the coupons didn't work or something. Nope. They worked fine. It was the pork loins. Yes, they were $5.20....each. And with our guesses on produce (the "per pound" stuff...), we were over by $13.48.

What did we learn
Menu planning based on the ads seems like a no-brainer....but for me this is new. And I liked it. It cut down on the impulse buys, which is always a plus.

Produce is always a crap shoot on cost when it's "per pound". The scales are a good tool, but not exact. We'll probably always guess at the cost when it comes to per-pound produce.

We also learned that when sending the Big Guy to find out the cost of an item, he needs to be better at reading the fine print.

Or I just need to do the shopping myself.
Or not be persuaded so easily.

Meal Plan
So, what are we having (or have had so far) this week for dinner? Here it is....

Sunday Night: Asian Pork Roast
Monday Night: Tuna Noodle Casserole
Tuesday Night: Rachel Ray Soup
Wednesday Night: Taco Bar
Thursday Night: Left Over Night
Friday Night: Planned night out for dinner
Saturday Night: Big Guy's Family Christmas--dinner at his parent's place.

What's on deck
My BFF and a few other ladies are talking about Once a Month Cooking. This is still in the works, and will probably not have any impact on the weekly budget. However, it will certainly help with the meal planning.

More to come on this.

Because honestly, me and the BFF cooking a month's worth of meals is going to be comedy in itself.

Trust me.

The Plan, Part 2--Spending Money in 2010...

*really deep breath*
*really long exhale*

Let's be honest. This is the part of the plan that people really want the scoop on. Cutting back on the grocery bill is one thing, but to claim that you're not going to buy anything new in 2010? That....that is what is really swimming around in everyones head.

I know you've got questions. If you do, ask! I'll answer honestly.

All of this came about after the Great Red Pepper Purchase of 2009, I began to think about where my money was going. Looking through my bank statements, it's easy to see that my money isn't going to any one place...just lots of little places.

An itunes download
Latte at Caribou
Cute shoes at Target
New scarf at Old Navy

But the little things add up and soon I begin to wonder why I can't put more money aside into my savings every month. Since I'll be sharing an account with the Big Guy soon, it only makes sense that my spending habits get a make over. And fast.

A few years ago, I saw a story about a group of people who joined a recycling movement called The Compact (you can read about that group here). Their goal is simple: spend money on nothing new. If you need something, you either pick it up at Goodwill, a thrift store, a garage sale, from Freecycle....but you don't buy it new. For this group, recycling is the ultimate goal.

Obviously, necessities (food, medications, toiletries, underwear...) should be bought new. But everything else, can be found by means of recycling.

I like the concept.
But to join the group you spend money on nothing new.
I already know I'm going to break the rules, so I'm not joining them. I need to modify it to fit my goals.
My goal is to save more money. Not to jump on the green-earth friendly bandwagon.

Save your hate mail. Nothing wrong with being green & earth friendly. It's just not the reason I'm doing this project.

Here are my rules...
*No new purchases like: clothing, shoes, iTunes downloads, DVD's, handbags, craft projects, etc.
*No gifts of a material nature
*Finding cheaper alternatives to cleaning products, toiletries, medications, etc.

As I mentioned, I am spending money on some new items. Here is what I have planned:

*Gifts: I have already set aside money for the Big Guy's 40th Birthday gift. But because it's wait listed, that cost comes out in 2010. Other than that, gifts for new babies, sorry-you're-feeling-down, etc. are no longer going to be of a material value. What will it be? You'll have to wait and find out!

*Wedding stuff: Obviously, this is in our wedding budget. Since we are doing things pretty frugal to begin with, the purchases remaining are very small (and honestly, if I can find them at a thrift store or borrow it from friends, I'm all over that!).

*Payday coffee: A few months ago, I told myself that I was allowed a latte twice a month--on payday. I have still factored this into the budget. I think I can afford $7 a month for a little Caribou happiness.

*3-day stuff: I still plan to spend some money for the 3-day. This is close to my heart and no one can put a price on finding a cure for cancer. However, I'm sad to say that my donations to other philanthropy projects will have to wait until 2011.

Obviously, there will be some critics. I'll address the concerns that folks have (if there are any) in a future post.

The reality is this. I feel it is my responsibility as a soon to be wife--who has a stake in a forever-and-ever-amen partnership--that I do my part to be mindful of how money is being spent. In a few short months, it's no longer my money. It is going to be our money. This is a huge step for me. I've always been independent and now to dive into this is going to be quite the experiment.

My promise to you
Honest answers to your questions.
Honest insight to how it feels--the ups, the downs...
No preaching--I'm not perfect. I'm no money guru.

I hope you'll follow along with me as I navigate 2010!

The Plan, part 1--Grocery Shopping...
OK, kids. Here it is. The first part of the plan for 2010: to cut our grocery bill in half.

*deep breath*
*exhale*

How it started
It started with this.

A red pepper.
Yes. 1 red pepper. In fact, this exact red pepper.

I was at the grocery doing our weekly shopping last Saturday, list in hand. I made my way to the produce section and per a recipe I was making that week, I needed a red pepper. Just one. I look up and notice the price per pound.

Nearly $5 for a pound of peppers!!

Considering I'm not Peter Piper and I have no idea how much a peck of peppers weighs--pickled or otherwise--I picked the smallest one out of the bin, and put it in my cart. I breezed through the store, got my weekly items and checked out. This photo is deceiving because of the angle. Really. It's not that big.

As I watched the items ring up on the cash register and contribute to the total, I couldn't help but notice how much that one little pepper cost.

$2.34

ALMOST TWO DOLLARS AND FIFTY CENTS FOR ONE PEPPER.

I'm not dumb. I knew it wouldn't be 20 cents. But I thought it would be, at most $1.50.

I was mad.
No. Scratch that.
I was pissed off.

Not because I picked a recipe that had a red pepper as an ingredient, but mad because the cost of my grocery budget keeps going up and up and up and I'm tired of it. The kicker to this is that we don't buy stuff on a whim. We don't have a cupboard full of snacks and junk food. We don't have a freezer bursting at the seams. We are a modest couple who makes a shopping list and menu each week so that we don't pull the "I-don't-feel-like-cooking-so-let's-order-a-pizza" card.

Yet. My grocery bill has grown slowly since the fall of 2007. It's bad enough that gas is starting to crawl back up again.

So, the plan? To spend up to $60 a week on groceries, with a monthly trip to Costco of up to $60. The savings would go directly into our money market savings account. My money manager, Chad, will be thrilled to hear this!

I know that there are a lot of blogs that do this already--so I cannot take credit for this idea. But what is different with our situation is this: we do not live near discount grocery stores (Aldi, for example), food co-ops, food liquidators or a discount bakery. We also can't do a "shop the ads for the best deal"--we have one grocery store. That's it. OK, there is a Super Wal-Mart, but other than canned goods, I will not shop there for groceries (at least, not this location. Food safety, anyone?).

Yes, there are coupons, but honestly, they are mostly for items I don't use. So, while there are some savings, it isn't huge.

The Rules
*Continue to meal plan with the intention of taking left overs to work or freezing them for later use.
*No menus full of processed meals in a box (pasta and the occasional side dish are the exception). *Each lunch and dinner will consist of a protein source and a veggie serving.
*Meals for special occasions need to be a part of the menu plan

Each week I'll post what our meal plan is, how the grocery shopping went, the cost, etc. Hell--I'll even photograph the receipt to prove it!

Can we do it and live on more than pasta, condensed soup and Hot Pockets?

I hope so. Because while I can live on soup and a hot pocket every day, I don't think the Big Guy can.

Monday, I'll go into part 2 of the plan--buying nothing new for 2010 (and the small catch that I've factored into the plan before the new year began....).