Let's do a combo list:

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?

*Making a list of wants and a list of needs when I want to spend.
*Going to call to have my CC number changed so it is no longer memorized! LOL!
*Going to switch my "recurring" charges and Amazon ordering default off the CC and onto the debit, or something - not sure what yet, I hate having the debit card info out there online.
*Focusing on experiences rather than stuff. Especially with the nice weather.

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?

*Restructuring our debts and making a plan to pay off the CC.
*Time wise we are restructuring how chores and household maintenance get done - ie we have decided that I will be freelance writing during the day while the kids are at school, four days a week from 9-3 pm. One day will be for household managment - bill paying, phone calls, etc. So my day won't have any wiggle room for washing dishes or doing laundry. All of that will get done after school and on the weekends, and I'm expecting my family to pitch in more. We've discussed this all as a family. The plan is for dishes to get done at night and then emptied in the morning or after school. Saturday morning will be reserved for family chores - vacuuming, dusting, mopping, deep cleaning, laundry. And every night we'll do a whole-house pickup. It's really a matter of firming up what we already do and getting the kids more involved in some of it. But the upshot is, I don't feel like I have to be cleaning or organizing during the day while the kids are at school.

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?

*I want to get the basement, cow shed, and garage cleared out and organize which will simplify our daily life greatly - we'll be able to find stuff in storage when we need it - these are our "closet" spaces.

*I have worked *really* hard to declutter and organize our main spaces - the bedrooms, living room, kitchen and office. However, I need to dig into the following spaces and purge:
*kitchen cabinets
*bookshelves everywhere
*mud "wall" - LOL - the wall of hooks where our coats are, needs a spring cleaning since it is warm now!
*get magazine organization/storage happening - right now they are in a massive stack
*clean out the fridge
*get some storage shelves built in the eaves in the kids' room and get baskets for J's clothes

*Not sure if it counts but we will be buying a CSA share from a local farm! I'm very excited.

*I'm simplifying my gardening expectations this season just because of time constraints and buying starts. Whew. It feels good to say that! :lol: I want to keep it fun and not overwhelming.

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?

Um, I just bought a sofa and loveseat, new on overstock. :oops: Other than that, great - we have cut back SO much. And w/the sofa/loveseat, I feel I really waited and exhausted ALL other options before buying new.

But - we're finding it a bit too draconian; we want to be able to grab a meal out once in a while, and continue to fix up the house. So I'm planning to read up on Compacting and essentially do that rather than completely not buying anything but necessities.

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?

*We have a nice window fan in the kids' loft which we can set at 70 deg and have it cycle on and off as needed. It's helped immensely with the temp up there.
*Saving a wee bit of J's spending fund for a room A/C if needed - he is very sensitive to the heat.
*It doesn't get very hot here at all so we're just ready to frolic outside all day and night!

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?
I find summer is the easiest time for me to resist spending money. There are so many fun, free things to do and DH is working so I have less time to shop. That said, like Lauren I am making a list of things we need/want. I am also putting the word out to family and friends. Sometimes a friend or family member comes across just what I am looking for a at a garage sale. They either let me know where it is or just pick it up and let me reimburse them. I also planted some basic veggies and herbs this year at my dad's and in pots on my patio. That should save a little on the grocery budget.


What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?
All my income from my part-time job will go towards debt reduction once DH is back at work. I should be able to knock out the medical bills and maybe one of the student loans. I also hope to save more for next winter than I did last year. It would be nice to have some extra cash this time of year to go on short roadtrips and things like that.

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?
This is going to sound terrible, but getting DH out from underfoot should simpify things quite a bit. He is awesome, don't get me wrong, but having him here messes with my flow. I turn around to do something and there he is, in my way. He is also good at talking me into blowing off chores to have fun. Not a bad thing, really, but things do need to get done eventually.

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?
We rocked last month, mostly because we had to.

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?

$.35 kids cones at the local ice cream shack, a big box of popsicles, a kiddie pool in the backyard, some strategically placed fans, trips to the beach, etc. Oh and I am buiding a solar oven. As long as I don't use the oven my place stays pretty cool. The solar oven and the grill should take care of a lot fo the cooking, making it easier to keep the house cool.

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?

to save money- not going to the store just for something to do. Trying to "shop" from my current crafting supplies when I want to make something

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?
Not dip into savings
spend less time on the computer, more time reading and doing fun things with the boys
finish up making my families Christmas gifts



Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?

I continue to clean and just get rid of "stuff" I figure if there is not so much "stuff" then I won't have to spend so much time picking it up.

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?
cancer and my new baby has set this back for a while- I can only do so much at once so maybe when life settles down in a while I can re-focus on this

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?
getting the kiddy pool set up in the back yard
going to buy some snowcone syrup so we can make our own
drinking lots of lemon flavored ice water
taking up people's offers to use their pools in their back yards to go swimming


Other:
I plan on a yard sale the second weekend of May to raise a little extra money and get rid of junk. Driving to the city two or three times a month with gas being so high is taking it's tool on our budget. Dh's car just needed a lot of work (like $1000) but it's on a 90 day same as cash plan so we want to get that taken care of quickly. His car is 10 years old and it's paid for. It hasn't had any major repairs needed in a couple of years so it was time.

I have to take things one day at a time and do things as my energy and health permits. I'm not sure how many more chemo treatments I will have. Meeting with the Doctor on the 15th to see.

Benjamin is starting to eat solids so I bought a baby food grinder for $10. Baby food from the store pre-made is so expensive- like $1 for two little containers and he is almost eating one container a setting.

Hmmm, that's all I can think of for now-

Tawnya

I am not sure if we are doing anything in particular that is frugal. I have 2 birthdays to plan this month. One will be Daniel's and I have invited the whole local mama amity group... um... thankfully lots of people seem to be not coming, rofl... I am so used to my California group with everyone having one or two people that i forgot everyone here has 3 plus ;) I had planned on Kristan and Val and Sarah, hopefully, but all the mamas I havent met have 5+ kids, too, rofl ;) So I will be buying take and bake pizzas, a monstrous cake, and asking everyone to bring chairs :)
I am trying to think of cheap party favors that will fit a wide range of ages and coming up WAY short on ideas... so... I dunno...
Daniel is getting a journal from Beckys Paper Creations and a dragon I will make him (which will be the center picture for his journal, whoo hoo) and a new game boy game and a pair of wahm pants, I think.

Anna is getting lots of thrift store goodies. I found the most awesome huge moses basket.bassinet type basket for her dolls. She has a wooden cradle but she never uses it so I figured something prettier and bigger to hold all of her dolls (which she does play with) that matches all the other baskets in her room (dress up and stuffed animal) would be good :) She told me the other day that she wanted a new ballerina outfit for her birthday so I also found a gorgeous pink velvet leotard. Now I just need to find a tutu or chiffon skirt. I may buy wahm or just go to Target. Not sure.

And they are both getting bean bag chairs from freecycle. I THINK I am going to splurge on new covers, though, but I think I can get those on sale for $10 or so... if I am lucky. And I found 3 games at a thrift store 4 toys for a $1 sale. So thats frugal too.

I also think I am going to go through the kids shoes. I just got them each a new pair of sandals and a new pair of regular shoes to prepare for the warmer weather. I have been scouring the thrift stores but haven't found anything suitable in their sizes. And lthey litterally just grew out of their shoes they are wearing now. Insane, really... they fit last week, now they are too small. And Daniel's favorite sidepanel pants just turned into capris, YIKES! So they also got one out fit each from Target last night. well, Anna got two clearance dresses for $3.50 each, Daniel got 2 t shirts and a pair of shorts for less than $20. It's kinda more expensive to shop for him ;) He is in big boy stuff now ;) At least Target has good basics. I might hit the thrift store for some faded shirts for him to dye. Gosh I love having the ability to make things new and cool for him ;)

Other than that, I also bought the stuff to do a tune up on my car. I am a little nervous but I think I can do it. Spark plugs, air filter, I got the oil changed a month or two ago but its cheaper/easier to use a coupon for $13.95 to have someone else do that ;)

and just trying to make it through the month. We are using lots of car gas running back and forth to Drs, but I have attempted to limit our fast food intake, for health and for money. But its been a "stop on the way to Grandma's and get McDonald's" fun thing to do staple for so long that I am just trying to get it cheaper. I can feed us all for less than $10, including drinks, sometimes only $6 or so depending on where I go and what I get. But usually around $10 for me, mom, and the 2 kids. (Chloe gets to share whatever we have, its not like its good for her, or any of us for that matter, but she doesn't eat much ;))

hmmm... just trying to make it, monetarily, and emotionally, through this month. It has to start getting better soon... right?

I am trying to think of cheap party favors that will fit a wide range of ages and coming up WAY short on ideas... so... I dunno...

Selena- I've had similar dilemas in past years when I have whole family birthday parties. I've started giving out 'family favors', aka one bag per family and I hand it to the mom ('and this one is for the Rose family....). It works out and isn't as big of a commitment. In past years I've done a fabric gift bag and that made the difference of sewing up 5 or 25! Also keep it simple- Bayus' last birthday was a cat theme and the kids got little paper bags with 'cat treats'- ziploc of goldfish crackers and a mouse finger puppet. I've also combined activities with the goodie bag in the past- for example right now a lot of people are getting their gardens going, perhaps a pile of rocks (I could bring some, thats most of my yard) and some paint and the kids could bring home painted rocks :) Dyed playsilks are loved by ALL..... Let me know if you want more ideas on anything, I love love love parties.

Sarah

I'd love more ideas, Sarah :)

We're having Jack's first birthday party and I think we're doing a Cowboy themem :) We'll have about 50 guests, and the kids are all family - they range in age from 2-18 and are all genders.

Hmmm...like Sarah we have done goody bags mixed with the activity (ie glue jewels on a cardboard crown and then take it home with a toy or two).

I *love* the painted rock idea. That could really work.

Last year I got cute 25c paper fans for the girls and little matchbox cars for the boys. The fans were a HUGE hit.

For cowboys...hmmm...little horse figures?

Trying to think of a cowboy hat craft...

Oh! I have a great idea. Spend some $$ on Fimo or Sculpey modeling clay, and have an activity be making beads or figures. It appeals to ALL ages. You can bake them in the oven for just a short time and get it done in a batch or two, then send them home w/it.

Those weensy tubs of playdough are always appreciated by young and old. Or, make homemade playdough and have everyone color their own w/food coloring (if you dare!) or Koolaid, and then they get to take it home in a cute baggie of some kind.

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?
We're moving. Giving up the garden is the ONLY downside to this. Seriously. DH commutes 1hr (ea way) to school everyday and with gas it's now $350/mo just for him to drive to school. Even though the place we're moving to (school housing) is a bit more than our rent we come out ahead in the end both time and money-wise. DH will be able to bike to school or there's free public transportation for him during the cold months. I could go on and on about the numerous perks of moving. We'll be able to (we are) container gardening. There are so many free and low cost things to do there that I'm giddy over it. Where we are now there's only porch sitting, a couple lakes and really nasty restaurants/fast food. That's the extent of "entertainment" here.

We're able to sell our crummy fridge (I HATE auto defrost!) since there's a fridge included. Also our stove. DH is selling his car since we'll be in town, public transportation and all of that good stuff.

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?
To have more $$ in savings. :) Time-wise I'll be busy packing, but not packing much because we're not taking much with us. That also thrills me to no end.


Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?
We're cleaning out every cupboard as we pack up. We have two large boxes in the living room of things that need to find a new home, two smaller boxes next to the pc and a small box in the kitchen so far.

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?
Very, very well. I've bought DD a pair of sandals off of the market board and a jacket for fall and that has been our only purchases in the past week! We will be purchasing some school items for dd soon (Spanish program, a few woodworking items). Overall we've really done great getting out of the consumerist mindset, so much so that we don't really think much or attempt many purchases.

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?
I'm not there yet. LOL Probably B&N storytime & train, going to the lake and playing in the kiddie pool.

Where are you guys moving to, Jenni? :)

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?

Gardening. We're seed-starting almost everything, which is definitely cheaper than my usual method... Also, taking cuttings from friends. Hauling free composted horse manure from a nearby farm. Mulching with chips from the new "free wood chips" pile the county just started. This is fun, and perhaps a little challenging, to garden frugally. I'm making good use of rooting hormone, my clippers, and my shovel, digging up and dividing plants at my house and others.

All this frugal gardening is keeping me so busy that I'm not spending much time wanting STUFF. My creative frugal trash-picking gardening neighbor has found free sources for so much of what we need: the manure, topsoil from a construction site around the corner - they actually did the right thing and set the good topsoil aside, and now, we've been getting concrete reinforcing wire scraps from them (tomato cages) and 4x4 posts from their deliveries (for raised bed sides/edging).

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise? My time is sunk in my yard right now. It's fun. Financially, I expect to spend little beyond the necessities. We should be able to pay off the HELOC in June, barring any visits from Murphy.

I may be spending a little at the huge used curriculum sale if I go tomorrow.

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?

My cooking. It's hot. I want to eat more salads and wraps. :D

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?

Compacting here. I'm doing well finding used/local sources for most everything, and avoiding the rest. I'm actually really enjoying this. It's not so different from how I already live, but I'm working at more local food (got waitlisted for a cow share, for instance)

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?

We're already having long, hot days. We got out the tupperware popsicle thingy. And we're going to make frozen yogurt a few time a week in the ice cream ball mom got us for xmas. A few minutes a day for the kids with the host on *mist* (very little water comes out, but it feels great). The neighborhood pool opens Saturday. Eating cool food (pasta salad, sandwiches, wraps, salads, cold soups). If we must cook, doing it in the crockpot outside. I'm getting an oven bag at the store today to try to make a solar oven (we're trying a super-simple design using a windshield reflector).

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money? Trying to stay home and work with the things we have compared with buying something (like a little part) that we could use.
Maya needs a new dresser because the one she has is a piece of junk and belonged to my husband. Lucky for me I picked oone up of the side of the road today!
I also am going to attempt to build a filter for our pond. We have a huge pond/water garden and due to the size of it we would need to spend about $1500 on a filter so let's keep our fingers crossed I can figure this out for a few hundred and be happy.

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise? Financially I just hope we save money. We have lots we need to buy though (fencing for safety and it's a must). I also want to sit down with Mr. Let's Use Our CCs When We Need To and work out a budget.

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month? Not really asied from maybe going through some stuff and hvaing a tag sale but this month is busy with a birthday, holiday and our anniversary.


What are you doing in prep for long, hot days? We just plan to be sitting outside under the tree with the kids playing in their pool or sprinkler. I may let them go in the stream but we'll see. If we keep the shades shut we can keep the house cool I hope to save $ on the AC.

To resist spending, I have my favorite thing to do.

Go to the public library and get bags of books, cds, magazines and take them home to enjoy them and then take them back when they are due and do it all over again!

*sigh* this month frugal is out the window. We're doing house stuff to get it on the market - I spent $1k on garage door fixing today, $900 on termite crap the other day.... and we've got our trip to Idaho/Oregon at the end of the month. I'm just watching and envying those of you not spending money this month.

i just don't know what this month will bring. dh is making a huge job decision...and we're having a baby (well, she's due june 3). the job change would be a pretty big financial set back for a while, so it's a lot of pressure to be super frugal even while it's in the decision making stage. so...no buying as usual...well, before i lost my mind and starting doing poorly with it last month. and well, if he does change jobs, we'll move...probably rent, but it whatever the case, it'll be smaller/less space, so i'll need to do another layer of paring down our stuff. i'm actually getting lots of energy at the thought of having less money and scrimping and getting rid of/selling more stuff. we'll see.

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?

*Putting in our garden
*Eating from home as much as humanly possible during this crazy sports and event filled time
*Making all of Gwen's summer clothing
*Making much of the linens and decor for outdoor entertaining.

What do you hope to accomplish financially? Time-wise?

*Pay off our smaller credit card
*Get a routine down pat to help us have more family time

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?

*Purging for our church garage sale

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?

*Not really doing that anymore especially since we need to put so much money in the house this summer but we are trying to only buy things that are useful.

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?

*Planning as many fun and free things this summer as possible. I have a couple of girlfriend's with kids the same age as mine and we intend to do several park and picnic days as well as taking turns hosting play dates at our homes. We also have a really nice bike and river trail here so I hope to get some use out of that as well. We will be doing alot of yard maintenance and landscaping this summer and we plan to try to make that fun family time as well.

Oh, and I am on the look out for popsicle molds and an ice cream maker so that we can have inexpensive, healthy, and fun snacks as well :)

Oh, and I am on the look out for popsicle molds and an ice cream maker so that we can have inexpensive, healthy, and fun snacks as well


I hadn't even thought of the ice cream maker. My mom gave me her's last year. That is a good idea!

Where are you guys moving to, Jenni? :)

SIU campus. :)

Does anyone know if it's possible to make ice cream in an ice cream maker w/o using milk? I'll probably just stick to using the Vitamix.

Yes - there are recipes in my cookbook for ones with coconut milk. :)

OR you can send me your ice cream maker because I'm dying to buy one :D

My heart skipped a second thinking you meant SIUE - which is about three miles from my house - but I assume you mean Carbondale?

You know, DH and I started our life on college campus apartments. :D It's a living arrangement very near and dear to our hearts. We love living in college towns (hence moving here) and it's just a great community feel. AND SOoooo frugal :) We also lived without a car for the first several years of our marriage, on campus. :)

Best of luck to you. I wish we were closer and could help you pack up and move.

What are you doing to save money? To resist spending money?
I have been staying at home. Gasoline is my biggest money suck.

What do you hope to accomplish financially?
I want to sell our car. It is NOT an SUV market around here right now, so I doubt that will happen this month, but I really really want to. I may bring the price down even more... If we are able to sell the car for at least $7500 we can still have $1K to put down on another car. One that doesn't suck gas.

Time-wise?
I am trying very very hard to plan for my dh's graduation party in two weeks. I am having a hard time finding time to do so.

Do you have any plans to simplify things this month?
I have been Freecycling everything in sight. I have gone through closets, gotten rid of furniture, appliances, our old grill, baby clothes, 3 bikes, garden starts, and much more on Freecycle. I love it! I am working on the garage right now and have already gotten two bags of things taken away. I will have more I am sure. ;)

Those of you who are "not buying it", how are you doing?
I am not in this group, but I have brought my "latte" factor down to nothing again, and my dh has cut his significantly as well... this makes me happy. :)

What are you doing in prep for long, hot days?
Not thrifty (Yet) but we bought a grill and have cooked 2 out of 3 days on it already. We love the thing. :heart: I am sure it will help with the ele even more this summer. (We don't have a/c or anything.)

You know, DH and I started our life on college campus apartments. :D It's a living arrangement very near and dear to our hearts. We love living in college towns (hence moving here) and it's just a great community feel. AND SOoooo frugal :) We also lived without a car for the first several years of our marriage, on campus. :)

Best of luck to you. I wish we were closer and could help you pack up and move.

I'm so excited about it. I wish I could explain without coming off as angry. Every single person we know in this town is prejudice. The town is 95% white. I hate raising my kids here because of it (and the things that go with). My MIL is a bitter, old woman who nags and says the most terrible things. She's a truly horrible person to be around. No amount of "sugar" can change her, I've tried for years.

I'm incredibly excited about the fact the apts are located between two lakes. :monkeydan We go to one of the lakes every Tuesday while DH is at school. Picnic, watch the turtles. Last week we sat on a cement landing about 2' across and 7' long with "Mr. Mallard" sitting at the end not even 3' away. We watched fish, dragonflies, listened to the bullfrogs & birds. There's a muskrat that lives there. :heart: You know, homeschool. :p

We visited the apartments (again) last week and there was a young man with his very pregnant wife showing his family (visiting from India) the apartments with such awe and appreciation, such joy at living there. That's what I want, to see the everyday ordinary as precious, invaluable. This is a stepping stone in our life. It's hard. Money's tight. Spare time is a precious commodity for DH and we're finding we spend those extra moments enjoying one another as a family now. But this is an opportunity: to learn to live on little, to appreciate what we have, for DH to GET PAID to earn his degree, to enjoy all of the simple, free things in life that are overlooked when searching for and longing after everything the Jones' have.

It's like climbing a mountain: there are risks, it's hard, it's not very comfortable but if you succeed it's priceless.

I'm very happy with the move. :heart: I think this will be a great experience for us.

Well for one thing, I'm not travelling. I almost always travel this month to see my family. This time, I'm waiting until Fall so we can sell our car first and have the money outright.

the trip will be more expensive this year because I will have to rent a vehicle for the time I'm gone and I'm considering spending a portion of it in a hotel since my Dad is such a difficult person around my kids.

My financial plans include getting the 529's for my two youngest. I've got the gift money here, but I haven't done anything with it. *sigh*.

It should be a pretty good month here. Not much going on.

I want to get back into making more things from scratch. I also hope to declutter more than I buy.