Planning and Budgeting

Family Budget...... Dun dun dun....... The dreaded number crunching time where you write down what you spend and where you spend it!  I figured it's probably a good time to re do the budget since scott's new job is changing our income.  And I thought maybe we should go back to the Dave Ramsey cash envelope system again.  We did that over a year ago and it works great for saving money.  We live in such a world of swiping the card we don't realize how much we are spending till it's too late!  I am guilty of not even looking some times before i swipe my card, i just figure i have to pay for it anyway!  Plus I really want to buckle down and save more this year, because Scott's construction jobs are so unpredictable so i rather stock pile for the slow times.

I went on my favorite website, etsy and typed in Dave Ramsey wallet, to see what crafty people have come up with to make a cute modified version of a basic envelope to carry around.  Oh my word lots of cute options. Some were a little pricey for my budget....$50.00 for a fabric wallet that i'm using to save money, Mmmmm Scratching my head!  But i found this 30.00 one that's super cute

but then i scratched my head again and said "I can sew"!  

Scott and i also talked about our groceries, well I told him what change I wanted and he agreed with me.  We do a lot of our shopping at Aldi, and what I cant get there I go to cub. It's nice because it's cheap, but some of the quality isn't the same.  Last summer we did a lot of shopping at Bob's produce ranch and some at the coop's.  So my plan is to go back to that, buy more organic produce and our meats there.  It's more pricey but at least i know there grown/raised with out those chemicals! Plus i love to cook so why not invest in good groceries rather then eating out! Plus we will have our garden this summer too, which is full of yummy produce that we grown. I think if we didn't do a garden this year I think the neighbors would be upset, they enjoyed some of our yummy tomatoes too. We even had people stop while walking, and driving  by the house and say how beautiful it looked. It was right next to the road so you couldn't miss it! I think we are going to add maybe one or two more planting boxes along with the ones we have.  They did so good last year! Plus the Mr. has some things he wants to try this year too.

We are also planning a family vacation this year.  It will be our first family vacation, besides a over night camping trip.  Scott and I have wanted to take the girls to Walt Disney Land for some time, we think they are at the age where it will be very magical for them.  You are probably thinking, Arent you having a baby in a few weeks? Yes,and we are planning a trip for mid May!  When we jump we jump with both feet!  I figure Henry will be in the sleepy mode still at that age, rather then going when he is crawling and wiggling around like crazy! The girls don't know we are planning this because i cant stand the question "is it time yet?" But I have to say it's so hard to spend money on a vacation  we have lived very frugal for so long it's hard to splurge on this.  Scott and i haven't even taken a vacation {out of state}since being married. But i know it will be a lot of fun, so I have to keep reminding myself of that.  And of course i'm searching the web for discounts and way to pinch your money!  Sorry some things don't change! We are going to fly, because why torture ourselves driving with 3 kids under the age of 7 all the way to California. 

So that's some of our plans for the year!  Cant wait to get all this organized and start applying it!