THRIVE

I stumbled across this website, and I HIGHLY recommend it.  It's called Just Thrive, and it's a FREE (had me there!) personal budget, online money management, personal finance software, financial planning, and advice giver.  I signed up today and have been playing around with it for a little bit.  Didn't really have THAT much time with being home with the kids, but I liked what I have come across so far. 

Some of the perks:

• Gives an "estimated" credit score.
• Plans out a budget for you, and is super easy to manipulate depending on monetary amount you want to designate in each area.
• Shows what house value you are likely to be able to afford.
• projects how much you need to save
• Tracks if you've stayed under the budgeted amout of your categories.

I've only looked at it for MAYBE an hour today, total.  Realistically though, you'd need to track your spending on it for a month for it to be accurate.  It's a pretty neat too though, worth checking out if you don't want to budget by pen and paper.

My Stockpile

We love freebies!

     Many of you have been asking what kinds of products can I get for free or for nearly nothing.  It's a msiconception that freebies and/or rebate items are usually reject items.  A lot of the items I get for free are actual items that we would use on a daily basis.  I stock up, hence "stockpile," so we have what we need whenever we needed, or for someone else that can benefit from our "frugality."  Enjoy the pics.

My RiteAid Profit

Look at all the goodies I got from RiteAid for free!!!  And I actually make a profit of $0.01.  Hey, it may be a miniscule amount now, BUT a penny saved is a penny earned!  lol

I just love FREE stuff.

Thank You Rite Aid for providing for our family's luxurious lifestyle.

:)

Great Things Come in Small Packages

It has finally arrived, yes, the beloved Walgreens Rebate Giftcard. Great things do come in small packages. There really weren't THAT many great deals this week, not stuff we necessarily needed or really used. HOWEVER, since I got that nifty little gift card, I went coupon shopping at Wags this afternoon. I ended up purchasing:

• 4 rolls of Bounty
• 4 bags of Ghiradelli chocolates
• 2 things of tape
• Air Wick air freshner kit
• A birthday card (for sister)

These best thing is that I ended up making $1.01!!! And I get a rebate off the air freshner for this month's rebates at Wags. Life is good! I honestly do not know why this gives me such a thrill. I do like being frugal, being responsible with my family's finances. It is important to us that we have money to give back to the Lord, and money to support our family. I am slowly learning little tricks here and there to help us financial. Here are some big ones I've learned, that have worked for me:

• Always go in with a list (I list the sales price by each time, and a C if I have a coupon(s) for it.
• Have into the "Get in, Get out" mentality (Don't go to shop around; even when I do coupon shop, I do my research first. I coupon-shop for specific items).
• You're just headed for trouble if you go into a store with no list, no preparation.
• Don't shop when you're hungry.
• Get ONLY what's on the list (even my husband has to remind me of this one).
• Don't buy just because it's a "good" deal (I really don't pick up extras unless it is free, or VERY close to free).
• Don't be ashamed to ask prices and use coupons.
• Do frequent small trips, as oppose to few LARGE purchases. (I've saved quite a bit making small trips to Wags and CVS, and using the register rewards or CVS Bucks for subsequent purchases).
• Don't be lazy - look for rebates (then be patient waiting for the mail).
• I put rebate moneys back into savings until it's needed.
• Calculate an item's economicality (not sure if I made up that work, but what I mean it, which is cheaper per item - that small bottle of ketcup or the family jumbo size).
• Bigger is not always better (I used to buy TP at Costco, but there just isn't the space, and honestly, I can get TP and paper towels for pretty cheap hitting sales and coupons).
• Outside of dairy, bread, produce, there are FEW items I will buy if it's not on-sale AND I have a coupon for it.
• Self-discipline!

In closing, here's a picture of my little beauty that brought me happiness!

Struggling

I suppose that kinda sums up how my week is starting out.  I hate money, and worrying about it.  It hate when it looks like we won't have enough, and know that everything is out of my control.  I am shamed to even say I hate knowing that there is nothing I can do anymore, but trust that God's going to give us what we need.  I guess deep down, I blame myself, or somehow I feel inadequate for not always making ends meet.  This is the vicious cycle I put myself through once every other week.  Why don't you just let go and trust the Lord you ask?  That's what I'm trying to figure out.  I honestly do try, and try, and try again.  I'm not perfect, so it doesn't happen most of the time.  I am trying though.  I have learned that even though many times we don't know how we'll pay all our bills, the Lord provides exactly what we need.  I have learned that even though it doesn't seem feasible to even, ever, possibly own a home of our own, God will find one that's exactly what we need.

How am I doing though?  I'm struggling, and I'm struggling because I'm tired.  I'm tired because I worry.  I worry because I'm stubborn.  Deep down I know the week will get better.  I just wish I could somehow, miraculously, get rid of all my imperfections.  But that's not my place or job is it?  It's God's. 

It's pretty quite here right now.  Natty's asleep and Tim's at work.  I take times like these to think about where I am with the Lord, what/how I need to improve, how I can be a better wife and mother, how to be a better teacher, how I can better surrender and obey....Now that I've exhausted myself, I find God's "small voice" tell me, "Just be still..."  This has become my new favorite verse - Exodus 14:14 -->  "The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still."  As I've said in my earlier blogs, I started reading through the Bible on Facebook in a year.  I'm about 11% done.  It's a commitment, but I'm determined to stick to it.  Anyway, I am in Exodus, almost finish now, and that verse has rung so through in my heart and soul the past couple weeks.

Growing up, I've always been pretty independent.  I wasn't clingy, but I loved attention.  I liked having people around.  It made me feel safe and protected.  I hated being alone.  I always felt pretty lonely until college.  I recommitted my life back to Christ my Freshman year, took life more seriously, and took school more seriously.  I had a rough time in high school. I always felt I need protection and didn't get it.  I was always looking for someone to protect me, to advocate for me.  Now that I'm older, I'm married, I have a daughter, I'm quickly discovering how much of an advocate I am for my husband and my family.  Just these past couple years, I'm starting to see how I can trust God to be my advocate.  He fights for ME, and, seriously, God's so mighty I just need to get out of the way and stand back!

Well, that's my week that is slowly turning around.

In other news, Women's Bible Study starts on Sept. 18th and I'm SO excited!  I'm doing the inductive study again, and I LOVE it!  If any of you are interested in the inductive method to Bible study, I'll help you out.  I have gotten so much out of it.  Anyways, I'm waiting in GREAT anticipation for my leader to call.  This is the week - week and a half - I look forward to most (besides koinania) because I have no clue who my leader is.  When I finally get the call, we are both so excited; you can sense the excitement. 

Hope everyone's week is start out ok and getting better!