And the winner...

... of Financial Peace is Alisa!  I hope that you and your family get as much out of it as we have!

FPU Give-away

I posted my latest FPU update without the promised give-away.

Here it is, the book that started it all, (for JD and I anyway) Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace (updated version).  

It's a brand new copy and I'm hoping someone else can learn from it as much as we have.  This book had led to us having very different ideas about money than we used to, and we definitely feel like we are on our way to being debt free.

To read reviews from Amazon, click here.

If you would like to read it, or know someone else who may benefit from reading it, just leave a comment saying so and I'll pick a winner on Saturday night.  (If you're a public follower of Kell&Crew, I'll throw in a second entry.)

FPU Update- Birthday on a Budget

It was my birthday last week.  When we made the budget for April, we decided not to budget any money for my birthday.  Right now, it's more important to me to get out of debt than for JD to buy me something that I don't really need.  We planned on staying home and just spending time as a family.  An unnamed benefactor ended up giving JD some cash and telling him to take me out to dinner for my birthday, so we ended up going out after all.  Dolly watched the little people, and JD and I went out to a local restaurant and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

I received some birthday money from my in-laws and grandfather that will be going towards getting our kitchen/dining/living area painted.  You know you're a grown-up when all you want for your birthday is paint.

With 4 days to go in April, we've spent most of our allocated money for the month.  A couple of things went over the amount we had budgeted, but they were things out of our control like car repairs and fuel bills.  We did well in every other area.  JD worked many more hours in the past two weeks than the100 that we budgeted for, so we were able to put the "extra" into the property tax fund and also pay several bills that are due in May early which will enable us to put some of June's bills into May's budget and keep us ahead of the game.

After watching the FPU lesson on insurance, we realize that we need to make some changes as far as our insurance goes, so we'll be working on that in the next couple of weeks.

Staycation has started!

Last year we went to Florida during April break.  This year we're saving money and staying home.
I'm surprisingly content to be home and get things done around here.  Our big plans for the week include dentist and orthodontist appointments, a sister-date, and hanging out with friends.  Oh yeah, and catching up on house cleaning/organizing, laundry, bills, etc.

The weekend was kicked off with Book Club which I hosted at my mom's house.  I love those Friday nights with my girlfriends!  We discussed the book, our kids, life in general, and no one had to rush home as husbands were fending for themselves and in charge of the kiddos for the night.

Saturday was low-key and included a birthday party in the afternoon for my friend Jodi's little girl.  The kids had a blast playing pinthetailonthedonkey and smackthepinataashardasyoucan.  The chocolate fountain was a hit as well.

We headed down to Springfield, VT for the day on Sunday.  We attended another birthday party, visited with friends from my YMCA Camp Greylock days, and caught up with JD's college buddy and his wife who reside in Montana now.  The kids had a grand time, especially Ryley, who got to ride her horse friend, Sybil.  She didn't want to come home; between the horses, dogs, and cat, she was ready to move  into the barn.

The winner of the Bondiband is.... Andy Beth!  I'll send it to you via the Christa-Express.

The next giveaway is FPU related and will be coming soon along with an FPU update.

Birthday Giveaways!

In honor of my birthday this week, I'm going to do my first giveaways (yes, that's plural, so check back in a day or two for the next one).  After all, a blog is not a blog without giveaways that bribe people to be followers.

Up for grabs today, I have a MAGENTA BONDI BAND- a must have for serious and not-so-serious runners, hikers, etc.

I won my first Bondi Band off of Christa's blog (that's her and her Bondi Band above) and I love it!  It keeps my hair out of my face and the sweat out of my eyes.   The best thing is that it doesn't move; it stays where I put it without being headache-inducing tight.  Love it! (It's also a nice added touch for Wacky Wednesday at school.)

In order to win this lovely accessory (did I mention it's PINK!) for you or your favorite runner, you must
A) Like Bondi Band on Facebook. (That's their requirement.)
B) Be an official "follower" of my blog and comment that you want the Bondi Band. (That's mine.)

One of my little cherubs will pick the winner on Saturday.

P.S.  I'm actually going to wear mine more often because I just signed up for a 5k.  I haven't kept up with my running and have a long way to go in 3 short weeks.  Yikes!

Cremees and Mountains

On Friday afternoon, I dropped Ryley off at my aunt's to do "horse stuff" and spend the night.  I took the boys and met up with Christa at Goodies for our first creemees (soft-serve ice-cream for non-Vermonters) of the year.  Our favorite snack bar opened this weekend and we were down there within 15 minutes of opening time.  We had maple creemees, and at $.87, they're not a budget breaker :)

Quin had been sick for a few days and was happy to be outside.

Here's hoping Zeke doesn't get sick after sharing his ice-cream with Quin.

Christa! 

Me and my baby

Then it was off to the benefit auction for our school.  We had a sitter lined up, but with Quin being sickly, JD stayed home with him.  It was a great night with yummy desserts and good friends!

On Saturday I delivered our patio set about an hour north of here.  I was a little nervous that once I got there, the buyers wouldn't be around or would change their mind, but it was a quick, easy transaction.  We stopped for milkshakes at McD's because we had some time to kill before picking Pa up from dialysis.  It turned out to be a good thing that we had that time because I locked the keys in the truck.  Oops.  JD's dad came and rescued us and we made it to dialysis on time.

A quick stop at a yard sale resulted in softball cleats for Ry, 2 pairs of sneaks for Zeke, and 3 books for me for a grand total of $3.30.  That made Goodwill look expensive, but we found some nice jeans and a brand new pair of cords for Quin, hockey skates for the kids to grow into, and a cash box that I plan to use for bake sales at school.  $11 spent there.

JD's mom came and watched the kids so that we could attend another benefit last night.  We had a great time visiting with friends that we don't see nearly enough.  

This afternoon, I took the big kids and we hiked Buck Mountain with Dolly and Erik.  It's less than 10 minutes from our house, but for some reason, I've never been up there.  The view wasn't as superb as some of the other mountains nearby, but it was still beautiful and we could see our house.

Ryley is breaking out the cookies while the others check out the view.

Our house is in this pic, but it's not easy to find unless you know exactly where it is.

Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks.

JD dug this pond a couple of years ago.

They're in luvvvvv

Sisters

I have excellent back-seat photography skills.

That's all folks.  I hope you're weekend was as lovely as mine (minus the puking kid).

Books

I haven't done much reading for pleasure lately.  I rarely feel that I have the time to just sit down and read.  If I even think about it, the toys on the floor and the laundry waiting to be folded start glaring at me.  I have been reading books for school though to keep up with my students.  I just finished Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry by Mildred Taylor for the umpteenth time.  So good - a must read for students to get a true picture of a not-so-nice time in American history.  My class just started Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes.  Unlike Roll of Thunder, this isn't one that I usually teach, but have decided to in order to review Revolutionary War era Boston before our trip there next month.

Before next week, I also need to start and finish Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close for Book Club.  It's my turn to host, and the book was my choice, and I did get as far as downloading it onto my Nook, but I haven't read a single page yet.  I'm hoping that it's enjoyable and that I will get my dose of pleasure reading.

The following week is vacation from school.  We're having a "staycation" this year, and I'm hoping to read at least one good book.  Any recommendations?

FPU Update- The Budget

The budget is going okay, but not perfectly.

We somehow forgot to include our HELOC (home equity line of credit) payment in the budget.  The HELOC was used to build our garage and nothing else, so technically it's our garage loan.  It would be nice if the garage was part of our mortgage, but since it isn't, we'll have it paid of a lot sooner.  We won't forget to include it next month!

I had to get a new inhaler which we didn't budget for.
One of our dogs may have to go to the vet as there is something going with one of his paws.
Our fuel bill was more than we expected.
I broke a coil spring in my car, and now they both need to be replaced.  The springs can only come from Toyota, so we're expecting a hefty repair bill.  Again, "car repair" was not in the budget.

All of the above items can be budgeted for, but you have to be expecting a certain income in order to fit them in.  We couldn't fit them in this month.  

On the bright side, we were able to sell a few things that should cover any costs that we didn't budget for, and JD's first bi-weekly check of the month was more than we had included in the budget.  (Because his checks have a huge range, we based our budget at the lower end of the range.)

I'm still trying to get the hang of using the envelopes.  I've had to "borrow" from an envelope and then remember which envelope "owed" which.  It gets tricky. Also, for groceries I buy gift cards from school that give a percentage back to the school and help out our tuition a little bit.  I bought too large of a gift card for the grocery store for this month and didn't leave myself enough cash for using everywhere else that I get food/milk.

We had a lot going on last week, and JD worked late a couple of nights, so we haven't watched the next FPU lesson.  That will be on the schedule for this week as they definitely help keep us motivated!

Happy Easter!

On Thursday night, Ry and Zeke dyed Easter eggs.  That's about as commercial as I get at Easter time.  No baskets full of gifts or Easter bunnies here.  I want the kids to know the true meaning of Easter and that the day is a celebration of the resurrection of our Savior.

I had Good Friday off from school, and it was indeed a good Friday.  I felt like I was able to stretch Saturday out over a two day period and accomplish normal Saturday things at a much slower pace.  We visited friends, went grocery shopping, cleaned the house, visited JD's grandmother, and went to the Good Friday service at church.

Saturday was more of the same, with an egg hunt at church where the kiddos gathered plastic eggs in a rainbow of color, hoping to find one of the "Resurrection Eggs" which held tiny symbols of the Easter story.  Quin found one with a communion cup in it and Zeke picked out an Easter coloring book for him as a prize.  Christa and Travey came over for dinner, and once the kids were in bed, we amused ourselves playing old-school Nintendo games and Deal or No Deal on the wii.

Today, we sang all of my favorite Easter songs at church with my family filling up the entire row.  On the way home, we stopped at JD's mom and step-dad's, where the kids got to hunt for Easter baskets full of little gifts and then hunt for some eggs outside.  Quin isn't really into the hunting yet, but Ryley and Zeke had fun trying to find their eggs and see what goodies were inside.

We had dinner back at my mom's with all of my in-state siblings and their significant others.  When my brother introduced his girlfriend to my 91-year-old grandfather, saying "This is Krystal,"  without skipping a beat, Pa reached for his cup and said, "This is glass."  I guess you had to be there.  Dinner was followed with another egg hunt back in our yard, where Mom's husband and Dolly's boyfriend had hidden a pile of eggs.  Unfortunately, the dogs found quite a few of them before the kids did!

One of my favorite Easter songs by the Gaithers:

God sent His son, they called Him Jesus

He came to love, heal, and forgive.

He lived and died to buy my pardon,

An empty grave is there to prove my Savior lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

How sweet to hold a newborn baby,

And feel the pride and joy he gives.

But greater still the calm assurance,

This child can face uncertain days because He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone.

Because I know He holds the future,

And life is worth the living just because He lives.

And then one day I’ll cross the river,

I’ll fight life’s final war with pain.

And then as death gives way to victory,

I’ll see the lights of glory and I’ll know He lives.

Because He lives, I can face tomorrow.

Because He lives, All fear is gone!

Because I know He holds the future

And life is worth the living just because He lives!

Last night's beautiful sunset from our porch

Courageous

Last Friday night, our church hosted a showing of the movie Courageous.  Neither JD nor I had seen the movie, but I had heard great things about it and it was on my mental list of flicks to see.  The Young Peoples (high school youth group) provided childcare and sold snacks during an intermission.  So, for the cost of a few snacks and a donation to the YPs, we had a great night out.  The kids had fun with their friends, and we got to watch a movie with ours!

For those that haven't seen it, I would say that it's a must-see, especially for dads, as it focuses on being a great father.  JD and I will definitely be watching it again.

Honor Begins at Home

Four men, one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, Adam Mitchell, Nathan Hayes, David Thomson, and Shane Fuller are confident and focused. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood.

While they consistently give their best on the job, good enough seems to be all they can muster as dads. But they're quickly discovering that their standard is missing the mark.

When tragedy hits home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, their fears, their faith, and their fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God ... and to their children?

Filled with action-packed police drama, COURAGEOUS is the fourth film from Sherwood Pictures, the moviemaking ministry of Sherwood Baptist Church in Albany, Georgia. Viewers will once again find themselves laughing, crying, and cheering as they are challenged and inspired by everyday heroes who long to be the kinds of dads that make a lifelong impact on their children.

Protecting the streets is second nature to these men. Raising their children in a God-honoring way? That's courageous.

FPU Update #4

BANK ACCOUNTS- I forgot to mention in my last update that I had opened up a new savings account specifically for our Emergency Fund.  I also opened a savings account for Quin.  The big kids have had theirs for several years, and I was a little behind on getting him one.  I've kept pretty good track of how much we "owe" him (birthday and Christmas checks from grandparents and great-grandparents) and will be transferring that into his account.  Our hope is that the kids will have enough money in their savings to buy a decent vehicle for cash when they are 16.

CREDIT CARDS- I've called and cancelled most of our credit cards.  We had two main cards and a bunch of store credit cards.  The only store cards I ever used were Kohls and Gap and that was because I liked the perks and coupons that I received.  At this time, we are planning on keeping one credit card until we're comfortable with the idea of not having one.  I know that the idea is to have no credit cards and no credit score, and we don't plan on taking out any other loans and already have a mortgage, so having no credit score shouldn't be a problem.  I have heard stories of people having a hard time renting cars and hotel rooms without a credit card though, so we're holding onto one until we experience renting easily without. We got our statement for our second credit card.  Again, we didn't have the $0 balance I was expecting.  Instead, we had a negative balance!  I returned a swimsuit back in February and the return was just credited to the March statement, so now I have to use the card somewhere and have exactly $17.59 put onto it in order to not lose the money.

SELLING STUFF- We're still working on selling "stuff" that we don't need.  A few things are pending sale and we're hoping to hear back about a biggish sale today.  I'm usually a bit of a pack-rat, but the purging feels surprisingly good.  Ryley and Quin's outgrown clothing is now going out the door as soon as they don't wear it anymore.  I'm holding onto most of Zeke's stuff for Quin, and by next year, I'll be at a point where I won't need to buy very much in the way of clothing for the little guy.   Our adult clothing goes to a local consignment shop that supports the school that I work at.  The kids clothing either goes there or to a resale shop that pays on the spot and offers a higher percentage if you take store credit.  Either way, we get a little bit back from our old clothes.  Sometimes I deal with trying to sell things on eBay, but I am finding that I don't have a ton of extra time for that right now.

THE BUDGET-  We sat down again with our planned budget for April and adjusted a few numbers.  We assigned certain categories to envelopes and put the budgeted amount of cash into them.  I'm not expecting things to work out perfectly this month as it's our first shot, but the sale of "stuff" will hopefully make up for anything that we didn't think to budget for (like dog licenses). A friend who has gone through FPU gave us an Excel budget template that was designed specifically for a zero balance budget, and using it made creating a budget a lot less work as the calculations were all done for us.