Kroger and Food City Savings

I realize this is a little hard to see. So I will break it down.

Food City:

6 boxes hamburger helper 1.00 ea

2 dozen eggs .99 ea.

-1.50 in coupons

spent 7.10 saved over 10.00

Kroger:

5 bags Lays potatoe chips

2 bags Starbucks coffee (birthday present for a friend)

coffee filters

12 cans soup

2 bags cheese

18 candy bars

12 pack cola

2 boxes popcorn

flour

2 liter pepsi

3 Purex detergents

1 soft soap

2 lipton to go

1 cereal

2 packs bacon

TOTAL $121.04

After coupons and kroger savings $66.47

We were very pleased with our savings this trip.

Homeschooling

We have been having real trouble homeschooling. Last year was so hard. We only did what needed to be done to get by. Ross did get behind. We have been trying to catch up and it has been a battle. I put my foot down this week and made some big changes. So far the last few days have been great. The hassle and stress has not been here. I think part of that is do to Ross knowing that we are serious about this and he has no choice.

These are the changes we made. The laws here says you need to school 4 hours a day. So we have set our schedule up this way.

Ross gets up and has breakfast.
We have not come up with a regualr time for getting up yet. This is something that I have started struggling with so mom has to work on this.

He starts his school work.
I have started having it all prepared and together. It is all written in a lesson plan book that he can mark off as he does it. He knows what he has to get done. We set a time that he has to be done.
We break for lunch. He is usually done between 3 and 4 o'clock.

I have never had it this structured so that is my fault. He is doing much better in just a few days. He is suppose to take an art class on Tuesdays but if I have to fight him to get the required work done then he does not get to do art.
We are pushing to get some serious catching up done and he is working harder now. So my goal is to have him at his grade level by fall. We will test in the spring of next year. I hope to have him ahead by then. I will keep posting how this is working.

Goal Not Met

I am already behind on goals. I have not posted here in a while again. This is a habit I need to get into. We are trying to make changes in our lives but it is not working that well.



I forget to come here and post. I have been trying to live a budget and we have already blown that. Gas is killing us. That is a budget buster. We have so much we have to do though. We are trying to get our son back on track with his karate. Which means going twice a week. Our van does not get good gas mileage. So we have really got to figure out how to work around this. Groceries are also going to be an issue. Because that is where I will take money from for gas.

All that being said we are trying to cut back when we can and look for ways to earn extra money.



I have started selling on Ebay again. Click here to see my store. This is a great way to get rid of items that you no longer need. I am not sure what is going to happen now that we are in a recession.

I am also making hot tamales to sell. That always earns a good amount in the winter. I just can't seem to get as motivated as I have in the past.

I don't know if anyone reads this or not but I hope to at some point really have some good info on here. Please just stick with me.

What You Learn When Your World Falls Apart

I know I posted some on here about my husband having cancer and some of the things we have been through. I say we because the whole family goes through this not just the patient.

We have experienced times that I could have just walked away and said I can't take anymore. There have been times that my 9 yr. son was so frustrated and discouraged. We made it through only by the grace and mercy of God. Our home was turned upside down and shaken up. Every one of us have changed we are not the same people who started through this.

When my husband was on steroids was the worst time. I have great sympathy for anyone who has a loved one on them. He was so horrible. There was nothing he could do and nothing we could do.

Financially we were devistated. He was the bread winner and now we had nothing except what I made parttime. We had no savings due to having made very poor financial decisions in the past. We were in bankruptcy that we had to pay every week. I could not pay everything.
Then God took over and everything was fine. We had money come in that we never expected. People we had not heard from in years sent checks in the mail. People in our church would hand us money. We had gotten on SSI but that was not much, 623.00 a month doesn't pay much.
We had gotten on foodstamps and TennCare, but that was such a hassle. I was treated like dirt and degraded. I had no other choice but to go through it though. We had no insurance, we were hurting in a lot of ways.
He got approved for SSDI but that would not start for 6 months. You know though we never went hungry and the bills were always paid.
The couple I work for were wonderful, they worked with me around all the doctor appointments. That is also where I got to get away so I would not go crazy. We were in survival mode. Just one hour at a time. That is as good as it got. We never knew what was next but God always provided and gave us strength. We would never have gotten through this without Him.

In saying all this the point is you can survive anything as long as you lean on God. Have faith and know that you will make it through.

Goals, not resolutions

This year I am going to try something I have never really done. I am going to set goals. Nothing major, not even long term. Just small little things that I can actually do with little effort.
I know that sounds really lazy but I always make all kinds of plans for the new year, every year and I never get anywhere.

So, this year I am just setting a few small, reachable goals to start with. When these goals become habit then I will make a few more.

Goals to start with are:
Stretch 10 minutes a day.
Drink 8 glasses of water a day.
Start journaling.
Post a least once a week on blog.

These can be vey reachable in a short period of time. Once these become habit I will set just a few more.

Just some food for thought. If you struggle with large NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS then just make a few goals.

Starting New

I am going to try really hard to start posting more on here. I want to participate in the things going on on Crystals site . We are really going to crack down this year and get our finances in shape. I will also be sharing more of what we are going through and have in the past year.

We have been very blessed by God this year. I think it is only right that I tell all who will listen how much He has blessed us and how great He is.