Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Top 5 Birthday Budget Tips

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Ready to read Tasha’s Top 5 Birthday Budget Tips?

Can you have a great birthday on a budget?

Duh! Of course. Okay, but really, when your family is used to something and things and times are changing (like being stuck at home during a pandemic), how do you have a great birthday? Perhaps you’re starting a new budget that doesn’t include extravagant gifts, what do you do?

Peter is one

My youngest just turned one. (Yay!) We celebrated him ALL DAY. Peek-A-Boo was played as often as he wanted. We snuggled and snuggled and snuggled. We served pasta (his favorite) with Easy Chocolate Fudge Pie (his favorite). Lighting a birthday candle was a highlight. (He loved it, we blew it out and lit it multiple times). We gave high fives (his favorite) and Pound It! (his favorite), we sang Happy Birthday at least 20 times throughout the day. We danced with him (his favorite); the kids and I got down and crawled on the floor. We cheered and laughed and clapped when he took five steps! He is loved and he knows it.

Baby in bath

This is how much he loves homemade chocolate pie!

Oh, and did I mention, we didn’t buy him a thing. Not a single thing. It was a great example to my other kids how we can have birthdays without presents.

“He was one, so it doesn’t count,” you say.

What about the big/little kids?

Another turns eight this month, his day will look entirely different. He can play a mean game of Peek-A-Boo, but it’s not his favorite. He might notice if he doesn’t get any presents. For him, I’m thinking Lego challenges as a family (he will win because he’s amazing), a one-on-one donut (take out) date with Dad (his favorite), a walk around town just the two of us (his favorite), charades, crazy-silly LOUD dance party (his favorite), hide-and-seek (his favorite), tag, all the popcorn he could possibly eat (his favorite), a show, and a family slumber party in the living room (his absolute favorite).

Notice a favorite trend here?

We’ll talk in advance about some of our plans so he’ll know what to look forward to. His siblings and I will pick out one gift together, (new drawing pens and notebook) but we don’t want that to be the focus of the day.

Here are the top five things I’ve learned about money and stuff and birthdays.

1. Budget, Budget, Budget.

Fancy word for: Set aside. Take some money each payday specifically for buying gifts and throwing a party and set it aside. Budgeting doesn’t mean not spending money, it just means you know where your money is going. Budget whatever makes sense for your family. If you love to buy expensive gifts, that’s your choice! (And can I be your friend? I’m super into kitchen appliences and tennis shoes with super cute summer dresses. In case anyone was wondering.) Just make sure the money is there for it.

2. Kids are stronger than you think.

They don’t need stuff to be happy. (And neither do we, except for blentecs and robotic vacuum cleaners. *Ahem*)

My oldest was crushed after a hard conversation about what he wasn’t getting for Christmas. I felt terrible. The thing he wanted just wasn’t in the budget, it wasn’t something we wanted in the house, and it didn’t fit with what we were trying to make Christmas about. He was sad for half a day and he got over it. Whoop-De-Do.

Therefore, I give you permission to not feel guilty about not buying more stuff. Permission granted to feel wonderful about making great memories. You know your child better than anyone, let the day be about him, not about what you bought. Decide ahead of time something to do instead.

3. Plan ahead.

Talk about expectations of the day as a family well before the event. “We are going to celebrate you by…doing all these fun and awesome things that are your favorite… so there won’t be many wrapped up presents this year.”

Focus on what you will be doing, not what you’re not doing. What does she like to do with you? Can you spend the whole day just enjoying her? Brainstorm with the whole family ways to celebrate and make memories. This can be extravagant budgeted excursions or completely free. (Mamas, unless your man is really into planning things, I give you permission to plan your day and let your family know what you expect of them. Be Specific. If you want breakfast in bed, it might be a good idea to make it ahead of time and show your people where to find it. I recommend something good eaten cold, like this Straweberry Bread.)

4. Life does not consist in an abundance of possessions. (Luke 12:15)

Can I get an Amen!? I need a large poster with this verse. After living a few (many) years on a spending lockdown, when we finally had a bit of cash, I fell into the habit of buying all the things I thought I needed. Remember my Amazon addiction? I did the same for the kids. Suddenly because I could buy stuff, I did. And you know what? They weren’t any happier with the stuff than they were without it. More stuff doesn’t change our hearts and our relationships with others and our relationship with God. We know this, and yet we all fall into a consumerism trap from time to time.

5. Life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. (Luke 12:23)

Not to take this passage out of context, Jesus wasn’t talking about birthdays OR WAS HE? It totally relates! A child is more than a party, and the birthday more than presents. A present does not a birthday make. (Does everyone hate me yet?) Planning fun activities is more work than buying stuff. (It can be so. much. work.) Trust me, I know what it’s like to have zero energy to organize and throw a party. Sleeping through the night is a luxury these days. Homeschooling little ones who can’t even read?! You’re 5 already, get with the program! (Kidding. I’m kidding.) Whew. I do have to keep this house from falling apart, too. Laundry and dishes and sweeping. Sometimes we even mop! (You know, when somebody brakes a glass full of milk.) How am I supposed to plan a party for a bunch of 3-year-olds?!?

And then I am reminded that life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Being happy is better than being perfect. Last December, my 7 year old was SO FOCUSED on what HE was going to GET, that he could hardly enjoy anything else about Christmas. We are making some changes in our house this year and not because we can’t financially afford to buy presents.

I still want birthdays to be something special.

Truthfully, I used to worry about birthdays because I wanted them to be special and wonderful, but I couldn’t afford to buy nice things. Now that we’ve paid off a bunch of debt, we can afford stuff and I realize we don’t need ‘em. Most of the time I don’t even want it! (Correction. I want new shoes. Shoes are great. I bought three pairs this month and I’m ecstatic. First new shoes I’ve had in 18 months. Somebody send help!) More stuff is often more mess and therefore more work. Then we have to spend even more time clearing out our junk and decluttering.

If you are a Heavenly Homemakers Club member, Laura has put together so many great ideas for celebrating your people. Look under FAMILY TIPS and browse her ideas that make sense for your family. Trip ideas, experience ideas, party ideas. You don’t have to come up with a plan for your family all on your own. Much of the work has been done for you!

I challenge you to find ways to really celebrate and love your people individually. You get to decide what that means. You can spend lots of money, or none of it, but in my experience, I have found the price tag doesn’t correlate with the success of the day.

Answer in the comments: What do you like about the way you celebrate? What would you like to do differently? Do you have a favorite childhood birthday memory?

tashaTasha, friend of Laura, and fellow homeschooling mama, lives in the middle of America and does her best to keep the floors clean. Hahaha. Her kids are currently one, three, five, and seven. When she’s not writing for Laura she can be found on Instagram @heavenlyhomemaker, sneaking Jalapeno Cheetos, painting with her kids, pretending she likes to garden, and watching Star Wars with her husband.

 

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Should You Give Kids an Allowance?

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Should you give kids an allowance? That’s a great question with many different opinions!

I’m not going to answer with a simple yes or no. But I will share with you what we’ve done!

Why should you listen to my advice? You maybe shouldn’t, simply because every family is different, every kid is different, and there are many ways to handle allowance and teach your kids how to handle money!

My experience spans 22 years of parenting. Our oldest son, the 22-year-old, is a great money manager, as is our 20-year-old, our 18-year-old, and our 15-year-old. Some of them are a little more willing to spend their money on occasional splurges while some of them much prefer more padding in their savings accounts. But what I want to say is this: The way we handled allowance with our kids when they were little and as they became big? It worked.

But ha, there’s more! God blessed us with Bonus Boys!! So we’ll be starting this method all over again with our six-year-old and later when our 1-year-old “comes of age.” Seems it’s a good thing I’m dusting off this old trick so we can use it all over again in a few months!

Should You Give Kids an Allowance?

We did give our kids an allowance – for a time.

When they turned the magic age of 7, we started giving our kids a whopping $4/month, which usually equaled $1/week. (By the way, we tried it when our oldest turned 5 but found he was a bit too young to understand saving and spending concepts we were trying to teach.)

We made this allowance-giving experience kind of a big deal by presenting them with a brand new wallet on their 7th birthday. Then we gave them 4 one-dollar bills to put inside their new wallets – beautiful pieces of green to an eager 7-year-old!

While we’d already started talking about simple money spending and saving concepts long before they turned 7 – this is when we started giving them more responsibility and freedom. Why?

So that they could begin to learn how to manage their very own money.

$4 isn’t very much. But we found it didn’t take much to help them learn some basic healthy money skills.

It is worth noting that we didn’t require them to do chores in order to earn this $4 allowance. It was simply a monthly allowance. The chores?? Oh, they did them! They just didn’t get money for them. And they didn’t even know they were called “chores” ha! (I learned this one day when they were at a friend’s house and they shrugged when their friend asked what chores they did at home. “I don’t know. We don’t have chores.” The friends were so jealous…until I cleared it up that my kids helped around the house all day long, we just never called this kind of family teamwork “doing chores.” But anyway…)

We didn’t set up specific guidelines for how they were to go about using their $4 allowance. We simply offered guidance and talked them through options for how they might enjoy their new money freedom.

  • We let them know that the money they gave at church would now be from their own wallet instead of from ours. Usually, we helped them break one of their dollars into 4 quarters so they could give one quarter each week. They BEAMED when they put their very own quarter in the offering plate!!
  • We helped them recognize more about the cost of items from the store. Our kids already knew by then not to ask for “things” when we shopped. But now we were able to say “you can save your money for that if you’d like to buy it” if they saw something they liked while shopping. Often the desire for said “things” would fade quickly when they realized how long it would take to save for the purchase. So they began to learn more about saving and investing in what truly meant something to them.
  • We emphasized how nice it is to save money for bigger needs or desires. If our kids would have chosen to spend their entire allowance money amount each month (after setting aside some for giving) – we would have let them. But would you believe – not one of them ever did. It took very little time for them to learn the joy of watching the stash of dollar bills grow in their wallets.

Every once in awhile, one of our little allowance-receivers would spend a dollar here or there on a dollar store item. This was fine and fun and good for their learning experience too! We always talked about a purchase before taking the plunge!

But I believe they had learned from our example of being more of a saver than a spender. We don’t buy stuff for the sake of buying stuff. And so their money-saving mindset began.

How long did we give our kids allowance?

We gave our kids an allowance until they started earning money in other ways.

About the time $4/month became a laughably small amount to our sons – around the age of 10 or 11 – we continued the monthly allowance. But as soon as they found ways to earn money, the allowance allotment stopped. They didn’t complain about this because they were now able to earn $10 on one Saturday morning by reffing a youth soccer game or by mowing a lawn – so they were getting much more than a tiny $4 allowance!

In addition, by that time, they had learned the very basics of money management – our very reason for giving our kids an allowance. By the time our boys started to find ways to earn money, they had a strong sense of ownership and the beginning of wisdom when it came to saving, giving, and spending.

So should you give kids an allowance?

I can’t give you a firm yes or no. But I will tell you this: We’re glad we did! And we’ll do it again when Brayden turns 7.

At this point, he and I talk often at the store about how we spend our money and how we make purchasing choices. He’s catching on quickly – and as much as he already loves putting coins from our pockets into the offering jars at church (specifically earmarked for children in Ecuador!) – I can’t wait to see how much he loves using his very own money!

How have you handled allowance at your house?

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How to Have Stress-Free Christmas (Hint: START NOW!)

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Is it possible to have a stress-free Christmas? Yup! Tasha shares how!

Hey Everyone! Tasha here. I wrote a Christmas Budget script for us to read together. I put on my brown tweed blazer and I was immedietly inspired. (The equivalant to my thinking cap, because it’s winter in Nebraska and cold in my house; not just because I think it makes me look like a sophisticated Mommy-turned-naptime-writer.) This play will be a hit! Someday you’ll see it on a marquee and you will stop and take a picture and tell all your friends, “I know the girl who wrote that!” and it’ll be grand.

Naptime writers unite! I promise wearing a blazer makes you legit.

The Best Financial Christmas Story Ever

Enter Tasha and HH Reader

Me: Christmas is coming soon! Only 300 and something days left! I can’t wait to start my Christmas Budget.

You: Tasha, no… please stop. It’s February.

Me: I know, right?!?! Only ten months left to plan. I’m so excited!

You: Tasha, you’re out of control! Nobody wants to plan Christmas right now. We’re so DONE with Christmas. I mean, really. Some of us haven’t even taken the decorations down.

Me: Yikes! Better get on that. But really. Let’s talk about Christmas for this year.

You: Do we have to?

Me: Yes.

You: No.

Me: If you trust me, I promise to deliver the most stress-free, relaxed Christmas you’ve ever had in your life before. It’s simple and easy.

You: Mmmmk, keep talking…

Simple and Easy Christmas Budget

Me: Whew! I’m in! [Wink to audience.] Okay, so here’s the sitch: According to multiple sources, Americans are in BIG credit card debt, and many of them, perhaps you, will be paying for Christmas well into the summer months.

You: Well, yeah. I want to Go All Out for the Holidays. How else can I do that?

Me: By starting now, or preferably last month, in January. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear, and by deciding how much you are going to spend and start saving for it now. Tada! That’s the plan.

You: But how do I know how much I’m going to spend?

Me: That’s a tricky one. A good amount to plan for is one percent of your total income. $500 is 1% of $50,000. Can you spend more than 1%? I don’t know, can you? Here’s an example of my Christmas budget:

  • Immediate family gifts at approximately $30 each = $180
  • Extended family gifts, make or buy $10 each = $160
  • Gifts for 11 little cousins, make or buy $5 each = $55
  • Special and delicious holiday food: $200
  • Extra Gas for travel: $200

This brings me to: $795 / 12 = $67 a month to save. This is way over the one percent guideline for our household, but spread out over 12 months it’s doable. In past years when we were on an extreme budgeting plan we spent a total of $300 for Christmas. That covered, gifts, food, and most of it went to travel costs to see family.

Gifts for everyone?

You: 16 extended family members and 11 little cousins to buy for? Really?

Me: Buying or making presents is a choice. I like to do it, it’s fun to make something or find a little something special for each person.

You: How can you find anything of value for $10? Giving junk Christmas gifts is never appreciated.

Me: True, so glad you asked! Part of the joy of planning Christmas right now, is that I have a list of everyone I need to buy for in my planner, and when I’m out and about during the year, I will pick up something wonderful and special and unique for the right person at the right price. We love Christmas shopping at summer yard sales. I have found beautiful china tea cups for $1 and quality Melissa and Doug toys for cheap. Thrift stores, antique shops, yard/garage sales… all places to go Christmas shopping throughout the year. When you wait until December to buy your presents, it’s almost too late, my friend.

One year we made the little cousins a huge batch of homemade playdough with sparkles and Christmas smelling oil: $5 for 11 kids. That’s 45¢ a kid! For something they really liked! They played together with it for hours throughout the weekend.

This is how we do snack time with 8 little kids in the house for the holiday.

BUT… I have a secret. Because I am so wise, I also cheat the budget for Christmas. If you want to go all out, like Laura, and you wrap up socks to put under the tree, don’t take that out of your Christmas budget!

Ways to cheat the budget when it comes to Christmas

Me: Your monthly budget should have an item line for Clothing and Shoes, or maybe even another for Athletic Gear. If I buy socks to put under the tree, that will come out of the Clothing Budget. If I buy a tennis racket to put under the tree, that may come out of the Athletic Gear or School Budget, if I buy a lovely book of poetry and a globe, that will come out of the School Budget.

So that covers the Christmas money issue. Please don’t go into debt for the holidays. You’ll thank me next June. Decide how much you’re going to spend and save up for it throughout the year. That’s the only way that makes sense to me. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have an extra $500 (or more or less) sitting around in the bank during the month of December.

As a result of awesome budgeting, my Christmas contains a complete lack of stress and guilt. I don’t feel guilty for spending money I shouldn’t have spent. I’m not stressed about having enough in the bank to pay the high winter utilities. There’s enough to do for Christmas, like play games and eat food, I don’t want to waste my limited energy worrying about money.

You: I think your script is terrible. It’ll never see the stage. But thanks for the budget tips.

Me: Well, you can’t win ‘em all.

Exit.

Standing ovation. Amiright? No, of course not, you’d spill the Warm Pumpkin Custard Drink you’re sipping. I get it. It’s one of my favorites too.

Hey, while I have you here. I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Laura went and started her own club. Have you joined? I LOOOVE the recipe organization and all the included Homeschool resources. Meal planning is a breeze. A BREEZE. Not like a Nebraska winter wind that makes you cry because you live in a place where the air hurts your face. No. Not like that. Just click, browse, click, browse, click, print. Done. That’s how I do it anyway.

#WhatsForDinner

P.S. In case you’re wondering, I’m having a version this pot pie for dinner, except I’m using shredded pork because it’s what I had on hand, and a bag frozen mixed veggies instead of all that pesky chopping. It’s ironic because Laura also tried writing a script in that recipe post? I think mine is better, yea? What’s your vote? And do you have a Christmas Budget?

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Did Tasha Pay off Her Huge Debt in One Year?

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I’m sure you’re all wondering: Did Tasha pay off her huge debt in just one year?! Read Part 1 of this compelling sage here! 

Did Tasha Pay Off Her Huge Debt in One Year?

by Tasha Hackett

I had decided that I was not going to be in debt forever and better yet, was going to scramble out of it as quickly as I possibly could. 

Could we live on half our income? Our one-salary-teacher’s-pay income?

Could we bust out a large portion of our debt in one year? It seemed drastic. But also super exciting because, as mentioned, I am highly motivated by challenges and numbers and worksheets and goals and if we pretended it was all just one big game maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

At the time, our take-home pay was $3,300 a month (Just under $40K a year). That meant we needed to live on $20,000. I knew it could be done because we had been living on that seven years ago… except we’d only had one kid and a smaller house and only one car and one phone and no internet and we never went out or did anything that cost money and ate potatoes and cabbage and beans and eggs and grape juice was a fancy treat. *Whew*

But I saw in my pencil-in-the-margin scribbles: So you’re saying there’s a chance. 

What about the rest of my family?

I have the gift of persuasion. Ask my three siblings. And I know what motivates Ben. (Dreams of vacations to Disney World, sport cars, steak…) He began listening to Dave Ramsey Podcasts in the shower and on the way to work, so he was definitely on board with my crazy plan. We named 2017 “Year of Plenty” to remind us that we really did have plenty and that we were making this choice. On purpose. 

I’ll skip to the end: It didn’t work. 

We couldn’t do it. 

By June of 2017 we had paid off only $3000 of the projected $20,000 goal. We had cars break down. A terrible leak in the basement. One thing after another.

In July I fell to my knees and prayed earnestly for God to pay these debts off. I began praying multiple times a day for this specific request. That’s when I realized my debt-pay-off goal was incredibly self-centered.

God did a number on my attitude about money that year. When I realigned my will with God’s and continued to petition his aid, He delivered. As he does over and over. I am no longer surprised by this, just expectant of his wonderful plans, though it took me 32 years to get there. 

By December 31, 2017 we had paid off a total of $29,000. 

Whaa!?!? I know. That’s nine thousand more than planned. I can’t even. God does amazing things. I’ll go into detail later on what living on half our income really looked like. For now just rest assured that what is impossible with man is possible with God. I’m not preaching a health and wealth gospel to you. 

I’m telling you that I was sick of being where we were and so I asked and let God change our hearts. 

I was sick of “being poor” and realized, with a heavenly tap on the shoulder, that I wasn’t poor. I had plenty. More than plenty. I just needed a fire under me to get started. I needed a reason to do this hard thing. I needed to see a light at the end and begin to hope and plan and dream of a different kind of financial life. When a family requests money to fund their mission work in Ecuador I can say, “Absolutely!” and write off a thousand dollar check and not worry about feeding my family. We had one year of plenty which opened our eyes to enjoy a year of generosity, and early 2019, except for our home mortgage, we finished off all debt, including Ben’s MA degree and baby number four medical bills… and…. What are we going to do next? (besides buy that Blentec??) 

We’re going to Disneyland! 

All six of us, on a plane, to stay in a hotel, to enjoy the beach and frivolous theme park extravaganza. And we’re paying cash for all of it. The freedom we’re experiencing from 2 ½  years of “extreme” consumer sacrifices is TOTALLY WORTH IT. 

My seven year old recently asked me, “Mom, are we rich?” I answered without a pause. “Yes! We are rich.” My four year old chimed in, “What is rich?” I answered, “Rich is having enough money to buy all the things you need.”

Someday they’ll grow up and think maybe I lied to them. But I pray they always feel rich, that they can distinguish between need and want, that they learn at an early age how to tell their money what to do, that they will live generously with whatever God will provide.

We have new and challenging and exciting financial goals for 2020 because we now understand, because we have plenty and are so rich, that if we don’t have a set plan for our money it will walk away all by itself. 

I can’t wait to share with you all the things I’ve learned and am still learning on this journey. 

See ya ‘round, 

Tasha

P.S. I know you’re saying, “Wait! This was a why story, what about the how?” I know! This too shall come. In the meantime, drop a note below. Do you have a goal for your money this year? What motivates you to pay off your debt? Are you having trouble finding a motivator? Are you debt-free? How does it feel!? 

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Can You Live on Half Your Income to Pay Off Debt?

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Tasha’s back! This time she’s sharing the introduction to her story – how she decided to help get their family out of debt. But wait? Live on half your income? Is it possible on a teacher’s salary?

If you haven’t already, you should read the intro to the intro here. :)

Once Upon a Time When We Were Broke

by Tasha Hackett

Cue Fairytale Music: 

Narrator: Once upon a time in a kingdom near you there lived a little girl named Tasha. Literally, she’s only 5 foot and a hundred pounds. She was the mother of four children. She was married to her King, and she was Queen of her castle and bought herself a Blentec because she had money for it and she wanted it.

Cue Record Scratching

Tasha: Excuse me? Um, no. That’s not at all how it happened. Back up a few years. 

Take Two.

Cue Fairytale Music:

Narrator: Once upon a time in a kingdom near you lived a mother of one little prince. She was married to her King and she was the Queen of her castle… and she… had… a blender that worked well enough…

Cue Record Scratching

Tasha: Nope, just stop. I’ll take it from here. Thanks. 

Hi, it’s me, Tasha. Can I tell you a story? My working title is…. “The Story of How I Decided to Not be Broke Anymore” or we could paraphrase: “My Journey to the Blendtec” Haha. I kid. This story has nothing to do with blenders. Or does it!?

Seven years ago, Ben and I had one little baby boy. Ben worked afternoons and weekends and went to school full time (at a not-at-all-cheap private college). I worked full time in an office. Baby went from Daddy, to daycare, to me, and round and round.

We were broke. 

To be fair, we were broke long before that, we just didn’t understand how much until there was a baby involved and diapers and daycare and medical bills and carseats… 

A friend from school worked as a financial advisor. He asked if he could stop by and chat. Sure! Then he tried to educate us on the benefits of investing, and mutual funds, and retirement, and bla bla bla – I heard and understood nothing. He kept asking, “What do you want?” Expecting us to have these big dreams, and big things we wanted to buy or go or do. 

As I wasn’t hearing him, I’m not sure he was hearing me.

After a while, I jumped off the couch and rifled in the closet for a minute and brought back our money jar. I brought it in with a flourish. In it contained our savings. A few dollars of change and almost $50 in cash. 

I knew I was being dramatic. But I set the jar on the coffee table and told him, “What I want is to go to the grocery store and buy food for my family without my heart racing because everything is too expensive.” Our meeting ended shortly after, we said thanks anyway, parted as friends and went on our merry, happy, broke way. 

Fast forward a few years. I’m a stay-at-home mom to two kids. Ben is now a middle school teacher making $35,000. This was SO MUCH MONEY!!! So. much. (By the way, I’m going to bust through that awkward social norm and use real numbers with you.)

He started at $28,000 in Kansas. Now at $35K, we ordered pizza every Friday ($15) and went out for donuts every Saturday ($4). I bought the real whole food ingredients that I needed to make food for my family ($?). I was making some of Laura’s recipes that included the luxury of cream cheese and chocolate chips. We called back our friend and said, “We’re ready now!” We were finally ready and peaceful about investing for retirement.

AND YET!!! Somehow we were still broke. This was three years ago (after investing for a year), and I was now the mother of three children. I had a sad, “oh-poor-me,” moment and whined something like this to our financial guy, “I feel like we’re just barely keeping ahead! Are we going to be poor forever… ? I just… when are we going to be able to take our family on trips, are we ever going to be able to go places and do big things?” 

And he said something like this, “… it’s going to take a long time.” 

The Breakthrough

I don’t know what it was in those words, but SOMETHING CHANGED in me. The debater and controller and adventurer in my soul said, “Challenge Accepted.” I had found a motivator. I had found a WHY that spurred me. A silly thing in hindsight, of all the reasons, for me it wasn’t the big trips or the future RV or the new clothes from an actual store, but the challenge itself that I was NOT going to let it take a long time.

This was October 2016. I ran the numbers over and over. Scraps of paper littered our house with pencil marks and budget plans scribbled in the margins. I started keeping a detailed track of how much was I really spending on groceries every month. How far could a tank of gas get me? If I cut out this and that could I stretch it this far…? The question I was trying to answer:

Could we live on half our income? 

To be continued…

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Is it Really Possible to Pay off Big Debt with Little Income?

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Do you have big debt and little income, leaving you to wonder how you can ever get ahead? Tasha’s written for us before (here, here, and here). (Hey! Did you set your goals yet?!) Now here she is again with big wisdom and encouragement. (Spoiler: The debt? It IS possible to pay it off!)

Is it Really Possible to Pay off Big Debt with Little Income?

By Tasha Hackett

Doubt is seeping in. I browsed other personal finance blogs and thought, “Why would anyone read what I have to say when there are plenty of others saying it?” But the more I read, the more I found I do have something to say.

I have something to say to the mom who gives and gives and gives and then when she says, “Not right now,” her son complains. And it totally stinks because what you really heard him say was, “You’re not enough, Mom!” and it’s totally true. You’re not enough!! (But Jesus is enough. Laura and I can tell you all about that.)

You’ve been awake since 4:45 a.m. with the baby. You fed all of them, provided clean clothes for all of them, played (a little) with them, texted your sisters who live hours and hours away, nursed the baby a hundred gazillian times, and did all the things. 

I’m writing for you. 

While wiping the children’s toothpaste out of the sink at 10 p.m. the baby starts to cry again and you can’t even tag out because the husband is still out working in the garage trying to finish the project that has to be done before the weather happens.

I’m writing for you. 

When you went to the grocery store today you only had $95 left in your checking account and payday isn’t for another 12 days and milk is $3.75 a gallon and the prices are so overwhelming and you walk out of the store with a carton of eggs and a head of cabbage because you can’t handle it.

I’m writing for you. 

You have a glass jar in the closet that you’ve been putting extra dollars in for a vacation or a date or something. You counted and there is only $50 in the whole jar, and you wanted to cry, but you didn’t because you can do hard things and you put all the cash back into the jar and shoved it back in the closet. 

I’m writing for you. 

You worked eight days in a row at three different part-time jobs and this weekend you watched two full seasons of that show on Netflix and you don’t even know what investing means, you’re just happy you have a car that runs and a little extra for gas. 

I’m writing for you. 

To the me 13 years ago that wishes she knew what I know now. I wish I could reach back there and give her and hug and say, “You’re doing a wonderful job! And here are some tips to help you enjoy life more.” 

So what am I writing? 

I’m writing you some hope. Some humor. Some gut-wrenching truth. Some down-to-earth practical tips that just might save your sanity. And some thank-goodness-for-Jesus reminders. All wrapped around the theme of Personal Finance. 

To introduce my team: There’s me, Tasha, and the husband, Ben. We have four kids currently aged 7, 5, 3, and 8 months. And a pet rat, Tippy. Because aint-nobody-got-time-for-that – he is in the sole care of First Born. We live in a tiny Midwest town, 50 miles from malls and bulk food stores. And we are debt-free except for the house. Because of that last sentence, we are planning our very first take-the-whole-family-in-an-airplane not-to-see-family but-to-spend a-bunch-of-money-having-fun trip for this summer.

Hi, My name is Tasha. And I’m addicted to paying off debt. On a teacher’s salary of less than $50,000 a year, Ben and I paid off $40,000 in 24 months while cash flowing part of his MA, investing for retirement, and still enjoying birthdays, holidays, and traveling to see family who live hours and hours away. 

Within the series I am about to write and share, you will find how we keep plugging away at it, what we eat, how we play, and how we keep finding joy through it all. I have more to share in the coming weeks!

Drop a note here with questions, suggestions, or comments. 

Yours Truly, 

Tasha

Note from Laura: In the coming weeks, I’ll be sharing several posts from Tasha letting us know how she and Ben have knocked out so much debt so quickly! You are going to love reading these!! :) :)

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How We Save Year Round So We Can Enjoy a Big Christmas

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Earlier this week, I shared that I go ALL OUT at Christmas time and I don’t feel bad about it. Today I’d like to share some ways we save money all year round so that we can enjoy a big Christmas without guilt or challenge.

We definitely splurge here and there on fun treats throughout the year. But for the most part, most of the time we try to keep the special treats special. Here are some examples…

How We Save Year Round So We Can Enjoy a Big Christmas

1. We don’t frequently buy coffee from a coffee shop.

If we’re traveling or out for a fun event out of town, you bet we’ll enjoy a special drink from a coffee shop. But the hefty receipt reminds us why we don’t splurge on that treat regularly!

At home, we always have a pot of coffee ready to brew. We buy fun add-ins and enjoy delicious coffee in our own mug for a much cheaper price tag.

2. We rarely eat out.

Again, we reserve this for times of travel or for being out of town for an event. When we’re home, we’ll occasionally order pizza when there’s a great deal online or when I’ve had a full day from going to court or meetings for our foster kids. Otherwise, we mostly eat at home, which saves hundreds or thousands of dollars since our family is large.

3. We rarely go to movies.

Once a year or so, there’s a movie that Matt and/or the boys like to see in the theater. Otherwise, we wait for the movie to come out on Redbox. Lots of money saved, but still a lot of fun to be had!

4. We buy ice cream from the store instead of from a restaurant.

Ha, this is a silly one, and also a confession that we now frequently buy ice cream to keep in our freezer. :) What can I say? We have a lot of teenagers in our house. And a dad who likes ice cream.

All sugary confessions aside, here’s how we save money on this treat: We’ve found that we can go to DQ and spend $3.50 per person, or we can go to Walmart and spend $2.98 for our entire family. We don’t even just get the boring kinds. We get cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter cup, chocolate mint, sea salt caramel. (Don’t look at the ingredient list…don’t look at the ingredient list…if you don’t know what’s in it, it can’t hurt you. Heh.)

So we’re getting the same deliciousness as a DQ Blizzard at a fraction of the price.

5. We don’t have cable TV.

We have zero channels, and we have Netflix. That’s it, and yes we miss watching sports sometimes but that’s what friends with cable are for. (We offer to bring food in exchange for watching the World Cup. It’s a win-win.)

I have no idea how much this saves us each year, but thousands I’m guessing. Hundreds at least.

6. I buy Christmas wrapping paper and decorations 50%-90% off after Christmas to prepare for the next year.

I took a friend with me last year to take advantage of the huge discounts. We’re still laughing about how much we got – and high-fiving about how much we saved!! It’s hard to pass up such inexpensive wrapping paper, right?

I always get lights to have on hand next year to replace broken ones, gift bags, tags, ornaments, paper plates and napkins, and whatever else I feel we can use. Oh my, and lots and lots of wrapping paper.

None of this is a judgment against those who regularly enjoy cable, coffeeshop coffee, ice cream outings, etc. This was just me sharing that we choose to enjoy treats at home more often than enjoying treats out.

And then when Christmas rolls around, we have extra money to splurge and enjoy extra special treats and outings. I don’t consider this a sacrifice – like we’re saving all year long so that we can have a big Christmas. This is simply our lifestyle, and it means that at Christmastime we kind of go nuts, because it’s fun and we feel that THIS is the time to go all out!

How about you? How do you save and when do you splurge!?

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15 Homemade Gifts for Less Than $5

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Last year I ran a series here sharing Homemade Gift Ideas for Less Than $5. I wanted to remind you of these ideas just in case any of them will help you out with your gift giving this Christmas!

Homemade Gifts for Less Than $5

Many of these ideas came from you last year. It was so much fun to hear from you and learn from your skills and creativity. If you are working on anything this year, take some pictures, write down instructions, and send them my way. If I feel your idea will benefit my readers, I’d love to post it! If your gift idea costs less than $5, that’s an added bonus we’ll all appreciate. Saving money is always a plus. If your craft is Laura friendly (can be made by a five-year old), all the better. But seeing as most of you are better at crafting than I, we’ll accept even the ideas with instructions that make me pucker up my forehead. (Decoupage? What’s decoupage?)

Below you’ll find links for 15 homemade gift ideas. They all cost less than $5, and some are much less than that! Some are gifts of food, some require a little more skill, all are fun to make and receive!

15 Homemade Gifts for Less Than $5

Instant Oatmeal in a Jar

Homemade Instant Oatmeal in a Jar Gift Idea

Snowman Pails

Snowman Pails - Less Than $5

Sensory Bottles for Infants and Toddlers

Homemade Sensory Bottles for Infants and Toddlers

Non-Toxic Bubble Bath

Homemade Bubble Bath for Pennies

Wrapped Candy Bars

Christmas Candy Bar Gifts

Message Board

Make a Message Board

No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

No-Sew Rice Heating Pads

Geoboards

How to Make a Geoboard

 

Pinecone Holiday Decor

Pinecone Holiday Decor for Less Than $5

Homemade Seasoned Salt with Recipe Cards

Homemade Seasoned Salt Shaker Gift

Easy Fabric Bracelets

Quick and Easy Fabric Bracelets

And a reminder of our latest ideas shared this year:

Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix in a Jar

Stir-and-Pour Bread Mix Gift Jar with Free Printable Gift Tags

Lavender Oatmeal Bath Bags

lavender tea bags11

Christmas Potpourri Pouch

Make a Christmas Potpourri Pouch for $1.75 Per Gift

Chai Tea Kit

Make Chai Tea Gift Kits for Less Than $1.00

Do you make a lot of homemade gifts? I’d love to hear more about gifts you make! If it works for you, take some pictures of your projects and send them to me along with instructions for how to put them together. They will be fun to feature here!

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Forget Everything I’ve Ever Said About My Low Grocery Budget

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How to Handle an Increasing Grocery Budget

Well, please don’t forget everything – just the parts I shared a few years ago about how I can feed my family of six a whole foods diet for less than $500 each month.

See, I thought my kids ate a lot of food at that time (2011)…because they did. They’ve always been very active and have had hearty appetites. But now? Well, we can polish off 2 pounds of meat, 2 pounds of strawberries, 1 pound of frozen vegetables, 5 pounds of potatoes, and a half gallon of milk – in one meal. An hour later they’ll need (and I do mean need, not want) more food, so we’ll eat a bowl of apples, four bowls of popcorn, and a hunk of cheese.

The boys who used to look like this:

boysbreaddough15sm.JPG

Now look like this:

GG_8

The little one who loved dressing up in costumes and climbing on my bulk groceries…

bagofoats6sm.JPG

Can now eat his weight in bulk groceries. And he’s the youngest one of the bunch. You should see his 6’3″ brother eat. Those 50 pound bags just don’t stretch as far as they used to.

The food portions we put on our plates at meal time still look like this:

fruits and veggies 11

But that’s just a warm-up. An appetizer. A teaser plate. They polish that off and go back to heap more onto their plates, twice, or maybe three times – if there’s anything left. I typically have to act quickly if I want seconds (or firsts as is the case at times).

I love this. Feeding people is fun for me, watching my family eat great food is a joy, and observing healthy appetites does my heart good. Bring on the food, bring on the appetites, bring on the healthy eating!

But it does come with a price tag – an ever growing price tag that sometimes shocks me, especially when see the shopping cart, the bulk co-op purchases, the cases of food delivered to my door – and I know how long the food will (won’t) last.

grocery cart

This is what my grocery cart usually looks like (weekly) – filled with fruits and veggies to go with the farm fresh meat, eggs, and milk – plus all of our bulk food purchases.

Do I really mean for you to forget everything I’ve ever said about how to keep a low grocery budget while still feeding your family a whole food diet? No way. All of my tips and tricks still hold true. Our grocery budget would be increasing whether we were eating whole foods or not. I don’t even want to think about how much I would be spending every month if we were eating large amounts of processed food. I believe eating healthy whole foods is what is keeping our food budget as low as it is right now.  Therefore, we’ll continue to:

Our grocery budget increases, but only because we’re eating more food, and there’s not much I can do (or want to do) to change that. If they are hungry, let them eat.  Just save some for me, boys!

To accommodate the changes in our grocery budget, we’ve had to shuffle some numbers around in our overall budget. Eating is not an option. The money has to come from somewhere, right? So where has it come from?

Well, as we’ve taken a look at all the line items in our budget, it can look at first glance as if there is no flexibility. After all, we try not to spend money on anything we don’t feel is necessary, so what can we possibly cut out? Nothing, really. And while I’m on the subject, can I tell you how nice it is to have a clearly itemized household budget so that we can put a name on every dollar we earn and spend? There is so much comfort in this, even if there are sometimes question marks about how to adjust those numbers.

What has worked for our family is this:  Our boys are now able to earn money by doing various jobs such as mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, babysitting, and other miscellaneous jobs people call on them for. Our two oldest boys are licensed soccer officials, which means that in the spring and fall they are called to the soccer fields 4-5 days/evenings each week to referee games. They are good at what they do, they enjoy the work, they earn nice paychecks, and they are good savers. So guess what? In an effort to both help our household budget and teach them how to manage money, our boys have become more responsible for purchasing many of the items they need.

As a result, we’ve been able to shift some money from our clothing budget over to our grocery budget. We let the boys pay for their own outings with friends, church youth functions, part of church camp costs, etc. Aha! It’s a win-win. The boys get to continue eating (you’re welcome, children), plus they learn about budgeting for themselves.

I’d love to hear how you manage your grocery budget, how you cut food costs, and how you teach your kids about managing money.

Also, I want to encourage you to take advantage of what BudgetFocus offers in the area of setting us a specific (but simple!) household budget. I love this resource! Through Mother’s Day, they knocked down the price of an annual plan to just $19.95 – a super deal!

Now let’s talk grocery budgets. How are you holding up with growing appetites at your house?

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But Do You Need It?

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Recently, our two youngest boys came to me very excited. Something they wanted was on sale – today only! They had discussed it at length (a solid five minutes, I’m sure) and decided that they would like to pool their money to purchase it. They eagerly asked me if it was okay.

armor_1

See how studious these two are, always sitting still,
focused while carefully writing scripture? Mmmhmmm.

I had mixed feelings. The boring mom in me knew that they definitely didn’t need the item. But the fun mom in me knows it’s okay to spend a little money on fun sometimes. Our boys are all very good savers. They rarely spend their hard earned money or birthday money, and in fact, they rarely even ask to spend it. I knew that since they were asking, and since they’d already discussed how to go in on it together, the purchase was important to them.

So, the non-decisive mom in me said, “Let’s talk to Dad and see what he thinks.” Then the practical mom in me asked a thought provoking question:

If this item wasn’t on sale, would you still want it this badly? Or do you just think you want it because it’s on sale today?

It started a great discussion, which of course ended with the boys asking, “um, so can we buy it?” Clearly, I had been able to make my nine and twelve year old think deeply, and offered them life-lessons that they’ll take with them long into adulthood.

After talking it over with Dad, we came to the decision that since it was such a huge discount, and only totaled $5, their purchase sounded like a fun idea this time. While five dollars doesn’t sound like a big deal, and while it might seem that our dilemma and discussion was silly over such a small amount – we feel that every financial decision needs to be talked through, especially at their ages. Throwing money at this and that is a great way to end up with an empty wallet. We felt it was important to take advantage of that teachable moment.

So how about we adults? What factors into our decisions as we decide what to spend our money on? Do you frequently make impulse purchases, buying something that is on sale whether you need it or not?

We’ve been talking recently about budgeting and the envelope system as we all work together to let Budget Focus get our finances on track. I’d love to hear what helps you process your spending decisions. Also, I’d love to hear from those of you who have taken advantage of the free 14-day trial at Budget Focus. Have you plugged in all your numbers into their simple budgeting and online envelope system? I encourage you all to check out what Budget Focus has to offer. You can try it for free, and their pricing packages are worth paying for as a way to help you get your budget organized and running smoothly.

How do you help your kids make a purchasing decision?

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