Frugalicous Friday No. 6

What up!
Sweet T- hit it:
I’m back y’all for another Frugalicious Friday! Can I just say that I’m a little excited about my newest find? Well, it’s not MY find. It’s been advertised for a while now, but I’ve just found it at my local Target after weeks of looking for it. Mr.*Clean with Gain scent cleanser.

Now, on to the frugalicious part. Most of the time, you will find these cleansers lined up so pretty on the shelves ready-to-go in their spray bottles. Did you know that when you purchase those cleansers in the prepared spray bottle, you are likely paying for mostly water??? Nearly $3 or more for a mixture of water and a dash of cleanser! But if you go just a tad further down the aisle, you can find the same cleansers in their concentrated form for just a couple of bucks more. So here’s what I’ve been doing for years: I purchased a spray bottle for about $1. I buy the concentrated bottle of cleanser and mix it (myself) with water according to the directions on the back of the bottle. And I have lots of cleanser for a REALLY long time.
An already-prepared spray bottle will get you about 32 ounces of cleanser. The concentrated bottle of cleanser is 40 ounces unprepared. You can do the math (cause I kinda suck at math). It’s an excellent way to save on cleaning products. If a concentrated form is offered, definitely go that route.
It’s a great return on investment!
Happy cleaning everyone!

Just can't wait.

Dad,
This Sunday I'm going to tell them about how you got to where you are: Heaven. I'm going to tell them as He leads, about you soaring on the wings of eagles. About how you are healed. About how you were healed even though you were terminally ill. I'm going to tell them about the Good News for them. I'm going to tell them about how in one month you had more peace, more joy, more contentment, more humor, more of everything that is good when everything was its worst and your earthly vessel was crumbling and fading away. God constructed a new palace in you while He allowed the other one to be torn down and done away with. They are going to know that there is hope for the loved ones they pray for to know Jesus as their King and their Redeemer. You were redeemed. You are new. You are healed. By His wounds. I love you Dad and I miss you terribly at times. I'm moved to tears over the little things and it's so hard. But with God's power, I will not grow weary. I love you Dad. I love you so much and please know I'm so very glad you made the best decision ever. Please pray for me Dad as I tell the story of your new beginning. Your Daughter, Gillibob.

Frugalicious Friday No. 5!

This week it's all about knowing your triggers.

Sorry about last week for being such a flaky frugalista on ya.

Still on the whole dining out Corn-Dog-in-a-Perry's mentality inspired by Sweet T, I have a problem I need to admit. I suffer from ABF Syndrome. When it comes to eating, any meal, I feel I must Always Be Fancy. I can't just do a sandwich when I need to. If I do intake a sandwich, that sandwich needs to be heated most of the time. God has worked on my heart in recent because I did have a sandwich this week and it was kind of glorious. But it was at a friend's house. Why does friend food always taste better?

Knowing that I have this need to put-on-the-dog when it comes to meals helps me to be aware of where I'm most likely to stumble with budgeting. I don't know why I think like a death row inmate about meals. It's a problem that I've learned is sort of a trigger. I've found freedom from it though and have learned I have triggers. So that is what I'm writing about today.

KNOW. YOUR. TRIGGERS.
Makeup- always buying that lip gloss on a spur of the moment trip to Walgreens and then you take it home to find out you have yet another tawny/coffee/neutral shade to add to your stockpile? I mean, when the apocalypse comes and it's coming (sarcasm warning) your lips will be fiercely beautiful, but STOP THAT! Take an inventory. No more lip gloss!
No more earrings!
No more boyfriend tees from Targie!
No more monkeys jumping on the bed!
A trigger for me and a lot of other women if they are honest:
Home Decor Beautifying...
Don't let Ross, TJ Maxx, and bargain places fool you: You are still spending money and I'm going to bet you it's on another home decor item you don't need!! I say this out of love: flip flop things around your house for that desired effect. I know, I'm a genius from Obvious-ville, but really employ those tactics you read in the mags or see on HGTV.
It's just like my homeslice told me when I lamented about my fake flower collection at my house: "It's not like Nate Berkus is coming to your house." Yes, he can afford the real thing. Him and Oprah probably go on floral jaunts together through the Parisian countryside on matching mopeds- but we can't right now!!!
I'm going to say something to really polarize the audience of 3 that reads this: Be a Wealthy-Neighborhood-Curb-Fairy. Let me break that down, some neighborhoods I'm not going to name names, Rinco Canch, cannot have garage sales. So those folks put out their nice stuff on the curb. You pick that mess up and reuse it for glory sister!
As one of the smallest home-owners in said neighborhood, it's amazing how well my eyes can work when I want to be a Curb-Fairy. Case in Point:
Mirror I curb-fairy'ed and spray painted along with several thrift store finds:

Stand I curb-fairy'ed and spray painted now serving a purpose:


Am I saying to stop having fun this instant? No. Do I have any position of authority? No. But, I struggle with this stuff. Sometimes you just need to eat a sandwich, use that lip gloss you already have, or do a little home decor scavenger hunt for treasures unseen. Until you can live like no one else!

Another apology about this simple stuff. Consider this a pep talk!

Donuts are Cool.

Much More Uptrodden...

Don't you love the freedom to completely make up your own words? I wanted this post to be about how the Lord has helped me traverse through downtroddenness to become much more "uptrodden". After, I'm done writing this post I plan on contacting Webster's. But really, this is for the women out there that are struggling with everyone having a child when you cannot or when God says 'not yet my child'.

So this past spring I was tore up, excuse me, toe' up with grief over processing my inability to have more kiddos. If you know me, I pretty much love every child ever made. They are more fun than a barrel of monkeys filled with ice cream going down a water slide made of bubbles in the land of Care-A-Lot. Their innocence and sweetness are unparalelled at times. Anyhoo, so I was sad, downcast and downtrodden and maybe, dare I say, a bitter Betty.

Did I mention that during the spring I had over 20 friends that were/are pregnant? Praise Jesus for these sweet blessings!! It was weird because I truly, truly was excited for them but at the same time felt as if my heart was being pulverized with several miniature sledge-o-matics all at once. The enemy even tried to get me to stop going around all these dear pregnant women. That's how he works you know, isolation.

I don't know why, but the Holy Spirit sure did, I just decided one day to write out a list of all the pregnant women I knew. I even titled it, "Pregsies". And then, God told me to pray over this list. Turning point. As soon as I started praying over this list something funny happened (well maybe more hormones started getting right) but I was becoming less bitter and more content and then even feeling like I was a shepherd. I began to seek out the pregsies to let them know I was praying for them. It became a little teeny ministry that only the Lord and I knew about and I felt better.

Simultaneously, I was involved in this amazing- real word amazing not Bachelor show overused word amazing- Bible study class- Spirit Hunger- by the gifted author and teacher and listener of Jesus, Gari Meacham, and Gari was speaking about the scripture about Hannah who was also toe' up about her babylessness, seen here in 1 Samuel 1:15-16-
“I am a woman who is deeply troubled. I have not been drinking wine or beer; I was pouring out my soul to the LORD. 16 Do not take your servant for a wicked woman; I have been praying here out of my great anguish and grief.”
But then she confronted the Lord about her grief and then, lo and behold, "...her face was no longer downcast." - 1 Samuel 1:18.

By the way, I'm more than thankful for God bringing Gari and His teachings into my life. You guys have got to check her ministry out: Truly Fed Ministries. She is currently writing her next book, Spirit Hunger and God is using her to bless so many.

So back to my story, after praying for these dear friends with sincere joy that the Lord had to muster up in me, I was no longer downcast too. My grief was replaced with happily expecting for these expecting women and waiting with them to meet their new little lovelies.

My prayer is that you sweet women who know this grief and pain would also know that God can restore your heart with joy. He can rebuild that garden and cultivate your heart. You are just as beautiful as those women with babies. You are just as much a woman. You are precious in His sight and He is going to work it all out! And hey, you might be a mom to spiritual children you didn't even realize. Stay strong sister!

How it came to pass...

Please allow me to apologize for that lackluster title. It will never happen again. Can I blame it on it being Thursday or as it should be called, "The day that gets in the way of Friday!"

Friends, I can't wait to share all that God has been laying on my heart and consequently why I've been blog AWOL. Not that anyone really noticed...

First and foremost, at our church's women's event, Outbreak (must come if you live in Houston, TX!), there was this verse Gari mentioned where Jesus spoke when He rose Lazarus from the dead and I just had to share it:
"Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I sadi it, so that they may believe that You sent Me."- John 11:41-42
This verse just had my heart cry out as I remembered where I was a year ago, in crazy intense pain and unable to walk but with fresh sight that God had given me in my right eye. I was begging Him for a normal life so I could just clean my house, walk with my daughter to get the mail, drive to Target, and just do normal again. Yesterday, I actually caught myself saying last night how much I had to walk and felt immediately disgusted. I WILL NEVER COMPLAIN ABOUT WALKING AGAIN. And I really hadn't been, but I did get convicted and thought-slapped and rightly so. Praise You Jesus for healing my body, my eyes (for now), and most importantly my soul!

We're getting gazelle-intense again on our finances as the Lord leads and we've been praying. John and I have had Come to Jesus times where we are so fed up and yet, so convicted about wanting to do better when some just want to eat! Lord, forgive us! We want to be a blessing so badly to others, but we have to first get our family in check. And then God gave me a new assignment which has actually been written on my heart since I was born: CREATE AND BE WHO I MADE YOU TO BE! Okay, so go and get out my Mod-Podge? I was still not getting it. I told God that He would have to practically hit me with a spiritual pan for me to see where He was leading me.

Well, He just became more repetitive which was what I needed.
So I prayed some more and thought, surely this is not for me this idea that I could use my creativity and love for pretty things to help my family's finances? I even pulled the whole un-used marketing degree card: "But God I have to live in other cities to do advertising oh and I hate the rat race corporate deal anyway!!!" And then it struck me. Make pretty images yourself. And finally, ideas starting flowing in so rapidly I realized God was blessing me with a new adventure. Thus, Adventure Photo & Design has been born. You can check out the photo-adventures I've been having already. I get to creatively photograph kids, families and get this, make ads for small businesses! Whoo-hoo I didn't just get an MRS degree- although that was the best thing about going to aTm, meeting my future hubby.

I was just in such shock though that God could answer prayers like that. Silly rabbit I am! And that all prayers are important to Him. He treasures them all. From my PLEASE LET ME WALK to my please let us fix our shower! I mean, don't get me wrong here, from the beginning this has all been and I pray it continues to be all about GOD'S PLANS, GOD'S WILL AND HIS LEAD! I don't want anything to do with my own glory, but His alone. So that's it. I've been wanting to write about this for a while and I don't know if it makes any sense at all. But I do know that God gives you crazy-joy when you are in alignment with His will and when I was taking pics and editing them to create art, my heart skipped beats with joy! I can't even tell you how much fun I think it is. Thank you Jesus for being so in love with us that you give us what we love to do!

Frugalicious Friday No.4

Tina the valiant conqueror of gourmet kid’s meals… I will let her explain…

I Took a Corn Dog to Perry’s

Oh, yes I did! For those of you who don’t know, Perry’s is a fancy, schmancy steakhouse in our metro area. I mean, they have this giant glass-encased pillar of wines with those ladies that go get them all “Mission Impossible”-style. I think Stephen Spielberg must have designed it. Anyways, Cory and I have never been there at night, but we have taken advantage of lunch there on a couple of Fridays. See, they have a fabulous deal on Fridays: $11.95 pork chop. And it is goo—ooo—oood! It’s fancy y’all. They bring it to your table and slice it for you in three different sections. One section is meant to be eaten alone, the next is supposed to be eaten with the garlic potatoes, and the final is with their homemade applesauce. I’d say that this is absolutely one way to eat fancy on a budget: Partake of the menu at lunch! (And most places offer a lunch menu or half portion prices if you order before 4 pm.)

So here’s the scenario for the first trip to Perry’s: I decide on a whim that I am going to go pick up Cory from work so we can have a family lunch. We decide to go to Perry’s. The kiddo DOES NOT EAT enough to justify purchasing a restaurant kid’s meal…never has. So we usually pack her a meal from home. But this is spur of the moment. I can’t go home to make a PBJ for her! There’s no time for her to eat beforehand from McD’s. THERE’S NO TIME! So what do we do? We go through Sonic and get her a corn dog. We throw caution at the wind and be-bop ourselves up in all the fanciness with a greasy Sonic bag of tatertot goodness. The server for our table was so nice! We asked him, straight up, “is it okay that we have this in here because she doesn’t eat anything on your kid’s menu (hello $8 spaghetti!), and this will keep her quiet. He was cool with it. So there we sat, with our juicy, delicious pork chops. And there the kiddo is with her delicious (to her), pork-ish (heavy on the “ish”) corn dog. It was a win-win lunch for us!

Now, I realize this effort to refrain from restaurant kid’s meals is not ideal for most people. It’s just easier to order something. But, if you plan ahead and make a little time for it, most restaurants don’t mind that you’ve brought something from home (or Sonic) for your kid to eat. We haven’t found one yet! For multiple kids that are little, most of you probably already know to share one kids meal between two of your munchkins. I have several friends that do that. Or they just share their own adult meals with their kids. Happy kids, happy parents, happy wallet!

So next time you’ve got a hankering for something fancy to eat, BE WEIRD!!! Go there for lunch and take a corn dog! Your tummy and your budget will thank you for it!

The Homework Talk…

Leelah showing off her front and back of her completed homework.

Leelah brought home her very first homework assignment this week. It’s a little handwriting exercise where she had to trace the letter ‘L’ (how convenient!) and then draw pics on the back beginning with the letter L. Wait- stay with me, there is a plan of action here I just have to share!

Here’s the deal. In regards to homework, we have a plan in this house. Thank God for this wisdom (and Pam Thompson’s inspiring "Life on the High Road" speaking series at our church, Second Baptist!).

With the homework in hand I sat Leelah on the couch and got her attention. And then I broke it on down a little somethin’ like this:

Me: “Leelah. Here’s what we are going to do in our house when it comes to homework. Homework is your responsibility. So that means you are in charge of it. Who’s in charge?”

Leelah: “You and Daddy.”

Me: “No, Leelah’s in charge! Repeat- Who’s in charge? (Leelah: Me!) Yes! Now, since you are in charge, Mommy and Daddy will not be reminding you ever to get your homework finished. If you miss the due date, then that is your deal and there will be consequences at school. If you make it in on time, then great! Understand?”

Leelah: “Yes. “ (Wide eyed with the possible idea of power- she’s a lion personality).

Me; “Now since this is your first time, I will explain just one time how due dates work. This says Friday, so when do you have to have it done?”

Leelah: “Friday.”

Me: “No, Thursday. It has to be in your backpack all finished by Thursday so you can turn it in on Friday. This is important. You will have to keep it on your homework desk and only there so as not to lose it. I love you so much and I can’t wait to see you have fun doing your homework and learning! You are going to do a great job! Just remember, sometimes you will have to decide to do your homework which is fun instead of movies and playing, okay? Love you!”

And that is verbatim, how it went down. Tomorrow will be the day of discovery for her! We will see how it goes. But as for the completed homework- she was in the middle of watching The Sound of Music (precious moment!) and said, “I don’t want to watch the rest of this I better do my homework now.” And you can just go ahead and change my name to No-Nag-Nellie!!!

I did email her teacher to share the what’s-up explaining our plan. We are trying to get some real-life learning going on around here. And she can’t truly learn to learn if I’m the one forcing it. When she asked, I did help her sound out the letters, but only when she asked and only because the instructions said that was allowed.

And lastly, before you think I’m just Mayor of Bragtown, USA, I was informed via email that Leelah has been requesting a classmate to give her the letters when they are sounding out things: i.e. a mild form of cheating. So we had that fun talk this morning as well as the reminder that there are to be “no boyfriends or marriage proposals” yet. Seems as though she was asked for her hand yesterday. Is Kindergarten the new 5th grade!?!?

So Easy Even an Aggie Can Do It!

Wait, Longhorns, stay with me please. I won’t go all SEC on you promise!

Did you know that a pig was seen in flight somewhere over Delaware because ThreeNicholsTwoCents got asked to do a product review! Good thing too because I have been waiting to be officially asked for my opinion for 30 years.  

Here’s the deal, I would never, ever recommend or review something a mom like me couldn’t afford or use a service that wasn’t all about providing great customer service and ease of use. I just wouldn’t- ew!

The Product & Service: a 14x11 photo to canvas print from EasyCanvasPrints.com and it was really sweet timing, because I have yet to join the print your photos on canvas bandwagon because I am a Frugalicious girl on a budgy.

And here is the finished product!! I happen to think it is gorgeous from a completely unbiased point of view…

Could a Mom afford this? Yes! I did receive a nice discount in exchange to review this, but I checked out that pricing list and I was very surprised at how affordable and how high-quality of an item it was. And y’all know I HEART ART!  They have a special going on right now for 25% off of prints and free standard shipping, which if you live in Texas you can thank your lucky stars because it will get to your ranch SUPER FAST. I do not have a ranch and I loathe that condiment…

And the best thing of all about canvas photo printing: NOT HAVING TO BUY A FRAME!!!! NO FRAME NEEDED due to the beautiful canvas image wrapping! That = less money spent!! I’m going to call Mensa and see if there are any openings for smart Aggies…

 

But how was the service? It was Great! Thanks to Brendan (yes a real, live human helped me!) who answered any question I had through email promptly and courteously.

Yeah, one last thing was it as easy as the name says? Yes! See above title to this post. No lie (Aggies do not lie, cheat or steal nor do they tolerate those who do!), it took me under 10 minutes to order this puppy. And that was with a 5 yr old interruption and dinner preparation happening.

Thanks again to EasyCanvasPrints.com for approaching me and for your beautiful work and great customer service!

 

Did I mention they are based out of Austin, TX??

Frugalicious Friday No.3

Welcome to another FRUGALCIOUS FRIDAY!!!
Thanks Tina from The Vining Family, for sharing the real deal last week. I know there was probably a collective "sigh" as people read that and thought, "Now, I feel normal that everyone has had that debt-monkey on their back."

Friends the word is spreading that it's cool to not have debt. Even if getting rid of that debt-monkey leaves you looking a little, can we say unpolished, on the world's terms. That is only because the world is stupid about a lot of stuff.

Now, some have asked us on the down low: What Up With Envelopes? What does a budget meeting look like? So I'm going to break down the system that my husband and I use. It will need to be tweaked to meet your own needs of course! So the tip for this week is a budget meeting and cash envelope how to. And I'm not trying to have this be the Dave Ramsey weekly commercial post. Please come back for tips each Friday!

So here you go. This is the process my family uses (by the Grace of God and the teachings of Dave Ramsey) to achieve a cash budget...
Budget Meeting:
1. The night before payday we (that sweet husby and I whilst Leelah slumbers) both sit down with the budget box: the bills that are due, my planner to know what is coming up like birthdays, dinners out, etc., calculator, envelopes/index cards, and the 2 worksheets.

2. Pray. You've got to have a Come to Jesus moment. You don't have to. But this only works for us with Him on board and in charge. We pray together asking/pleading for God's wisdom to lead us in getting our finances in check.

3. Bi-Weekly Bill Sheet: we use the bill worksheet to add up all our bills that we can think of like electricity, gas, etc. AND we try to estimate gas (took a while to get down) since that will come out on the check card, church tithing, John's student loan, netflix- stuff that gets debited out during the pay period.

4. Blank Envelope sheet we use this to help with our envelopes which for us are actually index cards we write the amounts down on in my cool red expanding wallet (Forever 21- $7.00- they also have them at Hobby Lobby now):
Don't judge or rob me please!! Although I do have a Croc Dundee knife in my car for any robbery attempts because I'm a mom that will cut you...




To really get our cash planned for the next 2 weeks, we consult the planner and actually plan out what cash we will need for that time period. Then I go to the biz-nank and collect my dollar bills y'all. I give them the tally card we make with all the amounts. Because the actual breakdown of denominations is important. God help you if you mess up that up. You must be good at math at that point. I usually cry about it...
I will tell you that Food is groceries-toiletries, cleaning supplies, and sometimes a popcorn combo at Target. I struggle with this category and it's hard to not constantly pull from it. A friend told me this weekend to just divide it in half and leave the half at home for the next week so I wouldn't be tempted. It's hard! We always have the same amount in that one, but we did just increase it to cover the increase in food prices.

I want to give a special shout out to our church. Our old Bible Study class, The Vine, had a Total Money Makeover study and there were couples who are our beloved friends that sat us down and showed us their envelope system. It became cool to get hooked on envelopes. Thank you The Richardson Family for getting our class hooked on this and thanks to the Belue's too! We now have our family tree changed because of this!

And don't get discouraged. It takes a while to get on the same page (if not already) with the husb and get a system that works. But I love the fact that we have a plan now. We're not letting our finances just be whatever they happen to be in the bank account that day and then be all like "Crap! I just overdrew again!!!" That feeling is horrible and scary.
Now if that isn't real, I don't know what is! Have we not all done this? Please just say yes. I can't tell if I'm embarrassed or hot flashing as I type this!!!

And please- comment with tips that work for you! We are all in this together! May God bless you on your endeavors to live like no one else!!