Mrs. Nespy's World

Weekend Round-Up #116

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Today's a busy day for our household. School function and a birthday party on top of the usual housework, laundry, etc.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Here is some reading for you if you find a few spare moments!

FINANCIAL:

10 big deductions too many of us miss from MSN Money is a great list you need to thumb through before filing your taxes.
Conversely, 10 deductions you shouldn't even try from MSN Money is another list that you need to be aware of.
7 habits that keep you in debt at MSN Money might be an eye-opener for you. We used to be slave to 4 of these 7. Now only occasionally indulge in one of them although I feel it is much more under control.
Women and Money: Why We Stress, and How to Beat It at LearnVest is a great read! Sign up for their financial bootcamp like I did. It's a great resource if you're getting started, a firm reminder if you need reinforcements, and is followed up by a lot of great articles like this one.

FAMILY/LIFE:

When You Feel Overwhelmed by Your Workload by Michael Hyatt was such a timely post for me and I just had to share it. It can't just be him and me in this boat!
There be dragons. by Jon Acuff is perfect for the little boost of inspiration that you might just need today.

FAVORITE NEW SITE:

750Words - A true online journal/diary. It gets your brain moving. It allows you to write it down and maybe sort out your thoughts/ feelings in the meantime. It's a way to improve your writing. It's fun. Join me!

Our Harry Potter Party - Treats from Honeydukes

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

You know what I dislike about birthday parties? Treat bags. I know, they are a nice gesture, but too often they are just that - a gesture. Filled with plastic crap that is themed with the party, most of it goes in the trash can as soon as we get home. I hate to be that honest, but it is true - at least at our house.

I was convinced that I did not want that for our kids' goody bags. I try to buy things that will not be discarded immediately and continued that theme with this party as well.

I decided that only a few items would be in the goody bags to start out with, but the kids could "shop" at Honeydukes sweet shop at the end of the party and load their goody bags up with candy and treats to take home (you're welcome, parents). It was a fun way to wrap up the theme without buying licensed HP stuff that would be tossed soon.

Although my intentions were to make these goody bags (once again, thanks Pinterest), it didn't happen. I did think they were an awesome idea and not terribly hard to do, so I wanted to share them with you!

Instead, I just gave them the brown paper bags and let them shop. The bags only had a couple of items already in them, but those items I do want to share with you.

I found inexpensive HP glasses here for $0.67 each! They took a little while to ship, but well worth the cost of since most of the others I found were $5 a piece!

I also put in some other random (child-appropriate) pins that I got from skycouture (who also made the house pins the kids were wearing). Unfortunately while writing this post I discovered that she is no longer a etsy shop owner. So if I were you, I would search on etsy because there are several others who make these types of pins and most etsians are great people and easy to work with.

I ordered some HP-ish soaps from Mel's Fun Suds and put two in each bag. I chose a mix of owls, brooms, wizard hats, and frogs. What fun - and they're practical (and smell wonderful!) too. She too is fantastic to work with!

And for those who wanted them - dark mark tattoos. I couldn't resist.

Other than these items, the bags were to be filled by the kids by visiting Honeydukes (sign available for your use here). Their choices of treats were

Giant Lollipops (from Dollar Tree)
Chocolate Frogs (mold here)
Licorice Wands (dip the ends of Twizzlers in white chocolate to make a "handle")
Lemon Drops (Dumbledore's favorite Muggle candy)
Fudge Flies (mix rice krispies and melted chocolate. Spread on wax paper to dry in tiny/bite-sized pieces)
Drooble's Best Blowing Gum (gumballs)
Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans (I just used jelly beans, but you can order the real thing from JellyBelly here)
Acid Pops (roll sour blow pops in pop rocks - do it just before serving or the rocks will lose their "pop")
Peppermint Toads (same mold as chocolate frogs but use white chocolate or vanilla and peppermint extract)
Jelly Slugs (gummy worms)
Cockroach clusters (melt chocolate, chow mein noodles and peanuts and drop onto wax paper)
Broomstick Candy
Considered Pretzel Wands (same as licorice wands but with pretzel sticks) but didn't do it.

I made tent cards (download here) with each candy's name on it to let people know what they were shopping for. Using a variety of glass jars (some borrowed and some purchased), Honeydukes was established.

They were then allowed to shop to their own desires. The kids thought the names were disgusting and that was a lot of fun for them (especially the boys!).

And that was that. End of party. All exhausted. So much fun.

I hope I can live up to this one next year!

If you want some more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Our Harry Potter Party - Games

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

We're almost done with our Harry Potter party series, but we do need to discuss the games that were played. It was a lot of fun.

I intended on having a game of Stomp the Dementors (scroll down to games - you'll probably see lots of other great ideas here), which would have been a way for the kids to run about and let off some of that sugared-up energy, but leading up to the party I ran out of time and didn't have time to create the dementors.

So we just let them run about like crazy little creatures and play with their wands for a little while. This was a lot of fun for them and a great way to just let them be as creative as they want.

Beware a tiny one with a wand!

After that, we had a Horcrux Hunt. This was my second most proud moment of creativity for this party (following the Potions class). A basic scavenger hunt, I wanted to create a Horcrux hunt that would look for the items as the story unfolded. We were looking for the diary, a ring, a locket, a cup, a diadem (or crown), a lightning bolt, and a snake.

Of course I found a few suggestions for wording for the scavenger hunt, but I'm terribly picky and wanted the hunt to not only make sense in our yard and where I could hide the items, but I wanted it to tell the story of the Horcruxes without giving away any/many spoilers. So I set my pen to paper and wrote some poetic clues. In the end, I was quite proud of them.

Here is the wording I came up with.

Voldemort first tempted a girl named Ginny
With his own diary, its mysteries were many.
To find out its secrets, its key to unlock,
You can look in a place where you would sit and rock.

The next one was found by old Dumbledore.
It poisoned his hand when this ring he wore.
But how to destroy it? One of the unknowns.
Now go find Gaunt’s Ring among the stones.

Another – a locket – guarded by a house elf,
Who was true to his master in spite of himself.
It got passed around by two or three.
Slytherin’s locket is hiding up in a tree.

Three friends found the next one inside a bank vault.
They made a huge mess, but it wasn’t their fault.
Getting help from a dragon, they fell on their tushes.
Helga Hufflepuff’s cup shines inside our front bushes.

The lost diadem is quite a lovely crown.
Trying to find and destroy it almost burned the school down.
In a giant pile of stuff it nearly was buried,
But you’ll find it in a place where our mail is carried.

The next horcrux made was the Dark Lord’s mistake.
Harry faced trading his life for its sake.
He meets up with Voldemort, the tension grows.
Go find a lightning bolt stored with our hose.

To end this great hunt a snake had to die.
A new hero rose, courage shone in his eye.
Could this be real? Would peace be restored?
Go find Nagini taped to the front door.

The hunt is now over. The seeking is done.
All horcruxes are found, I hope you had fun.
One more activity and the party is complete.
Go inside the house and “shop” for some sweets.

You can print this out for yourself here, but unless you have the same places to hide them that I did, I don't know if it will help you much.

As each Horcrux was found, I would read the next clue while everyone looked for it at the same time. It wasn't a competition and anyone could find them. It was just fun for them to look.

Found the diadem in the mailbox!

While the Horcrux Hunt was going on, I had my ~~house elves~~ spouse and friends inside setting up Honeydukes for a shopping extravaganza. Come back tomorrow to check that out!

If you want some more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Our Harry Potter Party - Food

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 05:02:00 +0000

So after sorting, wands, owls, and potions, it was time to eat.

For the cake, I considered a number of things, which you can find on my Pinterest board.

In the end, we went with the cake that would duplicate the first one Hagrid gave Harry when he turned 11 and learned he was a wizard. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and "Happee Birthdae Patrick" written on it (to duplicate Hagrid's spelling). The great thing is, the cake was terribly ugly in the movie so your piping (or icing) skills don't have to be great! Score!

I'm rather sad that I didn't get a good picture of the cake, but here is an idea.

In addition to cake, we had some standard goodies - cake truffles (which I love), chips, fruit, and the like.

I did provide Butterbeer sorbet that was interesting and surprisingly tasty for those daring enough to try it (yes, it is kid friendly).

A bit hit with the kids was the drinks. I provided water, Sprite, Capri Sun (which are mostly clear or light colored), and White Grape juice. Using the fun I found on Pinterest (where else?), we had amazing color-changing drinks. Of course not an option if you have someone who can't have food coloring, but otherwise, it will blow the kids' minds!

Then it was time to run off some of that sugar! Outside we went!

If you want some more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Our Harry Potter Party - Potions Class

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:02:00 +0000

As a continuation of our Harry Potter party series, I wanted to talk to you about my favorite part of the whole affair - The Potions Class.

Let me start by saying that I have the most awesome husband on earth. Seriously.

Not only does he like Harry Potter (almost as much as Patrick and I do), but he has a bit of a man-crush on Alan Rickman's character of Severus Snape (sorry sweetie - but you really can't deny it).

So for this party and the soon-to-follow Halloween, I purchased him a Snape costume on ebay. We also bought a witch wig at Walmart and trimmed it to be about the right length. The wig was cheap (and it looked like it), but it worked well for what we needed.

My Snape and my Harry.

So this was the most fun for most of the kids and adults.

The Potions class was set up in the garage. I gathered a number of glass bottles and containers and stored various liquids and greenery found in our neighborhood in them and labeled them with Potterish names including those to be used in the potions class and demonstrations. We also purchased some dry ice, which we found at Kroger for $5 for a 5 pound bag (this was approaching Halloween, I have no idea if they normally have it).

And this sign was my favorite of all of the ones I made (and here it is for you to have).

I spent lots and lots and lots of time scouring the internet for potions class ideas and do-at-home science experiments that could be done with ease but would seriously impress the kids. I was able to use potions from The Leaky Cauldron, It's the Life, Dirt and Sunshine, and Lemonade. You can find even more (that I didn't use but really considered) at My Harry Potter Party, Harry Potter Birthday Party, and lots more at The Leaky Cauldron. Once I found them, I modified the ones that needed to be Potter-fied (you like that, don't you?) and created a Potions Handbook for the kids and a Potions Master Handbook for my Snape using fonts found on Mugglenet and the same parchment used for signs and invitations. They neatly folded into a booklet that the kids were allowed to take home.

The Potions Student Handbook had all of the ~~experiments~~ potions that the kids would participate in. I also included an ingredients list so the kids could take them home and do them with their parents help if they wanted to (yes, a little science lesson to go home with you). It included the following potions

Exploding Filibusters - A huge hit, as everyone likes an "explosion."
Dancing Unicorn Milk - Another regular chemistry project that was "Potter-fied" by changing the ingredients' names.
Exploding Elixir - Lots of bubbly fun.
Fleeing Spiders - I was quite proud of the explanation I came up with what this experiment is about. It's really all about surface tension, but adding the element of spiders and basilisk venom makes it very Chamber of Secrets-ish.
Mandrake Restorative Draught - An actual potion from the books. This one is impressive because of the color change that the kids don't see coming. Requires a tiny bit of prep work, but well worth it for the looks on their faces!

The Potions Master Handbook had those items that the kids would only watch. One was a density column and some dealt with dry ice (little hands OFF). It included the following Potions:

Magic Mud - this is fantastic stuff to play with!
Wormwood Comes to Life - I actually researched HP potions ingredients to come up with a way to work in dry ice
Screaming Spoons - I extended the explanation I gave for the dry ice potion ingredient to this potion as well.
Liquid Enemies - This is just a chemistry lesson on density. However, it looks really cool, so I wanted to make it into a Potions lesson. So I renamed the ingredients, came up with a Latin spell to speak over it, and voila! Such fun!

And yes...I'm sharing both the Potions Student Handbook and the Potions Master Handbook with you now. Hooray!

Here are some pictures of the kids and the fun from the Potions class.

If you want some more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Tuesday Free For All - 01/24

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I'm in the middle of a Harry Potter party series. I hope you are joining me for it. However, it took a lot of work to put together, so there was no time to compile a legitimate Free For All Post. So in the meantime, just list your giveaways here or enter others'.

Our Harry Potter Party - Sorting, Wands, and the Owlry

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

As a continuation in our Harry Potter party series, today we will look at the sorting "ceremony," the wands and the owlry.

SORTING:
So I couldn't have a Harry Potter party without sorting the kids into houses. This would really have no bearing on them during the party. We didn't play any games where we separated them into houses or anything, but just did it for fun.

When each guest walked in the door (parents too if they wanted), they were met with our sorting table. This was a tiny cauldron that I found at a thrift store (luckily this was around Halloween, so these items are easy to find). Inside the cauldron were pins with each of the house crests on them. I found them on etsy. There were a few etsians who offered similar pins, but I chose skycouture. She was awesome in both bulk pricing and customer service. I asked for a slight change of color for the Slytherin crest and she happily obliged. It was a wonderful experience.Unfortunately while writing this post, I discovered that she no longer is on etsy. =( So just search around etsy. There are many of other great creators on there still!

So anyway...they reached into the cauldron and pulled out a pin and attached it to their shirts.

In addition to a pin, they also picked up a sorting card that told them something about their houses. These were created by me and I LOVED the result (if you let me brag on them for a moment). They include the house crest, name, the sorting hat rhyme about the house from Harry's first year, basic info about each house, and a list of famous wizards/witches from that house. I thought these would be cool to tell the kids (or parents) about the house they were chosen for. And I am gladly sharing those cards with you now. There is no reason that someone else would have to do the work to create these again, so here they are for download and use!

WANDS:
After the guests were sorted, they proceeded to Ollivanders to receive their wand. Against Ollivander's words though, we let the witches and wizards choose their own wands. They were created using this awesome tutorial that I found via (guess where) Pinterest. They are made from paper and glue. That's it! Everyone loved them!

If you need a sign for your Ollivanders, you can print this one out. I created this and printed it on the same parchment that I used for the invitations.

OWLRY:
We ordered these awesome unglazed ceramic owls and had them out for the kids to decorate. I provided markers because I didn't want to get into the mess of paint since these were younger kids. Paint would look nicer and be more permanent though. It was a hit and they each loved decorating their own owl to take home. Some even named them!

You can of course, name your owl station Eyelops Owl Emporium (like the books), but we kept it simply with Owlry. There are two sign options you can have if you'd like. Here and here.

I also want to note that a few of our guests showed up in costume.

Of course our little Harry

Actually quite unintentional, but we thought Patrick and his buddy made a great Harry and Ron.

A house elf in attendance (does she have the coolest parents or what?)

Our party's Luna

If you want some more ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Our Harry Potter Party - Introduction and Preparations

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION:
On October 1, 2011, our son turned 6 years old. Over the previous 6-8 months he had become borderline obsessed with Harry Potter. He had seen all 8 movies. By the time he turns 7 he will begin reading the books.

And I have to admit - my husband and I (although probably more I) are big fans as well.

So when he chose the Harry Potter theme, I was so excited that I could really geek out and run away with this theme.

So I started scouring the internet and found so many wonderful sources. I will include them as often as I can to show you where I got my ideas. I found them mostly via Google and Pinterest. In the end though, it was up to me to put this shindig together and make it work for us.

So over the next 6 days I will be documenting that party and all of its elements in full detail. I hope this series can help you construct your own Harry Potter party using the tools, recipes, and tips that I provide.

As always, feel free to comment, question, and participate! I am always around to respond!

INVITES:
For the invites, I scoured the internet for the wording. I wanted it to look like a letter for Hogwarts. This is what I came up with.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Wizarding School Candidate,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been invited to a Harry Potter birthday party in honor of Patrick [last name withheld] at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please note that any wizard attire is welcome, but certainly not required for entrance. Term begins on October 1, 2011 promptly at 3:00 PM and will last until 5:00 PM.

The location of the party can be found via Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station. If your parents are Muggles, a Memory Charm with make the platform appear as [address withheld]. If you need further directions to the party, please notify me at once.

We eagerly await your response via owl post by no later than September 29^th. If you do not have an owl available, you may use the Muggle telephone system and RSVP to [phone number withheld].

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

I printed it up on parchment paper (purchased at your local office supply store or even Walmart) and prepared them for delivery.

So one of the first things I ever saw when I looked at Pinterest is probably what made me sign up myself. It was this method of delivery for our Harry Potter party invitations. I LOVED the idea and knew we had to do it regardless of how crazy our neighbors thought we were.

Here is a picture of the idea as presented on Pinterest:

Here is our execution. Our local florist was almost out of white balloons (what?!) but we got brown ones and improvised. Here is Patrick ready to deliver the invites.

Deliveries successful.

And awesomely enough, we did get one response by owl. Check it out!

SCHEDULE:
I am a bit ~~controlling~~ particular when it comes to my kids' birthday parties. I love to have a schedule, even if only in my head. I need to know where the party is going. We opted to do an afternoon party (3 pm - 5 pm) that did no overlap meal times or naptimes for the little ones so we only provided goodies and snacks and not a meal. Yes, this was absolutely intentional. So here is how ours went:

ARRIVAL: Guests arrive. Immediately they are sorted into a house and allowed to chose a wand.
OWLRY/POTIONS: Guests have their choice of either decorating an owl, attending a potions class with Snape, or doing both with time permitting.
PRESENTS: If we open presents in front of everyone, this is when it happens. We skipped it at this time to have more time to play - and because they were engrossed in Potions class. Later we opened them after the party while some really close friend stuck around to hang out.
CAKE: Here is the time to have cake and ice cream and yummies
STOMP THE DEMENTORS: Time to run off some of that sugar and give adults (who aren't playing) time to socialize.
HORCRUX HUNT: Time for an organized game
SWEET SHOP: Time to visit Honeydukes and fill their goody bags with candy before going home. (yep, you're welcome, parents).

DECOR:
I had some great ideas but honestly, ran out of time and wasn't able to put everything together exactly how I wanted. So, I will show you where my inspirations came from and, when applicable, our execution of it.

The Entrance:

Another Pinterest find. This is what it would ideally have looked like:

But since I searched the whole town for brick printed fabric and found none AND since I didn't have time to make my own (with fabric paint and a sponge, which would have done it), I went with streamers. They didn't hold up well, but oh well... This was our result:

The red streamers were supposed to reflect the idea of a brick wall (although they didn't because they started ripping and fell down). The sign I was proud of. I basically used some fonts in MS Word and created both the 9-3/4 circle and the Hogwarts Express letters (colored gold). I cut them out and glued them to a red piece of posterboard. Not high tech, but it worked.

I had the sorting table and the wand table, which you will see in another post. Also I created a banner that said Happy Birthday Patrick. I downloaded the Harry Potter font from Mugglenet and printed each letter really large and spaced out on yellow paper. I "created" a lightning bolt by taking the "P" in that font and editing it in MS Paint and used those between each word and on the ends of the banner. I cut each letter out and hung them on red thread across the living room.

You can kinda/sorta see it going on in the background here if you want an idea of what I'm talking about.

Patrick's friend and carpool buddy. She was really getting tired of her mom's photography at this point, it seems! But you can see the banner in this photo. =)

The garage was our owlry and potions class. I knew a lot of mess was ~~possible~~ likely so I didn't want that happening in our house. Worked out perfectly.

So - I hope you've gotten a good feeling about how we kicked this whole thing off. Tomorrow we'll talk about the wands, sorting, and owlry.

By the way...if you want some ideas, I have an entire Pinterest board dedicated to Harry Potter party ideas. Some I used and some I didn't but you might find something PERFECT for yours!

Weekend Round-Up #115

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

So it's been a crazy week at work and I haven't been able to peruse the blogosphere as thorough as I usually do. That being said, this week's Round Up is a strange conglomeration of posts that I hope you enjoy.

FINANCE:

57 Avoidable Tax Mistakes at The Wisdom Journal is one you should read through and assure yourself that you're not making these.
Why Are You Overspending at Financial Highway offers some possibilities. If you never know why you have a bad habit, it will be nearly impossible to conquer.
Suze Orman’s “Approved Card” Gets Denied; Thinks PF Bloggers Are Idiots at 20 and Engaged is amazing. If you missed it, Suze Orman now has a prepaid debit card that she has attached her name to. Many PF bloggers are outraged because they see it as a means to make money for herself while charging outlandish fees for the card users. It doesn't seem like something a PF "guru" would do. This exchange commenced on Twitter. I was floored.
Credit Card Emergency Funds – An Alarming Trend in Society is a guest post over at Enemy of Debt by Jacob of My Personal Finance Journey. I used to have this mindset as well until I wised up.
The Best 10 Items to Borrow by Carrie Kirby at Wisebread is a great list that I probably would not have been able to compile myself (and you know how I love lists!). Great insight!

EVERYTHING ELSE:

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Blossoms at Baking Serendipity - talk about taking a classic and improving on it. Wow!
Jesus Loves Religious People Too at The Church of No People made me smile in one of those "a-ha, you are right" humility-invoking moments.
31 Unexpected Perks of Blogging You’ll Never Want to Give Up at ProBlogger contains a lot of things that I really do enjoy but never really realized. Blogging is a lot of fun and can give you these perks as well!

Friday Faves - Pinterest 01/20

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Here are my most recent Pinterest finds:

Loved this. We are all variations on brown, right?

How to remember if you gave your kids (or yourself!) medicine.

Lemon cupcakes with Strawberry sauce. Sounds refreshing!

Blueberry Sweet Rolls - Abigail would love this - she's on a blueberry kick

Haven't tried this site yet, but it intrigued me.
Click a button and receive instructions on a random craft.

Orange cloud pancakes - oh I do love citrus

Orange Chocolate Chunk Cookies
See, I told you I loved citrus. Add chocolate and I'm in heaven!

What have you pinned this week that you want to show off? Come follow some (or all!) of my boards and I'll check yours out too!

Things are Looking Up

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:03:00 +0000

So last year I made some rather aggressive financial goals and failed to accomplish many of them (I was 2/5). Although some headway was made, it was an overall disappointing performance.

This year might be looking up though. I hate to get too excited just because the disappointment from those unmet expectations from last year still linger over me, making me hestiant to put too much into what has not yet happened.

But for right now, this is what we're looking at:

We are about to refinance our home. We are currently at a 5% interest rate, but can most likely jump onboard with a 3.75% rate within the next month. That's a very exciting prospect. It will save us just under $200/month. I can think of a few things I could do with an "extra" $200/month. (ahem - bye, bye Chase)

We're still in the talks of this, but it looks like it is going to happen. When it does, we will skip one (or two based on when it happens, although more likely one) mortgage payment and will get back our current balance in our escrow account. Together that will be about $3000 in our pocket.

I would love to say we were going to send that to our credit cards, but we have discussed it and we are not. We owe the Army about $3900. They paid Chip up front for going to OCS last year and when he didn't complete it, we still had their money. It's only right that we pay it back now. So that is where we are discussing putting that $3000. The other money we owe them will come out of his next few paychecks about $200 at a time.

Then we are looking to get a tax refund. We always do and we have made preparations to do the same this year. I'm hoping for $3000 there, but last year we ended up with far more, so maybe we'll get a nice surprise like that again. Whatever we get here will go exclusively to debt repayment. I am so anxious to knock out that Chase card and would love to be able to do it this year. This would be a huge step in that direction.

We have an extra $900 in our savings account right now that has been in a holding pattern for several months now. I was/am prepared to send it to the Guard for repayment, but since they are not demanding it or penalizing us for the "loan" I think we're going to use it to buy Patrick some new bedroom furniture. He has outgrown all of his old stuff and the poor 6 year old is still sleeping in a toddler bed. I know...I feel bad for him, but I think we're about in the place to do something about it. His old stuff is nice and we should be able to get some cash for selling it (hoping $500-$700). That would be fantastic, but we've got to buy the new before tossing the old. And since we'll pay cash for it, I hope to get a great deal and not have to use all of it.

There are some other unknowns right now - like Chip's National Guard training schedule. He has his annual training this year and still has to go to school for his new Guard job. We've heard differing tales about what this will entail, so I'll wait until we know before writing more about it. However, if all goes well, we should be in a ~~good~~ much better place by the end of this year.

Wordless Wednesday - Beautiful Spunk

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Tuesday Free For All - 01/17

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Just a quick Free for All today. List your giveaways or enter others'! Best of luck!

Pinterest Finds 01/15

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

So here are some goodies that I pinned this week:

Brownie Mix, Strawberry Cake, and Vanilla Icing - YUM!

Sorry - but I'm subjecting you to more of my Harry Potter obsession.
I couldn't help but laugh though!

Loaded Baked Potato Dip - great for a party!

Wow - this is so true.

S'mores Truffles? Yes, please.

Actually made these for Patrick's lunch on Friday. They were a hit.
Great way to give my picky child a bit of lunchtime variety.

Mississippi Sin Dip - a real life friend of mine pinned this delight that I have never seen before.
But I'll be darned if I don't need to give this one a go! Yum!

Lego birthday party ideas. So cute!

What great advice!

A prayer for my daughter

What goodies did you find this week on Pinterest? Share them in the comments. Also - I'd love to have you follow me (even some of my boards). If you do, I'll check yours out as well!

Weekend Round-Up #114

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

What do our Kids Really Understand about Money? 5 Assumptions that Parents Often Make is a fantastic post over at MoneyTrail. Have you taught your children the truth or are they still in the dark?
The Main Reason People Can’t Get Out of Debt at Life and My Finances is a must read. A real eye-opener. Is this you?
31 Days to Improve Your Financial Life at PT Money is a great place to start if you are new to this whole personal finance stuff - or if you just need to make some changes.

FAMILY:

College Kids Need Skills, Not Good Grades at Thousandaire emphasizes that experiences and skills will give you a leg up when job interviews arise.
Do It Yourself – How to Make Powdered Sugar | Powdered Sugar Substitute posted by Whole New Mom is brilliant! Great way to save money and a last-minute run to the grocery store. Wish I'd have seen this before my Christmas baking! =)
Fifty Parenting Ideas You Won’t Regret at We Are THAT Family is fantastic and definitely worth a bookmark.
13 Ways To Ruin a Pound Cake at Southern Living is a great set of tips. Oh, pound cake, you yummiest and most difficult of cakes - I have your number now.

FAITH:

A Glimpse of Heaven Through Hell from Emily Thinks You're Awesome is a must read. Seriously...she truly captured something special in this post. And after you read it, please remember to keep her and her friends in your prayers.
You Have Not Arrived by Shaun Groves is the reminder of humility that I need so often. Thank you, Shaun.

FUN:

Charting what it feels like to be a man in Victoria’s Secret at 22 Words crakced me up. I love the look on the faces of these men.

The Best of 13 Ways

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Today - Friday the 13th - I'm going to feature some of the best tips/tricks that have been written in sets of 13. Today we will look at the 13 of the 13 Best Ways to do different things.

So, without further ado...

Money:
13 Simple Ways to Lower Your Electric Bill
13 Easy Ways To Save Money On Gas
13 ways to save on prescriptions

Career:
13 Ways Your Resume Can Say 'I'm Unprofessional'
Thirteen Ways to Frustrate Your Employees
13 Ways to Beat the Afternoon Slump at Work

Health:
13 Ways to Lower Blood Pressure Naturally
13 Ways to Fight Sugar Cravings
13 ways to add fruits and vegetables to your diet

Life:
Conflicts with Friends: 13 Ways to Communicate Without Drama
Never Fail Again: 13 Ways to Turn Fear and Doubt Into Fuel for Brillance
13 Ways to Make Saying No Easier

Other:
McAfee Security Tips - 13 Ways to Protect Your System

10 Pounds Lighter AND Richer

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:44:00 +0000

WHAT?

Did you hear me right?

Yes...yes you did.

I have been trying to lose weight for a bit over 6 months now. Let me rephrase that. I was losing weight until mid-November. Then I fell off the wagon. And I didn't try to get back on until after Christmas because I know me and it was not going to happen at that time.

But I'm back now. I'm GOING to lose this weight even if it takes months on end.

And thanks to Newlyweds on a Budget, I'm planning to be richer once I'm successful. =) And I do plan to be successful.

If you want to join the challenge to lose at least 10 pounds by April 9th, come join in the fun. Let's see how many pounds lighter we can make the internet in 3 months. =)

Happy 4th Bloggaversary!

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Photo credit: existentist

Today Mrs. Nespy's World is officially 4 years old.

Wow.

Had no idea I'd still be typing 4 years later.

This blog has evolved several times in the last four years and I cannot promise that it won't be completely different in another 12 months.

But in the meantime, I have really enjoyed sharing my life with you online. I've made some great friends, shared some great experiences, and offered some fun times here.

I can't promise that I'll be here for 4 more years, but hey...who would've thought it would last this long, right?

Thanks for the good times!

WFMW - Limiting Computer Time for EVERYONE

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Photo credit: psd

We've gotten into a terrible habit. We spend far too much time on the computer. True that some of it is the standard checking email and reading some favorite websites' articles. But then sometimes we are just sitting there so we find something else to look at. No real purpose. Just out of pure boredom.

And frankly, I'm tired of it.

I'm tired of not spending more time being intentional about things. Not spending more time together as a family. Not spending time catching up on projects. Not spending time on quality tasks.

Last night Chip and I were talking and decided that it seems silly that we limit how much time Patrick is allowed to play video games or play on the computer but those rules don't seem to apply to him or me.

So we are making an intentional change.

Chip has limited himself to "during Abigail's naptime" to do his internet browsing. And I have asked for 15 minutes at the end of the day to check email and catch up (quickly) on Facebook. I do get a little bit of time that I can hop on at work (like during lunch or breaks) to read up on my favorite websites and blogs and spit out a quick post for this blog, so I don't want as much time at home.

Additionally, we have given ourselves a bedtime of 11:00. This way there is no going to bed late because we were wrapped up in some mind-numbing form of entertainment and end up feeling lousy the next day. And we will be spending the rest of the time with our little ones who will be grown up way too fast soon.

We are making a change for ourselves to better our quality of life. We don't want our children's memories of us to be the backs of our heads while we are staring at a computer monitor.

What about you? What are you changing to make your life better lived?

Tuesday Free For All - 01/10

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

I hope you are all having a great week and sticking with any New Year's Resolutions you have made. I haven't made any other than the financial ones I mentioned here, but I am still on my weight-loss journey as well. I kinda' fell off the wagon around Thanksgiving and didn't even try to climb back on until after Christmas. I'm back on now and more determined than ever though!

Let's go grab some freebies, okay?

If you are looking for the linky to list your giveaways and/or enter others, scroll to the bottom of this post!

FREEBIES:

Wanna go to any of Disney's parks? Get a free Disney Park Vacation Planning DVD to help you plan your trip!
Food on the Table is a free meal planning guide that can help you plan meals AND save money! Win-win!
I just discovered LearnVest - a free 10-day email program to help you declutter your finances and create a personal financial plan that will work for you. I'm going to go try it out - why don't you join me?
Get a Free 7GB account to backup your online digital life: photos, videos, music, documents and more! If you don't have a backup drive, you don't want to lose all of your photos if your computer crashes. Trust me on this one - I know!
Start planning your summer trip to Alaska now using this awesome free travel guide. I would LOVE to visit one day!
Fill out this short form to get a free sample of Defy face lifting cream.
Get a free sample Flix floss stick.
Get a free sample of Benefiber.
Shout Color catcher sample for free!
Get a free sample of Hills Brothers coffee
Great for that New Year's resolution: free 7 day trail for 24 hour fitness gyms.
Here's your chance to taste the Starbucks Roast Spectrum FREE! Visit your local Starbucks for a FREE coffee tasting and vote for the roast you love most. Thursday Jan. 12 through Saturday Jan. 14
Request a FREE sample of Crystal Light Energy when you're one of the first 80,000 people to like Crystal Light on Facebook! Allow 6-8 weeks for delivery
Free Sample of Eucerin Calming Itch Relief Treatment.
Free Sample of Meow Mix Cat Food.
This Saturday, January 14th, IKEA is hosting a BYOF (Bring Your Own Friend) Event. For every friend you bring to IKEA, they will donate $1 to Save The Children. You’ll also receive several perks just for attending: *Free breakfast, two-for-one salads and crepes for lunch; *$1000.00 in gift card giveaways at each IKEA store; * Sampling from the Swedish Food Market along with recipe cards so friends can recreate their favorite dishes at home; *Free IKEA blue bags; *Free customized design advice with “Ask a Home Furnishings Expert”; * Complimentary massages
Starting at 11 am CST everyday, Nursery Water gives away FREE Elmo Nursery Bag Tags! There are a limited number each day but the good news is, if you miss it today, you can try again tomorrow!
If you need a little boost, get a free bottle of 5 Hour Energy.
Sign up to receive a FREE issue of Home School Enrichment Magazine. This magazine is full of all sorts of stuff to help you homeschool joyfully and successfully. Offer is available to the U.S., while supplies last.
Join the Caniac Club at Raising Canes and receive a free Box Combo Meal. You will need to get a card from the restaurant and then complete online registration. This place is so good - I wish we had them here!

SWEEPSTAKES:

Enter for a chance to win a Magimix by Robot-Coupe Premium Collection Food Processor
BHG $8,000 Celebrate the Season Your Way Sweepstakes: Enter to win $8,000 to help celebrate the season your way! Sweepstakes Ends: January 15, 2012 One entry per day
Parents $1,000 Free Diapers Sweepstakes: Enter for a chance to win $1,000 for a year of diapers! Sweepstakes Ends: January 19, 2012 One entry per household.
Recipe.com $2,000 Grocery Giveaway Sweepstakes: Win $2,000 to help with your grocery bills! Sweepstakes Ends: January 31, 2012 One entry per day.
Ladies Home Journal 2012 Walmart Shopping Spree Sweepstakes: Enter to WIN a $1,000 Walmart gift card! Sweepstakes Ends: February 29, 2012 One entry per day.

GIVEAWAYS:

*Huge thanks to my sources: Thunder Fap, , PointClickHome, Parents.com, The Freebie Blogger, Deal Seeking Mom, Couponing 101, Free Sample Freak, Better Homes & Gardens, SwagGrabber, Mommies with Cents & "Deal"icious Mom

Photo credit:PsychoRatDog

Our Financial Status - Update #23 - December 2011

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

For those of you who want to see where we fared the last month of 2011 on our budget, here is your long-awaited post (I know I just heard thousands of sighs of happiness just now, didn't I?). For those of you who don't care, come back tomorrow for the Free for All post. =)

INCOME:
We were one full paycheck of mine over budget this month because of the "extra paycheck" week in December. It's a good thing too because with Christmas spending and travel, we needed it.

UNDER BUDGET:
Car Service/Parts: No spending this month, but we're still $85 over budget on the amount rolling month to month. Hopefully this will work itself out in a couple of months pending no other repairs are needed.
Electricity/Water: $42 under! This is where our energy rolling budget works itself out. In the summer and winter our bills go up. In the fall (early winter) and spring, they go way down. Such is the life in the deep south. It's months like this one where the overage on the budget rolls out and it balances out for me to know that our average monthly budgeted amount is just about right. Hooray!
Groceries: $46 under budget. This is actually a surprise. A very pleasant one since our eating out budget was awful. I expected this one to be higher because although we did eat outside the home more than usual (see that explanation under the Eating Out over budget item below), I gave food items for Christmas gifts to a lot of friends and took some for extended family to enjoy as well. I figured with all of the baking that this would be over as well. Nice!
Home Supplies: No purchases this month so I will bank that $5/month that I use in this category.
Baby Supplies: No spending this month. I can't wait until Abigail will agree to potty train and I can eliminate this category all together!
Childcare: No spending this month.
Make Up/Toiletries: No spending this month, but I'll need to soon!
Clothing: No spending this month, but I'm still $90 over budget on my rolling budget - AND Patrick needs some more long sleeve uniform shirts for school. Looks like I'm not working my way out of this one yet.

ON BUDGET:
Auto Insurance: No surprises here.

Television: As usual.
Term Life Insurance: Done
Mobile Phone: Nothing new here.
Alarm Monitoring/Pest Control: Regular charges here.
Mortgage/HOA/Timeshare: On course.

OVER BUDGET:
Gasoline: $175 over budget. I hate it, but it's no big surprise. We did holiday travel to my mom's house in Alabama, which is about a 6 hour drive.
Eating Out: $280 over budget. I'm not surprised. We dined out right before we left for travel to avoid buying more groceries before being gone for 5 days. Then we ate while traveling. Then we ate out right after we got home because we had not grocery shopped before leaving for the holidays. Time to batten down the hatches now and hopefully seriously get a hold of this spending this year.
Doctor: $25 under for the month and now $55 under on the rolling budget. Hopefully this is building up a small reserve in this category so that when we do get sick (it's inevitable, isn't it?), we can cover it in our finances.
Pharmacy: $9 over budget for some OTC items that I could under pharmacy rather than grocery. No biggie.
Hair Care: I was $80 over budget this month for a long needed hair cut and some color as a treat. The cool thing that doesn't make this so bad? Because I had waited so long for a hair cut, Chip is now buzzing his own head for the military and I'm now cutting Patrick's hair, I still have more than $100 banked for next month in this category, which I won't need. Looks like it is time to re-evaluate this category!

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

Sent only $194 to credit cards above the minimums. That makes me nauseous, but at least it's something!
Spent $40 on Christmas cards, which is an awesome deal because they were beautiful photo cards and there were 80 of them. =)
Spent a total of $599 on Christmas this year ($460 in December), which is awesome because I had budgeted $800.

Debt Paid off Since November 2011: -$204.99 - yep...we acquired debt this month. Boo.
Debt Paid off Since October 14, 2009: $23,084.20
Change in Networth from November 2011: -362.46 (more debt plus no good in stock market - boo!)
Change in Networth from October 14, 2009: + $43,249.42

Weekend Round-Up #113

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 05:01:00 +0000

Welcome to a new year and a new collection of great reads just for you! Just because I haven't done any blogging this week doesn't mean I can't point you over to others who haven't been as big of slackers as I have!

FINANCIAL:
Lots of Holiday Returns and Exchanges to Do? Follow These 7 Tips for Hassle-Free Returns! at Mommy Living the Life of Riley is a must read if you have some returns to make!
Loving the job, but hating the student loan debt at Life Inc presents a dilemma that more and more people are facing - is the job worth the student loan debt needed to acquire it?

FAMILY:
Target Is ‘Down’ With Down Syndrome: 5 Things Target Said By Saying Nothing At All by Noah's Dad is a fantastic read and a seemingly fantastic leap for families with children's with disabilities. Hooray, Target! I KNEW I liked them. =)
Create a "toy zone" with painter's tape at Parent Hacks is brilliant for those who feel like toys are
encroaching on your personal space!
Is Self-Improvement Ruining Your Life? at Everyday Brights is a great piece - now to try to apply it!

FAITH:
The beautiful reason God might not be talking to you right now at Stuff Christians Like is awesome and moving, and powerful, and...well...just go read it!

FUN:
Caught in my Underwear at Single Dad Laughing is great. It's not just bachelors, you know.

2012 - Plans for a Better Financial Year

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 05:01:00 +0000

So, as Wednesday's post indicated, 2011 was not a good year for us financially. We made some headway. We didn't move in the wrong direction, but we really did not move forward a whole lot either. We basically treaded water for the year as a whole.

And I was utterly depressed when I looked at the numbers.

So for the upcoming year I am making the following, hopefully more attainable goals for our family's finances. This is assuming that the apocalypse doesn't really happen at the end of this year and make all of these plans worthless. =)

Reread Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover:
This is the book that kicked us into gear, and I obviously need to be kicked again. So I'm going to reread this for hopefully a new burst of inspiration

Figure out SOMETHING to do with the timeshare:
If you've been here for more than a month, you know how we own a timeshare and how I absolutely loathe it. We should have the deed in hand within the first month or so of 2012 and then we will start the process of getting rid of it. I hope to resell it to the resort for a drastically reduced cost just to get it out of our hands. Yes...we'll still owe the money on it via the Lending Club loan, but at least we won't have maintenance fees and the burden of it hanging over us. If we have to, we are willing to just deed it back to the resort just to get rid of it, but we'll of course get money for it if we can. Anything we get for it will go straight into paying off debt. No rerouting of any of those funds.

Pay off $10K in debt:
Last year, I had HUGE aspirations for paying off debt based on some plans that didn't fall into place. This year, we're going with what we currently have and making plans based on current income remaining the same. If we get more, then that will just be a bonus and we'll happy dance all over the place (including this blog).

Cut up my hated Chase credit card:
I know...I probably should have already done this, but I haven't. But I want to. This year. It's my oldest and largest credit account and that fact scares me regarding what it will do to my credit score. But I plan to build up the courage to do it and throw caution to the wind in regards to my credit score. I want to live like nobody else, right?

Tithe every.single.paycheck:
I know this shouldn't be hard, but it has been in the past, so I'm working on making this totally normal...even when it isn't comfortable.

What about you? What are your financial goals for 2012?

Photo credit: svilen001

2011 - What We DID Accomplish

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:01:00 +0000

So yesterday's post was utterly shameful. It was embarrassing. It was humbling. It was depressing.

But 2011 was not a total waste. So today's I'm going to celebrate those things that we DID accomplish over the last year.

We paid off debt:
Okay, so $5500 isn't much to brag about, but in a society that is drowning in debt, this is not really that bad. We are at least moving in the right direction.

We refinanced our timeshare:
We chose to take out a Lending Club loan to use for the timeshare. It will allow us to get our deed in hand and hopefully get rid of it soon. As a bonus, the interest rate and terms are far more favorable for us and we're making real headway now. You can read more about the numbers game of it here. Seriously paying off for us!

Started an allowance system for Patrick:
It satisfies our desire to teach him hard work = money as well as "you're a member of this family and you're going to do chores without getting paid." He's got his first savings account get up now and we're plugging away at it. Financial lessons for kids - here we come! Details about the system are here.

Our Net Worth Topped $100,000:
This is a real reason to celebrate. I know it's a bit crazy to be stuck on a particular number, but that just seemed like a really nice milestone. Including our depleted home value and our mortgage, this is what we come up with despite our debt woes. Thank you, retirement plans!

So that's it. What do you want to celebrate with me today? It can be finance related, or not. Just share.

Photo credit: calderilla

2011 - A Year in Review

noreply@blogger.com (Kaye) — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 05:01:00 +0000

Let's take a moment and review a snippet from a post from about a year ago:

I'm not going to call these my resolutions. Why? I'm notoriously horrible at keeping New Year's resolutions. And I want these to stick. So I'm psyching myself out by not calling them what they essentially are.

And then I gave you a list of non-resolutions. So let's review how these turned out:

Pay down an additional $25,000 in debt.

Oooh...this was the big one. And how did we do?

Paid off a whopping $5721.18.

Yep...that's it.

I obviously have failed at being a debt-paying-offer.

The non-resolution of paying off that chunk of change depended on a huge item that didn't happen. In June, Chip left for OCS (Officer Candidate School) for the Army. It would be a full time pay (at a higher rank) for 2 months along with a housing allowance and travel pay. In other words...it was going to be a pretty sweet couple of months to pay regardless of him being away for 2 solid months with little to no contact with us.

After that, he had hoped to go for at least a few months of this year to his next stage of training, which would have been full time pay again.

These things? Did not go as planned. Chip was not ready for OCS. And once he came home before graduation, he decided that he had gone for the wrong reason. He had gone for the paycheck. He really doesn't fee like he wants to be an officer or command other soldiers. He wanted a nice paycheck to round out his last eight year of military service that he needs before qualifying for retirement.

So that estimate of $25K was based on paycheck that never came. And now? He is at home taking care of our lovely daughter, which saves us a bundle in childcare, but does not add income to our household income. I'm totally okay with both parts of that, but it doesn't factor in well with paying off a huge amount of debt.

Maintain our $1500 starter emergency fund.
We actually have more in it right now because Chip was paid upfront when he went to OCS. I put the excess money in our savings account so I wouldn't lose track of it and spend it or send it to debt repayment so that when the Army wanted it back, they could have it in one lump payment.

However, the Army has started taking it out of his monthly drill paycheck. I need to get him to find out if this is their plan going forward, because if so, we'll just go that route and I'll send the extra money off to debt repayment and up that balance down some more.

Continue tithing 10% each paycheck.
This is something I did really well for the first few months of the year. Then things got hard and honestly...my faith obviously wavered. That's hard to admit, but it is the only explanation I have for stopping our tithe. I was scared when the money wasn't there for a few weeks, which is silly because God has always been faithful to make what we have work for us when I do tithe. But this controlling part of me panicked and this was the result. I will say that the last couple of months this year, we resumed tithing, so we are back on track.

Gift an additional $200/month toward our Relentless campaign.
This is an ongoing capital campaign at our church for various projects going on. We made a faith promise of $200/month for two years. When my faith wavered (see tithing above), this suffered as well. So we have to get back on the wagon with this as well.

Side hustle $3000 this year.
This actually turned out okay. We pocketed $4947.00 this year by selling stuff and in debit card rewards. Some of that was due to my etsy shop, which ran really well the first half of the year (but I decided to close until further notice when Chip left for OCS so I could spend more time with the kids).

So 2/5.

That's depressing. A 40% success rate. There are not many people who would bet with odds like that.

But this year we're going to see what we can do.

Although we didn't eliminate $25K in debt, we did get rid of $5K. Which is better than nothing. And we've got a plan going forward. Tomorrow we'll talk about some successes that we not planned - mainly just to make me feel better about what I had to report to you today. Then on Friday, we look into the upcoming plan for 2012. Maybe the goals will not be as naive this go around.

Photo credit: ilco