Another week zooming by! In my attempt to look at where the money goes and see where the budget could be tweaked - well, here goes...

Electric - Fluorescent bulbs in all fixtures as I can tolerate (maybe it's just my cheap ones, but do all give off that blue, harsh light? I know grow lights have a warmer looking light, but are there bulbs available for house lamps and ceiling fixtures? If there aren't, one lamp in the living room and the one on my side of bed will remain with the more-expensive-to-use regular lightbulbs.) Our house mantra is turn off any lights we don't need on. And we're using the many candles I received from my students at Christmas, when we're not needing light for reading or other such activities. After reading some of the threads in the forums, I'm encouraging my electronics-loving husband to the possibility of unplugging a few of the currently not being used items (baby steps are okay, dear.) I remember this from years ago, but whew, do we get lax (ok, I can blame this one on my husband - electricity is his passion.)

Natural Gas - We heat with gas, as well as have a gas water heater, dryer and oven. We have a 1200 sq ft old (as in not as insulated as it could be) house, but keep the temp down to 60 from about 10pm until 5 or 6pm. For about 4 hours in the evening we turn the temp up to 65. If someone is home sick we turn the temp up, and if the temps are sub-zero, we turn it up also. Generally, we like a cooler home, though not cold, and encourage the use of sweaters and sweatshirts and slippers. We open the blinds on our south side to let in the sun during the day. As you can imagine, with six of us, there is high use of our shower. We only have one, and it works having only that one. My husband takes a daily shower, while the rest of us usually do every other day (with what my mom called a spit bath in between, lest you wonder of our cleanliness!) We all suffer dry skin and showering every other day helps a lot with that. Again with the six, I wash every day (rather than save for a whole day once or twice a week.) I do one to two loads daily ( yes, I am one of those who will throw everything into one load! I wash in cold water - have forever- and for the most part, our clothes have been washed many, many previous times and I haven't had any of the problems that the detergent commercials like to list - dingey whites, washed out colors, etc. I wash new items, lights with lights and darks with darks, until I think we're past where it matters. Also the majority of the clothes are hand-me-downs from girl to girl, and also from lots of friends - it's so nice to have friends who buy good quality clothes and pass along. I've gotten things used and they go through all four of my girls and then I pass it all along. Amazing!) As far, as the oven, I tend to use my crockpot a few times a week, with the rest of the meals done in and on top of the stove. When I use the stove, I usually try to make extra to freeze or plan several items that can go in at the same time if there is room. I also leave the door open afterwards, to make use of the residual heat, now that my girls are older. Our gas bill is on the budget plan and is only $20 more a month than last year (and I think it will go down when they reevaluate it in Feb - they like to start us out high, and we always use less than they think we will.)

Water/Sewer - I guess some of the above also applies here. The shower/bath use is above. With a 15yo and a 13yo, I've said the rule of our house is only one shower OR bath per day! Only occasionally does it get a bit out of hand. The laundry use is above, with a few extra loads on the weekend (towels and sheets.) January through March sets our sewage amount, based on our water use. The town's thinking is that these months represent typical usage. Then in the summer months, with gardening and lawn and pools using water, the sewer rate is based on the Jan - Mar rate, and your water is your actual use. So my thinking is reduce our use during these months! Well, as much as you can with a family of six.


Well, that's all for now...take care!

Back to work for me and back to school for the girls. Sleeping in and pretty much being lazy over the break made for a rude awakening yesterday morning, but we all survived and are back on track.

My husband checked out our Ford conversion van and lucky us, I didn't do damage to the transmission - whew! Just an easy brake line for him to install. This allows us to delay any big decision about what to do with this poor vehicle. We have had the front end welded a couple of times, but it's again starting to come apart. This is the van that we use when we go camping. Picture a van stuffed to bursting, plus the excess tied to the top in several carriers (a la Ma and Pa Kettle, for those old enough to remember those old movies.) At the campsite, we open the doors and things just spring out the door, as well as the four girls. After the tent and site setup, we are settle down pretty well, much to the neighboring sites' relief. We also use the old van for going to the beach in the summer, and we can bring along a blownup tube or air mattress for everyone (we usually bring along friends.) And the van is so old I don't worry about dings on the door, sand in the carpet, spills, etc. Yes, I love this old van, troubles and all...

Finally got the pin for one of my husband's old retirement accounts - will try to access online & find out if it could be rollovered to something (still need to research where to put combined funds.) Need to call the clinic to have new 3-month prescriptions wriiten up, due to our medical insurance changing on January 1. Already printed the forms needed for mail-in prescriptions.

Need to talk to my mom's insurance, due to receiving a bill from a hospital she wasn't at - my brother talked to the nursing home and they don't know what it is. When he tried calling the hospital, they wouldn't talk to him without filling out a ton of paperwork, even though we have all the legal papers including POA, and it was billed to HIM! Oh well, just when you think you have it all in order and figured out, it either changes or is just handled differently. It keeps you on your toes, that's for sure!

Well, my to-do list grows by the second, so now must do some crossing off of the list. Take care!

Having a lazy morning - make that afternoon already! After purchasing some snacks yesterday, we stayed home with the girls and played board games and watched movies. At about 11:30, we watched Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve and the ball drop in NYC. The girls were re-energized at midnight, while my husband and I were practically snoring. We all slept in this morning. So, a good start to the new year.

On the money front (and it IS starting to feel like a battle of wills - those who want our money and us trying to keep it and, as you'll see, a bit of who's side am I on)...

Minimal spending since Winter break started, since we are needing to pay those medical bills over the next few months. Our treat (planned) was to go see Narnia. We don't see many films in the theatre and it was great. Otherwise we're hanging out, sledding, playing games and enjoying what we got for Christmas and some downtime before we head back to work and school.

On a not so fun note - yesterday's mail had a letter from the State of MN property tax department. It was a bulk sent out letter saying that property tax refunds were audited for years 2003 & 2004 and that many contained mistakes on claiming tax deferred income. I thought I did it right, but I'll check them over. Even if we owe back some funds, we never receive a large refund, so it wouldn't be horrible to have to pay back, just not particularly fun. The other event to happen involves our older van (93 Ford conversion.) The brake line blew out during our recent bout of snow while I was heading down an icy steep driveway and dummy me panicked and shifted into park so as to not go into the ditch and hit a tree. I saved us from the menacing ditch and tree, but my husband is still checking out the damage. Dumb, dumb dumb! On the good side (because that's the kind of person I am,) we usually use our 95 Plymouth Voyager for most of our driving due to getting twice the gas mileage the Ford does - so at least I wasn't in the Plymouth when I wasn't using my brain. Plus the Ford has some other big repair issues that we've been putting off making decisions on - well, maybe, just maybe I've made those decisions a tad bit easier. Still very dumb, but 'tis life...

Today, I'll head for the grocery store. I find it invaluable taking a few minutes to look at our week, the sales circular for the store we visit and plan out meals for the week, sometimes two. I keep a running list on the frig and finalize it before I go to the store. I've already done that, so I just need to go. Otherwise, just another low-key, just the way we like it, sort of day. Take care!