Today is Sunday! That means we get the Washington Post delivered right to our front door (well, really it's delivered to the door that we have blocked by a book case, but that's another story) and I get to go straight to the coupon section. Normally I don't get around to reading through the paper until about Tuesday, but clipping coupons take priority. I've gotten a bit obsessed with coupons and sale papers, but that goes with the spirit of us saving money!
We decided to seriously save for a house in January, just after we got married. (Had we not financed a wedding all by ourselves, after only being out of college and gainfully employed a matter of months, we would have definitely started sooner!) We are very close to the goal that we wanted to reach, and we have still managed to overpay on our student loans (of which there are many!) and eat pretty well. We don't generally buy anything else now, but we're getting close to a house!
Here are some of the things we do to save money:
--Clip coupons! from the Sunday paper, online, and anywhere else I can get a hold of them. I was very proud of myself for getting 12 hotdogs, 12 buns, and a new bottle of ketchup for under $6 thanks to doubling coupons and comparing sale papers.
--Shop at the most inexpensive grocery store, and shop as rarely as possible. We try to avoid preferences in brands, unless they are on sale (or I have a coupon!). There are, of course, a few exceptions. Our top non-negotiables are toilet paper (Charmin extra soft with aloe!) and toothpaste (cinnamon Crest). Otherwise, we will buy the store brand for just about anything.
--Never, ever go out to eat. Okay, except for the rare lunch with friends. You have to be social a little bit, but we almost never go out to dinner (which is pretty sad, considering how many great restaurants there are around here).
--Netflix! We have been to a grand total of 3 movies together since we met almost four years ago. Netflix serves as our near-nightly entertainment, and it is so much cheaper than the real thing. Not to mention that we have a pretty awesome TV to watch movies on! (Even that we got for 1/2 price, thanks to a sale and a lot of gift cards from our wedding.)
--Work. A lot. I don't think Suze Orman could criticize me at all in this respect. I could only land a .5 teaching job this year (and was incredibly lucky to get even that with this economy), but I picked up an extra 10-15 hours a week as a nanny, and a few more hours on top of that coaching sectionals and a clarinet choir. Pat works extra in educational outreach programs and recording sessions. With so much time spent working, there's honestly no time to spend money!
--Make things last a little longer. I cut dryer sheets in half, add water to dish detergent, eat leftovers, and wear clothes until there are *large holes in them. We've also gotten good at repurposing things throughout the house...almost to the point that I don't want to throw out things that have clearly broken, in case there's an "alternative use" for it. It does make organizing and decorating fun!
--Enjoy the cheap thrills. We are lucky enough to live in an area with amazing (and mostly free) musuems, beautiful parks, and wonderful friends. We also enjoy free activities - listening to and playing music, going on walks and tossing frisbees, and baking and cooking together. Our entertainment is 95% free, and 100% priceless!
Hopefully our hard work in the financial department will pay off by the end of this year. We're hoping to take advantage of Obama's first-time buyer stimulus plan, so until then we'll keep penny-pinching and super-saving!
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Saturday, June 13, 2009
a year in review
Last night I had the wonderful pleasure of meeting up with a dear college friend who was passing through DC on her way to spend the summer in Maine. It is so wonderful to live in an area where friends have reason to drive through (on their way to New York, Philadelphia, Boston, etc.) and that is exciting enough to be a great destination on its own.
The best part of being with Lara is that we catch up over several months, yet it seems like no time has passed when we visit. We probably only talk to each other once every 3 months or so, but when we do finally get a hold of each other, we will chat for hours. Lara made it to our wedding all the way from Florida. She was a lovely program attendant along with my high school best friend Lindsey, but before that I hadn't seen her in over two years.
Her visit had me thinking about everything that had happened in my life in the past year and it's really been an eventful one. So, I wanted to do a year in review:
Graduated with masters in clarinet from IU.
Sold everything I owned that wouldn't fit in my car.
Moved across the country to be with sweetheart.
Totally freaked out about student loans.
Got a crappy job at Starbucks.
Quit crappy job at Starbucks.
Enjoyed living in the greater DC area.
Met new friends in the military bands.
Got engaged!
Saw best friend from high school Lindsey get married.
Landed a job teaching elementary school band.
Planned a wedding.
Spent lots of time on Skype with family and friends.
Had anxiety dreams about paying for wedding.
Missed Pat while he went away on tour for a month...and I planned a wedding...
Forged wonderful, lasting friendships with middle-aged band teachers.
Got married!
Learned how to snow ski.
Took my first professional audition.
Had anxiety dreams about the clarinet and recitals.
Took on a second job as a nanny.
Bought a new (to us) car!
Decided to seriously save for a house.
Moved to a cheaper apartment.
Bought a big TV.
Joined Fairfax Wind Symphony.
Started a clarinet choir.
Conducted or assisted with 9 elementary concerts.
Attended the AF Band's clarinet symposium.
Swam in Smith Mountain Lake.
[Pretty much] finished my first year teaching.
A busy year, a happy year, and a very tiring year. And now, hello summer!
The best part of being with Lara is that we catch up over several months, yet it seems like no time has passed when we visit. We probably only talk to each other once every 3 months or so, but when we do finally get a hold of each other, we will chat for hours. Lara made it to our wedding all the way from Florida. She was a lovely program attendant along with my high school best friend Lindsey, but before that I hadn't seen her in over two years.
Her visit had me thinking about everything that had happened in my life in the past year and it's really been an eventful one. So, I wanted to do a year in review:
Graduated with masters in clarinet from IU.
Sold everything I owned that wouldn't fit in my car.
Moved across the country to be with sweetheart.
Totally freaked out about student loans.
Got a crappy job at Starbucks.
Quit crappy job at Starbucks.
Enjoyed living in the greater DC area.
Met new friends in the military bands.
Got engaged!
Saw best friend from high school Lindsey get married.
Landed a job teaching elementary school band.
Planned a wedding.
Spent lots of time on Skype with family and friends.
Had anxiety dreams about paying for wedding.
Missed Pat while he went away on tour for a month...and I planned a wedding...
Forged wonderful, lasting friendships with middle-aged band teachers.
Got married!
Learned how to snow ski.
Took my first professional audition.
Had anxiety dreams about the clarinet and recitals.
Took on a second job as a nanny.
Bought a new (to us) car!
Decided to seriously save for a house.
Moved to a cheaper apartment.
Bought a big TV.
Joined Fairfax Wind Symphony.
Started a clarinet choir.
Conducted or assisted with 9 elementary concerts.
Attended the AF Band's clarinet symposium.
Swam in Smith Mountain Lake.
[Pretty much] finished my first year teaching.
A busy year, a happy year, and a very tiring year. And now, hello summer!
Friday, June 5, 2009
a poopy day
I have been pondering starting a blog lately and decided to go ahead and do it tonight after hearing such a funny story that I would actually be doing the world a disservice by not sharing it! The story actually belongs to Patrick's younger sister, but it is definitely worth creating a blog over. Forgive me for any discrepancies from the true event, as I was laughing so hard I might have inferred a detail or two in my retelling of the story.
Laura's adventure began as a relatively simple babysitting job. She arrived promptly to the house to meet a hurried mother who quickly handed over the 15-month old and a carseat, saying that there wasn't anything to eat in the house so they'd have to go grab some fast food. So Laura loads up the carseat (she's actually quite experienced with such things, having grown up with younger siblings. If this were me babysitting, we might not have gotten out of the driveway) and heads out for a burger. Upon arriving at Wendy's she realizes that she may see someone she knows, and doesn't really want to give anyone the impression that this is her baby (it is, after all, the South, and people do like to talk!) so she opts for the drive-thru and heads back to the house.
Now, she couldn't have been gone that long - maybe 20 minutes or so. Little did she know, this babysitting job would be made difficult not by the baby, but by the 6-month-old labrador who likes to eat trash. The hurried mother forgot to mention this in her rush out the door. Apparently a very important daily step in this house is to put the kitchen trash on the counter before leaving the dog inside. Laura opens the front door, baby in one arm and lunch in the other, to discover what the dog's favorite snack is. Baby poop. There is poop EVERYWHERE. Several diapers lie shredded across the kitchen and living room, their contents all over the floor. Laura starts to gag (she has a sensitive stomach on a good day!), and tries to find a safe place to put the baby down. She steps awkwardly over mounds of stinky diaper bits and streaks of poop and makes her way towards a back bedroom where she hopes to sequester baby safely from all threats of e. coli. She makes it about four feet before finding the jackpot of the day: the dog's unnaturally huge diarrhea poop in a gigantic mound in the middle of the hallway. Laura is sure she's going to throw up at this point and manages to get the baby in a safe place. She frantically calls her mom screaming and crying (and maybe laughing?) and knows that whatever she's getting paid for this day, it's not enough. After a few hysterical minutes of analyzing the poop situation, she double-bags her hands in WalMart bags and tackles the crap. At one point she just dumps Clorox on the floor, straight from the bottle, and at another point a turd particle dropped on her arm. She definitely screamed when that happened.
It took her nearly an hour, but she cleaned it up. I don't know that I would have had the stomach for that, so my hat is off to Laura. I worked in a kennel in high school and had to deal with a lot of poop there, but we just used hoses. And at least the house had hard floors. I imagine baby poop rubbed into carpet would be pretty unappealing to live in.
We love you Laura!
Laura's adventure began as a relatively simple babysitting job. She arrived promptly to the house to meet a hurried mother who quickly handed over the 15-month old and a carseat, saying that there wasn't anything to eat in the house so they'd have to go grab some fast food. So Laura loads up the carseat (she's actually quite experienced with such things, having grown up with younger siblings. If this were me babysitting, we might not have gotten out of the driveway) and heads out for a burger. Upon arriving at Wendy's she realizes that she may see someone she knows, and doesn't really want to give anyone the impression that this is her baby (it is, after all, the South, and people do like to talk!) so she opts for the drive-thru and heads back to the house.
Now, she couldn't have been gone that long - maybe 20 minutes or so. Little did she know, this babysitting job would be made difficult not by the baby, but by the 6-month-old labrador who likes to eat trash. The hurried mother forgot to mention this in her rush out the door. Apparently a very important daily step in this house is to put the kitchen trash on the counter before leaving the dog inside. Laura opens the front door, baby in one arm and lunch in the other, to discover what the dog's favorite snack is. Baby poop. There is poop EVERYWHERE. Several diapers lie shredded across the kitchen and living room, their contents all over the floor. Laura starts to gag (she has a sensitive stomach on a good day!), and tries to find a safe place to put the baby down. She steps awkwardly over mounds of stinky diaper bits and streaks of poop and makes her way towards a back bedroom where she hopes to sequester baby safely from all threats of e. coli. She makes it about four feet before finding the jackpot of the day: the dog's unnaturally huge diarrhea poop in a gigantic mound in the middle of the hallway. Laura is sure she's going to throw up at this point and manages to get the baby in a safe place. She frantically calls her mom screaming and crying (and maybe laughing?) and knows that whatever she's getting paid for this day, it's not enough. After a few hysterical minutes of analyzing the poop situation, she double-bags her hands in WalMart bags and tackles the crap. At one point she just dumps Clorox on the floor, straight from the bottle, and at another point a turd particle dropped on her arm. She definitely screamed when that happened.
It took her nearly an hour, but she cleaned it up. I don't know that I would have had the stomach for that, so my hat is off to Laura. I worked in a kennel in high school and had to deal with a lot of poop there, but we just used hoses. And at least the house had hard floors. I imagine baby poop rubbed into carpet would be pretty unappealing to live in.
We love you Laura!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)