tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11756886275995604992024-03-13T18:04:04.478-04:00Debt Free ForeverWe decided to "Live Like No One Else" in September 2008Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.comBlogger101125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-45077009923997029892013-01-26T21:41:00.004-05:002013-01-26T21:41:44.725-05:00Bucket List v.2013I've been really bad about blogging, pretty much since I started, yet every once in awhile I dust it off and just read through a few posts and think, "I should really do this more often." The one post I do enjoy doing each year is my bucket list because it gives me a chance to look back over the past year and see what fun things I've managed to do, and what fun things I have to look forward to.
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-971670382956916092012-06-16T10:37:00.002-04:002012-06-16T10:37:39.257-04:00Summer Loving, Having a Blast!I started a calendar a month or so ago to start to get us organized for the summer, but it was mostly to get things scheduled and not OVER scheduled. I have a pretty good idea of what we are going to do, but I thought it would be more fun to turn it into a challenge, can we really do it all? And besides what I have down now, what else can we do to make our summer fun and not boring.
What have Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-64408012551322139622012-03-15T20:14:00.003-04:002012-03-15T20:16:56.464-04:00Old Habits Die HardIt's not like we've been debt free for very long, but I've found myself more than once thinking, "I shouldn't do that!" and I can't really come up with a good reason WHY I shouldn't. Why shouldn't I buy some groceries that aren't on sale and I don't have a coupon for? Why shouldn't I buy my daughter a new dress for Easter instead of going to a thrift store? I think I am by nature a pretty frugal Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-23698439821207612712012-02-10T08:41:00.008-05:002012-02-23T20:32:37.116-05:00WE'RE DEBT FREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!Yeah baby, it's all about FREEDOM!! Hard to believe it, but we are HERE!!!September 2008:$39,216.30March 2012:Zero, ZIP, NONE!!!Yes, it took us 42 months, but we are finally debt free! The inner nerd in me just noticed that is almost $1000/month going straight to debt. We didn't actually pay it off that way, but if you spread it out on average, that's pretty amazing. Wowza!! And on a more Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-64585864179787850662012-02-08T15:27:00.003-05:002012-02-08T20:12:37.626-05:00Thrift Store - SCORE!!I know a lot of people are totally grossed out by the idea of going into a thrift store, and the idea of actually buying something makes them dizzy, but there is definitely a segment of the population that enjoys it. Growing up, I always thought of thrift stores for poor people and was horrified when I was on the receiving end of something from one. Now that I'm an adult, my perspective has Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-51935390714663913622011-12-31T10:20:00.003-05:002011-12-31T12:44:57.752-05:00Bucket List v.2012I started keeping an actual bucket list instead of just randomly saying, "that's on my bucket list" this past year and it's been fun to look back over 2011 and see what I accomplished off the list and adding a few new things to it.Things that are coming off the list, because I accomplished them:1. I ran a 5K2. I met my dad this summer, and we just spent Christmas together3. I joined a lunchtime Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-49921375115725378712011-11-25T20:25:00.007-05:002011-11-25T20:52:37.812-05:00November 25 - Cleanin House! We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday! But what comes after Thanksgiving? Well this year, even sooner than usual, came the shopping! I can't say I was thrilled that the sales were starting at 10pm, but I made my list and headed out to tackle a few things and mission was accomplished.Today I was working around the house and the yard a bit and decided when I went to put away some new purchasesAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-24843675775547024712011-11-23T13:16:00.003-05:002011-11-23T13:29:16.321-05:00Nov 23 - Holiday ShoppingI am slowly starting to chip away at Christmas, one lunch hour at a time. It's so much easier to get my Christmas shopping done this way than having the pressure of going out once or twice and feeling like I have to get it all done in that tiny window of time. This gives me more time to spread it around, and also more time to shop around and find what I have in mind for people.Right now my life Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-84506752997060957892011-11-20T21:15:00.002-05:002011-11-20T21:22:29.116-05:00Grocery Trip - Nov 20A friend of mine mentioned to me on Facebook the other day that I had a blog. Yeah, welllllll, about that. I admit, life has gotten super busy and I have terribly neglected this poor blog for quite some time. There was just so much more to blog about when we were attacking our debt on a daily basis, and we had so much more of it to tackle. Now that we are down to just my student loans, it's Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-71574533041928319242011-10-09T22:58:00.003-04:002011-10-09T23:17:15.002-04:00Frugal FitnessI realized about a year ago that I needed to start exercising more and taking better care of myself. There were a couple of issues with getting started on that, most of them geographic. We sort of live out in the sticks, so finding a fitness option that worked with my work schedule and that didn't break the bank ($$$) was definitely a challenge.So I did something I never ever thought I would do -Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-514143896874438332011-09-03T21:30:00.004-04:002011-10-05T22:41:27.512-04:00An UpdateIt seems like we've been working at this debt free stuff forever, seriously! It didn't take a short amount of time to get ourselves in trouble, so it only makes sense that it's taking some time to get out of trouble.Good news, the only outstanding debt we have is student loan debt, a total of $8648.12. Not bad considering we started out over $40,000 in debt right?!? We've had a lot come our way Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-74078727052511810282011-06-23T21:56:00.003-04:002011-06-23T22:38:52.303-04:00On the AgendaIt's a bit of a down time for us right now, but we are getting ready to head into the fun full swing! I am so excited for our summer :)We've been keeping plenty busy with trips to the Yankee Springs State Park and the Allegan County Park. Who needs swimming lessons when you have a couple of inflatable rings and you can chant "motor boat, motor boat" a thousand times? Lauren and Nick are getting Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-85159247781047676162011-06-05T22:13:00.002-04:002011-06-05T22:20:00.167-04:00We LOVE Summer!How much do the Ward's love summer? Let me count the ways!1. Free admission to the Allegan County Park. That's FREE beach access and a nice little playground for the kids. We've already gone once, and it's only the first of many, many trips I am quite sure.2. You can add the yearly admission for the Michigan State Parks to the renewal of license plates for only $10/year! What an amazing deal! We Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-16022112278393206162011-05-03T11:43:00.006-04:002011-05-03T12:16:19.243-04:00Keepin Busy My wonderful husband started working full time again January 2011. It's been a long time coming and we are THRILLED to see full paychecks again. Hoorray!!! When he was hired on, he was hired for day shift, and then through a whole lot of HR drama, ended up being assigned to a third shift position. This has been quite the adjustment for our family! To add to the fun, he has his days (nights?) offAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-35069030872954752142011-04-15T21:20:00.004-04:002011-04-15T21:35:11.603-04:00Medical ExpensesFor almost 2 years I took a daily medication (beta blocker) to help keep my migraines under control. It worked pretty well, but I still had quite a few bad days where I had to break out the Maxalt. The beta blocker was only costing me $10/month, but the Maxalt fell into the most expensive tier of my insurance, so it would cost me $40/month and that was only for 10 pills. The typical migraine tookAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-54275573647209301342011-03-26T22:01:00.003-04:002011-03-26T22:19:50.450-04:00Two Birds, One StoneI have been struggling since my pregnancy with Nick with some weight gain, or I guess the more appropriate phrase would be struggling with weight loss since I have no problem gaining. I was finally starting to feel human again and then BAM, pregnant again! Lauren's 3yrs old now and it's a bit hard to consider my excess weight to be "baby weight" when I am shopping for her in the girls section andAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-61977834897883255942011-03-25T10:15:00.006-04:002011-03-25T10:26:09.568-04:00Bucket ListI try and keep the focus of this blog on financial goals and activities, but all considering, this very much ties together a lot of financial and personal goals. I have been thinking about putting this "Bucket List" down for quite some time and finally got my thoughts organized enough to begin it.A lot of the reason why Matt and I have been so eager to be debt free is because we want to be able Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-63010862679551718672011-03-11T14:11:00.003-05:002011-03-11T14:18:18.005-05:00Another Exciting Purchase!I've been holding out for some time now on replacing my digital camera. I've had mine about 6 years or so, and it wasn't doing so well anymore. It's gone through a lot and has served us well and I will forever be impressed with Canon products after this. We spent some time researching digital cameras and decided on what we wanted:1. Digital SLR2. Canon3. XSi, T1i, or a T2iWhile we preferred to Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-35480590557967945912011-03-09T22:09:00.002-05:002011-03-09T22:23:17.906-05:00New (To Me) Wheels!Matt and I have been planning on getting rid of our Pontiac Aztek for quite some time because having 2 large vehicles for our family just seemed so silly. Whenever we all go out as a family, we go in our minivan, so we really didn't need another large vehicle. I was driving the minivan to work every day and that also seemed pretty wasteful.I was pretty specific in what I was looking for: Honda Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-20611008741173789762011-02-18T09:17:00.004-05:002011-03-25T10:25:41.295-04:00Long, Long Overdue UpdateA friend of mine from work commented to me yesterday that she was reading my blog and I admitted to her that I felt bad because I hadn't updated it in so long. What can I say? Life caught up with me and life certainly got crazy really fast.
We made it through another "cash only" Christmas with much success. It's not as hard as I thought it would be and it was fun to try and find those best Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-9610321073998443652010-08-13T15:32:00.003-04:002010-08-13T15:53:54.105-04:00Breaking Up...It's Hard To Do!Dave Ramsey talks about how you develop an emotional attachment of sorts to your first credit card, it's like your first teenage love! I never really got what he was talking about until I got a credit card in the mail awhile back for a credit card we have not charged on in YEARS. It was *that* card, the first card that took a chance on me and Matt and gave us credit. The first card that offered Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-23273667914304113542010-07-05T22:20:00.002-04:002011-05-03T12:16:29.224-04:00Summer FunWe've had one busy summer already and so much more to do! So far we've gone to the Memorial Day Parade, hosted a family game night, went to Scout Day in the Park, went to 2 cookouts at the Y camp, 2 family picnics, Michigan Adventure, went wild berry picking, watched the fireworks on Gun Lake, a week of Vacation Bible School, and gone to the park and swam quite a few times. We've crammed a whole Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-83449450266992086582010-05-26T09:38:00.003-04:002011-05-03T12:16:35.762-04:00Summer Time!!The weather has turned for the better, so it's time for us to start thinking about our summer plans. Obviously we aren't going on a huge expensive vacation, we plan on maybe a couple of smaller things closer to home, but still trying to keep things a bit exciting for the kiddos. Here's just a tiny list of what we hope to do this summer:1. Memorial Day ParadeNathan and Matt will be marching in theAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-90631542427178510332010-05-05T12:29:00.005-04:002010-05-05T12:55:31.623-04:00Urgent Care--Home Sweet Home!The running joke is that I should get a frequent visitor punch card for urgent care since it seems like we are taking a kid there so often that they often recognize us by name when we walk in the door. Now part of that could be the "small town" of it all, or it could just mean that we visit the office more often than your typical family. Today I packed up Nick and we headed out after him being Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1175688627599560499.post-84830613200456054572010-05-02T21:59:00.003-04:002010-05-02T22:01:09.595-04:00Dinner RollsHere's an amazing recipe I've been using for dinner rolls. We've made them a couple of times and they come out sooooo good! Cooks.comHere ya go!1 pkg. yeast1 c. lukewarm water1 egg1/4 c. sugar1 tsp. salt1/4 c. oil3 c. flour, siftedDissolve yeast in lukewarm water. Add egg, sugar, salt and oil. Add half the flour, and beat until smooth. Add rest of flour and beat again until smooth. Fill greased Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03101336734095170335noreply@blogger.com0