Thursday, March 22, 2012

Staying on budget

Well, I graduated from Dave Ramsey's course "Financial Peace", and figured I should put the principles taught into action. Easier said than done. I spent a good two hours transferring my basic budget into a full-blown, "count every penny" budget on Excel. But, it felt good!

Thankfully, we're already debt free, so we didn't have that worry over our heads, but we do still have $25,000 left owing on our home. It's time to be more pro-active in getting that paid off quicker. Our goal: 1 year from now! Our mortgage allows us to pay an extra 20% of the original principle per year. That's $13000 per year in addition to our regular mortgage payments. Lord willing, we will have our mortgage paid in full in less than 15 years. With 8 of those years seeing Randy in full-time university, I'd say that's a huge blessing!

My next project was to try and use the credit cards less. We didn't feel we could live without them totally, because we purchase items online and use them when travelling rather than carrying cash. Our bank doesn't offer the debit credit card, so that wasn't an option.

But, we did decide to use cash for all other purchases. Dave says that we generally spend an extra 30% when shopping with credit cards. I think he's right, and wanted to change that. And, so, I reverted to Dave's envelope system. I figured paper envelopes wouldn't last, and Dave's envelope system that he sells just wasn't part of my budget.

So, using scraps of fabric from my stash and a few zippers I had laying around, I made my own. Simple and fun. I will want to use these. They took me less than 30 minutes to throw together. Nothing too fancy, but they will do the trick.

I like how they turned out. Today I will start using them, and we'll seeing how effective they are.

Note: we are using Dave's recommendation of having "blow money" every month, but I didn't see the need for an envelope for that. That will just go into my wallet, as I can't have an empty wallet, can I.

Monday, March 19, 2012

Yummmy...Homemade Little Debbie Oatmeal Cookies

Thanks to Pinterest and this gal http://bloomingonbainbridge.blogspot.ca/2011/11/oatmeal-creme-pies.html, I found a recipe for one of my favs! I decereased the amounts of butter, but left everything else the same.

Oatmeal Cream Pies:
1 1/4 cup margerine/butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
3 cups oatmeal
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Heat oven to 375 F. Mix all ingredients together and drop by rounded tablespoon 2" apart on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes, leave on pan for 2 minutes to cool. Remove from pan and cool completely.

Cream Filling:
1/4 cup soft margerine/butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups icing sugar
1 - 2 Tbsp cream
Combine all in bowl and beat on low until well mixed. Then beat on high until light and fluffy.

Spread 1 Tbsp cream filing between 2 cookies.

I did a trial run a few weeks ago and they were a huge hit with my family. Today I made them again, this time a double batch. They're coming to my next Bible study for my friends to enjoy.

Friday, March 16, 2012

Thai Fisherman Pants, please!

On my last trip to Marare, Uganda, one of our team mates had a pair of fisherman pants and always seemed so comfortable in them. I decided on our return that I would figure out how to make a pair, even if it meant taking hers and using them as a pattern.

Burda Patterns(www.burdastyle.com/patterns)came to my rescue (and my teammate's -- I don't think she would've given hers up too easily). They had a pattern for purchase that looked like the real thing. I found a number of other patterns online, but they didn't have the extra crotch piece. I paid the $ and downloaded the pattern. This was in September. Then life got busy. Finally, this March I pulled out the print outs and got busy.

Once I pieced everything together, and cut out the fabric, the rest was quick and easy. I did find a few sections of the pattern instructions unclear, and had to think through a couple of those steps.
I just used a cheap cotton that I picked up at a garage sale for $1 because I didn't know how they'd turn out.

I LOVE them, and will be making a couple more pairs. The ones I made are capri style; the next ones will be full length.

I will be LIVING in these when I can.

For the pattern: http://www.burdastyle.com/patterns/thai-fishermens-pants--2