Money Diet Suggestions

I have decided we desperately need to go on a money diet. You know where you itemize EVERYTHING! Kind of like Weight Watchers with the points, only this will be with money.

I promised my husband when I started this I would never get specific about our money, as in how much comes in each month. With that said, I am looking for specific ideas as to how to cut and save.

Things I am seriously considering and welcome comments on, either here or on FB page:
1. Do you have cable? If you have done away with it, how goes it? Do you use Hulu, Netflix or nothing at all?
2. How many cell phones do you pay for? Who is your service provider and what is your plan like?
3. What is the one expense you have each month that you simply cannot live without and would never cut? Why?
4. What reward programs do you belong to? Which ones work, don't?
5. What are your tricks of the trade? I have mentioned before my favorite cheapie trick which I never envisioned doing was to reuse freezer bags over and over. What do you do?

These are just a start. I am hoping to implement this new diet starting August 1. I will let you know what we did and update how its going. If you dont want to post publicly, feel free to email me mary(dot)bluepatches(at)gmail(dot)com

Thanks followers!

Harris Teeter Super Doubler

Harris Teeter is doing one of its best promotions this week (now through midnight Tuesday). The store will double all your coupons up to $1.98, meaning if you have a coupon for that much you could actually save $3.96..whoot whoo!

Also, for their eVIC customers, bread is only 79 cents a loaf! Glad our fridge is empty right now so I can stock up.

Snapfish Photo deal

Get 50 4 X 6 prints shipped for $5! Sale ends tomorrow night (Sunday). Use checkout code DADDYPICS

I'm scared

On the weekends my husband and I take turns "sleeping in." Its a relative term. Once our son wakes up there is little chance of falling completely back to sleep, but the "off" parent gets to stay in bed until 10 am or so and fall in and out consciousness. In a word, its awesome!

My husband prefers Saturday to sleep in, so today as I woke up and was playing with our son, I was also thinking two months down the road.

Obviously our weekend sleep-in routine is going to go bye-bye. But the reality is beginning to set in that we are going to have four people in this condo. And its the smallest person who will have the largest effect.

S/he will have a swing and a floor mat. Where will they go?

S/he will sleep, cry, poop, eat, repeat for the first three months or so with no rhym or reason to schedule. How is this timing going to work in a space that is mind numbingly small and where there is no escape from even the simplist noise? Will we take him/her into the kitchen when s/he starts crying? Will this small area off to the side shield our son at 3 am from his/her cries?

A girlfriend suggested going through our son's toys and only saving two cratefuls. This is a great idea, one I will likely try to utilize. But he actually PLAYS with his truck, and his two garages, not to mention stepstool and huge new fire truck. These aren't items that can simply disappear. His world is going to change enough as it is come September, we are not getting rid of his favorites.

I have begun to look into storage facilities so we can store some of our clothes and books that seem to take up endless amounts of room. We cant continue to take advantage of my SILs generosity with their basements.

So in a nutshell I am scared. I have complained ad nauseum for months, but now that the reality is HERE, I have no clue how we will manage. I accept God gives us challenges and this is ours, but its anyone's guess how we will manage.

I looked online this morning for places similar to the one we found last week, and no dice. Nothing even comparable. Ugh.

Things will be ok. We will survive. But I am curious and frightened to see how this ride will evolve...I guess it will be like Space Mountain, an awesome rollar coster in the dark. Once the ride is over I will look back with fondness and excitement, but while on it I will be (and already am) scared $h!#le%%.

Happy Saturday to all.

Restaurant.com -- 80% off

This is one of my favorite sites! Whats great about it, is if you have a smartphone, you can literally order your gift certificate while eating and then present either the phone itself, or write down the info and present to your server when the bill comes. We did this last weekend when we decided at last minute to go out for Fathers Day.

New code, for 80 percent off, is SUMMER. Good now through June 30!

Enjoy.

For more info on this site, check here.

Old Navy Tank Tops $2!!!!

I am now fully into month 7 of the pregnancy and this summer I am LIVING in these tank tops! They are awesome for the heat and especially great for the pregnancy set :)

Click here for the printable coupon. Thanks Carolina Couponer for the h/t.

Stay cool this weekend!

Our life

I have said recently as I try to save money, but seem to have less time to post, that I am going to post more about what its LIKE to live in 800 sf and how this stresses me/how we survive.

This post is along those lines.

We decided to try to rent a townhouse because of our expanding family. We had been looking for a place that fit out budget, we liked, was close enough for my husband to still see our children, and close to our son's new preschool in the fall. Finding this combo was a challenge. But we did it! We found the perfect TH. It was at the top of our budget, but great neighborhood, clean, safe, near friends and family. I knew from the getgo it was too good to be true and that we wouldnt get it. But i never envisioned the WHY.

We visited on Saturday, and submitted our application (including all personal information) as well as a deposit on Monday. The application clearly states whoever signs the lease first gets the place. Fair enough. I was reasonably sure that we were in good shape considering how switftly we moved. Emails from the owner were pleasant and while not overly encouraging, surely not discouraging either. Our credit is stellar so the only way we would not get this place is if someone signed first.

We found out last night that someone had been approved and had lease in hand since last Wednesday, three days BEFORE we even saw the place and five days before we gave our application! I was livid. I burst into tears. I cant believe that he would have an open house AND accept applications knowing someone else had already been approved and had lease in hand. I understand he wanted to cover his ass, but seriously!!

This took a lot of energy out of me. It would have been a quick and stressful move but it would have been worth it. Now we are back to square one. I am scared to death on how we are going to fit FOUR people in 800 sf, especially when the smallest one comes with the most stuff. I hate that my husbands life is essentially going to be groundhog day for the next six months of coming home from work, playing with our son, cleaning up all the toys, eat dinner, go to bed. Repeat.

I will have to go back to work full time or part time more consistently and I hate this. I hate that no banks will even talk to us about refinancing despite steallar credit. Basically I hate our situation and the fact there is NOTHING we can do to change it.

Yes we are blessed and I do count our blessings. We have our health, our love and our children and thats all that matters, but this challenge of 800 sf is going to be the death of me I am sure.

Ugh.