No Spend Challange

This month over at The MotherLoad they are having a No Spend month for February. I decided to join in for the fun of it. To be honest when I hear "No Spend" I think "no spending!" Period. But as that is fairly impossible in our day in age with electric bills, insurance, etc. All of the No Spend challenges are usually concerning spending less and majorly restricting your spending. Not spending money on a bunch of wants, only taking care of the needs.

Here is my goal for this month:
I will only spend $150. (This is just what I will be spending, not Ken as this sort of challenge is not really his style.) With this money I will take care of our groceries, household expenses (like toilet paper, etc.), gas for the van and anything else we might need. (There will be no clothes buying or things like that.) It should be rather fun! In December I did this same challenge except had the goal of only $100 spent. I ran into some troubles but overall it went pretty well.

Here are some reasons I like a challenge like this and think it can help in our goal to live frugally:

1. It makes saving fun! I like a challenge or a game and setting a goal for our spending makes all of the budgeting and shopping turn into one big game.
2. I learn to think outside of the box. It is quite possible that during this "game" I will learn some new frugal method that I really like and can keep using. Here are some of the things I learned in December.
3. I can have more to share with others and I can also learn how to relate to others better that don't have as much. Because I was wanting to be able to support our church and missionaries better I proposed to Ken that all I saved on our food budget (our alloted budget is $325 a month) we would give away. He was agreeable and we did that last year and I am looking forward to doing that again this year.

Have you ever taken a no spend challenge? I would love to hear about your experiences and the things you learned!!

I will plan on posting regularly about how our lack of spending is going as well as the fun things we can do without spending money.

On another note be sure not to miss a Notecard Giveaway here on my blog until this evening. I will be drawing a name tonight.

For more frugal tips visit Biblical Womanhood.

Revisiting my goals for 2009

1. Organize my office in January (perhaps going into February) and keep it that way throughout the year. Okay so I am definitely going into February but I did make progress. At the first of the year I had fun making 100 plus cards all using various paper scraps that I had saved. I also made a big silk floral arrangement for church which used up a bunch of odds and ends that I had (I also bought stuff for it.) and I got a bunch of mending done and went through and got rid of some magazines and papers.
2. Live in the moment. This actually went pretty well for a lot of the month. We were able to stay at home a lot (slowing down and living a less stressful life) and I had a ton of fun just living with my family!! I also did a better job of really listening to my kids, though that area still needs some work! We also enjoyed having a fair amount of company and getting to really spend time with friends.
3. 
   Have a Joyful year! We have had a pretty joyful year so far but that is something I still want to do a lot of work on. I want to do more singing through-out the day. Something I have really enjoyed this month is listening to Aaron whistle. He is constantly amazing me with the tunes he will whistle. Mostly he whistles hymns and some that I will hear I am amazed that he even knows as we have hardly ever sang them at church. I think whistling is pretty joyful. :-)
4. Stop raising my voice or speaking in a cutting manner with my children. This goal has gone pretty well. I have been praying about and also slowing down has helped a lot. My study of Ephesians 4:25-32 was also helpful. I still have a lot of work before I am perfect in this area. The last couple of weeks have gotten busier again with the watching of baby boy (in place of my sister who is out of town) and I have struggled again in this area. So I need to really work on speaking gently even when I feel under pressure or don't feel good.
5. Really having fun with my husband. We have had a fun month. There has been lots of laughter in our relationship. I still haven't sat down and watched a football game with him however. We had company over for the Superbowl but I spent my time chatting with other ladies. I have watched a bit of "who wants to be a millionaire" with him though and we have decided we are ready to go on that show. :-) We even have figured out who we would want for our "call a friend" lifeline.
6. Get all my photos organized. Not a lot of progress here, but a little. I went though all my pictures on the computer and ordered (with the last good deal from Walgreens) all the pictures that I wanted printed out. I did also work on our wedding scrapbook and made a whole scrapbook of floral pictures for my business.
7. Spending an average of $250 or less each month on our groceries. Okay, I didn't do well on this goal this month. I wasn't keeping track very well and spent quite a bit more. This month I have a goal to spend a lot less and so hopefully we can get to the average of $250.
8. 
   Doing the flowers for twice as many weddings as I did in 2008. This is looking promising. I already have several booked, several more are in the works and I have another bridal show next month and all the names of brides from the last one to contact.
9. 
   Be more consistent in child training but also be patient, loving and kind. This is going fairly well but I need to actually think about this and concentrate on it more.
10. 
    Being even more concentrated on the ministry that God has given to me of reconciliation. January was an exciting month in this area. I was blessed to be able to study with a friend that has been coming to church and has been talking a lot with others as well. She decided to totally turn her life over to God and was baptized into Christ 2 Sundays ago. It is always thrilling to see anyone turn their life over to God and when you have had a chance to share with them some before hand it is even more so. I am looking forward to letting God use me in whatever ways He wants to do His will.

How are your goals for the year going? I hope you are also encouraged and inspired to keep working away and striving to be more what God wants you to be.

Buddy Holly 50th Anniversary supper-show

What a fun fun evening we had tonight at the Blethering Place..supper/show for the BuddyHolly 50th Anniversary Tribute... the songs took me back to places in my past that I had forgotten about..good memories for sure. It's still on Saturday and Sunday for anyone living in Victoria reading this!!
Tomorrow Karyn goes to New York City to see the new Broadway plays...that is a yearly holiday for her.
Christopher, my 6yr old grandson, left a message on the ans.machine "Can I come for a sleepover soon?".....when does Grammer have time!?

A doll's bunkbed

For Thrifty Green Thursday I thought I would show you one of Mara's recent projects. She wanted a bunk bed for her doll Sarah and another doll that she is saving money to buy (though right now Megan's doll Sara gets to share the bunk bed) so she decided to make one. It was made out of all recycled objects.

She used a big shoe box that I had gotten boots in, using the box for one bed (on top so there would be rails) and the lid fir the bottom bed. For the legs she used peanut butter jars and paper towel tubes. It isn't the most sturdy bed ever but it works and actually isn't as flimsy as I thought it might be. She glued (with some help from me) everything together with hot glue.
She has plans to paint it put we haven't checked out what we have to use yet. For now it works as is.

For more Thrifty Green Thursday posts visit Green Baby Guide

Ooooh Presents!!!

Asalam Alaikum,
So, as promised, the new thing I was working on-

Entrelac!!! This was an interesting swatch, my mother took a class on this a while back and was really excited, then the other day the Knitting Daily newsletter had an introduction to Entrelac so I decided to finally give it a go. The color is really really off in this picture, but just imagine it in the colors of the BSJ's #2, and #3 that I finished a while back.

And here is an update of the DS's Hat-


But really all that pales in when compared with this-

And this-


My mother is a queen among women! She sent two boxes stuffed with yarn, needles, and some pattern books, including the best knitting book of all time-Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman. The second picture includes the skeins that will soon be My February lady sweater-

Within moments of its arrival, this yarn had been balled up and a swatch just flew from the needles!

Mom I love you!
--PS please update your blog :-D