A Budget Family

We've always said we were on a budget.  I suppose I should put the word budget in quotes.  We've tried and tried and never followed very strictly.  Our budget consisted of paying the bills and whatever else was free for all.  Things just went from bad to worse financially and we finally hit our rock bottom and found a budget that works.  I've always hated budget meetings.  I dreaded even looking at the budget.  Now I look at it every single night.  Some things come out of the bank account, some things come out of envelopes.  I'm not sure if anyone else out there has at least 20 envelopes in there system, but we do!  I'm adding one more after today too.  We've finally found something that works for us, and we've stuck to it, and found we have had a little more money than we realized because we've been so diligent. 

The only problem with our first month is I didn't take into consideration when I find a really good deal on something we need or something we've been looking for.  We're going to start miscellaneous envelope for things like this.  We only have on set of sheets for our bed.  I have to wash them immediately when I take them off so we can put them right back on.  Today, Target had 700 thread count sheets for 75% off!  Fifteen dollars for sheets that were originally sixty dollars!  I also found a shopping cart for my kids for $7.48, also 75% off.  We've been looking for a cart like this for a long time but refused to pay thirty bucks for a toy.  Thankfully, when we did our budget, we estimated extremely low on Nick's tips, so the money was there.  If we weren't budgeting, I might have spent money we didn't have.  If we weren't budgeting, I wouldn't have known that we are further ahead on funding envelopes this month than we anticipated.

I used to HATE budgeting with a passion.  Everytime my husband said the word budget, I could feel myself making a face.  Now, as much as I hate to admit this, I look forward to looking at it each night, and I enjoy putting the cash from tips into each envelope.  I love knowing exactly where our money is going.  I don't have to look at my bank statement at the end of this month and wonder where all of our money went.  I can look through our budget and envelopes and know that we paid our bills for the month, funded all of our envelopes, and one of those is even a Christmas envelope so we're prepared when it's time for that next year!  This was one of the most important things on my goals for the year, and so far, January is looking good.  I hope the rest of the year is just as good.

This one has nothing to do with the budget, but it's just cute.  She was sick (ear infection but didn't know yet), and she was snuggled up watching Dora. 

The new shopping cart

Is this not the cutest thing ever?  Pretty sure I have the cutest kids on the planet.

Is it really 2011?

I didn't realize how long it'd been since I wrote anything!  There really isn't much going on.  Christmas was great.  We stayed home rather than traveling to Michigan this year.  I missed my Michigan family so much.  I love our family parties, and I always feel like I'm missing out when we aren't there, but I know we have to be fair and stay here and have holidays with my in-laws too.  My family is just so huge, and there is something about being around my aunts, uncles and cousins and my kids experiencing the traditions I experienced growing up.  It's still so weird to me that Nick's family is so small, but I've realized that is more the norm.  I don't think most people have family reunions that consist of 100+ people, and that was just my dads siblings and their significant others, all the cousins, and their significant others, their kids (and their significant others), and even two of the great-grandkids now have kids!  While I don't ever want to move back to Michigan, sometimes it'd be nice to be close to everyone.  I just miss them when I'm not there.

New Years Eve/my birthday came and went without much partying.  My husband attempted to plan a surprise party, but eveyrone always has plans on New Years Eve.  It didn't matter because I ended up sick on my birthday anyway.  Not that fun to spend half your birthday in bed with the room spinning like your on one of those crazy rides at the fair.  Blech.

Now we're into the new year trying to get into a new groove.  My daycare kids, Joshua and Sylvia are back after a week and a half off, Nick has been back to work for a week after being off since Christmas Eve, and next week all of our normal activies will be back in full swing.  We've got some goals for the year, but I hesitate to share them all because some are more personal than others.  One is to tighten up our budget and stick to it.  We've had a budget for a long time.  But we didn't stick to it like we should.  I know we're only 9 days into January, but so far, we're doing pretty well.  Nick comes home from Monicals and we go down the budget and start putting his tip money in appropriate envelopes, see what has to be paid from the checking account, and we are even ahead of what we thought on some things.  It's really a great feeling.

Now I have some cleaning up to do, and I need to make Nick's lunch for work tomorrow, but I'll leave you with pictures of my three favorite kids from Christmas!

Another goal I have is to read 6 non-fiction books a year, not including my moms group or Sunday school books.  I used to read a lot.  Now when I have down time, I watch TV.  I want to read more, I want to learn more.  I want my kids to see me read.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from the Cunninghams!  I hope you all have a blessed Christmas.  Happy birthday, Jesus!  Thank you for coming to the world in such a humble way to save us from our sins!

Four Days of Christmas Babylegs

ONE!

Happy birthday to my sweet Adleigh Rose! I can't believe the first year of her life is already done! It went by so fast. It's almost as cold as the day she was born. The only difference is the horrible cold wind that day. I was so glad to be sitting in my hospital bed where they gave me heated blankets anytime I asked. The epidural was pretty fantastic too! I watched out my window as snowflakes fell to the ground. I sat there and listened to the construction men working outside on the new portion of the building. I felt my room shake more than once! I really wasn't bothered by it though. I was getting my Christmas present 16 days before Christmas! The only thing that would have made the day better would have been if Kylee and Elijah could have met their new sister when she was born. Due to the flu, they weren't letting children into the Labor & Deliver or post partum unit. Cold or not, visitors or not, construction or not, it was a pretty fantastic day!  I got a 7lb 12 1/2oz 20 inch beautiful baby girl.  She was the perfect addition to our growing family.

NOT READY!

In 9 (almost 8) short days, my baby will be celebrating her first birthday.  I am not ready for this.  I don't feel like a year has gone by.  I feel like she should only be six months old, not almost 12 months old!  I hate how fast the first year goes.  I love watching them grow and learn new things, but it just goes by way too fast.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!  I can't believe how fast this year has gone, and how it's almost December!  Thanksgiving is HERE!  Last year we stayed home and ended up enjoying a dinner at Old Country Buffet.  I was so very pregnant, and I'm not supposed to travel far during the end of my pregnancies, and I had no desire to cook.  This year we get to enjoy and be thankful for our little Adleigh Rose who is celebrating her first Thanksgiving.  I'm so glad she is a part of our family.  We have a lot to be thankful for!  I'm so thankful we serve a God who is full of mercy, grace and forgiveness.  I'm thankful for my husband and my three sweet children.  I'm thankful for the amazing and huge extended family I have.  I'm thankful my husband has not one, but two jobs in this crummy economy, and I have a babysitting job to help.  I'm thankful for a husband who feels it's important for me to be home with our kids.  It's a great day to think about what we're thankful for (and continue being thankful all year long!).  Enjoy your day!