I thought I’d share some of the resources we’re using for Johnny’s pre-preschool as a part of Simple Homeschool’s Curriculum Fair 2012. He’ll have another year of preschool in 2013, and will start kindergarten in the fall of 2014 when he’s 5.

[This blog isn't turning into a homeschool blog. I'm just going to have a post or two on the topic, and maybe branch out on homeschool stuff elsewhere.]

I looked at a variety of resources and curricula for this age group — Timberdoodle, Sonlight, Before Five in a Row, Heart of Dakota, My Father’s World, ABC Jesus Loves Me…and plenty of blogs.

I don’t want this year to be academic. At all. I want it to be fun, no pressure, and just introducing some prek skills. I want to read great books with my kids, do simple (keyword SIMPLE!!) crafts with them, and explore the wonderful world around us.

I greatly appreciate The Wonderment Curriculum and How to Homeschool the Early Years for how I’m trying to model what I’m doing.

Children’s literature

I’m using book recommendations from Honey For a Child’s Heart*, and book lists from Ambleside Online, Before Five in a Row and Sonlight to get ideas of what we might enjoy reading together. Not all titles on the reading lists appeal to us, but it’s nice to have a starting point.

I created a Shelfari account for the kids so I could keep track of titles I want to find, titles we own, and which books we’ve already read.

I like owning children’s books. I’m working on acquiring books affordable (that’s a post for another day) and of course using the library for all we can.



My Father’s World

Preschool toddler package for 2-3 yo (I bought the first two of these items around the time my daughter was born for my son)

• Number Express — it’s a puzzle, train, and stacking counting tool. He likes it!
• Wee Sing Bible Songs — I’ve loaded these tracks ontoour toddler mp3 player* and it gets daily use, with a few favorites played over and over. Both kids like it.
• Shape and Color Sorter — I skipped this last year, though I can’t remember why. I included it with my order for other MFW things just this week. Vivienne will be able to use it later, but Johnny too.

Preschool package for 3-5 year olds

I bought the whole pack, and added an extra 8″ pegboard so each kid can have one.

When I first looked at these items, I was like, “meh.”  They just didn’t look that exciting at first. And then I thought I’d buy just a few of those items.

But the pack made an impression on me. I read reviews of the package and ultimately, I decided that these activities will help my kids learn a few preschool lessons without it being over-the-top academic. I like that I’ll be able to use it with both kids.

Timberdoodle

I love Timberdoodle for their fun, educational toy ideas. I’ve browsed their site for gift ideas for other kids, and my own. I didn’t go with a prepackaged core from them, but chose a few things.

Additional related posts:

1. Some plans and goals for 2012
2. Talking about money with my 3-year-old
3. Pittsburgh’s second annual financial education fair

But blogging also taught me quite a bit about websites and social media — things I really needed to learn on the job here.

I’m grateful that I’m now able to use my skills to do some work with my church’s website. My husband (the techie) and I are doing little improvements to the site’s appearance and function. We now have a social media presence and an e-newsletter for church members. Hopefully this will help our members stay informed of church activities, but also provide helpful information to visitors.

Recently, I interviewed a new church elder for the site. I did a phone interview and it was my first one in probably 4 years. Then, I wrote up a little profile story about him.

I was really rusty and it took me forever. It was fun, though!

I’m looking forward to doing more newsletters and web stuff for our church.

I’m grateful that the Lord has given me this background, and that He has found a place to put me to work.

I guess this project is one of the things that is keeping me a bit busy from this blog, hence me wanting to take a slower blogging pace.

(The other reason? My kids! Such a busy, fun age. They really need a lot of my attention and that’ll continue as we start preschool stuff at home.)

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers, one of my favorite blogs!

Additional related posts:

1. Our church is debt-free! (almost)

You’re busy, too. Why should you have clutter-y posts from me if I’m not really into posting?

Your time is valuable.

So, I’m adopting a slower, easier view of this blog. I don’t need to take myself so seriously with blogging. It’s just not where I’m at right now.

I thought about reposting some things from the archives, but I figure if you wanted to read those posts, you could navigate to them on your own via my toolbar at the top.

[See series, archives, babies & your budget, and retirement guide.]

Lastly, if you’d still like to keep up with my posts whenever they do happen, please consider subscribing so you won’t have to click over to the site all the time. Along those lines, if you’d like blogs that post more often, feel free to unsubscribe. I’ll understand!

Additional related posts:

1. It’s ok to be ‘unfrugal’ once in awhile!

Yeah. We’ve got money earmarked for replacing the counters and I hope to get that project going soon. We’ll pay a professional to install. I know we could in theory do it ourselves, but we think it’s worth paying someone who knows what they’re doing and has the time.

This charming area of counter space is right next to my sink. I washed dishes then wiped down the counters, and had to scrub just a little because something was stuck (this was an area where there was already faint chipping). And then huge pieces of the paint wore all the way down to the original. Hrmph. We have chipping on the island, too.

Bummer that it didn’t work out, but hey, on the bright side we haven’t painted our kitchen walls yet so now we can make sure it matches the new stuff.

- My seedlings? Dead. Time to buy some pre-grown plants. Or whatever they’re called.

- Shane just got word that his employer is cutting the education reimbursement program. So, if he wants his master’s, he’ll have to pay for it himself (for now). We know he can do 1-2 classes per year and we can claim a federal tax credit to cut our own expenses (assuming that’ll continue). Right now, he’s not going to enroll this year. Our kids are so young and busy — and since it doesn’t seem urgent, we’ll just wait and see if his employer brings it back.

We have some money in a 529 account in his name. We won’t add to it for now. If he never uses the money, we can just transfer it to our kids.

Did you see my guest post on Money Saving Mom this week? It’s called How to Stay Motivated When Paying off Debt.

My post on maxing out our IRAs in 2012 was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance and the Carnival of Retirement.

Additional related posts:

1. Monday misc. — updates on chipping counter tops, dropped phone calls, and more
2. Savings goal updates
3. Highlights and updates from 2011

Feeling frugal fatigue? Getting tired of watching every penny? Feeling like you’re not really making progress?

It’s ok to take a break. Seriously. I’ve been there, and in some ways I’m there now.

Remind yourself of your financial goals.

Maybe it’s a pesky credit card debt that you want gone forever. Perhaps you need to finish your emergency fund. Or, you’re saving up for a  ____________ .

Whatever it is, remind yourself of why you’re trying to be frugal in the first place.

If you don’t have any major pressing financial goals, it can be hard to stick to a budget. If you’re already debt-free, have a decent cash cushion, and are saving enough for retirement, you might be wondering — What’s next? Why should I still try to save a buck if I don’t have to?

Well, in a word, freedom. Even if you don’t have major financial goals today, we can’t know what tomorrow will bring.

Unexpected medical expenses pop up. Things break or need repaired. And sometimes, we’re presented with an opportunity to go on a nice vacation, if only we had money available. It’s reasonable to stay the course with your financial plan. And it’s also ok to loosen up a little.

Our big financial goal right now is to max out both of our IRAs for 2012.

If you’re pinching pennies so hard that Abe Lincoln is calling, “uncle!” by necessity, it can be even more difficult to safely take a break.

Determine why you’re feeling frugal fatigue.

Are you depriving yourself of something you enjoy?

• Maybe you love going out to restaurants on a regular basis, but have cut back.
• Maybe you are tired of your bare-bones menu plan and are feeling uninspired in the kitchen.
• Maybe you could use a new (and not second-hand, for once) outfit.
• Maybe you need a little weekend getaway.
• Maybe you’re sick of wearing shirts twice between washes, or line-drying everything.
• Maybe your home is too cold or too hot for your liking, in the name of a lower energy bill.
• Maybe you don’t want to reuse any more zip-lock bags.
• Maybe you’d like to flush the toilet more often, instead of playing by the “if it’s yellow…” rule
• Maybe you just want to go shopping, and not worry about coupons or sales

(I’ve done all of those above things in the name of being frugal, and have re-evaluated my practice of most of the above!)

Whatever it is, decide where you’re feeling too pinched.

Look at your overall budget and see if there are areas where you can cut back and not feel that pinch.

If you’re already meeting your overall financial goals, what would happen if you scaled it back a little? Say, not throw as much money into savings each month, and use it for fun stuff instead.

What would happen? Would you be in a bind, or would you have the wiggle-room needed to keep on saving something?

Sometimes, I think we’re too hard on ourselves. I think we compare our finances to someone else’s, and we feel we’re not measuring up. “If Lou-Lou only spends $xx at the supermarket for her family of 14, how come I struggle to spend $xxx for my family of  4?” and so forth.

Can you allocate your Swagbucks or MyPoints gift card earnings for something fun?

Cut back on your goal for a set, short period of time to give yourself a break.

Take a month off. Pay your bills as normal, but loosen up a little on your extra spending. To protect yourself from yourself, definitely consider going cash-only during this time so you don’t regret it later. Or, go cash-only for a certain category of spending if that’s easier.

Say you’re regularly putting $x in savings each month. Instead of saving it, spend it on whatever you want. Take a break. Feel no guilt.

The point I’m trying to make is this: Our finances aren’t determined by what we do with one or two paychecks; they’re determined by our long-term habits.

If our current budget is causing us to resent the whole process, we’re in danger of throwing it all away (or at least being really cranky for awhile). Instead, I’m proposing loosening it up for a short time to give yourself a break.

Throw laundry in the dryer! Flush that toilet! Go out to dinner! Turn on your AC!

You may get to the end of your break and notice you still are actually meeting all of your financial goals, and there’s no need to carry on with your grueling pace.

Or, you may find that yeah, you do need to be tough with the budget for awhile to get the numbers to work out. If that’s the case, then congratulate yourself for doing the hard work necessary to meet your goals.

A periodic break probably won’t hurt and it might help you stay the course for the long haul.

For more on the topic, check out the post I wrote earlier in my financial journey about no more deprivation in the name of being frugal.

Finally, to help ward off frugal fatigue on down the road, perhaps you can revamp your budgeting process. Automate as much as you can — do online bill pay for your regular bills, auto-transfer money to savings sub-accounts and retirement, and so on.

How about you? Have you ever gotten tired of being frugal? What did you do about it?

[This post was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance at Money Talks]

Additional related posts:

1. What are frugal but fun things to do in your city?
2. Tuesday afternoon ‘snack break’ linkup
3. Break your big goal into chunks

Some people have already commented on that post about their debt-payoff journey, and how they are a few years into it with many more years to go.

It’s rough. But it’s worth it.

Take a look at my friend Courtney, for instance. She and her husband have made huge progress, and she’s now past the two-year mark since I first started blogging about it. She still has a ways to go, but she’s making steady progress.

I think automating your finances can truly help, because you’re taking *you* out of the equation. I don’t have to stop and think about putting extra money toward retirement — it’s done for me. If I didn’t automate, I’d probably blow it one way or another. I’m human, and I’m not that good with money on my own.

Anyway.

If you’re new here, hi! Thanks for coming over.

Get to know me a little more over at my about page, and also read up on my money story, if you’re so inclined.

I don’t blog daily (this is one of the only times you’ll see two posts in one day here, heh!) so please consider subscribing to my blog via your RSS feed reader and/or liking me on Facebook to stay up-to-date.

Would love to hear your voice in the comments!

Additional related posts:

1. Reader question: How to get motivated to pay off debt?
2. Should we rent this apartment? Or stay put?
3. How to stay cool without air conditioning

Whether you’re hoping for more children or consider yourself “done,” I think everyone should read Taking Charge of Your Fertility*. It’s fascinating! I learned more about how my body works by reading that book than I ever did in health class. Never learned this stuff at the OB/GYN, either.

In those standard health classes in school, we learned that girls “typically” have 28-day cycles and ovulate on cycle day 14. Whatever! Some women may indeed have 28-day cycles, but ovulate on day 12. Or day 16. Etc.

If you’re TTC, it is helpful knowing how long your cycles are (including the length of your luteal phase) so that your 40-week due date will be more reliable.

To summarize the fertility awareness method taught in the book, you chart your basal body temperature (temperature immediately upon waking) and chart other signs to know when you’re fertile and when you’re not. The purpose of this is to see when you’ve ovulated, or if you haven’t yet. Some women aren’t ovulating at all, though they’re having a withdrawal bleed. Not ovulating could indicate a hormonal imbalance, thyroid issue, PCOS or other issues — some of which can be easily corrected.

This book does not teach the “rhythm method,” which can be a seriously unreliable form of family planning. Instead, it is the “fertility awareness” method, a.k.a. sympto-thermal method and is scientific. Temperatures! Charts! Data to analyze! Pre-technology, charting was a bit more time-consuming. You can download a free app or use their website to log your info.

(See TCOYF and Fertility Friend.) Love the Fertility Friend app — it’s so easy to use, and the basic version is free.

The cost? Cheap! Buy the book, and be sure to get the latest edition since it contains a huge appendix. I’m sure this book is available at public libraries, so go there or a bookstore to browse it perhaps. I think it’s worth owning a copy of this one, though, if you’re planning to use the method for pregnancy achievement or prevention.

Your other expense is purchasing a special basal body thermometer. A standard fever thermometer won’t work — you need a basal one. I picked mine up at Walgreens for like $9 and it’s ok, but I know there are better models available. I’d love one that lights up and that stores the last temperature for longer than a half-second like mine does.

So, for roughly $20-30 with the book and a thermometer, you can have pregnancy prevention or help with conceiving. Compare that to the expense of other methods, and charting is a frugal and green way to do it. (lol)

This method isn’t for everyone, but I think it’s worth investigating, simply for the increased knowledge about how women’s bodies function.

*Denotes affiliate link

Additional related posts:

1. Being frugal, socially conscious and green: Can we have it all?
2. What are frugal but fun things to do in your city?
3. Giveaway: Once-A-Month Cooking Family Favorites book

We’re putting a little bit extra toward our mortgage (since even small contributions make a big impact) and we’re contributing some to our kids’ 529 college plans.

For our age, we can each contribute $5,000 to our IRAs. We’ll have until tax day in April 2013 to make all of our 2012 contributions.

We set up automatic transfers from our bank to our IRAs at Vanguard, to occur a few days after each payday.

Until recently, we were contributing $116/each biweekly ($3,016/year).

The other day, I adjusted our automatic contribution to $125/each biweekly. Bumping it by just $9 means an extra $234 per account, or $3,250.

Even increasing our contribution by $4 on a biweekly basis would add $104 more per year.

Shane was blessed to receive a cost-of-living raise effective in his most recent paycheck. We took most of the increased amount and set up an automatic bi-weekly transfer to go to a new sub-account at our bank at ING Direct. The sub-account is labeled “IRA.”

Bi-weekly, $50 will go to the IRA sub-account. In a year’s time, we’ll have $1,300 there plus a few dollars in interest.

Why not put that $50 in our IRAs at Vanguard from the get-go?

Well, I’d like to have a little bit of a buffer. If the tax laws and credits change this year, it would be nice to have some additional money in savings so we can pay our taxes if we need to. Or, we could use the money for another purpose (like a medical deductible). If nothing comes up between now and then, we’ll put $650 in each IRA.

That brings us to a hypothetical $3,900 in each IRA. “Just” $1,100 each to go.

It sounds like a lot of extra money to scrape together, especially when we’re already doing our darnedest to save.

Before I calculated the exact dollar amount, it was so vague that it wasn’t even a goal. Now, we know we need to come up with an extra $2,200 somewhere, total.

Shane will have a third paycheck in June and again in November. After all the other bills and savings goals are accounted for in those months, we should have a few hundred dollars available to put in the IRA (or IRA savings fund, whichever).

Second, he is supposed to receive a bonus twice per year. Assuming that goes as scheduled, we’ll be able to tap some of the bonus money for the IRA. If the bonus goes away, well…we weren’t counting on it for something critical so it’ll be ok. We’ll be disappointed, but we’ll be ok. :)

Other income sources to fund the remaining $2,200:

• My blog earnings. It’s drying up fast over here, though and I think it has to do with the “big G’s” search changes. Ugh.
• Selling unwanted things on eBay, as always
• Our tax refund from 2011, assuming we don’t spend it all elsewhere we’re replacing our kitchen countertops and doing some things to the yard) and then our medical expenses from a few days ago.

He actually fell asleep during the stitches part, and before that he was content to just chill out and play games on my iPod. I’m considering it a miracle, because what 3-year-old goes to sleep on his own for that?! Later, I asked him about it and he said he was just closing his eyes for a minute.

No. He was snoozing. Woke up a few minutes after they were done, a little disoriented and wanting to know if it was time to go home yet. Yes!

He’ll be alright and I’m optimistic the scar will heal well.

I called our health insurance this morning to find out how far we were from reaching our deductible, and what the damage will be financially.

Our health insurance has a $4k deductible, which we have to reach before they start paying 90% of the balance from $4-8k. After $8k, they pay all of it. I hope we don’t ever have a medical year like that.

Shane’s employer contributes $2k to a health savings account, which is the first $2k used out of that $4k. And, we didn’t use all of those funds from 2011, so that rolled over.

Since Shane only worked at his company for part of the year in 2011, they gave us a pro-rated amount.

Looks like we’ll have about $900 or so out of pocket before we hit that $4k deductible.

The health insurance company couldn’t narrow it down further, since they need to wait for bills from the hospital and our follow-up visit from the family doc. I know ER visits are super-expensive for even the most mundane of things, so I’m betting we’ll have to pay enough to hit the deductible and possibly more beyond that.

We haven’t spent or allocated our income tax refund yet, so we’ll pay our medical bill from that.

I am just counting my blessings here. First, Johnny is going to be fine. It was scary, but it could have been much worse. I’m so thankful that he behaved well throughout (though his sister was a bit of a … toddler about it). I’m also thankful that we have health insurance, and that we will be able to pay our bill without it causing us hardship.

Additional related posts:

1. Why a medical flexible spending account will save you money: Part 1
2. The Unexpected Benefits of a Frugal Lifestyle

How many menstrual cycles do women have over a lifetime? A lot. If you figure 12 or so per year, starting at around age 12 and continuing until oh, age 45-50, you’re looking at 400+ periods. Subtract for times of pregnancy or lactational amenorrhea, and you’re still probably dealing with a visit from Aunt Flo a few hundred times. Yay.

If you’re buying a pack of pads or a box of tampons each month or so, the costs over time can be expensive. Watching for sales and stacking with coupons is helpful, and I’ve also sent away for some free samples to have on hand.

Some current free samples and coupons:

• Tampax free sample
• Playtex Sport $1 off coupon
• Playtex $1 off coupon
• O.B. free sample pack

There is some controversy regarding the use of tampons, though. Some people are concerned with the chemicals within, and dioxins and other stuff like that which could be harmful. Organic tampons do exist. But then there’s that pesky problem of regularly spending money on the products.

Some women use a reusable menstrual cup, such as a Diva Cup*, Moon Cup* or a Keeper*. Please note that most of these cups have two sizes — one for if you’ve not had a vaginal childbirth and one if you have.

A few years ago, I won a Keeper from a giveaway done by Mrs. Money (see her Keeper review). I didn’t have a chance to use it immediately after winning, but a few months ago I finally gave it a shot.

I had a hard time with it at first. There is a learning curve! I gave up and used disposable products for that cycle. The next one though, I thought I’d try it again, and I was able to get it to work a lot easier. I’m still getting used to it and it wasn’t totally leak-free at all times, but I think a few more cycles and I should be more comfortable with it.

In terms of actual comfort, it was more of a challenge to um, place the thing than a tampon. Removing it was also a challenge at times. But, once it was in position, I was fine and didn’t notice it.

Considering the Keeper is reusable and is made of a natural material, I definitely want to keep using it in the future at least part-time. A $30ish reusable menstrual cup could last 10+ years. Say you spend $5/month on disposable products and have 12 cycles in a year — that’s $600, plus inflation.

You can purchase reusable menstrual pads and liners, if you’re so inclined to do that laundry. I have 3 FuzziBunz menstrual pads, but I don’t think they’re made anymore. I’d like to purchase some additional reusable liners to use as backup, so if you have any recommendations I’m all ears. Then again, a disposable pack of liners can be inexpensive and last a lot longer, if used as backup.

If you’re handy with a sewing machine, you can create your own reusable menstrual pads or liners. Also at that link is a no-sew idea.

Do you use reusable menstrual products? Your thoughts?

Additional related posts:

1. Starting to stock up on supplies
2. A time to save and a time to spend