Thrift-o-rama

Ahead of the New Year, I wanted to get a big picture view of our money life since I started blogging here in 2008.

It's just amazing. We haven't always met our goals, but we've gone farther than we would have. Before I had a place to write down and plan, we just drifted, without a plan. Having a plan, at least for me, makes all the difference.

Just keeping track of my goals, and having a place where I felt accountable has had an amazing impact on our financial life.

Here is what my family has accomplished since I started this blog:

2008
Savings goal: $19,250
Actual savings: $21,305, plus $15,000 in 401k contributions.

I owed $12,700 in student loans and paid $1100 extra. The rest of the money went to fund our IRA, Roth, 529, brokerage, car fund, and savings accounts. We also had a baby, I left my full-time job and began freelancing to save on childcare and to care for my terminally ill father, who died in July of that year.

2009
Savings goal: $22,220
Actual savings: $10,000, plus $12,000 debt pay-off, plus $16,500 in 401k contributions.

In 2009, we added a second baby to the family, which meant more hospital bills, and another 529 plan. Our freelance income took a nosedive thanks to the Great Recession. We didn't meet many of our goals, but I did pay off my $12,000 student loan using our "exotic" vacation fund and some savings. Paying it off eliminated the $303 monthly payment, and made us 100 percent debt free.

2010
Savings Goal: $23,540
Actual Savings: $16,575, plus $16,500 in 401k contributions.

Once again, we didn't make the goal, but hey, I make them ambitious. We bought a new car, and had to adjust our lives and finances to two children. My freelance income rebounded a bit from 2009, to about half 2008 levels. We full funded my IRA, both kids' 529s, paid extra on the car loan, and put a little in savings. We loaned $5,000 to a friend, which is why we were so far below our goal. We saved it, we just didn't get to keep it!

2011
Savings goal: $32,490, plus $16,500 to 401k.

This is by far the most ambitious year yet. To make this, we'll have to dedicate our tax refund and hubby's bonus (hoping he gets one...) strictly to the goals. My freelance income is also rising again, which should help. I'd also like to do another No Spend Month to kick start savings.

I think if we're diligent-- sticking to our weekly spending cap, shopping smarter for groceries and such-- it will help us make our goals and prep to one day have a mortgage again. (EEK. Not looking forward to that!)

Looking back at my savings account balance last year at this time, I realize we're only about $100 above where we were then. Sigh. Treading water, but given everything we've done this year, I'm trying to be happy with that.

It has long been my goal to up the balance of the EF by $10,000 a year. We made a little headway in 2008 and 2009, but in 2010, it didn't really happen. Here's to 2011!

Finally! I made some goals for the year. My last freelance check of the year arrived, so I sent some to the kids' college and to my IRA, so I could meet those goals for the year.

I also sent an additional $150 to pay off the car (to get a jump on my 2011 goal to pay down $5,000 on the car), and put the last $350 into savings on Monday.

I had a bady day with the kids yesterday, so as soon as hubby got home from work, I split for some me time. I decided to hit the thrift store. I have always loved thrifting, but haven't really done much since we've had kids and all of our free time has disappeared into the ether.

I am soooo glad I went. I got a pair of snowpants for the youngest, for $2.50. I also got him a new (to him) winter coat for $3.25. (We broke the zipper on his this week.) I got a 90 cent John Deere tractor still in the package for a stocking stuffer, and a great battery-powered Thomas train for $2. I picked up six toy dinosaurs for my friends' son (30 to 60 cents each), a sweater and a pair or work out pants for me. I got out of there for less than $25, and with a lot of useful goodies. It was also just nice to be able to quietly shop and take my time. That NEVER happens these days.

On the savings front, I put $400 toward the kids' college, so I'm about $95 / son short on the 2010 goal. I will pop that into their accounts on payday, and the goal will be met.

My freelance check is late (as usual). When it arrives, I will top off my IRA ($50 to go, but I may go over), and pay more toward the car.

I still get a little upset when I look at our $10,300 savings goal and only see a 3 in front of my progress. Really, we'd saved 8,000, but as you recall, hubby decided to give it to his spend thrift friend to get him out of a bind. He said he's repay us in 60 to 90 days. Yeah. Uh huh.

It's been 6 months and we haven't hears a single word from him, EXCEPT asking hubby to go on a lake Tahoe ski trip with him. Really? You can't pay your property taxes but you can go to Lake Tahoe. I'm steamed. How about you give us-- and our two kids-- your Lake Tahoe money, dude?

Can you tell I'm still bitter?

One of the projects I would like to do in the new year is to pick up items for the family shelter, a little at a time, while I am shopping.

A lot of you seem to know how to get good deals using coupons and BOGO offers.

I've never had a lot of luck or been able to master this. Any tips on what I can do , utilizing sales, coupons, etc. to stretch my charity grocery dollars farther?

The family shelter needs things like toilet paper, paper towels, dish and laundry detergent, cleaners, diapers, baby bedding, etc.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I want to come up with my game plan soon, so I can jump on any after-christmas deals.

I posted earlier-- that every time I seem to post something on my sidebar or write about it here, it happens. Mostly with freelance work. Well, remember I said I posted that I wanted to earn $300 more a month freelancing, and magically got a gig for $300 a month the next day? In weirder news, just talked to my boss on this project and she managed to up my monthly pay rate to $400 a month. Magic I tell you!! Magic!!

So really, if you need something write it down in your sidebar or in your blog and the universe will listen. Seriously!

So, my party was yesterday. Thanks for the food ideas. Unfortunately, we had a blizzard, so half of the guest list canceled. Still, we had about 12 people over.

In such a small group, the conversation took a weird financial-related turn a couple of times. It surprised me, because people don't usually talk about that kind of stuff.

First, a friend of mine from grade school came. I only see him once every 10 years or so. Anyway, he has 3 kids 3 and under and says his wife wants to keep having them. I ribbed him about it, wondering how we could possibly pay for college for more and more kids. That's a pretty normal joke in our circle, but he took the opportunity to share his plan.

"Debt is my plan. Just go into debt to pay for it."

Eek. I felt kind of bad. My plan is not debt. My plan is to have $100k saved for each kid by age 18,and what that doesn't cover, we pay for out of pocket. I didn't ask any more.

We also started talking about our plans to move to the best school district. His reply "Are you rich or something?"

I didn't know how to answer that. I just kind of turned red and stuttered. I didn't think of our planned destination as only for rich people. How do you say, No, not rich by any stretch, but not not rich. As in, no mortgage, no cc debt, etc., so a move is possible?

The school talk sparked a lot of yelling from other guests. There is another couple with a son our age who moved into our neighborhood. I have known them most of my life, and we used to be good friends, but lately they may as well be strangers. We never see them, and when we do, we never know if the wife is has decided if she loves us or hates us that day. We're planning to just let them go (friend dump, technically), but not in a mean way. We love them, it's just too hurtful to be friends with them.

Anyway, said wife is very opinionated. She said in no uncertain terms that moving is a horrible decision and our kids will grow up surrounded by spoiled rich kids, and that we should be happy with one of the neighborhood schools, because THEY think they are just fine.

I didn't feel like justifying our decision to move. It's about schools, yes, but it's also about make sure we have the free cash to help pay for our parents' care when they are elderly and property taxes on the land we may inherit. Ergo, paying tuition isn't an option. Never mind that hubby doesn't believe in religious education, which is our only private option.

She was mad because she wanted our kids to be in school with her son. I didn't say it, but frankly, we can't plan around that. I love her son, but we don't know what is going to happen to him. He has significant developmental delays due to some congenital health problems. I don't want to say, "We don't know if he'll be in the same grade as X," or the same class even. I can't plan around them. I have to do what's right for my family and kids.

She also pulled out the holier than though diversity card, saying if we moved, our sons would just be around rich white kids. If we sent him to our neighborhood school, it's more diverse. We clearly have different definitions of diversity. I think an economic and racial mixture of ALL kinds of folks. I love that. I don't think of 99 percent of one race, white or black, is diverse.

But, I said nothing. I just said the district is one of the best in the state, we don't want to pay tuition, and we want the best for the kids. We also like the neighborhood. Hubby could bike to work, and there would actually be parks, shopping, schools we could WALK to!

It was a real headache. Luckily, I had some eggnog to dull the pain.

I'm having a Christmas party Sunday for friends, and I am having trouble coming up with a menu of Christmas-y , warm food and drinks to serve. I've never hosted a Christmas party, although I have had tons of other parties.

So far, all I've come up with is to serve some warm Wassail punch and some chocolate cupcakes with peppermint candy icing. I have three crockpots ready to fill (but with what??) and 4 christas music CDs. Help!

Any ideas/recipes for filling appetizers that are winter appropriate?

HELP!!

My sister talked me into signing up for ebates.com. I relented because we do most of our shopping online. My sister has been a member for a while and is very happy with the rebate checks she received. I figure I may as well get paid for what I am already doing. IF we get an ebates, I guess that money will go in my $20 challenge fund or into the new house fund.

Given my potential new gig for next year I have to recalculate how I allocate my regular freelance income to meet my goals. Sorry to be boring. This is more for me, so I know how much of each check to send to each account.

50 percent to IRA, until maxed out at $5,000
about 35 percent to kids extra college saving, for total of $4,000
Divide up the last 15 percent or so to extra car payments and taxes, $1350 each, for total of $2,700

This is only if the freelance gig I mentioned yesterday actually pans out. There is still a small chance it won't, but it likely will.

I still intend to pursue work above and beyond this. All extra work money will be split between the new house fund and paying off the car. Likely not a 50-50 split. Probably more 75 -25, to boost the house fund.

I got a phone call from an editor today asking me if I'd be interested in writing a column for ----tah-dah $300 a month. Which is the exact amount I wanted to add to my monthly earnings in 2011.

This must be a magic web site or blog or something. This is the second time I have posted a monthly income goal on the site and then had work for that amount magically appear out of nowhere. Last year, I said I wanted to make a minimum of $600 a month, and almost immediately, I got a regular gig that pays between $600 and $750 a month.

This isn't counting last week, when a gig for $350 or so materialized right after I said I wanted to earn more.

This is MADNESS!! Good madness, but still!

I just added a declutter challenge to the goals on my sidebar. I always always always feel like we are drowning in too much stuff, so away it must go!

Yesterday, I took one large box of items we don't use to the Goodwill. I also sold a toy on craigslist, for $10, that the kids have outgrown. I put that money in the piggy bank.

I have also gathered up one 20-gallon storage bin of toys the kids aren't in love with, and am taking them to Once Upon a child tomorrow. That (if any) money will also go in the piggy bank.

I have also posted my grandparents' cedar chest on craigslist. It is damaged, and I have no room for it. No other family member wanted to take it. No takers so far, although one no show. That is the frustrating part.

I also sold a bunch of clothes to a resale shop, and need to go by and pick up whatever money I got for them. That's the thing about babies-- even if you lose the weight, you're shaped differently, so all the nice clothes you splurged on and collected through the years have to go to someone else!

My plan is to sell, sort and donate my way to less stuff. Any money we get from selling will go into the piggy bank, which we empty of change and bills twice a year. The money will go to whichever goal is lagging behind at the time, or may just go straight to the new house fund.

Speaking of new houses, hubby and I went out to lunch in one of the neighborhoods where we are thinking of moving. It had a good vibe. Close to interesting places to eat, parks, etc. and we liked the housing stock. It looks a lot like where we already live, with solid 1950s rambler ranches with yards similar in size to ours, only with some of the best schools in the state.

I think it made us feel more on the same page about our choice to move for schools, and showed us that we are going to have a lot of options for houses that we both like. It was a good trip.

On the budget front, bad news. Hubby busted the weekly budget by buying $600 worth of soccer tickets, hard drives and coffee. Oh well. He doesn't ever buy anything, and these were expected expenses. I just didn't expect them all at once or right before Christmas. I'll have to talk to him about his timing...

So, Little man was supposed to spend the night with grandma last night (and most of today), but disaster struck. I drove the hour to mom's only to get there and have her rush out the door to take her boyfriend to the ER. He had some bleeding and issues related to a surgery he had two weeks ago, and she didn't want him to go alone.

She told us to wait, so I got little man some dinner, tubby, and in pajamas. I let him stay up 2 hours late to wait for "grammy" because he really wanted to see her. She calls at 10 to say she's not going to make it home, so we should just head home. (He had internal bleeding, got home at 2:30 a.m and mom took him to his regular doctor today)

So, another hour driving home, and little man doesn't get to bed until 11 p.m., exhausted and overtired. And no grandma.

It's disappointing all around. The whole thing had me totally stressed out. My mom's boyfriend is 79, and in the back of my mind is always the thought that she is going to have her heartbroken when her sweetie dies all over again, sooner rather than later, because he is elderly. I don't want my mom to have to go through this again, since it's only been 2.5 years since dad died.

So, last night set off that part of my brain.

Then, I was so tired and frustrated to have spent the night driving back and forth for nothing, and keeping little man awake (he's crabby today because of it.) Mom takes him so I can work, and I really count on having that time.

So, This is the week when I actually have more work to do due to my extra gig, and I can't do it because I'm with two toddlers all day.

Life with kids is just so much harder than I ever imagined, and I imagined it would be pretty bad! I guess I didn't bank on the prolonged lack of sleep, or that it'd be so hard to get very basic things accomplished every day.

One of my goals for 2011 is to up my freelance income every month, by taking on at least one more project each month. It's going to take a lot of work to rustle up some work, but I had my first taste of success today. I just landed an extra project for December, that should net me about $300 to $350-- exactly my goal for the month. It's an auspicious start, on my first try. Let's hope I can keep the good momentum going!

How can 2011 be a month away? Gack.

Oh well. I was inspired by those of you who are over achievers and have already posted your 2011 goals. I thought about mine, and here goes. Another ambitious year.

**2011 Goals**
$10,000 to EF savings. We should be able to do this if we stick to the weekly spending cap and keep up our auto transfers to savings every payday.

$10,000 to house fund. The ONLY way for this to work is to just put our tax refund into the savings account I have designated for this. We are moving in the next two years to a better school district, and I want to have some more saved to cover the costs. The ultimate goal is $25,000. I think (fingers crossed) we can swing $10k this year.

These three are the same as last year:
$4620 to kid 1's college fund
$4620 to kid 2's college fund
$4000 to my IRA

This one is new:
$2000 to Roth IRA. I may just transfer the money out of our taxable brokerage account. No sense paying taxes on money we don't touch anyway, when the earnings can grow tax free.

Pay $5,000 on car loan. Regular payments plus the extra I send every month amount to about $3,000, so I'll have to make extra extra payments occasionally.

So yeah, these goals will require much more budget stretching. So, I have a goal to earn $300 more a month freelancing. I think I am in a groove with the babies where I can safely take on one more project a month, and then I can allocate the extra funds for the house, car, and college. (my steady gig goes to the IRA and college funds).

And on a personal note, I am going to continue the momentum from this year.

-Revise my first novel and send to literary agents
-Write second novel (sequel to the first)
-Lose 15 pounds (I have planned two more 6-week weight loss programs. I lost 10.5 the first time around, so 15 in two sounds doable.)

And, finally, a decluttering goal. My goal is to donate 2 boxes/bags a month to Goodwill. We have too much stuff, and with a move coming in the forseeable future, I don't want to hang on to anything we don't love or use.

This is funny. Last night, I changed the filter in the furnace. I do it every year, right before Christmas. Anyway, I was lugging the old dirty one up the stairs when hubby said. "What is that?"

I told him it was the dirty furnace filter. He said "Huh. I didn't know furnaces had filters that need to be changed."

Roll eyes. I certainly did not marry a handy man. Oh well, at least he fixes the computers when they break, right?

That said, I am mostly done with Christmas. Just a few odds and ends left. Except, I can't think of anything to get hubby! I usually do something crafty and thoughtful that is perfect, but this year, I have zero ideas. I have only bought him a t-shirt and a book so far. How lame is that??

The reality of buying a house, taking a loss on my current one, has sunk in. I am planning to implement an austerity budget in anticipation of our move, to build up cash reserves and money available for our next house.

Our plan, as always, is to borrow as little as possible and to pay off the loan as quickly as possible. We prefer to live mortgage free so that we can have more flexibility.

We are currently mortgage free, and it's been a huge blessing. We may have to spend anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 more than we have in this house to get what we want in the best school district in the area. Much smaller price tag than $150,000 plus for private school.

So, I guess the plan is to stick to our $400 weekly budget for all expenses, sock as much as possible into savings. Save all of our tax refund (usually about $10,000). I plan to start selling online again, via Etsy and Craigslist, and funnel those earnings into the savings account. It's not much, but hopefully it will add up.

I am also hoping to take on more freelance work, to the tune of another $300 or more a month, and I will funnel that into savings, and to pay off the car loan as quickly as possible. The goal is to be as debt free as possible before house buying.

Today was my last day of the 6-week weight loss challenge. Lost 10.5 pounds. I also cut my mile run down from 10 minutes to 8:55. I still have a ways to go to get back to pre-babies weight, but I'm pretty happy with these results!

Our new easy budget has been working like a charm the last two months. Until now. Enter Christmas! Gak!

I managed to buy all of the kids' gifts without going over budget, but now that it's time to cross the adults off the list and buy the odds and ends that seem to never go on sale, I'm going to be way over our weekly spending caps for the next two weeks.

Oh well. I half expected this to happen for holidays. We have trimmed our list a lot this year, and many of those on our list still will be getting homemade brandied marmalade and tins of Christmas butterscotch blondies. But those who are still on my list: my mom, sister, husband, and in-laws all cost a pretty penny.

The in-laws is the cost of gifts plus the cost of travelling to Vermont to see them for the holidays, which is the most expensive part. And for my mom and sis, I'm to the point where I refuse to buy gifts that are useless clutter and only want to give people things they will truly use. Sometimes, that's more expensive.

For my mom, my sister and I are splitting her airfare to go to Las Vegas to see my late father's only living sister. We are all going to go in the spring. It would mean a lot to her, and it would be a fun trip for us.

I bought a TV for my sister. I got a great deal on just the one she wanted. Hers is so old, the closed captioning randomly comes on and off (only in Spanish) and it makes a loud whining sound like it's going to explode. It's more than I wanted to spend, but I know she's actually going to use it everyday for years to come.

And, I have no idea what to get hubby. So far, it's a book and a T-shirt. Maybe I'll buy us a "date" to our favorite restaurant, complete with sitter for the night.

Today was a long one. Hubby had to work late, so I had to get up with the kids this morning at 6:30. Then, I had personal training at 11. It was rough ! It was my final fitness assessment for the 6-week weight loss program I'm in, although final weigh in is next Saturday.

In five weeks, I've lost 8 pounds and about 10 inches. Not too shabby. I also have gone from a 10 minute mile to 8 min and 55 seconds. feels good. Hope I can lose 1 or 2 more pounds before final weigh in.

My son's first birthday party was today as well. It was one of those rare times in the universe when the stars align and every single person you invite actually shows up. The house was packed to the gills with people and kids. All the babies had fun.

I spent most of the afternoon prepping, making 50 cupcakes into monsters.

Exhibit A:


The house is finally cleaned up, the babies are in bed, and I am about to take a bath and hit the pillows myself.

I can't believe my little man is one today. Next thing you know, he'll be getting his own apartment. This picture was too cute not to share.

Ugh. It's been a terrible week. Hubby and all of the kids had the flu, and, um, how shall I say-- had it coming from both ends. It was terrible. Then, as soon as they were well, I got hit with it. Hubby had to take yesterday off of work to take care of me, but had to go back today. Thank god for Grandma. She showed up this morning with a can of lysol in one hand and sprayed the entire place. She took care of the kids until bedtime so I could have another day to recover. Boy did I need it.

It was a fast and furious flu, and I hadn't felt that knocked out in a long time. Let's hope it's all done and over with. Our littlest's first birthday is Friday and we are having a party Sunday. I want everyone to be healthy for the big day.

In other news, the piggy bank was full, so I cashed it out for an Amazon gift card at the local Coinstar. It turned out to be $92. I had no idea that little bank could hold so much money!

They don't charge you the sorting fee if you get a gift certificate, which is fine with me, because I had planned to shop Amazon anyway. I used it to buy Christmas gifts for the kids. I am just about finished with shopping for them. Maybe a few more things for the littlest, and then done. And all this before thanksgiving. I used to be so last minute. I guess having kids has made me into a planner!

In other positive money news, I got a $600 check for freelance work. I sent an extra $100 to the car loan, $200 to the kids' college funds, and put $300 in my IRA. I have one more check coming this year, for about $750. I will use that to reach my IRA goal for the year, and then split up the remaining $350 between the college funds and the car loan again. Feels nice to make progress, even if it is small.

Ugh. I am drowning in baby toys. More accurately, tripping over them, stepping on them in the middle of the night, and feeling defeated trying to clean them up only to have them dumped out again.

I feel like I keep donating and selling baby items, but the deluge has not yet been tamed. Any tips on how to tame the baby chaos that has taken over my house?

I'm sure it's not fun for the kids either, to always be living in a jumbled mess of toys.

I have tried rotating toys, but it only half works, and I have lovely IKEA storage cabinets with bins, but Bean likes to pretend he's a garbage man and dump it all out. Help!

Get out your calculators. I have the magic formula for dieting and weight loss, straight from my dietician.

Use this to figure out the minimum number of calories you should consumer in a day:

For women:
665 + (4.35 x weight) + (4.7 x height) - (4.7 x age)

For men:
66 + (6.23 x weight) + (12.7 x height) - (6.8 x age)

Okay, take that number, which is your base metabolic rate.

Multiply by 1.2 if you are a couch potato
by 1.375 if you exercise 1 - 3 days a week
by 1.55 if you exercise 3 - 5 days a week
by 1.725 if you exercise 6-7 days a week.

That's how many calories a day you need to eat to maintain weight.

To lose half a pound a week (current doctor recommendation), cut 250 calories a day. For a pound a week, cut 500 calories a day.

I found this incredibly helpful. Also, if you are not diabetic, 50 percent of your calories should come from carbs.

My informal budget plan-- to spend no more than $400 a week for everything, such as diapers, formula, clothes, gas groceries, etc...ALL of it-- is actually working.

It's crazy. It's been about six weeks since we've started and it has been on the mark or slightly under every single week.

As a result, I was able to up the contributions to the kids' 529s by $50 a month and add $50 more a month to the savings account. In another two weeks, I may feel confident enough to up the savings a little more.

All of this, and we have still spent on extras and stayed under budget. I bought most of the kids' Christmas gifts, paid our entry fees for warrior dash, and bought some fancier cuts of meat to help me feel less deprived on my 6-week weight loss diet.

I guess I wonder why I didn't do this sooner.

I was looking through our accounts last night and realized I had $600 in a separate savings account. That money was supposed to go into my IRA but I totally forgot about it. I transferred it today. I'm thrilled. It's rare and nice to be $600 closer to your goal than you thought you were. This also frees up more money this year to go to the kids' college and toward the car loan. Yay!

In other good news, I may have at least one other freelance project. High-paying, but it only takes a couple of hours. Just have to see if I can work out the details. That would also mean more for the IRA,kids, and car. Woo-hoo!

I love the feeling of making progress.

**Update**
Hubby and I just talked about all this again, and we have come to some agreements. We are starting to be on the same page. Let's hope the progress continues***

So, in two years, our baby will be starting kindergarten. We're faced with a dilemma. We live in the city school district, which frankly, is crap.

I did the math, and IF tuition did not increase (which it will ), we would be paying a minimum of $128,000 for 1-12 grades for two kids in the least expensive private school in our area.

It pains me, but I say moving to a good school district may be our best option. Love our house, but I keep running the numbers and none of them are good.

That tuition money -- I feel-- should be going into their college savings accounts, not for tuition.

We would have to pay more for an equivalent house in a decent school district, and we may even have a longer commute, both of which would suck, but I think in the long term it might keep us in better financial shape.

Also, when the kids are about high school age, we will have two aging parents -- one of whom lives 16 hours away-- and or be inheriting his parent's land, which has PROPERTY TAXES ALONE of $50,000 a year. That isn't a typo. They get senior citizen discounts that reduce that to about $20,000 a year, but we would not qualify for those.

Around that time, we will also have to begin paying for two college educations.

Hubby refuses to recognize that we have this potentially huge expense on the horizon. And he insists that he wants to keep the land.

I only bring this up because hubby and I were talking then arguing about it today. He says we'll be fine, even if we have to pay tuition, but I disagree.

Any of you had to move for schools? Is it worth it to just stay put?

I think the holiday time bomb has been averted. I talked to the MIL about having a mini Christmas over Thanksgiving weekend, and she is amenable to the idea. I am working out the details with her.

I also talked to my mom about Thanksgiving, and we have rescheduled our family thanksgiving meal to the Sunday before. Fingers crossed.... If this works out, everyone gets some sort of Christmas and Thanksgiving -- even if they don't line up with calendar days-- and we might get a tranquil holiday.

In other news, I lost 2.6 pounds this week, bringing my total to 4 pounds in two weeks. Woo-hoo!

I'm a little annoyed. Hubby and I talked about our Christmas/Holiday plan for this year in July. We are both anxious to avoid another train wreck like last year, or really, every year since we've been married.

I won't get into it here, but let's just say it's always a disaster that ends up with his parents either inviting themselves and barging in bossing everyone around OR calling on Christmas day trying to make their son feel guilty that they aren't there ( it doesn't seem to register that they get Thanksgiving every year, and my family gets nothing. They just assume they should have both).

So, we wanted to talk about our new holiday plan with both families before the season started and expectations ans feelings get all crazy and emotional.

The plan is for us to have Christmas with just the kids this year. Thanksgiving at with his family (which involves a 16-hour drive with two toddlers. woo-hoo.) Christmas Eve with my family, and Christmas just us. It was going to be a slice if heaven.

I told my family about the change. He told his mom we weren't coming for christmas and she pitched a fit. The plan was to have a mini christmas with all of their traditions and the gingerbread house with thwe kids, etc. while we are there over Thanksgiving, but hubby didn't say one word about that part. A part that I think would have made her feel better.

I don't know why he can't stick to the plan and stand up for what we've already talked about. It's his job to manage his parents. I manage mine.

So, I went out on a limb today and emailed the MIL and asked her if she wanted to do the mini Christmas. No reply. We'l see if she's busy or passive aggressive.

Granted, these people had no interest in gifts and have no Christmas traditions, but act like they are getting shot in the stomach if they aren't there for every major holiday, even if it is at the expense of my family. It's infuriating. (And it was like this even before we had kids....)

I'm really drawing a line here. We're doing the holidays this way. Period. If hubby is to wimpy to lay down the law, I will.

Last Christmas was so awful it was almost divorce-worthy. We were still fighting about it in June!!!

I decided to go for it and give the Target red card a whirl. If it turns out to be too much hassle or the discount doesn't add up as much as I think it will, I will cancel it. Let's see how this works out.

I knew it was coming. Target made a change to their store credit card that has made it a potentially attractive option for us. As of right now, and for the foreseeable future, Target will instantly give you 5 percent off of all purchases made at Target, with the card.

Now, I've never had a store credit card. I also don't have any credit card debt and pay our balances in full every month.

We don't need another card, but let me just say I'm considering this one.

We buy almost everything at Target. Baby formula, diapers, pajamas, baby shoes, whole milk, you name it, and we buy it there. I shop there probably twice a week. It's the best place to buy basics close to us, I usually get coupons from them, and they have competitive prices on baby items as Wal-mart.

So, the question is, is it worth it to get the Red card and save 5 percent off every time I go there, plus the coupons?

It will be a small hassle to have yet one more card to keep track of, but probably not onerous enough to negate the savings, considering how much we spend there.

Any thoughts?