February 34 Weeks of Clean Schedule

Welcome!  So how are you doing on your 34 Weeks of Clean journey?

Whether you are new here, skipped a few weeks along the way, or are a 34 Week pro ( I know there are a few of you out there!), we are glad you are back.  With one month under our belts, the next four assignments await us.

Remember- ONE WEEK AT A TIME!  No matter how tempting it is, do not work ahead.   Take one assignment at a time, do your best, and then reward yourself (and your helpers) with something fun to celebrate your hard work.  If you get behind, don't fret.  Just pick up where we are and plan to go back on one of our weeks off.  

Here is a quote I ran into this past month and just may have uttered a loud AMEN as I read it-  From Francine Jay, author of The Joy of Less-

Your home is a living space, not a storage space

• Do not fill up what you have emptied!  Live with the space for a while.  You may be surprised how good it feels once you adjust your mindset.

• If you need to buy more "storage solutions" as your work your way through this plan, you are not de-cluttering!  You are just rearranging!  Do not be fooled into thinking it is the same thing.

• This is not a journey about living with nothing!  It is about taking back our homes and our lives and living with only the things that we love and bring us joy! 

• A less cluttered house equals a less cluttered heart and mind.  

Remember our goals-

We are deep cleaning, de-cluttering AND THEN re-organizing.

Week 6- The Stove and Dreaded Loose Ends

Week 7- The Dining Room

Week 8- The Living Room

Week 9- Books

Blessings,

Remembering February

OK, I know the month is not quite over, but I have a busy week of two great reviews for you coming up so I want to do our school month review today.

Has February been hard for anyone else?  Please tell me it isn't just me.  I love the cold and snow, really I do, but it seems that February has been a rough month.  Weather-wise and school-wise.  I have been so antsy I started buying curriculum for next year -like we need new curriculum- and we seem to start school later and later each week.  I assure you we are still getting it done, but well, let's just say some days we end pretty late.  We are regrouping this week and taking a few steps to shake up our days a little.  That is a post to come, promise!

Until then, here are a few things we have managed to get accomplished.

Learning to play the piano!  This is with a review I will be posting on Wednesday.  We have enjoyed Kinderbach immensely!

Science in the kitchen!  I cannot even remember where he found out about volcanoes, but he was determined to make one.   Any homeschooling mommas out there recognize the Saxon fact cards?  Ashton laminated them and made a tote bag out of them!  Now it holds all of our playdough. Recycling at its best!

I told you I would get her in this month's pictures!  This is my piano queen!  She is also taking voice lessons and so excited about participating in a drama camp this summer.   Of course, while she is gone for a week, my blog may need some serious help.

Snowman, anyone? Oh my word!  Is this not the cutest?  My in-laws brought it to us when they came to visit last month.  Apparently they did not think we had had enough snow fun.  Haha!  You build a snowman with this and then watch him melt.  I will not even be honest enough to tell you have many times a day we do this silly thing.  It is hysterical to watch!  (Some days this is exactly how I feel, I think!)

 See?  Snow!  Plenty, thank you!

And as if my house is not loud enough, my two girls have turned into a singing duo.  To each other, to their brothers, to anyone that will listen.  Even when we do not want to listen!  Luckily they sound pretty good and are at the very least entertaining.  They do crack me up!

I am sure we have done more, and I know there are a few more pictures floating around that I cannot seem to locate at the moment.  After being sick on the couch for over a week, you are lucky you did not get pictures of chicken noodle soup and blankets.  It was that bad!

Praying March is a brighter month for you and for us!

Blessings, 

No Spend January Thoughts and Results!

I can hardly believe that in three days the month of January will be over.  2013 is moving forward whether we are ready or not.   It all started with a simple idea to save money by spending less.  Spending less and saving more!  Great idea.  In theory.  But let's just be honest up front, it was challenging.  But not in the ways I imagined.

Here's how it shook out.  We budget each month in certain set categories.  For the month of January we decided not to spend in any of those categories except groceries, bills, tithing and gas.  In what I will call "savings" categories, our money went into those dedicated accounts as normal, but was not used.  Examples being, home maintenance, vacation, school supplies, etc. " Fun money" categories that usually get taken out as cash remained in our account- for example entertainment, clothing, and the allowances my husband and I give ourselves for pocket money.

I would like to say that we did not spend an extra penny outside the allowed categories.  That would not be quite honest so here goes:

We did spend about $45.00 to send two boxes of things to our college daughter.  She did not have enough room in her suitcase to fly everything back and so we had to bend here.  She did, after all, need her clothes!

I allowed my two middle kids to go to the movies one afternoon.  The deal was that they pay for it themselves.  My kids only go to the movies about twice a year.  Seriously!  We are just that strict on movies.  But this was one the older one really wanted to see and it was not going to still be in the theaters in February.  She spent her money and while I may have lost a few points with you all, I gained lots of points with her.  :-) Some things are worth it!

Other than that we have been faithful.  No lunches or dinners out.  No little treats at the gas station or food at co op.  No candy bars at the drug store.  Funny thing, the 5 year old seemed to miss it all the most.  He would ask if he could have a treat, I would look at him and he would say, "Oh that's right, it is no spend January."  Yep, I think he thinks that is really the name of the month.

As for me...well, I do not NEED anything, so I did not  feel like I really deprived myself of anything.  But, yes, I saw those 75% off Christmas sales or buy one get one free ads and felt a twinge of oh no, can't do that.  But really, guys, I did not NEED that stuff anyway.  It would have been just buying to buy...pointless and wasteful.  Shame on me!

 I did not do without things I NEEDED, I did without things I DID NOT NEED IN THE FIRST PLACE!

So where does that leave us?  About $500.00 richer!  And more content.  And empowered to make better decisions.  And challenged to change up our budget a little.  And crazy enough to declare a...

NO SPEND FEBRUARY!  Who's in?

Oh, and one little disclaimer on that...we are going on a date night for Valentine's Day, thanks to a gift card given to us at Christmas.  Just want you to know in case you see me out!  ;)

And for those who joined in with us this month, thank you!  I hope you were blessed and challenged a little as well.