My new idea

I have been reading my library books, one of them being 'In CHEAP We Trust' by Lauren Weber. It gives a history of frugality in the United States. It's interesting and funny. I especially enjoyed the chapter called 'Eco-cheap'. I learned a lot about Americans and our over consumption, how we consume the world's raw materials far out of proportion to our numbers. I guess I knew this but as I read statistics it put it more into perspective for me. I'd like to quote a paragraph:

"The environment sensibility and the thrifty sensibility share an abhorrence of one thing: waste. It comes down to a fundamental respect for the value of objects. This is a trait that's hard to come by in our throwaway society, perhaps because we're so disconnected from the origins of our possessions and the people who labored to make them. A kitchen table becomes something more when our own hands sanded it down; a wool sweater knitted by a friend has greater value than one that was made on a machine loom in Vietnam and picked up for a low price at Macy's."

I've always liked the idea of DIY projects but this brings it to another level for me. It's more then just saving money, it's making an impact on the environment and doing my part to make a difference.

The book talks about a challenge one lady decided to do for a year to experiment in low-impact living. She would buy no new stuff, no new clothes, no new gadgets, no new books, and so on. She could buy anything she wanted secondhand, and she could still buy food, medicine, safety-related items, and services like concert and train tickets. The main idea was to reduce her consumption of stuff, all those tangible things that clutter the house, consume raw materials, and eventually take up residence in landfills.

I've actually talked to Jon recently about living a minimalistic lifestyle and downloaded a book called 'Family-Sized Minimalism'. I like the idea of living minimally and I think we could make it work for us. The problem is I have so many ideas but its hard to implement these ideas or new ways of living when you don't live on your own. There's so much I want to do or try but I don't feel like I can until we are on our own, in our place where we can establish rules and routines.

But just like No Spend Month I think we can try this challenge of no new items for... well I don't know about a year, I'll have to discuss it with Jon first. But why not, we can do a year! Shouldn't be too hard since we don't really have any extra money anyway. But it's a way of thinking, it's meant to change the way you think about the environment and how much waste we create by buying new things. I'm fine with buying used items, I'm always looking at Craigslist for a Kitchenaid mixer because I want one so bad! I'd be happy with a used one.

Some of the ideas I would like my family to do in general for saving money and the environment include: building our own tiny house, or buying an old fixer upper and doing the work ourselves, growing a garden and raising chickens, extreme couponing (I watched on the TLC show, a 14-year old girl and a college kid living in a dorm do it, I can do it! Although I have yet to see anyone with a baby or a toddler on the show). Following Dave Ramsey's guide to financial freedom (or at least creating a budget and eliminating debt), living minimally, making as much food from scratch as well as making my own laundry detergent, body wash, shampoo/conditioner, cleaning products, etc. I think we can live without cable or maybe even a TV since we currently do not own one (that is when we eventually live on our own we will not have one). I would like to go down to one car again. I want to take a class to learn how to alter store-bought clothes (thrift-store-bought). There are other ideas I can't think of right now, but you get the idea.

And for fun I have included pictures for you to enjoy. Starting with my cute boys, followed by a couple of family pictures and then a few funny pictures from a new app I was playing around with called FaceGoo :)

Lounging in bed, it was super early in the  morning... too early. 

Judah asked to hold Asher. They love each other :)

This is his monster look, apparently he gets it from his dad. 

Doesn't he have the chubbiest, most kissable cheeks?!

The Gum Wall at Pike's Place Market in Seattle, yum!

The Crab Pot is a fun place to eat seafood, they dump a bucket full on your table and you put a bib on and get crackin'

Sorry this is sideways :(

Update...

I'll start first with how my day of no complaining went. It lasted only one day. I would go throughout the day trying to remember if I had actually complained or not. I don't think anyone really noticed a difference but I noticed that I tried to be more positive. I also realized that I didn't like how I was responding to Judah's behavior when I wanted him to do something. Lately I've been getting very frustrated with him when he doesn't do what I ask and I end up making him do it and then he throws a fit and then I tell him how upset he's making me (or at least his actions are making me upset). So after my day of no complaining I resolved to take a few extra minutes to calm down and talk with him rather then nag/yell and give him a choice. But more importantly I have tried to remind myself that he is two and two year olds have lots energy and have a hard time transitioning into new activities. I need to appreciate his sense of humor rather then get so annoyed because he's being so silly.

With that said, I've decided to put off potty training (again). It's not necessarily that's he's not ready but with the back and forth that we frequently do between parents' homes it just seems to be dragging on longer than I want. He does really well when he can run around half naked but if I try to put pants or underwear on him he doesn't seem to mind going in them, not to mention he can't really pull his pants down on his own yet anyway. So we'll try again later.

No Spend February has been really successful so far. We're half way through the month and we've gotten gas once and a couple of things from the grocery store. I did splurge on a bag garam masala for $2.99 from the international market because I needed it for a recipe I was making that night and that was the only size bag they had (and then I didn't have time to make that recipe anyway, doh!) I will still make it but I could have shopped around for a smaller quantity and cheaper price. I also had to buy diapers today... for Judah :(. It'll be fun at the end of the month to see on average how much money we saved.

Asher's personality is really starting to show. I love the way he looks at Judah and smiles and giggles at him. For a while there every night when we would walk up the stairs to go to bed I would be holding Asher and Judah would be climbing the stairs in front of us talking about something and Asher would just start giggling. Then we'd climb on the bed and if Judah even looked at Asher while he was talking Asher would bust up laughing. Now Judah tries to make him laugh and it almost always works, except for when instead it makes him cry. Also, sometimes when Asher is sad Judah will say "Asher, it's okay" in a sweet voice and then sing him the ABCs. It works, and melts my heart.

The boys are back to waking up in the 6 o'clock hour. For a couple of weeks or so they would sleep in til 8:30 or even 8:45 and it was AMAZING! But of course that was a fluke and not the norm, boo! I don't even know what the best bedtime for them is or should be anymore, I'm so confused. They've each been sick lately and for the last three days Judah has taken two naps in a day! Hopefully we'll get some kind of schedule back to normal again.

Jon has been very willing to give Asher a bottle in the middle of the night to give me a break and I let him once in a while but that guy requires more sleep than I do and still needs a nap when he gets home from work. He uses the excuse that he still has Lyme Disease, which he probably does and is the only reason why I don't resent him for needing so much sleep when I hardly get any! Since the disease never really goes away (although some doctors don't even believe it exists!) then I can't really give him too much grief. Plus if I asked him to do anything he would do it without hesitation (talk about whipped!) even if he were tired. I have him get up to put Asher's binky back in his mouth at night sometimes because I feel like that kid can smell milk and won't go back to sleep unless he's fed if I go in there. Pretty much I have an awesome husband, the best, even if he is so sleepy.

Anyway, I think that update was plenty long. Time for pictures...

No more complaining!

I have this really great idea (or really crazy depending on how you look at it). I want to give up complaining for an entire day! That may seem simple but I know me and I don't think it will be simple at all. I'll take it one day at a time and see how it goes with my extended goal being a week!

I've decided to do this for a couple of reasons, besides the fact that Jon just gave me a hard time for having a bad attitude last night. I was recently called as our ward's women's athletic director (AFTER volleyball season!) and as such I am responsible for getting together a basketball team. Several women signed up but only one or two showed up, forcing us to forfeit. I feel obligated to play since not many women show up and I was dubbed the coach by default (I don't even know how to play let alone coach it!). Last night I moaned and groaned about going and Jon called me out. I ended up going and I was the only one from my ward to show up! Since my team and another ward's team have both forfeit twice we are now suppose to combine and just have open gym. By the way, no one from the other team we were suppose to combine with showed up either. So I joined up with the only team that did show up and we split up the team. I actually (and surprisingly) didn't do that bad and I even kind of sort of had fun.

So, I know I complain too much and I know it's very annoying to Jon even though he never says anything (he's a saint), except for last night. Not so much because he couldn't take it anymore (well maybe) but I think more because as my other half he's suppose to help me be my best. So that's one big reason. Especially since Jon has to (gets to) be with me for eternity. Another reason is because of what my relief society president said in this month's newsletter:

"With the new year well under way, it is time to reflect on what is important and maybe some changes or goals that we can make for ourselves. The recent stake women's conference made me realize how special our sisterhood is and how we can make a difference in the lives of those we come in contact with. I appreciate all of you and the spirits that you have. I look forward to Sunday and the other meetings that we have together because of how good you make me feel. I know that the more we seek after good things in our lives, the more we will want more good things, the same goes for bad or evil things. We actually have the power to invite the spirit of our Heavenly Father into our lives by the choices that we make and the things that we surround ourselves with.
I challenge each of us to make one choice for good in our lives, whether it be reading the scriptures more, praying more intently, or just doing more acts of kindness for others. When we are inspired to do something we need to act on that inspiration because we never know the prayers that are being offered for the Lord for help."

I had already decided I wanted to do this challenge before reading her words but it just solidified my resolution to do so. Now I feel as if I were inspired to do it. I've always prayed that I would try to be a better person (especially a better wife) but that's always right before bed and then go figure life begins again the next day and I forget that I was gonna try harder. So I'm finally going to do something, take action, or in this case NOT complain.

Wish me luck, I'm going to start tomorrow! I will report on how I do...

Oh and in case you were wondering, I tried my first green smoothie this morning. I found a bunch of recipes on Pinterest and from friends/family and they were all way different so I thought I would just wing it. If I can remember correctly I put a little bit of spinach, kale and romaine lettuce. Some frozen peas, part of an apple, half of an orange, half of a small tomato, and some whole milk. The picture I took was before I tried it. I ended up having to strain it because it was so pulpy but afterwards it was actually quite tasty (or at least not gaggy). I could probably handle drinking a similar concoction each morning for the benefits.

I have so much to say!

First of all, it's been a really long time. I'm going to try this whole blogging thing again. Now that I have two little boys at home with me, why not? Both of them are sleeping, one of them right next to me. For some reason I decided to write up this post rather then taking a nap myself. You'd think I'd be all over a nap since a. they are both asleep at the same time, b. Asher still wakes up several times a night and c. I am currently trying to potty train Judah and he is full of attitude! which is exhausting. But here I sit (lay) typing up this long overdue blog post.

Now that Jon has finished grad school in D.C. we have moved back to Seattle. The idea was to move in with our parents until Jon was able to land a job with either a NGO or The State Department which I didn't think would take long since Jon is such a genius and highly desirable (at least in my opinion). Which is why we left most of our belongings back in Maryland. Nine months later and still no job and still living with our parents (we started with mine and have now moved over to his, for a little variety). He is working, just not the higher paying job that utilizes his education, skills and experience like we had anticipated. We're very grateful that he is able to work and that we have such amazingly supportive parents because now we have his student loans to pay off, this should be fun. Anyway, in an effort to save as much money as possible to pay off our debt as soon as possible we have decided to try different ways to cut back. Here is a list of things that we are going to try:

*February No Spend Month- not spending any money at all, except for necessary things such as food or if we happen to run out of diapers or gas. Jon is taking the family car, with the car seats, to work to save on gas which also keeps me at home so I can't spend any money even if I wanted to.

*My cell phone contract with Verizon will be up on Feb 10 so I am going to cancel and switch from my iPhone to a pay as you go phone.

*Cook from scratch as much as I can. And start drinking green smoothies.

*Use coupons. I have started getting familiar with the local grocery stores online coupon deals as well as their ads.

*Prioritizing wants vs. needs.

Obviously we are saving tons of money by living with our parents and driving an old car (in case you didn't know we got rid of my Elantra and car payment). But Jon also drives my grandpa's old jeep, that is a huge gas hog, to work. So for at least this month he is driving our car as much as I can stand to not have a car and we'll see how it goes after this month.

I'm checking out lots of books from the library and downloading as many free ones from amazon for my kindle app on how to save money, get out of debt, and live cheaply. The only debt we have is the student loan so it's not like we need to change a lot of our spending habits but I would like to learn more efficient ways to be frugal as well as knowledgeable on how to save for our future. I get excited when I think about paying off our debt and saving for our future as well as someday buying a house, we just need to put in the effort now so we can reap the benefits later.