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The Living Without Series

This is a series of posts that I wrote back in 2006 on living with less stuff. Check them out: liv011Living #2liv031liv04

Coal Creek Farm on Facebook

The Chicken Doctor

April

The Architect

Clay

Living with Debt

Hello my friends. How’s the debt reduction going out there?  We are fast approaching our two year mark when we first decided to buckle down and beat this debt thing once and for all.  Traction is the word that Damn Ramsey likes to use when referring to digging in and getting serious about debt.  Sometimes, we get stuck spinning our wheels.  We got no traction, man. I have a lot of excuses for the spinning.  In all honesty it boils down to needing  focus, diligence, persistence, good planning and organization.  There are many days when I have none of those.

I’m spread a bit thin this year.  I took on a job that requires a lot of my energy.  It takes me away from the house more and more, which takes away from the kitchen control that I once had.  We are eating out more often, grabbing snacks, eating in the van…Lord, please do not judge me on the smell coming from my van…it’s a bit crazy this life on the run.

I can sympathize with all of you that work full time and try to plan meals at home, it’s very hard and I’m not even close to working full time.  Go back and read that last sentence a few times in your best whiny voice and you’ll have a good picture of what it’s like to live with me right now.

I think the biggest part of my problem is the lack of a schedule.  I have a schedule, but it’s different everyday and sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing until the minute I’m doing it, add to that the five other people I live with and you have a lady spinning, running and feeding her children brownies for breakfast.

I’m longing for the days that I can rightfully run into a store,  buy whatever I need to make my life easier and get on with my crazy dance.  When we are done with this debt thing I’m going to hire a housekeeper, a farm hand, a grocery shopper and I’m going to have my van detailed at least once a week.

Until then, I’ll be trying once again to do better, stay focused and get us out of the HOLE!

A week or so ago I was driving some volunteers to a job very early on a Saturday morning.  On the way home, I decided to follow a few garage sale signs.  It is rare that I intentionally go to garage sales, I would like to make it intentional, but I don’t.  I found the best sale, ever!  I spent $9.00 and came away with a bag of  fabric, new pillow cases, several aprons,  a lamp for one of my boys, a pretty green jar for Ellen’s room, a lot of t-shirts, two pairs of Adidas shorts, dishes, an American flag (I’ve been collecting big flags to decorate our porch with for the 4th of July parties we have) and some other things that I’m forgetting.  It was so much fun to get some things we needed and wanted and not spend a fortune.

Finding a sale like that actually helps me recharge my debt diet.  It makes me realize if I work hard enough I can beat this stupid debt.

Are you ready for some pictures of my fun finds?

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Cast Iron Dipper $0.50

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Two of the four plates and eight bowls $3.00

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Chandelier for Ellen’s room $2.00 (I found this at a different sale).

Jean Martha, tell me where I’m going to find all those replacement parts!  And then come and fix this thing for me, please!

Now, tell me how you’ve saved money lately.  I need inspiration.

October 12th, 2009 | Category: Money | 59 comments

The $100 Staycation

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Last week we decided, based on the whining and pouting  performed by the tall blond in the family, that we should go to Kansas City and see Union Station and Crown Center.  Look how happy everyone is to be out of the house, no work, no school, no farm chores.  Such bliss!

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You can rent a Segway to view all the sights.

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We chose to pretend we were riding a Segway and if you’re riding a pretend Segway…

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you can do lots of extreme tricks…

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without worrying about falling off your Segway.

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Look Ma!  No hands!

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Look Ma!  No brains!

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Pretend Synchronized Segway Dancing…it’s all the rage.  Just look how impressed our audience is.  Uh?  Seth?  Hello?  We just preformed a bunch of extreme pretend Segway stunts.  Did you see them?  Hello?

Pretend Synchronized Segway Dancers get no appreciation.

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There weren’t many people at Union Station.  I told the kids I had called ahead and reserved the entire space for our family.  One time Ellen and I went to a late movie on a weekday night, we were the only people there. I told her I reserved the theater just for us, and she believed me.

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We paid a few bucks to park and strolled around inside and outside the building.  The kids loved it.

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Then we bought tickets to the 3-D Imax theatre.  It was that show about the flies that go into space..I can’t even remember the name of the movie.  I fell asleep three times during the show, it was a terrible movie.  The 3-D was cool, but I had a headache and felt like I needed to puke after viewing the whole thing with those weird glasses.

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The only thing our kids asked for was to get some fudge.

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I don’t know about you, but I’m not one to say No to fudge.  We got four slices and shared amongst us.

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The model trains were being built for display.  It was fascinating, even thought it wasn’t fully operational.

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All the tiny details were astounding.  I want to take the kids back over Christmas to see it all working.

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We headed over to Crown Center through the elevated walkway aptly named The Link.  I practiced my Vegas Showgirl poses, just in case I ever find myself in a situation where I need to use these skills.  You never know, Coal Creek Farm might be bought out by some fancy schmancy casino and then what will I do?  It’s best to be prepared.

Oh, calm down Mom, I’m just kidding!

About the casino, I’m still going to practice the poses.

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This is the spot where Clay and I stopped and sang, “Kansas City….Kansas City here we come…” because we were the only people in The Link, so why not?  Although, I’m pretty sure we would have sung  if there would have been people.

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All the crowds were over at Crown Center for the Irish Fest.  We enjoyed a guy playing his bagpipes and another gentleman putting on a concert and then we ate at Fritz’s Railroad Restaraunt where you order your food with a telephone that’s in the booth and a model train drops your food down onto the table.  My boys were beside themselves with anticipation for that train to bring our food.

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And everybody gets a conductor’s hat!

So we paid for parking, Terrible Movie tickets, Fudge and Dinner at Fritz’s.  It was about $100, not bad for a day in the city with a family of six.  Then we headed over to Liberty Memorial and viewed the sights from there, so beautiful…I have no photos of that to share, but it is amazing.

And that was our $100 Staycation!  Just enough time away to have fun and not think about any of our responsibilities waiting for us back home and most importantly…it was affordable!

September 14th, 2009 | Category: Money, My Family | 28 comments

Um? Who needs a hug?

Good grief, the past two weeks have been crazy.  I’m sure a lot of you are wishing you could stop time and yell, “Hey!  Let’s just slow down a bit!  Stop the crazy train and let me off!”

Time for a bullet point post.

On the Farm Front

  • We slaughtered two of our pigs.  Together they weighed over 500 pounds hanging (that means after they’ve cleaned out the innards).  That’s a lot of pork, man.  I think the place did a better job with the cured meats than the last butcher we used.  Yummy bacon and sausage.
  • Preacher killed one of our turkeys by playing with her too hard.  Dadgum it.
  • I love the turkey.  Not sure if I have the heart to make the one we have left our Thanksgiving feast.  She acts a bit like a dog.  Roosts on our back porch, waddles around and peeps incessantly.  No wonder Preacher likes to play with them.
  • We have too many chickens.  If you want some chickens please let me know, they are all laying now.
  • If you want some eggs…refer to above comment.
  • My garden sucked big donkey wads this summer.  Mostly because I didn’t spend much time out there and I let the chickens totally molest everything that was growing.
  • I’m a bad gardener.  Bad, bad, bad.  Oh well, next year.

On the Job Front

  • My real job is starting to rule my days.  I’ve got three big events to plan this year and make sure they are successful.
  • I like my job.  I work mostly from home and then I go to a lot of meetings.
  • Some of my meetings are in coffee shops and some are at the country club by the pool and some are in an office.  I like the poolside meetings the best.  Obviously, those won’t be happening now that school has started and the pool is closed.
  • I’m learning a lot about marketing.
  • I need an assistant.  Hahaha!  Don’t we all?

On the Debt Front

  • I really want to type GO TO HELL!  But, that wouldn’t be very nice or encouraging now would it?
  • We have been too relaxed this month.
  • By relaxed I mean we didn’t stay organized with our budget, we let big things sneak up on us and drain our emergency fund, we lost our diligence.
  • We are out of money and payday is not until next week.  I hate that feeling.
  • I whined  to Clay last night that all I really want to do is go SHOPPING!  And go on VACATION!
  • I won’t be going shopping.  Or on a vacation.  Debt sucks big donkey wads.
  • Does anyone know what a donkey wad is?  Me neither, but I say it a lot.  Sorry, I’m sure it’s not good.
  • My daughter is taking a personal finance class at school.  I’m friends with the teacher and she let the entire class know that I call Dave Ramsey, Damn Ramsey here on my blog.  Now the class keeps accidentally saying Damn Ramsey.  Gotta love that.  DAMN RAMSEY!!  Hi kids!  Be nice to your teacher and don’t do what I do or say what I say.
  • Time to take hold of the reigns again.  I’m going to order my coupons, use cash in my envelopes and say NO, NO, NO to everything.
  • Then I’m going to cry on my pillow for the bar stools and pot rack that will never be in my kitchen.
  • Clay says, “Yes, yes, you live such a tortured life.”  He has no sympathy for my lack of bar stools or pot rack
  • Guess what I’m going to get Clay for his birthday?  Hm?

Now, line up those that you love and give them a big hug and kiss from me…right down the line.  If you’re at work, then just shake hands, mkay?

September 4th, 2009 | Category: Coal Creek Farm, Me, Money | 44 comments
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