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A few months ago we purchased a Groupon for a service that works similar to a community supported agriculture program (CSA).  I was excited because for $15 we would receive a box worth $35 that contained mostly local and organic produce.  The first time it arrived, we were excited to get into it and see what we got.  Right off the bat we noticed that the organic strawberries were all moldy and inedible.  I told Mr. Money to email them a picture explaining what we got and see what they would do about it.  They said they would credit our account $5 toward our next purchase.  As you probably guessed, I hadn’t planned on purchasing another box due to the cost and the fact that they sent us rotten strawberries.

We decided we would give it another try, and in two weeks we were charged $30 for the box (they took the $5 credit off).  The box was much better this time, with no rotten produce.  However, I decided that for the price we could do much better if we purchased the items in the store.  One of the things Mr. Money liked (that I coincidentally didn’t) was that when you get the unique ingredients you’ve got to figure out what to make with them.  Me? If it’s not something I normally eat, I’m not as likely to get creative and dive in.  Bad, I know.

Of course, the next week we forgot to cancel it and received a $35 box of produce.  Fine.  I made sure that before the next time we received a delivery that I canceled our standing order.  The deliveries are made on Thursdays.

On Friday I came home and realized there was a box on the front porch.  I was livid. First of all, I had canceled the service.  Secondly, now I have spent $35 on a box of produce that may or may not be good because it’s sat outside in 100 degree heat.  I took the box inside and luckily everything looks fine.  That didn’t stop me from sending them a nice email telling them that we had canceled and still received a box.

Here’s what we received in our box for $35.

-14-16 oz of yellow crookneck squash
-1 cantaloupe melon
-1 lb. of strawberries
-6 oz of local blackberries
-24 oz of red potatoes
-1 broccoli
-3 yellow peaches
-1 cucumber
-1 green bell pepper
-1 bulbing fennel
-1 lb of roma tomatoes

I don’t think that’s a good value for $35.  I guess I would feel differently if this was an actual CSA from a local farm.  I’d feel much better about supporting them. I don’t like that we’re purchasing this from a corporate company that I don’t know how fairly they are paying the farmers for their produce.  I’m also disappointed about the quality of some of the produce we’ve received.

Do you think it’s a good value?

The other day I was talking with a friend about how we pay so much each month for our mortgage payment, yet maybe 10% goes towards principal.  It’s frustrating, and often makes me dream of selling my house and being mortgage free.  Of course, then we’d have to pay rent and who knows if that would be better for us.  I told her how I had been paying extra on the principal to reduce the amount of interest we end up paying and to shorten the length of our mortgage.  She had some objections, and I listened to her while taking mental notes.  Here’s what she thought about us paying extra on the mortgage:

-Because we don’t plan on staying in this house forever, she thought it would be in our best interests to stop paying extra on the mortgage and to start putting that money elsewhere.  Maybe a Roth IRA, investments, etc.  Over the long term, she thought it would be better if we invested the money over it being tied up in (maybe) equity in the house.

-There’s not really a way to get the money back that you pay extra on your mortgage unless you take out a home equity loan, and that’s not really something I ever want to do unless it was an emergency.

-Cash is king.  If we take the extra money we’d be putting towards the mortgage in a savings account, we’d have access to that in case of an emergency.

-If our house value ever dropped dramatically and we wanted to walk away from our mortgage, the less money we had into the house, the better.  I don’t know if I could ever walk away from a mortgage, but with the economy roller-coastering like it has been the past few years, who knows what will happen with home values.  I don’t want to be stuck with this house and not be able to move or sell it.

I can understand why people would walk away from a mortgage.  My parents’ house in Michigan was worth at least $240,000 at one point and now is probably worth less than $100,000.  Had they had a mortgage on the house, it probably wouldn’t be worth paying the payments on a house they probably would never recoup the money.  Of course, their house has been paid off for years, so they’re only screwed if they go to sell, which I don’t see them doing in the near future.

Do you think you would ever walk away from a mortgage? What circumstances would cause you to do so?

Last Friday I logged into my employer’s human resources website to take a quick peek at my 401k balance.  I was just curious how much money I had in there.  I made a mental note of the balance, logged out, and went about my day.  Then this week happened and the economy and stock market decided to take a nose dive.  For the heck of it, I decided to log into the website again and check my balance.  It had gone down over $2,000 (which is a pretty nice percentage of the money that I have in it).  Whatever.

Why am I not concerned?  First of all, I’ve got many years until I am going to retire.  I’m not going to touch that money for at least 30 years, so why get all worked up about it now?  Secondly, the stock market is going to go up and down- it’s just how it goes.  If I was one of those people who panicked and sold all my stocks I’d be losing a lot more than $2,000.  I’d lose the opportunity to make that money back.

When the stock market does crazy things like it has over the past few weeks, people start freaking out and doing crazy things with their money.  They think they should sell before they lose even more money.  Look at it this way: now is the time to buy!  Stocks are on sale right now, and if you get a good deal, you have an opportunity to make a lot more money over time.

The other day I had a client come into my office that wanted to place a $75,000 wire transfer.  As part of our bank’s policy, I asked him what the transfer was for.  He informed me that he was buying gold.  I couldn’t believe he was going to buy $75,000 worth of gold, but who am I to tell him not to?

I’m glad that I realized that the money I “lost” isn’t something I should worry about.  There’s no way to get it back, and all I can do is move forward and keep being frugal and saving money.  What else can I do?

Are you concerned about the economy/stock market?  Do you worry about your money?

The other day we received our bill for our annual homeowners insurance premium.  I opened it up and was shocked that it was $110 more than last year, at $724.  I didn’t think that in one year the rate would go up that much!  I looked over the bill, and there is a blurb about inflation: “Inflation has increased construction cost by 3.00 percent.  Your coverage and premium have been increased accordingly.”  What? 3% of $615 (what the premium used to be) is only around $18.  So why did my premium go up over $100?  Annoying.

We already have a $1000 deductible and I really don’t want to raise that.  I don’t know if I should shop around for homeowners insurance quotes, or if I should just stick with them because this is normal.  I have our cars insured with the company also, so we receive a discount for that.  I also like that the company that we’re with is a reputable company that I trust in case something happened.  It just makes me angry that our policy could go up that much in one year!  We haven’t had any claims, so that can’t have anything to do with it either.

Is that a normal increase in homeowners insurance?  Should I shop around again and maybe switch insurance companies?

I was tagged by Little House in the Valley to take part in the “7 Links Project“. This project highlights 7 of my past posts that directly relate to the following 7 questions, sort of a “blast from the past” type project. Trip Base initiated this project with the intention of uniting bloggers and bringing to light old posts that may have not gotten as much attention due to the blog’s infancy at the time of posting. Without further adieu, I’ll address each of the 7 categories below.

Your most popular post – My post about “No Poo” is by far my most popular post.  I am always receiving comments and questions on this post, and it never ceases to amaze me the number of people that give it a try!  No poo is basically a method of washing your hair without shampoo.  It saves you money, limits the chemicals that touch your body, and is interesting, as it bucks the “normal” method of hair washing.

A post whose success surprised you –Where Have All the Housewives Gone? At 78 comments and counting!  When I wrote this post, I didn’t expect it to be quite as controversial as it ended up becoming.  My stance on things is that I’m willing to listen to how others feel, so I always welcome views that are different from mine but respectful in tone.

The post that you are most proud of – The post where we finally became debt free, minus the mortgage.  I can’t stand debt, so it was such an amazing feeling knowing that we had paid everything off.  We don’t make a ton of money, so it’s even more rewarding to know that we accomplished so much by sacrificing and prioritizing.

Your most beautiful post -Maybe my post about considering adoption?  I don’t think a financial blogger normally writes beautiful posts, so that’s kind of hard. 

Your most helpful post - I think my deodorant recipe is very helpful!  I still use this deodorant recipe to make my deodorant, and it’s still working fabulously.  I like that when I run out, I just make more in my kitchen versus having to run to the store.  Love that!

Your most controversial Post – My post about “family cloth“, or cloth toilet paper, was pretty controversial.  It’s an interesting concept, but won’t work for everyone.   I think if you had a little one you were cloth diapering, it would be pretty easy. 

A post that didn’t get the attention it deserved –My post about natural laundry detergents was pretty interesting but didn’t seem to gain a lot of response.  Maybe everyone is making their own?

As part of the 7 Links Project, I have nominated the following bloggers:

* Living Well on Less
* Out of Debt Again
* Sense to Save

Some of you may have noticed my absence over the past few months.  It’s been a busy summer, and I’m so happy to announce that we are finally pregnant!  We are so thrilled, and I am looking forward to being a mama sometime in February.  The first trimester was really rough, but now that I’m past it, I’ve felt a lot better and much more confident.  I’ll start sharing more ideas on how we’re saving money throughout my pregnancy, what baby items we’re choosing, etc.  The next chapter of our lives is pretty exciting, so I hope you’ll stick around to enjoy!

When I first learned I was pregnant, I decided that I would be ahead of the game and start looking for some fall/winter maternity clothes, since that’s when I would be pretty big.  I went with a friend to a few stores, including Motherhood Maternity, and scoped out prices.  Old Navy’s maternity line seemed to be pretty reasonably priced.  I learned that I loved all the clothes Motherhood Maternity offered, especially their petite pants.  They fit perfectly length-wise, and that never happens!  Unfortunately, they were also priced around $35 a pair, and holy cow. I couldn’t bring myself to pay $35 for a pair of pants.  Luckily, I waited and was able to come up with a pretty nice maternity wardrobe without spending a ton of money.  Here’s how I did it:

-Went to yard sales.  When I went up to Michigan to tell my family I was pregnant, my mom and I hit up some yard sales.  She noticed one advertised on Craigslist to have maternity clothes, so we made sure to go there.  I got a pair of the petite Motherhood Maternity pants for fifty cents!  They were in great shape and are my favorite maternity pants today.  Love them!  I also got a few gender neutral sleepers for the baby for a quarter each.

-Went to many thrift stores.  Some thrift stores were much better than others, but I’ve been able to pick up a few pieces here and there, making my wardrobe more expansive.  Thrift stores weren’t my best source of clothing though, to be honest.  I think the quality of clothing at thrift stores varies depending on where you live.

-Borrowed clothing from friends.  One of my friends brought me over her whole maternity wardrobe when she found out I was pregnant.  I was able to borrow quite a few shirts and pants from her, saving me a bunch of money and shopping time!

-eBay and Craigslist.  When I learned that I loved the Motherhood pants, I started searching eBay for them.  I was able to pick up a couple pairs of dress pants for a really good price!  Even better, I didn’t have to leave the house.  My mom kept her eye out for maternity clothes on her local Craigslist, and she found someone selling maternity clothes.  She went over and bought a few pieces, and then told him to give her a call in a few days if he still hadn’t sold the clothes.  He called her later in the week to tell her she was welcome to pick up the rest of the clothes for free if we were still interested.  Awesome!

Being pregnant and thinking about how much pregnancy and babies costs can be overwhelming.  I am trying to take things one day at a time to avoid being overwhelmed.  I’m thankful I was able to put my whole maternity wardrobe together for not too much money.  I can’t imagine paying retail for all those clothes, especially when they are worn for approximately six months!

I think having and raising a baby is as expensive as you make it.  I’m going to do my best to enjoy my pregnancy and baby and not blow my budget.

On Friday night, Mr. Money and I sat down and went over our budget.  We’ve gotten a little lax over the past few months to say the least.  I totaled up our monthly spending for the month of August (since we weren’t on vacation at all that month) and it was pretty surprising.  After viewing the totals on some of the categories I wanted to throw up.  However, that isn’t really very productive, so we decided to be a little more strict with our budgeting and try to work a little more at staying in line.  It will help us reach our goals, and enable me to stay at home with the baby.

Because I’m crazy, and I think it will help keep me accountable if I post the actual numbers of our variable expenses here, I’m going to do it.  Feel free to shame me if you want; I deserve it.

Groceries, including household items= 371.76
Clothing (work shoes for Mr. Money)= 42.39
Gas= 298.20
Eating Out= 369.95

I wasn’t too surprised about the grocery category, because we try to buy grass fed local beef and other meats from a farm close to our house, as well as purchasing many organic items. I knew that our grocery total was going to be more than I wanted it, but there’s little I can do unless I want to compromise the quality of food I’m eating. With me being pregnant, that’s not something I really want to do.

The eating out part of our spending? Is completely ridiculous and I can’t believe that we let ourselves spend that much on eating out. I know part of the problem was that I was still experiencing “morning sickness” and when I had a craving for something that actually sounded pretty good, we indulged. Apparently I had a lot of cravings during the month!

We’ve decided to cut back on the expenses that we can control. Of course, the fixed expenses we have we don’t really have much wiggle room, so we’ll have to leave those how they are.  Here’s what we’re proposing for the new budget:

Food= $350
Dogs= $20
Netflix= $8
XM= $25
Gas= $300 (I’d like to make this lower)
Eating out= $120
Retirement=$50

Here are some of the things that I know we’ve been slacking on, causing us to spend so much money: not meal planning, not having things for lunches for me, and being lazy.  I guess it all boils down to being lazy.    I have now realized that I can’t afford to be lazy, so I’ve got to change.

Of course, I decide to do this right before Christmas!  And then after Christmas, I’ll be quitting my job, and then we’ll be having the baby!  It’s more necessary now than ever, so I’m going to have to suck it up and not have any excuses.  Any freelancing income I get will have to be used for monthly expenses, but I’m happy with that.  If it needs to be done, it needs to be done.

Have you ever realized you’ve gone way over budget and had to change it?  Any advice for me?

I think one of the hardest things about being a first time mom is trying to figure out what I need for this baby.  There are tons of baby gadgets out there, and the first time I went to Babies R Us I was totally overwhelmed.  All the items in the store made me feel like I needed every one of them!  My family is throwing me a baby shower, and my co workers were insisting that I register soon, so a couple weeks ago I went and registered at two places.  When people started viewing my registry, they commented that there weren’t enough items listed on there.  Personally I felt like I had too much listed!  I didn’t want to just add items just to have stuff on there, so I carefully went through and decided what items I’d really like to have.

I wonder if I’m being too much of a minimalist.  I don’t want to be miserable and wish I had gotten a certain item and regret it later on.  I’m trying to find a delicate balance between the two.  I don’t want a million baby items cluttering up my house, but I also don’t want to be up at 3 AM wishing I had a bassinet.  Here are some of the things that I think will be helpful for having our first baby.

-Baby Carriers. I bought a Boba Classic Baby Carrier for a super deal online, so I’ve already got that. I’d like a wrap like a Sleepy Wrap or Moby Wrap for when the baby is small.
-Cloth diapers. I’ve already got some covers and a few Snappis, I just need to order some prefolds and I’ll be all set.
-Cloth wipes. I’ve sewn some myself, and my mom is sewing some too.
-Sleepers/Clothes. My mom has gone crazy buying clothes over the past few months, so I don’t need ANY of these.
-Blankets. Again, my mom has this covered.

-Graco Newborn Napper Pack n Play – Meadow Menagerie. I think having a Pack N Play will be a helpful place for the baby to sleep when it’s little, and then when the baby is bigger I can set them in here to play while I get things done. Also, since our family is all out of state, it will be nice to have a place for the baby to sleep while we are at their house. We plan on co sleeping, but I’d like to have the Pack N Play as back up.

-Graco Swing by Me – Meadow Menagrie. I’m registering for the swing, even though I’m wondering if my baby will like it. I would hate to get it and then the baby hates the swing! However, there’s not really a way to tell if the baby will like the swing until the baby is here, so this is a gamble I’ll have to take.

Some items that I’m double guessing are:

-Full Size High Chair. When Mr. Money and I orginally registered, we picked a Space Saver High Chair because we liked that it was compact and would sit on one of our chairs. Since then, everyone insists that we’ll want a full sized high chair. I’m still not convinced.

-Fisher-Price Newborn Rock ‘n Play Sleeper. One of my friends insisted I need this, so I registered for it. However, I think it will only be used for a few months, so I don’t know if it’s something that I really do need. It would be nice for the baby to sleep in, but if it’s only used for a couple months, I think I may be able to do without it.

-Baby Bath Tub. From the beginning, I didn’t want a bath tub, I wanted something like the Baby bath sponge. Everyone thinks I am crazy. I don’t want to have to store a baby bath tub.

I want to limit the amount of stress during the first few months, so any items that will make my life easier will be welcome.  I just don’t want a bunch of crap hanging around my house that isn’t being used.

What items are must-have for a baby?  Am I being unrealistic and I really need this items I’m doubting?

Post includes affiliate links to items

Having a baby can be an overwhelming experience, especially when you go into Babies R Us and are bombarded by all the millions of baby items they carry.  The first time I went in our local store, I almost had a panic attack.  There’s no way we can afford all of these things that we supposedly need for a baby!  Thankfully, after I left the store I sat down and thought about what a baby will actually need according to my standards.  I don’t want to have 50 baby things, or a million plastic made in China toys for my kid.  We sway to the side of minimalism, and while I know I won’t be able to limit everything that makes its way into my house, I can do my best to make sure I have things I need and use for the baby.  Here are some of the ways we’re going to save money on baby expenses:

-Breastfeed.  I’m going to do my best to breastfeed, and I plan on doing everything in my power to make it to at least a year.  Breastfeeding is so much better for the baby, natural, and will save us tons of money versus buying formula.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed!

-Cloth diapering.  We received a pack of newborn disposable diapers for our shower, and after those are gone, I plan on starting to cloth diaper.

-Not buying a bunch of crap.  My co workers keep telling me that I need to register for more stuff; that I’ll regret not having the swing and the bouncer and whatever other gadgets they think I need.  We’re trying to get items that do double duty; for instance we received a swing that is full size and travel size and I think that will work just fine instead of having a bouncer too.

-Buying second hand clothes.  My mother went nuts over the past 7 months, purchasing baby clothes and burp cloths and basically any other item she thought I would need.  This has saved us a ton of money already!  The baby has a gender neutral wardrobe with items ranging from newborn to 1 year already.  I’m sure we’ll have to buy more clothes, but I know we’ll be able to get them second hand.

-Remembering the store will still be there. It’s hard for me when I think I don’t have enough things ready for the baby, but I think we’ve got the essentials so far.  Plus, the store is going to be there after the baby is born!  If we need extra burp cloths or receiving blankets, we can always make a trip to the store.  I’d rather do that than have things on hand that we don’t use and then we’ve wasted money on.

I’m trying to relax and realize that babies don’t need much other than a warm place to sleep, food, and diapers.  Really, when you think about it- that’s it!  That makes me feel better and more confident that we’ll be able to raise our child with respect to our budget and the planet.

Mr. Money and I both have Roth IRAs with a brokerage account at the bank I currently work at.  Since they are in mutual funds, there is an annual fee for having the accounts.  Every year it’s been $15 since I’m an employee, and he’s my spouse.  Imagine my surprise when this year I received the bills and they were each $40! I almost had a heart attack.  I didn’t mind paying $15 a year, but $40 a year is way too much because the balances we have in those accounts doesn’t make up for it.  My account has around $400 (I put $500 in about 7 years ago and left it at that).  Mr. Money’s has more, which is good because he’s older.

When I went to talk to the broker about it, he told me that the fee had gone up and they would try to get it waived for me.  However, if I wanted to close the accounts, there is a $75 fee.  Nice.  So not only would I be out the annual fee if they can’t get it waived, I’m also out $75 each account.  Really?  I am exploring these options:

-Finding a new brokerage company that doesn’t charge annual fees or other stupid fees.  I’m fine with paying trading fees, since I don’t think there’s really any way around those at any company.  I just can’t stand the idea of paying $40 a year just for them to hold my account.

-Opening up a Roth IRA for each of us with ING.  With ING, they have an IRA savings account that has no minimum balance and no fees.  I really like that idea.  I’ve thought about starting one of those for each of us, and then contributing what we can each month.  When the balance builds up to say $10,000 (which will probably take quite awhile!), then I could always look into transferring it into a brokerage account.

-I’m thinking about just closing out my account totally and just using the money to buy baby things.  Of course, I’d have to claim this as income, which would be a pain, but I wouldn’t have to pay that much in taxes since the balance is so small.

I am waiting to see what happens with the annual fee.  If they can get it waived, then I’ll probably just leave the accounts as they are.  However, I’m worried that once I terminate my employment that they will realize that and remove the waiver and I’ll be right back in the same situation.  I think it would be easiest to just close out the accounts and move them to ING because of the no minimums and no fees, but I’m worried about lost opportunity in the mutual funds.  Of course, if my account has been in mutual funds for 7 years, and I’m $100 less than what I put in, it’s really not doing that well any way!

Planning for retirement can be such a headache.  I’m glad we’re getting it done now, but I’m hoping there’s an easy solution so I don’t have to do too much work after we get it squared away!

Do you have an IRA?  What is your favorite place for a fee free IRA?

Yesterday morning I asked Mr. Money to go and get the mail, as we were expecting a card from his dad.  He went out to get the mail, said there was nothing in there, and not an hour later did we get a knock on the door.  It was one of our neighbors down the street, bringing us mail that had our address on it that he found in the ditch. Nice.

He found a card that my aunt had mailed to us, ripped open, card and envelope in the ditch.  There was also an empty envelope from our bank.  Great.  I figured out that it was actually our credit card statement, completely missing.  I do feel better that it wasn’t a bank statement, as those have our full account number and other information on them.

I called our credit card services company to cancel our cards.  She said we shouldn’t be too worried because the full account number is not on the statement, and if anyone tried to purchase anything online they would need the security code on the back of the card, which they wouldn’t have.  Also, we’re not liable for any fraudulent charges that anyone may make.  I still canceled both my card and Mr. Money’s just to be safe.  What stinks is that I was planning on ordering our crib this weekend and now I’ll have to wait until we get the new cards.  Ugh.  What a pain!

I made sure to enroll our bank statements in paperless statements now so that there’s no chance that anyone can steal those.  I feel better about it, and will just have to make sure I print one each month, or at least back it up digitally.  What a pain!

I’m a little freaked out that they stole something else that I have no idea about, but I guess there’s not really a way for me to know that.  I’m pissed because I feel like I’ve been violated.  What idiot goes around at Christmas time stealing stuff out of people’s mailboxes?!  They’re lucky I don’t know who they are.

Mr. Money has suggested getting a post office box, but I don’t really want to have to deal with that headache.

Do you think we should take any other precautions?

At the beginning of 2011, I set some financial and life goals for myself and Mr. Money. Here’s how 2011 played out for us:

1. Keep up with the clutter and declutter 365 items from our house this year. SUCCESS.

I know I decluttered and donated a lot more than 365 items from our house this year.

2. Pay at least $3,000 down on the principal of our mortgage. FAIL. We did pay off $2679 off our mortgage prinicpal, so I think that’s pretty good!  Our extra money this year went to our savings account.  Honestly, I’m not too concerned with paying down our mortgage aggressively at this point.  We’ve got other priorities.  I do wish our mortgage balance was lower, but we can chip away at it.

3. Travel to somewhere fun and exciting.  SUCCESS? We took a trip to Colorado when I was around 20 weeks pregnant.  It was our last trip as just the two of us.  I really wish we had gone to Hawaii last year for our fifth anniversary, but I was a tightwad and didn’t do it.  Oh well.  The nice thing is that we saved money by not going, allowing me more flexibility to be a stay at home mom.

4. Get knocked up. SUCCESS. I am most proud of this goal, as we’ve been trying to have a baby for quite some time.  We are really excited to welcome our baby in 2012.

5. Live on one salary. SUCCESS.  We did successfully manage to live off Mr. Money’s income.  My income did pay for health insurance and retirement savings, so we didn’t factor that into the equation.  I’m okay with that.

6. Make more money from side hustles. SUCCESS? I did make money blogging this year, although it wasn’t enough for me to quit my day job.  I’m hoping 2012 provides more money making opportunities from home for me.  Of course, I’m going to not stress about it because I’ll have a new baby.

7. Stay debt free! SUCCESS! We did stay consumer debt free this year, and only have our mortgage debt.  It feels like in the past few months we’ve been spending money like crazy, but we’ve saved for this, so it’s okay.

For 2012, I’m going to make some realistic financial goals.  I have no clue how our budget will be affected by the baby, but I’ve decided that I’m not going to be too hard on myself.  What’s the point of having tons of cash in the bank if my life is miserable?  I’m going to do my best to find a nice balance in 2012 between budgeting and living life.  I’m anticipating it to be the best year of my life ever, so that’s a positive start!

I need to decide what to make our 2012 goals and come up with a new budget for after the baby is born. Fun!

Overall, I’m happy with the way we spent 2011.  I’m very thankful we didn’t have any huge expenses (well, minus paying for the baby’s birth ) and that we were healthy and happy throughout most of the year.  I feel very blessed, and am sure that feeling will stick with me throughout the next year!

Happy New Year!

Friday, January 6 is my last day of employment with the bank.  I’ve been an employee there for over seven years, and it’s been a really tough decision, but I’ve decided that I’m going to quit and be a stay at home mom.  I’ve always wanted to do that, so this is the path I’m going to take.  I can always return to work if I have to.  When considering being a working versus stay at home mom, I considered many factors.

1. If I kept working, I’d have to pay daycare.  Full time day care is expensive, costing anywhere from $600-$800 a month!  That would consume more than one of my paychecks.  Also, if my baby was in day care there’s a much greater chance of the baby getting sick and me having to take time off work.  That would stink!

2. I’d have to buy disposable diapers.  I plan on cloth diapering my baby to save money, and if I had to put my baby in day care, I’d have to buy disposables for the baby to use while in day care.  For Seventh Generation
newborn disposable diapers, it would cost 25 cents a diaper!  That’s $75 a month if the baby uses 10 diapers a day.

3. It would be more difficult to exclusively breastfeed, and I’d probably be more likely to give up, meaning we’d have to buy formula.  It would make me very sad if I couldn’t breastfeed my baby exclusively at least for the first full year.  Staying at home will give me an advantage that I’ll be able to breastfeed successfully.  By staying home, I also avoid having to buy an expensive breast pump!

4. I’d have to pay for new work clothes, gas to get to work, more lunches out, etc.  That isn’t a huge deal, but our gas budget will decrease from me staying at home.

The biggest reason I decided to quit my job and be a stay at home mom is because this has always been my dream.  I’ve always wanted to be home with our babies, enjoying them and raising them myself.  I truly believe that it is such a personal decision, and I would never judge another mother for deciding to work or stay at home.  I think every family does what works best for their family.

I’m going to have to be careful with our money to make sure that we can afford for me to stay at home, but we’ve saved up a little bit of money to use in case we need to, and we’ve been careful with our money all along so I don’t see it being a problem.

I will admit, I am a little nervous about the transition since I’ve spent the last ten years working.  I think it will be quite the change at first, but it will be something I can adapt to and I think I’ll end up loving it.  I’m hoping my next boss will be as good to work for as my current one at the bank!

Would you consider staying at home to raise children?

2012 is already here, and I’m a little behind on our financial and life goals.  I’m a little uncertain about what I should aim for, as we’re going to have a brand new baby and will have to adjust to the new expenses and life with a child.  My goals this year will be attainable (I hope!) and I am crossing my fingers for the best year ever.  It certainly will be interesting and a lot different than past years!  Here are some of the goals I’d like for us to accomplish:

1. Set up a savings account for the baby. The baby has not even been born yet and already has a stash of money.  I’m going to open a custodian savings account for the benefit of the baby.  I will also have to research 529 plans in case that’s the way we want to go.  I’m thinking it would be easier just to open the UTMA (Uniform Transfer to Minors) account and wait until the money accumulates and then go from there.  We’ll see.

2.  Figure out life insurance. I had life insurance through my employer, but I’m not too sure what’s happening with it since I’m leaving the bank.  That’s something that we really need to address, especially with the new baby coming.

3. Change beneficiaries. I’ve got various family members listed as beneficiaries on our retirement plans and life insurance, but I would like to change it to the baby.

4. Make more money blogging/working from home.  I’d like to be able to contribute financially to our household as much as I can.  In addition to blogging and writing, I can shoot photography if I have time.  Of course, this all depends on the baby, as that’s my first priority.  I’d like to stay at home for at least the first three years of the baby’s life, and it would be awesome if I could make enough money freelancing to do so.

5. Stay debt free.  This was on last year’s goals as well, but I think it’s important enough to stay on this year’s.  I will have to say, if there was a good reason that we needed to borrow money, I probably would do it.  I don’t think debt is the worst thing in the world as long as you’re responsible and borrow money for the right reasons.  Mr. Money’s not going to get the 2012 Mustang he wanted for instance, but if we needed to take out a loan, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  I’m going to do my best to avoid it, though!

6. Finish up all house projects that need to be done.  We need to repaint the cement on our porches, paint the shed, figure out what to do with the dining room flooring, and redo our master bath.  I’m going to do as much as I can to make the house look really good this year.  We’ve done a lot, but I feel like there’s still so much more to do.  These projects shouldn’t cost a ton of money.

7. Learn to relax and not worry so darn much.  One of my best friends gave me some great advice when it comes to money.  What’s the point of having a ton of cash in the bank if you are miserable?  I’m not going to worry about saving every penny where I can like I used to.  I want to be happy.

What are your 2012 goals?

For 2012, I wanted to come up with a more accurate budget, seeing that our baby would be born this year and hopefully we’ll be able to control our spending without worrying too much about it. I figured if I budget better, then I’ll hopefully be less stressed about where our money is going. Of course, I’ve also decided I’m not going to be so darn hard on myself because I’ll have a baby and have no clue how that’s going to impact our budget. If it costs us more money than I anticipated, then it does, and I’ll adjust our budget accordingly.

Here’s our 2012 budget:

• Mortgage- $793.19
• Escrow- $215.00
• Energy- $150.00
• Car insurance- $88.00
• Verizon- $40.00
• Cable, phone, internet- $125.00
• Food- $350.00
• Retirement- $100.00
• House Stuff- $50.00
• Gas- $200.00

Some notes:

The mortgage is just principal and interest.  I used to round the payment up to $800 or so, until I found out that the extra money that I was paying was being applied to the next month’s payment!  Talk about annoying.  To make additional principal payments, I have to mail a separate check to a certain address.  What a pain.

We escrow our taxes and insurance ourselves.  We refinanced our mortgage to a home equity loan a few years ago, and the bank will not escrow for us.  We have a separate escrow account with ING.

The reason our energy category is a flat $150 each month is because we budget for irregular expenses by transferring that amount into a separate account each month.

The Verizon bill includes just my cell phone, as Mr. Money has a phone paid by work.

The car insurance went down a little since last year because the cars are older and so are we!

The cable, phone, and internet may get changed this year.  It seems like that’s a high amount for that.  I’m thinking about switching our phone to something like a Magic Jack since I really like having a home phone, and maybe dropping the cable.

I don’t know if the food budget is a reasonable amount our not.  Guess we’ll see after a few months!

We’ll have to really start saving for retirement ourselves, as I won’t be participating in my 401k plan at work, and Mr. Money’s employer doesn’t offer any retirement savings plan.  I’m sure we’ll figure it out.

The house stuff we’ll have to play it by ear with. We’ve done a lot of work to the house over the past five years, so we’re not anticipating any huge expenses like new flooring, etc.  I would like new counter tops and flooring in my kitchen, but that’s not a necessity so we’ll have to see about that.

Gas will go down from our monthly expenses since I won’t be commuting to work and back every day. Yay!  This might be too much budgeted, but who knows at this point!

Of course, I won’t know how this budget works for us until I’m actually staying at home with the baby.  I’m just glad we’ve got a general idea of where we’d like our money to go.  I feel like there are a few categories I’ve forgotten, but it’s a flexible budget, so that’s okay!

Have you budgeted for 2012?

One of my favorite breakfast foods is pancakes. Since going gluten free, I’ve had pancakes less often than usual. For awhile, we were buying Pamela’s Ultimate Baking and Pancake Mix but it got to be too expensive. I just couldn’t justify adding that into our food budget. I had to come up with some recipes that would be gluten free using items we normally had on hand. I have an awesome gluten free pancake recipe that has been tested and endorsed by those who are not even gluten free!

Gluten Free Pancake Recipe

(serves at least 2 people)

-2 cups ground oats (you can use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Oats for gluten free oats)
-2 cups plain yogurt or full fat milk
-2 eggs
-2 Tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
-1/2 teaspoon of salt
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-1 Tablespoon of sugar

1.  Mix the ground oats and yogurt or milk.

2. Add the eggs, butter, salt, baking soda, and sugar.  I make sure to let this mixture sit for about 20 minutes so the baking soda will make the pancakes fluffier.

3. Add butter to your cast iron skillet or griddle and cook the pancakes over medium heat.  You don’t want to have the heat too high- these pancakes take a little longer to cook than regular pancakes and are a little thicker.  I check the bottoms of mine to see when they are ready to flip.

4. Enjoy!

Notes: If you have Celiac Disease or are serving someone that has it, please use gluten free oats.  Oats are naturally gluten free but generally have gluten cross contamination during processing.  I grind my oats in the coffee grinder.

I had my baby on January 22, 2012!  She was born at home and weighed 6 pounds even and was 19 inches long.  She came a lot earlier than I ever expected (I thought I would have her today!)  Life has been great lately, but more busy!  I can’t believe how much laundry a little person can help create.  We are so in love and couldn’t be happier.  I’m trying to think of a good nickname for her for the blog and the only thing I’ve come up with so far is Penny!

I can see how our money is going to change as a result of the baby- I think our electric bill will be higher because of us both being home and keeping the house warmer for her and also because of the amount of laundry I’ve been doing.  I also know that my gas usage has gone down since I haven’t really left the house too much yet, and that probably won’t change too much.  I’m sure I’ll start going places, but it won’t be as much as when I was working.

I’ll make sure to keep you all informed, and if you have any good nicknames, let me know!

So far, I love being a mom.  I love taking care of my baby and doing as much housework as I can.  It’s been tough to get much done around the house because someone doesn’t like to be put down much.  She’s getting much better at it lately!  Here are some things I’ve observed since becoming a mama:

-Sometimes convenience is key.  We’ve done a lot of things that we wouldn’t normally do convenience-wise since we’ve had the baby.  We’ve gotten take out a few times when Mr. Money wasn’t in the mood to cook.  I’m not stressing about it, because we have a brand new baby and it’s not been excessive.  Sometimes you just have to be flexible!

-Some of my frugal ways are harder to execute with a little one.  Hanging laundry to dry and doing dishes by hand are just two examples I can think of right now.  It’s much easier for me to throw the clothes in the drier and run the dishwasher, so that’s what we’ve been doing!  I figure as long as we have clean clothes and clean dishes, that’s all that matters.

-Breastfeeding really isn’t “free”.  I’m eating a lot more food and have had to buy some nursing supplies, but compared to the cost of formula, I’m saving tons of money.  I am so thankful breastfeeding is working out well.  So thankful.  I don’t think I could swing the cost of formula each month!

-Money is not everything.  Ever since my daughter was born, I’ve been infatuated with her.  She is just the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, and I’d do anything for her.  Staying home means we’ll have to make sacrifices, but I don’t think I could leave her right now.  It would break my heart.

As soon as we get her social security card, I plan on opening up a savings account for her.  I hope it comes soon! I’d like to get that taken care of. We’re adjusting well to life with the baby, and I feel awesome.  I am so happy, and she was definitely worth the wait!