budgeting Archives - MarriedtotheFarm

Fake Mums? Realistic Looking Fall Flowers

In keeping with my farm girl lifestyle, I grow food. I’m a decent gardener… but I only grow things I can eat! I’m pretty clueless about flowers. My mama tried, but I just haven’t had much free time in my adult life (can’t imagine why!?) and growing pretty things hasn’t been a priority. I have enough other living things that count on me to keep them alive, lol. However, this year I splurged on hanging baskets for the front porch. I asked for the ones that were hardest to kill and required the least amount of watering. Whatever I ended up with did fairly well – and they REALLY brightened up the look of our front porch. So much so, in fact, that I started to wonder about mums. They look festive, but I really did fail at watering my summer baskets and mums are kind of expensive to buy if I’m just going to kill them right away. That led me to google “fake mums”. *This post may contain affiliate links that help support my content here.* I found some very realistic looking ones, but oh the price! In addition to not being able to kill my fall flowers,

May 30, 2013 baby / bookkeeping / budgeting / Kent

Budgeting for Children: Making the Dollars STRETCH!

As I mentioned yesterday, we adhere to a strict budget for children’s supplies and learning materials. Despite that, I never feel like Kent lacks for things he needs. Here are some ways we keep the costs to a minimum: Always, always read the reviews and do research before making a purchase. A cheap product is not cheap if you have to replace it often. For example, Kent’s snack cup cost $16.99. Lesser models can be purchased for $2-3. However, we only have ONE cup to keep track of and it works infinitely better than the cheap ones. It has been going strong for well over a year now and still looks like new. We will purchase ONE cup for the new baby, too, because Kent still uses his in the car. They will surely outlast both boys. We like having one cup to wash, store, and keep track of. Plus, Kent is learning the value of having quality things and taking care of them. We’ve followed this same guiding principle when selecting everything from crib mattresses to shoes. Make it known what is needed! Kent is blessed to have wonderful grandparents on all sides. They know that we try hard

May 29, 2013 bookkeeping / books / budgeting / family / homeschooling / Kent / Montessori / works for me wednesday

Budgeting for Children: Learning Materials and Beyond

I’m not sure why but I feel led to write about this right now. We’ll see if Kent sleep schedule agrees. 😉 In my post about our Montessori Inspired Kitchen Setup I shared some of the products we’ve purchased for Kent to use. We are on a tight budget around here so it is important to pull together nice materials for him without spending a fortune. You can read more about our financial situation by clicking on “Our Money Story” up above. We follow Dave Ramsey’s teachings and operate on a zero based budget by utilizing the envelope system. We have a line in our budget for “Kent”. This line will eventually changed to “Children”. As is stands right now the amount will not increase with the number of children. Right now it is $60/month and we put that amount, in cash, in an envelope for him every month. If he needs something, or there is something I feel we should have to aid his learning, I go to his envelope first. Here are some examples of what I have purchased from his envelope: sunglasses sensory materials (water beads, etc.) puzzles story books books to aid me in teaching him