How was your weekend? Mine was long and tiring. LOL Glad it's over and I can get some things done and rest. Weekends are for having fun and relaxing, mine are the opposite with working. But I am extremely thankful that I get to work very part time and stay home full time! I always remind myself it could be a lot worse...and I'm so thankful for hubby and I even having jobs with this crappy economy. We received good news from Dave's job a couple weeks ago! Not everything is back to "normal" but at least we are moving in the right direction. It's been quite the long year. I want to thank all who supported us (with love and words)...and to all who didn't support us...you made me want to work harder than ever to fight this economy! Remember a KIND words goes a long way.
Thanksgiving is upon us! Can't believe it will be here in less than 3 weeks! These days, I try each and everyday to find something to be thankful...some days it's really hard and I am extremely guilty at focusing on the stresses in my life. Can we all raise our hand at being guilty with that?
I've been seeing these Thankful jars here and there in blog land and thought it would be a fun activity to enjoy for the month of November. I took a simple jar and used scrap paper and fabric. Then I printed out things to be thankful for on strips of paper and rolled them up. You can go here for "thankful ideas" or just make up your own. We plan on doing this after supper then the whole family can be involved.
Here are some examples of what I printed out:
I am thankful for the seasons!
Go on a walk, enjoy nature, the colors...
I am thankful for my brother!
Do something nice for your brother!
I am thankful for my HOME!
Clean out a room or closet together.
Got any fun Thanksgiving ideas you do with your family? We did a Thankful Tree last year! That was a lot of fun. I would love to read them, so please share!
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It's Money Saving Monday already! I hope you are finding some tips helpful or to pass on! If you ever have any to share that work for you and/or your family, please comment! Knowledge is good for the pocket book!
How are your budgets going? Have you started one, doing one or thinking about it? Communicating with your partner is the key! Dave wanted a little extra $ to go hunting this month and we budgeted for it, no problem. If he's having bad luck during opening deer season weekend then we might have to re-evaluate more $ to go to his hunting budget. As long as we keep talking then we will know where we have to make adjustments.
So have you figured out where all your money is going? A year ago I did this all in my head, wrote nothing down and we "got by". Now I write everything down and this has saved us so much $$! These are recommended percentages Dave Ramsey suggests that you should be spending on house, giving, food, etc...
Take Home Pay
Charitable Gifts 10-15%
Saving 5-10%
House 25%
Utilities 5-10%
Food 5-15%
Transportation 10-15%
Clothing 2-7%
Medical/Health 5-10%
Personal 5-10%
Recreation 5-10%
Debts 5-10%
So where are you? I hope you find the time to budget...it will truly change your life. It did ours!
Have a wonderful day!
Prim Blessings, Kindra
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18 comments:
wow! thanx for sharing that part of the dave ramsey experience. i listen to him in the car. we had our thanksgiving sat. past and it was great. blessings to you and yours!
Great post and great info Kindra!
Janet
Hi Kindra. I think the thankful jar is a good idea!
This year is our off year for thanksgiving.....meaning our married children go to their in-law families homes to celebrate! We will be together for Christmas.
One year, I made a huge turkey out of colored paper and paper sacks, and hung it on the wall by our table. I made lots of feathers for it and we each had so many feathers and we wrote things we were thankful for on them and then taped them to the turkey. It was a lot of fun and we saw it daily and added to it weekly.
Yes I can raise my hand at being guilty on focusing on the stresses in my life! LOL
I read this on a friends blog just today,
"The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything that comes their way."
I for one do need to try harder to be more grateful. I have so many blessing!
Enjoy your day!
Mercy
Love getting your tips each week! I know all about job loss and the economy first hand. My husband lost his job 3 years ago and is now in his second year of college because he couldnt find a job! And you are so right about writing things down. When it is there in black and white....no where to hide what you spent! My income flucuates so much it is hard to budget so mostly I have a budget for everything that has to be paid.And the rest we adjust monthly based on what is left after the bills and such. I also keep my receipts for everything and go over them at the end of the month and show my husband and son the *unnecessary* spending. Oops this got long....sorry!!
I love the jar idea! We are doing Thankful 4 Thursdays. I will be posting about this on Thursday morning.
We did our first detailed budget for November. I can already tell this is going to save us lots of money. I hate to admit this, but we have almost blown through all of our dining out money. We can tell this is an area that is going to save us money and also an area we are going to have to make special and not blow it all in the first weekend of the month! We are learning and even Dave says you won't nail it on the first month.
You asked about our class size. There are about 30 people in the class. I will admit that it is a little strange in this class because hubby's step-dad is teaching it. I don't necessarily want my in-laws to know all of our financial info.
Hi Kindra!
Happy Monday sweetie!
While blog hopping I stumbled on your beautiful blog. I love it. You writing is so exceptional. I love the idea of taking a jar and writing what we have to be thankful for. I think because it is my husband and I, our kids are grown, and we have (7) grandkids, my husband and I will write what we are thankful for each day from now until Thanksgiving. Then before dinner, we will have each one of the kids and grandkids(that can read), each read on of the ones that we have submitted, and when the kids come for a visit, I think I am going to have them write something also. It will be interesting to see what each is thankful for, and to see if we can figure out who wrote it.
You so inspired me sweetie. It sounds like you and your family have had some hard times, I will be adding you to my prayer list and holding you up in prayer.
I have signed up to follow your blog. I can't wait to see what you write next. Please pop over and say hi. I would be honored if you signed up to follow my blog as well.
Country hugs sweetie, Sherry
Hi Kindra!! I'm trying to be thankful, too. Even though some days those stresses sneak in.
We have made a turkey in the past for things we are thankful for. You draw a head and then trace your hands for the body and feathers. On the hands, you write what you are thankful for. It's fun--maybe we will do that tonight for Family Home Evening. I will post a photo if we do, so you can see it.
Hope all is well at your house. I sure have enjoyed reading your post for over a year now--you're an inspiration. Have a blessed day. Julie
Raising my hand and waving it around ;)
Thanks for the lovely reminder of all the sweetness in our lives, my friend.
I'm so glad to hear that things are moving in a positive direction for Dave at work. I hope that trend continues!
Here's my money saving tip: Our local library has free/reduced rate passes that can be reserved and used to save money when visiting places like the Maine Wildlife Park, Children's Museum, etc. We always check with the librarians before planning an outing to one of these places. Perhaps other states' libraries offer these perks too.
Have a great week, my busy friend!
Today we had to put our beloved dog, Gretchen to sleep. She was only 8, and for some unknown reason her kidneys failed. A sad day for us, but your message today reminded me to be thankful for all the many joys she brought to us. Thanks, Kindra. You just never know when you will touch someone in a special way, do you?
Hi my dear friend,
I too am guilty of focussing on the stresses of life at times! It's when I see someone who is grieving over a loss or is dealing with a terrible illness, etc. that I get that "wake up call" I need sometimes to be thankful... grateful in fact for what I have! Thank you for my wake up call today! I love the "thankful jar"! What a great idea for before or after Thanksgiving dinner for everyone!! Last year we had all the kids (there were 7 boys in all) draw and color a picture of what they were thankful for and then they got to use those pictures as placemats at the "kid" table. It was really sweet to see what they drew!
Hope you have a wonderful week!
~Kim
I love your Thankful jar! So far so good on the budget, EVEN with furlough days I did ok. I've tightened it up by menu planning and sticking to a list at the grocery store. It's actually been a FUN process!
Kindra,your thankful jar is beautiful,and such a great idea.
I want you to know you are a blessing to me.
Thanksgiving is at hubby's & my house these days.My youngest grandson started the,"lets go around the table and say what we are thankful for."The year we started he was thankful for his ancestors.LOL.
Reading about your family,and all you do together is just great.
My family is grown and out of the nest,but I remember those days with such love....Enjoy those little ones.Have a lovely week.Blessings...Becky
I really enjoy your tips for the finances. Everyone is always looking for financial tips now a days. Thanks for sharing yours.
Blessings~ Kim
We have always lived on a budget, out of necessity and then by habit. Lately it has become necessity again.
No matter what, we always have things to be thankful for. It's good to take time to think about our reasons to be thankful. God is so good!
Have a great week!
Becky and Lakeffect...thank you for your kind comments. I appreciate them so!
Hi Kindra~
I've got my hand up too, sad to say. It is hard sometimes through the struggles to see the blessings, but they are always there and will always outnumber the stresses. I've made thanking God for all my blessings a regular part of my daily quiet time for the past few weeks and will continue to. Thanks for the gentle reminder. :)
Writing down our expenses was a great eye opener for me as well. In these tough times, it's just good practice to budge,then we'll be conditioned when things get better.
By the way, I was catching up on your blog today and your boys Halloween costumes were just adorable!!
Hugs to you~ Birgit
I'll admit it and raise my hand. I strive to be a glass half full person but sometimes I slip up too. I love the jar idea. I love anything that focuses on the positive!
And with Miss Lili in the picture, I have to admit too that we had to communicate a new line item in the budget - her! LOL You are so right - communication is the key to making it work.
Great post Kindra I hope THIS weekend is less stressful!!
Great post and awesome blog design....I have had so little time to do any blog reading and I have missed it...stop by my Christmas blog and leave a comment. The giveaway is a great Christmas CD to add to your collection.
http://grammyababychangeseverything.blogspot.com
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