Chicken Area Tour

Birthday Budgets

This past month we've been celebrating Tafton's 9th Birthday. He loves to read and I love to see him reading. He'll use phrases that sound so odd coming out of a 9 years old mouth, But I really enjoy hearing them. He is so smart! Because he's the oldest he can be somewhat of a police officer trying to keep the younger kids in line - it's important to him that everyone follow the rules and he can get so disappointed in himself when he thinks he's fallen short. I'm humbled that I've been chosen to be his mother, to guide, teach, and prepare him for this life. One area I want to prepare my kids in is finances. I wish for them to make smarter choices with their money than we have! One thing I want them to understand is that money is finite. If you spend a dollar, you no longer have that dollar. In line with this, we decided to let our kids manage a birthday budget once they turn 8. We give them a dollar amount and with that they can decide to have ...

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I've been making our own laundry detergent for over a year now. It works wonderfully, I know exactly what's in it, smells great, and lasts forever! Here's what you need to make your own: 55 oz. Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda (you can find this in the laundry detergent aisle usually on the highest or lowest shelf) 76 oz. 20 Mule Team Borax (you can find this in the laundry detergent aisle usually on the highest or lowest shelf) 4 lb. Baking Soda 26 oz. Downy Unstoppables or other scent booster 3-4 bars Fels-Naptha or Ivory Soap (I used to use Fels-Naptha but at $1.69 per bar it's more economical to use Ivory soap and it works just as well) Combine washing soda, baking soda, borax, and scent booster. I use an extra 5 gallon bucket to mix. Grate soap and add to powder mixture. Using a food processor makes this much faster! When finished you should have 2 gallons worth of laundry detergent. Each load only needs 1 t...

Gazelle Intense

I've been a fan of Dave Ramsey for several years. But even though we've been fans; listening to his podcast, reading his books; we haven't gone full gazelle intense yet. Well guess what?! 2017 is the year!!! We're going gazelle intense!!!! I'm crazy excited!!! So what is gazelle intense? Basically, it's getting really focused and really angry at your debt. Angry enough that you want to kick it to the curb and get it out of your life for good. I feel like I've been working on paying off all our debt forever!!!! and I'm sick and tired of it! What's worse is the reason why we haven't paid it off is because we HAVEN'T been following his plan by the book (literally☺). We've used our credit card instead of an emergency fund, we've signed up for more student loans when we should've cash flowed, and we didn't do the snowball, instead we paid extra in drips and drabs. No more! and I'm super excited. I'l...

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