Yesterday my friend and I were discussing finances. We agreed that the important thing to do when budgeting is to first pinpoint where your money goes.

I can comfortably (and shamefully) say there have been months when $1000 has vanished from our accounts on what I term "little things." Little Things add up, my friends. Be smart and figure out what your "Little Things" are.

My goal has been to find out where my money goes. My friend said it well, "YOU control your money, your money doesn't control YOU." Once I control it, I can then go forward with saving it and applying it where needed. It's interesting when you look at it as she stated, huh?

Tip for Today: Don't be afraid to search Freecycle or Craigslist for selling items. (Craigslist=sell, Freecycle=free stuff to donate or pick-up.) People want to help and want to help others. As long as you're cautious and use common sense in pick-up or communication (safety issues), these can be great websites! Craigslist is also a great resource for local garage sales.

Yahoo Finance had a great short article today on saving money. I think this recession has made people reconsider their spending habits. Often times in this country, we're told to spend more to keep our economy afloat, but it's time to realize that isn't cutting it in most homes these days.

In times of recession, it isn't always possible. I feel for people that cannot afford gas to get to work. Personally, I know families that are struggling in ways they never have before, and I continue to offer prayers to them. With my blog, I hope I can shed some light changing spending habits and learning to save for the future. Having friends in this situation has given me the desire to help those like them and others as well.

Today's Yahoo Finance Article
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/104346/Eight-Ways-to-Cut-Back-Without-Sacrificing

Interesting Tidbit: Our library breaks down how much money we save when we use the library versus buying books. Since December, we've saved $521.08 just checking out books!

Job Update

I heard from an online college to work from home as a professor of early childhood education. But, it just didn't fit. They wanted me to work a lot more on weekends for some reason, and I can't let my family come second.

Something else will come up. I have full hopes.

Confessions of an ex-Webkinz Mom

I despise Webkinz. I also despise the Internet for kids. I used to embrace it and hell, my own Master's thesis was on how technology in small amounts could be good for kids of certain ages. I am so very wrong and the devil himself lies in that damned Webkinz site.

I hate the mom I became when I got a Webkinz for The Princess. She asked for one and I had no problem with her wanting to go online and play games. I knew I was in trouble when the webpage was always down for "upgrades" or "repairs." I'm married to a techie, so I know these terms well.

I wasn't prepared for the million of snot-infested meltdowns my daughter would have because she couldn't feed Furry Girl (her Webkinz toy) and because of that, she'd die that night and no one, not one person could save her! How would I convince The Princess that this isn't reality? I explained the website concept but to a five year-old, Furry Girl was her baby and she was neglecting her baby when the website was down, which for us, is daily.

Ganz has not, to this day, replied to 19 of my emails. I'm embarrassed to say I sent emails asking why her rooms were deleted, along with 4000 kinz cash points. When did that become so important to me? I didn't like that person.

I didn't like how other moms would play checkers with me and they'd get all, "oh it's on" when they played checkers, and I'd be all "good move" but really, I was thinking, "I'm a 33 year-old and you're an adult as well and here we are, pathetically fucking around in a kid's checkers game so our kids' FAKE animals can buy ugly ass t-shirts."

It was entertaining, but I could tell some parents got pissed when I would win in the Tournament Area, especially the Super Modelz game, because that's how I roll. I love me some whacky fashion!

Webkinz has taught me that no matter what, my kid benefits 100x more by playing outside in the grass, with snot running down her face and little pieces of hair sticking to her face thanks to the said snot. Sitting in front of a computer taught her to play checkers with someone's mom or dad, and that if something went wrong with the site, everything she worked for will one day vanish and she'll let Furry Girl die a horrible death.

My daughter did learn that Furry Girl had a hell of a lot more fun sitting on a beach in Dubai, with the Burj hotel on one side, the beautiful sea on the other. Furry Girl loved the flight on Air France and enjoyed play-eating lamb and mango desserts. Furry Girl loved being in the train in South India and loved riding in autorickshaws. She loved playing with friends in Oman, and loved coming back home to Texas in a long flight, keeping the Princess company every step of the way.

No computer could ever replace that experience Furry Girl had. Traveling the world kicked SO MUCH MORE ASS than Goober's Lab and Quizzy's Word Challenge, people.

Furry Girl sitting on a train from Bangalore to Coimbatore, India

Update

I'm on a new kick. I say "new" because, when faced with the possibility of actually having to go out into the workplace, I've decided to find ways to save money in our household. Funny how the threat such as, "Get yo ass to work now" from The Man has turned into, "Hey kids! Let's eat the same thing for dinner 3 times in a row, okay?" Tell this mama to go to work and she blossoms into a new woman, one willing to not eat out, as well as willing to feed her kids sandwiches for dinner. (Which, btw, I LOVE. I can get so creative and it's fairly inexpensive.)

While I love the idea of working, I love the idea of being a stay-at-home-mom more. My kids need me. My son is still homeschooled, although he's become much more of a successful independent learner lately. I can't imagine having a workload of a real job and keeping my household responsibilities up. I greatly admire women who do it all. I'm not one of those women. I can't do it all. I think we'd be a pretty raunchy household if I had to do it all, and we'd be eating dog food for dinner regularly because I can't do it all. Just can't.

As of now, I'm finding ways to cut corners. By cutting corners, I've:

• started using our Hybrid car for all travel, and our SUV stays at the airport while The Man travels
• started documenting my spending at grocery stores, Wal-Mart, gas stations, and online purchases
• started researching foods that are on sale at certain stores and learned which stores offer cheaper options for certain items
• learned how to freeze meals and how to make bigger batches of things to freeze for lunches
• cooked in bulk and with cuts of meat that are cheaper yet still healthy options
• stopped eating out (gasp!)
• quit my 3x/week Starbucks habit (even bigger gasp!!)
• started planning trips out with the kids. I plan accordingly with snacks and re-bottles of water in order to avoid stopping at Starbucks because I'm thirsty (nice excuse for a latte, huh?)
• Did I mention I've stopped eating out? Yea, I did? Well, that's a big one for us!

We've been spoiled by The Man's consulting life. In our previous life, we ate out almost everyday because the company paid for it. We got used to that life, along with free car rentals, free hotel, free flights, and really, it's hard to break those habits. We still get many perks like great hotels for free, but I want to learn to make our money last.

My goal this month is to finish saving for my dishwasher. While I could go to Sears tomorrow and put every appliance on credit, I won't. I'm upgrading our appliances one at a time and by the end of February, I will have devoted 2 months' savings to pay for a dishwasher! (About $500!) I use Bank of America's Keep the Change program and I also devote money at the end of each week to this fund. Some weeks, I put $5, some weeks I put $40. It just depends. I'm proud of myself because it's a goal. The nice thing about this is we can splurge a bit if we pay one appliance at a time.

We will be creating a television fund. With this fund, we will save for a new television for our family. We use old televisions in our house, and we want an upgrade, so we'll set aside $ for that as well. It's good to have goals, and good to set aside even small amounts for these goals. I encourage everyone to do this because, it adds up and feels great!

Goals for February

• Keep food budget at $400/month for this family of 4
• Utilize the envelope method, giving myself cash to keep for designated expenses, nothing more added to it, nothing less in it
• Make a budget that is do-able, while still allowing ourselves $ for fun
• Not being such a mad cheapskate. I need to lighten up when The Man wants three bags of beans instead of one. Even though I'm right. Always.
• Start our television fund
• Finish my dishwasher fund and get my dishwasher in early March
• Get a better handle of how to use coupons. This is a HUGE GOAL! I'm clueless.

I haven't updated in a while!

I'm starting fresh...I want to comment on my friend's blogs and now it may keep me blogging, too!

Where We're Going and Why

Here are some maps from our itinerary on our trip. It's kind of exciting when you actually see where these places are.

We start in Bangalore and will be staying in this house, which is pretty and quirky all at the same time.

After Bangalore, we will visit The Man's parents in their new hometown of Coimbatore. (Here follow a slew of shamelessly borrowed pictures from Flickr or Google.)

Coimbatore--not a very exciting photo. (Courtesy of Flickr.)

Next we will head to Trivandrum, I think. It goes by another name, not sure about the name but here is one picture. This is one place I'm really excited to see. It's in the state of Kerala, where The Man's parents are from originally.


We'll head back to Bangalore then go to Agra by train. Agra is where the Taj Mahal is. I see pictures like the one below and I just want to pinch myself in amazement. I cannot believe I'll finally see something so majestic and so out of reach in my own mind. It's just bewildering.


After Agra, we will head back to Bangalore and then over the Arabian Sea to Muscat, Oman and then Dubai, UAE. (United Arab Emirates)


Dubai is in UAE and that borders Saudi Arabia and Oman. Oman borders UAE, Yemen, along with Saudi Arabia with the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman on other borders.

Here is a random picture of Muscat, Oman, where we will be staying:

One view of Dubai.


After leaving Dubai and Oman, we head back to Bangalore then back to the US.
What an exciting few weeks we'll have!
I plan on using this blog to keep my family and friends up-to-date on everything.

Please keep us in your prayers for a safe journey, wonderful times with family whom I've never met, and continue to pray none of us get ill and that the trip runs smoothly.