Cabinet Organization – Only $1.80 per box!

I’m so excited to finally get one thing in this house organized.  Even if it is just one cabinet.  I bought these boxes at Walmart.  They are 9.25” x 10.25”.  They come in packages of 3 and only cost $5 per package.  $5!!!  Anyone can get organized at that price.  (Okay, I just spent 20 minutes looking for these online and they don’t exist anywhere.  If they are at your Walmart I would snatch them all.  That is my plan tomorrow.)

I bought pretty paper at Hobby Lobby for $0.59 per sheet of paper.  (You can’t see it in the picture, but the paper is shiny cardstock.)
I used Microsoft Publisher to make the labels.  The exact same shape is in Word.  You just insert the shape into your document, add a text box inside.  Make the shape line 4pts and add the wording you want.  I kept the labels to one word because I liked the way it looked.  I then printed on my pretty paper, cut out the labels, punched holes in the top and then used ribbon to tie them to the boxes. 

This was my final result:

I know it still looks a little messy, but it’s the organized chaos that is my house, and I’m thrilled!  I’ve already made boxes for other parts of the house – light bulbs, pet RX, cats, dog, dish towels, misc.
Total cost for each box is $1.80!

Fresh Flowers Don’t Have To Break The Bank

I told you in this post that I like to buy flowers from the grocery store because they generally last 4 weeks or more.  So, a couple of weeks ago I bought flowers for myself.  I bought them off of the 3 for $12 stand at my local grocery store (I know, the price went up), and the vase was $2.50 at Walmart.  I got home and decided to take some pictures of how I put them together so that you can see how simple it is.

1.  Pick out some flowers that you like and that you think coordinate with each other.  I think 3 different types of flowers looks best (for a small bouquet when you’re on a budget.) 

 

2.  When you get home, cut open each set and spread out the plastic so that when you are finished you can just fold everything into the paper and throw it away.  Empty one of the packets into the vase and fill the vase with water.  (I use about a 1/2 in of hot water to dissolve the powder and then finish filling the vase with cold water.  Now you are ready to start on the flowers.

3.  Start with your base flower (generally what you have the most of and what is best at filling space).  Measure the flower stem against the base of your vase (just made me think of Ace of Base, random…).  Decide how tall you want the flowers and cut the stem at an angle.  (I saw the si-ign, and it opened up my eyes. I saw the sign.)  Also, pull off all the leaves that could potentially end up in the water because the leaves can make the water toxic to the flowers.  Then, place the flowers into the vase.  If they all stand at the same height try to make the stems cross in the vase to force them to stand at different heights.  If that doesn’t work then cut the bases of a few of them, but only cut them slightly.  You want them to lay as if there is a bowl upside down and on top of them, like bowl hair cuts. Ha!  Remember those?

4.  Start on the next flower.  I like to use a small bud with lots of leaves for my base, then I do something dramatic for the middle level, and something tall for the third layer.  Do your second layer about the same height as the first.  Gently place the second later flower into the vase so that the flower is resting on top of your first layer. Then, do the third layer.  In this arrangement I chose to cut the tall flower so that it was shorter than the others, but you can still see that it’s skinnier than the others.

5.  The finale.  Turn the vase all the way around and arrange the flowers so that there are no holes (like the one above), and then put them in a place where you can enjoy them everyday.

  

Living On A Budget (Free Budget Template)

Jason and I went through a course called Financial Peace University, by Dave Ramsey.  He always says, “Live like no one else now, then you will live like no one later.”  This means that if you will sacrifice now to get all your debt paid, then you will get to live in abundance later. 

Our instructor gave us a budget template that we tweaked to fit us.  I would like to offer our template to you.  Please feel free to tweak however you need to best fit your life.  It’s a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, so you will need to have Excel for it to work.  All the formulas are built in, so you shouldn’t have to do anything there.  At the end of the month, just highlight all the boxes you use and copy and paste it into a new tab.  Then, delete all the info that needs to change and label the tab for the month and year.  We go through every few days and update the budget by writing down how much we spent in each category on each day.  It’s really simple once you get the hang of it.  Also, I would recommend spending the first month or two just writing everything down without plugging in budget numbers so that you can get familiar with the spreadsheet,  and so that you can learn where your money goes so that you will have an idea about how much to budget for each item.  Jason tries to take us down 10% in each column ever-so-often so that we slowly work our way down in certain categories.  And, in some months we plan to splurge in certain areas. 

We started with me basically planning and executing the budget, but I hated it, and I was terrible at following it.  Call me old fashioned but I always said that I just wanted a guy who would hand me an allowance and send me on my way.  I finally confessed my frustrations to Jason and he happily took over.  Now, when he’s planning the budget for the next month I just tell him what I think I’ll need, i.e. I need my hair done this month, I need to order contacts, I need new shoes, etc.  And, I follow the budget better because I know that he’s going to see everything I spend.  I like it so much better this way, and it’s working for us now.  You will have to figure out what works best for you.

Lastly, cash vs. cards.  Jason and I use our debit cards for everything.  Dave Ramsey recommends a cash system, but it doesn’t work for us.  I like using our debit cards because we see every single thing that comes through the bank.  When we spend cash we don’t know how to categorize it, or even that it’s gone.  So, we use our debit cards.  Jason sees on our online bank register exactly where I’ve been and what I’ve bought and I see the same about him.  It’s a nice way to stay accountable to each other.  Again, use what works for you.

Turns out I’m not sure how to upload a document, and it’s almost 1:00 in the morning, so if you would like to have this spreadsheet please email me and I’ll send it to you. alifeplannedisneverasexpected@gmail.com.

This is what it looks like: