How Do You Save/Make a Little Extra Money?

I think the topic of this post is something that is on everybody's minds these days. I see this question posted on people's status update on facebook. I'm sure there are about a million blogs dedicated to this topic alone. I also know that my husband and I talk about this ALL the time! Here's the ideas that what we've come up with so far.

1). We shop at Costco and Walmart. I know, I know...Wal-Mart makes me want to tear my hair out too, but we found a Wal-Mart that is ONLY a grocery store. It actually has great produce, a lot of selection and the lines aren't very long. I feel like I'm typing an oxy-moron when I say the lines at Wal-Mart aren't very long..but it seems to be true at this store. (I think it's called The Market?..it's just a branch of Wal-Mart.)

2). I iron ALL of Joel's shirts. I hate this job. I LOATHE this task...but I guess the extra one hundred bucks a month is worth it.

3). I sell items on Craigslist. We always seem to be accumulating stuff we don't actually need...this is a great way to make a few extra bucks.

4). We try not to eat out much. It's impossible to NEVER go out to eat. One might seem a bit anti-social if they NEVER went out...but we do pack our lunches every day with PB&J.

5). We work out at home. This not only saves money, but also time. No more trips to the gym! That cuts about 40 minutes of traveling time from our day.

6). We share a car. I'll admit that sometimes this can REALLY be a pain. It really saves money though...plus we get to spend a lot of time in the car together.

7). I make my own daily shower cleaner. It's easy and it's cheap!

How do you save/earn extra money? I'd love to hear your tips. I know some people make their own laundry soap any other creative ideas out there?

my first and probably only purchase from the TV

I purchased P90X. Chances are you've heard of this home exercise regimen; their marketing efforts have been significant. I actually didn't learn of it on TV; rather, I had a friend who followed the program and lost a good amount of weight. Caron and I were thinking what money we would ultimately save by building a home gym in our garage and we really needed a change of pace. So..

We purchased some dumbells, fitness bands, a yoga mat and block, a pull-up bar, and a tv/dvd.

As an exercise physiology major in college, I recommend P90x because it is real exercise. It's not a gimmick. Each routine is hard work and there is sufficient recovery time between routines to avoid overtraining. There's a nice balance of cardio, strength training, and stretching. All of the variety in the workouts has really allowed my muscles to respond and I've made significant strength gains (I started at 2 pull ups and now can do 12).

I have 1 week of the 90 day program left and have lost 7 lbs. I've probably lost more than this, considering the muscle I've put on. And, consider that I haven't done the plyometrics, abs, core, legs, or kenpo workouts as scheduled. Basically, I've done half of P90x, with a very healthy diet (no starches after lunch) and gotten great results. I hope to get my core injury rehabilitated soon so I can add the abs and leg workouts for even better results. It's been fun to work out together on occasion and to see visible results of exercise-joel

I'm Makin' My OWN Storage

Lately, I've been reading a lot about organization. Apparently, in order to have an orderly household, one needs numerous shapes and sizes of storage bins. Easy Sneezy, Right? I thought so too..until I saw the price tags on all these nifty "life-savers." So, I decided to make my own. Now, it's not as beautiful as the ones that you may see in the gleaming pages of your newest Pottery Barn magazine, but it is MUCH prettier than using plain old cardboard boxes. Here's what I did.
1) Found an old cereal box (it was a heavy duty one from Costco).
2) Ripped apart the material from my old hamper (it was ripping anyway)
3) Had my husband fetch his staple gun
4) Wrapped the box like a present
5) Put one staple on the bottom and one on the side
6) Hot glued the rest of the sides together.
The picture above is the end result. You could always use more exciting mat'l, but this is what I had on hand. I would have tried sewing the mat'l to the box...but I don't even a needle or thread. (My mom is probably astounded by this)
So, there you go folks. I just saved myself about $15.

Probability of a Bird Pooping on You.

Today, Joel and I decided to sit outside while he enjoyed a nice cup of ice cream from Costco. I felt a light tap on my shoulder and figured he was flicking a bug off of my sleeve. BUT NO....I was wrong. A bird POOPED on my shirt. This is the SECOND time I've endured the embarrassment/disgustingness of this type of situation. I mean seriously...how is it that I've been pooped on twice by a wild bird and JOEL has NEVER been victim of the free-falling defecation of our feathered friends?
I'm just wondering if anyone knows how to figure out the probability of this happening? I tried to research it on google..but found nothing. I did learn that birds have bm's every 15 minutes. Yikes...can you imagine?? I'm glad I'm not a bird!

VA REALLY IS for LOVERS!!

I finally decided to change the name of "our" blog to "VA REALLY is for LOVERS!" I decided that this was a great name (thanks to the TX Ueckers!) Since Joel and I met here and have spent the first 2 (well, almost 2) years of our marriage together...I thought I'd reflect that in the name of our blog. Don't worry...our blogs won't ALL be about how much in love we are!

Elite Seats..

Joel thought it would be funny to take a picture of the outhouses Kalen and I had to use when we went to a Christmas activity. BELIEVE me...these were anything but ELITE!!

20 Percent? REALLY?

I just discovered that not only supposed to tip my server 20 percent, but my hair dresser and dog groomer, too?!? (I knew about the server part..just not the other two) What? That's craziness? No offense to all you dog groomers and hair dressers out there...but that seems like pure ridiculousness to me! It just doesn't seem fair that someone who fixes my hair should make as MUCH an hour if not MORE per hour as I do! I'm out there saving lives! I don't get tips?!? I pick up poo..I get it on my face...if that doesn't deserve a tip...I don't know what does!I mean seriously, a $20 tip just to get my hair highlighted seems very unfair. I'm boycotting.

Me and My Honey.

So, since I've decided to make this blog more of a "family" one, I decided to write a post about me and my honey:) (BTW...thanks to all who suggested new names for my blog..er umm...OUR blog. I'm still carefully considering the different names!) Anyway, back to me and my honey. It seems like every time Joel and I go out with a new couple, they always ask us what we like to do together. We always twiddle our thumbs for a second and say "hmmm..what DO we like to do together?" Here's what we say.

1. Hike. This is funny...b/c I don't really LOVE hiking. I enjoy it in PERFECT weather conditions with no bugs, in areas of the country I've never been before. Those conditions seem to be quite rare...BUT, we always say hiking....even though we only do it once a year.

2. Traveling. This is TOTALLY true. We are both TRAVEL freaks. I love, love, love this about my husband.

and that's about as far as we get. This used to really disturb me. I would think to myself "Gosh, we've only been married for ________ and this is all we can think of? Where are we going wrong? Why don't we love all of the same things? We should be spending every minute of our free time having a blast (okay, so that's an exaggeration.) I then realized that we do have our own special little hobbies...they just aren't the usual types of hobbies one would mention when going out with a new couple friend. Here they are.

1). We watch the Amazing Race. Since we both love to travel, this show is perfect for us! We imagine what it would be like if we were the ones doing the challenges. We laugh at the silliness and drama...and we try to figure out who's going to make it to the end.

2). I finally convinced Joel that it would be a good idea to convert our garage to our own little home gym. We now do P90X together. This has been great for us! We usually do this together about 3 times a week! (For some reason Joel doesn't want to get up at 4:30 am to exercise on the days I have to go to work...:)

3) We like to go to the beach. I feel like this is something every couple says. It doesn't seem unique enough to be a "hobby." But..nonetheless..we both enjoy this. It's so relaxing! Plus...he can read his "manly" books...and I can read my classic literature...or my not so classic literature!

4). Playing any type of scrabble has also filled many of our spare hours. Since my husband is a brainiac, I hardly ever win. Sometimes this is frustrating..but it makes the victory oh so glorious when I do beat him!

So, all you couples out there...what do you and your sig. other enjoy doing together? You should definitely clue us in on some new hobbies that are FREE. We're all about saving money!

Change.

I started this blog when I was a single student living in the upstairs of my sister and brother-in-laws house. A lot has changed since then. I now have a career, a wonderful husband and a dog that I adore! While I'm sure I will continue to write about silly nonsensical topics, I'd like to start making my blog more of a "family" one. Maybe this way I'll even get my husband to insert a few thoughts of his own! So, now the only dilemma I'm facing is finding a name for this new creation! What should I call it?? I could follow the Hollywood style and combine all of our names....JoMaRon (Joel,Maddie and Caron)...but that's just silliness;) So, help a girl out and leave some suggestions...I KNOW that the TX Ueckers HAVE to have some sort of suggestion! After all, they even have a name for their house!!!

Is That a Med Error?

You tell me...Is this a med error?

Here's my signs and symptoms.

1. Pain Rating-10/10 on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the worst throat pain I've ever felt).

2. Difficulty Swallowing (and talking for that matter....seriously, I wrote down everything I needed to tell my hubby tonight)

3. White spots on the back of my throat.

4. Swollen Lymph nodes

5. Death...it's what I feel like.

Treatment
1. Severe Cold Medication. I waited to take this until 10 minutes before I needed to pick up my husband so I wouldn't be too drowsy to drive. Ooooh...wait...It was an ANTI-DROWSY cold medicine. MED ERROR ALERT! This is why I'm typing a blog at 11:23pm when I feel like death and just want to sleep. Good thing I waited until 9pm to take this medication (that's my sarcastic tone of voice). GRRRRrrrr...

Poo Juice

There's not much new going on around here. I'm very excited since I have 4 days ahead of me with nothing to do but clean, work out and read. I do believe that this is a very justified break since today I got poo juice on my FACE. That's right...poo juice. One might ask what poo juice is. Well, I don't want to be too graphic, so if you have a sensitive stomach stop reading here....

Oh, so you think your stomach is made of steel, eh? After what happened to me today..I almost wish my face was made of steel too. Here's the story. I emptied my patients bedside commode that was filled with urine and poo into the toilet. During this lovely process...the juice from the poo splashed onto my cheek and wrists. So there you have it...poo juice...on my face. Yikes. Hope you weren't reading this over you lunch break!

Not So Young Anymore...

So, even though I am often accused of looking like I'm twenty (sometimes even 15)...I can tell I'm not so young anymore. Here's how...

1. This morning I tried yanking our covers up because they were all sliding on the floor. Since it was bright and early, I didn't warm up before executing this swift move. I therefore strained a muscle in my back...booo...I was excited about working out today, too! Guess I'll have to run instead of doing push-ups and pull-ups.

2. Yesterday when I was a at work, a pre-teenish girl asked me if I knew about some singer....I vaguely remembered the name because I had a seen his cd at Blockbuster. (Some, young whipper snapper with a picture in front of a bike) I also had great difficulty decoding everything she excitedly spattered out. This really made me feel old. I'm pretty sure the word "like" used to frequent my vocabulary far too often, but now that I'm an old fuddy-duddy...I really couldn't decipher her slurred, like filled sentences very well. "Like..he's Like the best singer from, like, The American Idol...like he's so great...I like have like "_________ fever." I had to say "what?" about a billion times before I could figure out what she was saying. That really made me feel old.

3. I was a part of my first work pot-luck. I enjoyed pot-lucks as a child because I could eat cookies and all the fatty foods I was never allowed to eat at home. Now, I search and search for the healthy and sensible food among all the junk. Well, unless I find pizza of course...then my self-control goes out the window (hmm...maybe I'm not so old after all...I'm still a sucker for cheese pizza...on Easter Sunday of all days...)

I Used To Say....

When I was a young know-it-all teen...I used to say I would NEVER do some of these things that I am about to list...I guess the old saying "never say never" is true!
I used to say I would not

1. Wear sweat pants out in public. As a young teen that had lots of time on primping...I couldn't understand why women would 'let themselves go' like that. HA...I now live in my sweat pants....but I usually do change into jeans when going out in public...not always though!

2. Give anyone an injection. I used to almost pass out when I saw someone else getting a shot...now I do it every day!

3. Gain the freshman 15...Let's see...I've gained it, lost it, gained it...lost it...You get the picture. What's a girl to do when she's a freshman three times??

4. Marry a principal....well, I never said I WOULDN'T....but if the idea had been suggested, I would have said "NO." Very emphatically. I love my principal hubby oodles and oodles and am so glad I said "yes!"

5. Own a yippy dog. "What's a yippy dog?" you ask. It's a dog that barks and barks and barks and barks. Maddie-poo is definitely yippy...It's not her fault that so many scary looking people walk by our house!

6. Dance like my mom. I guess genetics doomed me from birth though...there was no getting away from it!