THIS IS THE KIM TENNILL SHOW....

I cannot believe it is going to be May 1st tommorrow. This year is flying right on by..... which is great at the moment! I think this month was VERY productive however, it could have been better as well.

Around mid-month I purchased a few new items that I didn't "need" but really, really wanted. I also ran into a gas overage on my vehicle of $120, a vet appt. that ran $137, hit up the local ice cream store a few more times than needed, and of course those few items I really, really wanted! In total I went over my normal budget by $504.00 (OUCH!!) That really hurt to add it all up! I guess this means I did not reach my goal of "sticking with the budget."

On a positive note, on the last paycheck of the month (April 30) I was able to pay $829 to my Discover card, which pays for the upcoming Michigan trip but, I am still hovering at $4700 owed in total. I was also able to shift $750 to our farm account! Only $7750 left to go!

Over the month as a whole we were able to accomplish:

1.) Paying off Landscaping $900

2.) Paid for new truck tires $880

3.) Finish funding Emergency Fund $875

4.) Pay for Michigan Trip $829

5.) Place money towards farm $750

Total: $4234 towards debt!!! That is Awesome!!!! (even though I still spent $500)

Goals for the month of May:

1.) Farm Fund: $3250 towards Farm leaving a total of $4000 needed by August 1st.

2.) No more "over spending"

This week was GREAT for weight loss! Please check my stats below!

Weight as of April 21: 137.6lbs

BMI as of April 21: 26%

Weight as of April 27: 133.8

BMI as of April 27: 25.3%

( I tried to add a ticker but I did not prevail! I have tried everything including the help bar!)

What items do you refuse to become frugal with? Do they have a tendency to bust your budget? I have been reading many posts from different blogs regarding things that we refuse to become frugal with. After taking a week or more to think about it I have come up with a total of seven!

7.) Certain items of clothing.

I certainly understand shopping at thrift stores and second time around stores and I am a constant shopper at stores such as these. I have seen however, when I do shop at thrift/second time around stores, I only purchase certain brands of clothing. Not necessarily to be wearing brand name items but, for the quality. Certain brands hold up better than others and I certainly do not see the point in buying items that are a less quality. Within 2 months I will be right back out looking for more items. My children typically wear Oshkosh, Gymboree, Old Navy and Carters and I personally wear Maurices or on occasion Mossimo. I can find great deals on clothes at thrift/second time around stores, the military PX and at times the store themselves in the clearance section. I do have to admit though I don't always find great deals for my clothes and often pay full price. Once I find a type of clothing that fits my body type I stick with it.

6.) Certain brands of food.

The one in particular that I can think of are the generic brands of Vanilla Wafers. Yes, they are $2.00 a box cheaper but my children refuse to eat them and it is a waste of $1.17.

5.) 2-liter of pop.

I was reminded of this from thriftyfloridamama.net! I hate drinking the bottom of the 2- liter. It is horribly flat and I think plain disgusting. We rarely buy pop but when we do I wont drink the bottom of a 2-liter and rarely drink the bottom of a can or 20oz bottle if it has been opened for more than a few hours! YUCK!

4.) Baby Formula

I am sure I may get some that don't agree with this, however I have always used Similac for my children. I never have switched to a store brand such as Parents Choice although, I do have friends who have had their children on store brands and their children are chunkier than mine! I also understand that there are certain laws regarding baby food to protect consumers from buying formula that is unsafe for their infants. I have simply always stuck with what the hospital has recommended and given our child during our hospital stay. I have found Similac cheaper than generic brands by purchasing our formula threw Ebay or Craigslist. I do know that many parents do have their children on store brands and this is only a personal preference and my opinion! I am sure that the generic brands are great for others and have provided a more cost effective way for some parents.

3.) Good Ice Cream

I hate buying store brand ice cream such as Great Value or Winn Dixie. I don't mind Publix brand but that is the only one. I think there is such a distinct difference in taste that I don't bother. It is a waste of money for me. I wait until ice cream is BOGO or some other sort of sale and stock up. You can ask anyone in my family and I am an ice cream fanatic! I believe my 7 month old has the same addiction as well! Everytime I pull out ice cream he fusses until he gets a taste and will fuss for more the entire time until it is all gone!

2.) Sheets

A few years ago I really didn't care what thread count the sheets were that I was sleeping on. I was thrilled to have a bed and sheets! I moved out at 18 without a lot of money and was happy to have what we did have. As time went on and I did get married and was able to purchase nicer items I began to only purchase 400-600 count sheets. Now that I have "better" sheets I cannot seem to go back to the old ones. Sheets of this count can be expensive and I usually wait until Christmas or my birthday and ask for 1 or 2 sets. I can usually get them at TJ Maxx or Marshall's for around $30 and I have a King size bed! Not a bad price and they are SO comfortable!!

THE TOP #1 ITEM I WILL NOT BE FRUGAL WITH IS.........

1.)Bargain Priced Plane Tickets

When I purchase plane tickets, which is quite often I usually see a "Hot Sale" at the top of the site I am viewing for plane tickets. The "Hot Sale" is usually around $100 - $150 less than the other plane tickets however does not tell you the time of your departure or return or the number of stops you will be making. I understand the need to be frugal and $100 - $150 per person could save me up to $300 or $450 however the hassle of buying the "unknown" is to great a risk for me. Trying to fly with a 6 year old and 7 month old with my husband is a hassle in it's own not to mention when I am by myself! No thanks, I will take the "known" over the "unknown."

As my previous post from a few days ago stated, I will be starting my new "weight" ticker on the side of my blog. Sort of like what a few other fellow bloggers do, Biggest Loser Blogger Style! I am hoping by allowing everyone to read this it will allow me to keep up with my challenge instead of giving into temptations. Every week I am going to report my changes on my blog and monitor my progress. So..... here we go....

My current weight as of this morning is 137.6 lbs (YIKES)
I am currently 5' 1" tall
My current body fat is 26% (DOUBLE YIKES)

According to the BMI calculator my BMI should be between 18.5% - 24.9%. Which means I am overweight with 26%

My plan is pretty basic:
1.) Portion Control
2.) Watching my calories and fat intake
3.) Getting off my butt and doing body pump 4 times a week + walking/jogging
4.) Stop eating a tub of Edy's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough in 2 days! LOL

I have done this before and truly just need to start. Once I start something I can stick to it but once I decide to stop it is hard to get back started. Finding the motivation seems to be the major problem

Goals:

130lbs by May 23, 2008 (going home to Michigan for a short vacation)

123lbs by July 4, 2008 (right before my husband comes home)

Alright, today is as good as any day!

I was reading over on another military posting today, as I usually do and came across yet another statement that caught my attention.

"Start with the end in mind."

I started to ask myself, "Do I start anything with the end in mind?" I don't think that I do. I know the purpose of starting something is to reach a final goal, but I prefer to use baby steps instead of always pushing for something long term.

An example, of course is my financial freedom journey that I have recently embarked upon. Yes, my ulitimate goal will come in about 36 months however that is a long time from now. I prefer to think of short terms such as my credit card being paid for in 5 months and my student loan being paid for in 10 months. I can honestly say that I don't believe I would make my goals if I only focused on something long term. However, now that I say that, my bachelor's degree took me 6 years to obtain. I never stopped or lost focus of the goal and it took me double the amount of time to get my bachelors degree than it will to be finacially free.

Is it this way for everyone? Somethings have to be accomplished in baby steps and others with only one long term goal? Let me know your thoughts on how you reach your goals and why long term goals may work for some things and not for others.

I was rolling thru a few fellow blogger's sites and came across a statement that stopped me, literally, and I began to ponder the statement for several days. I don't recall who's site it was or the exact wording but the statement was something like:

"If debt was a dark cloud hanging over you that everyone could see would you wear it proudly?"

My first thought was any debt that someone has hanging over them they shouldn't be very proud of, but then thought twice about it. When I met my now husband I was so surprised to find out, after we had been dating for 3-4 months that he owns the house his mother lives in. I say own but, he did have a mortgage on it. He also purchased 157 acres the year before we met that also had a mortgage on it. Yes, those items are debt however, I was looking at it as good debt and thinking to myself, YES!! I have finally found a good man that can take care of him self financially before being involved with anyone!! I personally wear our property debt proudly as well as my mortgage on my home. I do agree with Dave Ramsey and the idea of paying cash for everything however I am also proud that my husband and I are able to live in a nice home and have nice things that we can afford comfortably!

I think the only debt that I would not be proud of would be the $4000 on my credit card and my student loan debt which is more than I truly care to say. I did acquire my Bachelor's degree but it could have been acquired for less than what I paid for it. I am not ashamed of our vehicle debt, but have truly come to the realization about saving and paying cash for a vehicle is a great way to go. I honestly can see our next vehicles being paid for this way, which can be very simple if we don't have any debt!

Any thoughts to how you would feel if your debt was out there for everyone and anyone to see? People could watch you walk down the street and see all of the foolish items that you have purchased. I personally think this would be a great way of calling out all of those that we think have it all such as the infamous "Jones's" but, in reality are hiding behind the ugly mask of debt. I think there would be many surprised people out there realizing that those that they view as financially smart are really not.

After a couple of weeks of my husband being away the "realization" stage of him being gone is setting in, which really sucks! On the other hand however, I am lovin' the large paycheck life from him being gone!

On April 15th the military will pay us back our taxes we paid in March and the extra pay he gets from being gone. This bumped his paycheck up almost $1140!!! Before my husband left he also called to have his leftover balance on his government credit card cut back to him in a check. (This only happens when soldiers are traveling on government business and use their government card. ) A soldier gets a daily allowance of food and such. Everything they purchase is placed on the government card and then paid off by the military when they return. If my husband does not spend all of his daily allowance there is leftover money owed to the soldier. When the military pays back the credit card instead of having the "extra" money leftover from daily allowance given to us my husband leaves it as a credit on the credit card until it is a large amount! I just got a check for $500! WHOO!! It is like extra "free" money from him not spending the maximum daily allowance limit. For those in the military and reading this I am sure you know I am referring to TDY.

I was totally stoked to see these items come in! This plus snowballing and extra money of $600 a paycheck, I was able to pull together a little more than $2200!!! I am really excited to post what we accomplished with this payday below!

1.) Fully funded our emergency fund or baby step 1 ($875)

2.) Paid all the landscaping/garden for this year $950! (We had to stain our fence which was $550 on its own.)

3.) Purchased and almost fully paid for my sons summer trip to Michigan for 7 weeks + my

plane ticket to take him up there. Total was $610 and we paid $505 on it.

Unfortunatley, I was not able to place any money towards the farm. However these 3 items were the first three items to take care of on my goals list, that needs to be completed by August!

I am really excited to see my goals list being checked off with so many accomplishments that have begun since March 15th! I can't believe how much we have paid in cash towards everything. It feels wonderful to truly know where all of our hard earned money is going. I am BEYOND proud to say that we have paid for $4710 towards our goals over the past 2 pay periods!

Next up the farm! $8500 here we come!

First sorry about the hand in the picture! My Zachary was "being funny" and now on to the good stuff!

I made out like a bandit when it came to CVS this week. Between the sales they are having, my coupons and the ECB's earned from this weeks and months ads I purchase a TON of stuff for really cheap!!!

1.)

1 Precision Care Diabetes Kit $19.99
5 CVS Pain Reliever $19.95
2 Excedrin Migraine $9.58
1 Handheld Calculator $1.5

Total: $54.14 w/tax
- $10 off $50 purchase (CVS received coupon)
- (2) $2 off Excedrin Migraine Coupons (printable online)
- $2 ECB (from a previous purchase)
- $25 gift card (received from transferred prescription)

Total OOP: $13.14
ECB Earned: $43.94 ( 2 ecb earned from Winter spending)

2.)

1 Cascade Dishwasher Soap $2.50
1 Swiffer Refill Duster $5.99
2 Cheezit twin pack $12.00
2 Cherrios twin pack $15.98
1 Fiber One Bar twin pack $6.99
1 Sunday Paper $1.50

Total: $51.13 w/tax
- $10 off $50 (CVS printout from another transaction)
- .50 Cascade coupon (P & G booklet of coupons in newspaper)
- (2) $1.00 off 2 Cherrios (online printables)
- $1.00 off Swiffer (P & G booklet of coupons in newspaper)
- $ 36.90 ECB

Total OOP: .51
ECB earned: $22

3.)

1 HUGE Easter Basket 1.29 (was originally 12.99!! My son bought with his allowance Guess who he gets his clearance/deal shopping from??) I am so proud!
2 Huggies $18.98
1 Huggies Pull-ups $8.99
1 Gerber Bananas $1.00
1 Gerber Finger Food $1.59

Total: $31.18 w/tax
- $4 off $20 purchase
- (2) $2 off Huggies Diapers (Had coupons for less than this but found these on shelf! SCORE!)
- $2 off Pull-ups (Online Printable)
-.55 off Gerber Finger Food (Online Printable)
- $19.99 ECB

Total OOP: .64 (My son's allowance paid for this! I gave him his .65 back)
ECB Earned $10.00

4.)

2 CVS Wipes $5.00
1 Huggies Pullups $8.99
1 Gerber Finger Food $1.59
7 Gerber Juice $11.13
1 CVS toddler wipes $1.49

Total: $29.78
- .55 Gerber Finger Food (Online Printable)
- $4 off $20 purchase
- (2) .75 Gerber Juice (Gerber sent in mail)
- $1.00 off Gerber Juice (Gerber sent in mail)
- $2.00 off Pullups (Online Printable)
-$18.00 ECB

Total OOP: $1.87
Total ECB earned $.00

5.)

1 CVS Aluminum Foil $2.50
2 Excedrin Back/Body $3.98
1 Febreeze Kit $6.99
1 Febreeze Dual Refill $7.99
2 Lays $3.49

Total: 25.51 w/tax
- 1.00 Febreeze (P & G booklet)
- 2.00 Febreeze (P & G booklet)
-(2) $2.00 Excedrin products (online printable)
- $18.00 ECB

Total OOP: $.51
Total ECB earned $12.00

A few side notes and lessons learned:

On transaction #4 I learned something. I am only about 6 weeks into starting my journey through CVS and thought that if I used my husband's CVS card I could get the Huggies deal (buy $25 Huggies get $10 ECB) back twice. It didn't work because the ECB I wanted to use was from my card it would not use his card to get the sales. Therefore, in order to use my ECB's I had to use my card. Because the Huggies deal was one per household I lost out on $10 ECB, but I am not upset about it! Lesson learned and I'm still ecstatic with my deals.

On transaction #5 I did not realize until I left that my ECB's had not printed for my Febreeze. Once I went in and spoke with the clerk we realized that the dual refills were not part of the deal (tricky tricky) Anyways, the manager was gracious enough to give me an in-store coupon for $10 instead of have to void the entire transaction! (Thanks so much) Just so you know the DUAL REFILLS ARE NOT PART OF THE FEBREEZE DEAL THIS WEEK!

After these shopping trips which only took me about 1.5 hours. (Only because I have 5 locatiosn within 10 miles and we stopped at McDonald's) Overall, it was an awesome shopping trip and totally worth it for 1.5 hours of my time.

In the end I walked away with:
$294.20 in goods for $16.87
ECB left $14.00
(I am still thinking I will go back for the Buy $20 Covergirl get $10 ECB) I am out of eyeliner!