Home Management Binder: Budget

If you missed it, the overall post about the home management binder is here.

Ah, the budget. It is such a scary thing to tackle finances...or it used to be. I decided one day that in order to stay on top of my finances I couldn't rely on receipts. Receipts cause paper clutter. And it builds up until I can't deal with it anymore and just throw it all away, which results in us totally forgetting our budget and buying extra Blue Bell ice cream, which is not good for your figure OR your wallet. This resulted in me making a very small printable for my wallet. It was about the size of a dollar bill and I taped it to my check book. Any time I bought anything, I would record it on the piece of paper. [Cameron would let me know if he spent anything as well.] Once a week, I would update our budget totals and share them with Cameron so we were on the same page. It worked brilliantly, but it was a lot of work. I found myself re-totaling everything up all the time. I needed a ledger. And I needed a little more space to keep things clean.

Enter the binder. [Click image to download blank printable version.]

I'll spare you the actual details of our budget for September. It's not very impressive...we're on a student loans salary right now. But I will say that it saves me so much time! My binder goes with me wherever I go. I write down the total while the grocer is bagging my groceries or right after I get back in the car from pumping gas. I can make sure all of our utilities and insurance payments are on time and I know exactly what date they were paid. I know immediately how much we have left in each budget. There is no guess work.

Finances aren't such a daunting task when they're done as you go!

In my binder, I printed 3 of these, front and back, so I have enough for a year. [4 to a page, cut in half]. I am blown away by the peace of mind this little piece of paper gives me. It also allows me to have more fun, because I can purchase fun things guilt free when I know where the money is coming from!

Up Next: Kitchen [Meal Planning + Shopping Lists + Freezer Tally]

Collabracadabra! [Blog Train!]

I'm participating in the a-mazing collabracadabra blog train from the PDP designers. You do NOT want to miss this! Check it out:

Collabracadabra is a celebration of the magic of digital scrapping. the polka dot plum designers, want to give you a big surprise every month, with a plum designer collab! You can grab it for FREE, the first week of the month, from our exclusive blog train. follow the train, collect the freebies, and at the end of your journey, you will have a beautiful full collaboration, magically created, just for you. when the week is over, the collab will only be available in the shop, but will be free with a purchase of $10.00 or more.

This month's collab is granny's attic. a huge collection of papers, elements, an alpha, and layout templates with a vintage feel. here is a preview of all that you can collect, if you visit every blog.

As a fun added bonus, we would love for you to submit your layouts make with the new collab by the end of the month, in the monthly thread, and the last day of the month, we will vote on a winner that will be presented with a gift certificate to the polka dot plum shoppe!

AND THAT'S NOT ALL.........
There is also a full kit, selected especially for you, by one of the plum designers, for you to enjoy for FREE, if you are able to collect our special plums along the way, during your visits to our blogs. put the plums together to form a six letter code, and use that code at check out to receive your free featured kit. Our designer of the month is kreations by kami. And I have to tell you, the featured kit is TO-DIE-FOR. Seriously. I love it.

here is my freebie for you! i can't wait to see what you create with our beautiful new mega kit! [As always, if you send your LO to me, you'll get 50% off to my shoppe too!]

You should've arrived here from: Sweet Tomato Designs

[Click on the image to download]

Please leave a comment if you download and be sure to check back tomorrow for a chance to win my brand new kit before its release on Wednesday!

Your next stop is: Polka Dot Plum Designs

Designer Survivor Template Freebie

I'm participating in a Designer Survivor competition over at Brownie Scraps and would love any of the support you'd like to show! For the first challenge, I created a template for you, based on my Traffic Jam Lovin' layout from a week or so ago. Hope you like it!

To download the template, click on the image and look in the description section. The download link is in there. If you wouldn't mind leaving a comment there, I would really appreciate it! Thanks for the support!

For You

If today hasn't been the best day ever.

If you've ever looked at someone else and asked, "when is it going to be my turn?"

If you've cried lately.

If "be patient" are the last words you want to hear.

If loneliness has come knocking on your door.

If your name is Jessica, Julie, Kenna, Allyceson, Rachel, Kiara, Lindsay, Emilee, Ariel, Sarah, or Ashley.

If your name isn't Jessica, Julie, Kenna, Allyceson, Rachel, Kiara, Lindsay, Emilee, Ariel, Sarah, or Ashley.

If you need someone to understand.

If it's the dark before the dawn.

If you're fighting for hope.

If you've ever said, "life is just hard, sometimes."

THIS IS FOR YOU.

I just finished reading each and every post on Ashley's blog. One of my favorite posts by her mentions this scripture from the Book of Mormon, and interprets it in a way that I've never thought about before. We spend so much time focusing on the pain we are going through. It's vital for us to understand that "this too shall pass." and soon, we will be experiencing the most exquisite and sweet joy we've ever felt.

I hope you know that I believe we have a wonderful, loving, compassionate Heavenly Father who knows me and each and every one of you. I believe that He wants us to be happy and that we are here on this earth to learn how to remain faithful, especially in times of trial. We can pray to Him for strength and comfort to get out of bed in the morning. We will make it. And you are never, ever alone.

Note: I designed this print for an awkwardly long frame in our kitchen. I think it will serve as a great reminder to keep my head up. If you would like to print it, feel free to click the image for a full-resolution version. The borders on the top and bottom may be trimmed and will make it easier to fit into a more normal sized frame.

LDS Blog Train!

Welcome to my portion of the blog train! I had a blast putting together this little mini-kit for you.

Download Of Noble Birthright by Call Me Kristin Designs

Please leave a comment if you download!

Your next stop is: All LDS Freebies

If you get lost, click here to get to the full blog train list.

Don't stop here! Check out the entire train to get the coordinating scraps!

Money Management Week: Day 2

#2 Make A Budget

Yup. You knew this had to be on here somewhere. Figure out where your money goes-so you know how much you can have to play with and how much you need to put away for a rainy day. :)

Our budget is very unique, and it changes probably every 6 months or so. There are categories that are generally about the same each month-rent, utilities, cell phone, and cable, categories that vary-food, clothing, entertainment; and categories that are specific to us-diapers, travel, etc. Make your budget personal for you. If I'm trying to spend $300 a month on groceries, there is no way diapers are going into that category-I would never be able to stay in my budget.  Just make rough estimates, try to stick to it, and see how you do. It will take you a couple of months to get a workable budget. Add your car insurance payment into your budget. Set aside money for those plane tickets  that you're going to be needing during the summer. Try and make your budget as helpful as possible so you aren't suddenly surprised because you forgot a semi-annual bill or an anniversary.

Oh yeah, and if you hate having to be accountable for every penny...add a running money/allowance category into your budget. Take $20 cash out every month-and do whatever with it. No questions asked. :)

To get you going on your own budget, check out these free downloadable templates!

• 4-Step Budget Template by Life After College


• Personal Monthly Budget by My Money Shrugged


• Or you can get Lindsay's Budget Template here

Join us tomorrow for Day 3: Tracking Your Expenses!

Did you miss Day One? Check it out here!


Lindsay graduated from Brigham Young University with her Bachelor’s in English. She has lived in Colorado for a little over a year. Her husband loves her because she makes him laugh. Her daughter loves her because she makes the best food in the world. :) Lindsay loves her book club, quilting, her family, and going places-the library, the zoo, hiking, sporting events. She loves to GO!

Planning Your Freezer Cooking Day: Pt. 1

Part One: Plan Your Meals

Note: this will be a four part series consisting of the following. Part One: Plan Your Meals. Part Two: Your Battle Strategy. Part Three: Assemble The Troops. Part Four: Your Freezer Cooking Questions Answered! If throughout this series, you have a question, or find something I didn't really explain too well please leave your question in the comments! I'll be answering these questions in part four. If you're reading this after the series has ended, please don't hesitate to leave a comment and I'll do Q&As in the future too, or if you need an answer like, now, because you're driving to the store as we speak-which is shamefully dangerous...worse than texting...-park the car, then e-mail me at k.call.design {at} gmail {dot} com and I'll get back with you asap!

The idea of OAMC or Freezer Cooking can be a lot to take in. I remember reading about it on a number of blogs and maybe an "about" article or two before just making up my mind to try it one Saturday. I work 9-5 every day at a pretty draining job. In an effort to reduce the number of nights we eat out every month, my approach to Freezer Cooking was born.

I'm a planner. I like lists, calendars, deadlines, etc. So I pulled up a calendar in trusty Microsoft Word and went to town. Our family [of two] typically eats two chicken breasts, or 1 pound of ground beef per dinner. (Because meat is the most expensive part of our diet, we try to minimize this by having a couple side dishes every meal in addition to the main course.)

I googled "Freezer Cooking Recipes" and found this site, where the bulk of February's meals came from. Additionally, I had a couple of family favorites to include and/or modify. If I could turn the entire thing into a dry mix, I did. I placed everything into a ziploc bag and labeled it in our pantry. Otherwise, I figured out how far I could possibly prepare each meal before freezing it was no longer an option, and put that into the freezer cooking plan. If this doesn't really make sense to you, I apologize. :) heh. I'll do better!

So, using my knowledge of 2 chicken breasts per dinner, I was able to calculate how many different dishes each recipe would account for. Then, I filled the calendar with that dish, making sure that there was a good amount of time between each night we were planning on eating similar meals. I try to shake it up a little bit between chicken, ground beef, and the occasional seafood or veggie dish. It's not too difficult when you've got the entire month in front of you.

A lot of places recommend only cooking for 2 weeks at a time. If that works for you, by all means go for it! In my opinion, two weeks doesn't give you enough time between similar meals and your family might get bored with the recipes you choose. Also, I'm really REALLY tired after every freezer cooking day, and the thought of doing it every two weeks doesn't sound too great. I'm a 100% or nothing kind of girl, so I'd jump in head first and just give it a go!

You don't have to do everything the first month. Sometimes just boiling, chopping and freezing chicken is all you need to make a 45 minute meal into a 10 minute one.

My first month, I focused on main-dish dinners only. By my freezer cooking, we really didn't have anything for lunches and no snack food to speak of. Side dishes were completely absent. We didn't go hungry, but I didn't have my leftovers [that I love!] for lunch the next day.

The second month, I found ways to score snack food for next to nothing using coupons and scenarios from my fave coupon blogs. Lunches were much MUCH better.

This month, I'm figuring out how to do all of the above and adding freezable dinner rolls, homemade tortillas for frozen burritos using my husband's famous [and AMAZING] homemade re-fried beans, and various freezable side dishes. We're doing all this on the same budget as before so my couponing is going to have to be in top form. :) I'll keep you posted.

To get you started, I've created a Freezer Cooking Calendar just for you!

Click Here to Download

Note: You'll notice the option to check "extra" on each day. One of my favorite parts of freezer cooking is that while you plan for 30 meals, you rarely eat all 30 meals. Someone will invite you over for dinner, you'll have a wedding to attend, etc. The un-used meals can then be used for the next month, or in place of a night where you're "just not in the mood" for what's planned! I'm building my year supply this way, though we'll have to get a bigger freezer!