Monday, January 19, 2009

A Total Money Makeover

So I finally decided to just read the book The Total Money Makeover to john, while he played his video games and kids were entertained/sleeping, and i feel like we are finally on the same page. he's been in agreement with me on some issues, but i wanted him to see where i was coming from, why i wanted to be so intense...and i think he gets it now. we shall see. i like how Dave talks about being GAZELLE INTENSE. we are going to do it! we've been in the process for a while, but we weren't both in it together in the past. so with arms locked we're beginning to run full force into our debt and begin the snowball...it's like the game "Red Rover" where you try to break the chain of arms in front of you. well let me tell you...we're gonna break free! if anyone out there hasn't heard about Dave Ramsey you've got to check it out. it will change your life. 

we've set a goal to be completely debt free (and we can say that, because we don't have a mortgage) by the end of the year!!! we only have about...roughly $15,200 to go. so we'll see. i'll post updates every now and again to let you know how we are doing!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

your baby can read

wooo

my mouth and jaw hurt. i just got a root canal done this morning and a crown soon to be replaced. yeah, not the first time, but this time really hurt. the gums were really infected so that didn't help. oh well, no more pain in the stupid anymore. 

so i'm so excited. my husbands company is giving the option of receiving your W2's online. and we opted for that because we do everything online. they just came up today!!! middle of january! i can have my return filed before Feburary!! YES!

so question to all the mom's out there. have any of you heard anything about the program called "your baby can read"? i'm interested to know what others think about it after seeing what it is about. i'm really anxious to see if it will work, but it's pricey. but my children's education is VERY important to me, and if this program would help... so if you want to look into it, here's the link. if you watch the video tell me what you think. 

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

getting out of debt anyway we can

so i've been thinking alot about our debt that we have, and john and i both want to be debt free. i want it so badly, that lately i've been roaming the house for things to sell...lol. and i've had some success, but well, only 2 things out of 15 or so sold, so i'm thinking of other ways to try and bring in extra income. 

i've made bows in the past, and been successful at it, but i have run out of people who are interested, so i'd have to search them out, and it's almost not fun for me anymore. (it's been about 8 months since i've made one!) plus, i hardly have the time to do it what with 2 kids that want my attention...and it just seems like for the amount of time it takes me to make one bow, the profit i make isn't worth it. 

i thought about making and selling cloth diapers...not hard, takes about an hour for one, but only make about 6 bucks per diaper...or 6 bucks an hour??? no thank you.

so what else am i good at that i am confident enough marketing to everyone else, and furthermore, with everyone tightening their budgets, what would people be willing to buy?? well, my thought was food. no matter the price, people need food, no way around it. and the weathly workers will pay for good food. so, i make a mean lasagna....i've never had anyone who has tried it tell me anything different from it being some of the best they've had... so i could put together a lasagna lunch, with a piece of lasagna, a roll or two and a piece of brownie or a few cookies...all of this would be homemade of course...and i could sell it for a set price... scout out the doctors offices' and the pharmacies...and with the calculations i've made, with selling two trays worth of lasagna (the number of lunches vary depending on the serving size of lasagna) i could make about $80 profit. the prep and cook time would be 4-5 hours for making lasagna, rolls, and brownies or cookies. 

i keep going over in my head how i could do this...am i crazy for thinking about such a commitment? and would there be any stay-at-home mom's interested in helping me accomplish this and get paid?

if i'm not crazy and you think it might be a success, are there any suggestions for other "lunch" type meals i could rotate between?