December 10, 2013

The A To Your Q

I realize I've been dragging my feet answering the questions you guys asked, which is ridiculous considering I ASKED for it.  But, I digress, here are the answers to your burning questions {and can you believe I didn't get one nasty question?  Holler!}.

Stephanie and Eileen asked:  As a Mother of 2, you have clearly figured out how to make time to work out - you are looking HWAT in your IG photos. As a Mom of 1, I struggle. Doesn't seem right! What suggestions do can you give to someone who wants to get back at it without joining a gym (budget doesn't allow for that)?

Ha!  Welllll.. I haven't worked out in weeks, seriously.  When James was still a newborn it was easy, he slept all the time, so I'd work out when Kendall went down for her nap, like I always did.  I really really hate that I've put it on the back burner as of recent and have been thinking of ways to squeeze it back in.  I think, if I'm being honest with myself, the best time for me to do it is going to be in the morning, before anyone wakes up.  But...sleep.  Sleep outweighs the treadmill every morning.  The scale is still at a standstill and that's frustrating enough and I know the only way it's going to change is if I work in some cardio to my schedule.  Thank you for the huge compliment though, I wish I had better advice.  If it's important to us we will make time for it, that's what I always used to tell myself but these days it's just really hard.  

Sarah asked: any more babies?!


Oh, Sarah. Even though Crue baby is enough to give me The Fever, I think we are done.  I know we sang the one and done song after Kendall was born and here we are with the cutest, chubbiest baby James but we feel complete now.  My heart is full.  No more babies.

B asked: I want to know how you maintain your budget. We have been TRYING and TRYING to stay on budget but the grocery store and gas and shopping (someone needs new clothes or a birthday party or baby shower etc). How do you do it so you can stay home?

WELL...this, again, is a hard question for me to answer because, again, I feel like a failure in this department.  We don't even have a budget, it's pathetic really.  We struggle and I've made no secret of that over the past, almost, two years.  Some months we have to pick and chose what bills get paid.  Jimmy will pick up side jobs when he needs to.  We got rid of my brand new car for a cheaper sucky one.  We shopped around and got way cheaper home/car insurance.  We downgraded our cable package.  I called our internet provider and managed to get $20 off a month just for asking.  We refinanced our home.  I've definitely cut back on shopping, significantly, there are no more random, "oh hey I want this!" trips anymore.  When we do things outside of the home they tend to be pretty cheap.  For example the rec center close by has $3 open gym and we do that most Fridays.  Now if I could get a grasp on our grocery "budget" that'd help tremendously, but I just don't know how to spend less, even when I use coupons my bill is $150/week.  I could do a whole blog post on this topic but it'd probably be very boring and sad so I'll just leave you with this much.

Lori {from Facebook} asked: What is your dream vacation? And is it weird that tons of people have been reading you for years that you don't know? Is that creepy,lol?

Honestly, my honeymoon in Riviera Maya was my dream vacation.  Jimmy and I had never been to Mexico before and we had an all inclusive, adults only resort and it was perfection.  All the food, all the drinks, all the sun, it was everything I love for one full week.  We loved it so much that we've talked about going back, maybe for our 5 year anniversary.  We haven't taken a vacation with just the two of us since our honeymoon so I'm sure it'll be hard to leave the babes for a few days but right now THAT sounds like a dream. 

And...hmm...when I actually sit down and let myself think about the fact that I've been writing our life story for over 4 years, yes it does seem weird AND creepy.  I love it though, I really do.  The people that I've met through blogging, the tips I've taken away, the journeys I've followed through blogging are all something that I would have never been able to experience otherwise.  Sometimes I'll meet people and they'll say, "Oh I read your blog!  I love it!" and I'm like taken back.  Like, what?  Me?!  OMG did I say something that I should be embarrassed of?  And then at the end of the day I never think about it and I just write.  I try not to think about the audience too much when I write otherwise this blog would be very, very different.

Chelsey asked:  Where does one find fleece-lined leggings?


WELL I'm glad someone asked because I have a new store I want to tell you all about, Amaranth Collection. First of all, their Fleece Leggings are like a combination, sweat pant and legging.  They are super warm, only $10, and VERY thick so you don't have to worry about your underwear showing through.  I've been Team Leggings as Pants for the past few years and people always ask where I get them and I never have a pair worthy of referring people to, until now.  AND use code 'dewblog15' for 15% off!!!


9 comments:

  1. I need to work on getting a budget too. We both work and are in school so money is very tight. I am going to work on tracking our spending first. I totally agree with the food budget part because we have 2 teenagers. I coupon when I have time but food seems to be getting more and more expensive.

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  2. www.daveramsey.com - follow his 7 Baby Steps - it will truly change your life (financial and otherwise). And having a budget is ESSENTIAL. I know everyone dreads doing a budget, I totally get that. But keep in mind that a budget doesn't mean you don't get to buy fun things. It just means you plan those purchases beforehand! Also, can you do bill averaging for your utilities? That helps us a TON, especially with our electric bill (we are 100% electric, no gas). You probably know this, but it's where they take your past 12 month's worth of bills, average them, then you pay that average amount each month. At the end of the next 12 months you should come close to breaking even, but could have a bit of a credit or owe a bit extra. That has REALLY helped our budget because we know EXACTLY how much we're going to have to pay every month - there are no "surprise, it's cold outside so you owe us $300 this month" bills! I know budgets aren't fun for most people to talk about, but if you have any questions, I'm totally willing to answer them (without getting into your personal business, of course!).

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  3. I'm with Rachel Dave Ramsey is the bomb.com. Financial peace is the best thing ever! loved the post today. Your honeymoon sounded amazing!!

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  4. I'm doing a lot with my budgeting too lately. Once I get a little more in the grove I think I'll do a post about it :)

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  5. Okay I think I might need to stock up and buy 10 pairs of those fleece leggings. lol

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  6. Groceries kill us every month too, I don't know how to buy less food. I will only buy quality food since you are what you eat and health is important but still it's so damn much money!

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  7. Those fleece leggings only fit up to a size 10. :(

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  8. How did you find out about Amaranth? Most people don't know about much coming from good ole Tulsa!!

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  9. if you need a financial planner/advisor - my husband is one ;) haha shameless plug. he would be proud. and probably pay me for saying that. i usually just roll my eyes whenever he talks money related ANYTHING. I'm awful.
    i think i want 4 or 5 babies because i stilllll have the fever. actually maybe i just have pregnancy fever. but i think ill feel complete after 2 like you do. who knows what will happen. for now, i must enjoy crue and obsess over james from afar!
    xxo

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