You Need a Budget

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My husband is starting a new job where he'll now get 26 paychecks a year instead of 24. I've seen the budgeting program called "You Need a Budget" AKA "YNAB" for quite some time, but hadn't spent any time researching it until this weekend.

After reading a negative review on Amazon I decided to try out the program {they have a 34 day trial period.}

Yep, it was the negative review that made me stop and think more about money. The person was complaining that you shouldn't have to spend a few hours trying to figure out how the software works. I agree in some cases, but when it comes to money it's a different story.

Money is the one constant my life. I am either spending it, finding ways to save it, thinking about it, making plans for it, etc. It's a very active part of our lives. A few years ago we took the Dave Ramsey class. Now we do a kinda/sorta Dave Ramsey plan. We don't implement everything that he teaches because it doesn't work for us. Instead we've taken his advice and made it work for us.

Personal Finance

In order to personalize your finances you have to find the tools that work for you. In the beginning of any "new" finance system, you have to spend some time creating a system that works for your situation.

Is YNAB the solution for us? I haven't decided yet. The way we do things now will not work with the way my husband gets paid. We can either try and fix what we've got or trying something new that has received a lot of positive reviews.

Regardless of what we choose to do, 

spending some time creating a system for my finances is an investment in my family.

Why Does a Smartphone Make Me Feel Dumb?

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I've had a Tracfone pay as you go phone for years and years and years. It has served me well.

Even though Tracfone has horrible customer service the price was right for us. The best thing I ever learned about Tracfone was this: after 5 minutes of being on the phone with a tracfone rep, just ask for a manager. My issue would get resolved immediately. Please note that I haven't ever had any problems with my Tracfone. The only issue I had was when I'd buy a new phone and would need to transfer everything over to the new phone. Often times when I'd be in Eastern Montana, my cheapie cell phone would work when other people's cell phones wouldn't.

Would I buy a tracfone again? ABSOLUTELY!!!

But let me just tell you this...the iPhone 4S totally and completely rocks!

Why is it that I got the $200 phone and my hubs got the $.99 "old" phone (he's the one that needed the phone for work LOL.)

The camera! I need a new camera so I can take indoor pictures that aren't dark and blurry. Let's hope all of the reviews are correct about it this phone.

Now, I need some help....will you please tell me what your favorite app/feature/advice is?

** This post contains an amazon affiliate link.

Staycation

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We're on staycation!

My husband's last day was March 9th and will begin his new job March 19th. He sacrificed a lot the past two years by choosing a job that was a 50 minute drive (one way.) I'm so thankful he has made so many sacrifices for our family.

He's REALLY looking forward to the two minute drive to his new job!

I'll be posting again next week.

Thankful for Phalanges

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Phalanges of the hand...commonly known as the finger bones.

I don't think I've ever been grateful for my hands before. It's probably one of those...you don't know what you've got until it's gone...kind of thing.

My friend broke her wrist this winter so I started thinking about how many things she couldn't do around the house because of her cast. My husband is a surgical physician assistant. He couldn't work at his current job if he was missing a few of his fingers.

I really want to be more aware of the small things in life. It's just amazing to me that our bodies work the way that they do. Again, it goes back to time though. When I'm busy running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I have no time to be thankful.

TIME 

I think that it's time for me to re-read Amy's book "Tell Your Time"!

Menu Plan / Routine How To March 5, 2012

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Check out this blog post - this lady eats ice cream every Monday as well as chips and salsa when she goes out to eat...she lost 120 pounds and refuses to be on a diet.

Haven't tried any of these recipes yet, but there a ton I would like to at PaleoPlan.Com. A couple of posts that I read made me think she didn't subscribe to the idea that everyone should eat exactly the same thing. I really need to try some homemade beef broth - I've failed every time I've made it. BLECH!

I'm working on getting more fermented foods into my diet because it's been so successful so far. This week I plan to pick up some milk kefir grains and try that.

Menu Plan AKA Menu Routine

Breakfast Menu Plan

Lunch - leftovers or whatever for me (kids eat school lunch and they typically provide lunch for my husband at work). This will soon be changing as my husband will be changing jobs in a month.

Dinners (we eat a primalish /paleoish diet  - limited grains/sugar).

Menu planning in action:

1. Outside Activities
What will conflict with supper preparations this week?

• Spring Break!!!

2. Pantry
What's in my cupboards, fridge and freezer?

• Hamburger (raw and cooked)
• pizza sauce
• buffalo burgers 
• raw chicken 
• 1 cooked German Sausage link
• Frozen veggies (beans, peas, cauliflower and broccoli)
• Frozen (cooked) pinto beans
• Eggs
• ham broth

3. Ideas for Dinner

• What can I make that my son loves?
• What can I make that my daughter loves?
• What can I make that my husband loves?
• What can I make that I love?
• What recipes have I found online that I want to try?

4. Make a Plan

1. KISS night (keep it simple silly - same thing every week).  Roast beef, mashed or baked potatoes (sweet for hubs and white for the kids) and  roasted veggies. 
2. Mexican or Cajun seasoning/cream sauce with the burger crumbles.
3. Pork Roast -  and sweet potato fries
4. Meatza w/ the buffalo burgers - boy are they gamey tasting!
5. Not sure about the rest of the days...we'll be out and about so I'm going to buy some food that easy to bring with.

TRY THIS WEEK?
Chocolate chip cookies ~ hmmm still avoiding sugar, but hubs birthday is coming up...

Snacks:
hard boiled eggs or leftovers

Tried and true recipes:
Josie's Shepherd Pie, Thai Sauce over Meat, Comfort Roast and  Horseradish Sauce, Asian Beef

Recipes to try soon:
Ranch ~ healthier alternative.
Marinade from SoSimplyGood (need to get coco aminos)
MarksDailyApple (buried in the massive post)
Salt and Vinegar Chickpeas
Cocktail
SimplyRecipes Flank Steak

Chimichurri sauce {they said "I think it is great on eggs in addition to flank steak.}
1 bunch italian parsley
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup a mix of lemon and lime juice
2 garlic cloves
3/4 cup red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp salt

Remove tough stems from fresh herbs. Puree all in food processor

For my flank steak i do a dry rub of cumin salt pepper garlic and ground coriander. No measurements just sprinkle on as i pull them out of the cabinet.
Grill as you like.

Brazilian Cheese Puffs
Recipes for Brazilian Cheese Puffs and  Food.com. I poured the batter into a mini muffin pan. This is not like bread, but I loved them. I had to make myself eat meat first! My son liked them, but my daughter and husband thought they were WEIRD!

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Check out other menu plans at:

Orgjunkie
11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven always has a lot of homemaking posts to read as well!

Paleo Summit Dr. Cate Shanahan

Fabulous presentation today at the Paleo Summit by Dr. Cate Shanahan. Again, these notes are mostly for me...

First of all, from her blog DrCate regarding the silliness of paleo:

Any recipe that generates odd adaptations of familiar foods might be fun, but some get carried away. The silliest Paleo recipe I’ve seen is “pizza” lacking cheese or crust and made out of ground beef shaped into triangular piles. Another unnecessary complication is the use of flours for reasons other than better flavor or reducing carbohydrate intake. If you like spelt or coconut or almond flour, by all means enjoy them. But if you don’t, or you like wheat flour better for certain recipes, then use wheat flour (my note: traditionally prepared).

 Now, personally, I LOVE LOVE LOVE meatza so I'm not giving that up, but she has a point.

• She is not fond of supplements because your body just doesn't know what to do with individual components. Really wants people to eat whole foods.
• Vitamin D is an exception (it's not really a vitamin)
• Her patients expect to get a pill because they tried to change their diet and it didn't work (cut calories, lower fat, etc.)
• Dietary cholesterol has minimal effect on blood cholesterol
• Bowl of pasta gets broken down into sugar which goes into your blood stream as blood sugar. Goes into your liver and transforms it into fat. Carbs make us make more cholesterol.
• Brain is made up of cholesterol and fats -> when you eat egg yolks for example, you shouldn’t think of it as eating fat, you should think of it as feeding your brain the food it NEEDS. You shouldn’t see it as calories you should see it as fuel for your brain.
• More fat will help with anxiety issues.

Closing statement:

If you are willing to change your diet there is no reason that you have to take most of the drugs out there. Let’s make food the mainstream treatment and turn drugs into an alternative treatment.

Latest Info from the Cooling Inflammation Blog

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Yesterday there was talk of high butt cracks, today it is about happy poop...wonder what tomorrow will bring LOL!

Dr. Oz provides a great service by promoting some healthy ideas, but it would be even better if he helped the public to understand how the gut and gut flora produce healthy poop.

Buy some fermented foods today! If you are brave you can make them at home too (I'm a complete failure at that though.)

Random Thoughts

OH MY!!!

• This blog just cracks me up...the first few words of today's post:

I've talked about my high butt crack...

I gasp (yes, I'm a prude) and think - you can't talk about high butt cracks on your blog...

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• I was listening to the Paleo Summit this morning wondering if some people have a hard time believing in a paleo diet/way of life because of the evolution vs. God debate. Here's my thought process...

Dear Jesus,

Many Christians claim that I should eat bread just because it's in the Bible. When I ate bread I had horrible digestion issues, acne, felt achy and had no energy.

What do you think Jesus' response would have been? I'm guessing it would be to eat foods that fuel your body, give you energy, etc.

Dear Jesus,

Many people say we can't just get rid a food group -> it's just not right. Why? Who created the food groups? The government. Hmmmm so I should listen to the government regarding what food to eat. Hmmmmmm....

Dear Jesus,

Is there such a thing as a cavemen, ice age people, etc....should I be eating like them?

Response: Honey, you absolutely hate history, why are you wasting your time trying to research something you hate? Do not worry about cavemen, Paleolithic, neolithic, blah blah blah. Do a bit of research if you like, but don't spend a lot of your precious time trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Spend that time building relationships, going for walks to enjoy this beautiful world I created, pet your dog, try a new recipe, eat real food, etc.

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So I've mentioned before that my knees are horrible. I'm 41 years old and they creak and crack as I walk up the stairs. I'm adding krill oil and cod liver oil to see if that will help, but I'm also trying to strengthen the muscles around my knees by doing wall squats.

1. "Sit" against the wall (pretend you are sitting in a chair)
2. Make sure your knees do not go over your toes
3. I'm doing this for 30 seconds 2 times per day

As usual, the first time I did it I did it for 2 minutes....dumb girl. This is exactly how I got hurt before...instant gratification!!! I want my knees to be fixed NOW. I don't want to wait to get fixed so I'll injure myself in the process. 

I'm trying to change my 'tude. Therefore I'm really going to only do 30 seconds two times per day this week. I need to increase slowly. If I say it over and over again do you think it'll help me?

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On the homemaking front...I totally fell off of the flylady bandwagon for a bit. You know what happened?

NOTHING major. The house didn't burn down, nobody noticed the house was "dirty", I had a lot more time. Seems as if I still have a lot of habits in place, but I did notice that when I was sweeping this week, it was DISGUSTING. Just yucky. So I've been working on getting my routines back in place again.

• clean kitchen sink 
• Hotspots
• 1 load of laundry per day
• know what's for dinner and write it down on the wipeboard
• 15 minutes (4 songs)  focused on cleaning whatever needs it the most (I've wiped out the fridge, worked on my closet and nightstand, walked around with a duster, etc.)

Love flylady!!!

**please note, that you should always consult a Dr. or someone who knows what they are talking about before you attempt any exercise program. Perhaps wall squats and eating a paleo/cavemen/limited grains diet will make your knees worse **