Saving Up

I go round and round on how I do manage my money. Sometimes I spend it and other times I save it. Ultimately, it will all get spent in the end.

There are a lot of things that I would like to buy, at this time, I am dying to buy clothes for my new wardrobe and coloring books to start my hobby, not to mention I still need to finish buying all the things for my house like decor and organizational units etc.

Currently, my spending goes a little something like this, I do it in bursts of about $35 to $120. I only spend money (on things I don't NEED) when there is at least $300 floating in my account doing nothing, meaning I have 300$ that is extra after the bills have been paid. If I have less than $300 I will not spend it unless I stumble across something I really REALLY want, and this is rare.

I still plan to use this same method because it has been working out really well for us but I am now going to tweak it a little bit. I am now going to save up $1,300 and I would like that to be floating in my account at all times. If there is not at least $1,300 (not including the money for the bills) in my account, I am going to consider myself broke. I will start spending once I reach $1,600 and I may spend a little more than the $300 but that will be okay because it is all extra money anyways. I will then save it up again and repeat.

I feel this is a very good idea to provide us with some fall back for if something should come up (like our car breaking or having to pay the lawyer!). At the end of the day we will still have money. I have currently saved up about $205 so I have a long ways to go but the cash flow seems pretty good coming for Etsy so I am hoping to have the money saved up by the end of December.

9.5 Months Old!

On October 17th Bear turned 9.5 months old!

We took him back to the doctor yesterday to check on his weight and follow up on the rash he has all over his legs. He actually gained a little over a lb and is now 17.7 lbs! So we are no longer worried about weight issues. As for the rash, the doctor ruled it as a genetic rash he got from Anthony. Anthony has the same thing on his upper arm, I am not sure why we never linked the two before. She gave us a name for it but it was really long and I do not remember it. She said it is very hard to treat and suggested we put Vaseline on it, but as long as it is not bothering him, not to worry about it.

He started doing two new things physically! He can now crawl!!!! This was a long time coming and we are VERY exited about this. He has been scooting around dragging himself all over since he was 4 months but now he is up on his knees and crawling! He is also sidestepping while standing and holding on to the things. He will not take steps if we are holding his hands but he will "walk" around the couch while holding on to it. He just started doing this so he is not a pro yet but he is getting there!

He is still wearing the same size clothes and diaper but his feet grew. He can now fit into a size 2.5 shoe!

He is still loving eating everything in site (even things he is not supposed to). He loves, loves, loves to feed himself! As for the sippy cup, he seems to know how to use and what it does but most of the time we are giving it to him now he is rejecting it. He just likes to chew on the nipple, this is a work in progress.

Sleeping habits are great still the same as before. He is also getting less shy with people. When he sees new people he is smiling with them but is very cautious about going to them. Sometimes he will go to them himself after a while of staring, but most of the time if we hand him to someone before he is ready to go to them he will cry.

9 Months Old Picture Dump

Here are the promised pics of Bear that were supposed to go with the 9 months old update. :]

Just waking up!

This is him attacking me trying to get my camera. It is almost impossible to take pics of this boy.

I walked into his room one Saturday morning to find this! He was literally stuck lol. Poor thing. Took me at least 4 minutes to get him out of there too.

Waking up Daddy!

Getting ready to take me to work in the morning.

Silent Sunday: Food!

Pork chops, white rice, okra stew, fried plantain, and avocados that were sent to us by mail from Puerto Rico!

 This was for when I was on a diet, 2 days into that diet I realized that I was doing it all wrong. (More on that later).

 Apple dumplings I made Anthony! He LOVED them!

Planning the New Wardrobe

I have been planning my new wardrobe for quite some time now. I made a list of all the things I would like and I plan to check them off the list as I buy them. I keep going over what I want over and over again as I want to make sure that it is EXACTLY what I want because I am going to be spending so much money on it.

Here is what I plan to buy (and yes I know this is extensive but this is what I want, I am tired of wearing the same things over and over again because of limited selection, so this time around I want a vast selection).

For work- I plan to buy more work pants, classic uniform style khakis. I want one khaki, one black, and one navy. For the tops I want to go with plaid long sleeve shirts with tanks underneath so that way I don't have to button them up. I also want to do polos but none with graphics. I want polos that are solid but with a different colored logo on them in the upper right corner so I can match the tank to it. I plan to wear these un-buttoned and layer them with the tanks. I would like to have at least 30 options so I would say about 15 polos and 15 plaid shirts. I also plan to buy coordinating jackets for every color outfit I get or at least most because it is 62 degrees in my job and I have to have a jacket everyday.

For weekends - I am sort of stumped on this. At first I was thinking I would do jeans and fashion tops but when I go through and look at the fashion tops... I only see like 2-3 that I like and even those are kinda meh. I think now I am leaning toward plaid Bermuda shorts with fitted graphic tees and a coordinating jacket and shoes. The issue is I am having problems finding plaid Bermuda shorts. There are literally none for sale. I think they are out of season as it IS October... hopefully they will bring them back in the spring or summer. It's a good thing this is low priority on my list of stuff to buy. As a last resort I can always go to eBay but most of their stuff is used, and I want to buy only new clothes.

For PJs - I get cold REALLY easily! So I am planing on buying only long pants for pjs. At first I was leaning toward one of every color but now that I have decided that I want all my pj tops to be tie dye shirts I think I want all my pj bottoms to be either black, white, or grey. At this time I all ready have one dark gray, one white, one pink, and one blue. So I think I would just be adding one light gray and one black and any other pj bottoms that I just HAVE to HAVE. As for the tie dye shirts? One day I was on Etsy and I just fell in love with the idea of wearing tie tye all the time. I obviously can not wear tie dye to work so that wont be happening and I really don't want to wear it out as I prefer to wear fitted shirts out rather than t-shirts, so I decided that I would be wearing tie dye for my pjs and around the house etc. I went on Etsy and found a few sellers that have lots of cute shirts that I want. I actually picked out 31 that I would love to buy, will I buy all 31? Who knows, but I sure do want to.

For bras - I am very picky about bras. I only have 2 that I will wear atm and they are Victoria's Secret Wonder Bra. I am not sure if I will be buying more of those or not. I may try out Hollister's bras and see if they are any good and I may try out some from Zulily too. I guess it really kinda would be a shot in the dark until I found someone that sells ones that I really like for a cheap price. I want at least 7 good bras and they all need to be white or very close to white. While I love cute colored bras, it is the most annoying thing on the planet when the color shows through a light colored shirt. So no colored bras for me!

For socks - oh socks! I have not bought socks in a good long while! I have about 5 pairs with holes in them that I have had since the 8th grade that I STILL wear! Yeah really. So I plan on throwing out all my socks with the exception of about 6 pairs that are less than a year old. I then want to buy about 10-15 new pairs, all no-show. I also want some that are tall for those super cold days and some for flats.

For underwear - Right now I have about 35 pairs of underwear. Most are about 3 years old. Some are even older. About 6 are less than 3 years. I plan to throw out all of them but the newer ones and buy a pair to replace each one I throw away. I would like to buy all my new underwear from Hollister, they have the cutest underwears!

For shoes - I am a shoe addict. I REALLY AM! I used to have quite a bit of shoes but my old cat peed on them all so I had to throw them all out! Now I only have one pair of sneakers and one pair of flip flops. I plan to buy a pair of flip flips in every color and a pair of sneakers in every color as well so I can have matching shoes for every outfit I have. I also want some boots, the kind with fur at the top, and a few pairs of flats too. Maybe even some dressy shoes or gladiators shoes.

For accessories- I plan to buy bracelets, necklaces, rings, belts... all that good stuff in all the colors to match my outfits as well. I also plan to start wearing earrings again. I have not done this in a LONG time! I used to have gauges a few years back.... that was a stage and I am over it now and ready to start wearing normal earrings. :] I also want to buy a neutral colored back pack to use as a purse. I do not like purses but backpacks are fine with me. So I am looking for one that is either white, grey, tan, or something like that, that would look ok with just about anything. The reasoning is, since I am going to have so much going on color wise, I do not want to add more color (and a different color at that) with a bag. I do not want a full size backpack though, just a mini size, so finding the perfect one may take a while.

And last but not least! - HAIR! - I have been having issues with this wild hair of mine! I have not cut it in 5 years and it is VERY long. It's to the top of my butt at the longest length, but it is very uneven all over the place too. You wouldn't know though because I wear it in a bun 24/7. Wearing it in a bun has caused me some issues as of late. I guess my hair is just tired of it and quite frankly.... I am too. My hair is starting to fall out at the front and I have two spots where it looks like I am going bald. I know I really have to do something about this before it becomes a major issue. I think the the only thing to do is to stop putting it up and give it time to grow back and recover. Well.... my hair is very curly and very hard to tame it is absolutely impossible to wear down unless it is straightened with a flat iron. So as much as I REALLY do not want to do this, I am going to have start straightening my hair every night before I go to bed. I like my hair straightened but it just takes way too much time, that is why I never do it! But maybe I will learn to to do it fast if I do it everyday lol. Anyways I plan to go to the barber shop and get it cut and maybe even dyed or highlighted and then start wearing it down. I am going to start this as soon as I have the money to do so. I would need about $250 to get this done.

And so there you have it! All the plans for my new wardrobe. Will I go through with them all? Who knows. But one thing I do know is that I WILL have a new wardrobe! whether I stick to these plans or not, because it is just something that I need to have. When it's time, it's time. And now... it is time.

Etsy Updates and Plans

Etsy has been going very well! Anthony and I are getting lots of sales and making a good amount of money on the side to buy things that we want or need. We have been backed up for the last two weeks with sales but after tonight we will be all caught up again seeing as they really slowed down this week. I am glad for the extra time I will have to clean and spend time with Bear but I really hope things pick up again soon as I really want some extra money to buy stuff to start my new hobby :]

Our new schedule is working great! We are sticking to is pretty well, all though I did work a lot on Saturday and a little on Sunday too, but that was because I wanted to get caught up on backed orders. I am glad I did too. I have still have pics of two new products that are in my camera that I have yet to list. (I also have lots of pics of Bear in there too!) I need to empty my SD card and edit them all very soon as my SD card is now full (my SD card is tiny and only holds about 150 pics). I hope to get that done tomorrow night.

I soon plan to start working on my Christmas line! I do not know how extensive this will be, but I will at least have 5 items. Maybe I will just keep it at 5 this year seeing as my funds are sort of low. I do have the turkeys for Thanksgiving so that will be all I will be doing with that. Next year I will have a much larger holiday selection.

I am also super exited about our soap shop! We plan to launch on the 1 year anniversary of our crayon shop - May 23rd, 2014 I plan to start working on the soap stuff in late February of next year. It took us about 4 months to set up for our crayon shop launch, so I am hoping I can get it all done in time to launch on the scheduled date.

I am also debating adding scented play dough to my crayon shop and launching a candle shop too. If I do launch a candle shop all candles will be pre-made. I will not be making them to order. This would just be a small side project that I would mess around with when I ran out of stuff to do with the other two shops. If it ever does happen, it is a long way down the road and lots and lots of researching away too! I have never really made candles so I would have to practice a lot before I would feel confident with selling them. And in this world practicing means spending lots of money on supplies, because lots get wasted during the trial and error process. So this would be a project for a time when we have lots of extra money hanging around.

I believe that's it everything that is going on with Etsy and all my plans too! :] Stay tuned for new pics of Bear coming Friday (more than likely).

Ta-Ta!

The New Hobby

Every so often I discover new things that just BLOW MY MIND! I instantly fall in love and get really exited about them. Then most of the time I make wishlists of the stuff that I want and then never find the funds to buy any of it and I never get to experience the hobby at all because once I do have the funds, I have all ready found something else I would rather try.

This has happened with puzzles, paint by number, bento lunch gear, and much more stuff that I can not seem to think of off the top of my head.

I made lots of lists of all the puzzles I wanted and paint by number kits, and I planned to take up both of those hobbies. I was over the moon exited like no ones business. In the end I bought 2 puzzles and did one of them then I never bought anymore. I did not buy any of the paint by numbers. I may want to try paint by number again someday but, it is much too messy for me now. I want a clean hobby. Puzzles also are too messy and take too much space when putting together and when storing them. And not to mention they cost a lot too!

The whole bento thing... I am not sure if this was a phase or not. I am still pretty in love with all things bento but it has gotten old. It seems like I have seen all there is to see. So the only thing I could do to further it really is to actually make bentos which won't work because I do not eat lunch. Maybe I will pursue that if I get custody of Seth, if not.... maybe I will when Bear gets older and starts pre-school. I did buy some bento gear, 3 Bento boxes, different kinds of sprinkles, some picks, and some tiny containers. I used them for a little while when I was taking lunch to work but quickly stopped.

NEVER THE LESS! Yesterday I found something awesome on Wal-Mart.com! I found that they sell loads of complex coloring books intended for adults! I have been looking for these for a long long time. I never looked online surprisingly but now that I did I found so many that I just have to have. And thus my new hobby was born.

Well... not quite yet as I am too broke right this moment to buy any of them at all but, I assure you, the first time I do come into extra money that is where it is going to :]

Wal-Mart.com has lots and lots to chose from, I personally picked out 24 coloring books that I want to buy. (This will have me covered for a VERY long time lol). I want to buy some Crayola Color Wonder Kits too. I know these are childish but I like the concept. And seems like a fun cute thing to do when boredom strikes. And if I don't like them I can always just give them to Seth, seeing as they are made for little kids his age.

I hope to be able to buy all these books gradually over time in little spurts of $30-$45. If I do that I should only have to make 6 purchases to get all the ones I want plus the color wonder stuff. So that is not too bad. And now that we actually have money to spend this is more then doable. Maybe not in these next few months as we are paying off our lawyer and buying a new car but once January hits, it is on!

I also want to get into learning how to draw! Wal-Mart.com has lots of how to books on how to draw. I picked out 12 of those that I would love to have as well. Maybe I will get those too, or maybe not. I still have not decided if it will interest me enough to keep my attention.

The thing about the coloring is, I already know that I LOVE it and it will keep my attention for sure. I know I won't be wasting my money. When my sister and I were younger we used to spend all summer long coloring in coloring books. We had so much fun and enjoyed that more than any other quite activity. I never grew out of the love to color. We used to have these books that we got from the dollar store and they were coloring books but they were a story too. I have been looking for those books everywhere and have yet to find a single one :[ I would love so much to have some.

P.S. It completely makes sense that I would love to color seeing as I sell handmade crayons on Etsy lol

P.S.S. I never color with the crayons that I make, while they are great and I do love them, they are intended for children to use and do not work all that well when coloring intricate pictures like I do, seeing as you need a fine tip to do so.