au natural

Sometimes I say things aloud and then think to myself, "I'm such a hippie-wannabe."

Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, except that I'm a wannabe for the purpose of looking cool or having people think I'm unique. Definitely a heart issue, but that's a post for another day.

Anyway, lately I've noticed that we've gone a bit more natural in the Alberts household. Not in huge ways (we still have a budget to keep!) but in a few small ways that I'm feeling good about. Here are some small changes we've made.

1. I use oil on my face.
2. Most of the fruit/veggies we buy (without a peel/skin) are organic. During the summer I buy from the farmer's market, but in the colder months all our produce is from the local grocery store.
3. Making my own salad dressing. I'm totally skeeved out by salad dressing ingredients and my friend gave me a super easy recipe that I use every time now.
4. Eating these granola bars for afternoon snacks. Delicious.
5. Shaving with coconut oil.
6. Cleaning kitchen surfaces with vinegar/water.

Possible future changes:
Using natural shampoo. Or none at all. Trying to go organic on meat & chicken (this is SO unbelievably expensive to me). Giving up sugar. Using an onion for future earaches.

February budget categories: + and -

Great news! After a month of using my new system to record our expenses, we are only "in the red" in two columns. One is giving. We gave 100 more dollars to our church/missions than we put into that column. The second is "food & supplies."

Of our nine categories, in the first month of this system, I think two columns in the (-) is pretty good. Here's why I'm not upset about those negatives...

1. With each paycheck, I picked what seemed to be a reasonable percentage to deposit into each category. I couldn't tell what percentages would come out to be the correct amount at the end of the month. So February was a trial.

2. My paychecks vary. All three of my jobs are hourly, so if I don't get called to sub, my check for that week is lower. If we have a holiday, I lose those after-care hours. It's very challenging to get a perfect guess of expenses and income each month.

3. We ate at Chick-Fil-A twice (and will eat there again tomorrow!). It's a special Thursday night thing for us because we can eat quickly in the college parking lot & catch up a bit before I go to class. I took the money for that out of "food & supplies" but should probably categorize it as "fun" instead. We'll see.

4. It's not necessarily a bad thing to give too much. We try to be wise stewards, of course, but we also live by faith in God's good provision. We trust that He has called us to tithe and to give generously to the missions and causes we are passionate about. So we do. This month I didn't put enough into that column, but that's fine.

5. All our other columns are very much in the positive. That means we put a good chunk away in savings, didn't have too much crazy fun, and saved up for the months this summer when I won't be getting such large paychecks.

6. Our budget isn't even close to being "in the red." We have a solid savings account and our bills never exceed our income. We are so blessed!


What do you think? Is having budget columns "in the red" terrible? Am I right to cut us a little slack? I'd love to know your opinions.

another budget update

After struggling for many months to get a better handle on our spending, I finally realized what every good teacher should know: I'm a visual learner. Even though I'm pretty tech-savvy and like to use the computer, budget spreadsheets weren't quite working for me. I used a document from Words of Williams to estimate our monthly income and designate amounts for bills, tithing, food, etc. But it wasn't working the way I wanted.

I thought back to my single days and how carefully I tracked my spending. What was different then? I wondered. Then it hit me: I wrote my expenses down by hand and had things separated into spending columns. That worked.Why not try it again?

So, I found an old binder, bought some notebook paper, and sorted out our spending into 8 basic categories: Housing, giving, savings, utilities, food & supplies, gifts, cars, and fun.

On the first day of February, we'd both just gotten paid, so I started fresh and wrote down amounts from our paychecks into each category. Since then I've been recording every thing we spend and putting it on the appropriate page (category).

I'm pretty stoked about this new method. Hope it sticks for the long term!

Something I wore

I am not a fashion blogger. Most of the time my clothes are not cute. Most of the time I wish I could justify spending more money on clothes. Then I try stuff on and realize I don't really even like it.

Today I went to Target and the mall (shudder!) in search of a couple new things to make it through the winter and I came home with just two tank tops. But then I saw a cute flannel on this blog and realized I have my own from a few years back that I could wear open to show my new tank.

Plus, the tank matches my earrings perfectly.

Plus, I have a new iPad that takes clear pictures and uploads them almost instantly. Score.
(Now if only I could master looking at the actual camera instead of randomly into space or at the iPad screen...)

 

(necklace from here.)

2012: year in review

2012 has been quite a year! I just finished making a photo book that I'm excited to order sometime after Christmas. Though I didn't take quite as many photos as I wish I had, I still found some great ones to include in our second Alberts family history book.

Let's recap, shall we?

January
My parents came to visit for the long weekend. They won't be able to in 2013 because my mom will still be recovering from brutal foot surgery.
We had a cheap (but so fun!) date to the movies.
I quoted my darling, hilarious students.

February
I co-hosted my bffs bridal shower.
Joel & I had a getaway to Leesburg, VA.

March
We got two new doors upstairs, courtesy of Dad Alberts
My friends & I took Melissa downtown for a sweet, special bachelorette night.
Laura & Gaetano got married!

April
I made this cute little cafe curtain for our bathroom. 
I was matron of honor & gave a great speech in Melissa's wedding.

May
I made this cool DIY photo board for our room.
We had a bad bus ride.

June
A big shock to us: I lost my teaching job!
We traveled to Ireland. 

July
We went to Washington state, for the second time in two years. Gosh, it's gorgeous there!
Joel built some awesome shelves for our room.
We went to a Phillies game, had a few dates, and hung around home.
Lauren & Chris got married! On a farm!

August
We mourned my job loss. Again. And again.
I experienced great hope, joy, and confidence. 
Joel & I had a double date vacation with my mom & dad.
I blogged about marriage & not making the small things big.

September
I welcomed fall, here on the blog. 
I made a super cute wreath and decorated the house.
We had a fun date downtown.
An attempt to get started with budgeting.
I reflected on the beauty of my friendships.

October
I struggled seriously with my job loss, change, and understanding God's plan. 
Joel & Melissa took us on a beautiful hike.

We were blown away by God's provision: I got a part-time job teaching ESL!!!!
I turned 28. Reluctantly. And awkwardly. And covered with zits.
eShakti sent me a free dress to review on my blog!

November
I was suuuuuuuuuuper excited (and honored!) to be a guest on Words of Williams. 
Follow-up post: shopping from the farmers' market.
This IS the plan. God's plan. 
I fell in love. With the Watoto Children's Choir.
We celebrated two amazing years of marriage!!!

December
I documented a day in my life. 
Really feeling my 28-ness.

Dear 2012, you have been a bittersweet year. Full of challenge, frustration, doubt, growth, joy, support, love, and grace. 

Bring on 2013!!

my love/hate relationship with jeans. and how I found a great new pair

I love jeans. But I hate 'em, too, because, to me, they're so finicky.

Most common brands don't make jeans that fit me well. I've tried GAP, J.Crew, Banana Republic, Old Navy, and Target. None are made of the right quality or a shape that flatters me. In the last few years I've bought my jeans at TJMaxx. I got the jeans below there about 2 years ago. They're Tommy Hilfiger Spirit Skinny and I love them. Perfect length, perfect amount of "skinny," perfect color (even after a million washes!) I went back a few weeks after I bought them because I realized they were amazing but, as is often true of TJs, there weren't any more.

When I looked for similar jeans recently, I realized Tommy Hilfiger jeans at regular price are wayyyyy more expensive than what I paid at TJs. Like 50 bucks more expensive. No, thanks. So I wandered through TJs & Marshalls & all the other stores I've tried & failed at in previous years. No luck.

I have read lots of reviews online about Levi's and decided to give 'em a go. I wandered into Macy's a couple weeks ago and somehow found myself in the juniors' section, ruffling through pair after pair of Levi's jeans. I tried them all on and they were terrible! Too long. Too tight. Too awkward in the waist. Too long. Too tight. Too awkward everywhere.

Then I realized that Macy's also has a Levi's section for women. Tried on one single pair and loved them. Basically a perfect fit. My only complaint is the waist is a tiny bit high for my preference, but at this point I can't be that picky. Not after my traumatizing experience with the juniors' jeans. So I bought them, using a gift card we got as a wedding gift two years ago, paid 9.99 extra to complete the purchase.

The final verdict is still out, but I think they're pretty good. Especially for $9.99 out of pocket. [And especially now that I'm 28 years old and really shouldn't even be walking through the juniors' department...]

meal planning, take two: start with the farmers' market

Wow! Yesterday this blog received 206 page views! That's about 20 times the typical number. Huge thanks to 'Words of Williams' for hosting me as a guest blogger. So fun.

As a follow-up to yesterday's post on W.O.W. [and because the local farmers' market season is almost over!], I'm writing today about how I shop using local produce as my base. 

So, here's my deal:
On Saturday morning I grab some cash and my favorite blue eco-bag and head down the street to the market. There are two big farm stands; I always go to both. Sometimes there's a meat truck but I don't look too long there because I can't afford to buy their stuff, even though it's probably good quality/organic/amazing/delicious/healthy.

Today I got the following:

 1 pint of heirloom tomatoes: $2.50

 Two McIntosh apples: $3.75 (Whoa! Expensive apples!! But they're huge so I can make four lunch snacks out of them this week.)

 3 heads of broccoli, 2 onions, 1 yellow pepper: $4

5 sweet potatoes: $2.50
Total spent: $12.75
 
The other day I got these clementines & bananas from the regular grocery store because I haven't found them at the market. If anyone knows a local farmer in NJ or PA who grows bananas in November (or any time of the year!), please be sure to let me know. 

After I bring my goodies home, I go through the grocery store flier and plan a week's worth of dinners. I make a shopping list for the store, starting at one end and finishing up on the other end. My grocery bill varies, depending how much beef/chicken/extra snacks I buy, but lately it's been about 60 bucks. That makes me glad because earlier this summer I was spending at least $100 each trip. Not good, not good at all. My current budget goal is to spend $300 a month on groceries. I'll be tracking it this month so we'll see.

a new first: product review!

A couple months ago, I received an email from a clothing company in India called eShakti. They had found my blog and asked me to do a free product review. After scoping them out and making sure everything was legit (it was!), I responded and thanked them for the honor. (I was psyched to get a FREE dress!)

The entire ordering process was super easy. Their representative, Jane, sent me a link to fill out a sample sale request. I was able to select the item I wanted, choose my dress size, pick a length, and customize measurements if I wanted.

I ordered my dress on Monday and got it in the mail one week later. I was surprised at the speedy delivery, and thrilled because I wanted to wear the dress to a wedding this past weekend.

Without further ado, here's the dress and all its lovely details:

Some of my favorite parts: the color (navy is probably the best for my skin/hair), scalloped edges, length of the sleeves, the perfect above-the-knee hemline, the gathered waist, and the way the skirt tapers at the bottom.

Awkward photo, I know, but I wanted to show the gorgeous details of the neck line & the gathered waist. So cute!

One awesome thing about eShakti is they will take custom measurements and build a dress accordingly. I am a pretty typical size so I just ordered what I usually wear. I probably should have asked for a custom bust measurement, though, because it was slightly roomy in that area and it bunched a tiny bit at the top part of my back.

I highly recommend eShakti! In fact, if I had spare money in my clothing budget I'd probably order one of these cute dresses.

our slow start in budgeting

I mentioned a while back that we're trying a new system of keeping track of our money. I was really encouraged by a couple whose blog I read, as well as some of my friends who use a similar system (hi, Ash!).

It's taken almost a month to get this new budgeting thing off the ground. Here's why:

1. My computer AND our brand new external hard drive broke just before Labor Day! All the spreadsheets I'd started were saved in both of those places. Without them, I couldn't access our budget allocation or the place where we record spending. It was really frustrating, but now we're back in business with both electronics. So October will be a fresh start!

2. It's hard to delegate budget categories at places like Target & the grocery store. My receipt will include toiletries, cleaning products, food, school supplies, etc., all on one receipt. It would be a tedious process to separate all the items into their individual categories... so I don't do it. Laziness is a major roadblock to change!

3. The "groceries" category isn't enough to accommodate spontaneity! This week I'm going to make a meal for a family at our church because not enough meal makers signed up & I don't want the family to go hungry. I already used up my week's groceries budget, but then I got the supplies to make that extra meal. Additionally, we were invited to our new neighbors' football watching party on Sunday night & I can't show up empty-handed. SO, ingredients for peanut butter pie must be bought! Neither of these spontaneous purchases can really come out of another budget category, so I may need to add extra in our grocery column for things of this nature. We'll see how it goes in the weeks to come.

winding down summer & gearing up for change

Well, we just got back from our final summer 2012 vacation (post about that trip coming soon!).

I've accepted a part-time job as a group supervisor for a local before/after school program. Yesterday I interviewed for another part-time job teaching two year olds at a nursery school. I'm also planning to sub a few days a week.

This was a pretty wild summer. We traveled to a new country (Ireland!), visited both immediate families, checked two new states off Joel's U.S. travel list (NH & ME), and had a week with friends in Washington state. I got to see some fav. college buddies and celebrate the marriage of my dear friend. Plus, we grew a tiny garden, did some house projects, hiked, talked, dreamed, and spent a ton of time outside. We are so thankful for a lovely summer, despite the trauma of job loss.

Now we're in the final days before school starts. This fall will be quite different from last. Joel's coaching cross-country, which requires a lot of extra time. I'll be juggling a schedule with weird hours (potentially gone from the house 6:45 am to 6:45 pm! zoiks!). We're planning a new way to budget (inspired by this couple). A few more house projects are in the works.

I'm so grateful for the blessings of summer 2012. Bring on autumn!

around here today

we slept in till 9:15! a big deal for us.

we ate breakfast and prayed together. we unloaded the dishwasher. i spent a ton of time online doing job applications and applying to be a grad student. we went to my grad school campus to print out some stuff. i dropped off a dvd i borrowed at least 9 months ago. [oops!]

joel prepped my spray paint project by painstakingly covering every inch that shouldn't get sprayed. gosh i love him.

i checked my phone about 54 times, hoping the school I interviewed with yesterday had called to offer me a job. i was disappointed about 54 times. 

i pinterest-ed. i spray painted. i started thinking through what our budget will look like if i don't get a full-time job with benefits within two weeks. i got nervous. i worried about health insurance.

we ate lunch together. we held hands & kissed. joel checked the olympics. i folded some laundry. he took a nap. he took out the recycling. we read a sad article about the wildness of the olympic village. i prepped the chicken to be grilled for dinner.

i tried not to worry. i prayed. i looked up all kinds of things online.

we didn't take any pictures. we rested. we lived a quiet summer day. together.

a new necklace

i can't remember the last time i bought myself a necklace. i'm much more of an earrings girl... and despite my frequent etsy meanderings, i don't really purchase things. especially not for me.

BUT after seeing that a necklace i'd been eyeing was sold, and after purchasing a "good cheer deal" on oh hello friend, i got myself a new pretty thing to wear around my neck. it came on monday night and i've worn it constantly ever since (except to sleep & shower!)


here are some pics:

and here's the link to the shop where i got it: pangea handmade.

on living within your means

i stumbled across this encouraging article this afternoon & it inspired me to process a few thoughts about finances...

being careful with money is tricky. joel actually told me this summer that he imagines money to be the thing in our future that will cause us the most disagreements. at this point, we're in great financial shape, so disagreements rarely surface. we both have jobs but we're basically living on one salary. we're taking grad classes. both our cars are paid for. we have incredibly generous families. we both feel called to give regularly to our church and to causes that are important to us. yet paying bills and writing checks don't really bring me much stress.

on the other hand, we're regularly thinking/talking about the future. about kids. about having only one of us working. about further education. about changing homes and/or location.

and sometimes that scares me. to consider major lifestyle changes, based around money. though, i guess that's the wrong way to look at it.... none of our future decisions or plans will be made completely because of money.

anyway, the article above was a great reminder that others are making smart financial decisions and living within (or below!) their means. what an encouragement :)