German Life

We are now in our apartment.  It is a little more expensive to live here.  I love going to town they have amazing food here.  I am hoping that we can do a little more when we get our car.  We get our things next week and our car is supposed to be here on the 10th.
Hope everyone had a good christmas.  I had the best christmas since I was 10 years old. I got sims 3 ambitions and a vera bradley Little Betsy in Baroque.
We are getting our budget together then I will try to start getting our traveling budget together.
Tell me where you think we should go.

Moving is hard on the budget..

We arent doing great like we were, trying to have things to eat, transportation, getting to know where you are. It just is difficult but it will be better soon. At least we get reimbursed for expenses since my hubby is in the US Air Force.  Cant wait to visit Paris...

In Germany!

We got into Germany around 1415 German time. Got our bags and made our way to our base.  I will be getting back to monitary issues very soon.

Movers Came Today!

Nice guys. They came at about 0730 and started packing things they got the kitchen done and half the dining room and the office. Tomorrow is the bedrooms. So tired that my eyes are rolling in the back of my head but I will be ok.

We will be cleaning the dickens out of our house today and tomorrow. We will get it done if it means we stay up till all hours of the night on Tues.

Not really clipping coupons now cause we will be leaving. Now I know that we can use expired coupons over there but it just seems kind of pointless to clip now just for a couple of weeks from now.

I have about 3 grocery bag worth the seasonings that I am having to give to my mother because they are not allowed to ship it.

2 more days!!!!!

Getting All of Our Ducks in a Row

last Friday our little cat got spayed and chipped. The Friday before that both got their shots. So the cats are all ready to go. The only thing that needs to happen with them is them getting their 10 day health certificates.
Starting today we are patching up holes in the walls and doors that we will be charged for if we dont. Fixing things and cleaning our tushies off. We have to clean clothes so that we can pack them in a tub. Any collectibles we will put in a tub.
Tomorrow we pick up the tickets for the flights we have.
Monday morning the movers will come to pack everything up and they said that they will only need one day and maybe a couple of hours on the 9th to get everything in and accounted for.
Tuesday we finish the cleaning
and on Wednsday we have the final inspection of our home and His final outprocessing. Then off to Denver.

6 more days until we are finally out of Alamogordo,NM.

Sorry About the Absence

We have been busy getting ready to leave for GERMANY... that sounds so weird to say. Hubby and I have gotten angry at the fact we can not sleep on our mattress anymore so we are sleeping on an airbed. We have been finishing up a few of our things this week, like checking our car for leaks and making sure all fluids are at the correct level, getting everything ready just to be packed. Seems like we do not have enough time to get everything done. We are going to Denver and then on the 17th we have to drive to Dallas/Fort Worth to ship our car to Germany, then we fly to Baltimore, then we fly to Germany. Looking forward to our early Thanksgiving with family(favorite meal of the year). If any of you come across a coupon for a really nice place in Colorado please dont hesitate to comment and I will let you know how to send it to me. As it is we have our 2nd anniversary in Denver.

Less than a Month

Soon I will have to throw away or give away most (all) of our food.  The movers won't move it overseas.  So I guess what I am asking for is a list of basic necessities and spices so I can stockpile again when I get our new home. 

Also all of you in my family that coupon please start sending your expired coupons to me. I will email all of you with my new address. It will help a lot.

We are feeling the need to tie up loose ends now with less than a month until we move out of NM.  We got a new sponsor yesterday.  Today we fixed everything so that we can pick up our tickets to Baltimore and Germany on the 5th. Now is just finishing outprocessing and getting our personal things finished.

Wanting a New "Kitchen"

When we got here we had near pristine dishes, mind you we didn't have all the baking needs covered but they were new looking, if not new.  Now half of our STAINLESS steel flatware is rusted because of the salt content, the other half has food that even my angriest moment couldn't remove.  Our teflon pot and pans have nicks and cuts and that is not healthy.  Our bakeware not only lacks in necessity but it has seen the same rath that the other dishes have. Our plates have seen kittens pushing them on to the floor and breaking them to the salt and bad dishwasher.  SO my plan is to get new dishes and start all over.

Temp-tations is the name of the maker.  All hand painted.  Two items that I am planning on getting.  16 piece bakeware with wire baskets and trivets and plastic tops that make it easy to store as well.  Also a set of dishes.  Just those will make my kitchen match and I will be able to entertain.

Cooks essentials set of 8 pots and pans.  With a lifetime guarantee on the teflon.  Even heating.  Nice bonus on the 6qt stockpot it has a locking drain lid.

It is good our anniversary is the 13th of Nov and Christmas is coming up.

Pre-Inspection

Well actually it was a woman making sure that there wasn't a hole in the living room or anything. The only other thing was let me know what I needed to accomplish on the day that the movers come and take our stuff. Here I was working my butt off this morning trying to make the inspection go well and all she did was walk in the house and tell me stuff to do, then leave. I shouldn't be complaining but it was just a little stressful and all for nothing.

Almost ready for the wedding next week and trying my hardest to figure out what we need for food before we go. Being there is easy going to Tokyo Joe's the first night, probably going to eat at the wedding the second night and the drives of course fast food.

So nervous that I am not going to get all I need to get done before Germany. Also very worried because things are piling up so fast that it is going to be hard to do Denver. We are going to Denver just going to be harder than I thought.

Moving/Vacations

First "vacation" we are taking is in October from the 6-8th we will be in Denver, but we will have a wedding on the 7th we are going to and we drive out on the 6th to get there and then leave on the 8th to come back to HAFB to finish outprocessing and getting things ready to move. We don't know how much free time we will have for this one so we aren't promising anything. We might be able to visit. 

In November we have our stuff being packed up and shipped to Germany on November 10th. We stay a night here and then we drive to Denver.  We will be driving up on the 11th and probably staying till the 18 or the 19th.  What we originally thought was that we were going to ship our car from Denver but AF doesn't have a car shipping company there so we are going to have to leave earlier than the 20th from Denver then make our way to Dallas(at least we get reimbursed for that trip).

42 Days till we leave Holloman AFB!

Cleaning all morning!

Cleaning all morning feeds into taking a break all afternoon. Cleaning for our pre-inspection inspection next Friday. So sadly this weekend won't be very weekend-y. That is ok. Thinking of getting my free rootbeer float from A&W and my free arby's sandwich. Maybe tomorrow we might have a $4.99 pepperoni pizza from Papa Murphy's maybe more Ice Cream(second coupon for Coldstone). I might pull a weekend out of it anyway.

October 6-8 we are going to be in Denver mind you not very long and we are going to a wedding as well so no time to visit anyone beyond taking old toys and out grown toys and collectibles to our respective families. Have to get my husband some slacks because if he wears any of his af clothes he has to where full service dress and I don't want to deal with that right now, maybe when we renew our vows.

When we come back getting ready will be snowballing till Germany but that is a good thing and a some what bad thing.

45 Days till no more Holloman AFB!!

Finally Sold!

The POS Volvo is finally sold. YAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!! It is fantastic news and helps with our trip to Denver in Oct. Which in turn helps us in Nov. So YAY!!!

I use Breast tenderloins for that chicken recipe
Shredded Chicken recipe
About 6 chicken tenderloins thawed
2 tbsp of cayenne pepper
7 pepper corns
1 tsp of garlic powder
1 tsp of kosher salt
About 4 cups of water in a sauce pan and all the spices. Bring to boil. Add chicken till shredable. you will know it starts to fall apart in the water. Take out. Using two forks shred chicken. Put on nachos or in tacos(might need more spice for tacos).

I Forgot...

I tried to make stroganoff from a sauce packet... Forgot to take out the icky mushrooms. Had a friend over, she liked mushrooms so I gave her the left overs. Tomorrow is Pot roast if the roast thaws in time...if not then maybe nachos (shredded chicken,chips, cheese, sour cream, guacamole...recipe for chicken to follow. tomorrow) Tomorrow hanging out with next door neighbor. Then Friday and the weekend, along with all the cleaning and getting Nates stuff out of our garage. Yay!!

I finally got my first comment, thank you!

Project

Recent project is a cash envelope system.  It has Disney vacation theme on it cause that is my goal and that will help me stick to it.  Basically, I am making it to go with dayrunner stuff so that I can have a calendar in it too.  Ill put a picture when it is finished.  

I am hoping to make one for my mother as well, with instructions on how the cash envelope system works.  I guess helping my parents get control of their finances would be the best gift I could get my mom for her birthday.

It only took my one day to make about everything now I just need to put it together.

Weekend!

Had a good weekend.  The date night turned into a date weekend.  Papa Murphys and Coldstone on saturday and movie on friday.  Sunday we worked on a project and watched movies while cuddling on the couch.

Date Night!!

Tonight is date night for Brandon and I. I am beautiful and dressed up to go. We are either going to the movies or we are going to go to Las Cruces to get Pizza, Coldstone, and going home to watch movies.

All of this will be done by using coupons... From Coupons.com I got a coupon for two like it creations with one mix in at Coldstone for $5(the only reason we are going to Coldstone). Obviously I am going to get coupons for Papa Murphys Take and Bake Pizza. Movie we already have at home.

The movie in the theatre is on base theatre so... cheap.

Yay Friday!!!

Well Payday here again...

Payday which means that commissary will be packed and I have to deal with that all day. :( Good thing is I have a coupon for about everything I am getting these two weeks and there is a Case lot sale at the Comm. so I am going to stock up. What I am hoping to do is make it so I dont have to go shopping too much in the month of October.

We are going up to a friends wedding on Oct. 7 for 3 days, we are getting ready for that. I am going to stop by a Beading store while I am in Colorado get more beading stuff.

Made the best tasting pot roast then Sheppards pie...
When putting the gravy to the pot roast add about 1 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, pinch of rosemary, and salt and pepper. The pot roast gravy is going to be the gravy for Sheppards pie.
Sheppards Pie
Veggies (peas corn carrots)
left over pot roast
gravy
potatoes
milk (use your own discretion)
1 1/2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup Colby Jack (melts Better)

Peel potatoes and cube them and boil till tender. Meanwhile Shred the meat and put into a skillet on med to heat. add Gravy (I put alot of Brown gravy mix in my pot roast and had to thin it out when making pie)add veggies to the skillet, add salt and pepper where needed. Mashing the Potatoes (work quickly so they dont get cold) add butter, sour cream, salt, garlic powder and milk till mashed completely (sour cream is for texture and taste). Put Items in skillet into a casserole dish and cover with potatoes and then cover potatoes with cheese. Bake at 350 for 15 mins till cheese is melted.
7 weeks until we get our stuff moved. So that is bearing down on us now. So Excited!!!

Extra or Found Money

Extra or Found money is cash that you found in your coat from winter, or money from rebates, or money for your birthday, or even it is money that you make from Survey websites. It doesn't have to be a lot but every little bit helps. 

Loose Change is obviously loose change rolling around in your car or your purse. Get a jar and put all your loose change in it at the end of the day. At the end of the week, two weeks or month depending on your amount of change put the change in your savings account. Little bit goes a long way.  (See a penny on the ground pick it up)

Gift Cards if they are to a place that you already put in your budget then take the money that the gift card amount is and put that in your savings. So say you go to Starbucks a lot and you get a $15 gift card for Starbucks take $15 out of your bank and put it in your saving and use that GC as cash.

I finally figured it out

I have been trying to find what I was going to focus on in my blog. Since the AF makes it hard to save lots of money and take vacations I am going to focus on that. I am still going to make posts about PCS-ing because well its difficult and maybe I can help someone in this particular area.  My husband has a job that is stressful to say the least and this year he told me after we took a vacation with my parents that he thought he didn't need vacations and now he wants to make a vacation every year at least. So that is where my focus is saving for Vacations.  Our goal is to make it to Disney World next year. 

Thanks for being patient.

Here is a couple of ways to make extra cash!

opinion outpost take surveys for free and get money.

survey savvy so far I have not had them send me very many but the same as above.

mypoints.com if you shop online alot then you shop thru them and get points towards gift cards.

mrrebates.com and ebates.com both are a site that works with stores to get "rebates" but really it is like getting money for what you would buy. 

also plasticjungle.com they buy and sell gift cards at discounted prices. There are more like this but I cant remember the names or websites.

Thank you Couponing for Disney and Colorado Couponing and AF wives I have come across

Ha!

I said Friday that I wanted to clean well guess what...Didn't happen. We were relaxed all weekend. Got some wine made locally in Tularosa, NM about 20 mins from here. It is alright the first night I was wanting a dry red wine and now I would like a sweet.

Brandon didnt want to get up this morning because cuddled next to me was very comfortable...don't blame him I didn't want to get up this morning. Ah, just another week. At least this one lasts 4 days.

63 Days till no more Alamogordo, NM.

Household Goods Form Is In!

Ok so a thing almost checked off our 7 page list. Maybe we can get another thing almost checked of the list this week.  This weekend is inventory and cleaning at some point. Everyone deserves a day off and the base gets four because of Labor Day being Monday, not complaining get to see my husband for 4 days. Have a good and safe Labor Day.

Feels like it is closer than it is...

Went to HHG and they told us go to this site and then call us.  I cant believe it is already Sept. Next thing you know it we will be in October and acting like a couple of chickens with our heads cut off.  We still need to get a friend to remove his stuff from our garage so we can start cleaning that and the house for the pre inspection and then the real inspection before we move. September and October are going to go fast.  

As of right now we have to learn a lot real fast. We have to learn about drivers license and then when we learn those things we have to do those things. The LANGUAGE most important of them all, that is going to take the longest time out of all of our things we need to learn. 

On the bright side the sooner we get to Germany the sooner we can take vacation to France, England, Italy, Greece, and Ireland. Europe here we come!!

How to trick yourself into Saving

Different ways to trick yourself in to saving
-When you are writing your purchases down in your checkbook round it up to the nearest dollar, then put the "extra" money in a savings account.
-Most stores give a little space on their recipts that say how much you saved put that money in the savings account.
Keep this in mind Every Little Bit Counts.

Let me know if you have any new Ideas.

No fee passport....

Military No fee passport...yea for this one but I will need another fully priced one for traveling outside of Germany. The passport site specified that it would be $135 and you multiply that by 2 and add whatever it costs for expidite and you have the cost of a plane ticket. Going to Household Goods in the morning to do that briefing and then hopefully we can set up the day we want them to pack our stuff. Oh and that passport mentioned above won't be here till mid November we want to leave here early November for "Thanksgiving" at least the meal and the family. Also 13th of November is our anniversary and 10 days before that is his birthday. Then leave by November 20 because of airport traffic. November is really bad for us to travel.