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.