Forget the Joneses Continues

Today is day 10 of our Forget the Joneses project participation as a family.

I love that we are teaching our children about the basics of money. We have spent a lot of time discussing our spending freeze with them. We've talked about only buying things that we need, focusing on our spending so that our family can meet goals, and prioritizing and really thinking about each thing we buy.

I think this does an amazing job of modeling how I want them to spend their own money. I'm sure that you, like me, have had those moments where kids make quick decisions with birthday money while you cringe. I know that the toy is junkie and will break.......probably before we even get home with it. I talk, and talk and talk about making good choices, wise spending....sometimes they hear me, other times not so much.

As part of this process we wrote a family mission statement, and are using that as a guide when making purchases. Xander educated most of the Athens Kroger on Tuesday as to the basics of a spending freeze as he simultaneously inspected EVERY item I put in my buggy. ("We're on a spending freeze - you can buy Lucky Charms but we can't - it's not on our list".......repeat.....every aisle)

We are also using our mission statement to guide our discipline, our time spent together as a family, and our goals for house projects.

Today, as a family, we made envelopes to organize our spending. We are going to be using the Dave Ramsey cash only approach this calendar year.

The basic plan is that you pay all your bills, and then withdraw the amount of money you have budgeted for spending - in cash.

You divide the cash out into envelopes - we have groceries (week one and week two), gas, family fun, and date night.

For other expenses that we are saving for - car oil changes, tags, insurance, etc. - I am transferring those balances directly into savings so that we never "see" those funds.

I find myself much more careful in the Kroger when I know that I only have cash to pay at the checkout!

For the kids, they will have three envelopes - save, spend, and give. They will begin to give of their own money at church (which I guess technically is still our money....).

Thanks to my friend for sharing this great site with me that taught me how to make these fabulous envelopes today!

Mikaela's three envelopes - give, save, spendMikaela's envelopes bounded together

Xander's three envelopes - spend, save, give

Family envelopes - groceries, gas, family fun, date night

envelopes bound together - aren't they going to be cute in my checkbook holder?

Snow Day 2010

Mikaela schooled all day Thursday in her winter coat - just in case the snow came down.

No snow in the morning.

No snow when we went to pick up Xander from school.

No snow during lunch.

As we sat down to finish our afternoon school work - SNOW.

Beautiful, white fun snow flurries.

So Proud of Xman

Xman and Ms. Marni - our therapist

Xman with his Certificate of Achievement for conquering fears - We played legos, ate yummy junk food (of his choice), listened to the radio station he picked, colored only Star Wars pictures.........an afternoon to celebrate Xman!

A little Twister hopscotch when we got home to continue the celebration!

Happy Half-Bday Mikaela

Because we love to eat cake.........any cake..........for any occasion.........today, we celebrate Mikaela's half birthday (a house hold tradition).

One pan of yummy peanut butter brownies.

One gappy grin smiling 7 AND a half year old!

One goofy younger brother - helping to celebrate and sing!

Daddy's Perspective of 2009: Xander

Alexander Hayden Thrailkill:
Daddy’s Perspective of 2009
1. You are doing a great job reading. I love hearing you read the BOB books when you go to bed.
2. I can’t believe what a great football player you’re becoming. I was very proud to see you wearing #77 on the field.
3. Of course, you are constantly making heads turn every time you enter the room due to your fancy sense of style.
4. I really enjoy seeing you playing outside and running around. You are getting very fast and strong.
5. We both still enjoy playing and watching superheroes. The other day you and I spent about 30 minutes in a book store looking at comic books together. I hope this continues.
6. You’ve gone from play wrestling with me in the living room to Folk Style wrestling on the mat. I’m proud to say that I am you first official wrestling coach. Keep up the good work.
7. You’ve progressed musically this year. We’ve played so much Rock Band and Guitar Hero that you now want a drum kit. I pray that music is something you will continue to enjoy through the years.
8. You and I have really spent a lot of time together this past year. I am looking forward to spending even more time with in 2010.

Daddy's letter last year

Daddy's Perspective of 2009: Mikaela

Mikaela Grace Thrailkill:
Daddy’s Perspective of 2009

1. Wow! You are reading so many cool books. It is amazing to see how well you read, as well as how much you enjoy reading.
2. I am very proud of your writing this year. The Thanksgiving essay you wrote is spectacular.
3. You have become very active with riding your scooter and jumping on the trampoline. You know how I like to exercise.
4. I will always remember you being a cheerleader for the 7-8 Panthers. You did a great job!
5. You have begun making great friends, especially at church. I think we’ve broken the record on birthday party invitations this year.
6. You are growing up so quickly—let’s slow down on the make-up though.
7. I just love playing video games with you. Right now, I think the DSi is your favorite system to play, but I really enjoy playing the music games and My Sims Agent with you.
8. My favorite part of Kaelee is how sincerely sweet you are you. I love that you still want to snuggle up with me and watch a movie. I pray that will never change.

Daddy's letter last year

The Thrailkill Family Mission Statement

This year our family is participating in a "Forget the Joneses" project. The objective of the project is for 21 days to only spend money on items on your approved spending list (made by your family at the beginning of the project). I have been reading many blogs over the course of this year in which lots of families have participated in versions of this. Some do it for the first week every month, some do it for the first month every year, while others do it for a full year.

Assignment one was to create an approved spending list. I am of the mindset that if you are going to do something - you should dive in! So, our approved spending list is short and sweet:
$10 for a playdate that was scheduled before I signed on (we have $4 left and we give ourselves permission to do another activity if it fits in that budget)
Gas - for both vehicles
Bills due will be paid
Groceries - we will do menu planning from our pantry/freezer - and only buy what we have to in order to fill in the meals.
Offering - church

Assignment two was to create a net worth statement. I won't depress you with the details of the networth of a family who has had one full time working adult for the last 7 years.........On a positive note, when I compared this year to last year we are making progress.

Assignment three was to write a family mission statement. What are our goals as a family?

We used this site to guide us through writing our mission statement. It was actually very interesting assignment. You will find bits and pieces of each of our kids in the statement - as they contributed to the discussion too.

Thrailkill Family Mission Statement 2010

As a family we are at our best when we work together.
We will try to prevent times when we are selfish.
We will find more time with each other to spend quality time together - playing the Wii, taking trips, and having fun.
We will help each family member by loving each other and not doing bad things, picking up after ourselves, being obedient to mommy and daddy and God, and praying for each other.
We will help others by using our manners when speaking to others, donating goods to the church, giving money to God, and looking for opportunities to do nice things without being asked.
We will stop procrastinating and start working on: spending quality time together every day, reading together, snuggling up as a family, and reading our bible and praying together every day.
We will be viewed as a family that is loving, nice, cool.
We will fill our home with happiness.
We will make choices and decisions based on: trust, honesty, obedience, service, kindness, commitment.

We will constantly renew ourselves by focusing on:

• make healthy eating choices, exercise daily
• obey God and not sin, read the bible
• read, pray
• fellowship with other Christians, look for kind deeds, have fun

We envision success for each family member.