Life is full of scary things. Even as an adult there are just somethings that seem scary. One of the biggest ones for me was taking the plunge to stay home full time with my kids. Just the thought brought so many scary ideas to my head. What if the Mr. lost his job? What if we can't live on less then half our current income? What if I want to go back to work but can't because I've been out of my field to long? Even with all those scary thoughts running through my mind all's I could think about is how different life would be if I could just stay home with my babies. If I could just be there for when they needed me. If I didn't have to miss all of their firsts. Needless to say, my motherly instinct kicked in and I kicked my fears to the curb.

We have successfully lived on my husbands income for over 3 years now. It has been one of the best decisions that we ever made. However, if we had not carefully planned it out it could have been the nightmare I feared.

Here are ten steps to take the fear out of living on one income.

1. Plan ahead of time- Like most things in life it takes time to work out all the kinks in the plan. On average it takes 6 to 12 months to fully implement the changes and take the plunge.
2. Unified Dream- The most important key to making this dream happen for your family it to make sure that you and your spouse are both on the same page. It truly takes a team effort to cut the expenses and make such a drastic lifestyle change. If you spouse is not on board then it's not going to work no matter how hard you try.
3. Evaluate- Take a hard look at why you want to stay home. Is it because you want to be there for your kids 24/7 or is it because you really just don't want to be at work. If your reasoning is more on the job side then you might just need to find a new job or career.
   
4. Make the cuts- This is the toughest step. It's time to sit down and make the cuts. Looking at your budget together as a couple you need to decide what stays and what goes. Vacations, kids sports, new clothing, and eating out are the main things that go when you start to make the harsh cuts. It's important to do some practice budgets on paper to make sure that the math will add up.
   
5. Have a plan- What are you going to do at home all day? LOL, It's never boring around our house but I have friends who could not handle the "isolation" of staying at home. Make sure you have a plan for your time. Think about what you can do at home to save your family money (coupon clipping, sewing, gardening, garage saling, etc) as well as ways to get out of the house with your kids (story hour and play groups) during the day.
6. Support Network- This might sound odd to some people, but its a sad fact of life. Not all working moms will want to continue your friendship. Everyone has their own reasons, but a lot of times your working friends will fade away or you will want them to because of their criticism. Make sure that you start to surround yourself with people who support your decision. It will make your life much easier once you take the plunge.
7. Check into the Details- Double check things like health insurance, taxes, investments. All of them will change as your jobs and income levels change. Make sure to include these changes in your practice budget.
   
8. Debt Free- Some people are going to say that this is not required but in my book it is. It's hard enough to work your way out of debt with two incomes, do you really want to try to do it on half the amount you were living on? Unless you did the math and you were losing money by working, focus on getting out of debt so that you can realize your true dream. It will help you to become gazelle intense when you realize that the debt is keeping you from your kids.
   
9. Emergency Fund- Before you turn in your notice at work make sure that you have a fully funded emergency fund. It will help you to enjoy being home with the kids. If you don't have one you will be constantly worried about things like hubby losing his job, a major car breakdown or a house fire.
   
10. Trial Run- You have done it. You have walked through the first 9 steps and now it's time to give it a try. Minus childcare expenses and other expenses that you are incurring solely because you work sock away the rest of your income in a savings account. Test it out to see if you can really life on just one income for 3+ months while saving the rest. If you can do it then you are ready to make the switch. If not, then you need to take a hard look at why it's not working for you and make some adjustments to the plan.
    

These ten steps might seem tough but they will pay off big time in the long run. The day you get to stay home with your kids will be pure joy without fear weighing you down.

Does your family live on one income? What advise do you have for a family thinking about taking the scary plunge?

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I love being one of the first people to read a book. It makes you feel so "in the know". It's even better when it's a great book like the one I just received from Joy and Rebecca over at the Green Baby Guide. Their new book called "The Eco-nomical Baby Guide" is being released at the beginning of March. I was one of the lucky ones who received an advanced copy to review.


The book was packed with great information that was very practical. I love how they demonstrate that being green does not mean buying all new stuff. In fact, buying second hand is better! They walk you through what you need and don't need. They also talk about every aspect of raising a baby. They cover topics like baby gear, breastfeeding, baby food, diapers and more.

Want to know what makes it even better? There is even a quote from me, yes, me! Okay, it really doesn't make it that much better and even without it I still like the book. Joy and Rebecca did a great job.

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Have you heard of Amanda Blake Soule? I had never heard of her until about three months ago. That was when I had read a book review for her last book on another blog. Which led me to Amanda's blog (Soule Mama). The more I read it the more I want to read her books her two books.


The Creative Family-
The Creative Family is her first book which was published in 2008. I was able to obtain it through the library's inter-library loan program. I'm so glad that I took the extra effort to request this book. I love it!

I have learned more from this mom then I could have expected. Yes, I did find a some great project ideas that I would like to try, but it was more then that. As actually read the book, I learned that the book was more then projects. It was about fostering an environment of creativity in your home while maintaining a simple home. Not letting the clutter of a creative family take over.

My favorite take away from this book was the idea of a collaborative craft show. The idea is really three fold. One, you remove the clutter of your child's art work from your home. Two, you build their confidence by having others look at their art. Three, your child (and the other kids) have the chance to give their own earned money to a good cause. I'm sure that we will be pulling this together with other families soon.

This book is so good that I'm actually going to save up my pennies to buy my own copy! That says a lot about a book.

Have you read this book? What did you think?

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One of the many things we created for our daughters' room was their own name banners that hang above their beds. This project was actually easier then I expected. Here is how I did it.



First I found the font I wanted to use on Word. I printed out the letters I needed in a 250 font size and cut them out.




Then I laid them out on the letter fabric and traced them.


Next I carefully cut out all of the letters.


For the triangles I chose a heavy home decor fabric that I had left over from another project. I made a template out of paper and traced it onto the fabric as well. The triangles were 6 inches wide and 8 inches long. I used pinking shears to cut them out.


I then laid the letters on the triangles to come up with the distance I needed from the top before I adhered them. Don't forget to leave room for your bias tape at the top as well.


Next I sprayed the backs of the letters with a temporary fabric adhesive spray and placed the letters onto the triangles.


I then sewed the letters onto the fabric using a tight zigzag stitch to give it a cleaner look as well as to make the letters stand out from the fabric.


Once the letters have all been sewn lay them all out in order with correct spacing between them. Stretch out your double fold bias tape to make sure that it is long enough for the name before you start to sew.


I found it easier to not pin the pieces to the bias tape but to add them as I sewed so that it didn't weigh down the tape. I started at one end and of the bias tape and sewed the full length of the tape.

And that's it! It didn't take long at all to sew and the girls love them. I'm hoping to find some time to make some that say "Happy Birthday" "Thanksgiving" "Happy Halloween" and "Merry Christmas".

For more great ideas join us on:
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Yesterday someone asked the Mr. and I about using cloth diapers and how much we saved from using them. I had to admit that I had not looked at the numbers for awhile. After opening the excel spreadsheet and pulling up our last update post I can see why! Our daughter has been in the same size for over 500 days!

Over those 500 days the savings has really started to add up. To date we have saved over $1,319 by using cloth diapers and have also kept 5092 diaper out of the landfill. BUT, that's just the beginning. Here are the details so far.

Over the last 500 days our daughter has been in a size large. While in this size it has cost us $0.90 per day/$27.12 per month to diaper her. That comes out to a total of $508.21. It would have cost us $1,313 to have used disposables over that same period of time.

Just for fun I plugged in the numbers to see approximately what the net cost will be once we are done with this size and done with diapering all together. After we sell the diapers we are currently using it would have cost us apx. $0.43 per day/ $12.99 per month to diaper our daughter from birth to potty trained. This would give us a savings of $1,622.07 over the course of those two years.

I love seeing numbers like that! Do you know how much your diapers cost you per day? What's holding you back from trying cloth diapers?

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Why do we celebrate birthdays? How do we celebrate birthdays? I find myself pondering these questions over the past few years. It seems like birthdays (along with most holidays) have been hi-jacked by our commercialized world.

People used to celebrate birthdays because it was a big deal to have made it through another year of life. Children and adults alike were not as blessed as we are to have access to healthy food and medicine. They also did not have huge blow out parties with 30 kids at an expensive location outside their home while expecting their child to be showered by $20-$40 gifts.

I decided that enough is enough. I'm putting the breaks on this train wreck. I'm not letting my children's birthdays be hi-jacked. That is when I started thinking... Now that sometimes gets me into trouble but this time I think I came up with a great way to make their birthdays special while making it into a learning experience. Here is what we did.


Starting at 6 years old we decided that a child has finally developed enough socially and mentally to understand sharing and giving. That the world is bigger then them and not centered around them.

At six years old they can handle not getting gifts from friends for their birthday. Instead, we let our daughter pick out a charity to request gifts for. This gives us an opportunity to talk about all the need there is in our own community. People need food (local food pantry), animals need food and treats (local animal shelter), people need items for their home (local emergency shelter), parks can always use trees and plants, and some parents can't afford to buy their babies anything at all (local Birthright center). After talking about all the different needs in the community she got to pick who SHE can help by having her friends bring items (wrapped like presents) to the birthday party.

You might think that our daughter would have been crying and devastated by this blow of no presents from her friends but she was not. She understood that her parents and grandparents would still buy her gifts and that she could help someone else. She decided to help the babies in need. I was amazed at how excited she became about it. Weeks before the party and before invitation where sent out she started to talk to all of her friends and their moms about not buying her a present but to instead bring a newborn item for a baby.

She was so excited to see all the gifts come in and kept asking to peak inside to see what baby item they brought. You would have thought that they were for her baby! The excitement was still there during the present opening time but the focus was not of the greedy green eyed monster wanting the next fad toy, but instead the excitement of a baby having something they would like and look cute in.

After the party was over she could not wait to deliver all the presents to the local Birthright office. She wanted to make sure they got them fast! It was hard to keep her at bay until Tuesday but what a wonderful way for her to see that she could make a difference and help someone. Walking in there with a huge bag of items to donate make her proud and gave her an even deeper giving spirit. Now the question she keeps asking is not what type of party she wants next year, but instead "Who should I get presents for when I turn 7?"

It's amazing to see the giving spirit in her growing. When you give your child a chance to give you help them to grow spiritually in ways we will never fully understand. I'm proud to say that my favorite tradition is the gift of giving to others.

Find more great ideas on:
Works for me Wednesday

image from supercoolbaby.com

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It's hard to believe that our oldest daughter just turned 6 years old! The time flies by so fast. She has been wanting a bunk bed for almost two full years now. Of course we said the usual "Not until you are 6." bit. Well, she is now six years old and her little sister is ready to bust out of the crib.

Time for a new big girl room for the girls to share. As you know we are not made of money, but I still wanted a room the girls will love. It did take a lot of time to do the searching but with a little luck, Craigs list and spray paint I was able to accomplish my vision for their bedroom. If you didn't get a chance to see the inspiration rooms feel free to take a peek at yesterday's post.

Click through for the video tour!

Instead of rambling on and on about everything we did to the room I decided to make a video tour. I hope that you enjoy it!


All weekend long the Mr. and I felt like we were on Trading Spaces with just two days, two people and a small budget. To go along with that them we decided to capture the big reveal on video. It was so adorable to see our daughters reactions. It was just like on Trading Spaces! It was priceless.

We spent a total of $864 which includes all the furniture, paint, bedding, and much more. I'd give you a breakdown of the prices, BUT, I'm going to save that for a new "Price My Space" post. I'll also be posting some tutorials and specifics on how we made some of the items in the room out of scraps we had laying around.


For more DIY and home decor ideas visit:
Tackle it Tuesday
DIY Day @ ASPTL
Make your Monday

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Before I reveal the girls' new room I wanted to share with you my inspiration and prep work. As many of you know already, it is VERY important to make a plan before starting any project. This one was no different. I gathered all my inspiration photos, created a budget, and a time line. In the end I was actually surprised how well the plan came together. In our house things don't always go as planned when we tackle remodeling projects so it was nice to have this small room makeover go so smooth.

Here was my inspiration pieces:

White Classic looking Bunk Bed

Name By Each Bed

Color Palette

A couple monthes before we even started to touch the room I started shopping for the furniture. Thankfully we have a large basement to hide furniture in! When I would get a chance I would sneak out the furniture and paint it. I also made the name banners for each of the girls in the evenings after they would go to bed. One of the other important things we did was measure their room and do a layout of it to make sure that everything would fit were we wanted it to go.

All of this prep work made it possible to do a room makeover in just one and a half days while they visited their grandparents. Stay tuned for the big reveal!

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School started on Tuesday and I just couldn't let my daughter start school without one last visit to my parent's farm. We had a wonderful week of enjoying nature and other local activities that were all free.

It was a wonderful way to bring summer to a close. Just a few more sweet memories of a summer's past. The memories will be priceless and oh so precious as she grows older. She will never once stop to think about the amount of money I spent on those memories. She will never know that we didn't have any money to budget towards a summer vacation. She will only remember the things we did, not the things we didn't do.

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I bought this pair of dressers from Craig's list for $180. It's in great condition and has nice metal drawer slides. The wood tone don't fit the look of the girl's room so it's on to a dresser makeover.

Here is the inspiration piece. What I liked was that the color make the dresser pop. It added a punch of color to the room without having to go over board with a whole wall of bright color. There will be enough pink in the room so I'm going to go with an accent color of green to pull the look together.


Here is what I did.

It really didn't take me long at all to prime and paint the dresser. I was very happy with how easy the project really was. I would show you more photos of the project, but this is just one step in our daughters' room makeover. But shh.. The rest is a birthday surprise! You will have to wait until after September 15th to see the completed project.

Join us for more great project ideas on:
Tackle it Tuesday
DIY Thursday

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Did you have a fun yet affordable summer?


We sure did! Our summer was spent at the beach, playgrounds, story hours, free concerts, free festivals, and playing in our own yard. It will be a summer to remember but not because of the damage done to our wallets!

I love to see what others have been doing for fun this summer. Over at Simple Mom she shared her list of indoor activities for the really hot (or wet) days. For a list 30 everyday summer pleasures check out On Simplicity.

I want to know what kind of affordable fun YOUR family had this summer. Leave us a link to your own post about affordable summer fun. I can't wait to see all of your great ideas. Maybe I can even squeeze a few more activities in before school starts in two weeks.

Affordable Summer Fun

Please include the name of your blog along with the post title.

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