Mom's Day Out, Back to Back

Last week, Corey and I each received our new Fun Dollars on Monday. That night, he informed me that he was in need of someone to run an errand down to Scottsdale for him for work. He asked if I was up for it. I would have both kids with me and have never made the trip down to the valley alone with them both in tow. I assured him I would be up for the adventure.

After getting his very specific instructions, and double checking everything with him that he needed, I proactively packed the car for the trip the next day. After packing up all the snacks and loading both kids in the car we were off. Travelling down I17, heading south toward Phoenix, the was clear and beautiful. An hour and a half in the car, we landed at the oasis of Anthem, the Outlet Mall Mecca just on the outskirts of Phoenix. It has a giant food court, a play yard, shops, of course, and the best bathrooms a mom could ever ask for.

We made a potty and lunch break here. I brought the double stroller with me just for this pit stop. I proudly wheeled my two kids past other moms with children in their double strollers and headed for the luxurious bathrooms. Glistening pinkish tiles, a mother's lounge, and a deluxe changing station, complete with pink trash can awaited us. Carrick played with the toys in the mother's lounge while I nursed Lily.

After our fantastic potty break, we ate lunch in the food court. All three of us split a Lo Mien plate from the Chinese place. Sesame chicken with mixed veggies cost me $8.00 with tip (the guy was extra nice, so I gave a little love.) Next we went for a stroll just outside the food court to check out the sale at Carter's. The only thing that really made me want to part with Fun Dollars there was a pair of sunglasses for Carrick.


After spending about 20 minutes at the play yard, we packed up the car and headed for our destination, the Caspian Market in Scottsdale. I needed to find specific elements for the Persian New Year setting of Haft Seen, which includes dried fruit from the Lotus tree as just one of the seven items. Needless to say, I won't be able to find that at Safeway. The lady there was incredibly helpful. Carrick also wanted to buy a box of vanilla wafer cookies. He had the Fun Dollars, and I just helped him out with tax (which was only 45 cents, but we round our Fun Dollars to the next highest dollar, so I gave up a whole dollar for that.)

I also sprung for Wendy's frosties for Carrick and me on the way back home. Lily was asleep, so she missed out on that one.

The next day, I had scheduled on my calendar a girls' day out with a good friend I met through bellydance class. Neither of us take the class anymore, but we have remained friends. She had just gone through a lot of major life changes and I really wanted some one-on-one time to catch up with her. She lives in Clarkdale, a historic community about 15 miles from Sedona. We spent the day eating lunch, shopping in Old Town Clarkdale, and just hanging out talking in her garden. It was the most refreshed, rejuvenated and relaxed I have felt in a long time. I literally dropped Carrick off at school, spent the entire day with her, then picked Carrick back up from school. I so very much needed that, especially after taking both kids on a 5 hour trip the day before.

My afternoon of shopping found me the new owner of a cute yellow t-shirt with a phoenix on it as well as a pair of white leather gloves for driving. I know, it sounds old fashioned, but the summer sun can be BRUTAL on the tops of hand while driving in Arizona, even with sunscreen on. Also, the shop where I purchased these two items is the absolute cutest resale store I have ever set foot in. Vintage glam is about the only words I can use. Glitter, lace, rhinestones, and silk everywhere. Roses and delicate touches that brought out the most feminine feeling in me as I walked through the store. I was more than happy to spend $22.00 at this fine local shop.

Food at the Anthem Outlet Mall- $8.00
Sunglasses for Carrick at Carter's outlet-$5.00
Wendy's Frosties- $3.00
Help for Carrick's tax- $1.00
Shirt and Gloves at vintage resale store- $23.00

Balance this pay cycle- $0.00
Happy Spending!

Zero Dollar Activity

So, this is my last entry about my shopping spree at the Dollar Tree. It involves two things, a coloring book and a box of crayons. And with this purchase, I spent the very last of my Fun Dollars for two weeks, a record, just three days into the new pay cycle. (I am writing a little out of order here.)

So what am I to do without any Fun Dollars for the next 11 days? Zero Dollar Activities, like coloring with my son at the table, using the crayons I just bought him. Sometimes the best time we can spend together is doing Zero Dollar Activities. Coloring, walking, dancing, watching a movie in the family room, playing an actual board game are all examples of Zero Dollar Activities. They involve things that we already have, so we don't have to spend any money to do them.

A few favorites at the Sheridan house include Dance Parties and Evening Walks. Lately, we have taken to walking around the neighborhood after dark. We put coats on the kids and pull them around in the wagon. They each get a flashlight, and Corey and I have some uninterrupted adult time to just talk. We have had some amazing conversations lately.

The Dance Parties started back when Carrick was just beginning to walk. Corey came home one night and wanted to play this "really fun song" on youtube. Carrick, just starting to cruise the furniture started bouncing to "Boom Boom Pow". It later became the anthem for him and his best friend, as new toddlers, they would run in circles in the living room whenever it played. The one song turned into a request show of youtube videos (including "You Spin Me", 1980's version, which pretty much left everyone on the floor laughing hysterically.) The Saturday Night Dance Party became a regular thing when Carrick was about 2, and slowly faded away as Corey's work became more and more involving. But every once in a while, we will queue up the youtube videos and jam out.

And on this occasion of being out of Fun Dollars so early in the pay cycle, I took the opportunity to color with my son several times this week. He has been an artist on fire lately. He'll draw pages and pages filled with Angry Birds. He draws them in all different ways, telling stories about them as he marks the papers with lines and curves. So, when I saw an Angry Birds coloring book at the Dollar Tree, I couldn't pass it up. This kid jumped out of his skin when I gave it to him.

There are so many things we can do together that don't require us to spend any money. It's nice to be reminded of this fact. It is so easy to get caught up in the trappings of "I want" especially when there is money to be spent. But taking a step back and not spending money can give us a new perspective on spending.

Have your own dance party! 

Coloring book- $1.00
Crayons-$1.00
(Tax from all the Dollar Tree Purchases)- $2.00

Balance this pay cycle- $40.00

Keeping Up Appearances

If there's one thing I take very seriously, it's my eyebrows, almost to the point of obsession. I tweeze, I shape, I pencil-in, I lotion, I trim. I don't know where it came from, but over the many years of wearing makeup, my eyebrows somehow became important.

And then I had kids. Children who chew on my eyebrow brushes, or walk around the house with my tweezers. This means that these items need to be replaced from time to time. And that time came when I was at Dollar Tree. A buck here for tweezers and a buck there for an eyebrow brush.  And while I'm at it, I may as well get an extra eye liner pencil for my purse. I have been putting on a lot of car makeup lately.

In that same vein of vanity, I also needed another hairbrush. Why spend $4.00 at Target when I can spend $1.00 at Dollar Tree? Walking down the beauty aisle I was reminded that my nail file was worn down and pedicure season is upon us. So I also sprung for a three pack of glitter-leopard nail files. That should last me for at least a year of pedicures. (I'm a DIY kinda girl when it comes to my toes.)

From personal appearance to domestic appearance: I bought two squirty bottles to use for cleaning purposes, a pink one for me and a blue one for Carrick. One of his favorite things to do while I am cleaning is to spray and wipe the windows on the patio door. He actually gets them clean, so I really want to encourage this behavior. Since I only had one squirt bottle, it made cleaning up time a little difficult, running back and forth, sharing it. Then recently, the squirt bottle I had stopped spraying. I think there might have been a one-year-old involved (don't worry, I only clean with lemons and vinegar in my squirt bottles.)

And as for the appearances of my children, they have finally reached a place with their wardrobes that they need to hang up their clothes. Lily has dresses that will just get wrinkly if I try to keep them in her drawers. Carrick is so big that his clothes don't all fit in his drawers. Gone are the days when I could cram ten outfits in one drawer. Hello, 5T! So, I bought three packages of kids hangers, blue for Carrick, pink for Lily and white for either.

Brow Pencil-$1.00
Brow Brush-$1.00
Eyeliner- $1.00
Nail files-$1.00
Hair brush-$1.00
Squirt Bottles- $2.00
Hangers- $3.00

Balance this pay cycle- $44.00

Happy Spending!

Easter Surprise

When I was growing up, my sister and I were the daughters of the Rev. Randy Robinson, the Pastor at the United Methodist Church in Camp Point, IL. Camp Point was a town of 1200 back then. We had no Mc Donald's, no stop light, and we shared a school with 6 other towns. There were 4 churches within the city limits of Camp Point, and almost everyone in town attended one of them. We're talking Heart of America, Old-fashioned values community. Oh, and everyone was related too. (Still are.) It was a quaint and idyllic childhood...except on Easter Sunday.

Every year, it was tradition that dad would take his girls shopping for an Easter Outfit, for as long as I can remember. After all, we were the preacher's kids, we had to look good on high holidays. He would take us out to Bergner's or JCPenny's to buy us each a dress, hat, shoes, tights, gloves and even purses. (Once we had our ears pierced there was jewelry involved as well.) But as the pastor, he supported his family on a pastor's salary, which meant that our clothes were our Easter presents. We would still get some eggs filled with candy to hunt for, and a hollow chocolate bunny, but that was the extent of it.

Like the bunny, I felt hollow every year as a child, walking into the Sunday morning song time before Sunday School on Easter Sunday. (Song Time is where the kids chatted and caught up on their week before singing songs like "Father Abraham" and "Jesus Loves Me"). It was during this time that I endured listening to all the other kids talk about their giant Easter baskets, filled with goodies. It was like Christmas painted pastel.

Poor Easter Bunny! With no sleigh to hold all those presents, I don't know how he could compete with Santa! But in my small town, there must have been some kind of wierd spacetime vortex that allowed the Easter Bunny to haul all the stuff that all the other kids woke up to on Easter Sunday. And as a child, I swore that I would not make my children go through the embarassment and torture of not having extravagant Easter Presents.

But the difference between being nine and thirty-two is remarkable. The wisdom and insight we gain as we become adults shapes who we are, leaving our past behind us. Some whispers of childhood guide our decisions, and others are lost in the time that passes.

This year, I have the two children (that I always planned on having, just two). My youngest is old enough to participate (on the most basic level) in an Easter Egg hunt, as well as open "presents" in her very own Easter Basket. As I walked into Dollar Tree this week, all those long-lost memories of my childhood came rushing back. And instead of feeling bitter towards my parents for not spending a small fortune on Easter, I was filled with joy at the opportunity to spend my Fun Dollars on my own kids.

I didn't go all-out, but I did drop $12.00 of Fun from my own pocket. Carrick already has an Easter Basket from last year (which we snagged for less than a dollar at a garage sale with his own Fun Dollars.) I bought Lily an Easter basket, a hat to go with her Easter Dress, grass for the bottoms of their baskets, couple packages of eggs and some candy to fill them with, a jump rope for Carrick's basket, and two glitter-light-up balls (my kids love those.) Also, for nostalgia's sake, I bought them each their own hollow chocolate Bunny. Some things never change.

Easter Presents/baskets,etc at Dollar Tree- $12.00
Balance this pay cycle- $54.00

Happy Spending!

In the Garden

Okay, I have a confession to make. As of Wednesday of this week, a new week of Fun Dollars, I have officially spent every single Fun Dollar for this pay cycle. Yes, all 100 of my Fun Dollars are gone. I think that's a record for how quickly I have spent them. How did this happen? Quite intentionally, actually. I went on my "date" with Corey, took a trip to Scottsdale (also for Corey), and had a Mom's Day Out planned with a friend. All of these happened three days in a row, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Part of my spending on Wednesday included a trip to the Dollar Tree in Cottonwood. (I know, insert eye roll here. How many Fun Dollars did I blow on dollar items?) I usually don't even step foot in dollar stores for that very reason. Dollar stores are like my fast food Achilles Heel. I have to really monitor my spending otherwise it can just go hog wild. The reason I found myself even in a dollar store was to find something Corey needed for work.

Lily was asleep, Carrick was at school, and I was free to wander the aisles of Dollar Tree at my leisure. I had $28 Fun Dollars left in my wallet. My total came to 27 and change. Literally, I spent my last dollar. But, I had no regrets. Until I went into that store, I didn't realize just how many little things I needed. (And a few things I bought were "wants".)

One of my Fun Dollars bought me a quality pair of gardening gloves. They had elastic at the wrists so that they stay put, a water proof coating on the fingers, as well as a cutie design. On my list of things to do with the kids this week was transplant the sprouts that were big enough out of the egg carton I started them in and put them into bigger containers. The weather here still gets cold at night, so I wasn't ready to put them into the outside beds yet. Maybe in a month or so.

Yesterday, I donned my dollar gardening gloves and let the kids dig in the dirt outside. I happily replanted my little sproutlings, as well as some plants my friend gave me on my Mom's Day Out. I had saved tubs and containers for exactly this purpose. The only thing that I had to buy for my project was the gloves. It was a Fun Dollar very well spent. The kids got dirty and I quite enjoyed myself.

The transplanted sprouts are now growing happily in our bathroom window. It's high up so that Lily won't get into them, it gets extra moisture from the bath tub, and stays warmer because that's also where our bets fish lives, so we keep a small space heater on. My efforts will be rewarded later this season when we harvest what our sprouts have produced. Sometimes, a little Fun Dollar goes a long way.

Gloves at Dollar Tree- $1.00
Balance this Pay cycle- $66.00

Happy Spending!

Still Dating

Mondays are a pseudo work day for Corey. He technically has them off, but since the rest of the working world has this day as the start to the work week, Corey often finds himself handling small matters of business. He might go in to the office for a couple of hours, make some important phone calls, work on the schedule and send some emails. This type of behavior used to bother me. I would get so upset that he would work on his day off. But after 5 years of this off and on work day/off day, I have become accustomed to it. In fact, I welcome it most Mondays.

Mondays had been my "Attack on the House" day. After a weekend at home, the place is usually untidy enough to drive me to action. So I would take the entire day, working from one end of the house to the other, picking up and putting away. This would make the house more pleasant to be in for the rest of the week as well as easier to clean (a different activity from tidying.)

This past Monday, Corey did go into the office and attend a short meeting and was home by 11. I was able to put away laundry and (thanks to our super-cheap cleaning lady, I had a clean house lying just beneath a layer of weekend toys. So by the time Corey returned home, Lily was down for a nap, Carrick was at school, and the grown ups got to go to the middle room for a "date."

Afterwards, I suggested we make it a real date and go out for lunch. He asked, "Who's paying?" and I replied, "My Treat." We went to Picazzo's Organic Italian Kitchen where my best friend, Niccole works. I love going there and chatting with her when she's on a shift. I usually order a lunch combo when I eat at Picazzo's. I get a slice of Puttanesca (artichokes, olives, feta and tomatoes topped with shredded basil. It's basically a Greek salad in a pizza crust. It's heavenly!) The combo comes with salad and a drink. We skipped the salad and just ordered a medium Puttanesca, because one slice would not be enough! The price of getting two combos is equal to the price of a medium pizza anyway.



Even though Corey had to spend part of lunch on the phone handling business matters, I was still on cloud nine that I was out to eat (even with just one kiddo in tow, it felt like a date) with Corey. We take every opportunity we can get to hang out together. After almost 10 years of marriage, it is still the little things that make all the difference, as well as a few Fun Dollars.

Lunch at Picazzo's (with tip)-$33.00
Balance this pay cycle- $67.00

Happy Spending!

"Where Does the Money Come From?"

It has to come from somewhere. I'm not talking about the paycheck itself. I'm talking about what we spend. (From here on out, I am talking just about the Sheridan house hold.) Back in the old days, before Fun Dollars, that was Corey's most used phrase, "Where does the Money come from?" meaning, "What part of our family budget is going to cover this expense?"

In our family, we have a general idea of our monthly expenses, and a specific budget for other expenses. For our general purpose spending (Necessities), like gas, utilities, phones, insurance, mortgage, we have a set amount that we know we are going to spend each month. Each week, separate from our necessities budget, we set aside $200.00 for groceries. We also have a monthly deduction that is automatic from our main account that goes into our childrens' savings accounts. When it's all said and done, we spend about $5000.00 a month as a family. Since Corey is the only one working, and we have such high expenses, I feel very strongly about honoring our family budget.

So recently, I asked the question back to Corey, "where does the money come from?" His iPad screen shattered a few weeks ago. Purchasing a new portable electronic device to replace it has been on his list of things to do.  It is also an added cost over what we normally spend. However, at his job, he made his monthly goal for sales in February. This meant that he won a chance to "spin the wheel" at the company meeting. Every month, the salespeople who make their goals put their names into a hat and one person is drawn out. That person gets to spin the prize wheel. In years past, Corey has won such things as $1000 cash and white water rafting in the Grand Canyon. One guy won a trip to Hawaii. (Pretty sweet.) So when Corey spun the wheel, guess what he won? $700 towards a new laptop/iPad!

While searching online for his replacement, he reviewed and checked and double checked many sites and sources. The replacement that he came up with (that fulfills all of his computing needs) cost almost double what the prize would cover. I asked him the question, "where does the money come from?" He answered, "This is two months of car payment that we no longer have to pay." Ok, I can roll with that.

We just paid off our second car (Corey's car). So that frees up about $350 each month. Since we are no longer paying that out, that money that we were used to "not having" because we were paying it can go towards something else. That's where his laptop money came from, still honoring our family budget.

So where am I going with all of this? Some of you might have noticed a discrepancy between this blog and my facebook page. Yesterday, I posted about my trip to Out of Africa Wildlife Park with my two children. Meanwhile, my blog had only $5.00 remaining for the balance this pay cycle. How can that have funded a trip that cost about $65.00? Where did the money come from?

Preschool. I asked Corey at our family meeting last week if we could use Carrick's preschool tuition for the week to fund a trip to Out of Africa over Spring Break. Some of my mom friends were planning a group outing while the kids are out of school. I wanted to honor our family budget, but also, I really wanted to take the kids to Out of Africa when some of their friends (and mine) would be there too. So, we found a way to make that happen, without spending anything extra out of what we are used to spending. The money has to come from somewhere.

Out of Africa (tips towards transportation and lunch)- $5.00

Balance this pay cycle- $0.00

Happy Spending!