Like a Gazelle: Family of Five in 1000 sq ft

     We're doing the Dave Ramsey thing to the best of our ability.  Life circumstances make that difficult at times but we're getting our momentum back. I think. We're always looking for ways to improve; ways to save.

     "Date" nights are still watching a favorite movie on Netflix or grabbing a $1.20 Redbox rental (preferably for $0 when we get a free code via text message). We used to play more board games. Sometimes we just chat.

     We do our best to keep other costs down. We keep luxuries like cell phones* and internet but we definitely get our use out of them between communicating with family, friends, and coworkers, couponing, paperless billing, swagbucks*, school, budgeting, and banking*.

     We made the decision to sell our second vehicle almost 3 years ago. It gets iffy sometimes after being so used to having a car to myself all the time but we make it work. Our current van is definitely solidly into clunker territory. We hope that when we do finally add a second vehicle (soon? maybe?!) again that we can pay 100% crispy, cold cash.

     When we did eventually replace our awesome luxuries like the TV, computer, or what have you we waited until what we had was literally not even appealing for parts. Then we find the sales or the unexpected deals. Do you know how much I'd love a new camera to upgrade from my Nikon d40x? A LOT! D you know how I drool when I see the kitchenaid mixers and dyson vacuums? (Hold on a second. I sound like an adult person. When did I start drooling over mixers and vacuums??) All in due time, as they say. Right??

     My husband has worked 2-3 jobs at a time and he's donated plasma. We've sold off a lot of junk and even some well loved items to shrink our debt. We rarely buy games or movies new. If we happen to rent and LOVE something then we typically trade-in some stuff for store credit. We've also done  the same with the kid's clothes and toys. Soon, I'll step into the world of consigning with the Rhea Lana event coming up this spring. We've got the hang of eBay and craiglist now too.

   But, our biggest, craziest leap thus far has been to extend our lease in a <1000 sq ft apartment. Oh, we idealize moving out, having our own yard, owning our own home. No doubt. For now, for just this short time, we can do this though. Five people: two bedrooms, two bathrooms, no walk-in closets. We'll make it work. I'm determined NOT to rent some storage unit for our extras. I'm slowly figuring out how to make the most of our space with its limitations. We'll donate or sell what doesn't fit. When new things come in old things will go out. We could move into a bigger space with a yard and a garage. We have the ability. It's an option. We just aren't taking it.

      I'm starting to think we're insane. Hopefully soon we can be crazy AND debt-free.

  


*Referral links
- Virgin Mobile 
- Swagbucks
- Capital One 360

A couple things I've wanted to share . . .

I've been meaning to share these! I know everyone likes good deals, discounts, coupons, and all that jazz. I'm not a super-coupon-clipper or anything but I like a good deal as much as the next person. If you don't mind some extra mail in your inbox these are three pretty nice options that you should look into:


Barnes and Noble Kid's Club

This is actually pretty cool. You sign up quickly and get cafe cupcake on birthdays plus lots of discounts on actual merchandise. There are regular coupons but there's also a reward system. For every $100 spent you can get $5 toward books. It's nothing flashy or awe-inspiring but if you love B&N or happen to shop their regularly anyway no discount is too small to count. Just the free cupcake for the littles is worth it. They send you a handy dandy little card to keep in your wallet too.

Shutterfly

This company is awesome for printing your average snapshots from daily life and family events. I think last year I ordered over 400 4x6 prints for nothing more than shipping. Usually this was in the form of 100 free print deals with a code you enter at checkout. There's a billion products you could make and you typically can find a code for free shipping but that discount on those prints are a huge draw for me personally because I take soooo many pictures that are great for the baby books and scrapbooking but not necessarily what I'll be hanging on my walls. If  you don't take tons of pictures that often there's always the option to get doubles or triples when those deals come up so you have spares to give to other people. I like it!

Swagbucks

This is no joke or scam. Last year, I got a total of $60 in amazon e-gift cards and $20 in cabela's gift cards. All you do is sign up and download the tracker onto your browser. You simply use it as your search tool and occasionally you get dropped 1-20 (or more) "swagbucks". You'll put in an anti-robot code or just click accept and your points (aka swagbucks) pile up in your account. At any time you go into the rewards store and trade the bucks out for stuff. Searching isn't the only way to earn the "points" either.