Do you remember the flooring dilemma I had a few months ago? I’m almost embarrassed to say that I am just now getting around to solving the problem. I installed laminate flooring into my hallway and bedroom. And I have to say, at this moment I am confident this was the best decision for us. Not only do I have the peace of mind of having a complete, normal, beautiful floor in my bedroom, but I have the financial peace of mind knowing I didn’t spend $3737.50.  I love the look of hardwoods, but with the dogs I couldn’t justify spending that much money and watching them get scratched.  Going with laminate flooring eliminates that worry.  It’s going to take a lot (knock on wood) for them to scratch the laminate.  Also, I was able to install it myself, which saved us a ton of money. With the current housing market the way it is, we’ve decided to love the home we’re tied to, and make improvements that fit our lifestyle.  We can afford the laminate flooring.  We actually bought [...]

This “fall back” daylight savings thing is kicking my butt!  It’s only 6:40 P.M. and I’m almost ready to go to bed.  Lame!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend.  I spent mine doing home improvements but I am really glad I did, because I feel so much better about staying in this house!  Here are some posts I enjoyed this week: Kacie @ Sense to Save is cancelling her cable. I think this is great! I would love to do this, but I’m afraid I’d miss TLC and HGTV too much! I could probably do without if I could watch the shows online. Pinyo at Moolanomy advises people not to cash in your 401k. I personally wouldn’t do this but it’s a good reminder to those who are thinking about doing it not to! Ashley at Wide Open Wallet talks about building a wardrobe. Sometimes I get the urge to purge my closet but then I realize that would be stupid. I think adding one piece at a time is a great way to build a wardrobe! Mrs. Micah [...]

Ever since we started growing our own vegetables in our garden, I’ve been addicted. I’m addicted to the taste of my fresh organic vegetables, and I’m addicted to all the money we save by not having to pay for as many vegetables.  We’ve started drinking green smoothies to help incorporate more greens into our diet, and while it costs us more to buy more produce, we spend less on other junk food and crap and I think we end up saving money.  I am bummed because our garden isn’t as fruitful as I wished, but I’m trying to come up with some remedies to that.  I’ve come up with a few ideas. Buy a membership to Costco.  The one thing that is holding me back is the $50 a year for a membership.  That is a lot of money!  Right now we’re using a friend’s membership when we want to go, but that gets inconvenient, especially with the amount of greens we consume. We do buy our dog food there because it is a lot cheaper and is good dog [...]