The no-sleep cry thingy

We've tried The No-Cry Sleep Solution
and we've tried The No-Cry Nap Solution
with marginal success.

Some days only Go the F**k to Sleep is appropriate.

I'm sure Alice will figure out how to sleep on her own one day but until then you'll be able to pick us out in a crowd as the couple with the baggy eyes and snot stained shirts.

If your kid goes to sleep at 5:30pm, we hate you.

Why couldn't we have been blessed with a narcoleptic child!?


*please note the not-so-clever use of affiliate links

Productive day today!

Alice and I have been sick for a week now and I was finally feeling up to doing stuff again today. Jon had a studio setup and was gone for a good part of the day making $150 so I accomplished the following things:

• put away and washed dishes
• made 4 sets of receiving blankets and cloth wipes to sell on Etsy
• started a batch of No Knead bread
• baked a spice cake
• nearly finished making Alice a pajama dress out of one of my old t-shirts but it's late now so I'll finish it tomorrow
• made dinner
• made simple syrup

It's still a bit of a disaster in here, the floors and bathroom need to be done and I'm really far behind on laundry. The bread has to be baked first thing in the morning and I haven't gone for another jog because of the lovely fever and aches I had. Also have to go get groceries tomorrow too and go to the bank.

We got a surprise cheque for $605 the other day. We got repaid for our MSP which we really didn't expect, we just thought we wouldn't have to pay it anymore when we applied for medical coverage.

I managed to do 7 headbands in the past couple days as well, we're just waiting on my cards to arrive and then I can finally open my Etsy shop for business after over a month. Yay!

My goal is to make at least one thing to list every day, even if it's just something small.

The Ten Worst Budget Destroyers

A lot of families struggle with low income and inflexible budgets. An emergency can quickly drain your savings and set you back several years paying off your credit cards. I've listed a few things that will absolutely destroy your carefully balanced budget but unfortunately are unavoidable and inevitable expenses.

1. Sickness and injury - If you or your young child are sick you can't go to work. Lost wages.
2. The death of a friend or family member - These situations usual mean you drop everything to be with family for a week or more. Travel, lost wages, funeral costs, you have to cover this somehow.
3. Broken eyeglasses - Eye glasses are expensive! If you lose them or drop them the wrong way, well you're out $200 or more.
4. Public service strikes - The recent Canada Post strike has resulted in delayed assistance cheques and late bill payment, Public transit strikes could mean you have to take a cab to work if you can't find a carpool.
5. Weddings - Your friend invites you to their wedding. Do you have extra money for a gift?
6. Birthdays/showers/parties - These come up several times a year, can you afford to go?
7. Car repairs and traffic tickets - Cars need regular maintenance and you can plan for that. A major repair can be a huge setback. Watch where you park and remember to feed the meter, it's way cheaper than a ticket.
8. A Massive Cell Phone Charge - We've all got horror stories of brutal phone charges. Get off a contract and onto a fixed monthly all inclusive plan as soon as possible to avoid these ridiculous fees.
9. Moving - This can be tough. If your apartment costs too much you can move to something cheaper but you'll need to pay for the moving costs and usually 2 months of rent up front. Calculate the costs, is it worth it?
10. Major Appliance replacement - Oven, fridge, washing machine, air conditioner etc. Who knows when they'll break down, when they do it'll hurt your budget.

There you have it. The Ten worst things to happen to your budget.
Got a good story about budget devastation? Let us know in the comments.

Scrimpulous recommends cook books

Here is a short list of the cook books we have owned and loved or want to buy.

Classics



TV Chefs



From Great Food Bloggers

We're Still Here

Haven't posted in a while, we've had a sick baby here so not much as gotten done. Now I have her plague as well. Yesterday started out great, I was up early and baked bread and actually went for a jog! I wasn't feeling well but attributed it to lack of sleep. Around noon I ran out of steam and had a nap. I woke up with a fever, chills and a congested head. Fun times. I'm still sick so I'm not going to do anything for probably another day, just lay around and hope to get better.

Etsy shop is still not up.

That is all.

The challenge ended. Now what?

In June we challenged ourselves to use only $200 for groceries. We did it no problem and saved at least $220. I really wish we did it months ago. Going forward we're going to continue the $200 grocery budget and reduce it further if possible.
The next step, what we're focusing on this month is efficiency and managing our time more wisely. We always have a to-do list but we rarely ever complete all the tasks. A lot of our time is wasted thinking about what to do next, procrastinating and doing things. I've been reading things from Ramit Sethi and Tim Ferris and I intend to implement them right away.
I'll get into those things later in the month as they are tested, let's get back to the groceries for a minute. Below is a short list of steps we used to achieve our goal. We will have a blog post for each topic coming up.

How we saved $200+ on groceries last month

1. Meal plan
2. Shopping list
3. Smaller portions
4. Track spending