Budgeting templates

If you're looking for budget templates, I really like the FREE forms available from Dave Ramsey's website. We use the "Money Cash Flow Planning" form, but if you're new to budgeting, I suggest the "Quickie Budget" first, until you get your feet wet with the idea of budgeting. We like these forms because it forces us to put a dollar amount to everything and encourages a zero-based budget - every dollar is assigned to something.

All credit for the budgeting forms goes to Dave Ramsey, not me (hope it's okay to link and suggest other peoples stuff on my own blog...).

Also, just as another plug, I made laundry detergent on Oct. 3 and am still on the same batch. That's at least 75 loads of laundry and I bet there's another 25 loads in that bucket. DO IT! You can get more information on cost and get the recipe by reading our Oct. 3 post. I found the recipe on the Duggar's website. Someone did ask about using this recipe in high efficiency washers. Unfortunately, I don't know the answer to that question...but Google might! :-).

Also, another financial win - this week our local grocery store (which I'm totally in love with, but that's beside the point) is having a sale of frozen vegetables - 10 packages for $10. So, of course I ran over and grabbed ten bags. Each bag will probably feed us three times, so that's roughly $0.33 a serving (actually, $0.17, since "us" = 2). That also means that I just got 30 servings of dinner veggies for $10. Hello, entire month worth of dinner vegetables! I will admit that we don't eat a large serving of veggies with dinner, so my portions are pretty frugal. But, even if each bag fed us twice, that's still $0.25 a serving and 20 servings of vegetables. Not bad, huh? Especially since we prefer frozen over canned any day. Okay, enough talk about frozen vegetables for cryin' out loud...

Life in Terre Haute

21 days ago we packed a moving van (thanks to Scott C. Ronda L. and Claudia P.) and prepared to head to Indiana early the next day. We arrived in Terre Haute by the middle of the afternoon and were met by my sister and brother-in-law, who thankfully, helped us unload the moving van. The next day they left and my mom and stepdad joined us to help unpack the apartment. The following day (New Years Day) Andy, Spike and I headed home to Bedford to have Christmas with my dad and stepmom. Those were, to say the least, a busy few days.

Andy and I both started our new jobs on January 3 and are happy to report that, so far, we love them! I am really enjoying my time as an academic advisor and am enjoying the opportunity for hands-on learning (e.g. I learn as I work through stuff with students). I also really like the people that I work with and appreciate the relaxed atmosphere. Andy is enjoying his new job, too and is adjusting nicely. Spike has yet to start looking for a job, but we're hopeful he will find his motivation any day now.

Although we haven't had much time to explore Terre Haute, we like the city so far. Our apartment is in a nice location, giving us quick access to both ends of town. We're just down the road from an interstate and shopping area and I am about 15 minutes from campus (20 minutes, if I get stopped by one of the traffic lights that seem to occur every 10 ft. or so...)

By far, the best perk of moving has been our proximity to family. While it was fun and exciting to move to Iowa, we didn't understand then how important it was to be close to family. Now we have a new appreciation :-). It's so lovely to be able to take a day to see our parents, friends, siblings, etc. without having to worry about trying to plan a full-fledged vacation. What a blessing!

Once we get unpacked all the way and get some decorating done, we'll post a few shots of our new place.

With love,
Ashleigh and Andy