Don't just put it under the mattress

This post by Donnie reminded me that having and sticking to a budget is a bit pointless if you're not also saving money not only for retirement but also in an emergency fund. If you watch Suze Orman, you know that, (along with being a bit crazy), she is constantly hounding people to have at least 3-6 months of income saved in an emergency fund, as well as a monthly contribution to a retirement fund. This is something my church has also recommended for years, for which I am very grateful.

Now, I wish that we were at place financially where we had 3-6 months income saved as well as a healthy start in a retirement fund. We do the latter, but sadly, not the former. We do, however, have a smaller emergency fund, which we are slowly growing, stowed away safely in an ING Direct Orange Savings Account.

In harmony with my recent post all about PearBudget, I'd also like to sing the praises of ING Direct Orange Savings accounts. Also discovered through SimpleMom, this is an (ironically) simple way to earn decent interest (it has recently dropped, but is still 2.4%) with no fees, and a direct link to your checking account.

A few other things I love about the ING Direct Orange:

• You can have multiple accounts within the same account--for example, I have an account set up called limabeanhome (money from my business), an account called emergency fund, an account called christmas (which, as you can imagine is empty at the moment).
• The accounts are very simple to set up and don't require any minimum balance.
• All correspondence is done electronically, and they have many security measures in place to protect your information.
• The money can be easily accessed at any time--at your request, it will be deposited back into your checking account where it originally came from.

They also have a great referral program. If you're interested in setting up an account and plan to have at least $250 dollars as your initial deposit, they will automatically give you an extra $10 to add to that amount. Leave a comment and your email if you're interested in the extra $10 and I'll send you a referral via email. If you're setting up an account with less than $250, just go here and set it up now. You can even start it with $1.00. Seriously.

It is such a relief to have even a small amount in a savings account, especially when you know it's safe and earning some interest.

She who dies with the most fabric wins

(sorry to anyone who is getting this post on their reader twice--technical difficulties)
If you've visited my Etsy shop lately, you'll see that the bags listed there are starting to gather dust and the shop needs some serious love and updating. I'm considering a clearance sale, to clear out the old and bring in the new, but that requires having some new.

During the all-too-recent months of pregnancy blech, I would often lay in bed, stare at my sewing machines and find myself nauseous and overwhelmed at the thought of ever sewing again. It was a bleak, sad time and I was a teeny bit afraid that the love wouldn't come back. But it did and I am oh-so-glad.

Luckily, my 3-year-old is still the best napper there ever was, and while James is at school in the afternoons, I have 2ish hours of generally uninterupted sewing time. It is precious and I love it. So, one of these days I plan to attack this awesome stack of fabric and drum up some new bags for limabeanhome.
But for now, I am happy for the success of Classichound and the doggie bags, because they are keeping me busy. As is my sister who always has a custom project in the works for the ranch and her awesome bosses.
For these pillows I finally learned how to do invisible zippers. They are so much better-I might not ever use a regular zipper again.

Budget, Schmudget

In my family of five siblings, I am often ridiculed for being the cheap one. My brother comes in a close second, but his spending habits differ from mine in that he is willing to pay a larger amount of money for a quality item (as long as there are 5 rebates and a craigslist/ebay sale involved). I'll admit, I'm somewhat of a tightwad, although I have often wondered what makes me this way. How do we end up being the spenders or the savers that we are?

In married life, money conflicts are painful and frustrating, but inevitable, and Jeff and I have had our fair share of them over the years. We have tried many systems of budgeting trying to find one that we can both agree on and participate in, and have watched them all go by the wayside, unsuccessful, leaving us back to where we started, searching for the right one (sound familiar to anyone?)

My preference is a zero-based budget--you spend every penny of your monthly income on paper before you even get your paycheck, and then keep careful records throughout the month making sure you don't exceed what has been allotted into the various categories. When the money is all spent, you stop spending, whether the month is over or not. Like many systems, it takes a lot of planning and requires meticulous accounting of what is being spent, and when it is implemented in a marriage, both parties have to equally agree with where the money is going as well as keep track of their own spending throughout the month. We have discovered that the first part is much easier than the second. The keeping track is where we always seem to fail.

Then I discovered PearBudget. I read about it on SimpleMom--I could describe the program, but she does it so brilliantly in this post, that if you're interested, you should link over there to read all about it.

Here's what I love about this program and why I think it is working for us:

• Unlike some other budgeting programs, PearBudget does not require you to link to your accounts. You enter your transactions as you spend, and keep track of it yourself.
• The interface is simple and uncluttered and since it does the math for you once the transactions are entered, it is easy and convenient to see how much has been spent in each category.
• Jeff and I can both access our account from any computer, so transactions can be entered at our convenience.
• When we log on to enter transactions, we can both see how much has been spent in each category. (This eliminates one person having to be the policeman, telling the other one to stop spending money eating out because we have no more money allocated for dining out)
  
  

Luckily, I have a great husband who is not a big spender, is willing to participate in this budgeting program, talk about money more than he wants to, and even watch Suze Orman with me sometimes. So far, PearBudget has worked well for us and I hope it will continue to facilitate harmony in our marriage with regards to how our money is spent.

Monday Fun Find #17

Mediumcontrol, the creator of this shirt, has been a great customer of limabeanhome, and I am a fan of this item in her shop.

The front of the shirt has a great sketch of the eiffel tower, an "original india ink drawing, pulled from the pages of my sketch book. inspired from the last trip thru europe."

Being that the hubby lived in France as a missionary for two years, we have Paris on our "someday we must visit" list. In fact, it's at the very top. When that will actually happen is a story yet to be told.

Happy Monday!

Linkage

Here are 4 of my favorite posts from the past few weeks, straight from blogs I love to read. These four made me want to laugh, cry, make a new year's resolution, and covet a little bit (though not in that order).

Start Your Day By Eating a Frog--Simple Mom
(Oh how I want to knit this hat)--SouleMama
Sleepy Husband Corner-(a friend of mine--she has a way with words)
15 Steps--Nie Nie Dialogues

Soup of the Day: part 4

For now, this is the final post in the soup of the day series. But we have enjoyed some fabulous soups during these past few weeks and I have enjoyed reading your comments about the ones you've tried.

This recipe for Winter Squash Soup was shared by Alisa, and the hubby was oh, so excited to see that it was a version of the soup he had eaten many moons ago when he was a missionary in Paris. A "potage" of sorts (as he called it), I made this in my new Christmas/Birthday present--a pressure cooker (thank you, thank you Mindi) which cooked the squash in 7 minutes. This is a fabulous tool to add to my kitchen and I cannot wait to see what other magic it can do.

I must admit I intended to make the gruyere croutons, but forgot to buy a baguette so we ended up using the gruyere in a grilled cheese sandwich which was delicious dipped in the potage. Even if you think you hate squash, give this soup a try. It is sweet, savory, creamy and surprisingly rich even though it only requires 1/4 cup cream for the whole recipe.

an addendum. . .

I've been watching my two boys chase each other around the house now for about 30 minues, stopping only to wrestle each other on the floor and now the couch even though I've asked them at least 85 times to stop. I say to myself, boys just come this way? They have extreme cabin fever? They are sending a message to their mother to get off the computer and play with them?

I think boys just come this way. They want, no, they have to run, jump, wrestle, wrestle, and did I mention wrestle? (I've never been much of a fan of wrestling myself)

Oh, what have I gotten myself into? (and since my last post I've also been considering the amount of camping and boy scouting that is in my future. . .oh boy)