Frugal Fashionista

Looking at our budget, cutting the budget, talking about the budget is something that has been going on in our house this year for our adoption costs.  With the horrible economy I thought I would share some of the ways we save money.
    I have been one of those crazy coupon people for about three years.  When your husband gets laid off and you are 28 weeks pregnant with twins.  You figure out a way to save some money. No I do not buy 50 of each item.  In fact I don't buy more than 2 of anything at a time.  I do honest couponing.  I love this free site www.southernsavers.com.  She does all the work for you.  She finds the deals and matches up the coupons. She has some good getting started videos and makes everything pretty simple. I would suggest starting with groceries and once you master that moving on to your drug store shopping.  I would also be happy to give anyone advice!
 I use to click and print her lists.  But my printer and I have a love-hate relationship.  Honestly it is a hate relationship.  I hate it and it hates me.  Currently I am using this cute way to meal plan and grocery shop from a lady in my Bible study.  This was our week's grocery list and coupons.  I also had 15 digital coupons on the Publix site that matched up with my purchases.

And here are the organization bins I use to house my weekly coupon inserts.  It works better for me to store the inserts weekly and not cut coupons I might never use.

Brown accordion on the right is adoption files!!!!

Another way we are cutting down on the budget is eating at least two dinners weekly meat free.  I usually try to serve a plant protein on these nights.  And the meat I do buy is in bulk.  Last week I picked up our 40lbs of chicken I special ordered.  It is hormone free, great tasting, and by ordering in bulk, its only $1.79lb.  You won't find that in the grocery store.

My green thumb husband also is always growing seasonal veggies in our garden. Check out our last batch of carrots.  They tasted great.  Last year we had squash, eggplant, pole beans, tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, zucchini, mint, and basil.

So long store short, eat in!  Our family almost always eats in. Lucky for me I enjoy cooking and knowing what ingredients my family is eating.  But its not just groceries you can save on.  We always buy the coupon books to support the local schools.  They are full with coupons for restaurants in your area.  So if you are going to eat out save some money and support education!

Okay so maybe I am not a Fashionista and I am just Frugal.   I buy most of my boys clothes on consignment.  If I am shopping at a store for them it is to buy the season that is ending on clearance.  For me or Brandon I buy most of our stuff on the clearance rack of T.J Maxx or Kohl's clearance when they are giving extra bucks and I have a % off coupon.  I bought Brandon five dress shirts and a tie for $13 two weeks ago.  Don't buy things full priced, it will be marked down the next week and you will be kicking yourself.  If you are a label kinda gal/guy, shop online.  Sign up for a flash site that does daily deals on designer clothing.  I am a member of a few trading websites on facebook that always have designer handbags, and clothes gently used for a lot cheaper.  Of course I could care less about buying designer things currently with our budget.  But this is where I would shop for it if I was in the market for some.

And check out Goodwill and thrift stores.  Get up early and go to garage sales for some great deals! Most people are really looking to unload their stuff with garage sales making items so cheap.  Of course you get the occasional hoarder that just couldn't bare to part with that kitten coffee mug for less than five dollars.

Coming soon Vacationing for less!  A lot of my friends give me a hard time because we go on a lot of vacations.  But there are some secret tips I have to making it more afforadable and in your budget.  Of course no trip to Dubai or Bali planned for this year.  Gotta save for plane flights to China!

Cards for a Cause

We are selling Usborne Cards for a Cause.    There are two different 30-card greeting card boxed sets that are available: a kid's boxed set and an all-occasion boxed set.  The boxed sets are $30, which comes to only $1 a card....such a deal compared to the $4 you will spend on a card in stores.  The orders will take about 2 weeks to get to us and then we will deliver them to you.
We get to keep $13 dollars from every box we sell.  That is a 43% return for our fund.  There are very few fundraisers that yield this much.  Everyone needs cards, and you just can't get a decent card card for bucks.

Sell 100 boxes, get $1300 dollars ( almost enough for a plane fare to China)
Sell 150 boxes, get $1950 dollars (enough for our home study)

Thirty-One Gifts Fundraiser

Our friend Kelda Hartzog has offered to donate all of her commission from this thirty-one gift party to our adoption fund!

You can order online and have the products shipped directly to you.  I also have catalogs and would be happy to meet up with anyone that wants to put in an order this way!

You have until March 29th to get your orders in.  Thank you for your orders!

Go to https://www.mythirtyone.com/keldahartzog/ and cllick on the "my parties tab"

And make sure to click on the SETCHEL ADOPTION fundraiser choice so we get the credit!

Fundraiser Friday

Feeling a little emotional this week with how supportive people have been towards our adoption.  It takes a village to adopt a child and our village has grown faster than I expected.  THANK YOU!

This month we have had three amazing women offer three different ways to help us fundraise.  Rene' McQueen with Origami Owl, Kelda Hart Zog with Thiry-One Gifts, and Jennifer Collins with Usborne books your generosity is greatly appreciated!!  More details about all these products coming very soon.

"And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward." Matthew 10:42

Our Coffee fundraiser will be an ongoing fundraiser.  So please take a look  HERE to find out how to order.  Big shout out to Chris Simmons for being the first to order a bag.

We are also in the works on creating t-shirts.  Brandon has designed a logo for our fundraiser and my wonderful father-in-law is going to produce them.  I cannot say enough about how caring and supportive my in-laws are.  Can't wait to see everyone sporting these shirts!

• This week we had our first homestudy interview on the phone.  It went great.  We set up our home visit with our social worker for April 1st. So keep us in your prayers that the boys have good moods that day. 
• We were cleared by our first set of fingerprints! Guess we aren't criminals. (yes we will have to do another set later)
• We got all of our medical reports and forms back in the mail (We are healthy! No syphilis!! yup they check for everything)
• Started a FB page for our adoption and reached 100 likes in over one day!

Stay tuned for a special blog about Frugal living!!

Here are some pictures of our week. 

Fun at the Zoo!

Dinner with my loves

Enjoying the beautiful weather!

Adoption Lingo

Tomorrow is our first home study interview!!!!!!! We are really getting into the thick of things now.  Please keep praying for our process.  And especially give us a prayer tomorrow at 2:30 central time for our interview.

 I thought I would go over some adoption lingo!

• Instead of referring to a child saying "she is adopted," say "she was adopted."  The past tense "was" rather than  "is" identifies the adoption as a past event rather than an ongoing event.  The child was adopted into the family and is now a permanent member, just like a biological child.
• Use the term "biological child" rather than "natural child." The opposite of natural is "unnatural," a word which has synonyms like "strange," "odd," or "peculiar."  Those aren't labels any child should bear.
• Along the same line, use "biological child" rather than "one of your own." Our adopted child will ABSOLUTELY be all our own.
• "Birth parents" is preferred over "real parents."  Her birth mom chose life for her even though she was not able to be a parent.  We did not bring her into this world, but she will be our daughter and we will love and raise her.

Words have a lot of power, especially in the ears of a little one.

"Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial    Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.  Your own child: Any child who is not someone else's child.   Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own." ~Rita Laws

143 Million Orphans

I have to admit that in the face of 143 million orphans, adopting one seems so small.  I know what a difference we will make for our daughter but the fact that 142,999,999 lonely children are out there is something that will always bring me to my knees.

Not everyone is called to adopt.  Many are called to orphan care through financial or other means.  But there are so many couples and individuals out there who say to themselves at some point.  "I'd like to adopt," and there are too few who actually follow through.

This happens for many reasons- fear, finances, lack of time, anxiety about what it would do to the other kids or family dynamic etc.  And you know what, I am  scared about all those things too.  But I also have to say: IF God has placed the desire to adopt in your heart follow that calling.
As long as there are orphans in the world there are people whom God is calling to adopt who have not answered   If you think you have this calling, you probably do!

I urge you: step out in faith and open yourself up to watch God work.  Be someone for a child who has no one and put the awful ache of loneliness to death.

Who needs Starbucks?

For all you coffee lovers out there, here's an opportunity to feed your addiction and feel good about it

CLICK ON THIS LINK   https://justlovecoffee.com/about/beneficiary/setchel/

Very important to just use this link so we get credit for your purchase.
Storefront at JustLoveCoffee and make a purchase! Once you enter the site from our link you can navigate around freely and $5.00 from every small bag purchased will go towards our adoption costs!
Also 5% of the profits goes to WaterStep, a company helping bring clean water to world!

There are lots of options including fair-trade and green coffee for the consciously minded.
Our goal is $300 from the coffee fundraiser: that's 60 bags sold

Coffee makes a great gift too- especially for those generic gift games everyone seems to play at the office or at large family gatherings.

I'd love to say THANKS to you if you make a purchase so leave me a comment when you do!

This company is really amazing in how they support adoption!  Watch this video to learn more about the great things they are doing!
Video about Just Love Coffee

Beg, Borrow, Scrimp or Steal

$31,762.50.  That is our number.  We need to earn, save, raise, beg, borrow, scrimp or steal $31,762.50 to bring out little girl home.  We know we can't do it alone, so we are asking for God to help us. 

Today I spent many hours drafting a fundraising letter that we are planning on mailing out and worked on T-shirt designs.  We are partnering up with my wonderful father-in-law to make t-shirts.  Other fundraisers in the works are coffee sales, and Usborne books cards.  Of course along with all this fundraising I have been picking up extra shifts at both my jobs and cutting back on our budget.

So please stay tuned on how you can help!

Getting our ducks in a row

Here is what I have been doing the last month.

Paperwork Accomplishments

• Turned in Application to Lifeline ($250) 2/7/13
• Application 2/12/13
• Begin home-study paperwork and first payment ($2,776.25) 2/20/13
• Request Heidi Birth Certificates ($43) 2/22/13
• BAMOM Consignment Sale (Raised $1500) 2/22/13
• Fingerprints for Lifeline ($97) 2/25/13
• TB tests 2/25/13
• Mailed Fingerprints ($7) 2/26/13
• Medical Physical (blood work) 3/1/13
• Requested Marriage Licenses($22) 3/6/13
• Request Brandon Birth Certificates ($35.95) 3/6/13
• Register for Hague Education ($195) 3/6/13

This whole paper chase portion of adoption should take about six months.  Is it July yet??