the giraffe life

When I used to buy books, I felt obligated to read them even if they were dreadful to get my money's worth. But checking out books from the library has removed that feeling, as has getting older and receiving encouragement from others to just let go of books that I'm not enjoying. That's not to say I stop reading books willy-nilly but it's nice to have that guilt-free option in the back of my mind if I'm struggling to finish something.  This month in particular has been rough for actually finishing books (or maybe I've just been too picky) so I thought I'd share the books I didn't complete rather than the ones I did. (Though if you're interested in what I did read, you can always check out my goodreads page.) Links take you to the book's page on goodreads A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness - Pretty hard to read a romance novel when you hate the supposed love interest (in this case, a super bossy vampire named Matthew). The final...

Most of my maternity wardrobe One thing I've really struggled with this pregnancy is getting dressed! Sounds silly, right? It's tough to find blog posts about how much maternity clothing you'll actually need because it's so personal. What one person considers appropriate work attire or "enough" doesn't always match your situation. So I figured I'd throw my experience out there :)  Here's what I've bought and my thoughts!  Oh, and I linked to something similar when I could. Links are not  affiliate - these companies don't even know I exist!   Work Appropriate - 19 items for $298 1 pre-maternity cardigan 2  tank tops - $20 (worn with pre-maternity cardigan) 6 short sleeve  blouses - $70 (1 from a yard sale, 1 from a thrift shop, the others buy 3, get 1 free) 4 long sleeve shirts - $25 (1 from a yard sale, 1 from a thrift shop, 2 from Pink Blush end of season clearance) 1 formal dress  - $88 (worn with  pre-maternity  ...

When we got our tax refund last March, we put my portion toward our mortgage debt and my husband's portion toward our California vacation . Both money well spent. This year we're spending all of it (plus a little more) on new floors for our upstairs.  In less trafficked places the carpet still looks decent. But the hallway and our bedroom look particularly worn - and of course the corners, which Monkey tore up her first two months here rather than one of the scratching posts.  We really love the hardwood floors we have downstairs so that was our first thought for upstairs. It would be cheaper to replace the carpet (about half the price) but the tax refund made us more willing to pay the extra. Plus the hardwood should last much longer than carpet ever would and I think it's easier to keep clean (especially for our family members with allergies).  The installation should be an interesting process with three cats in the mix! We're very excited f...

As much as I enjoy the cold, crisp air of winter, and the scenes of snow . . this in between time might just be my favorite time of year. Not too hot and not too cold. Plants waking up but not too many pesky weeds. Just lovely. This month I accomplished two of my 2014 goals so I made this handy dandy list in PowerPoint so I can cross them off as the year goes on.  Now, on to the details!  The mortgage:  I took on a temporary responsibility at work, which at first was only supposed to be one additional hour per week, but morphed into an extra seven hours! Thankfully I'm being paid for my time, and that unexpected money went to the mortgage for May, helping us pass the $2k mark. I still plan on putting extra toward the mortgage, just not as much as we have been.  My degree:   My projects were graded and I passed, so it's official - I'm finished! (Thank goodness because we already celebrated , haha). Reading:  This month I read a good bit . . 6 ...

Mr. G and I try to plan our one big vacation each year for June because the weather is (usually) mild and we can double-dip and celebrate our anniversary too. This year we're heading to sunny California for a little over a week. We're so excited!  We're flying in to San Diego, making our way up the coast, and flying home from San Francisco the following week. Everything is booked (we slowly made reservations over the past few months to spread out the cost) so the only thing left is making a playlist and lots of anticipation. :) This had the potential to be a super expensive trip since there are plenty of cities in California renown for their high cost of living (San Francisco is #2 in the whole country!). So here are a few things we've done to lower the cost . . We used a Southwest credit card to earn free flights. Southwest Airlines offers a credit card that allows you to earn points for every dollar you spend. Plus, if you spent more than $3000 in the first th...

Oh, March. I called it in my end of February post - this month we had highs in the 60s (15° - 21° C) and several snowstorms. Such a tease! But for April, I'm hoping the weather cooperates with some more consistent (and pleasant) temperatures. :) Besides nicer weather, it's also time for some goal updates. First up is the mortgage: $1100! It looks awesome on paper, but in reality, it's just my tax refund and proceeds from selling my wedding dress. Yes, I sold my wedding dress! This is one of those decisions that seems to fire people up, but for me it came down to the simple fact that I don't plan to wear it again and it was taking up a ton of room in the closet. Plus the woman I sold it to was overjoyed, so I'm super happy with my decision. :) Books I read this month:   I was running a little short on time this month because I've been cramming in school stuff after work, but I still managed to fit in a little reading. I'd recommend: The Rosi...

February is not a well-liked month 'round these parts. Tons of people at work have complained that it's the worst month ever. I have to disagree - I really love February. It's got Valentine's Day, more daylight than January, and a bonus day off from work (for Presidents' Day). And with February, I know what to expect: cold. March is often tougher for me because it teases with spring weather one day followed by snow the next. So yay February.  Ready for goals? :) Mortgage repayment was minimal this month because I bought a smartphone . However, by the end of the year, I'll recoup the purchase price of the new phone plus a little more because the monthly service charge is so much lower. A win in the long haul. :) I read 7 books this month (only possible because 4 of them were under 35 pages). My favorite was Tell the Wolves I'm Home  by Carol Rifka Brunt. It's the story of June, who loses her Uncle Finn to AIDS, and the strange man she first no...

I was a late adopter of cell phones in general - by the time I bought my first one in 2006, I was the only person in my circle of friends and family who didn't have one (excluding kids much younger than me). So it comes at no surprise that I'm way behind the trend on smartphones too.  But I don't mind being different so it's all good. :)  If you've been reading for a while, you may remember my post last year about my thoughts on  buying a smartphone and switching to Republic Wireless . Well, spoiler alert: I finally took the plunge and bought one (you may have already guessed that from the title of this post haha).  The biggest factor for me was the money saved. Since I first got a cell phone, I've always had the cheapest basic plan I could find. I was paying between $42-45 for 500 minutes and unlimited texts, plus taxes and fees, for a nice round total of about $50 a month. That's $600 a year for my cell phone service (no cost for phones because I a...

For a month that's normally pretty laid back and slow moving (compared to December, anyway), this January's been lightning fast. I didn't set any month-long goals for January, so all these updates are for my 2014 goals , some of which I haven't begun to tackle so they aren't mentioned. First up is the extra $2k toward the mortgage. We're at $570 so far. Yay! Another goal I made progress on was reading 50 books this year (works out to about one per week). I actually read 8 books in January. What?!  I can thank the snow for this - there were several weekend days when I stayed home because of the weather (if I don't have to drive in it, I don't!). I also had a couple days off from work because of snow, plus Martin Luther King day off (he was a very influential leader and civil rights activist). Much of that time was spent reading. A cozy couch + warm blanket + good book = happiness! Out of these 8, I'd heartily recommend: These is my Words...

I don't pay with cash often, but I save the coins when I do. This is something I learned from my parents, who also set aside their coins. As kids, we'd get so excited for the rolling party - sorting the coins and putting them in the paper tubes to turn in at the bank. (I was so proud of myself when I finally had enough coordination to start the tube. Did anyone else struggle to get that first coin to lay flat?) For this round though, I took the cheater route and let the coin counting machine do the work.  So here are my coins from 2013: Oooh, ahhh. Care to guess the total value? To give you some context, that's an 8 cup (nearly 2 liters) container and there are a ton of pennies (only worth 1¢). Scroll down for the answer. :) I'm so bad at these. I always guess way less than what's actually there. My guess for this container? 5 or 6 bucks. $18 - what?!   How close was your guess? Do you save coins?

Dar recently posted a photo of her weekly shopping trip  and Laura does the same every week. I think it's pretty interesting to see what others buy and how much they pay so I figured I'd share a shopping trip too.  Normally, I make 1-2 shopping trips per week. On the weeks I make two trips, it's one to the farmers' market and one to the grocery store (they're in opposite directions from my house, so I can't hit both in one drive). Our farmers' market sells the produce they grow behind the shop and food from local farmers when it's available. In January, most of the food is brought in from other parts of the country. But I still like to shop there to support a small business and products grown in North America. For $41.34, I bought . .  2 pounds of butter, $8.29 pound of organic ricotta cheese, $4.95 head of cauliflower, $3.99 unsweetened ketchup, $3.45 3/4 pound of shelled edamame, $2.89 onion, $.50 bell pepper, $.98 zucchini, $.91 ...

Yes, Christmas is over. And the next one is 300 some odd days away. But I'm buying Christmas presents anyway. Why? Because west elm is having a great sale on their Christmas stuff (and a ton of it is handmade, which I love). (west elm doesn't know I exist by the way - I'm just linking to them so you can check it out if you want.) And look, who can resist these cute little guys? I think my nieces and nephews will get a kick out of them twelve months from now. :) And I'm sorry (but not sorry) that the owl fell as I was taking this shot - I kept it because now it looks like he and the penguin are chatting.  Feel free to call me crazy in the comments :)

It's 2014? That'll probably sound weird to me until at least March. I'm looking forward to the new year, despite the fact that it doesn't quite feel right yet. I've been enjoying reading everyone's goals too and have some of my own to throw out there: source:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/HappyTownUSA haha, I love this graphic! Becky and Lucinda also used it, so I'm in excellent company. Finances Put at least $2000 toward mortgage prepayment  - Last year, we put an extra $1550 toward the principal, and I'd like to beat that! :) Save for daycare  - I'm not pregnant. And I know it's impossible to fully prepare to be a parent - but this is something we can start now. Hopefully it'll help us get used to the added expense way before we have a baby. Childcare estimates seem to run about $150/week in our area, so this amounts to setting aside $300 per paycheck. Personal   Finish my degree - Should be done in May! Woohoo :) Read 50...

Welcome to December! :) My on-going goal (since August) has been putting extra money toward my mortgage principal, and here's my final tally for 2013: I am thrilled to have been able to send an extra $1550 to the loan company, especially since that exceeds my original goal of $1k! Now, let's talk about November: Yoga : This one's complicated. I found 4 nearby yoga classes. But two of them cost $5 for the hour-long class, and the other two are $15 and $20 for an hour-long class. Easy choice, right? Between the two $5 options, there were 5 classes in the month of November (the class schedules were cut short by Veteran's Day and the week of Thanksgiving). Then two were cancelled! I decided not to fret. I could've gone to one of the more expensive classes, but why spend $20 on one class when I could just wait and use that same amount for four classes next month? So, technically, I failed for the purposes of this goal, but I'm counting the 3 yoga cl...

As I was driving home yesterday, I noticed a new billboard for a casino about a half hour away and it got me thinking. My first gambling encounter was at a horse track when I was about 8. I was spending a Saturday afternoon at a friend's house when her mom was called in to work. Her dad had promised to meet a friend at the race track, so he brought us along.  We went into a smoky room with lots of people and he gave us each $2. We bet on the horses whose names we liked best. My horse did well and I made $6! I remember being so excited. My friend earned $1 from her bet. She picked a horse for the next round and then asked for my pick.  I was so confused. I had just won $6! C'mon, I could buy SIX packs of Lisa Frank stickers with that money! But my friend was betting again, so I did too. And kept betting, until neither of us had any money left. Bummer.  My second go round was when my husband took me to a casino the week after my 21st birthday. We played some ...

Happy Friday! Since August, I've been challenging myself to put extra toward the mortgage every month, so here's visual look at my progress: I think this graph was the best thing I ever did in terms of encouraging myself to put a little extra down each month. The goal's always been in mind, but I felt like I did it more often than it was actually happening. I started tracking it in July, and I'm very happy with my consistency since then. :) And now for November: Attend yoga classes : Yoga is my kind of exercise - methodical, doesn't require anything too fancy, can be done solo or in a group. I used to only do yoga with my Wii , until I was spoiled by a yoga instructor coming to my work to teach a class. Sadly, she has moved on to other opportunities, and now I'm looking for a new class. I've found a few leads. My plan is to attend four local classes this month and figure out which one I prefer. Internet-free days : Everyone needs an internet br...

According to the Department of Labor, the average American makes $62,481 before taxes and this is how they spend it . . how do you compare? (Click to enlarge and be taken to the original source) I spend far less than this "average" person, but since I earn less as well, it's a little difficult to compare dollar-to-dollar. Of course, it's also tricky because I'm married. So I while I use and enjoy electricity, my husband pays for it (along with car payments and insurance, trash service, dinners out, and more). :) So I ran the numbers strictly for the things I pay for and I used percentages thinking that made the most sense. ~Taxes account for 26%. (This is an oddball number because it combines various state, federal, and local taxes as best I can figure.) I know the first pie chart didn't include taxes/government fees, but how can you not? No one escapes them completely (as far as I know) and they're usually a big chunk money gone! ~Paying half ...

At the end of July, I challenged myself to pay an additional $1000 on my mortgage by the end of year. And when my payment scheduled for tomorrow goes through, I will have paid off an extra $1150! This makes me so happy :)  But I'm not stopping there. With the last two mortgage payments, I'm aiming for $50 extra each month to end the year with a total of $1250 of extra principal paid. :) This will be a little difficult because we are fast approaching an expensive time of year (partially because of birthdays and partially because of Christmas), so I'm trying to spread out the spending for a change. When we first started buying Christmas gifts for nieces and nephews (side note: shouldn't English have a plural word that lumps nieces and nephews together like "siblings" does for brothers and sisters?), we bought each child an outfit, a book, and a toy or two. Then as the number of nieces and nephews increased, we stopped buying presents for our siblings to co...

Last week , I talked here about some ways that I cut costs to save money, but that only goes so far. Sometimes what you really need is a little extra money. That's what today's post is about. None of these things will make you rich (or at least they haven't made me rich) but they do put a little wiggle room in the budget. Recyclebank Recyclebank is a website where you can earn money by learning about green actions, making pledges to green your life, and recycling. In my area, they weigh how much the whole community recycles, and I get a portion of that amount credited to my account (usually between 50 - 100 points a week for just recycling). You need very few points to cash in for coupons (about 25 - 50 points), about 150 - 300 points for a yearlong magazine subscription, or 2000 points for a $10 gift card. Since I recycle every week, most of points are easily earned. If you have a Whole Foods grocery store nearby, you can also earn points if you recycle there.  ...

At the end of July, I decided to challenge myself to put an extra $1,000 toward my mortgage principal by the end of 2013. I didn't pick a certain dollar amount for each month because I was hoping to avoid stressing myself out if we were a little short one month or something unexpected came up. I was able to put an extra $250 toward my September 1st payment: I had an unexpected expense this month during my dental check up, which would have set me back $89, but I used a Visa gift card (the kind you can spend anywhere) to offset that cost. I also have some habits that help me stay frugal listed below. Book-buying ban:   I've been on a self-imposed book-buying ban since January of 2012. When I find something I want to read, I request it online and wait for it to arrive at my local library (and sometimes I wait and wait and wait, but that doesn't happen too often). I'm lucky that my library also offers magazines, DVDs, and CDs, so I rarely buy those, either. Added...