Money management- how we buy Gas

    When I watch news stories with money experts helping people with their budgets or debt, it seems the people usually have all their bills in a grocery sack or 2 that is full.  I just cringe and can't imagine how they ever keep up with so many accounts.

When I was working on my homekeeping notebook and looking at sites with printables and forms to keep up with your money, I realized our spending is more simple than most. 

So, how we do things might help somebody, so I will share.

We use cash for most local spending but we don't like having to go inside the gas station twice when buying gas with cash. We tried using our credit card for gas but it seemed when looking at our credit card statement, those gas purchases were just so much. 

My husband likes to buy gas at Walmart, it is convenient to us and they give a discount at the pump when you purchase with a Walmart credit card (no thank you) or with a Walmart gift card. 

Gas prices change often but we tried to budget an amount to spend on a Walmart gift card to use just for gas. At first we were buying a $250 card every month but that was too much as after doing this for just about 4 months, we still had a full card in December and did not buy one that month. The January one was $200 and so far, we think it will be just about right.

If there was an emergency and we needed more gas than we had prepaid for, that would be OK, as we have a credit card and emergency funds too. 

My husband pumps the gas and he keeps up with the card and balance. Some families who choose to do it this way might need their own card. It might be a great way to budget your teen's gas. 

Financial people would say we should not tie up our money like this with no interest but for us, it works and keeps our gas expense at an amount that fits our budget.

JJ clapping

Just because he is so cute, too cute not to share......

Old fashioned Tea towels

back in the fall,  Manuela posted about ways to make and decorate tea towels.  She had them hung on her stove and I thought they looked so cute.   I remembered I had embroidered some and I found them in my sewing room and got them out. All the embroidery was done but I thought they needed a little something more,  so those towels sat longer in the sewing room......

Until this week,  I wrote in my homekeeping notebook on my things I wanted to
sew quilt squares together
iron
put rick rack on towels
start Valentine dresses for granddaughters.

well,  I did sew rick rack on those 4 towels last night. 
And then I was reading blogs and saw on Lil Red Hen is going to do hope chest things for her 2014 project.  She posted some beautiful red work tea towels.  I am looking forward to seeing what she makes in 2014.  In 2013, she made an apron every month.

 

So,  for now I have a pretty towel hanging on my oven.  Until one of the toddling grands walks by and pulls it off :)

New chicken recipe - Pinterest #2 for 2014

I cooked a new to us recipe from Pinterest tonight,  Grilled Chicken Tenders, Without the Grill.

It's a simple recipe- just chicken with 1 cup of Italian dressing and a little honey and lime juice. 
As the first blogger describes, it really looks like a mess when it starts cooking but as it cooks, the liquid cooks off and the flavor goes in the chicken. 
My chicken did not get as dark as the first blogger's photos but we liked it a lot and will cook it again. 

Cricut Challenge #1 for 2014

One of my goals for 2014 is to do at least one Cricut challenge each month.  Fantabulous Cricut Challenge Blog hosts a challenge every week but realistically, I probably can't do it every week.

I had fun with this weeks which was to use a sentiment on a project. I dressed up my homekeeping notebook and used a new cartridge called The Country Life. 

The paper is from Anna Griffin, a multisheet package bought years ago. 

 I think the little pennants with cut outs are so sweet. 

Thank you FCCB for hosting the challenges.  I've had my Cricut machine for several years but have used it very little.  I am hoping 2014 will be the year that I Cricut more and maybe move from beginner to intermediate. 

 

All of the cuts were made with The Country Life cartridge except for the framed to-do list, I used From My Kitchen for it. 

 

linking up with Inspire Me Monday at Create With Joy