Money, money, money, MON-NAY

This is part two of content for the Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder.

I will confess that budget and finance are my weakest points, even after getting an A in my graduate class. For some reason I am totally Scarlett O'Hara about budgeting and always put it off for tomorrow.

A few months ago I signed up to track my budget online and while I like some things about the website I use, I don't like it all. With these worksheets, I can track my spending and income weekly as see where everything is.

The first page of my two page budget worksheet contains income and the bigger expenses - housing, debt and transportation. Each category has blank spaces for misc entries.

The second page continues the spending by category as well as a category for saving. There are spaces at the bottom to total the weekly spending as well as spaces to total monthly spending by category.

This is probably more handy to me than the budget worksheet. This lets me see at a glance all the bills I have paid to make sure I haven't forgotten anything.

I have also created an yearly overview worksheet. It divides the year into four quarters and all the categories (housing, auto, debt, ect) are listed with an actual, budgeted and difference line as well as overall totals.

You can now get these printables and more in my Etsy Shop! 

The Budget Checklists includes the Bill Tracker are now part of The Budget Pack and The Good Wife Home Management Pack. You can also get CUSTOMIZED printables too!

Aw, beep, beep. Toot, toot!

This is part one of content for the Brains of the Operation, aka Household Binder.

Since I have arranged the categories alphabetically, the auto log is the first thing I come to in the BotO. Car maintenance is the one area where The Good Husband is completely anal while I couldn't care less. I just fill it with gas and sometimes run it through the car wash.

But TGH likes to stay on top of things to keep the cars in good shape. He says he is better for resale.

So I created this template to track everything we do to both cars. The year, make, model and VIN number for the car is in the upper right hand corner, while the columns track oil changes, rotating and replacing the tires, cleaning and replacing air and fuel filters, wipers, brakes, batteries, transmission and other. There is space for notes as well.

It helps to be able to look up the exact date you got new tires or brakes and the last time you had the oil changed.

I always get a detailed invoice from our mechanic listing the things they did. For routine oil changes, I shred the invoice. When I have something more detailed done, I use a 3 hole punch and place that invoice in the binder. Eventually I will move them to the file cabinet, but for now they go here.

You can now get this printables and more in my Etsy Shop! 

 

The Auto Log is now part of The Good Wife Home Management Pack. You can also get CUSTOMIZED printables too!

On the death of Bin Laden

Time for more brilliant political commentary:

Last night the world was informed that Navy Seals had found and killed Osama Bin Laden. Pres. Obama's reaction was all


Meanwhile the rest of the world reacted and was all

The Brains of the Operation

I try to be organized.

I file away all our statements and receipts and I have all our paperwork in the file cabinet. I have a home address book. I have business cards stored in a drawer in the kitchen. I have a chore list on the fridge.

However, nothing is in one central location. If something were to happen to me, all our household info gets lost. So I hopped on the bandwagon and created this Household Binder, aka the Brains of the Operation.


Like any good white suburban girl, I headed over to Target to pick up some binders. I got this one and one that is brown with the same pattern.


I picked up the pouch and divers at OfficeMax/Staples/OfficeDepot. Inside I have a small notebook, also from Target and misc coupons and vouchers for things like free movies that don't belong with my food coupons.


Since The Good Daughter doesn't have much of a social life yet and certainly no school work, my BotO is a little thin. However, now when The Good Husband is freaking out b/c he needs to know an account number for something, he can look in here, instead of tearing the house apart looking for said account number.

I know BotO will grow over time (and get smarter LOL) but I have built a solid foundation with the following categories:

Auto
Budget and Finance
Calendar
Cleaning Schedules
Contacts
Daily Schedules
Food and Menu Planning

In the next few weeks, I will highlight each section and share the templates I have created for each.

Homemade Play Dough

The Good Husband has an unusual work schedule. He works 12 hour shifts, so on the days he works, I need to find a way to keep The Good Daughter entertained while I make dinner. If I were truly a good wife, I would have something made ahead of time, but we all know I'm not that good.

I don't like just plopping TGD down in front of the TV, no matter how much she loves SuperWhy! I was raised in front of the TV and is probably one of the reasons I am lazy. I have tried letting her color at the table but she just ends up eating the crayons.

Then I found a recipe for homemade play dough and thought that would buy me some time to cook. We made some the other night and she was quite skeptical. I loved play dough as a kid and was really rather anal about it, shockingly. I could not stand to mix the colors and I totally judged my little friends that would mix all the colors together and then put the shit colored play dough back in the can of red play dough. Freaks.

At first TGD was into it. She realized she could smoosh it and it was kind cool.

She could squeeze it.

She could throw it.

She could pull it.

She could stretch it.

And then she fucking ate it and gave the rest to the dog.

The good thing however is this is all natural. It was only flour, water, salt, oil and food coloring. I ended up making yellow and blue, since those are the only colors TGD can say. The only huge negative was the recipe made so much. It was too much. You could cut the recipe in half and still have a ton of play dough.

Also, the dough was super stiff and I could smell the motor burning in my hand mixer.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
3 cup flour
1 1/2 cup salt
1/4 cup oil
Food coloring

Directions:
~Combine ingredients in bowl and mix. Add more flour if mixture is too sticky. Store in a plastic zip-lock bag.

Oh, and TGD totally mixed the colors together. Freak

recipe from: Cooks.com

Skinny Pizza

I love pizza like a fat girl loves pizza. It might have something to do with why I am fat. But to remedy the fat part, I made this "skinny" pizza the other night for dinner.

I won't lie and say The Good Husband was all over it, b/c he wasn't. He wanted normal fatty pizza. But he ate it anyway and while not as good as fatty pizza, it was still food for ass friendly food.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound turkey sausage
Mozzarella cheese
Pizza sauce
Whole Wheat English Muffins

Directions:
~Preheat oven to 350.

~Brown turkey sausage in skillet over medium high heat. Set aside.

~Split English Muffins and place on a baking sheet. Toast in oven for 3-5 minutes. Remove from oven. Top with your favorite pizza sauce, cheese and cooled sausage. Place back in the oven and bake until cheese is melted and warmed through.

recipe by: The Good Wife

Spring Cleaning Checklist

I know I was supposed to post these a few weeks ago, but time got away from me. So here are the links to my 5 week detailed Spring Cleaning Schedule:

Spring Cleaning Checklist - Living Room

Spring Cleaning Checklist - Dining Room

Spring Cleaning Checklist - Bedroom

Spring Cleaning Checklist - Bathroom

Spring Cleaning Checklist - Kitchen

I like to start in the kitchen first and work backwards, but that's up to you.

Marinated Veggie Salad

Before we got pounded with rain for the last few days, there was a span of 3 days that was almost summerish. It was warm and the sun was setting later and it was great weather to open all the windows. It was also great weather to grill.

The Good Husband fired up the grill for the season and we had chicken and this marinated veggie salad. While TGH was fooling with the grill, I was able to chop the veggies and it marinated while the chicken cooked. The Good Daughter went to town on this, so it is kid friendly, keeping in mind, my kid is a freak.

Ingredients:
1 orange pepper, diced
1 large tomato, diced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
1 zucchini, diced
1 summer squash, diced
1/2 red onion, diced
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced

Directions:
~Combine first seven ingredients.

~Combine the remaining ingredients in a screwtop jar and shake the shit out of to combine. Pour over veggies and toss to coat.

~Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.

recipe by: Better Homes and Gardens Diabetic Living Cookbook

Happy Earth Day!

Today was Earth Day, so for my part, I didn't turn on the heat in the house, even though I was freezing. I didn't run the dishwasher or washer and dryer.

I also headed to Macy's and got a free cleanser from Origins and also scored free cup of coffee from Starbucks b/c I brought my reusable mug.

But the real reason for this post is to show off The Good Daughter at 11 months old in her Earth Day Jammie Jams.

i <3 my earth (and this milk)

Hope you had a good Earth Day too!

p.s. - TGB is almost two now, so I miss how little she was last year.