A Penny Saved

For a couple a years now Trey and I have wanted to do a "savings plan" that go around every year. Where you increase the amount you saved every, week, month or whatever. But each year we look at them and they just don't fit our budget. By the middle of the year at the latest we are cutting directly into gas and food money, having already lost our limited fun budget to the savings plan. This year we found one that will still require self control but we can do on our budget. It's the "Penny Saver Challenge"

You've probably seen it. For the day of the year, based on the Julian Calendar, you put in that many pennies. The logic is as follows; January 1st = 1 Penny, January 14th = 14 Pennies, May 7th= 128 Pennies, October 14= 248 Pennies. By the end of a leap year you have $671.19. For a non leap year it's $667.95. Now this idea sounds all well and good until you think about keeping that many pennies around. Not to mention remembering to count out that many pennies each day, ugh. For me I knew that was just setting myself up for failure. I really want to save up some money so I needed a new plan.

I made myself a chart. A chart that said each week what I needed to put in the jar with a little box for a check mark to track my progress. I found a large jar at Dollar Tree and taped my chart to it. I now have a savings jar. I'm thinking of doing it backwards so my highest amounts go in first. Don't we all seem to have more money at the beginning of the year? Or if I get a bonus pay a larger amount. Leaving the smaller ones for weeks with less money. I'm being pretty fluid now that I know what needs to be paid. I figure as long as I have a check mark for each week by the end of the year then I'm good.

You may wonder what am I using this money for? We are being practical. It's going to be our cash reserve fund. It won't go in the bank it will be cash we keep for emergency needs or emergent times. For instance when the power is out in most of the city and stores only accept cash. Or you are going to the fair and you don't have time to go to the bank and don't want to pay the ATM fee. We've never really had a cash reserve and it's time we got our act together. You can use it for whatever you want but that's our plan.

Here are the two charts I made.
Option 1- Download JPEG or PDF

Option 2- Download JPEG or PDF

They are pretty big they are 6.5in by 7.5in. You can try to shrink it but it gets harder to read. I like the larger size. If you are putting in on a bottle just make sure you get a bigger one.

If you are just moving the money from checking to savings in a bank account you may want to print the chart put it on the wall and mark it as you go.

Faith Restored!!!!

Not quiet a month ago Squeaker lost her iPad. I mean LOST her iPad. We were at Costco and she had been playing with her iPad for most of the ride over and in the store. As we are leaving Costco he iPad got left in the cart. We didn't notice until we made our next stop. It was only 10 minutes and we were back at Costco looking through carts for it. No luck. Talk to the guys taking the carts in, they hadn't seen it. They even radioed in to customer service to see if an iPad had been turned. No news. We went on our way. Ran our errands, saw the family, initiated a remote lock down on the iPad. The remote lock down would even flash a message saying "This iPad is lost please call ------". I Even called Costco a couple hours later and still no one had turned it in. Squeaker was heartbroken.

I spent the next 3 weeks trying to figure out if I could afford to replace the iPad. The new $50 Amazon tablet looked promising. But once you purchase a warranty and a case it is still just about $100. Which is almost my entire Christmas budget. I could make it work. We have most of Squeaker's presents already, and Trey and I don't need much. But I was hoping to do some fun things for us since it's been such a rough year, and clothes. I like to do clothes at Christmas. I thought about not getting a new tablet of any kind but Squeaker is far more likely to do her school activity apps on a tablet that is hers. When she asks for mommy or daddy's phones she usually like to play fun games or watch videos. That is what we taught her though. The iPad was for school and our devices were for play. I really wanted to get Squeaker a new tablet for Christmas but I wasn't sure I wanted to use the budget for it.

Then comes today. Squeaker, Gma and I went to Costco. The first time since she lost her iPad. Squeaker insisted that we ask if they had found her iPad. I tried to explain that the iPad was gone and that Costco probably didn't have it. She continued to insist that we ask, so we did. I made her actually ask the manager. All Squeaker said was "Do you have my tablet?" That's pretty good for her. I then explained what it looked like. The manager went and checked the lock up in the office. Guess what? It was there. I'll be honest I about cried and Squeaker jumped for joy. She even said that she would try her hardest to not loose it again. A pretty good promise for a 5 year old.

There are so many things in the world today that make you wonder where has humanity gone. Well today, with a little help from Squeaker, I was reminded that there are good and honest people in the world.

Throw Back Thursday

Facebook and Time Hop Apps like to remind you of the past. I think it's pretty cool to know the exact day something happened years ago, or to see trends over the past few years. Today I was reminded of a very important day in our past.

5 years ago today Squeaker was diagnosed with LM. She was 2 months old. Every breath she took she made noise. She couldn't keep food down. She didn't sleep for longer than 2 hours at a time, and would be up for an hour before going back to sleep. She wasn't putting on much weight less than 3 pounds since birth. We had seen her pediatrician almost constantly trying to figure out what was going on. Finally on this day we saw the Cardiologist and Pulmonologist. The Cardiologist did an Echo, and her heart was perfect. A few hours later we met with the Pulmonologist and withing a few minutes of walking in the room he had Squeaker diagnosed. A few minutes after that we had a treatment plan. For the first time I had a real answers. I knew it was far from over and done with but I felt like I could face it.

This memory is very important today. Today was the first time, the first November 5th that LM has not been a part of our lives. In January I wrote about the resolution of this condition. Need a refresher you can read about it here. I look at the picture of Squeaker when she was 2 months old and I see so much.

Her sweet little smile, and big brown eyes. Which reminds me how much I love her and although she struggled how sweet of a baby she was. I also see the swelling and darkness under her eyes, and it makes me sad. To think at a such a young age she was already sleep deprived and unwell. In my head I can still hear the gasping sound she would make while she slept. Maybe someday I will forget it. For now I am content that I don't have to listen to it in real life anymore.

As I type Squeaker is laying next to me in and out of sleep. Even though she is sick her breathing is quiet. Not just quiet but silent, I can't hear her breathe. I can see it. I can watch her chest and shoulders move but there is not real sound. Silence never felt more golden.

Wowza!

It has been 30 days since my last post and boy what a time we have had.

It started off with a miracle. We were told that Squeaker qualified for 1 free month of Infusion

 medication. We had applied a couple of months ago to the IGIQ program and we had received a letter saying that she wasn't approved. Then one day out of the blue we get a call asking us where they can send her medication. Trey spent two days and many hours figuring out where it could be sent and getting updated information to the company sending the medication. It was shipped to a local specialty pharmacy where all we had to do was walk in and pick it up. AMAZING!! We started to see improvement within a few days. Sadly we also saw it wear off early because it is still building in her system. But each week we get a little better. Squeaker's insurance also was approved a couple weeks later. The people at IGIQ are helping us get the medication with her insurance. Talking to the specialty pharmacy, and the doctor for us. Hours of work we don't have to do. It is wonderful.

We also had the big yard sale. The neighborhood has yard sales twice a year. And because it's the
whole area lots and lots of people come. Sold most of the stuff we don't need anymore and put a lot more out in the trash. Made some money and had a lot of fun. I'm just glad that all our stuff has gone to loving homes.

I had a grand adventure. I spent TWO whole days immersed in Harry Potter. The local Science Center had a Harry Potter movie marathon on their 4 story IMAX screen. Trey bought me tickets to go by myself. Saturday was movies 1-4. It was a lot of fun, but boy

at the end of the day was I mess. **Spoiler Alert** Cedric Diggory still dies. Every time I watch the movie or read the books some part of me hopes maybe this time he won't die. I know it's crazy but I just love the character so much. Sunday we watched movies 5-8. Yup. Not a dry eye in the place by the end of it. When the final movie ended you wanted start all over. Yes we were all that crazy. We also had costume contests, trivia, and general discussions about the books and movies. It was a lot of fun. I hope they do it again in a few years when maybe I can take Squeaker or a friend.

The other big thing was I made Squeaker's Halloween costume. It was much easier than I had anticipated. A LOT easier. It took only about 5 hours to lay out, cut, and sew. I keep thinking I missed something or it will fall apart. But so far so good.

Here's to continuing finding the good in the world.