Update: Automate Your Finances

In an effort to Automate My Finances....I jumped into the deep-end and I almost drowned. Thankfully, I shared my frustration with my husband and we came up with a solution to make the whole process much smoother. Automating our finances was a huge undertaking and I want to share with you what I would do differently next time. 

If I had it to do over I would....

1. Make a plan to automate my finances over a 12 month period rather than doing it all at once. And then stick to the plan. I was too anxious to do this all in a couple of days.

 

2. Each month create one account online and switch one bill over to be paid automatically. It is time consuming to create online accounts if you do not already have access to your bills online. Some companies are set up to change over immediately and with some companies there is a one month delay. It was very stressful to keep track of this and I ended up cancelling a couple of them. Automate one bill and then when it is up and running, work on another one.

3. Don't automate unless the bill can be paid with a credit card-I'm just not organized enough to keep track of automatic deductions to my checking account especially when the dates are not the same. I spent way too much time checking to make sure I had enough money in my account to cover the debit when I could have just gone in on payday and scheduled the payment online through my bank's online bill pay. (If you don't have online bill-pay...It's a must for bills that cannot be paid with a credit card. Many banks off this service free of charge and you will save postage fees too)

No Bake- Healthy Peanut Butter Balls

Who knew that peanut butter balls could actually be healthy and taste amazing? Here's the basic recipe and then some variations for you to try....our favorites include the oatmeal.

1 cup honey

1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

2 cups powdered milk

So simple-mix it all together and form into balls. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. these contain tons of protein from the Peanut Butter and the powdered milk. They are filling and taste great. My teen boys love them.

Variations:

1. Add in some quick cook oats in addition to or in place of some of the milk.

2. Roll in crushed nuts or wheat germ after refridgerating

3. Substitute 1/4 cup of the honey with agave/maple syrup blend (Trader Joes carries this)

4. Add raisins

5. Add chopped chocolate chips

Recognize Good Today!

I stumbled upon an incredible site today called Recognize Good. The whole mission of this site is for you to recognize other people in your life who make a difference. Don't you just love that!It's simple and yet so moving. 

Sometimes, saying thank you isn’t enough. Recognize someone on RecognizeGood, and we’ll make a small donation in their honor to a local nonprofit in your area. Better still, if you donate money, we’ll match it and the honoree can choose a charity to receive half of the total donation — your local nonprofit will receive the other half.

Automate Your Finances

In an effort to further simplify our finance I picked up the book I Will Teach You to be Rich. This book is much less about getting rich and much more about making your financial life simple and automated. Previously, I had payed all my bills through my credit union, online bill pay, which was good. I used quicken to record it all but I hadn’t scheduled any of these payments to record automatically.

According to Ramit, I needed to go even further. I decided to automate all my payments. It’s definitely a lot more work up front but I’m hoping the payoff will go on and on. Here’s what I did after I read this book.

1. Opened an ING account online. As of this article-it was earning 1.5% while a 5 month CD at my credit union also earned 1.5%. I would much rather have the money available when I need it. I set up automatic savings to be transferred every 2 weeks.

2. Logged on, online to my phone and utilities websites and set up automatic credit card payments.

3. Logged on to my credit union and set up automatic transfer amounts to my savings to cover the above bills.

4. Set up Quicken to automatically record all of these transfers and payments.

5. Now, all I need to do is pay one credit card bill and cash the credit card rebate check when it comes in the mail!

My Favorite 3 Ingredient Recipes

Guest Post by Tiffany King

The simplest recipes are those with the fewest ingredients. There are not many dishes that can be made with only three ingredients, but there are a few. Here are some of my favorites.

Crockpot Chicken Teriyaki – Boneless chicken breasts, a cup of teriyaki sauce and a can of pineapple (and a shake or 2 of ground ginger) come together quickly. You’ll be glad you spent a few minutes putting dinner in the crockpot when you come home to the smell of this cooking. Serve it with steamed rice and a green veggie and you have a complete meal.

Cheesy Eggs and Ham – This quick fix has come to the rescue many times for us. Basically, just scrambled eggs with ham and cheese, it doesn’t get much easier or faster. Better than a greasy, expensive fast food burger.

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter – Only 1 ingredient (a can of honey roasted peanuts) plus whatever you want to dip in the peanut butter. I like it with apples. Put the peanuts in a blender or food processor with just a drip of vegetable oil – okay that technically makes two ingredients. Blend until smooth. This makes a yummy snack.

Depression Era Bread – Homemade bread with only 3 ingredients plus water. This recipe comes from the popular Youtube videos, Cooking with Clara. Five pounds of flour, 6 tsp. salt and 5 Tbs. of yeast combine with warm water to create 6-8 loaves of bread, depending on how big you make the loaves. That comes to a cost of about .40 a loaf.

Homemade Ice Cream – I refuse to cook homemade ice cream, like most recipes call for so I’ve made up my own recipes. Chocolate Ice Cream has only three ingredients. Dulce de Leche also has three, including the chocolate flakes that get added in. Coconut Macadamia has two ingredients, plus chocolate flakes and macadamia nuts.

Cooking for your family doesn’t have to be difficult, time consuming or expensive. With a few good recipes, dinner can be on the table in a flash.

Tiffany is a homeschool mom of four kids, ranging in age from 17 to 6. On her blog, Eat at Home, she shares simple recipes for families to enjoy together. In addition to cooking she enjoys, reading and writing fiction, and dabbling in photography. 

Not So Fast....

Ann Kroeker's new book is due out August 1st.  Ann's book entitled Not So Fast: Slow-Down Solutions for Frenzied Families gives all kinds practical advice for slowing down and living a simple life. If you want a sneak peak go here. If you have enjoyed reading her blog...you are sure to love her new book. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy! 

A Simple and Free Way to Learn Spanish

La Vida Loca , My Crazy Life, is a video language learning resource online from the BBC. You will learn through experiencing 22 episodes of action-packed tv drama. If you or your children are visual learners, this is a excellent opportunity to learn Spanish. Please note-If you have a younger child, please screen the materials to make sure that they are age appropriate.