Glorious spring!

We had plenty of rain last week, as you may have heard in the news. It wasn't that bad in our area, but the Beaver suspension bridge was closed for a couple of days due to the lake rising above the bridge by a couple of feet. Good thing there is another way into Beavertown over land - it's just a much longer drive. As a result of all the rain, everything is blooming here and it is gorgeous!

This is bad news for those who suffer from seasonal allergies. I have never had problems with allergies, but my husband sure does and I feel so bad for him. At least there are air purifiers to treat the air indoors, but this time of year has the nicest weather, so who wants to stay inside? I hope neither of my children develop seasonal allergies. So far they don't seem to be affected by weather changes, aside from picking up common colds from school.

Shleppers

While I consider myself a very frugal-minded person, there are some areas where it is worth spending more money for quality and peace of mind. Sometimes a company's reputation is worth more than the price of their services. I admire companies that have been around for a long time with loyal customers, especially if they are "Mom and Pop" operations. For example, the New York Moving Company called Shleppers. They have been helping New Yorkers with moving and storage since 1978 and have earned themselves New York's top spot in the industry.

Even though moving is serious business, Shleppers keeps their website interesting by including humorous graphics and anecdotes, which makes them stand out from competitors. Their "shlep-ology" page is hilarious. In our world of large corporations, it's nice to see smaller companies making a name for themselves and rising above the competition.

Strange childhood recollections

I just recalled a forgotten childhood memory...

For some reason, as a kid, I always thought it would be fun to have a stair lift in our house. This was quite silly of me, since we didn't even have stairs in our home, and I guess I first saw a lift on the movie Gremlins when the old woman gets propelled out of her window when the lift goes berserk.

I also loved that kiddie ride in Chuck E. Cheese's where you ride in the little seat around the circle like a big clock, which also reminds me of stair lifts. Anyway, I just wanted to record the memory so I could remember it and maybe I'll figure out what is up with this obsession I have with little mobile seats?

Practical solution

So after weeks of my 3 year old wetting the bed about once a week, I got annoyed by the smell of his room in the morning and having to rush to do laundry while trying to get ready for work. If he had a foam mattress it would be even more difficult to clean, but we needed a new solution none-the-less. We had already tried putting him in Pull-ups at bedtime, but he adamantly refused because they look too much like diapers and he was a "big boy" now. Point taken.

I had looked for the plastic diaper covers before and could not find them anywhere, but I decided to look again because those would work for our bedtime situation. I finally found them at Wal-Mart, way on the very bottom rack in the cloth diaper section. They do make the plastic covers up to size 3T, so it would be nice to put them in the toddler underwear section too, but that's just my opinion.

We had to hide the package from my son, since it had a picture of the Gerber baby on the front. There was no way I could sabotage this idea by having him think these things were for babies. When we got home, I discreetly unpackaged them and removed all traces of babies from the wrapper. Then I pulled out a pair and saw that the baby picture was also on the tag, so I cut it off before introducing them to my son as his "Protector Underwear."

Success!! He accepted them with no problem, puts them over his underwear for sleeping and takes them off in the morning when he wakes up. He went three days with no accident, so I still wasn't sure how they would hold up - but this morning, he woke up early after wetting his pants. The plastic covers worked perfectly. His underwear was soaked, but everything else was totally dry. I'm sure after feeling how wet they got, his bed wetting will lessen, but until then we have the "Protector Underwear" on our side!

We're just old-fashioned

My husband and I tend to agree with our grandparent's generation when it comes to certain things like finances, family, and what's important in life. If you talk to someone in their seventies or eighties, their advice will be to steer clear of mortgage lenders when you buy a home. Of course, most people today find it impossible to save up enough money to buy a home, but stay with me. If you do require a mortgage to purchase a home, at least try to pay it off as soon as possible. There are many payment acceleration programs offered, or you can just pay extra toward your principle on your own. The argument against paying off the mortgage tend to involve taxes. Well, I can tell you firsthand that the tax benefits are just a fraction of the amount you pay each year in interest, which you would not be paying at all if it were paid off.

We also believe, like our grandparents, that families should eat as many home cooked meals together as possible with no other distractions. We gave up television two years ago, which promotes reading, artwork projects, and imaginative game playing.

Vacations are viewed as a necessity in our family. Vacations promote bonding and learning for everyone and we believe families should take at least one vacation per year. And you can't use lack of money as an excuse - the togetherness is what counts, whether you are 1,000 miles from home or 100. Kids don't understand distance anyway, they just get bored with really long trips. So find something close to home to explore as a family, keep it simple, and everyone will be happy.

Signs of spring

Yay! Spring is finally here! Some of the flowers around town are blooming and I heard my first mourning dove "coo" of the season (which happens to be one of my favorite sounds). Many of the trees are just starting to show little buds on the branches, too.

The kids are officially on Spring Break now, and it seems that we needed it more this year for some reason. I just can't seem to catch up since the time changed last weekend, so hopefully this week I can regroup and gear up for the rest of the school year.

What a difference

One thing that really struck me as different traveling to Disney World this time was the amount of luggage we took. The last time we went, we only had one child and she was two and a half years old. Since we were staying at a hotel in the park and relying on Disney shuttle buses for transportation, we had to bring everything we needed with us from home. This included diapers (one whole suitcase full!), snacks, and drinking water.

This time, even though we have four people in the family now, we had less luggage than last time. Most of this is due to the fact that both children are potty trained and out of the "baby gear and supplies" stage that makes traveling with infants such a challenge. My in-laws also rented a van during this trip, so we were able to shop for snack foods and drinking water at local grocery stores. Of course, we still bought way too much food in the parks, but that was to be expected. That's the one nice thing about traveling with babies - you can carry lots of stuff in the bottom of the stroller, like picnic lunches, extra drinks, and extra jackets. Without the stroller, we didn't want to carry a backpack around with us on the rides, so we just opted to eat park food much of the time.

Oh well, now that our kids are older, we plan to start traveling more like we used to. We've missed it a lot and it is something that the whole family enjoys.

Father's Day deals

Continuing with my affinity for online shopping and finding great deals, I found one site that has great ideas for Father's Day. Most men would be happy with a gift of more tools, right? I found an online store called Burns Tools with all the major tool brands, plus deals like free shipping on Delta machinery and DeWalt products.

The site is organized so searches can be done by product or by brand name, which is very convenient. The design is simple and straightforward with easy navigation. The Burns Tools store is a member of the Better Business Bureau's Online Reliability Program, which gives consumers peace of mind while shopping on the internet.

You get what you pay for - not always

There are certain things that I believe fall into the "you get what you pay for" category, and others that are purely status symbols. For instance, I think paying more for high end tools is a good idea. If you are working on a project and the tool is inadequate, the project ends up costing more because of ruined materials, so you should just spend the extra money on a better tool to begin with.

Other items, such as designer home accessories seem a bit excessive to me. Spending $375 on top of the line Moen faucets, that look every bit as stylish as the $85 version seems pointless. Unless you actually tell everyone who enters your bathroom that the faucet cost that much, they would never guess. I would save the money there and spend it on nicer accessories like light fixtures, artwork, or mirrors that people would actually notice.

Online shopping rules

So I've mentioned before how moving to a small, somewhat remote town has spawned our revelation with online shopping. I mean, we've shopped online for quite sometime now, probably longer than most people, but now we buy practically everything online aside from groceries and everyday household items. With the price of gas as high as it is now, it's cheaper to pay the shipping fees (if any), and we save the wear and tear on our car, and we don't waste half a day driving to the big stores.

Another thing that happens when we drive an hour to Rogers for shopping, is that we usually have to buy at least one meal out while we are there, which is more out-of-pocket expense. I know, I know, we could pack food to take with us right? Well, we just never expect our shopping trips to take as long as they do, but let's face it - stores like Home Depot and Lowe's are like the Twilight Zone, aren't they? Where does the time go???

So anyway, now that we do most shopping online, we are somewhat obsessive about getting the best deals. We will search all over the place to find a site with Kohls coupons, or free shipping, or whatever comes out the least expensive. Shopping online is also convenient because you can read consumer reviews for the products. This is important to us because you can never trust advertising 100%. Pictures of products online can be very deceiving.

So even if it takes a couple of hours to find what we are looking for, we still come out ahead in the long run by shopping online.

Do what you like

A few years before moving to Eureka Springs, I had a typical job as a secretary in a big corporate office. Everyone was overworked, and we were definitely understaffed. You know, with situations like someone in your department quits, and rather than hire someone to fill the position, they just push all their duties on to other people to absorb within the department.

One of the parts that most people dread, especially managers, are the quarterly employee performance evaluations. It's not that we don't enjoy meeting with our managers, getting praise for a job well done, and possibly a raise... It's the lack of time to meet for the evaluation, coupled with rushing through it so everyone can have a turn and feeling like a number, rather than a person.

Fast forward seven years to the present, where I am now working my dream job at the library. Sure, the pay is much less, but when you love your job it truly makes all the difference. My stress level is lower, I am much happier, and I feel like I am contributing to my community. I get to use my quirky organizational skills (obsession!), and my odd knack at remembering names comes in very handy as well.

I guess in conclusion, I would just like to say that if you are unhappy and stressed in a job, it's not worth it. The risk to quit is huge, but things have a way of working themselves out and if you can find what you truly love, and make enough money doing it, you will feel happier and more "on track" with life.

I just can't do it Captain!

There are certain things I just can't bring myself to pay money for. One of those is haircuts and colors. I have cut my own hair and my whole family's hair for years with great results. I also dye my own hair because the salon is outrageously overpriced for coloring and I have only been disappointed once, which was easily fixed the next day.

Another area I don't like to spend money is on herbal supplements and weight loss. For example, I've wanted to try hoodia ever since I heard of the benefits, but I just can't shell out the dough. So I keep drinking my green tea (for the antioxidants) and walking as much as I can (for the exercise and the fresh air). Some people achieve great things with herbal assistance, and that's wonderful for them, but I'm just keeping it simple for now.

The price of trying something new

Many people are wary to start a new hobby for fear of spending a bunch of money getting started, then realizing they don't even like the hobby after all. For example, say you wanted to try golfing. You may be inclined to buy golf equipment, golf shoes, and a snazzy new outfit. This is true for many sports and hobbies.

I found a list of free or very frugal hobbies to try in a great book I am currently reading called The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. Most of them will even save you money by learning a practical skill to be applied directly to everyday life.

Here are some of the ones I think are worth trying:
Birding
Climbing trees
Composting
Conservation
Cooking
Crafts
Dancing
Dream interpretation
Foraging
Fossil hunting
Foreign language learning
Free attractions and events
Free factory tours
Gardening
Genealogy
Haircutting
Hiking
Kite flying
Meditating
Painting
Reading
Recycling
Sewing
Stargazing
Writing
Yoga

Water all around

Many people don't realize that Eureka Springs is surrounded by many lakes, which provide for fishing, boating, water skiing, and other water sports. Beaver lake is so clear that there are SCUBA excursions offered. I've never seen lakes so clear and blue as we have around here.

I've visited a variety of beach locations, from Galveston (yucky brown water) to Cancun, Mexico (crystal clear blue), to Panama City, Florida (somewhere in between). One area we have yet to explore is the east coast. I would just love to spend a vacation on Hilton Head Island off the coast of South Carolina. The beaches have a totally different feel on the east coast. Sea Pines rentals offers a wide variety of options for stay, whether you are traveling with a family of four or a group up to 24 people! The plantation style homes are exquisitely decorated, and are all within walking distance to the beach.

I can dream of future trips, but for the time being, we still have yet to explore all the lakes in our home town.