5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week #164

by | Jul 15, 2022 | Ways We Saved This Week

Why hello!

Long time, no type!

Well, I’m just gonna jump right in here like I haven’t been taking huge breaks from this blog for the past year and a half, ok?

So I don’t know if you’ve noticed (ha!), but the price of pretty much every single thing has gone through the roof.

Trips to the grocery store have been an adventure ever since that one big thing happened in 2020. And it’s just getting worse.

I figured the best way to do better about my spending habits is to jump back into this blog. I mean, I’ve been using this thing to help me save more money (and stay accountable to saving more money) since 2016.

And those were easy years compared to now.

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March Update On Our Big Goal $100 – 100x

March Update On Our Big Goal $100 – 100x

by | Mar 22, 2022 | Saving Money

A few weeks ago, I told you about our family’s latest BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal) of saving $10,000.

This wasn’t exactly a goal we chose…rather one our old house thrust upon us. (Thanks, whoever didn’t install the windows correctly and caused all of our foundation to rot away.)

sigh

Well, after weeks of ignoring the blog again (sorry about that), I figured I owed you an update.

So here we go…

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Save $10000 Fast! – Introducing $100 – 100x

by | Feb 15, 2022 | Saving Money

Save $10000 fast using this free printable chart. It’s a save $10,000 in 3 months challenge!

So I told you I had some exciting in the works for you…but I kinda lied.

I mean, I do think it’s exciting. But it’s also coming from a place of anxiety and worry (if I’m totally honest with you).

Eh, I guess I killed the mystery using a title like Save $10,000 Fast, right?

But you guessed it…that’s our BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal) for 2022.

Funny enough, my Hubby and I thought our big hairy goal of finally adding on to our house in 2021 was going to be one of those life events you can celebrate, and then you can kind of chill out for a year or so.

Addition work, still in progress.

hahaha!

Life literally never works that way.

Here’s the story. As we were finishing up the big part of our home addition, we discovered that parts of our house that was built in the 1950s…

(stop me if you’ve heard this one)

…had massive damage.

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5 Things I’m Doing To Combat Rising Grocery Prices (And Empty Shelves)

by | Feb 11, 2022 | Saving Money

Every trip to the grocery store these days is an adventure.

Will you be able to find your son’s favorite breakfast food?

If you find it, how much will the price have gone up since the last time you bought it?

It’s nerve racking to think about your grocery budget.

But since we can’t control the amount of food the store has, or the prices they’re going to charge, let’s try not to dwell on that.

(Unless you like panic attacks, in which case…carry on??)

Instead, I prefer to focus on doing what I can do. Here are some of the tricks I’m using to get the most out of my groceries these days.

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Our Bedroom Makeover On A Budget: Before and After

by | Feb 4, 2022 | Saving Money

This bedroom makeover on a budget from a few simple changes and $200 turned out beautifully! See the before and after photos here.

For most of our adult lives, the bedroom my Hubby and I shared has not been what you’d consider a “master bedroom”.

Really, it was like the bedroom version of a junk drawer.

“Honey, where’s this go?” “I don’t know, put it in our bedroom.” (repeat for years on end)

That’s no way to live. Especially in the room that should be your quiet escape from your 6 kids. 😉

So when we went through our big house project last year, I knew that creating a nice bedroom for us needed to be a priority.

By the time I finished up our budget bedroom makeover, even my Hubby (who doesn’t care about any of the decision making stuff) was impressed.

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All The Nitty Gritty Steps To Building An Addition To Your House

by | Jan 17, 2022 | Saving On A Home Addition

One 1950s style house.

One bathroom.

One small dining area.

Eight people in the family.

Hmm…that math doesn’t add up.

How We Added On To Our Old House

We knew we needed more space, but I have to admit…the idea of even getting started was overwhelming. What are the steps to building an addition to your house?

I mean, could we even afford it?

If so, how would we get the money to cover everything?

Then, where do we even go from there?

But my biggest worries were… how to find trustworthy contractors? And what added expenses would crop up once we got started?

(That one ended up being a doozy. But I didn’t know how big of a doozy it would be until just a week ago.)

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5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week 162

by | Jan 14, 2022 | Ways We Saved This Week

After taking a good 9 months (plus?) off blogging, I’m finally back in the saddle.

Whoop!

Time to dust off the old “5 Ways We’ve Saved Money This Week” series and see what fun things we can add to it.

It’s challenging to come up with ideas I haven’t shared before. I mean, come on…I’ve done 162 of these things! I can’t promise there haven’t been repeats.

But I do my darnedest to try to come up with outside the box ideas whenever I can. (Also, I just learned how to spell darnedest for the first time.)

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So What’s The Deal?

by | Jan 6, 2022 | Uncategorized

Hello.

My name is Jamie, and once upon a time, I was a blogger here at Medium Sized Family.

😉 😉

Life in our medium sized family has been c-r-a-z-y for the past year. So much so that I had to let a ball drop. Unfortunately, that ball turned out to be the blog.

You know, sometimes I look around and see other rock star women who manage to homeschool their children, do a home makeover, and run an amazing blog, all while giving birth and keeping a well stocked freezer. And it turns out, I am not that woman.

(No, I did not give birth again in the past year. But the homeschooling and home renovation stuff, yeah. We did that. I also ran for a political office in our small town. And now we have 3 high schoolers, all in different high schools.)

But for now, let’s focus on that whole home renovation part, shall we?

We Have a Second Bathroom!

(Spoiler alert!)

A dream that we’ve had for the 13.5 years we’ve lived in this house is to have a second bathroom.

Having 8 people in a house with only one bathroom goes EXACTLY like you would think it would go.

There’s always a line. Always.

(Really? It’s 2 a.m. and someone is in the bathroom? Uh huh.)

The room smells like 5 boys use it all the time.

It’s not pretty, no matter how many ways I try to paint it.

That was life for 13 years and 6 months (almost exactly) (but who’s counting?).

But finally, my dreams have come true! I have my own bathroom in my own master bedroom!

It’s everything we dreamed of when we were living our #yearofno.

Exciting Stuff!

The addition isn’t done yet. And of course we ran into the kind of trouble you’d expect when you live in a 1950s home.

In 2021 and 2022.

When everything is running behind and/or held up on a boat somewhere.

Finding grocery bags where there should have been insulation was an interesting twist, though.

I do not recommend you use that as one of the five ways you save money this week.

Our Real Life Home Addition

I’ll dive in to the dirty details of our home addition over the next few weeks.

Just remember, this is no home decorating blog. This is real life.

We didn’t have any sponsors pay for anything, and we had to get creative in paying for things and making all those darned decisions.

But if you’re looking for ideas that work in a real live home, boy have I got those for you.

Want a Sneak Peek?

Here’s what the bathroom looks like!

The flooring isn’t quite done (we’re missing some transition pieces that haven’t come in yet) and haven’t had time to do the trim.

And since this photo, we did add a medicine cabinet and a little decor.

But, oh yes, this is my oasis. I can just come in here and sit.

And take a bath! With, like, 60% less banging-on-the-door-asking-when-I’m-getting-out than before!

It’s Been A Long Year

I never imagined that it would take us 14 months (and counting) to get this small house addition pulled together.

And we aren’t even close to finished yet.

But it’s been so worth it!

So Am I Back to Blogging?

If you’ve been a reader around here, you probably know that I’m a sucker for a new year and goal setting.

And this week, I’ve really felt the tug to get back to the blog.

So I’m looking forward to sharing what we’ve accomplished, and to hearing about how you have saved money lately, too!

Leave a comment or join us in the Facebook group! (By the way, I owe the other Jamie a huge thank you for helping with the group while I was away!)

See you soon!

Quick Weekend Project That’s Gonna Save Us A Lot

by | Jul 12, 2021 | Saving Money

Remember how often I’ve said that the trusty ol’ Coleman cooler is basically our family’s mascot?

Ours is one of those old plastic, pinch your fingers when you try to open it, models. But here’s the newer version.

(If you don’t know the story, you can click here find out more about our #yearofno that helped us pay off a ton of debt.)

Well…there’s only one way I could make that cooler even better.

And that’s to stop buying all those water bottles!

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