FRIDAY NIGHT DINNERS

So a couple years ago I really got into watching Gilmore Girls (which is sadly now off the air). Soon my mother got into it and we ended up getting the box set of all seasons on dvd. On the show, mother and daughter are financially obligated to spend Friday nights with the mother's parents (otherwise known as Friday Night Dinners). This is the grandmother's way of tricking them into spending time together. Even though on the show, the night is considered to be a dreaded event, my mom and I thought it would be good for our family to get together and replicate this event. So for the past two Friday's we have gotten together, and had dinner at each other's houses. The plan is to rotate between our three homes, and whomever's turn it is to have it at their house, cooks the main meal. The other two will cook either the side dish(es) or desert(s). This also takes the financial burden off of one person to prepare the whole thing by themselves. It's going well so far. Last Friday it was at my sister's house. My mom bought hamburgers to grill, my sister made four delicious dips, and I made mini cheesecakes for desert. This week it's at my house, but we are changing the day to Saturday so my nephew can participate. Tim and I are cooking up chicken and veggies and letting everyone make their own quesadillias so Tim can throw them on the grill. My sister is making Alabama Dip, which is a yummy combination of cheese and ground beef. My mother, however, is leaving us all in the dark on what dessert she's making. This isn't surprising though. She likes to be the one to surprise us on what she's bringing. I hope this will become a tradition with us and bring us closer together as a family.

~Melissa~

DEBT REDUCTION

• Now that we have real people jobs and are out of school, our biggest goal is paying off all our debts, saving for a house, and a new(er) car for Tim. Between the two of us we have accumulated more debt than I ever wish to have again! So much, that I'm not even going to tell you the amount. Don't get me wrong, it's not as high as some people I know, just high enought that it used to give me panic attacks. To remedy this, I've spent the last year reading random financial books, all of which seem to just keep repeating themselves ("pay off your debts," "budget yourself," etc). So I just compiled the information and came up with a plan that worked for me.

• First and foremost, please keep in mind that I am NOT in anyway shape or form giving advise. I'm simply stating what's working for me, personally. Tim and I go with what is commonly known as the snowball method. This is where you take all of your debts, organize them by smallest to largest debt, then organize them by interest rates (for example, if you have two debts that are close to or equal $10,000, list the one with the highest interest rate first). We've done this and all of our 30 year school loans and car loans will be paid off by July 2017. I know this sounds a little crazy and drastic, but it works. We owe about $900 a month in debts. My Kohl's card was the first to go. After budgeting a little, we started paying $100 a week ($400 a month) on it until it was gone. This increased our debt budget to $1,300 a month. This is the amount that will never change. My Kohl's card was paid off in a little over a month, then it was to go toward a cash loan. I owe $55 a month on my cash loan, and they are expecting it to be paid off over 15 years. Now that I don't owe on my Kohl's card, all that extra money goes toward my cash loan. I pay $455 a month on it and it is NOW scheduled to be paid off July of 2011! Big change from 2025! After that's gone, I will add the $455 to my monthly car payment of $330 (now $785/month) which will now be paid off in March of 2012. This keeps going until we get to Tim's loan (which is the highest I might add). We only owe $175/month on this loan and at the end we will be paying $1,300/month on it! This is what a little discipline can do. We went from our debts being paid off in 2040+ to 2017 (that's a gain of 33 years we're not paying! Plus don't forget that you won't be paying interest on if for those extra 33 years).

• Now take it a little further. What if when we're done, we start putting that money in a savings account every month until 2040. Not counting gained interest we would have $514,800 over the 33 years we were scheduled to pay someone else. Tim & I would be in our 50's and have half a million dollars banked off the money that we were going to pay someone else! We would have a retirement fund, and extra money to retire comfortably at the age of 60 if we wanted to. I can't wait until 2017!

~Melissa~

Coasters!

So I've been trying to use some of my tons of fabric that I have just lying around the house. My office is stacked with containers filled with discontinued fabric samples that I've adopted from around town and from left over projects. And since we are trying to condense the office boxes, I've decided to make coasters out of these fabrics and sell them on etsy. The goal is to make up sets of four coasters to sell at $9.99 a set. Once there are ten sets made they will be posted on etsy. And I will try to constantly keep at least ten in stock at one time. I know this might seem to be a slightly higher price to pay for a set of coasters, but these aren't just thrown together light-weight fabric samples. These coasters consists of a top layer, a contrasting bottom layer, both made from upholstery grade fabric so they will be thicker than your typical cotton coasters. Plus as an added bonus, there is a layer of fleece between them to be absorbent when a glass should drip with condensation. Oh! Did I mention that I'm also paying the shipping costs as well? I've added some pictures of a set of coasters I made for my sister's birthday to give you a small idea of what they will look like. Plus, I've just inherited even more fabric from work due to mills discontinuing even more styles! Let me know what you think, and keep an eye out for them on etsy soon!

~Melissa~