Pretty and Practical: Smith's Rosebud Salve

I thought I'd share some products I use that give great results, but not at the crazy prices you find at some department store counters.

First up is Smith's Rosebud Salve, which I've used for years. I use it mostly as a lip gloss, but it also works on diaper rash, skin blemishes, and I often use it on my cuticles. It smells nice and delicate too. And it's only $6! I get mine at Sephora, but here's a list of retailers that carry it too.

Three Questions

While I was folding a mountain of laundry yesterday, I had the television on and caught a few reruns of Suze Orman on Oprah talking about people on the brink of financial disaster. Suze said something that really struck me, and I've decided to make it part of my intentions for living through the year. There was a couple expecting a baby who made well over 100K a year, who had student loan debt that  they weren't repaying, three cars, and a huge shopping habit. Suze told them that to save themselves from the black hole they were going further and further into, they should start thinking about these three things before they made any purchase:

Is it necessary? Is it true? Is it kind?

I started to think about how I view buying things: as a stress reliever sometimes, as a mindless activity other times. But how is that getting me closer to my goals? It isn't. So I'm going to try to do a better job of thinking through every purchase I make this year with those criteria.

Image from here

Menu Plan Monday: 1.9.2012

Hello Friends,
Well, if I thought 2012 might allow me to slow down a little, I was wrong! The first week of the year flew by, and here we are again at another Monday. Here's what we're cooking this week:

Eggplant Parmesan
Ham and Cheese in Puff Pastry
Chicken and Cheese Tortilla Soup
Spaghetti with Bolognese
Spicy Whiskey Barbecue Sliders

Find more delicious menu plans right here!

Blue Velvet

Last weekend I picked up a chair that I had been eying for quite a while at World Market. I tested it out in the store, and thought it was really comfortable for the price, and I absolutely loved the color. About the same time I found the chair, I read that furniture oftentimes goes on sale in January to make room for the new stock, so I patiently waited a few months, and then checked after the holidays were over! And lo and behold, World Market was having a big sale on their furniture. I also had a 10% off coupon from signing up for their rewards program. It pays to wait!

My 2012 Goals

I know a lot of people scoff at New Year's resolutions, but I love them. I love the start of a fresh year, full of promise and another chance to create the life you dream of. So with that in mind, I resolve this year to work towards our financial and personal goals, and try to make sure every important decision I make somehow gets us further to those goals. I shared our money goals for 2011 in this post, and some of these will carry over to this year.

Money Goals
Complete our 8-month emergency fund
Increase our contribution to retirement by 1%
Continue to stay on budget using my new system
Complete the legacy drawer by March

Pretty Goals
Go on a date once a month
Continue to make my home a comfortable place to be, on a budget
Experiment more with my cooking and menu planning

What about you? Any goals for the year?

Image from here

Net Worth Update: December 2012

The end of the month that ends the year, and it's time for another update on our net worth!

Assets
Savings: +732.20 Just a normal month here. Glad we were able to dump some money into savings because we had some travel for the holidays, and Christmas always seems to cost a little more than we plan for!
Retirement Accounts: +95.24 Our gains in our 401K pretty much covered our losses in our traditional IRA, so we're just about even for the month.

Liabilities
Mortgage: –70.86 So this number isn't complete, because I didn't write down our mortgage balance when our slip came in the mail, and I can't access that info online. This is how much we paid off on our home improvement loan, which I always just keep together with our mortgage for simplicity's sake. So we actually paid off a little more than this, but I don't know how much! Whoops!

Total Change in Net Worth +898.30 It was great to end the year with a positive gain, especially considering how many swings we saw last year. Here's to a positive 2012!

Menu Plan Monday: 1.2.2012

Happy New Year Friends! We had a very busy holiday, and I'm ready now to tackle this year with a vengeance! One of my resolutions is to be more organized, and continuing to menu plan will be a huge part of that. I got a few new cookbooks for Christmas, so I'll be experimenting with some new recipes the next few weeks. Here's what we're having this week.

Oven Baked Chicken Fingers
Stovetop Mac and Cheese
Pasta alla Vodka
Crockpot Meat Loaf

And you can find more delicious menu plans right here! Have a great week!