Family Meal Time

1/23/2016

Family Meal Time
So last Friday for dinner, we enjoyed a catered meal that was part of the pre-paid funeral my dad arranged. It was weird, but it was brilliant. It was one last party planned by a fun loving guy. It was a beautiful opportunity for our family to share a meal and be blessed by his thoughtfulness.

Tonight the Medleys enjoyed Tex-mex again...remembering .

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Children's Chores

1/6/2016

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Our children tell us at times (like during the cleaning madness before company comes over) that they know we only had kids to make them do ALL the work. There are 4 of them so it does feel like I'm asking someone to do something all the time. However, the kids are all getting old enough to know what needs to be taken care of and with 6 of us it seems there is always some thing that needs to be done.

To save my sanity and monetize some of the chores, I created a chore chart. There are some chores spelled out on the chart that you do just because you live here and there are some that are shared responsibilities that can go toward earning an allowance.

PDF of the chart

Assigning Chores

We looked at many different kinds of charts, and even tried out a chore wheel for awhile. With the age range of our kids, it was important to assign different chores to different children based on ability. Skill set and drive were honestly factors as well. One of our kids is much more ok with doing some of the grosser jobs; one of them is the mess maker in an area of the house. The division on paper looks quite equitable and has been updated many times to account for sports practice and lesson schedules - and for sanity.

I like our chart and I think that it gives the children some ownership and some spending money too!

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All 50

1/6/2016

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It has long been one of my life goals to visit all 50 states. My grandparents did it. They drove in a Volkswagen Van in the 90's and finished up their list. They made their trek before cell phones and GPS and online reservations - they were both in their 70's at the time to boot!

Two years ago I was presenting at a conference and we took the family and drove from Texas to Boston, Mass and it was amazing. It was a rock star trip, different hotel every night kind of trip. Our children were able to see and do so much; it would have taken years to do it any other way.

What Counts?
There is an All 50 Club to recognize those who have visited all 50 states. A great debate has been, "What Counts?" and there are some who want to run marathons in all 50. There are some who say airports don't count some think that you have to stay the night in a state for it to count.

I love the idea of seeing all of America.

Fun Links to Explore
Interactive Map to track how many you've visited
Connect with Explore All 50. They even have a newsletter and are on social media.
You can take the All 50 Challenge on List Challenge

Create Your Own Visited States Map

I bought the Let's Go See All 50!, Visiting the 50 States Journal to help me keep track of what we have left. It's so easy to fill out and even has a page to color in all the states you've been in.

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New Year, New Goals: Money

1/2/2016

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We have some big plans for this year and we need to be intentional and on the same page as a couple if we are going to accomplish these. To help make it possible, we are budget planning. One thing that we have found that really helps us is naming every dollar so that they all have a purpose. Dave Ramsey has a simple to follow cash flow plan that we mimic.

It helps us to make an Excel document so that we can see our money and where it's going, where we can cut back or alter our choices. I also found a Dave Ramsey budget template for us to modify and share on Google Docs. (Google Doc is a cloud based file sharing platform that allows us to work together on the budget from our laptops, phones, etc.) There are quite a few lines on the spreadsheet so we can list every expense imaginable. It keeps us forgetting something. We modified the template quite a bit to just use the lines and categories that are relevant for us.

Happy Budgeting! - Mom

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Family Meal Time

Children's Chores

Assigning Chores

All 50

New Year, New Goals: Money

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