Budget Jan 17-30 2026

January 17th was my 39th birthday and January 23 was Becky's 8th birthday, so it was a month packed with birthdays and those come with a few extra expenses. 

But even with that, this budget is embarrassing. That's all I'll say. 

Week One: Jan 17th -23

This week the budget held 1,177. I knew that wasn't going to be enough. We pulled out $800 from savings to cover expenses making the budget for this week 1,977. Here is what I spent. 

• Feb payment for cognitive brain therapy $572
• My phone $25
• Yoga $85
• Tithe
• Vitamins $145
• Transfer to savings $150
• Aldi $22
• bought a movie from Youtube for kids $20
• Postmark 228 (this was all unnecessary...)
• Credit Card Payment $500

Total: $1797. This left $180 to roll over into next week.

Week Two: Jan 24-30 

This week's budget was 1,357 plus my dad sent me $100 in the mail for my birthday, making the total budget 1,457. 

• Audible $23
• Electic Bill $279
• Tithe 
• Credit Card Payment $500
• Cava $36
• Fresh Markey $23
• Mission Thrift $18
• Little Givens $28
• Waterbill $72
• Poshmark snow pants for Becky $11 (needed)
• Poshmark 108 (probably unnecessary stuff...) 
• Aldi 44
• Kroger 104
• Gas 24

That made our total $1,320 which left an amazing total of $137 in our account today while we wait for payday tomorrow, and a new budget. 

We also went out to eat for Becky's birthday but my husband used the credit card and so I don't know how much it was...I need to get with him to see those expenses. I keep not remembering the password and having to wait until he is off work and then we are too tired to talk about it. Anyway, I know we owe $1200 on our credit card still and we are trying not to use it. We need to take it out of his wallet! Putting that on my to-do list for next week...

In conclusion. I feel pretty awful about the budget these two weeks. Lots of honesty to say that, but it's true. I did a lot of postmark shopping for little items, $15 here and $20 there but it added up fast and I didn't keep track of what I was doing day to day. Most of it was stuff for the kids. I got two video games we don't have, a cup for Reuben, a travel chess set for him, and a dress for Becky to wear for her birthday, and other various things...The only thing we really needed were some snow pants for Becky as she has outgrown hers. 

I did buy myself a pair of pajamas from postmark but they were not delivered--no tracking--and I was refunded for those, we are waiting on the refund and I will add it to next week's budget. I do need pajamas but I could have waited.

Anyway, the poshmark stuff added up to $336 so I'm going to try to learn from my mistake going forward and just stay off that website unless I am looking for something specific. Paying $1000 on the credit card was ouchy and so was that cognitive brain therapy payment. We need to get the credit card payed off quickly and stop using it, and I'm so grateful we have only one more payment for cognitive brain therapy left, then we will need to save up for Becky's session, which starts in May. 

Well, I'm going to start school with the kids. Wish me luck! 

Snowmageddon

After Esther had the stomach bug, I woke up at midnight with it and threw up until 8:30am. Then I was pretty much comatose and weak until around 7pm--it was hard to walk, I was dizzy and definitely dehydrated and still just sipping water. The only thing I ate that day was homemade applesauce. Anyway, I'll spare you the gritty details, but we all ended up getting it, with poor little Esther having a relapse the next day--poor thing, she got it twice! 

It has now been over 24 hours since anyone has thrown up in my house and I am so so so grateful. The stomach bug is awful. May it never return. 

Everything is locked down this week. We have not been able to leave our home, well, even if we hadn't had the stomach bug. There was about 6 inches of snow and it all turned to ice! We missed church, cognitive brain development, two piano lessons, and picking up our raw milk. Our second cognitive brain development we did try today via zoom but it's not anywhere as good as in-person. 

The snow is beautiful. The kids are having a blast sledding on it--kids really bounce back much easier than adults from sickness. With below-freezing temperatures all week I don't know if we will get out until next week? I don't want to miss swim lessons and I really want to pick up my milk! Brian is going to try to get out tomorrow...It's been so crazy being cooped up inside doing laundry and recovering from, well, throwing up everywhere. At least we had electricity or I really don't know how we would have survived? 

This is our road Tuesday. Packed snow. It has not been plowed and we keep waiting for it to be but...I'm still waiting...

This is our road Wednesday. It's basically just ice. I'm not sure if the picture does it justice...It's terrible and I don't know how they will plough it because how can you plough ice?

This is my happy snow bunny. 

We start school back tomorrow because this homeschool, at least, only takes breaks when we are sick. Or have too many appointments...or if I want too. And being stuck at home is a perfect time to crack open some books and read on. 

God is so good and I'm glad to see the beautiful snow even if it does mess up all my plans.

Becky Turns 8

Becky's birthday was perfection sandwiched between snowmageddon prep and the stomach bug, which hit Esther at 2am today. We are not recovering and I have piles of laundry. 

It is currently raining ice outside while my two year old watches bluey on repeat next to a bucket. We've gone through all the towels and most of the blankets twice since 2am. Brian started out the night half asleep because he picked up his mother at the airport at 11am on Saterday (the 23) and thus got less rest when we were awoken at 2am... Both of us were awake from 2-4 as Esther needed a lot of help. One adult to care for her and the other one to clean up messes/fetch towels. 

One parent slept from 4-7 and the other parent slept from 10:30-1:30. I"ll let you guess which one based on my spelling and coherency. We are also expecting 6-24 inches of snow and I am praying the electricity stays on and that we can make it out of our house by Wednesday because I have places to go and being cooped up for too long makes me depressed. Welcome to my first world problems. 

I forgot to buy chocolate too. Woe knows no bounds.

OH, but Becky's birthday was glorious. We had all her friends and everything just flowed and jived perfectly. I listened to all the moms talk while trying to take pictures and savor the moments. She is divine and I love her. Happy eight years, Rebekah! I love you.

You can't tell from the pictures how wonderful it was. I am not a good photographer anymore--so much out of practice. But it was! We got a cake, chocolate because it's Becky's favorite. I made a raw cheese plate, sourdough crackers, einkorn chocolate chip cookies and a fruit platter. We sang happy birthday and opened presents. It was just perfect. Becky picked La Carreta as her Birthday out-to-eat and we all enjoyed Mexican junk food, which hopefully did not contribute to the problem the following morning. 

It was just a wholesome, good day celebrating my middle child! 

I hired one of my good friends Kimmy to come do face paint and it was perfection! Really, a dream birthday for my Becky. She positively radiated happiness all day. 

What a beautiful day. And she gets, hopefully, some great snow to play in this weekend as a late birthday surprise, as long as the stomach bug doesn't decide to take us out one by one over the next few days...

I dosed everyone with activated charcoal. And prayers. Lots of prayers. 

And that was Becky's 8th birthday, I'll never forget it and I'm sure she won't either. 

You'd Think The World Was Ending

Tomorrow (Friday 1/23) my beautiful wonderful daughter Becky turns 8. She's excited, I'm excited, we have a party planned with cake and all the things..,

Yet, the day after tomorrow (Saterday 1/24) at 8pm there is supposed to be a snow apocalypse and all of central Virginia where I live is apparently freaking out. Okay, okay, they are calling for 14-24 inches of snow and maybe some ice and I get it, that's quite a lot but THERE IS NO FOOD AT THE STORE. 

Okay, there was some food. But no onions. NO berries for Becky's party (I'm going to look tomorrow at another store) and we might have got one of the last boxes of size 6 diapers. What is going on? I don't understand. WHERE IS ALL THE FOOD? My town has lost its mind. This is crazy. 

I know they will restock, but really, GERAD DID YOU need to buy all the onions? 

It's giving 2020-2021 pandemic vibes. Anyone else remember when everything was gone from the store? 

Today was such a beautiful day. We went to nature group and enjoyed beautiful balmy 40 degree weather, which is the high for the week...I looked at our weather app and saw things like "5" and "15" and decided I'm not leaving the house until spring comes. I will hibernate with my babies and drink hot chocolate with my raw milk and eat lots of fresh sourdough bread. I need more blankets, or perhaps I need to move south. Both sound like very feasible options. 

Anyway, today was great. We all got some sun in nature group!

Poor Esther decided she didn't want to walk back to the car and so Becky gave her a piggy back half the way and Lina (Becky's friend from nature group) carried her the other half of the way. It was so sweet. I am so glad they helped because my mom-meter had reached boiling and I just wanted to leave... I need to learn more patience. Esther's only two. And she's wonderful. Mom guilt is hard... I'm not good with stubborn two-year-olds sometimes. 

Our Nature Group is the best. Two of Becky's little friends will be at her birthday tea party tomorrow! 

I hope I can find onions. And strawberries.

If today was this crazy at the store, I wonder what tomorrow will be like?!

As I was braiding Becky's hair tonight I told her it would be the last time I braided her hair as a 7-year old girl and she was like oh no! I don't know how to braid my own hair! And I was like...it's because tomorrow you will be EIGHT silly and I"ll braid your 8 year old hair!! And then we all laughed and laughed and I love my family. 

I turned 39

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. It was hard (because poor little Esther woke up with a cold) and also fun... I made my favorite cake with einkorn flour and topped it with raspberries. That part of my birthday was delicious. I finished the cake off as a brunch treat after church today while making lunch for everyone. Yum.

I woke up to snow on my birthday which was fun! It all melted by noon which was also great. 

Brian took the kids to swim practice so I could have a quiet coffee date with my friend. I got matcha and so did she. It was great to catch up. I'm so busy homeschooling I barely have time to remember I have friends sometimes. I hope we can all get together in the summer again. Summer seems so far away what with having a two year old, planning a garden, homeschooling and taking the kids to cognitive brain therapy...cooking and cleaning...I love my job, and my choice to be a stay at home mom, but everyone gets overwhelmed sometimes. The Sunday school teacher at church today reminded us in class that even Jesus took breaks from everyone and went off to be alone in the desert and that everyone needs time away. 

I need to remember that. Sometimes I push too hard and forget to rest. 

Matcha is pretty, isn't it? Alas, it definitely had a lot of caffeine in it and made the day a little interesting. But I'm excited I got to have one. 

Poor little sick Esther. She had a rough last two nights with a little cold that kept her up. And she mostly slept on mama and it's been so long since that has happened that mama didn't sleep well. But who needs sleep? It's not like I'm busy.

That was a joke. Everyone laugh with me.

Anyway, I did have a great birthday. Becky made me two beautiful cards and Reuben drew me three amazing pictures that I think I will treasure forever. Brian bought me a skirt and a new Chromebook which is perfect, since our old one broke! I use the Chromebook all the time when I'm homeschooling or to pop a movie on for the kids. 

The kids and I are doing a screen free week next week, I might be the only one excited. We have a full week, including a new osteopathic manipulation appointment on Monday for me. 

I have been feeling a little down. Sometimes I have the problem of thinking I am the sum of my unfinished to-do list and when that list gets quite long I feel like a failure. Anyway, I am reminding myself that since I'm a sinner, it can't get any worse and I should keep my eyes on Jesus and on his unending mercy and goodness, which covers even the pile of unsorted laundry that hast been in my living room for three days... and even my bad attitude and grumpiness. The laundry bothers me, but it's the attitude I want to work on most. God is good, and I need him. It's been a hard season of finding my way through Christ and I know it isn't over yet (because I'm still here...) and I now my children need me. I hope I can point both them and my husband to Jesus.

Here is to another week! I need to plan some crock pot meals, the treasure that warms the heart of all mothers through every stage of life.

Here is to the last year of my thirties! It went by so fast and was chock full of babies. Each of my darlings spent some of their babyhoods in the third decade of my life... it's been a whirlwind. Reuben born in 2015, Becky in 2018 and Esther in 2023. It's been a crazy 10 years.

I ended the day by playing some animal crossing on my lovely island with Mint, my favorite resident. 

Two Weeks with Equipping Minds, and Other Life Updates

This equipping minds cognative brain program is intense. After two weeks I can already notice some improvement with Reuben. For one, he doesn't cry anymore at art time! He usually dislikes art. After the first week he's enjoying it! And drawing extra! It's been amazing to see even such a small change.

Another change is he has started reversing letters. This is his brain working. He never reversed letters regally before. I think it is part of the healing process as his brain grapples with understanding what he is doing. For a bit he started writing the number 4 for the letter F and then he erased that and wrote F backwards. 

There are still 10 more weeks left, and the teacher hasn't even started the reading or writing portion of the program with him... I can't wait to see how he progresses as the program continues, and how many more positive changes I will see in him. Reuben is so brilliant and I am so thankful as we walk through this program together! 

I still have not memorized the first steps on the tic-tac-toe game which Reuben committed to memory in two days... my challenges are different then his though and I think I will need to tell myself a story about the number-color-animal sequence in order to remember it correctly. But I can see it is helping me too. My brain is a little clearer and I am noticing more details with less effort. 

I already know I will be including some of these games daily in our homeschool, even as Reuben graduates from the program. It is so fun and stimulating to the intelligence, and it is so good for my kids. I'm intrigued on the why, and also tired because I still have a chronic illness and 3 kids.

School resumed this week. I have not been able to get to math with Reuben so I am setting that aside (the teacher said it was okay to wait) so I can continue to work on the cognitive brain development with him...we will pick up Math again in April. We are doing all his scheduled readings and I will try to add in latin and grammar next week. I also quit doing written narrations with him as well as dictations, we will resume those after he is done with the program.

I am still doing math with Becky but not a lot, as she is doing the Barton Reading Program with Grandma Julie who is so thankfully taking that over for me because I cannot do one more thing. It is a blessing to have my mom retired! 

My birthday is this weekend and Becky's 8th birthday is next weekend. It's hopefully going to be a magical two weeks if no one gets sick, and I can't wait to see my little girl blow out her candles for the 8th time. Okay, she didn't really do that at 1, but you get the idea. 

The kids are hoping for more snow, I am hoping for more sleep, and we all tumble around in the middle. How are you guys?

Budget Jan 2nd - 16th 2026

First budget of the year! I haven't done one of these in a while because life has been so chaotic we've....not been budgeting. Which is not good for the budget. Or my bank account. I actually love budgeting. I enjoy organizing and structuring our income gives me the same feel-good vibes as deep cleaning my living room does. 

Our income for these two weeks plus what was leftover in our bank account came to 3,346. We have a very high spend month coming up with Reuben starting Cognitive Brain Therapy...and other things. We also owe about $1,600 on our credit card because our car needed new tiers, we bought some clothes, I ordered yearbooks from chatbooks for the kids, we put some groceries and car parts on it and other various things...but those were the big ones. We also put the kids swim lessons on the credit card.

my kids love swimming even in winter!

So, because we want to pay the credit card off completely before it's due in February there will not be much fun money for the next two months but I can hardly blame anyone but myself (and my husband). Our goal with the credit card is not to use it. You can see how well that is going. I'd actually like to cancel the thing but husband says he likes to have one for emergencies... 

January 2-9

This week had a budget of 1,673. Here is what we spent. (I round up to make it easy to skip the cents)

• Pandora Subscription $13

• Brian's Phone $35
• Internet $20
• Trash $32
• Reuben Piano Lessons, Month of Jan $120
• Cognitive Brain Therapy, Month of Jan $572
• Tithe 
• Credit Card Payment $600
• Groceries, Krogers 200
• Gas, $31

This left a total of $0 to roll over into next week. Oops.

January 9-16

This week also had a budget of 1,673. Here is what we spent.

• iCloud $3
• Deposit to savings $150
• Tithe
• Azure Order $1000
• Car inspection (it passed!!) $20
• Cava $25
• Walmart $81
• Kroger 134
• Raw Milk $78
• Vitamin for the kids $24
• Gift for Reuben (for one week of Brain Development) $31
• Renting Movies on Youtube $8
• Pajamas for myself from Poshmark $34

That leaves $115 left over in our budget to roll into next week. Unless we spend anything else...a tight budget but it's from our choices and I am hopeful next week will be better!

And that is everything I bought for our budget in the first two weeks of January. God is good. We made it and I'm very grateful. 

We are starting over with saving money after the last budget update I did in October. (wow was it really that long ago!! crazy) So, we will start saving again after we pay off our credit card. We do have an emergency savings account for if Brian suddenly looses his job but that is only for emergencies. Which groceries and swim lessons are not. 

What did you spend so far? When talking to my friends, I find I am somewhere in the middle. I have friends who make twice what we do and friends who I make twice what they do. It's always interesting to see. Remember, it's not a competition, and no one should feel bad--that's not why I'm posting. I'm posting this because no one talks about money anymore and I think we should talk about it. I think understanding budgets and what others are/are not spending should not be a taboo subject. For me, it helps me process and plan and not overspend, because I have to post it here. It helps keep me accountable. And it can remove boundaries and bring healing.

God is good, and no one is promised tomorrow. 

Today was a hard day

Today was Reuben's first home day of cognitive brain development! Yesterday we went to see the brain coach and it was interesting. She made him write his name and the lowercase alphabet from a-z. She said he is really tense when writing and also his eye tracking is all over the place! I never noticed that! Reuben did well with the coach. She had him do some finger and hand exercises, then they played a number-color-shape game back and forth. Then they did a tick-tack-toe worksheet that corresponds to color--that he is supposed to memorize, followed by two worksheets that utilized the same color-number sequence. It was very interesting. I wished my mom, a retired public school teacher, had been there to tell me what it all meant and how this will help my son. She ended by playing the spot-it game. 

This morning we did his equipping minds brain reflex exercises, followed by the sequence of cognitive development games the teacher did on Monday. Reuben did so well. I found the number-color-shape game very challenging. Reuben corrected me several times when I would say the shape instead of the number or the color instead of the shape. I am severely dyslexic, what a trial as a mother! 

I found the tick-tack-toe game fascinating. We played for around 7 minutes trying to memorize the color-number sequence and I found two "trick" ways of winning games by scrutinizing the board. Reuben won one game and the cat got the rest. 

I know I'm giving my thoughts on it all. I asked Reuben for his and he said...he doesn't like it. That was all. Brief and to the point. But he will do it he said, and I reminded him it's only 12 more weeks. We can do this! I'm so proud of him. He's a genius. 

After completing our brain games I did half of Becky's school, then we did two piano lessons--Becky's and Reubens. Poor Becky had an anxiety attack at piano and I felt so bad for her. I need to deep dive into anxiety soon so I can get some tools to help her. She doesn't like feeling stuck and she doesn't like it when she hits a challenging song! Anxiety is no fun...I am thinking Becky is a perfectionist and I am hopeful I can teach her that everyone makes mistakes and learns from them and it's okay, especially when related to a musical instrument. She is a beautiful piano player and I know she loves the piano so much. Its hard to see her so frustrated and stuck in a cycle of stress and anxiety at the tender age of 7 years old...

I was exhausted after Reuben's piano (that I don't even do anything for, I sit in the playroom with the girls while he has his lesson) and then we went home and did math and chores and read Winter Tales and went on a walk. Followed by a lot of resting. 

On the walk, 2/3 of the way home, Esther decided she wanted to be carried. The problem was she had a bike, so I could not carry both her and the bike. Anyway, I tried to carry her bike and get her to walk and she had a full on tantrum in the middle of the road and I may have internally contemplated my life choices as I tried to get her to come home. Becky finally had to run her own scooter home and come back for the bike and I carried Esther who promptly asked for Bluey when we got home and seemed surprised that she couldn't have her favorite TV show after throwing a tantrum in the middle of the road. 

Being two is wild.

Then I had chocolate and tea. And worked on my cardigan which has one arm done now!! SO excited. It's going to be gorgeous.

After all that I did NOT want to make dinner. But no one was going to save me, I am the adult in this relationship and so I made pizza and everyone was happy and I was glad I freeze sourdough pizza crusts like a responsible mom with three kids who does too much and needs a nap.

I do not know how much homeschooling I will get done with Reuben while he does cognitive brain development. Pray for me as I figure it out.

Oh and I had a medium headache today. It was bad enough to be irritating but not bad enough to make me lay down and turn off all the lights.

God is good and I love him. I'm glad he made me.

I'm also out of chocolate which...since I bought three bars on Saturday, is entirely my fault and I have only myself to blame. 

I wonder what Wednesday will bring? I have no idea what to make for breakfast tomorrow, I put the baby to sleep with Bluey, and I need to buy more art supplies and one of these for my bedroom. I'm making myself an art nook now that I have a nook again. 

Small blessings and tomorrow's hope. My birthday is in 10 days!

Before Cognitive Brain Development

We are about to start a 13 week program called Cognitive Brain Development with both our kids. Reuben is taking the first 13 weeks, and Becky will be doing it the second 13 weeks. Both our kids have some learning issues we are trying to address that are getting in the way of school. Reuben starts Monday, January 5th, and goes twice a week for 13 weeks. 

I wanted to do before and after posts to show his progress, but I felt a little hesitant talking so candidly about my children's learning issues. 

SO, I wanted to issue a disclaimer. IF you are my child, and are reading this post later as an adult or teen I want you to know you are so so so smart! You are amazing! Cognitive brain development is a tool we used because I, as a parent, was struggling to meet your educational needs. There is nothing you did wrong--everyone's brain learns and progresses in different ways and I needed help learning how to teach you. 

Seriously, Reuben is so smart. He blows me away in math. He is better at me in math. I'm not kidding. Sometimes I am still working through a problem and he already has an answer when we do math together. Reuben is brilliant at puzzles, and fixing things. If something breaks in the house, he's my go-too when Daddy is at work!

Reuben is 10 years old and in 5th grade. He started reading at the end of 3rd grade after many struggles in learning how to read. The reason I wanted Reuben to do cognitive brain development is for spelling and writing issues, as well as some visual processing issues. We started with the Gibson Test, and I was blown away by my child's scores.

Here is a screenshot of his scores. This test shows Reuben is a genius. I was blown away. But it also highlighted exactly where he was having trouble and needs help. I was so thankful to have answers! 

Here is Reuben's dictation before starting cognitive brain development. Getting Reuben to write and read is very hard. He resists and does not enjoy writing or reading. I want him to love reading, and to enjoy writing! Reuben has done copywork since kindergarden. 

this is a written narration we did in year 4, term 3

this is a dictation we did in year 5, term 1

I am hopeful for improvement in reading, writing and in visual processing issues after his 13-weeks of cognitive brain development. Reuben has visual sequencing issues and motor issues (clumsy). He also wants to work on these things and is excited for the program. In May, when he finishes, I will post a review and new samples of his handwriting.

Reuben, I am so proud to be your mother, and I love you. Thanks for being an amazing son. I hope you can look back on these 13 weeks and see how it helps you grow and learn and become who God designed you to be!