As the end of 2018 approaches, I wanted to give everyone an update on the Smith Family. There are a number of reasons why it’s been pretty quiet on this blog lately, including that we’ve been very busy enjoying all of the adventures that come with being a large, frugal family on the path to financial semi-independence.
The Kids
Readers always seem interested in what’s new with our brood. Goofball turned eight years old over the summer. He read the entire Harry Potter series while off from school! He is very smart and excels in all subjects in Third Grade. We’re still working on being more responsible. Goofball is silly, imaginative, and often has his “head in the clouds.” He seems to be better about doing chores lately, but it has been quite the struggle to get to this point.
Tornado, or the six-year-old Princess, is quite the leader. She is often trying to “take care” of her little brothers, although that can translate into her being a bit bossy with them. She is in First Grade and enjoys school very much. She’s smart and very creative, with paper crafts being one of her favorites right now. We’ve started to see some of an attitude, combined with tantrums, that has caused us to become nervous about her teenage years. But she has such “light-switch” emotions. One moment she’s screaming and then next one she’s snuggling with us.
Trey is about three and a half years old now. He has always been the happiest little guy. He plays so well by himself, usually listens, tries to help out, and is very sweet to the twins. The biggest issue with have with him, is that he HATES using the potty. It would be really nice to get him out of diapers, but we’ve hit a big roadblock when it comes to potty training.
Parenting twins continues to be quite the adventure. The boys are approximately eighteen months old. They both waddle around (in opposite directions) and climb pretty much everything. They have very different personalities. It has been really interesting to watch the evolution of their relationship with each other. They are getting better at playing together, instead of just biting one another in order to steal things away. The twins even seem happy, on occasion, to share things. I’ve been on the lookout for the “twin language” and think they are beginning to communicate. Unfortunately, they STILL wake up multiple times each night. We remain very, very tired parents.
The Job
I am about to celebrate my one-year anniversary at the new firm. This work-from-home attorney position has been such a blessing. I still find myself in court or the offices of other attorneys three to four times a week. However, often I am only gone for a few hours. There are very few days when I’m not home when the big kids get off the school bus. The flexibility is amazing. I can take breaks to help out with the little ones or even to take a quick naps on the days that follow those really long nights with the twins. My new employer seems very pleased with my performance, so I’m hopeful that this arrangement will last for at least a few more years.
Finances
I can’t believe how far we’ve come in a few short years and it’s going to a great financial update at the beginning of 2019. The frugal lifestyle and side hustles helped us change directions from incurring more debt to paying it off. These changes have combined with other factors to really amp up the momentum on our debt payoff. Just last month, we sent off a check for over $7,000 to completely pay off one of my student loans! It wasn’t so long ago that we struggled to make minimum payments on our credit cards. It really goes to show how slow and steady progress will allow you to make huge financial gains in the future.
Our Best “Investments” This Year
We took on two memberships this year that have provided amazing returns on our investments. First, there is a small theme park near our home. It has a bunch of kiddie rides, some “big kid rides” like roller coasters, and a section of water rides. We made a “Summer Fun List” that included our first family trip to a theme park – as in EVER. It was later in the summer by the time we went to the park. They had a deal to add on a season pass for ten dollars per person (not the babies) – for 2018 and 2019. We ended up paying $50 and visited twice more this year, and we still have all next year! I’m always trying to find free family activities, but sometimes it makes sense to pay a fairly small amount of money to have this type of entertainment readily available any time.
Our community is very fortunate to have had a brand-new YMCA facility open up this year. It is about a five-minute drive from our house. Yes, paying the monthly membership is not as frugal as just running outside or using our own equipment to work out. Here’s what makes the $70 per month a real deal: free childcare for up to two hours every day, for all five of them! We’ve been taking advantage of this a couple days a week, to use the equipment, take group fitness classes, and even take ballroom dancing lessons together. The kids have big playrooms to enjoy for those couple of hours. We’ve also been taking them all swimming in the pool. We love the YMCA!
The Summer & Fall Fun Lists
Taking a cue from my friend and author, Laura Vanderkam, we made lists for each season of activities that we wanted to partake in as a family. These lists kept us so busy! In the past, weekends would often fly by with catching up on chores or other miscellany. The Fun Lists kept us on task with making plans so we could fit everything into the season. The Summer Fun List included things like visiting a splash, exploring a Navy ship, hiking some local parks, playing mini-golf, and visiting the zoo. Our Fall Fun List included the mandatory trip for pumpkins and hikes to admire the leaves.
The Frugal Life
The garden was another thing that kept us busy this summer and fall. We kept up with our practice over the last couple of years of growing lots of yummy food to keep our grocery bills lower than usual.
I continue to give haircuts to everyone in the family, including myself. Although, it has to be said, it would be a little easier if there were a couple more girls instead of boys! I think Tornado has only ever received two small trims.
Mr. Smith is handling most of our grocery shopping now. He has an excellent memory, so he remembers where to get the best deals on everything. It helps that we’ve also settled on a list of frugal meals that make everyone happy, so he’s usually buying the same things.
Mr. Smith and his father were able to collect more, free firewood than we’ve ever had before going into the cold seasons of the year. We should be able to keep our heat bills very low while staying nice and warm this winter.
We continue to spend as little on clothing as possible. I received a gift card from my mom for a local consignment store as a birthday present, so I picked up a couple of “new” things. A neighbor continues to give us tons of hand-me-downs for Tornado. The boys keep wearing everything passed down from Goofball. He is probably going to need some new clothes this Winter or Spring – but we will try to only shop at consignment or garage sales.
On Blogging When Things Are Going Well
Life has been busy. It forced me to choose between different priorities. I ended up letting this blog go quiet for considerable periods of time, but I love writing and connecting with others through this site. It took some reflection to figure out why I was having trouble getting back into blogging.
Things are going very well. We’re spending time going on fun adventures as a family. We’ve been able to send big checks out to pay off debt. My days are no longer spent sitting in an office, frustrated by missing out on time with my family. And, that’s the key right there. As bad as this may sound, I used to do most of my blogging at work.
I used to be absolutely miserable at work. Blogging was a way for me to escape, to vent, and to make plans for a better future. I felt trapped in that office, expected to be in that space during normal business hours. Blogging was a small act of rebellion and it helped me get through the day.
I don’t need distraction during work breaks anymore – no more killing time until it’s acceptable to leave for the day. There are plenty of productive options for breaks at home, from catching up on some chores to spending time with my kids. In fact, it’s hard to pull myself away from them to do my work some days.
The other part is that, while we will still need to figure out different variables along the way, we’ve implemented the changes necessary to follow a much-improved path for our life. Everything seems so much more enjoyable now. Everything is headed in the right direction. We just need to stay the course.
I want to keep blogging, to document our continued progress, whether it is setbacks or victories, and to connect with all of you. When other aspects of your life change, you can’t really expect to keep all of your habits exactly the same. I just need to figure out where blogging fits best in this new, wonderful schedule.
To My Readers: What’s new?!? I miss hearing from all of you.
