I not sure what we are doing, but we will make some appetizers and try to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop with my two teenagers. My oldest son's band is playing at an event that night, but I don't like to leave my two other children at home, so I will stay with them and think about my oldest when the New Year rings in.

Happy 2009 to everyone. And, next year, I don't know how they are going to make the 2010 glasses, but we will see. We will just have to keep one eye closed.

Okay, here it goes with the yearly totals.

Debt is at: $16,179.08. Big Changes coming in this area for 2009. I need to be mostly debt free by the end of the year, due to my regular income being cut in half.

Gasoline Usage: $2,772.58, averaging $53.31/week or $231.04/month.

Christmas Total: $1,533.86. I spent $1,293.63 on my husband and my 3 children and $240.24 on extended family. I am going to work on this category. Saving all of mypoints.com and winster.com points for gift cards and finding items throughout the year at flea markets, antique shops, garage sales, etc. We have decided to go on a vacation for Christmas next year, so our portion will be in finding a good deal on hotel, amusement park admissions, gas, etc.

Birthdays: My family birthdays totaled around $350.00 (Three kids and one husband). Extended family and friends birthdays, graduations, anniversaries, etc. totaled around $250.00. Need to work this area also. So far for next year, we have a wedding reception, three graduations, a baby shower that I need to buy mint/nut cups for 100 people and birthdays.

Groceries: $6,245.38. This includes everything from food, toiletries, water softener salt, lightbulbs, laundry soap, bird seed, batteries, anything that runs a home. I should try to seperate the categories to see just how much is spent on food and how much is spent on household. But, I think that amount is way too much. Especially when I see one woman feeding a family of 4 on $800/year. I definately will use more coupons and try to cut this area and do two categories - Food and Household.

Eating Out: $1,666.99. I need to do the envelope system with this area. Decide how much to use for eating out, put it in an envelope and when it is gone, no eating out. Maybe $50.00/month.

Water Softener Salt: $260/year. This is actually included in the groceries total. We have well water with lots of iron, so I use the Red Out, which is more expensive. I am going to try to see if I can mix two bags Red Out with two bags Regular and get the same results at a lower cost.

Vehicle and Homeowner's Insurance: $2,090.15. Vehicle Plates/Reg. $125.20. No fudging here.

Homeschooling Costs: $1,561.11 (includes private instruction in algebra, some sciences like physics and chemistry, languages, piano, baseball, bmxing, snowboarding, museum memberships, magazine subscriptions, curriculum, field trips, etc. for two teenagers).

Clothing Expense: $553.50. Me and two teenagers. My 17 yo daughter insists on buying her own clothes, even though I slip a few garments in here and there. Mainly, the cost is on my 14yo boy, who won't stop growing, especially in shoes. But, I don't think this amount is excessive.

Haircuts: $130.00. Me and two teenagers. I color my own hair and use coupons for the haircuts. The hair coloring is actually included in the grocery amount.

Country Club Membership (where I work) $130.00.

Well, that is pretty much it. All regular bills like Mortgage and living expenses have been paid and are never behind, plus regularly adding to my Freedom Account and ING Account.

Happy Frugal and Debt Free 2009 to Everyone.

We have some scheduled vacations for 2009.

*Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, Ohio in February, already paid for.

*Chicago. We have a good friend that moved their, so we are going to visit. We are wanting to do the Aquarium and a couple museums. I have been online and see that Chicago offers a Citypass which will save us a great deal on costs. If anyone has been to Chicago or lives in Chicago and can give us some great ways to save money there or any other great tips, it would be greatly appreciated.

*Washington D.C.: Hoping to make it to Washington D.C. to visit all the museums in the Spring. I know motels are expensive. We would like a motel that has an indoor pool and complimentary breakfast for a decent nightly rate and somewhere convenient to the Metro for transportation. Or maybe, it would be worth staying at a campground, just not sure which one is closest. Any suggestions from anyone that visits or lives in this City is also greatly appreciated.

*Michigan: Renting a cottage with a friend this year on Lake Huron this summer. Our kids grew up together and we thought we would get-a-way for some fun. Swimming, riding bikes, walks, nightly bonfires with s-mores. Michigan summers are beautiful.

*Colorado: My BIL wants us to come and visit this coming year; and if the gas prices stay affordable, we may just drive that way. It would only cost me in gas money and some food. He never lets us pay for anything.

*Florida: Either at Easter or Christmas 2009. We have lots of family their, who keep asking us to come on down. We want to swim with the Manatees and go to Disney World. Any great tips for saving at Disney? I found a great place to swim with the Manatees. You can rent Kayaks for $10.00 each.

If those all work out, then we will move onto Maine to see the Whales; Hannibal, MO for the Mark Twain festival; The Grand Canyon or Yellowstone; and Mt. Rushmore.

My son made it across the Canadian/U.S. border with no problems, due to us setting everything up before he got there, by calling customs and border control, the U.S. Embassy and getting a police report for the stolen wallet.

Then, last night, got a call from someone in Canada, they found my son's wallet. Yeah. All the cash was gone, but everything else was intact. They said they would mail it to us.

We are very grateful.

My oldest Son went to Toronto with 3 other friends. They are all in their early 20's for a Christmas get-away.

Anyway, the night before last, my son's wallet got stolen. He called home upset. In his wallet was $150 U.S. cash, $40 Canadian, his driver's license, debit card and another credit card.

I told him that we would handle the debit and credit card from here in Michigan so no-one could use them; and call Customs and Border Control; and he called the U.S. Embassy. The U.S. Embassy said they would fax over documentation that he was a U.S. Citizen. We told my son to get a police report for his stolen wallet. The good thing was his birth certificate was in his luggage.

But, it took us all day from both ends, putting holds on debit cards, cancelling credit cards, calling Customs and Border Control, the U.S. Embassy and the Toronto Police Department to get my son back over the border.

They finally came across the border at 12:30 this morning. What a stressful situation. I still haven't seen my son yet, he stayed at one of the friend's house he went with.

So, today, we have to go get a new license and we are getting a snowstorm, but thank God, they made it back before the storm hit here really bad.

And, good thing I am giving him some cash for Christmas, cause he is gonna need it.

I hope he had a good time though and that this doesn't deter him from visiting Canada again. We will also go get him a passport.

Hmm, how do you do that.

Here is the story. On my husband's side, his brother and SIL, or my BIL and SIL and his Mother make Christmas so complicated. His BIL and SIL make far more money than we do and always complain about it; and his Mother is always complaining she doesn't have any. You know the ones.

Well, we have been trying to set something up with them for Christmas, along with my husband's mother, the MIL, but then the MIL threw a fit. I mean, like a two year old, crying fit that she wanted to have it at her house on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Well, I asked everyone over on the 23rd, which is neither, for a get-together, to do some celebrating; and it turned into mass chaos.

So, my husband, said fine, throw a fit and act like a two year old. Just because we invite someone over on the 23rd doesn't mean you couldn't do something on the 24th or 25th, but instead, you throw a fit and get in a fight with my wife and SIL over it, so now we are not getting together on the 23rd. I mean a simple "yes, I'm available" or "No, I can't make it" would have been fine.

So, after a week of the MIL trying to backtrack and fix things, she convinces the BIL and SIL to come over for desserts on the 24th before our Church services. So, I say to my husband, maybe we can all get-together then and do Christmas and exchange gifts. I mean afterall, let's reward the two year old her tantrum and all be together at her house for Christmas. Oh, no, now my BIL and SIL say, I didn't know you were coming, Oh, it is going to be so crowded, BIL is not going to be happy.

My husband mentions that we could come over on the 24th to my MIL (his mother) and she says, well let me call Brother and SIL and see if that works for them, cause they thought it was just going to be us.

HELLO, it is Christmas and you pitched a fit wanting everyone together at your place on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Here is your chance and it doesn't work with BIL and SIL. My husband hung up. He told me what was said. So, I called MIL back and told her, nicely, to have her Christmas with BIL and SIL and we would let her know when we could get-together with her. Seeing how I tried to do that twice already.

But, the main reason for my rant, is that my BIL and SIL just wine about having to buy gifts and get-together that I just need to cut those ties. Maybe in a nice way say "that financially it would help us out a great deal if we didn't exchange gifts next year" and then I could just have a wreath sent to their house next year for their front door.

On my side of the family, how easy it gets. "Hey want to get-together before Christmas, hell yeah." We decided the 20th at my brothers, all bring a dish or two to pass. We don't care about gifts. We will probably play Texas Hold'em, play the guitars and sing. I have three brothers with families, a total of 26 people and it took us 5 minutes to figure out when, what time and who is bringing what.

Oh, btw, we have decided to go away next year for Christmas, someplace warm and less snowy.

Any suggestions?

Me and my kids decided to become even more green. We chose to do a three cycle recycling project: Bottled water, recycle our own recycables and composting.

First, the bottled water project. I was spending around $85-$100/year on bottled water, plus all the waste of all those plastic bottles that you can't reuse because of harmful chemical leakage. Even though we have recycling through our garbage pickup, they are a pain.

Anyways, we bought a Brita, which I have previously talked about. It costs me $15.50 out of pocket, after in-store credit, a mail-in-rebate and coupons. I also bought three reusable plastic water bottles, on sale, for .99 cents each. We love the water and it has worked out quite well. I am glad we did this.

Part Two, Recycling: We decided to take our own newspapers, magazines, plastic, cans and other recyclables into the recycling center. We wanted to see if it was worth the effort to do it ourselves. So, yesterday, we loaded up the Jeep with all of the recyclables. I mean, all of this stuff took up half of my foyer. We went to the recycle center which is about 1/2 hour away. It is next to a bread outlet, so I was going to "kill two birds with one stone" so they say.

After driving on the scale, unloading and driving back on the scale, our process only netted us $1.50. Ha Ha Ha Ha. So, doing it ourselves is not viable. I will just continue to drop off my paper type products (newspapers, magazines and paper)in the church recycle bin for them to reap the rewards; and let my garbage recycle pickup take the cans and glass.

I mean, it is good to get my bread at a discount, but not to do the recycling. I probably spent two dollars in gas. I will just stock up on bread when I am out that way in the future. Plus, it took up too much room in my beautiful new foyer.

Part three - Composting: We had some top soil left over from last years taking down the dead elm tree project. We built a compost area out of three smaller pallets and dumped all of that extra dirt in there, then we added grass clippings and leaves. I also add things like egg shells, coffee grounds and veggie/fruit peelings. This project has been working out real well and I should not have to buy new dirt for all my potted plants and garden next year.

So, two out of three aint bad and it has been a great learning experience for my kids.

Here is a great website of a family who takes the green thing very seriously. I love this website.

http://urbanhomestead.org/journal/2008/04/08/busy-7/

Enjoy.

November 2008:

*Groceries: $527.07
*Eating Out: $137.65
*Gas: $125.00
*Extras: Paid for my oldest son's doctor visit and prescription - $94.76. Bought a Brita to change over from using/buying bottled water - after returning a gift, using coupons and mail-in rebate, total cost was $15.50.

*Plus all the regular bills and paid off one debt and eliminated it from my sidebar along with paying money to all my debts, bringing my debt down to $15,887.99. My goal is to be almost debt free by January 2010.

Also added to my Freedom Account and Vacation Accout.

Groceries was higher due to Thanksgiving and my Daughter's Birthday Book Club Party, but both were a lot of fun. Gas was way lower, probably due to prices being way lower. Eating out was a little higher. This is an area I am going to work on and a Grocery challenge starting in January.

Christmas and birthdays are just about done. Also, booked us a vacation to the Kalahari Resort in Ohio in early February.