Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 6

#6 Taking advantage of good deals on top of good deals.

I received a gift card to Cold Stone as a thank you gift for working in Awana at our church. This is a great gift because Danielle and I can enjoy about 5 trips to Cold Stone on a single gift card. Cold Stone makes just about the best ice cream around. So tonight we took Lily (our 13 month old daughter) and headed to Cold Stone at The Greene. The Greene is the local upscale shopping "city" in the area. On Monday's Cold Stone runs a deal: buy one medium ice cream creation get a kids size free. We got the ice cream to go (tax free in Ohio) and sat outside by The Greene's fountian and enjoyed the beautiful summer evening. Also, Lily really enjoys playing in the fountian and The Greene provides free towels to dry off with.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: About $2.5o in gas. (9.4 miles, 25MGP $3.479 per gallon) (The icecream would have costed $4.69)
Extra Bonus: I got to read a good book while Danielle did some shopping.
Extra Hassle: Waiting for the right day to get the extra deal.
Catch: Might become addited to Cold Stone Icecream.

Pictures!

It's been a good week, full a new things for Lily. She was able to play in our backyard with the sprinkler, which she really enjoyed. Thursday was Cedarville's Faculty Staff picnic. Lily and I got the play on the huge inflatable slide. On Friday, I was able to go to the Greene County Fair and enjoy the demolition derby. Enjoy the pictures.

Summer 08

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 5

#5 Riding your bike to work.

I'll post more later about how Danielle and I have one just car. I hardly ever drive our one car to work. I nearly always carpool or ride my ride. This week I rode my bike to and from work 3 times. This is a 25 mile round trip. The great part is 21 miles of the trip is on bike trails. I was able to eat breakfast and watch the sunrise over my neighbor's house. I spend about 1:40hr around trip on my bike. If I were to carpool it would take about 1 hour. So it costs me an extra 40 minutes to ride my bike. But I get a good amount of exercise in for only 40 extra minutes.

Total Savings: about $4.00 in gas or $14.50 if you use the government rate of 58 cents per mile.
Extra Bonus: Exercise without having a a gym membership
Catch: You need to find a way to shower once you get to work.

A few new pictures of Lily

In the last week Lily has nearly mastered the baby art of walking. She has gone from just being able to take a few steps at a time to being able to walk to almost any place she wants. She is very proud of herself as well.

When Lily was born I didn't have a clue on what to expect. This last year has been great. She brings we so much joy each day. I look forward to putting her down to bed each night. One of my favorite parts of the day is when Danielle and I peek at her while she is sleeping. She is so peaceful and beautiful. I can't say it's always been easy, but it has been a joy being a daddy to Lily for the for first 13 months of her life. God has really blessed us with a really cute, loving, happy baby girl. We pray for her safe keeping, wisdom for her and us and she grows up.

Lily July 08

When 100 Billion just isn't enough

Could the end of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation be in sight as the country's central bank run out of paper? According to this news story the country's solder's are starting to go unpaid. This cannot be good for the dictator-president. Hopefully peace will follow and not anarchy. Today 100 billion is worth about 20 cents on the black market.

Learning to Walk

Lily is learning to walk. Here is a short clip of her walking to her new toy.

Living Life Richly on the Cheap # 4

#4 Buy your 1 year old a toy from a yard sale.

We bought Lily this new toy from a yard sale for $2.00. She loves it and giggles over and over watching the balls roll through it.

Since this item was not a necessity there are no savings just a total cost
Total Cost: $2.00 + Gas and time. But Danielle and I enjoying shopping at Yard Sales.

Extra Bonus: After we are all done with have kids. I'm sure we could resell it for $2.00, bring the total cost near zero.
Catch: You could have to visit a lot of yard sales to find what you want. I also have the problem and buying too much. I'll write more about yard sales in a later post.