On a Budget Posts Compiled

Hello hello!  

It's nearing that wonderful time of year again where it's the holiday season and the new year is coming! Kyler and I love to think back on how we did with our goals and decide what we should focus on for the next year. One area we always talk about is finances, so since it's on my brain and since so many of you voted on Instagram for a post on finances, well, here you go! 

As as I was thinking about what I should specifically write about, I kept thinking that honestly, there isn't much extra I can think to add to the On a Budget series I started this time last year! But to make things a little easier for you, I've decided to create this post with all of the links involved and organize them into one easy to find place to help you best figure out your finances! However, if you've read each post and are still confused or would like tips on a different area of budgeting, hit me up and let me know! For now, I'll just post the already created posts below. :) I so hope you find these helpful! ❤️ I totally get that there are a million and one ways to organize your finances and definitely don't think my way is the only way by any means, but I hope at least pieces of this blog series can be helpful to you! Happy budgeting! 

To start: 

The Mental Game and Finding your Why

Financial Priorities 

How to Create Realistic Budgets

How a Cash Budget System Works 

4 Tips to Avoid Debt 

Some extra On a Budget fun: 

Online Grocery Shopping 

Leftovers 

And even international traveling is possible on a budget! 

A Trip to France that Won't Break the Bank 

And just remember! Even though budgeting can be a beast at times, you can do it! :) 

Gender Reveal- Thoughts and Some Tips!

This feels like old news now but I'm so excited to say that we're having another BOY in this family! Henry is so excited to be getting a brother. I hope he realizes baby boy will take a while before he's able to keep up with big brother Hank 😉 but there's a lot of excitement nonetheless!  

With this pregnancy it was SO fun to do a gender reveal! We didn't make it a big party but still, just the added step of keeping things secret from ourselves for a little longer instead of finding out at the ultrasound was so much fun. I think I'll do one with every pregnancy I have from here on out!  

Before I tried this one, I was so nervous for how it'd turn out and kept worrying someone would accidentally spill the beans, but everyone involved was so great and did a wonderful job keeping things secret and being all excited for us! It just made the whole day full magical. :)  

I wanted to explain the steps I and others took to ensure it all worked out, in case you'd like to do one in the future. It would have been nice to have been able to reference the steps etc all in one place! 

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1- Decide the way you want to find out and prepare for it in advance!

I had looked into so many different ways to find out the gender in a cute way and I felt like the most cost effective way was definitely getting a giant balloon filled with confetti! (But if I have any friends that are amazing at baking I might hit you up next time because a color filled cake sounds pretty dang cute too!) I had purchased my balloon pack from Amazon but then afterwards found out it would have been a little cheaper to just buy a balloon at the store where I got them filled. It would have saved me about $10. Live and learn!

If you choose to go the balloon route, get it done at Party land! I had been googling all over and trying to find a place to get balloons filled and kept hearing horror stories of places that said they'd do it over the phone but once you get there they say they can't, or the employee on staff doesn't know how to do it etc. Partyland does this kind of thing allll the time and they know what's up. (Shout out to Sharla for pointing me in their direction! ❤️) They happily filled my "outside" balloon (meaning I bought it elsewhere,) however if you just buy one from them you wouldn't have a problem anyway. They were great though- I gave them my balloon pack that came with the balloons and two different colors of tissue paper confetti and the sealed envelope and then walked around the store for a few minutes until they were done. If you do buy the confetti/balloon at the store, just make sure they are going to use a tissue paper type confetti. You want it to flutter and fall slowly when the balloon is popped! Normal confetti is heavier so it falls faster and is less visually appealing (or so google told me ;) ) but I did really love the look of the tissue paper confetti.

2- Before you start the ultrasound, tell the tech you don't want her to tell you gender! 

I didn't know the right time to tell her so I just blurted it out practically the minute she called me back for the appointment, ha! She did a great job of completely turning off the big TV when she checked baby's gender, and she even turned her computer screen just in case we tried to peek. :) I had brought a couple of envelopes and paper for her to write it down and seal it inside. It worked out that I had two evelopes because she had taken a picture of the gender so I could have one for memories, but I didn't trust myself not to look at it so she just cut it off of the other pictures and sealed it up for me! Obviously this is her profession and she gets this request a lot, but I appreciated how professional and fun she was about it! 

I had an appointment with the doctor right after the ultrasound and I just did the same thing when she walked in in case she knew the gender- "don't tell me I don't know yet!" Good thing Docs know all about patient confidentiality eh? :) 

3- Keep gender reveal away from children until your grand reveal! 

This sounds like a joke but I read a ton of personal experiences online where kids popped the balloon too soon or accidentally let go and it flew away or they attacked the cupcakes before guests arrived and poor pregnant mom cried and cried. I was so nervous of this happening but it worked out that it was my kids nap time as soon as we got home so I locked the balloons in my room so they couldn't touch them while I was getting them ready for sleepy time. I'm sure the balloons are fairly sturdy but after all the energy I put towards it I wasn't going to have it wasted! 

4- Have the reveal area set up all ready BEFORE you bring out any older children  

It was so helpful to have everything set up in advance so that the kids didn't lose their patience and were calm during the reveal. (They may have even been a little too calm in the video since they had just woken up from naps!) It also really helped to have the balloons weighted down since we were going to be doing the reveal outside. (I heard the confetti was unfun to clean up inside your house!) That way we didn't have to worry about balloons flying away while we wrestled with babies :) I had my phone and stand all set up to take video and so it only took a minute to make sure Kyler and the kids were standing in the right spot. 

5- Take a billion pictures too, not just video!  

I love the little video we caught but I especially love the pictures we got before and after! I didn't even think about taking pictures until right then in the moment and I'm really glad I got them. Just caught some cute little moments and facial expressions etc, it's just so fun to have those! 

His little face ha ha ha  

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Anyway, the moral of the story is that gender reveals are so stinkin' fun, and if you're wondering if they are worth all the hassle, they totally are! And it really wasn't as much work for me as I thought it might be! I seriously loved the magic of the day and dragging out the process a bit- it just made it so memorable and special. :) If you have any other questions about it, let me know! It truly made for the best day!