Just a Canary Bird...

Once again we traveled to our favorite place.... LAS VEGAS! We had four days packed with fun. The weather was great while we were there. In Indiana, however, it was terrible, so a good week to miss! By now everyone should know we are planners and love to get good deals. Well Las Vegas is a town of deals if you look close enough. Before we went we were able to snag some items from our MyVegas game on Facebook. We had two FREE night helicopter tours over the strip, a complimentary picture with the helicopter, two FREE show tickets to KA at MGM, two FREE show tickets to The Beatles LOVE at the Mirage, and two 2-for-1 Buffet tickets to the Mirage buffet. All those items together were valued at over $600. We paid $0 for them. I also got some items off Groupon for super cheap! So before we even left we had planned out what nights we were doing what and so on.  We arrived in Las Vegas on April 1st and headed directly to our hotel. This was our first time at Harrah's. We loved our locat...

In our Monday catch up, I talked about living in our house for 4 years. My sister had been living with us for the past year, so when she moved out into her own apartment, I decided to decorate the guest room. Let's just say the room before was pretty boring! It was a hodge-podge of hand me downs. I decorated and updated the room for under $35. I think it looks awesome! I used a leftover gallon of paint from when we remodeled our rental property. Check out that post here . I didn't do a whole lot when it came to decorating, but I found a couple things at Goodwill, like the lamp, the black vase, and the little bird all for under $8. I spray painted the lamp base and bird and I hand painted the lamp shade. It was in rough shape, but now you would never know! Don't mind the frame without a picture in it! I haven't decided if I will put a picture or saying in it yet. I redid the dresser a couple years ago, so I choose to decorate the room around the b...

The Hubby and I have been together 8 years. The one thing we have consistently argued over for those 8 years is the question, "What do you want to do?" I consider us to both be intelligent adults, but when that question comes out of the other persons mouth its like we become fools and have no thoughts. Our common answer is "I don't know" or "I don't care".  Well I found something to fix that problem. Our date night jar! I saw the idea on Pinterest (where all ideas live of course) and decided it was an inexpensive, crafty solution to our problem. All you need are Popsicle sticks, markers, a jar, and your list of activities you want to use. Both the Hubby and I brainstormed ideas in the categories of free dates, cheap dates, more expensive dates, and plan ahead dates. Here is our example list: Making the list was the hardest part. There are a lot of online links for date ideas. Just cater your list to your tastes and preferen...

The Hubby and I have been together 8 years this month. We have been together since we were freshman in college.  The unique and fun thing about our relationship is that we have kind of grown up as adults together.  When we were in college we both were living year to year on what we earned from working in the summer months. That means we never could be extravagant with what we purchased for groceries. We learned pretty early how to budget our money to stretch it as far as we could.  Now that we both have worked full time for 5 years, times have changed, but I still love to save money. There is no better feeling than getting a great deal! Here are a few ways to save at the grocery store: Digital Coupons : These are so easy and help save big. I mainly grocery shop at Kroger. It is super easy to register your Shoppers Card to instantly download digital coupons to it. This is what I primarily do to save our family money. I try to combine the digital c...

Wow, we are back in the land of the working people! We had a great vacation... the 28 hour drive actually wasn't that bad. I won't say that we will drive each time, but I would do it again! The Hubby decided to journal some of our trip, so he will be my guest blogger for telling you about our latest Vegas vacation! After 21 hours of driving yesterday, we are back at it early Saturday morning. Yesterday's 21 hours was definitely an adventure to say the least. We left our house at 9 pm Friday night. We didn't stop driving until 6 pm. We got all the way to Grand Junction, Colorado.  Check out the trip state by state! Indiana I drove during this portion. Not much to talk about. As soon as we passed Terre Haute and entered Illinois, it was the furthest west I'd been in a car in my adult life. Illinois The excitement and the newness of the trip quickly began to wane as we drove through Illinois. It was dark and windy. After driving about 2.5 hours, I gave up and let Du...

One of the most influential people of our time is Warren Buffet. He is a mega investor whose legacy could take care of several generations of his family without a blink of an eye.  Here are several quotes by Warren Buffet:  He is the type of investor that my husband and I hope to be. He is successful, but still grounded when it comes to his lifestyle. Hopefully you can get inspired to do some investing of your own! Until next time, Kara Picture accreditation from  ohmyread.com

My husband and I both are looking toward the future. We would like to retire at a decent age without the worry of what ifs. Too many people do not plan for their future and are only looking a day at a time. I truly believe it is important for our generation to take an active role in their futures and planning their retirements. Too many people counted on Social Security in order to live in retirement. We may not have any of those benefits when we get to the retirement age. Taking control of your finances is a lifestyle choice. It's just like eating healthy and working out. You have to make an effort in order to see results. I believe that anyone, no matter what your social and financial status is, can start with some basic strategies.  1. Set Financial Goals Too many people are living pay check to pay check these days. I know that every family's situation is different, but you need to set a goal to reach toward. Otherwise, it is too easy to make excuses for why you a...