I spent weeks working on projects and days fretting about the success or failure of my first craft show. Did the hours of table display prep work pay off?

Financially, no, educationally speaking yes. There was three other large sized art and craft shows going on that same day in our town. So there was lots of competition and the fair I was in was most peoples last stop. I had lots of people come through who talked about what great ideas I have. But didn't buy. Some of them I could tell were shopping for ideas while others were looking for steals. I also didn't think that it helped that a little old grandma was set up across from me who was basically giving her sewing projects away for free. She had prices like one dollar for a burp cloth, 3 dollars for crayon roll and $10 for a good sized flannel quilt. I'm not even sure how she could make money even though she was selling a lot.

All this info helped me to decide that my time is more valuable then what people are willing to pay at craft shows. I'm not going to spend $12 on materials and charge a total of $15 making my three hours of work worth nothing after paying for slot, business cards, price tags and other associated business expenses. I don't think that I'll try it again. Instead I'll stick to my Etsy shop and making gifts for friends. Even though everyone says I should sell my stuff, no one is really willing to pay for it (at least in this economy).

Hopefully the items will sell in the Etsy shop. Keep an eye our for a lot of new fun listings soon!

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It feels like I have been missing for two months but it really has only been two weeks. Things will get back to (our) normal after this Saturday's craft show. It has been a very busy couple weeks finishing projects for the show, working on potty training, an have kids at home because of school closers due to flu outbreaks. Anything but normal!

Starting next week you can look forward to some great posts, reviews and giveaways! I don't want to give to much info away but I think that you will enjoy having me back.

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You can link to posts that are related to living on a "Not the Jet Set" budget. This could be anything from ideas to save money around the house or garden, DIY home repair, using cash envelopes, to planning your low cost vacation. We do ask that you refrain from linking to posts about weekly store deals, contests, paid ads and the like.

I look forward to reading everyone's ideas on ways to live on a "Not the Jet Set" budget. Please take the time to view other blogger's posts as well as add our button or link back to this post.

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Your Two Cents:

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Be sure to tune in later for our Two Cents Tuesday post (and leave your two cents, too!), but first I want to direct your attention to a guest post we wrote for Matt at Debt Free Adventure on Tithing Our Time. It's a new concept that we've been considering and finally pulled together.

So head on over to Matt's site and and give it a read. Be sure to leave a comment, as we'd love to hear your thoughts. While you're there check out some of Matt's posts and don't forget to subscribe.

Here are some posts not to miss at DFA:

• Tithing our Time (shameless plug)
• Credit Cards - Close 'em Shred 'em & Forget 'em!
• Wise Use of Paid off Credit Cards? You Decide.
• Easy and Frugal Homemade Granola Recipie
  

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It's open enrollment time at my employ, and while the Mrs and I are decided and done, it seems that most folks have hardly logged on. Since we're going through the second major plan overhaul in 3 years, people have TONS of questions and no clue as to which one to choose.

The Providers and their vague presentations and explanations have come and gone and folks are still sitting around at lunch saying, "I don't know what to pick." Now, I don't intend to demean these folks. Modern health care is quite complicated and an incredible amount of responsibility is in the lap of the consumer. This is a difficult and important decision - more now than ever.

My response, usually starts with, "Here's how we decided..."


First, a little backstory:
We have two options for employer sponsored health insurance. One plan is like a PPO, but they have added some hoops to jump through. The other is an HSA. To make this decision, you really need to know three things about the plans:

• The Deductible (the amount you are responsible for before the insurance actually kicks in)
• The Premium (the amount that you kick - monthly, yearly, whenever)
• The Out-of-Pocket limit (the co-insurance amount you are responsible for above the deductible)
  

Here are the numbers for our plans (these are for employee and family):

PPO		HSA
$1,000	Deductable (per yr)	$4,000
$X + $70	Premium (per mo.)	$X
$4,000	Out-of-Pocket Limit (per yr)	$4,000

For this example, you can assume that most other details are equal. As you can see, the PPO has higher premiums ($840 per year), but the deductible is $3,000 less than the HSA. The out-of-pocket limits are the same, making that part irrelevant. So what does all this mean? "Well, here's how we decided..."

For two years running, we've hit our out-of-pocket limit in April or May. Lately, we've been what they refer to as 'heavy users of insurance'. We don't have chronic ailments, but we did have a baby last year. And this year, we had 3 ER trips. the net result of 2 busy kids and 2 active parents. We're healthy people, but lately we've been quite accident prone.

Really, each employee has to make a gamble. either we choose the PPO and plan on using up the low deductible, or we choose the HSA and hope hardly see the doctor all year (thus taking advantage of putting in less per month). While we like the idea of rolling over unused HSA funds to the next year, so far that hasn't been a reality.

We chose the PPO.

Is it right for everyone? Definitely not. A greater difference in the premiums would make the HSA more attractive. This is especially true with a fully-funded emergency fund. We could use it to cover $4k in medical expenses, but that also means that the EF would be depleted and not able to be use for other emergencies.

What has your experience been? Does the HSA work for you or your family?

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Our challenge is to raise $1300 before Christmas vacation. For more details checkout our original post. We know that it's a lofty goal to reach that fast without adding any salaried income to the mix, but we also live on a tight budget. A vacation is a luxury not a necessity.

Here is the breakdown of what we have done so far this month:

• Garage Sale- We decided to have an impromptu garage sale with a friend who lives on a busy road in a really nice part of town. It worked out great! We sold most of our stuff and made $427 to put towards our vacation fund.
• Survey- Ironically the week we started the challenge the Mr. got a call from a magazine he subscribes to asking him to take part in a large web-based survey the following week. His reward was a check for $150.
  
• Blog- We made $71 in blog revenue this month after paypal fees and other costs.

So far this month we have made a grand total of $648! Not bad for just under 4 weeks. We are only two dollars shy of the halfway mark. The garage sale was our biggest money maker planned. It did give us a great boost in the right direction but we are running out of stuff to sell for money.

The plan for the next couple weeks is to sell of a few odd ends and I'm going to try selling some of my handmade items at a local craft fair in two weeks. I'm hoping to make about $20-30 each on the odd end. I have no clue what I'll make at the craft fair. It's the first time I've tried something like that so it's all an unknown. Hopefully it will raise some cash instead of just being just a learning experience.

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Posting has been a little light lately - Ok, it's been 6 days. Fret not -we're still here.

Life has just had us feeling a tad under water lately, and that's ok, it happens from time to time.

The Mrs. is up to her knees in apples as she spends her days making and preserving applesauce for the year. It's a ton of work, but she will survive it and be back soon with more inspiring posts.

I've been laboring in the garden every non-rainy chance I get, trying to finish the fence and grape arbors for the garden makeover. 300 feet of fence takes time when you do it from scratch. I've also been trying to wrap up other fall yard work before all the nice days get away from us.

But not all of our time has been spent away from the computer.
Here are some things we have been working on that you can look forward to in the coming weeks:

• Raw milk - how deliciously illegal is it?
• The truth about debit cards - just the facts, ma'am.
• Part 2 of our look at Roth IRA conversions
• We're prepping several guest posts for other blogs
  
• And tomorrow.... an update on Vacation or Bust 2009!

photo from Flickr

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I have to admit that I LOVE auctions. I'm picky about which ones I go to and I do have favorite auctioneers. Saying that I rarely walk away from an auction disappointed. This past weekend was no exception to the rule either.

A local plant nursery decided that to stay a float after a bad year they would auction off a large amount of their stock. It's heart breaking to know that a local person is on the brink of losing their business, but by spending the money at the auction you do have to look at it as a way to help them.

There was over an acre full of stock that they were getting rid of. Most of it was trees with the smallest being 6 ft tall and the largest ones needing to be moved by semi-trailers. I'm talking massive 20+ feet tall trees. My goal and budget was to accure a couple fruit trees for our open front yard. When the auction started I realized quickly that I was going to get lucky. The people bidding were all wholesalers or developers. No one had any interest in "edible" plants. Because of this stroke of luck I was able to walk away feeling like a million bucks. I bought 5 large seedless concord grape vines for $10 total. Five apple trees (Granny Smith and Empires) for $17.50 each along with 2 aprocots and 3 cherries for $12.50 each. These trees were each 9 feet tall and in 10 gallon containers! What a deal!!!

It will not take long for those large plants to start recouping my initial cost. It might even take the Mr.'s back longer to heal. Sorry for all the digging honey!

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You can link to posts that are related to living on a "Not the Jet Set" budget. This could be anything from ideas to save money around the house or garden, DIY home repair, using cash envelopes, to planning your low cost vacation. We do ask that you refrain from linking to posts about weekly store deals, contests, paid ads and the like.

I look forward to reading everyone's ideas on ways to live on a "Not the Jet Set" budget. Please take the time to view other blogger's posts as well as add our button or link back to this post.

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Your Two Cents:

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Before you read this post please read my disclaimer below:

I'm by no means a biblical scholar or a theology teacher. What I do know is that you have to read the bible, think about how it would apply to today's world, and look at what your specific faith teachings/ interpretations are for that specific bible verse, parable, or allegory. Please discuss this topic with your own Priest or Pastor if you want a clearer outlook from your faith's perspective.

Okay, On to the post.

Last week I posted about my view of Suze Orman's advice to married couples. I knew my stand would be controversial but most of the time following God's will is not the path of least resistance. Because of that I did get some feedback from readers that didn't see things my way and that is just fine. I don't expect everyone to see the world the way I do. If I did then life would be boring and I'd never learn anything new. However, one commenter did ask where in the bible God said that we should have joint accounts. I felt like answering that question in the comments would not give it the full justice that it deserves.

Here are some of the places in the bible that I feel address this topic of having unity in your financial lives as a married couple.


> Gen 2:24 "Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh" By one flesh it means that you have one set of hands, eyes, ears and so on. If you are to truly be one you would have to truly say what is mine is yours and yours is mine. We share everything we have, including money.

> Mark 10:9 "what therefore God has joined together, let not man put asunder" If you are not let anything get between you that means more then a job or another woman. It means the kids, politics, and money too.

> 1 Corinthians 12:4-7 "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." It's rare that both spouses are financially savvy. It's also rare that they both have enough free time on their hands to do double the work. God gave us each our own set of talents and as a married couple you are to share them as "one flesh" not withhold them from each other. My husband is good at hanging pictures, I'm not. He hangs all the pictures in the house even the ones I want hung. I'm good at sewing, he would probably sew his fingers together. I mend all the clothes in our house. We share our gifts for the common good of our marriage and family.

> Proverbs 15:22 "Without counsel plans go wrong, but with many advisers they succeed." Two heads are better then one. If my husband and I both look at all of our money together we can make better decisions together. As a parent I want to make sure to include my husband on issues of raising our kids. If we discuss and agree on a parenting method (like sleeping habits of the baby) then we are much more likely to succeed by working together vs. each trying our own method which would confuse the child. The same goes with our income. We put all of it together and decide together what to do with all of it.

> Proverbs 31:10 "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, And he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil All the days of her life." Trust each other. Have faith in the other person. You are on the same team so act like it! If we as a married couple can trust each other we will have no lack of gain. If you spouse should be worth more then jewels and your heart is to trust your spouse, why then would you not trust them with joint accounts?




As a Christian the ultimate marriage to look up to is that of Christ and his bride, the Church. So I ask myself, "What would Jesus do?" Would he not fully share his money with his spouse?

Outside of the bible specifically most if not all Christian teachings do say that you should have shared everything. The most known Christian personal financial teachers all say it too. Including Dave Ramsey, Larry Burkett, and Phil Lenahan.

Another thing those same PF gurus will teach you is about communication in a marriage. Something most marriages need more of. Clearly, in the case of Jon and Kate Goslin, they needed more communication - not less. Separating your finances is simply a brick wall for communication - a place for spouses to hide their spending sins. Joint accounts takes your marriage in the opposite direction to a place called unity. My husband has full knowledge of the amount of money I spend on my garden and on sewing projects. I'm fully aware of how much he spends on his tools and other stuff. It's okay to spend money on things that only one person enjoys without feeling ashamed or the need to hide it from your spouse. It's just apart of having a mature and selfless relationship.

On a personal note, while we never had separate accounts, we were not always on the same page about our finances. I can assure you that this did not do us any favors in maintaining a healthy marriage. He spent and I got upset. I spent and he had no clue. Hurt feelings, confusion, blaming.... maybe you've been through this too? But since we got on the same page, since both of us agree on our spending before we do it, since both of us understand our common goals as well as our personal goals, we now have this incredible unity in our marriage. There's no ambiguity, and we love it. The more open and vulnerable we become to each other the stronger our marriage and finances become.

So how are the accounts arranged in your marriage? How does it correlate with your faith and it's teachings?


Feel free to join us tomorrow for Two Cent Tuesday!

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