Changing My Shopping Habits

Where Did All the Shopping Posts Go?


If you have been reading here for awhile, you may have noticed that I used to do a LOT of fashion haul posts and frugal shopping posts. Even my shopaholic neighbor commented on how frequently I was shopping. You will have also probably noticed there haven't been any of those in at least a month. This is a direct result of Mike and I signing up for Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University class. I love shopping more than most people, but I also like taking on a project with my husband. 

The "old" me following a retail binge. 

It's not that we couldn't afford my shopping so much, it's just that we weren't saving for longer term goals as much as we wanted to be. Starting the class for me was a lot like joining Weight Watchers. I remember when I joined WW I was diligent about calculating and writing down the points value of everything I put in my mouth. Well this month we set up our very first budget and we were crazy about saving receipts to track and categorize every penny we spent. Mike built an incredibly complicated database of our finances in Quicken and we allocated every dollar to either an expense category or a savings goal.

So now we are just about at the end of our first full month of budgeting, and we sat down to look at our progress. It is kind of amazing to me how much money we had leftover this month to put towards our long term goal of a six month emergency fund and other goals. Almost as much as our mortgage payment...in "extra" money. So how did I manage to suddenly save so much money? Some simple changes in my own personal habits made a big impact.

Removing Retail Temptation


The first thing I did at the beginning of the month was to unsubscribe for nearly every retail email I get. No more daily J.Crew sales. No more daily RueLala flash sales. No more Shop It To Me emails. It was kind of painful to do, but I don't miss them now, and they were cluttering up my inbox every morning with massive retail temptation. Seriously, I used to get like 30 retail emails DAILY. Yes, I may miss my favorite brand going up for sale at deep discounts...but on the flip size I'm building my own nice little nest egg for a massive shopping trip to the San Marcos outlets in the near future. 

Secondly I stopped going to certain places just because I was bored. Like the mall, a frequent default location to "entertain the kids" when it's rainy or too hot or too cold to be outside. Aside from my stealthy photography hijinks with Pam in Nieman Marcus Last Call (which WAS MASSIVE temptation) I haven't been to the mall in weeks. I also stay far away from Hobby Lobby, Kohls, and I try to steer entirely clear of the shoes, accessories and women's clothing sections of Target. I try to find other places to go when I'm bored, like the gym or the library. I did get a brief infusion of retail therapy when my mom came to visit and took me to LOFT for my birthday. With my $20 rewards card and her $75 birthday money, I was quite satisfied to select a few key pieces. 

It really is amazing to me how much easier breaking the shopping habit was than I'd expected, especially when I implemented some of these simple environmental changes. And as my yoga guru would surely remind me, it's all about living intentionally and mindfully. 

Next up in the habit changes...food and drinks. I need to break my addictions to fast food, lattes, and expensive alcoholic beverages. 

Dress Up A Boring Outfit In 5 Seconds

I love wardrobe basics. Plain, solid colored t-shirts, sweaters, and even dresses. But sometimes plain is too plain. So I found a very simple accessory that can instantly dress up nearly any solid colored top or dress. It's a simple oversized silk flower in peach, with both a clip and a pin on the back. I bought it at H&M in downtown Chicago for just a couple dollars, and I have gotten more compliments on it than any other single item I wear in the past six months. Most people don't even realize until I tell them that it is not an original part of the clothing.

Check this out. A basic v-neck tee in an olive green from Gap. I have this shirt in multiple colors and I throw it on over jeans or shorts several times a week when I don't have anywhere special to go.

But then maybe I want to look a little nicer to go out for dinner with the family, but I don't feel like putting much thought into changing into a whole new outfit. So I grab the flower and pin it on. Instant update.

The peach color of this flower allows it to work with a wide variety of colors. I also have several very simple, inexpensive dresses that this works well with.  Here's one I bought for $15 at Old Navy that I wear with dark tights and boots...as soon as the weather gets a bit cooler than the 90 degrees it was here today. 

And then here's one more, a simple chocolate knit top from Ann Taylor LOFT that I wear with skirts, pants...lots of things. 

The simple thing is that if you were prone to craftiness, you could easily create such a wonderful accessory. I, unfortunately, am not so crafty. So I will continue to wait with baited breath until H&M decides to open one of its lovely stores in Houston. In the meantime, this method of dressing up basics works for me. 

Do you have any go-to accessories that you constantly get compliments on?

Ten Takeaways from Bloggy Bootcamp

I like lists. Have you noticed? My dad was an engineer, a  perfectionist, and a chronic list-maker. I especially like lists of ten. No, I'm not a fan of David Letterman, but there's something whole and complete about a list with ten items on it. Writing my lists of ten on Tuesdays (or Monday nights) just seems to work well for me. So this week I'm listing some of the most significant tips and observations I got from my day at Bloggy Bootcamp. 

Only photo of Bloggy Bootcamp I took. :(

1. If your goal is to get more comments on your blog post, publish it in the evening when people are generally more conversational. If you goal is strictly pageviews, publish it in the morning.  - Laurie Turk aka TipJunkie.

2. Telling people to bring business cards and exchange them with everyone at your table is not a great idea. People then hide behind their business cards a bit, using them as a crutch in place of the usual handshake, eye contact, smile and introduce yourself method. It is useless for me to sit down at a table and have ten people throw their business card at me all at once. Which leads me to the next point.

3. Bloggers with current or previous careers in the business sector have a serious advantage when it comes to monetizing. Especially those who have either owned a business or have direct sales experience. We aren't afraid to value ourselves and ask for what we're worth. We know how to make connections face to face. We aren't afraid to say no to "less than" opportunities.

4. Speaking of which, everyone has a price at which they will gladly "sell out". Have an idea what that price is and don't sell out for less.

5. When writing a blog post, ask yourself if it fits your audience and your goals. If it doesn't, don't write it. - Kerri Jackson Case aka @kerrijack

6. Every misspelled word reduces your perceived IQ by 25 points. Same goes for misused words and bad grammar. I never thought I'd be so grateful that my dad was a grammar nazi.

7. When pitching to work with a brand, don't forget to mention your offline assets. Such as, I'm very active in pretty big church. I'm a member of the PTA and my child's class photographer. I've been the team parent in our soccer league and I belong to multiple photography meetup groups. That kind of thing is often just as valuable as your online influence.  - Tiffany Romero aka @sitsgirls

8. You only have one life story, don't give it away for free, even for exposure. Think about what is unique to your story, what experience you have that someone else could benefit from. (Jessica Bern aka @bernthis) This made me think about my experience of being sued by my former employer a few weeks before the birth of my first baby. It's definitely a unique and highly dramatic story with a happy ending, but one I'm not sure how to tell just yet, especially without getting myself sued again.

9. Some people are much nicer in person than they may seem online. For me, Jessica Gottlieb is one of those. In the past her penchant for controversy has rubbed me the wrong way. But her measured response to the Corn Refiners Association fiasco had already started to change my mind about her, and hanging out with her at the hotel bar on Friday night was actually great.

10. Pam and Ellie are seriously awesome roommates, and I cannot wait for our trip to New Orleans for Mom 2.0 Summit. Give it up for fashion bloggers who know how to find great eats. Dinner at Z Tejas with Karen Bantuveris (aka @VSpotMom) on Friday, my first dinner at Chuy's on Saturday, and breakfast (gingerbread and blueberry pancakes!) at Kerbey Lane were incredible.

What key tip or observation have you learned from a conference recently? Please share in the comments!

Weekly Winner Photos for October 24

As I rest and recover from Bloggy Boot Camp in Austin, I thought I'd put up a few photos from last week for Sarcastic Mom's Weekly Winners link-up. These photos were taken last week. I would normally have a whole slew of photos from Bloggy Boot Camp, but when I got to the hotel I realized my camera battery was still at home in the charger. It was extremely painful, not having my camera this weekend. So instead you get photos taken last Sunday when my friends' band, Forlorn Hope, played at the Toyota Center in Houston for the Houston Aeros Hockey Game, to raise money for our orphan care ministry.

Forlorn Hope Singing Outside the Toyota Center

Love that 147 Million Orphans Shirt

Nathan Enjoying the Houston Aeros Ice Hockey Game

Forlorn Hope Performing During the Aeros Game

To view all my photos, including some cute ones of my kids in their Halloween costumes, go to my Flickr stream.

Bloggy Boot Camp in Austin Texas

Blog Conference Attendee

I am so excited to be headed to a small blogging conference in Austin this weekend called Bloggy Boot Camp. The conference is on a road tour of sorts, with Bloggy Boot Camps held in various cities around the country this year and last. The savvy bloggers behind Bloggy Boot Camp are the founders of an online community called The SITS Girls, which stands for The Secret Is In The Sauce. The topics from city to city are pretty similar, but the speaker lineups vary. So I'm looking forward to talking about personal branding and blog monetization, community building and online privacy with such well known bloggers as Laurie Turk and Jessica Gottlieb.

But in addition to all this blog business, I get to have a girls weekend with my Houston fashionista gal pals, Pam and Ellie. Not to mention all the other fabulous women I will meet, many of whom I already know from Twitter. There will be wine. There will be much laughter. There will be cameras a plenty.

I haven't decided yet whether or not to bring my laptop, but I'm leaning towards it. I got fabulous new business cards from Moo using various photos all centered around a water theme. I love that you can get a whole pack of cards each with a unique photo on them from Moo. People absolutely love my Moo minicards that advertise my photography business, but these are the first I've created specifically for my blog. I learned the hard way at Mom 2.0 Summit that blog business cards are a must for any blogging conference. My experience there is, of course, what has inspired me to want to attend Bloggy Boot Camp and other similar meetups. I met such amazingly talented women there. Much like Photocamp Houston did in 2008, Mom 2.0 Summit radically enhanced my Twitter experience. I'm sure Bloggy Boot Camp this weekend will be no different.

So I will have my bag packed and waiting on the curb Friday afternoon when Ellie swings by to pick me up for our Austin road trip. Woohoo!

Financial Peace Works for Me

This fall my husband I decided to sign up for a class offered at our church called Financial Peace University. I kind of already thought we had financial peace, since we have no consumer debt other than a small car loan, and we invest heavily in our retirement and kids' college education funds. But we have never lived on a budget and according to my husband, our spending (after retirement and education savings) was beginning to slightly exceed our income.  So our rainy day savings were starting to drop, and we weren't really fully tithing as we had in the past and intended to be. Mike, being the security obsessed guy he is, started to get anxious about the patterns. I really just wanted to sit through the class because I love personal finance and write about it here a fair amount.

Financial Peace U. is a nationally available class created and taught by Dave Ramsey in a small group setting with a class facilitator. Our particular class leader happens to be a financial planner who has been teaching the class at our church for years, and has tons of firsthand experience helping lots people get out from under their debt. At the beginning of the class we all wrote down our total consumer debt on a slip of paper and put it in a jar. Our class has somewhere around 30 people in it, and the total debt for the class was astronomical, averaging over 25K per person in the class. That kind of shocked me, but I guess it is consistent with what I've read or seen in TV reports. Still, we live in an extremely well educated, upper middle class suburb. I know, I know...that doesn't mean people are good with their money.

We are six weeks into the class and I have to say it is awesome.  The videos with Dave Ramsey are absolutely hilarious and packed with great information. We sat down for the first time and created a very detailed zero sum budget, allocating every single dollar we have to something. Mike's goal is to increase our emergency fund to a level he feels comfortable with. My goal is to have more money to give away freely to people that need it, like families wanting to adopt and charities helping the very poor. Having real goals that make me feel good is helping me curb my addiction to retail therapy and convenience dining...my two biggest money wasters. Yes, I would love a new Coach bag, and yes I can afford it, but it doesn't line up with my real priorities.

Financial peace is the goal of this class and besides the money benefit, it has done really good things for communication in our marriage. I feel like Mike and I are working as a team on this project and we are talking more than ever. Yes, sacrificing is hard but I think it will be worth it. So I highly recommend that you seek out a local Financial Peace University class (they are everywhere!) and sign up soon, especially if money causes you a lot of anxiety.

Anybody out there had success following Dave Ramsey's baby steps? I'd LOVE to hear your stories.

What Is The Katy ISD Bond Referendum All About?

Early voting begins today in Texas, and while there are many important elected positions to vote for, I believe the most important decision is to vote "For" the Katy bond referendum on the ballot.  Residents of Katy ISD will have the choice to vote "For" or "Against" a $459.7 million bond which is needed to construct several new schools, repair and renovate several others, and generally maintain the overall exceptional level of education in the district.

Katy ISD is known for being the best overall school district in the greater Houston metro area, and one of the best school districts in all of Texas. In fact, if not for a tiny reporting error on the number of graduates last year, Katy would have received the highest possibly rating of Exemplary. Katy right now has 50 schools...yes, that's right...50.  26 of them were rated Exemplary, and 24 were rated Recognized.  This is why Katy, TX was the number 2 fastest growing boomtown in the U.S. last year and why communities like Cinco Ranch continue to be the number one selling master planned community in the whole country.  Katy ISD is why people are moving into Katy at an astonishing rate, even in the midst of a huge recession. Enrollment has increased from 50,000 students to 60,000 in the past four years and it expected to keep escalating.

But this explosion of growth, which recently has been mostly in the southwestern quadrant of Katy ISD, is causing an overcrowding issue in many schools.  Nearly every school, even the newly built elementary and junior high schools, require the use of portable classrooms...trailers. My kids go to an already overcrowded elementary school, and I would rather they not have to go outside to trailers for class. Small class size is important to a quality education. The newly built Seven Lakes High School is massive and continuing to grow at an alarming pace. If the bond does not pass, programs will be cut.  So land has been acquired between Pine Mill Ranch and Cinco Ranch West for a new high school.  That land has been sitting there vacant with a big sign advertising a future Katy ISD high school ever since I moved in. So construction of that high school is planned in the next few years and will cost nearly $300 million.  I believe it is imperative that the school gets built, along with a new junior high and three new elementary schools planned. The money from the bond will accommodate 7,500 new students.

But the money is not just for new schools on the south side of Katy. It is also to improve and renovate six of the oldest schools, including Katy, Taylor, and Mayde Creek HS. It also DOES pay for more portable classrooms and more buses to send students to farther away schools, as so many people have suggested.  It funds major technology upgrades which are vital if our district is to remain elite and attract the attention of college recruiters and new families.

Half a billion dollars seems like a lot of money in the economy we live in. But the overall affect on our taxes will be very small.  If the bond passes, the tax rate will increase by $0.01 in 2011 and then $0.03 in 2012.  If your house is worth about 200K, your taxes will only go up by about $18. Isn't that worth it for the continuation of educational excellence and global market appeal in Katy? In fact, if you are over 65 your taxes won't change AT ALL.

Here's the key...the last bond in Katy to come up on a ballot barely passed...only 51% voted for it.  Because we are choosing a new governor for Texas, voter turnout is expected to be high. This bond NEEDS your vote FOR it. Early voting starts today...it's much easier to vote early when lines are short to non-existent.  I even took my toddler with me to vote and it was no problem.  Please also remember that if you normally vote straight down one ticket, you will have to additionally select your answer "For" or "Against" the bond...it is at the bottom of the ballot and is not included in the straight ticket slate.

Please don't skip this election. Let your voice be heard, and especially if your kids do or will attend Katy schools, vote "FOR" the bond.

Great Music, Ice Hockey, and Rescuing Orphans!

Several months ago our church's worship pastor, John Cordes, and his wife announced that they were planning to adopt. At the same time they decided to start a ministry at our church and a life group centered around orphan care, adoption and fostering. I jumped a the chance to join this group, and it's been great getting to know some new folks in our church with a similar passion. The ministry is called 1:17, and it will raise funds to do a whole lot of good.

One of the first fundraisers for 1:17 will be from a portion of ticket sales to this Sunday's Houston Aeros hockey game. Tickets are just $10, and if you call 713-361-7941 or email Lbacon@aeros.com to buy them, some of the money will go to 1:17. The game starts at 4:00 at the Toyota Center, and there's a big added bonus. Forlorn Hope, John's new band, will be performing before the game and at halftime. The have kind of an alternative rock sound and their songs express their passion for God's call to us to care for "the least of these".

Forlorn Hope is currently in studio recording a CD, and I was fortunate enough to do a fun photoshoot with the band. We wanted a bit of grime for the photos and location scouting in Katy revealed absolutely nothing grimy. Even historic Old Katy is exceedly green and pretty.  So we ventured a few minutes down the road to Rosenberg, where the signs of poverty were everywhere. Abandoned buildings, trash, barbed wire and graffiti out number the charming historic buildings by a long shot. I was struck by the huge contrast between ultra high income, perfectly manicured south Katy, where I live, and Rosenberg, a mere six or ten miles down one country road.

My awesome photographer friend, Brian Wagner, came along to help with the shoot. I kinda like the results. Some photos are already up on their Facebook fan page, and their website is under construction.

So anyway, if you're in Houston and looking for a fun family weekend activity that would support rescuing orphans, call that number and go see Forlorn Hope and some killer Houston Aeros ice hockey!

Tips For Traveling Alone

So for many of my readers, none of these tips will ever apply.  But if you're like me you may find yourself occasionally traveling to strange cities all by yourself. So here are a just a few things that really work for me when I'm traveling alone for my job.

Zipping through airport checkin and security lines is so much easier when you are only responsible for yourself. So pay close attention to your footwear so you can take your shoes off and put them back on quickly at the airport. Also avoid wearing a jacket if you can help it...if you need it, stuff it into your bag before you ever reach security. Don't be one of those people who forgets their little ziplock back with the liquids. Personally I always try to fly Southwest and check my bags, carrying zero liquids onto the plane. It actually does make life easier.

Don't forget your book or magazine for the plane. You may want to rely on our iPod or laptop but remember you can't turn those on until 30 minutes into the flight sometimes. Also pack some non-messy snacks, like granola bars or trail mix. Don't be that person that grabs a burger at McDonalds and brings it on the plane. I hate sitting next to people with smelly food.

Here's my most important tip: when I'm traveling alone, I always ask for two double beds in my room instead of one king.  Then I use one double to sleep in, and one double for piling up my stuff. I will create one pile of clothes I've already worn, and another spot for clothes I'll be wearing the next day.  I hate putting my suitcase on the floor. Hotel room floors are just gross. Oh and I always ask for a high floor in the hotel is a high-rise. In New Orleans last week I was on the 24th floor and had a spectacular view.

So those are just a few travel tips that work for me. I'd love to have you share other things you've discovered that work for you when traveling alone!

Water is Life, and a Child's Right

Last week I traveled to New Orleans to attend the annual WEFTEC conference for my job as a water and wastewater engineer. The conference is huge, about 20,000 people and nearly 1000 exhibitors. My company has a big 20 ft by 20 ft booth and we spend three solid days talking to people about our technology. As I mentioned in the previous post, I'm also very involved in the leadership of the association that puts on the conference, WEF. So that means added meetings and events such as the community service project we did on Saturday.

I've been in the water industry for 11 years now, and I have a great many friends who I only see once a year at this convention, including all the employees at my company. I used to be in sales so I got to know a ton of people that way, but now I'm behind the computer full time doing research, design and marketing work. So getting face time with all these people energizes me. The community service project, using my connections in the water industry to make a positive impact on the local neighborhood, that energized me even more.

But nothing this past week made me feel the way a single conversation with a complete stranger did.

Let me back up. I decided to try a marketing campaign via Twitter for my company. So I carefully tweeted and followed the many water organizations and companies tweeting about the conference. Ned Breslin, CEO of Water for People, an organization I have supported in the past, was tweeting a lot of relevant stuff. Water for People hosted their first accountability summit at the show, launching an awesome new tool for making water project monitoring public and online, in an attempt to hold all the various charities doing water  projects accountable. Too many well intentioned water projects fail and wells become unusable in less than a year.

One tweet caught my attention, because of a connection to the Together for Adoption Conference that also took place last weekend in Austin. I had followed all the tweets from that conference closely, wishing I could be there. So when I saw that someone from A Child's Right, a group I'd never heard of, was at WEFTEC, I asked to talk to him.  The same group had been mentioned by Esther Havens, an awesome humanitarian photographer whose work I follow closely.

So Aaron Walling, from A Child's Right, did come by my company's booth and I walked with him to a place where we could sit and really talk. He explained that his group focuses on putting water filtration systems into orphanages and hospitals and other places serving children in urban areas. I questioned why these water sources were not safe, and he explained how bad they really are. They are working in China, Nepal, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Tibet. They seem to be pretty well funded and efficient, serving hundreds of thousands of children in the three years they have existed.
a child's right and HOPE Enterprises from a child's right on Vimeo.

I explained my previous involvement with Water for People and Living Water International, as well as the heart for orphans that God has placed in me. He shared that he and his colleague are Christians and we had a long talk about water, orphans, adoption and how it seems the Lord is moving in the hearts of Christ-followers in our country.  To connect with someone who shares my real passion, with whom I am bonded in Christ, was by far the most energizing part of the entire week. It has never happened before in the 11 years I have been coming to this conference. I always pray and ask Jesus to go with me and before me, but I often feel like my faith is set aside in some ways for that week. This week He led me to Aaron, and our conversation sustained me in ways I can't even explain. This is what it means to be united in Christ and living in grace.

Giving Back to the Community in Katrina Ravaged New Orleans

I'm fortunate to be a part of a really great non-profit educational organization called the Water Environment Federation. Three years ago the WEF Student and Young Professionals committee decided to start a community service project in conjunction with our annual convention, WEFTEC. This year our service project was incredible, taking place in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, a low income neighborhood that was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. We teamed up with a local group called Global Green to construct a bioswale, which helps abate flood waters with efficient drainage at the same time creating a community garden. Here's the local CBS news covering our event with my good friends, Haley and Bob.

Laying pipe in the bioswale ditch.

It was back breaking work for the 75 volunteers who showed up to dig and move gravel and plant for eight hours straight. But the end result was gorgeous, and a beautiful spot amidst an ugly community.

My friend Dan Dair digging the bioswale.

Concurrently we held a water carnival, with about a 16 booths from sponsoring companies hosting hands on water related educational activities. Girl scouts, boy scouts, Brownie troops and just kids from the hood came by to pick up a passport, go through the activities and receive a pin.  The most profound activity from my point of view was a race up the grass levee with buckets full of water, which demonstrated what it is like for people in the third world who have to walk miles to retrieve their daily supply of drinking and washing water.

Girl scouts learning about transporting water.

I have never been so proud to be a part of a community of water engineers as I was last Saturday during the Bioswales in the Bayou project. Next year's tentative plans have already begun, which may involve transforming an abandoned bus depot in South Central Los Angeles to a natural wetlands community park. Looking forward to being there!

Here's a slideshow of lots of photos from the event.