The cause of all my commotion

I said I'd share what has been causing all the upheaval in the OnOurWay household and here he is...





Owen Joseph
7/20/10


We had an "interesting" delivery and first few weeks home but it looks like everyone is on the mend. I can't wait till things can get back to their new normal. I've officially quit my job and am ready to do the whole stay at home Mom thing for a few years. I'm excited to start the whole new Journey we're about to embark on, and of course you'll be getting updates. We'll still be couponing, saving money as we can at home, but also hopefully adding a whole new green lifestyle to our way of life. As always it's going to be an interesting ride.

More Big News

So Saturday I posted the big news about Owen and a promise that my posting would get better, but didn’t explain how/why that would happen. Well folks there are big changes coming for OnOurWay and the Harrison household. Yes, we’ve having a baby but there is also so much more that is going to happen.

July 1st will be my last day of work with my current company. Matt and I have worked really hard to lower our expenses, pay off debt and save up a nice emergency fund. Since January we’ve been paying all our bills with Matt’s income and saving mine (with a few exceptions). This has allowed us to also save up enough money that we plan to purchase a new “to us” vehicle in the next few months. For some odd reason GM did not design the two door Cavalier to be car seat friendly.

Our plan is for me to do the whole stay at home Mom thing for at least a few years (one minimum), but of course I’ll always be on the look out for ways to save/make money. I have quite a list started already.

But like I said I also have some ideas on how to improve OnOurWay. Of course the first few months after Owen is born will be hectic but once we get things settled down I plan to spend more time enhancing things around here. There are quite a few things I’ve wanted to do for a while but with working 45+ hours I just haven’t had time…. Ok ok I’ll be honest, what time I have had has been spent making/reading/preparing for a baby.

I do however plan to start adding many more reviews of not only local areas but lots of product reviews as well. I want to add more book reviews, ways for you earn money, and I’m expecting a lot more reader participation from you guys.

We’ll also get ourselves back on a blogging schedule (to be announced) and I’m willing to consider any ideas for items you guys would like to see on the blog. Feel free to send them my way through email. And remember these things won’t happen all at once but there will be steady improvement.

Where have I been?

So I’m not going to lie or make up excuses of why I haven’t posted. All I can say is I’ve had baby brain – which is all I’ve thought about the past few weeks are babies – well mainly my baby, but I promise I’ll get better.

In the last month Matt and I found out we’re having a boy and have even picked a name; Owen Joseph, and no we will NOT be calling him OJ. Anyway, since learning about little Owen all I can think about are baby socks, baby blankets, baby toys, the list goes on and on.

I actually have about 5/6 post hand written out where all I need to do is type them up, but alas rather than doing that I’ve spent my evenings crocheting baby Owen a hat and matching blanket.

Yet, I do promise to stop researching the best highchairs and safest cribs soon so I can get back to blogging. I’d do it now but I really need to finish reading every article/review on cloth diapers ever written first.

I've jumped on the band wagon

So it's official I'm followed lead and created a facebook fan page.

Right now the page is in the early stages of development but head on over and add us to your pages if you'd like. I hope to start adding new and different material to the fan page and of course I'll use it to let you know when there is an update online as well. I also hope to get some discussion threads going in the future for people to weigh in on.

If you see anything you'd like me to add to the page just let me know. I'm open to suggestions.


You can find OnOurWay on Facebook by clicking HERE

Military coupon reminder

Just a quick reminder to send out your expired coupons.

This month I'm sending mine to

Ramstein, Germany

Ramstein Air Base
Attn: Family Services
Bldg. 1200, Flugplatz Ramstein
APO AE 09094 Germany

Make it easy on yourself and just copy address


Have no idea what I'm talking about? You can read up on the military coupon program in my Original post here

Busy weekend

So Matt and I had a really busy weekend. We still have a few small projects to complete on the house and took the weekend to cross one off the list.

When we moved into our home they had carpet in the kitchen which smelled like grease badly.
Here are the kitchen floors after we riped up the carpet.




And here is the kitchen after we laid down the new tile.



We went with just a simple peal and stick. We really want to redo the kitchen in the next few years so we didn't see the point in paying a ton of money for real tile. I picked up these tiles on sale for $.49 a piece at Menards a few weeks ago so they were well within our budget. They aren't as thick as I would like but they are working fine and I think the floor looks really good.

We've Moved!

So this weekend Matt and I moved into our new house.
I wanted to put up a few pictures of our move and give some moving tips for everyone out there.
We all know it is important to plan ahead and do the best you can to make your move as easy as possible so follow along with my tips to a successful move.


First make sure to keep your new place as clean as possible when moving in. You don't want trash laying around while you are trying to set up spaces. Never just throw things around - you have to pick up after yourself. As you can see from the picture below Matt and I kept everything spotless during our move. It was very helpful and I know I won't be spending the next week picking up trash.



Just like above never just leave trash and other things in odd places. If you have a shelf you know you'll be using for bathroom supplies make sure to put them in immediately. Creating a mess in a location will only make unpacking that much harder. Things like Glass Cleaner, work gloves and appliance owner manuals should always be put in their proper places. Also make sure to eat healthy while you are moving. No McDonalds or other fast food restaurants, it will only create more clean up later.


I always make sure to unpack and decorate a room right away. The last thing you want is to be living in a room that isn't fully decorated, especially a master bedroom. It's important to get those things up right away.




Organization is very important, again if you have items to put in a room make sure to put them away immediately. What ever you do don't just take a tub of items and throw them in a room. This will undoubtedly cause you to rifle through the box later for those important items like a toothbrush or shampoo.


And lastly as you'll see below, make sure to set up the important spaces first. Things you will most need; bathrooms or a kitchen would make the most sense. Never waste time on your first day by setting up an office to make sure the internet works. Also what ever you do - DO NOT plug in and turn on a TV it will only halter your speed. Matt and I wait until we are fully moved in before becoming distracted by these electronics.



As you can see Matt and I followed all the following tips which is why we had a smooth and stress free move. Our house is fully decorated, things are put in their places, and we're ready to welcome guests. It also means we won't still be unpacking for years to come... or does it.



Post Translation: In reality our house is a mess, stuff is everywhere, I think we've run of out garbage bags for all the trash, and I can't see the kitchen counters. I'll be unpacking boxes for at least the next five years and the cats are scared to death of the hardwood floors.
Yet, we are here so mission accomplished right?

I think I've finally returned...

Where oh where have I been?
I honestly wish I knew – I didn’t even realize it had been so long until Matt made a comment to me the other day. What can I say – life got in the way. Being sick for a few days really set me behind and I’ve been struggling to catch back up. I also woke up this morning not feeling 100% again and have only gotten worse as the day goes on. I really cannot afford to get sick again.

I think I just need to get back in my routine. I haven’t even opened my google reader since my last post and I had over a 1000 post waiting for me when I looked tonight. I’m sure I missed out on some good deals along the way.

The good news is Matt and I are officially moving into our new house this Friday. I am so excited to share before and after pictures with you. I’m also getting excited to start decorating for Christmas and get started on some of those projects I’ve been waiting to try.

Plus I’ve talked most of the families into another no gift Christmas this year so I need to get gift crafting. I’ve got some tasty treats planned – I’ll make sure share them with you as well. I also did lots of reading while I was laid up on the couch so expect some reviews soon.

Quick Update

I’m sorry my posting lately has been erratic at best, I’m trying out the posting every other day model which was going well until this weekend. Within the last week I’ve been exposed to strep throat, bronchitis, influenza A and mersa. By Friday I was feeling fine and thought I had made it through without catching anything – then I woke up Saturday. I wasn’t feeling good but not horrible either, fast forward to Sunday when I spent all day with body aches, scratchy throat, a headache and runny nose.

I think I’m starting to feel better but I’m still exhausted and my nose isn’t fairing well. I took the weekend off from working on our new house and won’t be over there tonight either. Here’s hoping I’m back in shape by Thursday so I can finish up some stuff. We are so close to moving in, just need to sand the floors and I can’t wait to share pictures with you.

Love! This Site Award Nomination

OnOurWay has been nominated at DivineCaroline.com for a Love! This Site Award.

I'm not sure when the voting period ends but it would be an honor if you could stop by and give OnOurWay your vote - You can find us under the "Careers and Money" category or just follow This Link.

You do have to register but I promise it's easy to do and it looks like you can vote for more than one site in each category. I've already found two other sites I want to start reading in the future just from browsing the nominees.

House Projects

It is official – our house is now on the market. We’ve already had one couple call and ask information about it but they haven’t scheduled a viewing yet so we’re just crossing our fingers at this point.

We did a few things to finish the house up before listing it and I promised pictures so here they are….

We painted our spare room (innuendo). I love this color so much I think we'll use it in one of our rooms at the new house.


Our bedroom went from white to a basic tan color. Not my favorite but it gets the job done.


And lastly our kitchen received a new floor. We were up till almost 1 am putting the peel and stick tiles down, but I think the end result is great.


We also gave our carpets a nice shampoo and touched up ALL the trim in the house.

Now that our current home is complete we are focusing on our new home. There is still so much to do before we can move in, but I’ll give you picture updates as I get them.

It's Football Season Again

The leaves are starting to change and the weather is starting to get colder. For some people this time of the year is known only as fall – for those not so lucky we know it as football season.

When I first met Matt I realized he watched a few football games here or there yet it was nothing extravagant, but the longer we’ve been together things have started to change. More and more football has slowly seeped into our lives. It creeps up on you, one game here another there and before you know it you’ve been sucked into the life of a football wife. At this point I’m starting to think he’s one game away from breaking out the body paint and really showing some team spirit.
Let me explain what football season means for me.

Lets say for example the Lions (our state team) play a game on Saturday. We will watch said game and the ongoing commentary live, that’s all find and dandy. Sometimes I ask questions like, “How does number 20’s Mom feel about his latest drug charge,” but for the most part, I consider football to be one big soap opera with too many characters.

I can handle the original Saturday games, the really scary part comes on Sunday, when we will undoubtedly watch the game replay with even more commentary. I swear to you sometimes the Sunday commentators make remarks about Saturday’s commentating. Then if we're really lucky we get to view the game highlights on the evening news.

Whose bright idea was it to replay old games, especially those preceding 1995? Did they not realize what they were doing to wives everywhere?

I see two big problems with this football issue. First we’re watching The Lions, the team that went 0-16 last season. I mean I get the whole stand by your team and all that jazz, but the optimism every season is delusional.

2nd and maybe the most obvious we have already watched this game as in I know the score and all the good plays. I keep trying to explain to Matt that football reruns are not like extended version DVDs. You don’t watch the original in theaters and then see bonus footage later. We saw all there was to see the first time.

I continue to promise Matt the score didn’t change over night, but alas we watch again – just in case.

Why move....

After my post on how we purchased a new home I received a concerned email that Matt and I were not making the best financial decision by purchasing a second home right now. I want to promise everyone Matt and I did not enter into this decision lightly – we discussed it and ran numbers for months – seriously. We also looked at homes for over seven months before finding the place for us. It has the right qualities, the right location and of course the right price, but there are other perks as well.

Less gun confusion
Some of the reasons we decided it was time to move were financial and some where not. In my last post about the issue I said our new place was in a much better neighborhood and I wasn’t exaggerating about the gun shots. This summer we had three shootings within a two mile radius of our home. The convenience store is robbed once a month on average – not kidding; it’s time for us to get out.

There are also financial things to consider. While we did basically drain our “dream/retirement” savings account (or will after updates) I’m ok with it because one of the first things we said we wanted to do with that money was to purchase a new “forever” home, which now we’ve done.

Great Prices
Yeah, I’ll admit I wish we would have had a bigger down payment saved but the house was a serious steal. We purchased our new home for about $40K less than all the similar homes in the area and in total it is only $20K more than our current home. I’ll pay $20K more to avoid the gun fire. Even with this new purchase we can still make all of our bills on one income (after we sell our current home). Until we sell our house we’ll continue to pay all our bills with Matt’s income but rather than put my entire pay check into savings $600 will come out to make our current house payment.

Good Mortgage News
Since our new home is the perfect home for us and we plan to be there for a quite a while I’m excited to start working on paying off the mortgage and our student loans early, they are the only debts we have left. (I’m thinking some big progress on this in 2010).

2009 – $12K savings goal
One thing we have had to face is the fact we are not going to make our $12,500 savings goal for 2009. We’ve put the money into our down payment, closing cost and updates to both homes.

I thought I’d be more upset about missing this goal but really I’m ok with it. I’m sure when the year is over we’ll still have saved way more than we would have had with no goal this year at all. We still have a great car and emergency fund that’s growing every day – and we have no plans to touch any of that money.

I think in 2010 we’ll try to save $10,000, not because I don’t think we can do $12,000 but because $10 in ’10 has such a nice ring to it… yes I’m very OCD.

Timing
And lastly we also considered the timing – not just for the market conditions but also our situation. Matt and I would like to have children in the next year and I figure it’s best to take the plunge of buying and selling a home while we’re both working full time than having to worry about it when we might be in a more difficult financial position.

Ok – this is turning into a long post but I wanted to just let everyone see that we really did put a lot of thought into this decision and this is just a small sampling of what we considered when deciding to buy – now you see why it took so long.

And I have some big plans for this house – all of which you’ll be along for the ride for, but those are quite a while in the future.

Bloggy Break Notice

I have to admit defeat for the next few days. I've come to the realization that I can't work 45+ hours a week, complete remodel projects on TWO houses, and run this blog to it's fullest while maintaining the ability to eat and sleep.

I do have a few post written that I want to share but please just realize there may be a day in between post. I promise it's not a permanent thing - we should be officially listing our house this Thursday which will help with everything a little.

I'll also be sharing some pictures of our projects soon as well. Stay tuned.

Who doesn't love a good deal?

Labor day weekend is a huge yard sale weekend. For some places (like Michigan) this weekend marks your last chance at decent weather to even have a sale. Here in the big mitten it is suppose to be in the 70's for the next four days so after work this afternoon Matt and I plan to stop by a few select sales. I can't wait to see what we find.

If you are planning on doing some of your own sale hosting this weekend stop by Money Saving Mom to read her Tips for a Successful garage sale

Our New House

Right before we left for Veags I left a post stating we closed on our new home. I mentioned a few times on the blog that we were looking but hadn’t talked much about it. Basically I didn’t want to jinx anything but since it’s 100% ours now I feel safe showing pictures.

So here it is …



This is also the reason I’ve been really busy, Matt and I are dividing our time between both working full time, fixing up our current home so we can put it on the market and get our new home finished so we can move in at some point.

We’ve been trying to take a few before, during, and after pictures as we work – so I’ll try and post some for you when I can.

We really need to try and get a decent price for our current home, even in this market. Our new home is just a little smaller than our current one but is in a much better neighborhood which will provide us with a better long term living option. I’m so ready live in a home where I don’t have to wonder if that loud noise was fireworks or gun shots.

One exciting week...

Remember last week when I said was having an “exciting” week?

This is part of the reason why.



Last Thursday while driving home from work Matt and I were rear ended. We were stopped waiting for a car to turn when a driver behind us decided she couldn’t wait and while changing lanes took out us and the car in the other lane. From the looks of it she was going about 25 to 30 and never put on her brakes. Thankfully she only side swiped us otherwise I’m sure the damage would have been much worse.

Since Matt and I only have PLPD cover we are only entitled to $500 from the other driver's insurance which won’t cover the damage. At first I wanted to pay the money to have it fixed but now that I’m calmer I think we’ll just realize we own a 12 year old car – now complete with a dent.

I do need to at least get a new light cover. Anyone know a place where I can find a cheap one?

Home in body only

We have physically returned from our vacation but I’m not mentally back in the swing of things quite yet.

I had really big plans for things I wanted to get completed while in Vegas including reading two books, a dozen or so articles, and a site re-design layout… unfortunately, I was only able to finish one book. Who knew there would be so much to do in Vegas??

So please bear with me while I get back in the groove of things.

On Our Way …. To Vegas

So it is official we signed our final paperwork on our new house today! It’s an exciting and scary time, exciting because we finally have our long term home and scary because we now own two houses. Thankfully we don’t really have time to worry too much about it since we’re headed to Las Vegas today.

I do have a few updates ready to post next week but for the most part there won’t be too much going on around here. I'm hoping I'll be able to check my email a few times but don't plan on keeping up with anything else. I do plan to return next weekend and will hopefully be able to get a few good finds on vacation that I’ll be able to share.

Until then I hope everyone has a great weekend and next week.

Looking for Guest bloggers

Matt and I will be out of town the week of August 8th and pretty busy during the month of August so I'm looking for a few people to do some guest posting.

I'll consider new or previously published material as long as it "fits" with the OnOurWay theme (green living, saving money etc).

If you'd like to have something published email me at meg@onourwayonline.com


Thanks