IYP 12: The Sock Hop! gallery of awesomeness!!!

[stargardener]

This swap proves you don't have to spend a lot to give a lot! 
Welcome to the Dave Ramsey Swap!
Thanks to donniesgirl for swapping with me and making this a really fun experience. 
In case you have never heard of Dave Ramsey he is a financial adviser who has a radio and tv show and he is horribly addicting.  He says his advice is the stuff your Grandma would tell you, like don't spend more than you have.  Sounds simple, but it is really hard!  Like when you (I) have been living for 30 year going to the mall as I saw fit not really thinking about what was or wasn't in my wallet.
So here I am trying to enjoy my life and still kick ol' Sally Mae out of my house, why is education so expensive???!!

donniesgirl sent me a copy of Financial Peace University.  That is Dave's 12 week(?) course on how to work the debt free goal thing and tell your money what to do. 
I can't wait to listen to it!!  Thanks.

She sent address labels!  I love these!!!  they say "The Donley Family"  I love refering to my family as a family as much as I can!  The also say my address and I didn't want to just put that out there, if you want to stalk me you are going to have to work a little harder than that!  LOL!!!  And they say a little Dave Ramsey-ism at the bottom of each label!  how funny

Here are the pictures...finally!

recipes...Keeping your food budget down is one way I control my total budget...sometimes it sucks But I also love the challenge of cheap good meals.


crafts...This is actually a sore spot in my house...my dh grew up in a very generous home.  $$$ defined Christmas and birthdays, gift cards are a staple there.YUCK!  As a crafter this is anti-me.  They are very generous and I love my in-laws.  BUT my hubby still is stuck with this mind set...this has been very challenging for him.  Christmas we actually had an argument about giving crafts.  I have gotten him to compromise a little...crafts for recurring gifts(birthdays and christmas and mother's/father's day) and "once in a lifetime" gets a store bought gift/crafted combo (showers, weddings, graduations).

These books are crazy cool and full of yummy food and crafts!  I can't wait to get started


This picture is of the sides.  I just wanted you to see the work donniesgirl put into this short of taking pictures of each of the pages! 


sandwich wraps! 
I am going on a picnic on Monday!!!  I can't wait to use these!!!!
The brown one says, "The average millionare can't tell you who was voted off the island last night."  sing it sister! I need to cut my dependence on TV!  I watch way too much...even though we only have the basic networks...I am a TV junkie!
The paisley one says, "It's not how much we have but how much we enjoy, that makes happiness."


pot holder and iron on
The pot holder says
Broke is normal.
Why be normal?
Be weird!
and the iron on says "I see debt people" LOL!!!
This is a Dave Ramsey classic saying!  When I tell people that I don't use or even have a credit card any more...you hear "that's weird!" a lot.

Thanks donniesgirl!!!
really I am so anxious about the gifts I sent!  I love every one thing more and more!  You ROCK!!!
I am sorry about the super long post.  Just skip all the personal stuff and look at the cute things thats fine with me.  I  did feel like everthing needed a little explanation because we did a silly swap theme that others may not get just looking at.
Thanks for your patience!
OH and if you are inspired...read The Total Money Makeover!  Its like drinking the kool-aid! 
peace
 

[RondaS]

great stuff!

stargardener - keep poking at your hubby with the craftiness gifts! Mine is like that too.

one year I made a queen size afghan for every one of my sisters, my brothers, his sisters and his brothers - he looked at me and said "that's nice honey" as I am working away telling him who gets which, matching thier decore and etc. -- then he promptly went out and bought every one of them something from the store the day before we left to go visit for the holidays - which really was irksome, so I didn't craft for any of his relatives again after that...

until this year he actually asked me to give him some crafted things to give to his siblings for holiday gifts! blew me away!

Ronda
Blessings!

[pseudo_pix]

UUUUUH! there should be package for me when I get home ^^ I also hope you get yours soon, Ronda!

I just got home from Berlin and I'm currently in Kolding (where my school is) and I wont be home to see before some times tomorrow. GAH!

You have all gotten SO wonderful stuff while I was away.

luv, pseudo

[RondaS]

I hope you had a great trip pseudo_pix - and didn't spend the WHOLE time studying!

Ronda
Blessings!

[goldfishpollywog]

Love the package!  Anything fun that encourages us to be responsible with our finances is great!

[donniesgirl]

So glad you liked it stargardener!  

And our deal was we could only spend a max of $5 making all of our crafts because thriftiness is another theme of Dave Ramsey.  I spent about $3 on the glass frost stuff I crafted for stargardener's daughter.  Ramsey says to teach kids to split money they earn into three categories: saving, spending, and giving.  So I did little jars along those lines that will show how much money she is saving along the way.    When she is old enough to understand.

When people are broke and Ramsey is encouraging them to tighten their budget, he always says "Christmas is a craft" so they're not going out & charging Christmas on a credit card and trying to pay it off the next several months.  And to tighten the budget, he is always saying "beans & rice, rice & beans...otherwise you're going to be eating Alpo in your retirement years!"

Anyway, Dave Ramsey has a free podcast, too, if anyone is interested.  He really is quite addictive to listen to and after a while, you'll find yourself wanting to kick yourself for the dumb financial decisions you've made.  And we've all made them, including me the CPA.   Like the concept of keeping a mortgage for the tax deduction, or as Ramsey says, paying your bank $10k to avoid sending the government $2500.     Plus you just learn a lot.

Can't wait to get your package, stargardener!  

[deadbathducky]

oooohhhh all these packages are sooo cool!ive got swap anziety bad now. mine for my partners arent half as good as these

[funthreads]

Holy cow! I haven't checked in for a few days and the gallery has gotten so many fantastic packages!!!

[lindyv321]

WOW!!!! What great packages!  Now I am thinking that my package wasn't enough for Princesspimp!!!  I love all the shirts, the soaps, the quilts, well just everything!

[musiclady]

OK, folks, here's most of my goodies from princessblueberry!  I say most because my daughter did run off with a couple of things - I think I got everything back except for a really cute cupcake embroidery (she kept saying "cupcake" over and over in a cute 18 month old voice . . . I had to let her keep it for a while!)

first up: cloth pads and some cool shiny origami paper - the cloth pads are what I was "supposed" to get - everything else was a HUGE surprise!!


Next: some really beautiful beaded necklaces and a cool bracelet, all with a tree/leaf kind of theme:


My favorite is the one with the whitish beads (ironically, it's the hardest to see in the photos!)

Some AWESOME scrabble tile pendants!!:


Snazzy fabrics - I think these will find a new life as a skirt or two for me.  I never get to make things for myself, so thanks princessblueberry for giving me some inspiration!:


And last, but not least, a tree fabric that princessblueberry dyed herself!  Wow, you are talented, this is BEAUTIFUL!!!  I think it will find new life as a tote or something that will show off the awesomeness of the fabric:


THANK YOU PRINCESSBLUEBERRY!!!