Personal Hygiene

Some days I get home from a refreshing afternoon at Super Cuts, smile at the back of my head and think, "Hmm... we should really increase our personal hygiene budget". 

30 Day Picture Challenge - Day 24: Save Uncle Sam

Day 24: A picture of something you wish you could change


Sorry to be so... honest. When I was in training to become a teller at a credit union during the summer after my freshman year in college I was told that, "People will talk about anything before they tell you about their finances." This story rang true as member after member sauntered up to my teller window to spill the beans on their latest one night stand, son's sticky divorce and infection under their big toe nail. Very rarely, however, would people actually want you to know the truth about their money. As an American, with pride on my sleeve at times, I have supported that level of privacy for far too long. It is easier to feel secure when you're the only one that knows the numbers. It is definitely important not to post your bank statement on your blog... so please don't do that... but I truly believe that this extreme level of privacy is often in place because it allows people to appear successful, no matter what is really happening down at the local bank. I am up here on my soap box to announce that I am willing to give it up. I am willing to do whatever needs to be done to fix this mess. You may not like the people in charge and you may not agree with the plans in place but nothing will ever work out without a little unity. I believe in the power of this nation and I remember what our country looked like on September 12, 2001. There are too many people in tents and too many empty houses for us to forget that it is up to us. We need to have faith in our leaders and we need to fortify our own foundations so that we have the strength to make the necessary sacrifices. America is a great nation. Don't dull the colors of the flag.


My brother Nick teaching a church lesson while away at boot camp. This picture was sent along with this message from the branch president's wife:

Brother & Sister Taufer,
I took some pictures of Nick teaching priesthood today. He came to church with a happy smile on his face, brought four nonmembers, one less-active and LOVED all the emails and the news about BYU. We printed the brackets for everyone and there was much joy. Enjoy the pics.

Pie Charts

Just wanted to let you know that the pie charts are working. We were able to anticipate where our unexpected costs normally occurred (which was my biggest concern) and have come out pretty well so far. As of week two we have had $384 in unexpected costs - which we budgetted in - and are only $33 over budget! It is nice to know this so early on in the month because now I know how to structure our spending these next two weeks and can anticipate where it will be easiest to cut the $33 from. It is also a relief because week 2 is always our most expensive week of every month! Hooray for the Murdock's Money Tree! Still alive!

Getting Organized

I don't know what happened there friends! I loved looking at everyone else's blogs for like 6 months but didn't really have much to say here... Well - the times have changed. As an update, Tank was graciously taken in by my mother-in-law and family and is so happy running around their California ranch all day! Unfortunately he recently got a little bit too liberal with his boundaries and wound up with an appointment to get his you-know-whats removed... I guess we won't be having any baby Tanks in the future! He will be back with us as soon as our contract is up at this apartment and we move somewhere that allows dogs. I miss him dearly but I am so happy that he is so loved over in Porterville. Michael... still feels like he has lost his right arm... but this too shall pass :-)

As for life in general I am on an organization overhaul kick. First I spent a couple of hours at the beginning of the week fixing up our budget so that it is back in working order. I don't know if it will work because we've never done anything like this before but let me give you a little overview of my vision. I first looked at our online banking system to see what categories they naturally give us with their budgeting tool. I then looked through our recent months' expenses and figured out what was practical and doable for each category, making sub-lists of what actually fell into each category. This allowed me to pull up Excel and make a little pie chart of my own that has all of our ideal spending amounts by category. I was so excited! Until I realized that once a month is over there is nothing you can do to improve or stay within your budget... So I got a little bit more detailed and made little pie charts for our ideal spending each week. Now the real excitement! Sure it took me a couple of hours but we are all about simple here in the Murdock house and I think that printing off one pie chart a week and comparing it to our ideal chart shouldn't be too hard! And this will give us room to fix things before the end of the month comes! Is it going to work?? I seriously have no idea - but I see potential. I was so jazzed, in fact, that this led me to another planning sesh to organize a menu for the next two weeks, go spend my allotted grocery money and prepare homemade breakfast and lunch foods that we can grab on the go! For all of you wonderful homemakers that are waiting for the climax... you missed it. That was all. I'm SO EXCITED!