this wasn't in the plan |but life is still pretty good

First off, I wanted to acknowledge Kacie's weekly challenge in her Better Budget Series. This week's challenge was all about reducing fixed expenses. Our car insurance expires in a few weeks, so this week I've been getting quotes from other companies and now we're playing phone tag with our agent. We'll definitely be getting cheaper insurance, but we have yet to figure out if our own company will beat what we've found elsewhere.

This week, my recipe for Taco Soup was a part of the Make it From Scratch Carnival (hosted this week at To Motherhood And Beyond) as were these cool entries:

• Funny About Money has a great way to make your own magnetic notepads
• Green Style Mom has a great idea for travel felt boards that will keep kids busy in the car and save you lots of money.

And from elsewhere in the blogosphere:

• Suburban Wife's Daily Dollar Diary tells a bit about how she teaches her children about saving but mainly how her daughter has benefited. It's a pretty unique method so be sure to check it out. You'll probably want to click on the links within her post that go to earlier posts on the topic.
• If you aren't familiar with the concept of "snowflaking" (and even if you are) this post from I've Paid for This Twice Already is a must-read.
• Melissa has a interesting post on the proposed economic stimulus package over at A Penny Closer. I think we'd save ours, but having that extra money would probably make us more likely to say, go out to dinner. So would that count as spending it?

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Have a wonderful weekend!