Happy Holidays

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Welcome! I'm Lauren Maruki. Life has a way of throwing unusual situations my way. Join my husband and I as we work through infertility, adoption, decreasing debt and living, gluten free. I will sprinkle in some traveling too! Feel free to laugh, cry and agree to disagree!

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First Adoption Fundraiser!

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I am so excited!  Hubby's cousin and wife brought a new home and they wanted to furnish the home with new items. They are selling nearly everything and Hubby and I get to keep all the proceeds! Hubby and I were over the moon when his cousin suggested giving us all the proceeds back in early June. We were beyond thrilled because we are in desperate need to raise funds to adopt. Once we mentioned it to a few other people, we started to get donations. People want us to sell their items and keep the money. How wonderful is that? We were initially aiming to receive around $500 from the sales, but my cousin-in-love said that we were aiming way too low. She estimates $1500! Well an accountant can go toe to toe with a lawyer, but this is a case close matter. I rather take the $1500 estimate. So wish us luck as we sell all that we can on Saturday, July 16th! We will be one step closer to our first down payment for our adoption!
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Eyes on the Prize

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#29 Wear Contacts at Least 50% of the Time Anyone that knows me knows that I wear glasses all the time. I got my first pair of glasses around the age 5. I started off wearing them to read, then during the day and now I can't see without them. To prevent hurting myself in the blurry world around me, I wore glasses everyday. I had to suffer with every nickname and tease about glasses. Bring them on because I've heard them all. Around 1998, in high school, I received my first pair of contacts. They were thick and I felt them every-single-time-I-blinked! I just worn them to hang out with friends but my BFF kindly told me that I'm walking about with my eyes wide open like a deer in headlights. Those contacts were tossed. Fast forward to 2002, I got another few pairs with only the right eye (worse eye) being slightly thick. But they were expensive. Glasses took center stage again and I began to buy two or three funky pairs at a time. It was fun changing them out with my out...
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Budget Tip for January

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Life gets busy for everyone after Halloween. There are so many social gatherings, gifts, and activities. To keep our budget intact during the last few months of the year, we estimate how much we might spend. This lengthy task happens in January and since I did it for a customer, I can show you. First Step - Total up the number of people you gift. We shop for 10-12 people and 2 Secret Santa. That is 12-14 gifts. We can sometimes trim it down if the gifts are for couples rather than individuals, but we at least know the max. Step Two - Calculate the total amount you want to spend on each person or total for all gifts. Our amount is pretty steady every year. Step Three  - Total the number of events, luncheons, dinners and parties that you will attend in 2017. We usually do two dinner parties each year. We then attach a max amount of money we want to spend at these events. Step Four - Total and divide. Add all the amounts and divide by 12 months. We save a small amount each ...
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