Simply Living...

So, I know one of my recent posts was about living a simpler life.

I'm about to take it to a whole new level.  I mean starting from scratch...

Many of you know me from the college days, and I will admit I was high maintenance.  That might even be putting it nicely.  I don't know if I didn't realize it at the time or if I was just okay with it because I had a standard of life that I wanted.

Enter the real world, a mortgage, jobs, cars, kids etc. Not only did I realize how I was living wasn't making me feel better it has actually done the opposite.  A while back we did Dave Ramsey...twice.  We follow some of his stuff still, but really have lost sight of what we were initially going after.

Four years and two kids later, we've done a lot of reflecting, talking, praying and now taking action.  As most of you know, our house is on the market, today was the last day of 'for sale by owner,' tomorrow it's going to an agent.  We've been talking with him throughout the whole process and we've finally decided after a lot of talks that its time to take the plunge.  Maybe we were just taking our time with the listing self consciously because we weren't sure if it was the right thing, now we are fired up and ready for the big leap.  We are crossing our fingers it goes FAST!

I know the big question everyone has for us..."Where are you going."  Right now, honestly, we have no idea.  And it doesn't really bother us either.  We have a lot of things we want to accomplish in a short amount of time.  We've talked about the idea of moving South (as in southern states, not southern Iowa.)  It's always been a dream to live down South and we aren't ruling it out, just adding it to the bottom of list for now. Lucky for us, Dan loves his job and team here but if he did decide to go with another team, we do know his company has locations in Georgia and Alabama (two of our top choices!)

Our list is long, first and foremost, concurring those pesky student loans (AND FAST.) Second, we've always talked about building...but doing it DEBT FREE.  Building has turned in to me wanting an acreage, where I can work the land, have some pets, maybe some big kids toys ;) and be out of the suburbs. I know some of you are re-reading that saying, "is this the same girl?"  Yes, still me, I still like cute clothes and all things girlie.  But, I've also seen how peaceful a simple life can be.

So, if you are curious about what things are going to be happening with us you will have to keep up with the blog.  We won't be posting much on FB about our new journey and the changes we're making, but I'll try to update the blog with all the changes: budgeting like crazy, everything from scratch, going green, simplifying the closet, decluttering, and decorating our new place. This is the short list.  We are so excited to be stepping closer to our dream life!

This is going to be a long, exciting journey and we are excited to see what God has in store for it all.

Are you living simply? Have you given up the "American Dream," of material must haves and debt? I'd love your tips!

Love,
The Buchholz's

4th of July

Hard to believe it is already July.  This year is going so quickly!  Looking in shop windows and seeing Halloween stuff already out.  I told Kypton that pumpkins mean it is getting close to both his and Kenzlie's Birthday! Yikes--must get to planning!! :)

Fourth of July couldn't have been better.  We started the long weekend with a Birthday party for a friends little guy.  Then headed up to the Carnival area to walk around and of course eat!  Then on Friday headed to the parade and played at Great Grandmas for most of the day.  We all headed home for a nap before dinner and Fireworks with Grammie and Papa.  Saturday Kypton and I spent the morning with my Mom getting stuff for vacation.  Kypton spent the night at Grammie and Papa's while Kenzlie joined us for a dinner date.  She even got to sit in a high chair for the 1st time...she loved it!  Sunday we spent the day with my parents just hanging out and napping :)

We are gearing up for a busy few weeks ahead with family vacation around the corner as well as a business trip down south for a weekend.  We are dreaming big and working towards goals we have set.  We can't wait to share our journey!

As always here are some photos as of late--

Pool days

Finally crawling for real-- 8 Months and 4 days old :)

Brother wanted to say hi--

 8 Months old!

 Not wanting to nap-

 Dreaming again--Found this house while out browsing--fell in love with the outside!!

 Our motorcycle man-

 We are getting very daring starting to get up on our own

 Teddy l

 Carnival--He was really upset he was like an inch short of being able to ride rides, so he did the slide with Dad instead!

 Parade with Grammie--

 Her 1st parade and she sat so well!

 1st fireworks--we were really worried Kypton would want to leave after he heard how loud they were but they both did really good.  Kenzlie wasn't so sure at the beginning but she warmed up to them!

 1st time out to eat getting to sit in a high chair!

He loves doughnuts and he asked if I would take a picture so he could show his Dad.  He hates when Daddy has to go to work on Mondays after a long weekend!

We hope you all had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Love the Buchholz's

Rain, Rain and More Rain...

Wow, everyone in Iowa knows that we could use a few days without the rain.  We haven't been outside much but when we have Kypton is loving it.  We got a small pool for him last weekend...then the rain just wouldn't let up!

Let me back up a little here to recap the last couple weeks...

Kypton and I spend a lot of time playing as you can imagine, mornings are typically calm and relaxing before nap.  It's all about reading and the new favorite app of Elmo.  Mind you he will leave it running on the ipad and move on to something else.  However, if you choose to turn it off (because Elmo doesn't get annoying or anything) he runs right back over and says, "Elmo!" Then you have to turn it back on....

Afternoons are spent either walking or lately a lot of playing inside because the last two weeks have been sooo rainy.

Last Saturday my sister got married (Congrats to them!)  The rest of Saturday was cold, however, we went to Dan's brothers for a bonfire and Kypton stayed with my parents for the night.  Those nights are few and far between as its so lonely when you get home and he's not in his room :(  Sunday, we went to get him and then did some grocery shopping, and I'm talking three different stores and three hours.  I am all about saving money on groceries if possible but sometimes we cant get everything at one store so we have to go to another.  Either way it made for a long afternoon with Kypton.  We grilled with my brother and his wife Sunday night, and Monday was all about relaxing.  Dan did work a little while Kypton napped but it was still relaxing.

Now for this week it has been so rainy we have been inside a lot.  Yesterday, we were literally walking out the door and it started down pouring! aghh, that made for one very unhappy little man as he was set to go bye-bye.  After a meltdown he decided to watch out the window for a little bit then it was a good time to cuddle with Mom (I'll take that :) !)  This morning I didn't take any chances, it was sunny when we got up and still sunny after breakfast so we got ready and headed out for a walk.  I knew if we didn't get it in we wouldn't get one in as there is 70% chance all day today!

This walk was different than most as we were on our last leg coming down our street a neighbor mom was out.  I had seen her kids out and they are pretty young (4 and 2) and some other kids but never her.  She stopped us and said hi and we talked for about a half hour.  I learned that she stays home and she is a former teacher so she does some home schooling for their 4 year old and she will homeschool him for kindergarten.  I also found that there are a lot of SAHMs on our street.  They are down a couple blocks but it's nice to know they are there and they have kids around Kypton's age.

This is funny because at the beginning of the walk and we were gone for about 2 hours.  I was thinking how nice it would be to live in a smaller town, but still close enough that our kids could go to Des Moines Christian (and I didn't have to drive forever to get them there) but have a neighborhood with parents our age and kids the same age as ours and okay let me be really real for a minute (Dan just laughed at him when I told him this) I want a street like Desperate Housewives!  I want that close group of Mom's that stay home, that their husbands hangout and the Mom's hangout after the kids are off to school.  I know we have a while until the kids are in school but for all the Mom's or even those who want to get married and settle down with a family. I would think you know what I'm talking about and it's not that unrealistic to want...is it?  So, yeah after talking with her it made me realize that yes it can happen.

Either way..enough of my day dreaming....here are some photos from the last couple weeks...

 Hanging out on the stool that Uncle G made for my room!

 We love Teddy!

 Cheese....

 My hat, my PJ's, Dada's shoes, and my Belly =)

 So, on one of our walks I give him his sunglasses, and I get home, look at him and this is how he put them on and wore them for the walk...haha...I guess whatever works...

 Another hair cut with Aunt Yena

 Sucker...first time sitting by himself and not on my lap :(

 Handsome man!

 Waiting for the wedding to start...

 After the wedding heading to the open house...

Our handsome little man...stop growing up so fast :(

We hope everyone is staying safe with all the crazy weather lately!

Love the Buchholz's!

It's our Journey...

Oh where, oh where to start....

It's Monday...how bout that...the weather is chilly there is a big snow storm heading our way..and well I'm pretty excited! We are having a great start to the week to be honest.  It's 11:30 at night I am energized and ready to get my to do list done for the day.

I didn't set New Years resolution(s) this year as I mention before but I have been setting weekly goals.  So far staying on top of laundry and picking up toys and other misplaced items daily has been going smoothly.  The house looks good if someone decides to stop by instead of me freaking out at the last minute shoving things in random spots.  Nobody does that right?

Lately, each week I try to add something else to my focus, I added getting back to my devotions not on a daily basis but a few times a week to get started.  This past weekend I really got to thinking as I'm doing my devotions which happen to be about how to be the best wife the way God called me to be.  That I'm the one that does the finances in the house as I should because I have the time to sit down and look at everything and I pay the bills as well.  I know how much is going where and when.  I got to thinking that a lot of times I feel bad that I'm not helping with the actual finances.  Dan has never made me feel that way or said anything that would make me think he wants me to help, but I feel like that is a lot of stress to put on one man.  Although, I do believe that is the mans' job (no ladies I'm not all about being all kinds of equal to a man!)  On the flip side of my feelings though I would never want to go back to work.  I cherish my time with Kypton so so much.  I would never in my life give it up (unless there was absolutely no other way, of course.)  so, essentially I would like to make a little bit of money where I can do my own hours and be at home with Kypton all day.  No, going to a place of business and working night hours is not an option either, haha, not to be picky.  I guess looking at that I figure if I work at night I will be worthless with Kypton all day, and then what is the point of me being home with him, right?

To get to my point...my answer is working from home while improving my overall health and enjoying my family.  Everything on my time.  Dan and many other people we know drink a lot of Spark.  If you don't know what Spark is (like me until the last week) PLEASE contact us!  We are jumping in to the Advocare Business.  Many people I know not only use but sell the products and we are just as excited about them.  We haven't decided what all exactly we want to use besides the Spark energy drink but we have some ideas.  We are excited for this journey together.  That was the main thing when I brought this up to Dan was that I wanted his full support if not him doing it with me.  We are going to do this together, get back in to working out...this time as a team, and show the world what our dreams are made of.

We thought about who our target would be and if we knew anyone that may be interested and if you think about it, we all know someone who either just had a baby and are trying to lose the extra pounds, or someone who has struggled with weight for a while and need something to keep them on track, or even the workout king/queens. Let's face it we all could use a little help in the area of being healthy.  Advocare is for everyone, someone trying to lose weight, someone who just wants more energy, someone who wants to feel healthier overall, or those who love to workout, there is something for everyone!

Stay tuned for this new journey and all of our updates!

Love the Buchholz's =)

The American Dream isn't for Us :)

Okay, if you follow me on facebook you have seen my post about the "Big Changes coming to this Buchholz family." In those changes Dan and I have found that the so called "American Dream," isn't so much a dream, it's a nightmare. We are happy and healthy and couldn't be more blessed, that's not to say that we don't have our issues, or stresses. The fact of the matter is we both have student loans, I have a car payment, and we have a house payment, all of which we are paying for every month when I would rather be putting that money into our nice savings account :) That's just it, the American Dream is about living and paying your bankers month after month, does that sound like a dream to you? We are going to let you in on our lives as things get scary, and big changes are made, cars will be sold to downgrade (no monthly payments), we will have to give up things that we think we "need." No more keeping up with the Joneses for us! For those of you who want to follow along or even do it with us, beware this isn't going to be easy. I sit here typing this and look out the window at my cute little SUV and really wonder how I am going to feel about selling my car and driving something that is for the point of getting me from point A to point B, without looking cute?!? Maybe all of us need to take a look around and wonder does all the stuff we have really make us happy or is it to impress others? I have read article after article about families that are now living on less and are happier than ever, I'm not saying this is going to be fun, as a matter of fact I think it's going to be very hard and we are going to be looking life right in the face, and we will probably fail from time to time, but in the end I think we are going to be happy, and the goal is to be able to pay cash for our dream home, vacation whenever we want (with cash), and have a strong financial backing without asking the bank for money, college loans paid off, and maybe even pay off the house in half the time then we thought. Big goals yes! Is it possible? Anything you set your mind to is possible! Will it be easy, heck no! Will people probably think we are crazy when we pass up a night out? Of, course they will, but the end picture is what matters.






You all are probably wondering how the heck we are going to do this. To be honest we have student loan debt, that is actually pretty much all of our debt. We don't want to look up 20 years from now sitting at the kitchen table and say, "our student loan payment is due next week," or on the other hand look up in 20 years with a few kids in the other room wondering how we are going to make that student loan payment. We're taking the bull by the horns if you will. We are attending our first Financial Peace University course next Monday and will continue through December. I have started reading Dave Ramsey's, Total Money Makeover, which he is the one who came up with the course. We will be taking it at our church. Anyone can sign up, if I haven't scared you away already :) It's going to be a leap of faith but we are really looking forward to it. Here is just a quick fact from the class, which amazed me, "On average, of families who have taken the course pay off $5,300 in debt and save $2,700 in just 90 days." This just boggled my mind I have to admit. Here is a story that just clicked with us being we are the same age and about in the same spots in life:




We were a young couple who were just starting out married about 6 months had $15,000 in car debt, $20,000 in student loans, and purchased our first home. Man did we wish we had read this book before buying the house (especially since I found out I was pregnant soon after that) Since we have started the plan we have paid off both cars, almost have my student loans paid off, and will have my husbands done in the next 12 months. Living debt free has allowed me to work only 1 day a week so I can be home with our son. My co workers always comment that my husband must make SO MUCH MONEY since I only work 1 day a week. That's when I have the opportunity to tell them about you Dave! We gave our family the book for Christmas, and it has changed all of their lives. Thank you Dave, we will be leading FPU this year at our church. We will still be in our 20's when we are debt free.





We may not have a kid on the way but we sure do have plans to have kids and being that I am on my way back to school next week, it sure would be nice to take a big bite out of our student loans before we take on the life of kids.





With all this being said, sorry it hasn't been more exciting about what we have been doing, but this is a much needed break to the "life" we live now. Please pray for us as this is going to be a great adventure but non with out an obstacle!





I will update as progress is made, this might turn in to a tell all blog! :)





Love,


Dan, Hollie, Tyson, and Hershie