Monthly Archives: January 2013

January in Review 2013

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Financial goal: 
 Pay off all outstanding debt except the mortgage by June– We did manage to pay off one of our credit cards. I am proud to say out loud that for the first time in 5 plus years, we owe the big orange home improvement store nothing!
Emergency fund to $2000–  No progress yet
Maintain a budget using a form of the envelope system –  I love the budget app I found for my iPhone. It keeps everything at my finger tips! This month we are over our grocery budget of $600 by $120. My plan is to take this out of next month. We are under our gas budget by $130 which we used at IKEA for some storage stuff. I am also keeping track of clothing and gift purchases. So far I am really surprised at our clothing expenses. I may have to add to this fund after a couple of months.
Overall, January was an excellent month for us financially but I did the budget for February and it is scary! Matt has several leads for additional work right now so if just one works out I will breathe a sigh of relief and thankfulness!

Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month  This is my 13th post of the month. I have really got to get in a good routine for posting.

Devotions: Goal is 5 a week   GOALLLLL!  I have finally found a time, in the mornings, that I am consistently able to read and complete a devotional! I hope to continue!

Weight: Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month. I am most excited because just this week, I have discovered 2x a week that I will be able to exercise at the YMCA on a consistent basis! I know for me if I can do something on a schedule it works out much better! I have not check the scales but I am almost certain I reached my goal of 4# this month!

Saved 88%

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I think that the TV show “Extreme Couponing” has really done massive damage to the couponing in general.  I want to debunk  some of the myths that it has implied with my real world experience. Today I knew I needed to make a stop at CVS to pick up Diet Cokes with a rain check I have been holding, so this is my real life example of how anyone can save money.

On  “Extreme Couponing” the folks spend between 30-80 hours a week couponing. Come on who has that much time to waste? Total time I spent planning, clipping and shopping for this trip was 1 hour.  The next myth is that you need “at least one newspaper subscription per person in your family” or that dumpster diving, begging neighbors coupon inserts or even stealing inserts from empty houses are necessary to get great results. I have ONE newspaper subscription! I gladly will accept any insert you don’t want but other than my own, I usually end up with my parents” inserts as well. However most weeks like this one, I receive the inserts at least a week late or the paper person even forgot a couple. Finally, in order to stay in the rules and have the least out-of-pocket a minimum of 10 transactions are require. I completed 2 transactions today!

Today at CVS, I spent a total of $6.83 and saved $48.35 or 88%. I did start with a $10 Cash card from buying drinks last week. Before work this morning I spent less than 10 minutes on Southern Savers clicking on any items from the CVS list I thought I might wanted, printed out the list and clip coupons while sitting at the store. I also did discover an awesome 75% deal on deodorant so pulled up the coupon database and head back to my car to grab 2 $1 off coupons.

First Transaction
2 Suave Kids Shampoos   $2.00 each    $0.50/2 coupon
4 Suave Body Washes      $2.00 each     B2G1 free coupon
2 Tubes of Colgate toothpaste @2.99 each    2–$.50/1 coupon
$10 CVS cash card
Total out-of-pocket $5.69
received 4 ECB for purchasing $12 in Suave, 2 ECB from Toothpaste and 1 ECB for using Green bag 4 times

Second Transaction
5 2L Diet Cokes    raincheck for $0.88 each
1 bottle each of Tresseme Shampoo and Conditioner     $4.49 each  B1G1 coupon, CVS Coupon for $2/2 bottles of Tresseme
2 Sticks of Advance Control Mitchum deodorant $1.99 each   2-$1 off coupons and CVS coupon for $1 off $4 deodorant
1 Caramel candy 0.33 cent
Used ECB from above
Total spent $1.14.

 

 

The Best Laid Plans

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As most of you know, I am a planner. I like to plan it gives me a sense of control and peace with  my life. This month just seems that every time I make a plan it needs to change. I am proud to say that I am just rolling with the changes or at least I hope I am rolling with them. So here in random order are my best laid plans and how they have changed.

  1. In September, I began working “full-time” which for me is 30 hours a week. My plan work 7.5 hours a day and then have the extra time at home. Of course this is not working. Part of the problem is that our patient load is really low. So since the first of December I have been taking anywhere from 6 to 16 hours of PTO every 2 weeks to keep my hours at full-time. I am thankful that I have the option to do this but I really would like a schedule that is not so flexible!
  2. For the past two weeks on Friday we have had icy/snow and just generally cold weather. Our plan was to head to Vision Works on Saturday, order new glasses and then Costco to have a tire on my car fixed. Instead, after arriving home at 2pm Friday afternoon, I was not going anywhere. So I spent most of Saturday, cooking. I was able to make several dishes up for this week so again it turned out okay. I also worked hard on catching up and even getting ahead on laundry.
  3. After cooking on Saturday, in my head I decided that I was going to have a day off on Sunday. WRONG!  We ended up picking up pizza for lunch that I ate while preparing Taco Soup and Plum Crumb desert for our church annual meeting. We left early around 330 to deliver food to a family. Next was the annual meeting. After arriving home at 8pm I was done for the day with no rest.
  4. I was excited to get a menu plan together for the next 2 weeks on Saturday but I changed the plan tonight. It was 65 outside and I really wanted a steak for dinner. I needed to stop by the store for milk and ended up purchasing steaks, salad ingredients and desert for tonight. I was happy to only spend $20 on the splurge but it definitely was not what was on the menu plan.
  5. I was planning to complete our 2012 taxes this past weekend. We ended up cleaning our some cabinets and shredding a lot of documents. Friday night, Matt and I organized all the tax paperwork and I made out all the spreadsheet so that I could easily imput data on Saturday. I actually did sit down on Saturday to complete the task to discover that I saved the wrong pay stub. I saved the first one of this year instead of the last one of 2012. I was able to complete our taxes on Monday and am thankful for a refund!
  6. This last item is a plan that I hope will not be changed. I have really been trying to get a work out in 3 nights a week with at least one of those at the YMCA. On Monday, I realized that if I take Zach and Kendall to the YMCA while Matt takes Lily to tumbling, childcare is provided!!! I was so happy to go last night and the kids enjoyed it. My plan is to make this a Monday night routine!

As you can see this past week has all been about my changing plans!

January BLAH!

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This month, January, feels like it is dragging by for me. I was thinking about it today and came up with several logical reason that it feels so long. It is a full 5 week month, I receive 3 paychecks this month, it is freezing cold outside (36F) today and my crazy work schedule does not seem to be helping.BLAH!  I should be excited about 3 paychecks this month and I am. I actually used part of one to place a deposit on our beach trip this summer. But I also am trying to reduce our overall spending. One of the biggest reductions is in the area of grocery. My plan was to go from $800 a month last year of which we ended up spending an average of $773 to $600 a month this year. Currently I have overspent the budget by $83 but I am hoping to make this up and even save some more in February. The reason this is so difficult for me is that we are also at the point where alot of my freezer pre-cooked meals are gone. Last weekend I cooked up  beans to freeze and am currently working on pintos as we speak. Matt informed me today that I need to fix another big batch of chicken to shredded for soups and pies. It is just easier to run to the store and grab “x” to make this meal or go out to eat than try to re-stock the freezer but Matt is great and with a flexible menu plan we are sticking pretty darn close to the budget. I will be cooking and shredding chicken this weekend. BLAH!  Next is my crazy work schedule, for example today I worked until 11:30 and last Friday I did not go in until 11:00. I really don’t mind because Lily and Haley have been out of school for the past 5 days but I hate using PTO time because I want to make sure I have enough for the summer. BLAH! Another reason this month seems so long is the fact that I wanted to really really lose weight, I have been working out 2x and sometimes 3x a week but still have not broke through the weight that I have been stuck above for the past 8 months. To try and help in this area, I am also going to set a goal to drink at least 6 glasses of water a day. Today was a success but of course the scales did not change  BLAH!  Last but not least did I mention that I really really dislike COLD weather!  BLAH!

De-cluttering the Closet

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I have recently found a new blog that instead of setting resolutions sets challenges for herself to complete. She futher breaks this down by weeks. This weeks de-cluttering challenge was to clean one closet. Well did I have a closet to clean. Our master closet is 8×8 but lately it has felt more like 4×4 with stuff everywhere including the floor. This worked out great timing as well because I store all the snow village stuff up high as well. Here are a couple of before pictures….

photo (23)

The floor and one shelf, this was the best of the orgainzation on the shelves.

The floor and one shelf, this was the best of the orgainzation on the shelves.

I have been working on the closet in my spare time for most of the week and was able to finish it last night with Matt’s help. The great thing is that not only did I gain more floor room but I actually gained an entire 4 foot section of a shelf as well. Now on to the better pictures

All snow village packed up neatly

All snow village packed up neatly

photo (19)

Neatly organized and labelled shelves.

Neatly organized and labelled shelves.

The EMPTY space!

The EMPTY space!

 

Organized shoes with lots of floor space!

Organized shoes with lots of floor space!

So in the past couple of weeks, we have re-organized Matt’s office, the closet, one of the kitchen cabinets and most of our laundry room. I am so glad to be getting things neat and organized! Now to keep them this way!

 

 

Free At CVS

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I actually have made 2 trips to CVS this week.

The first one was the best. I was able to bring home 3-12packs of Diet Coke and 4-2L of Diet Coke for FREE!!!  I used a combination of 4 different things all of which I received for things I normally buy. First was the free 12 pack from Coke Rewards. I try to submit Coke points from lids and boxes at least once a week. You can always get a free 12 pack with 250 points. At Christmas, I was able to get this free 12 pack for 30 points! Next I used 1 ECB, received for 4 scans of my green bag tag and 5ECB that printed for spending 50 in Beauty Care. Haley purchased some make up right after Christmas and this was a pre-coupon total, so again FREE! Finally, I used a cash card to pay the difference from last week. Remaining on my cash card is $6.02!

The second trip was to purchase body wash for Matt. He was currently out so this was a change to grab a couple of months supply. I purchased 4 Right Guard Body Washes, used the peelies located on them for $1 off each (there is a printable coupon as well). I ended up using the remainder of my cash card for these. Total out-of-pocket $2.77 or $0.69 each. I also got back 3 ECB that I will be using next week to stock up on soda for the summer!

Remaining in my grocery budget for the month $15.22

Back to the Basics!

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I have been living on a budget for many years, at least that I what I thought in my head.  I can’t even begin to count the number of articles, blogs, books etc that I have read over the years about reducing debt and living on less, at one point we even DVR Dave Rasmey so I should have this budgeting and getting out of debt thing down right? WRONG!! Oh boy is that WRONG!

First of all, living paycheck to paycheck and living on a budget are two very different things.  I have tried and mostly succeeded living paycheck to paycheck. The easy part for me if we don’t have it then we don’t get it. I am a master at juggling money. This month I am learing that living on a budget is a different beast, yes I have the money to cover this but that will put me over budget which  means I have to move the money from something else or simply make the choice to say no! The case in point here is that I still have $17 in my grocery budget for the month but I will not be adding to the grocery budget until February 14th due to my pay schedule, that leave 4 and 1/2 weeks for $17 to last, in addition to still wanting to buy some chips and drinks for our Super Bowl party! Next up is gas, I was excited to think that I only need to place $80 in the gas fund this week until I realized that mean I would have no gas money until February 14th as well. So I had to redo the budget for my 3rd January check to add in gas money to be used in February.

Next on the list of things I should know about money management but don’t/have forgotten is that if you know about an expense in advance, it is not an emergency and needs to be planned for. The mess up that I have corrected in this area is pool dues. They are currently not due till April but  I must make a plan to pay for them rather than just   “finding” money when they are due.

Finally, the one thing that I learned this weekend that is most upsetting and frustrating. Check each bill especially credit card statements to make sure the amount of interest you are paying. After working on a debt reduction plan and actually starting the plan in December, I was again revisiting some numbers and decided to check the amount due on our Chase Card. This account has been closed for several years, I receive the online statement and make payments on-line. I usually look at the statement’s first page when paying. As I was checking the statement for a pay off amount this time, and started looking for the interest rate. I almost feel out of  my chair 29.99%!!! I was so upset, how and why had I not seen this before. GRRR! So instead of paying off interest free medical bills my focus is eliminating Chase from our lives.  I am almost sick at the idea that for the past year I have been paying this outrageous interest rate!! My new debt goal is to get rid of Chase this month!

What’s Up 1/10/13

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  • It has been a sad week at our house. One of our neighbors passed away on Monday after a battle with cancer. We are closer to this neighbor than most as they have a son who is Haley’s age. We actually carpool for several years, the wife made our wedding cake and Haley’s dress for the wedding as well. Haley and I attended the visitation last night. It was hard and of course I didn’t know what to say but that is okay because I realize it was not about me! Another family that could use some prayer is Elizabeth and her son Jacob at http://trenchesofmommyhood.blogspot.com/ .  I have never met her but read her blog and know she would appreciate it!
  • I am finding that by using the envelope system on my Iphone I am keeping much better track of my spending especially in regards to groceries. I made a huge trip today to Food Lion to stock up on some items. But that will be the last one of the month because I only have $18 left in the budget for the month. I am determined that I will not go over, even if I have to end up missing a couple of deals over the next several weeks. I am also thinking toward making February “eat out of the pantry month”. This will mean I can reduce my budget to $100 and use the extra to pay off some more debt? Not quite sure if that will work or not but I will  make that decision after the next 3 week with less than $5 a week to spend on groceries!
  • Matt has a really good job in the works! This is awesome and a definite answer to prayer. I also am starting to pick up a couple of hours at the nursing home so I am excited to see how much we will pay off in debt/outstanding medical bills by the end of January.
  • Lily has a cheerleading competition this weekend. It is only an hour away so I am excited to see them perform!

 

Decluttering/How I spent my Saturday

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Last summer, we spent $1000 and did alot of updating to our house. One of the first changes was to move Zach to his own bedroom, giving Matt his office. Since then, I have been noticing how little storage room, is actually in the office and how much “stuff” ends up on the desk. Last week, I came up with the idea to move the server up high above one window to give us some more space it worked!photo (13)

So while completing this task, we came up with several more ideas for shelves and moving items around.  We did end up spending around $60 total for all the new items but I think the results are well worth it. It feels like we have twice the space, we now have all the records in the office, instead of the playroom and everything has a space.  Here is a peak:

the back wall

the back wall

over the desk

over the desk

front wall with a better view of the new shelves. Matt plans to paint these this week.

front wall with a better view of the new shelves. Matt plans to paint these this week.