Monthly Archives: January 2016

January in Review 2015

Posted on by
Reply

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. Fail. This is post number 19. I honestly had a post in my head for yesterday but just not the energy to get out.

2.Weight Loss– 175#.  I have used the treadmill on at least 2 a week but still. FAIL

3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. Fail but improvement noted with 50% success for the month.

It would not appear that January has been a good month because I did not achieve any of these goals. One way to look at it is that I have lots of room for improvement.

Financial- 

1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. Fail-4 of the categories are without funding this month.

2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Fail.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. SUCCES- Total spending for the month is $199! I am so excited and surprised at how easy it was. I am going to increase the goal to $400 for February but that still stays way below the goal amount.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month- SUCCESS. We spent only $250 in gas this month!

5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- I am not exactly sure how to report on this. Matt unfortunately did lose 2 accounts in the month of January so we are not going to make stellar progress but at this point any progress is a success. So I reduce our overall credit card debit and will count this as a success.

Financially, I am very proud of the month of January. We are making small  but steady progress and just need to keep things moving in the right direction.

 

Random Thoughts Tuesday – 1/26/2016

Posted on by
Reply
  1. The snow has pretty much kept all spending to a minimum for the past week. Although I am starting to get the itch to start purchasing things for gardening and definitely want to get started on our kitchen remodel both sooner rather than later. My goal is to last the final week of the January Money diet.
  2. I have officially decided to work with monthly menu planning this year. I am going to give it a good years try and  see if it reduces my grocery budget overall. It has worked really well for January and looks the same for February.
  3. I have not even begun to work on my income taxes yet, this is officially the latest I have done this in recent memory. I am now going to wait on the final three official piece of paperwork before even opening a program. I have all the numbers I need but just decided at this point, why not wait.
  4. I am finally starting to see some positive aspects of Windows 10 after a full weeks use. One of my biggest overall complaints is that it does not allow me to print a copy of my calendar.
  5. My Sunday school class is completing Priscilla Shirer study called “The Armor of God.” I can honestly say I am learning a lot and it is most definitely my favorite study I have completed.
  6. I feel really good about the progress I have made toward my goals this month except for one.

Snow Sunday Savings!

Posted on by
Reply

The sun came out today which began the melting process for us! Matt has worked most of the afternoon clearing our driveway so I can head to work tomorrow.  After he finished he asked if we wanted to venture out to CVS and Walmart.  Considering that I had already opened my last 2L of Diet Coke, I agreed. This was another excellent week at CVS.  I completed 3 transactions spending $1.92 and saving $27.16 or 93% I grabbed 8 bottles of Diet Coke and 3 tubes of free toothpaste. I should have grabbed another Diet Coke but my calculations were off.  Next stop was Walmart to grab a couple of items that we will run out of prior to the end of the month, I was able to use a calculate and list and stay on track spending $30.73 which puts me at $199.83 for the month.

Since we all have been at home since Thursday and the kids really have been at home for a week, we used some of the time to clean and re-organize. I was seriously thinking about needing to push some more storage containers on Thursday but instead, found and repurposed things we already had. We are in the process of reducing the playroom and I took the shelf from it and moved it to Zach room.

image

The best part of this shelf is that it originally was a kitchen cabinet/bar in a house that my brother and sister in law purchased when they were first married. I was helping with some of the work and originally place this shelf in my  building. As you can tell it has been moved and reused but still is a large steady piece of furniture. I also reconfigured my closet and was able to place this smaller shelf in the playroom.

image

Total spend on this project which ended up taking a full day Zero.

A final way we have saved money this weekend is cooking at home and using items that we already have. I am hoping to stick to a lower budget for at least February and most likely even March. I am realizing that we have a lot of food that I have purchased and by keeping a rolling stockpile, I should be able keep at least that line item lower for several month this year, therefore reducing our total expenses significantly even with resuming the $700 a month budget in April or May.

5 Things Friday

Posted on by
Reply

5thingsfriday-logoRED

  1. Today was my first official paid Snow Day EVER! I am so thankful because worse than snow is the solid sheet of ice that currently covers our road.
  2. I was able to clean out the playroom, and re-organize Zach’s room. He is able to play with all his toys and has a spot to return each. I am so excited as this also puts us closer to beginning our kitchen remodel. I manage to move reduce and reuse everything today so the total cost of this is ZERO.
  3. After spending most of the day cleaning and organizing we had a family game night. The little kids are now old enough to play UNO. Zach had a hard time at first because he did not win but even asked to play again at bedtime.
  4. The kids have been out of school at home for a solid week now. Monday was a holiday, Tuesday and Wednesday were scheduled teacher work days,Thursday and Friday, school was cancelled due to the weather.
  5.  This week is also rare in the fact that we have only had cheerleading one night and don’t have a competition to go to this weekend. I know this is probably the last time this happens till April.

January Money Diet Update

Posted on by
Reply

I am not surprised at all to say that several thing have occurred this month that I did not originally think about or plan for. Fortunately, we have adapted and managed to spend as little as possible. One of the bigger things that has happen is the sudden dramatic weather change that has brought us temperature not rising above freezing for several days in a row. I discovered that we had a significant draft in our living room. We were able to purchase and reduce this draft for around $20 but this was totally unplanned. Next up was a computer problem, we ended up purchasing a new operating system for one of our computers which was $130 but in addition after spending several hours working on and around this problem, Matt and I both needed a mental break and headed to Cracker Barrel for Dinner. I am honestly glad we did because after coming home it took another 3 hours to get the computer back to a workable state. I am really enjoying this diet challenge because it allows us to stop and thing before spending, even if we decide to spend the money.  Now on to more positive news.

1. Grocery spending of $200 or less- Currently I have spent $168 after both a trip to Costco and Aldi. I am so excited by this number. I don’t see any reason we can not stay in our goal for the month. We also went ahead today and did a rough menu plan for the month of February. I can see that we should be able to maintain a low budget of $400 or less for February!

2. Challenge #1– Give away 31 things- I have a box of kids clothing already packed and have a couple of options. I am going to make sure this box is gone before the end of the month.

3.Challenge #2– Figure your Net Worth-  I did not complete this totally simply because this number has no meaning to me at this point. What I have done is make a spreadsheet to keep up with real number as I work at paying off credit cards and other debits. I also know the value of all our vehicles. Finally today, I set up access to my retirement account so I can at least glance at it from time to time. As an interesting side note, it has lost over a thousand dollars in January already.

4. Challenge # 3- Do something to earn an extra $25 or more this month.– I have several items listed on Facebook for sale right now.

5. Challenge #4- Reduce at least one expense– I stay pretty on top of this to begin with. But I was able to get a $14 credit on our cable bill due, this month and finally think we have that bill straighten out. I do need to check on our cellphone bill to make sure it is as low as possible.

Overall I am happy with our progress and this challenge is definitely helping me to find some money that can be saved.

Menu Planning Monday-01/18/2016

Posted on by
Reply

Matt is slowly convincing me to switch to a monthly menu plan. I like knowing what we are eating and what food we actually have in the house to eat but I also miss changing things up a little each week. On the positive side of that is that we are having a bigger variety simply because I know what is coming and don’t want to repeat.  I am also using the weekends for two things, first to eat up leftovers and second to try some new dishes to put in the rotation. This is definitely a different week for us because the kids are out of school for 3 days but most of the evening activities are continuing as scheduled.

Breakfast–  Saturday- Gravy biscuits (leftovers were froze and labeled for the beach), Sunday- Sausage balls and pancakes. We purchased some premade croissants at Costco last week so we will use these up one school morning. Leftovers included baked oatmeal, pancakes,muffins and French toast. Pop-tarts, grits and cereal are also some choices.

Lunch-I will be taking leftovers and using up the can soup I have at work. The kids will be eating tomato soup one day, grilled cheese sandwiches and leftovers as well.

Dinner-  Saturday- Lunch- leftovers and broccoli cornbread .   Dinner- Sweet potato soup– not sure we will have again but not a complete fail.
Sunday- Lunch-  5 ingredient Burrito casserole– this is a hit definitely going on February menu.    Dinner- Leftovers.
Monday- Rice Creole
Tuesday-Grilled chicken, carrots and fruit.
Wednesday-Pork Chops, green beans, left over stuffing and fruit.
Thursday- Country style steak, rice and fruit
Friday- Spaghetti and meatballs.

CVS Savings 01/17/2015

Posted on by
Reply

I explain the saving in just a second but first my newspaper drama that continues to make life interesting. I live in a rural area, this is no secret. In fact the “local” newspaper does not offer a Sunday edition. Coupon inserts are with the Saturday paper and they do not offer a “Saturday” only subscription.  The bright side is that I do have the option of two different city newspapers that both are delivered. I have been attempting to get regular deliver of at least one of these papers for several years.  It is usually a 75% chance that I get the paper at all. I have spoken to both of the paper on many occasions and currently am boycotting the Greensboro News and Record due to the fact that after paying for 6 months I received a paper 1 out of 8 weeks.   The other paper is supposed to arrive prior to 8am on Sunday morning. I spoke with someone about 3 weeks ago on a Monday after not receiving a paper, I was promised that if I would contact on Sunday prior to noon they would make the carrier bring a paper. The problem I usually have is that we go to church around 8:30 and don’t get home before noon. Today, was different since we are taking a skip day. I called the paper office about 9:30 and did the usually leave a message. I had already talked about ‘needing” several coupons from this weeks insert for my CVS trip, so Matt volunteer to go purchase a paper. After returning home around 11am we noticed the paper person in our driveway. I am not sure why but instead of one paper they left 2. I was super excited because this allowed me to stock up on deodorant for Matt!  So I was able to use coupons for all three of the insert this week.

I am still participating in the January Money Diet, one of the major things I am realizing is that I often buy food for the sake of convenience or because I know we will need it before long instead of waiting til I can find it on sale or we actually need it. One of the things I have been doing this month is making a list of items that we are low on as well as things we are in need to purchase. Matt is down to one stick of deodorant and one bottle of body wash so I placed these on the list and decide unless he ran out, I was going to wait for a sale. The sale happened this week!

It was Kendall’s turn to help me shop this week. I ended up completing 3 transactions, one on my card and two on Matt’s card. Total spent $12.52, total saved $41.70 or 77%.

Transaction #1- Matt’s card
2 bottle of Pantene shampoo  2 for $8.00
Coupon from 12/27 $3 off 2
5 ECB from last week
Paid $.56 ( tax) and received 4 ECB

Transaction #2- Matt’s Card
2 bottles of Irish spring body wash 2 for $7.00
2 coupons from today’s insert $1.00
2 sticks of Right Gear deodorant 2 for $7
BOGO coupon from today (subtracted 3.50)
4 ECB from first transaction and $.75 ECB from last week
Paid $4.73 and received 6 ECB

Transaction #3- My card
4 sticks of Right Gear Deodorant 2 for $7
2 BOGO coupons from today’s insert
$0.75 ECB from last week
Paid $7.23 and received 6 ECB

 

I count it a success any time I leave with more ECB than actual money I spent!

5 Things Friday-Money Related

Posted on by
Reply

5thingsfriday-logoRED

  1. We went shopping at Costco yesterday for some “needed” groceries and I am excited to report that we have stay on budget for the month. We spent $105 yesterday which puts our grocery spending for the month at $116!
  2. Tomorrow is a sad day.. I have plans to take down and put away the Snow Village for the year.
  3. Sonic is currently running some awesome specials. Yesterday, we were able to grab 5 deluxe cheeseburgers for $4.23 and added cheese fries at home to make it an awesome and inexpensive meal.  Next week they will have fifty cent corn dogs, I know at least one meal on Wednesday will be these!
  4. Last weekend, I realized that my watch was losing time. Matt decide to take it to Walmart to get the battery replaced. Unfortunately the battery was not the problem. I really did not want to spend money on a new watch but it is almost a requirement for my job. After some thought and discuss, we replaced the battery in one of Matt’s old watch and I am using it. I don’t mind, because of the large size. I consider this another win during our January Money Diet.
  5. Our new bed arrived on Wednesday and so far, we are both enjoying it!