2016

Posted on January 2, 2016 by Sheila

We (yes it is a family thing) are participating in . So we are spending the day at home and trying to make it day 2 of no spending for the month. This morning as we were having breakfast and talking, Matt brought up that we need to purchase a fuse for the air compressor so that he can blow up the tire on the lawn mower. After a few minutes of thought we decided to hold off until February because this is not a “need” at this time. Victory number #1!

As part of our spending challenge, we have set an additional goal of grocery spending of $200 or less for the month. Of course, we are starting to realize that we are running out of some things. Normally, I would get a list of anything I think we need from Costco and make a huge grocery trip. Instead I am starting a list of items that we need to replenish and will wait until an awesome sale come or we run all the way out. ~~We are going to run out of milk so I will be using cash to purchase only milk~~. Matt found 2 gallons of milk in the freezer in our building. Victory number #2

On New Year’s Eve, we went to Walmart . I remembered from the past several years that they mark down gift set as well as Christmas items. I was disappointed when I saw that the signs still read only 50% but just happen to hear from another customer that it really was 75%. We purchases several packs of lights for $0.63 each, several make-up gift sets for $2.44 each, close to 10 gift set of lip balm for $1.22. We also found one star wars plate setting $5.42. These items will be saved for birthday gifts that are needed for the year. We ended up spending around $50.

Only 29 more day to stick to it!

Action Plan for 2016

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Sheila

For some reason, I really like the wording of action plan versus goals, not sure if it is truly a motivational thing but I am going to stick with it. My current plan for each month is not only to be accountable by reporting how each month progress but also included plans for the following month to keep things on track.

Personal-
1. Blogging– Post 20 per month. This is definitely a stretch but a good one for both accountability and fun.
2.Weight Loss– 175#. In January, I plan to use the treadmill for at least 30 minutes a day for 3 days a week.
3. Spiritual– Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. My Sunday school is starting a new study that has a work book with 5 sections each week. I also really want to finish reading through the entire Bible. Between these two things I am confident this is achievable.

Financial- These are always much harder for me but guess that might be a good thing.
1. Set aside money each month in every budget category. I know very well where all my money goes, but in reality knowing where it needs to go and placing it there are two different things. In addition, life happens and some days I have to borrow from one item to truly pay another. I reset the following funds each January, Gifts and Clothing. I am adding an Eating Out category with a base of $200 per month which will roll and will reset next January. To achieve this goal in January, I am participating in the “January Money Diet “. I also plan to spend $200 or less on grocery. When I am success this will allow all categories to be funded except for eating out. We are suppose to attend two cheerleading competitions this month so I am not sure that we can eliminate this category all together. I do have several items that I need to sell this month which will be used to fund eating out.
2. Establish and maintain Emergency Fund- Ultimate goal is $3500, but this year adding $100 a month is a start. See above for the plan.
3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. This month, we will be using cash and plan to spend $200.
4. Gas: Spend $400 a month. This includes repair, maintenance, tags and taxes. In the past, I have rest this budget each month with using any overage to fund other items. I am going to change that this year and place overage in a Capital one account to be used for larger repairs. I would like to set a $500 limit. In reality with gas prices being so low this will only take 2 months. After meeting the $500 I can switch to again using money in other ways. I am afraid of reducing this amount because if and when gas prices increase this will only cover gas.
5. Pay off all Credit Card debit by December 2016- This is by far the most lofty goal I am setting but the purpose being that we can then plan another Disney trip for November 2017! I have no really plan for meeting this goal except by having a very frugal year and increasing income in any way possible.

New Year Eve- Reflections

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Sheila

I like list type post but really never have enough to make a complete list so therefore I like to make list of random things… not changing now!

Matt and I both will be working this holiday. Tonight, Matt is currently at the Greensboro coliseum working. I am on call tomorrow for inpatient and already have a couple to go in and see. I am actually thankful for this. Sounds strange, I know but I used most of my vacation time up with the shingles and this has turned out to be a very slow week at work. Actually I have only worked 20 hours so far. I don’t have enough time to cover the difference so by working even 3 hours tomorrow it will start us in a much better financial position.
I received my final paycheck of the year today. This ended up being the third of the month so I was able to catch up on some things. I spent several hours working on a budget for next year and thinking about realistic expectations for 2016.
After much thought, I will not be posting an year end update for the goals I set. The main reason is that we could never have expected the huge financial changes that have occurred this year including re-financing our mortgage to a lower interest rate and reducing the expected pay off year. We also purchased a van which added an additional month payment that we have not had in several years . Overall this has been an excellent year for us financially as I finally feel we have achieved a steady income level and are no longer struggling to just stay afloat. I will be sharing my 2016 goals hopefully tomorrow which include lots of financial stuff.
Our Disney vacation was AWESOME! Honestly one of the best trips ever! It was so much fun that we stared talking about our next trip on our “date night” Being the “adults” we decided that in order to really plan date for our next trip we need to complete pay off our credit card debit. This amount is currently sitting at 15,656. The majority of this is interest free and will remain so until November 2016. Once this amount is paid off, we will officially set dates for the next Disney trip.
I do want to share about the progress or lack of progress that I have made on my personal goals this year.
Blogging- Post 15 per month- I achieved this goal 11 of 12 months. I will now be expanding to post 20 a month.
Weight Loss- This continues to be a HUGE challenge. I met this goal 2 of 12 months. I will maintain the same goal and expect progress this year.
Spiritual- Spend at least 5 days a week, reading and studying The Bible. I was able to achieve this 3 of 12 months so again I am going to focus on this as the new year begins.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Food For Thought-

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Sheila

Today is my Mom’s birthday, which means we are fast approaching the end of the year. I am already in the process of looking and working on a budget for 2016. I will do a final update and set new goals hopefully this week but today I want to focus on Food.

Menu planning is still happening although I have not been posting the last couple of weeks have been about a couple of special meals and using up leftovers. This week we have already had a meal using meatballs my sister in law brought, tonight we made a roast and used some the sides we had left-over and tomorrow the plan is to use and make pork fried rice from leftover Christmas Eve shoulder. I am also adding some “convenient” meals to the freeze with the extra time we have this week.
Our grocery spending for the month is close to $900 which is way over budget. I have been taking advantage of some sells and stocking up, in addition to some extra meals and appetizers.
Our average monthly grocery spending for the year is at $691.59. I am totally amazed and excited for this number as it is under my $700 a month that I started in July.
I have been looking into some “average” numbers for grocery spending for our size family a “thrifty” plan is $770 and a “Low” plan is $1028 per month.
After finding these numbers I am very comfortable with maintaining our grocery spending to $700 a month. I am going to continue to focus on each month but not beat myself up for spending over now that I know it averages out within the year!
I was also able to find that the “average” family spends about $200 a month on eating out. In the past, I have not budgeted anything for eating out but this will become a regular expense in the year 2016.
We are starting the year with lots of meat in the freezer. I have already paid for 80# of pork that Matt will pick up the first week of January. We also just recently purchased chicken and a large order of ground beef. I am hopefully to not purchase any additional meat until March.
Our garden this year did well and we have been enjoying a variety of things. We have enlarged the garden to it’s capacity and hopefully will be able to multiply our freezing stock for the year.
I did not even attempt to lose weight with our trip to Disney and the holidays so I will back on track with eating healthier again in January.
Total random thought but at least it is food related. I just received in the mail a total of 6 free 12 packs expiring March 31. I will hold on till CVS offers ECBs or I just need them.

5 Things Friday

Posted on December 18, 2015 by Sheila

1. Pictures-The above is my favorite Christmas tree from Disney. It was located at the marina in the campground. I have enjoyed spending extra time looking at and ordering pictures to make a scrapbook with in the coming months. We have ordered several calendars, mouse pads and other items as well. The bright orange box containing the first 600+ pictures I ordered arrived yesterday. I am planning to spend at least 30 minutes a week on my scrapbook with a goal to finish it prior to June.

2. Water Park Tickets- After some debate, we decided to purchase season passes to the water park that is 30 minutes from our house. The park opens the last week of May and is opened until September. This is an expense that is equal to our pool membership. We did purchase parking and have free passes for 2 days which means both Lily and Kendall will be able to take a friend with them this summer. The cost of the season pass was $12 more than a one day pass. We decided to try it out this summer and if we really enjoy then may consider in the future. I love water parks so I am hopeful that the kids will enjoy as well. A nice surprise was the $300 bonus I received on my American Express this month as well. This bonus will cover the cost of all 5 tickets!

3. Shopping- Our Christmas shopping is completed with all presents wrapped and either under the tree or mailed out. I was also able to use the extra time this week at home to get ahead with lots of food preparation!

4. I am so thankful to have had the last week off of work. I stayed at home until Tuesday, meaning I did not even leave the house. . Each day I was able to spend extra individual time with the kids working on homework and see how they are really doing in school. I planned ahead and prepared several meal or meal pieces to make the next month. We were able to hit several groceries stores including the meat store and have plans to avoid grocery shopping for at least the next 4 weeks. Matt and I also spent some extra time cleaning which means even more free time this weekend.

5. Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. I love everything about it! With catching up on shopping and cooking. We have decided to drive an hour south of us to visit the town of Christmas lights on Tuesday. I am more excited than the kids.

Disney – The Numbers

Posted on December 13, 2015 by Sheila

I really want to write this post and it has been in my head since our return but… I know these numbers are huge and almost scary. It is much easier to spend quietly but I struggled and searched for hours prior to the trip to locate and make a realistic budget and really nobody is talking. So I am going to be honest this is what we spent. We had the best vacation EVER and yes we will be doing some penny pinching in the next several months but we do planning on going back in a couple/three years after we have met some important goals, see bottom of post for these.

Disney Vacation package, including 6 day non park hopper ticket and dinning plan for 2 adults and 3 children $4913.62
Cheap hotel room (I will not be staying here again, got exactly what I paid for.) $41.41
Gas $115.22- I did observe that gas prices inside Disney World were $1.93 which were cheaper than our stations at home. We did not pay over $2 a gallon for the whole trip.
Food- Tips, drinks and other expenses outside of dining plan $523.83
Souvenirs– This did include a lot of Christmas presents but these are things we came home with $1575.94

Total Expense for trip:$7169.98

Pictures taken– 1425- this included Photo Pass and Lily, myself and Matt. I am planning to complete a scrapbook and so is Lily.

On our date night, which we both really enjoyed, we talked about another trip because this one was so awesome. Our goals to begin planning the next trip included paying off all credit card debit and having an emergency fund to cover one month expenses or approximately $3500. I am up for the challenge and would like to accomplish this in less than 2 years but God’s timing is always better than mine so I am going to wait and see.

November in Review

Posted on November 30, 2015 by Sheila

Because honesty is important, I will admit to posting this a week late. I am placing on the correct day so that when I search at the end of the year, I will be able to find this.

Blogging: Goal: 14 per month! This is post number 14. Goal Met

Weight: Goal: Met and maintain weight of 175. This goal will be considered met each month that weight loss is achieved and once this weight is achieved, each month maintained is considered achieved. FAIL

Spiritual- Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Fail at least 3 weeks of the month.

Financial Goals-
1. Full Fund the budget each month. Fail

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Fail

3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. Goal met! Spent $695 for the month

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month Goal met! $228 for the month including half of the gas for our Disney trip.

5. Eating out- $100 not including the Disney trip

Disney- GOAL MET!

October In Review

Posted on November 1, 2015 by Sheila

Blogging: Goal: 14 per month Actually 16 post for the month!

Spiritual- Goal. I want to spend time reading and or studying the Bible at least 5 days a week for the year. Does half met count? I was doing so well until this past week.

Financial Goals-
1. Full Fund the budget each month. Fail

2. Emergency Fund to $2000. Fail

3. Groceries: Goal is for $700. Fail

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month . Fail but not as bad as I thought $435 for the month.

5. Eating out- $200 another decrease from even the previous month!

Disney- GOAL MET!

October was a long hard month for us. Part of the reason was that it lasted 5 weeks, another contributing factor was the restocking that was needed after spending less than $400 for groceries in September. I am looking forward to November with a more confident air! We are focusing on our Disney vacation. In order to start the month in a positive way hear are a couple of things that hopefully will help me achieve more of the goals.
1. Gas prices continue to drop, we have just finished paying all taxes for vehicles for the year and currently I don’t know of any repair needs for the month. I will be counting gas for the trip as part of the regular budget so I expect to stay right at $400.
2. We have already made our monthly trip to Costco, did that today. We ended up spending less than $400. We will be picking up our chicken order from Zaycon tomorrow so that will show allow us to not purchase any more meat until January. My goal for the month is to keep the grocery budget to $500 which will help to fund several other areas of our budget.
3. Our trip is mostly paid for, I have already made a list and purchased all the items that I *think* we need expect for cheap rain ponchos. The kids all have spending money and I am going to use “Disney Rewards” to cover the Bippity Boppity Boutique for at least 2 of the kids. We will be eating our while traveling but this should be a minimal expense of less than $200. We did eat out today but the plan is to eat at home until we leave for the trip.

Saving on Saturday 10/24/2015

Posted on October 24, 2015 by Sheila

This weeks, we are saving on Saturday by cooking. Our schedule during the week and many weekends are very hectic, which in the past has lead to us eating out. I really do enjoy eating out however, my budget does not. I started tracking our eating out expenses back in June. I will admit up front that I have been extremely surprised by the amount that I discovered over the last 5 months. One of the most shocking aspects was that prior to Matt’s permanent job change in 2010, we ate out double what we do not if not triple. I know we have reduced our eating out tremendously so the numbers were a serious surprise. During June, July and August, I simply tracked the amount but over the past 2 months, I am working on reducing the amount. One of the huge purpose of cooking today was to provide options that are quick and easy for those crazy days when we need to eat on the run.

First thing this morning we complete our menu planning, this forced us to look at the week’s schedule and make some decisions. Today, Matt is work at a college football game, he needed to drive 30 minutes and arrive by 9:30, he will not be returning home till around 6 this evening. He decided to pack a protein bar to eat on the drive and also packed a “lunch” that he will be eating on the way home. This will eliminate a trip through the drive thru. The next decision we had to make was how many times can we afford to eat out? We have 3 evening this week that are going to be really busy so if we don’t plan than we have spent over $100 in eating out in one week. We decided that we would only eat out of Thursday. After some thinking and checking of the freezer, for one evening I will be making Hamburger Helper with pre-cooked beef and the other hectic evening will mean cowboy beans in the crock pot.

Now to the cooking, this morning we had a huge “country breakfast”. I have in the crockpot “Ranch BBQ chicken legs” and sweet potatoes baking in the oven for lunch. Lily has also made an orange mandarin salad. My goal for today is to have breakfast and lunch for tomorrow (Sunday) prepared today as well so that we can heat and eat. So far, I have peanut butter bars in the freezer for desert. I have used up the rest of potatoes purchased in September to make mashed potatoes that will be heated for lunch tomorrow in addition to freezing 2 other containers that we can use in the future. I will be making the meat loaf and sitting in the fridge along with a squash casserole. The only thing left will be the cranberry sauce that cooks in the small crockpot tomorrow. Before calling it a day, I will make apple pie baked oatmeal for breakfast in the morning. You probably notice that we will have a lot of “side dishes” left which we have planned to heat and use during the week to make dinner much easier to prepare in less than an hour. After much trial and error, for use have a lot of sides dishes and prepared ingredients such as cooked ground beef or chicken works better than have entire meals frozen for use. What helps you resist the drive thru?

Monday Menu Plan 10/19/2015

Posted on October 19, 2015 by Sheila

I am excited and proud to say that we did not eat out once this entire weekend! This is a huge accomplishment for us!

Here is the plan…

Breakfast– Waffles, toast, baked oatmeal, breakfast bowls without potatoes. Cereal and poptarts are an option but with it being chilly, we like hot food.

Lunch- Salad for everyone on Monday, several chicken nugget days for the kids. All lunches are packed and ready.

Dinner- Hopefully we will stick with the plan again this week! .

Sunday- Lunch- Cheeseburger pizza. Dinner-Broccoli and cheese soup.
Monday- Rosemary Pork Roast, carrots and stove top stuffing.
Tuesday- LEFTOVERS
Wednesday-Salisbury steak, rice and veggie
Thursday- Coconut shrimp and French fries, mandarin orange salad.
Friday- Chicken fried rice.

We are trying to make some room in our freezers as we are scheduled to pick up 80# of chicken the first week of November. So far for the month, we have spent $800. My goal is to stay below $850 for the month.

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Category Archives: Goals