Category Archives: Budgeting

5 Things Friday-Money Related

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  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!

Extreme Couponing

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I was really surprised to discover that I had not been to CVS since before Christmas, in fact, my ECBs expire this week. The reason behind my long absence has been simple, no really deals that I wanted/needed to grab.  This week was a huge change. I started the trip with 2 $0.89 ECB. I also received $2 ECB for winter spending on Matt’s card.

Here is a breakdown by the numbers
5 total transactions,( one of my card and four on Matt’s).
$7.88 total spent
$84.72 total saved of 91% with taxes included and 95% taking out the $3.68 of sales tax
$6.50 in ECB left.

I purchased:
6 12 pack of Coke (Used 6 free 12 pack coupons from my Coke rewards)
4 packs of M&M ( used 2 Buy One Get One Free coupons)
2 2L Liters (used a 0.24 coupon that printed from red machine)
4 Bottles so L’Oreal Shampoo ( used 2- $4/2 from 01/03)
2  Packages of Crest Sensi strips.

 

This is one for the record books!  My total grocery spending is less than $12 for the month so far!  I did make a trip to the building today to check out what we have in the freezers and did a little bit of organizing so we can get our pork order from Zaycon tomorrow. We have enough of a variety with the pork order that I am going to say we are going to plan on coming in under goal for this month of $200 and reduce the grocery spending in February to $500. That will get us totally on the right foot with groceries and may in fact help to control/reduce grocery spending for the year!

Update- January Money Diet

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This is going much better than I would have thought especially with the idea of spending less than $200 on groceries for the month. I did plan on some non-essential but excellent deal shopping at Target today. I got to the store and started grabbing the items from memory that were on my list. Over half way through, I needed to check my list regarding yogurt types on sale, that is when I realized I had left the bag with my coupons and list at home. I was frustrated but decided to purchase Zach’s t-shirts and leave the store with no food. That really does improve my overall numbers at this point. I am going to include a day by day spending recap in addition to totals at the bottom.

Friday January 1st- No spending!
Saturday January 2nd- $3.25 to rent War Room for our “date”
Sunday January 3rd- $3 ($2 for entry and $1 for Zach a drink) $2 on a newspaper because of 4 sets of coupons.
Monday January 4th-No spending!
Tuesday January 5th- $21 on a meal out for Matt and myself.  Matt had taken my van to get oil changed, tires rotated and van cleaned, this was all covered by Maintenance plan, this ended up taking the whole morning so we decided to grab a quick lunch together. It is extremely rare that we get 2 “dates” in a month so two in a week is unheard of . I am proud to say that we have spent $25 on 2 dates.
Wednesday January 6th- No spending.
Thursday January 7th-  I had an hair appointment for color this morning but this is out of our budget fund that we stock every six months. Matt and I talked about it and decided that this was essential spending! We drove to Matthews for Kendall and Zach eye appointments, we decided to pack our lunch, picked up a box of free donuts on the way home and the biggest decision of the day was to skip IKEA. I have flex spending which covered both the appointments and ordering of Rex Spec for Zach.   I did purchase a pack of t-shirts for Zach at Target for $5.02 and ordered 6 Polo shirts for Matt from Amazon for a total of $30.

Groceries- $2
Entertainment- $25
Clothing- $35
Gas- $87.42

We are tracking very well for the month.  I am so excited. I have already made a menu plan for the month so this should assist in keeping the groceries low. Lily has a two cheer competitions this month which end up being very expensive and will definitely use up our “eating out/entertainment budget” for the month. But since this is spending that we already agreed and committed to I am not going to let that stop us trying to keep all the other expenses as low as possible for the month.

In regards to clothing, the white t-shirts for Zach were needed as he currently only has 3 and with temperatures staying below freezing, I like him to wear one daily. The polo shirts I purchased for Matt average out to less than $5 each so I always like to grab up this deal when available. Matt usually wears short sleeve shirts most of the year and his are becoming “worn” looking so although not on a need list they will definitely save us money in the long run.

Menu Planning Monday

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imageThese are my exact feeling about today. This is the first week since prior to Thanksgiving that we are back to a “normal” schedule. I will be honest and say that I have really enjoyed this past weekend. Being able to stay home and organize most of it. But all good things must come to an end so back to normal we go. The good news is that I have really focused on getting thing prepared for this first full week so that hopefully, I can still fit in all the things I need to. Menu planning is extremely important as I have slashed our grocery budget for the month of January and would really like to maintain a lower budget of around $500 for the first 4-5 months. I know these are lofty goals but I am going stay positive and attack one month at a time.  I realized that I had not posted a plan since mid November so for an update,we have really been focusing on eating good meals and making use of the leftovers that keep occurring. This weekend , we are eating one meal of leftovers a day. So far we are doing excellent with no food being thrown away due to spoiling. This week we have a trip to the Metrolina Eye on Thursday along with a cheerleading competition on Saturday.

Here is the plan :

Breakfast–  Breakfast burrito on Saturday (leftovers for the week), Baked oatmeal on Monday (leftovers for the week)muffins and French toast are in the freezer along with our staples of eggs, grits, poptarts, cereal and toast.

Lunch-The kids are really enjoying homemade “chicken dunks” for lunches so these are packed for 3 days with a sandwich and a grab n go day finishing up the week. I am finishing up lettuce in a salad on Monday and will be eating left overs for the rest.

Dinner-  No new meals this week as we are in survival mood at least for the first couple of weeks.
Saturday- Lunch- leftovers.   Dinner- Stuffed green pepper soup.
Sunday- Lunch-  baked sweet potatoes.    Dinner- Leftovers.
Monday- Salisbury steak, packet of mashed potatoes  and fruit cocktail.
Tuesday-Chicken pot pie.
Wednesday-Pork Chops, green beans, left over stuffing and fruit.
Thursday-Leftovers, soup or may be a meal out depending on time
Friday- Hamburger helper.

 

Saving on Saturday 01/02/2016

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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

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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

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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!

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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-

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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

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IMG_22951. 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.

Things I Am Saving On 12142015

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Since I have been at home for the last few days I have been doing a lot of window shopping online and even purchased several things. Here are a few of my best finds.

Shutterfly– As I mentioned we have around 1400 pictures from our trip. I definitely am planning on making a scrapbook and knew that the sooner I printed these the more like the scrapbook is to happen. The offer a “pre-paid” plan for prints that currently is on sale for $54 for 600 prints. I purchased 2 and yesterday afternoon picked out 650 pictures to print. I used the code “SHIP49” which gave me free shipping so including shipping ended up paying $60 for these pictures or ten cent including shipping. I was also able to grab a magnet with some cute pictures for $3.45 and purchased my dad his yearly calendar which included about 75 pictures for 13.75 using a free $20 from my coke rewards. I must still print another 400 pictures within the next year.

Flirty Aprons– 70% of any apron with free shipping. I purchased an black apron for Matt to use in the kitchen for $7.48

Bath and Body Works- Over the past week, I have purchased hand soaps at $2.50 or less each and body cream for $4.  These were one day deals but I did grab a lot of stuff. I found out with the hand soaps that you can purchase bundles and they will be discounted but only count as one item in your limit.

JCPennys- They are really offering some great deals right now. I was able to purchase twin size sheet sets for $12.50 each and the kids some fleece jackets for less than $3 each!  I also get back rewards so these were awesome deals.

Amazon- finally today is known as green day because online stores are taking to have the biggest day of the season. Kendall has been asking for Doc McStuffins toys and I was able to grab on at half off today.

 

Have you found any great deals that I should check out?