Category Archives: Budgeting

5 Things Friday- Pantry Challenge Update

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  1.  One of the things that I had given myself prior to the pantry challenge was that if 2L Diet Cokes went on sale for under $1 I would plan to stock up.  If you have been around here for any length of time you know this is my drink of choice. Late Friday night I received a text from my Mom that Food Lion was having a one-day sale on coke products.  After a swim meet, we (Matt, Lily, Zach and I) went into Food Lion and each purchased the limit of 10. Matt actually purchased Dr. Pepper, so I have “only” 30 Diet Cokes.  This puts our grocery total up to $50.46.
  2. One of the reasons, I have heard several people use for participating in the Pantry Challenge is to discover where you have holes in your pantry.  The very first hole was toothpaste.  That is now on my Amazon subscribe and save list. Yes, I am paying for toothpaste for the first time in almost 10 years but hopefully we will not run out again. The awesome thing about subscribe and save is once I get stocked up I can cancel and restart if needed or simply skip for 6 months. The second items that we discovered needed to be on subscribe and save was liquid soap. The good news is that we had enough credits on Amazon that this was a no cost item!
  3. A pleasant and fugal surprise this week was discovering 9 eggs in our chicken coop. We decided to enjoy these on the day they were discovered. This meant we switched up our menu plan for the week and had breakfast for dinner!
  4. My master list of repeat dinners has grown to nine!  The goal is that after we have eaten a meal if everyone enjoys, we can add it to our master list, and these can become items/meals we repeat at least once per month.
  5. I went grocery shopping in the freezers today. We are doing excellent with eating and re-arranging. Zach is a little concerned, but I think we are doing well!  Second biggest accomplishment of the day/. No Amazon deliveries scheduled until the 28th!

5 Things Friday- Budget

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  1. We practice a zero budget, which means that we plan where each of dollars go prior to the month beginning.  One exception is the Verizon phone bill, I budget to pay this entirely each month however several family members are responsible to pay their own portion. This money is not budget but I usually add to the fun money or purchase other items that are needed but not budgeted for.
  2. Several of our monthly expenses are fixed such as the mortgage payment and Tahoe payment.  I am choices at this point to only pay the required amounts as the interest rates are 2.75% and 3.49%. This allows us to focus on debt pay-off with fun thrown in as well.
  3.  For our utilities, we actually just lowered our internet bill to $49.99 a month, electricity budget is $300 and water is $44. If we manage to keep these lower than anticipated, then that adds money in for debt reduction.
  4.  This year we have increased both our grocery and gas budget. I currently have $975 for groceries and $600 for gas.  I am using any money left over even during the pantry challenge to work on debt as these are the categories that for 2022 we were most over in and we ended up using other monies to cover.
  5. Two budget categories that I rarely talk about but have been a part of our budget for the last several years are Pool Dues / Summer Fund at $50 a month and AAA/ Insurance at $150 a month.

5 Things Friday- Final Friday in 2022

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  1. The extreme cold last week caused a little bit of panic for us. The automatic closing house vents that we purchased 18 months ago have started to fail. Meaning that we had 3 or so that did not close at all and another 3 that did not close completely.  Fortunately for us, our pipes did not freeze under the house, but we could feel a significant difference in the floor temperature. We decided to go ahead and replace these. The cost is not the issue as finding daylight hours to complete the project is.
  2. We have never been entirely happy with the very expensive sink faucet that we purchased and installed when we moved the kitchen sink.  It has started to become difficult to use, setting off our breaker on several occasions and requiring some engineering in order to continue to use.  Another decision was made to go ahead and replace it as well. We did decide to go with the low-tech option. Matt was able to install this in one evening.
  3. Positive news from the blast of cold air, although both of our water barrels frozen neither cracked so we did not need to replace either of these.
  4. Our chickens also survived the cold. We ended up adding some additional bedding and a separate water bucket which needed to be emptied and filled every day but otherwise they appear to be doing great!  The price of eggs has jumped to 4.49 a dozen so I am very hopeful that come March we will not need to purchase eggs!
  5.  After testing positive for the flu a week ago, my goal for this weekend is to get Christmas decorations put away, finish up some canning projects and make a couple of meals for the weeks to come!

Financial Planning- Year in Review

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Today, I have spent about 3/4 of my time in my office, reviewing, reworking, rethinking and double checking all things in my financial plan.  Overall, this has been a good year for us financially and I want to make sure that we stay on a good course to keep things in a positive direction.

One thing that has significantly changed this year is our income. Matt started the year off on unemployment, actively seeking a position. This continued until mid-April with a period of six weeks where he had no income.   I worked between 10- 15 hours a week in Guam via Tiny Eye until the end of May. I was very surprised to learn that my contract was not renewed in June.  Although this has negative impacted our finances, I do not plan to seek a second job at this point. I have some things on the radar, but this would currently consist of less than 2 hours weekly. One of the things that I wanted to make sure of was that we would be able to continue our current lifestyle without building up debit if things stayed absolutely the same for an entire year.  Currently, we should be able to maintain both our current income and living status based on the numbers I have gotten today.

I was able to finalize a budget for 2023.  I did make some major changes in not only the way I am budgeting but also in the priorities that we have.  Although the way I am wording and paying our expenses in 2023 is different, we are still using a zero budget. Meaning that both Matt and my income is budgeted at 100% with no extra money.  We find ways to save more and make money in a variety of different ways. Part of my time was spent reviewing previous years and where we stand financially compared to even 2011.  We currently have 24 thousand dollars in debt besides our Tahoe and house.   This is in comparison to $16 thousand in December of 2015.   One important difference that should be noted with the current value of our house, we could in theory sell the house and be able to cover not only the remaining mortgage but also our current debt including the Tahoe.  Another comparison that I found is that our minimum credit card payment in 2017 was $989.69 compared to $822 today.  I am going to continue to work toward zero debit other than the mortgage, but I also want to celebrate the success that we are achieving while actively living and engaging in our lives.

Speaking of success, we have achieved a “baby” emergency fund of $1000.  The majority of this is in cash so that is a HUGE success.  The next steps that I am going to focus on under the Dave Ramsey plan is snowballing all debit.  I am seriously considering making zero credit card debit a goal for 2023!  I am not sure this is achievable with Lily starting college, but I do want to have less than $100 thousand in debit including our mortgage and Tahoe by 2024.  Currently we have around $170 thousand in total debit.

We averaged $972 a month in grocery spending this year. In comparison to the USDA “thrifty” plan which would equal $1400 a month. This is significant increase in spending when compared to $530 in 2021, $631 in 2020 and even $821 in 2011.  My mother continues to provide support in this area as she eats at least 3 days a week with us.  My goal is to increase grocery spending to $975 a month in 2023.

We have spent an average of $620 a month on gas this year. This does include 2 trips to Florida, two trips to Mrytle Beach and a trip to Asheville. My plan is to budget $600 a month for gas with anything extra being used to pay down debt or for the extra expenses like oil change that always seem to pop up.

One final thing that I am going to include but it is an after note and one that I just wanted to document somewhere is that we lost around $2500 this year.  This was not an intentional lost or one we could have predicted but it did happen and affected our bottom line!

Saving on Saturday

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We all know that our grocery bill in one of the highest budgeted items.  And to be honest, I have been going way over budget this year most of the year!  Today, I spent the afternoon making sure that as little as possible of our food goes bad and is wasted.

We also managed to eat at home all three meals which is a huge money saver.  Matt used the Black stone to make sausage links and patties and bacon. I was in charge of eggs and hashbrowns.  Matt also used the Black stone to cook 3 pounds of hamburger to use in several different things today as well.

I opened the vegetable draw to discovery that most of the items were on the brink of going bad. I did fine one orange pepper that was fed to the chickens.  I chopped up 4 and half cups of peppers and 2 cups of celery that went into the freezer. I also left out sliced peppers to be eaten as lunches this week. I chopped 4 cucumbers to snack on. I used the remaining green onions in our loaded potato casserole that was made to prevent the remaining potatoes from going soft.

I used up a couple of boxes of Chex mix for reindeer crack and muddy buddy Chex mix. We also discovered that a couple of half boxes of Chex cereal were stale, but they were not wasted instead the chickens enjoyed a treat.

For meal prep, I made a batch of cheddar and bacon burgers, two loaded potato casserole went in the freezer for later use. I made a batch of my chili for dinner and to use with baked potatoes this week.  Matt made a batch of his chill for dinner and lunches next week.  We also have a pound of ground beef cooked for a taco pasta this week.

Finally, we saved money by wrapping presents this evening using the paper I found in the attic last year and tape that was purchased on sale several years ago.  I have enough paper to last several more years of Christmas.  By that time, may I can sell my “vintage” wiggles wrapping paper!

5 Things Friday

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  1. This has been one of the busiest weeks I can remember! Monday- Kendall Swim meet, Tuesday- Lilly’s birthday, Wednesday-Kids had church, Thursday- recovery day and Friday- Night out for dinner and shopping.
  2. Next week is just as busy except that I have meeting most evenings!  Tuesday is Matt’s work Christmas party, Wednesday- Church, and Friday- Swim Meet. I also have meetings several evenings and Kendall has swim practice every day.
  3. I have already blown the grocery budget for the month. I have already spent $319 on groceries.  Yikes.  Hopefully I can keep under $400
  4. I am finished with Christmas shopping.  We went to Old Navy last night and purchased some clothing for a child at one of my schools.  Now I have a BUNCH of wrapping to do which is my least favorite thing!
  5. We leave for Disney in 9 days!

5 Things Friday

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  1.  Christmas is my favorite time of the year!   We actually have finished with all the decorating!   Lily and I will be headed to Disney in 17 days for a girls only graduation trip!  This is truely a  once in a lifetime experience!
  2. The weather is still really bizarre!  We have several days in the 60s followed by days in the 40s and it feels like it is raining every other day!  We have had so much rain that we are currently trying to figure out ways to dry up the water because we have standing water at the back of the coop.
  3. This weekend is very unique and special…. no plans for the entire weekend other than church. My goal is to get caught up on some cleaning and have an awesome pajama day.
  4. We have scheduled family pictures for December 26th and only one person is still in need of a shirt to wear.
  5. Groceries are the biggest area that I am noticing a difference in cost.  We have been over our grocery budget for 4 out of the last 5 months. And not just a little over WAY over!   I am going to try and reduce our spending on groceries for at least the next 3 months. I will adjust the budget to this year’s average in January but I also would like to reduce the amount we are spending along with adding freezer space that I can feel this summer.  My current goal is to spend $100 in the month of December.

Saving on Saturday

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This is the Saturday after Thanksgiving so today is definitely different than most Saturdays! But here are a couple of ways we are saving today.

  1.  I have pressure canned 15 quarts and 2 pints of turkey stock.
  2. We are eating left-overs in various ways and forms.  Leftover sandwiches have been the biggest hit, but I made turkey sliders for dinner today which were also good.  My goal is to base the menu plan next week on what is still in the fridge instead of shopping in the freezer so stay tune for Monday!
  3. We are using the decorations that we already have. I did spend $37 on new sheets for my bed. And I placed an Amazon order for tent stakes and ways to connect the lights to Alexa.  Total holiday decoration spending $70! I did decide to use the same tree as last year and we dug out more lights that have been sitting in the box for years instead of purchasing more!
  4. My goal is to limit spending for Christmas this year as we prefer to spend time together and have lots of experiences.  I “need” to order one more gift, purchase gift cards for my nieces and purchase the experience for Amanda which is likely around $250 in order to complete Christmas shopping!
  5. My plan is to limit Grocery spending in the month of December to items we need for celebrating. Then for January, February and March only purchase items we are completely out of and eat on a regular basis. I am thinking diary and fruit will be the main items.

October In Review

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Busy busy, stress and more busy are the words that I would use for the month of October. I am slowly catching up at work so hopefully by the end of November that stress will be back at a minimum.  November is the first month in a long time that has no traveling planned in it and I want to get my budget and spending under control.

Groceries– budget amount is $700  Not Met! $1175 is an accurate number that includes a drink stock up. I am also going to say that this is the first month that I have seen a significant increase in prices.  We are continuing to eat from our pantry and freezers, and I am very hopeful that will reduce the amount that is needed to be spent at the grocery store

Auto/ Gas. My goal is $400 a month. NOT met! $709.74 was spent . Yikes if this continues I am going to have to rethink this budget

Cash Envelope system- We have done much better this month and I am beginning to see where money is going.

Blogging- 15 post per month. This is post number 11 so not horribly bad for the month. I was able to hold steady with a slight increase maybe in this month.

Exercise days-   yea no

No Spend Days-No idea!

I am starting November with some better ideas as what we need to do and how we are planning to spend the next two months.

Saving on Saturday

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A Saturday at home, yes this is a treat.  We decided to go ahead and get ahead on some projects around here, so it was not a leisurely Saturday.

Matt took the pressure washer to the back deck. We will need to purchase a water sealer to place on it but it does look much better, and it is still structurally sound so we will continue to use what we have.

I am really enjoying my electric pressure canner and have started to get a good stockpile of items.  We still have tomatoes ripening on our cabinet from the garden and I am determined to use what we have and waste as little as possible. I decided to venture out today and make enchilada sauce. I started by dicing and cooking all the tomatoes that were on the cabinet.  Which produced 4 cups of tomato sauce!  This was enough to make a double batch of the recipe that I had.  It turned out perfect, I have a batch of chicken enchiladas in the fridge for a meal this week and canned up 4 half pints so that should be another 4 meals!

I have been researching pressure canning meat. One of the benefits is having it shelf stable in case the power were to go out.  Another benefit for us is that with it being canned it will be in the house instead outside in the cold.  We (Matt and I ) decided to tackle this project.  I defrosted 25 pounds of hamburger meat from the freezer, Matt cooked it on the Blackstone!  I currently have 13 quarts and 2 half pints of ground beef that is shelf stable.  Th e next project will be to make taco meat and can it but first I want to use up what is in the freezer.

A final saving money thought is that we are actually using the food in our freezer and pantry. I can actually see a difference even without the canning which is not using but moving around.  My goal is to keep the grocery budget for both November and December below $400 which is half of the normal.