Free At CVS

Posted on January 19, 2013 by Sheila

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!

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Sheila

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!

Day In the Life- Eating Like You Are Rich While Shopping Like You Are Poor

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Sheila

Today is the first Thursday of the month, this was good news for us in several areas. First it was my first paycheck of the year, which I was really unsure about because of taxes and some major changes I made this year during open benefit enrollment. I was pleasantly surprised today. Next the news keeps getting better, I will be receiving one of my “extra” paychecks this month as well. Because I am paid every 2 weeks, 2 months during the year we receive this “extra” check. Our budget is based on the 2 checks a month so it makes this an extra” check. Matt and I sat and looked at our budget this morning and currently the plan is to pay off 4 of our outstanding debts with this check. I will definitely let you know when this happens. After paying bills and getting excited that we actually are ahead this month, it was off to the grocery store. Thank you, Matt for the second part of the title.

I have mentioned before that currently we have quite a bit stockpiled but that I felt our stockpile lacked meat. One of the stops that I have been wanting to explore was our local meat processing plant. We decided to head there first today. I am so glad we did. We were able to purchase 18 “meals” of meat for $115.00. WOW! Last stop of the morning, Food Lion. They are currently having their house brand sale for each “house brand” item you buy you earn 0.25 toward your next order. I have spent probably an hour collecting coupons and working out the 2 transaction. We ended up spending $43 and saving $49 or 54%. I used most of the Catalina that I collect over the past week. I also added 4 additional meals of frozen shrimp to the list. So all together today, we have spent around $165 of our grocery budget but really have enough meat for an entire month!!!

I do have to add a final shopping trip in it was on Wednesday to CVS. I needed make up removal wipes. I expected to receive 5ECB due to the beauty club purchases I made on Sunday. I was not expecting to receive 8.50 in quarterly ECB or a $4 of 20 facial care purchase. I was able to grab enough wipes for probably 3 months and spent $1.35, 94% savings!!!

Saving at Food Lion

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Sheila

Last Thursday, a friend let me know that Food Lion (our only grocery store in town) had put out a gift. A coupon $5 off $5 purchase, this coupon was available from their website in a pdf file. So I took advantage of this and print some to use. The expiration date on the coupon was 12/29/2013, I realized that this was probably a mistake. After a day the company corrected the date to read 1/1/2013. I knew that it would take a few days for the company to stop excepting these. But also thought I will use as long as they let me, the gravy train stopped tonight. I am sad but not surprised. I have been able to treat the family with items like potato chips, cookies and ice cream over the past week.

I/We stopped a total of 10 times to use this coupon, spending a total of $9.23, saving 67.99 or 88%. I could qualify for extreme couponing with this one! Most of the transactions ended up costing less than $1 except for the one I completed on Sunday afternoon. In the process of using these coupons, Catalina have been printing at the end of each trip. I wanted to know if they would limit the number of these I could use so I tried. I purchased a roast $6.54(using a $1.50 off $6 meat purchase), a bag of shredded lettuce $1.99 and 3 tomatoes $1.48(using a $1 off $3 of produce), 4 2L drinks of store brand $0.83 each(coupons for $0.75 off three, the fourth was to raise my total), 2L Diet Coke$1.66 (Free with minimum $10 purchase). I had a $1.50 off $15 and the $5 off 5. My total came to $3.83. The current plan is to go for one more trip to Food Lion on Thursday, they are having their brand sale that basically gives you $0.25 off each of their brand items you buy. I will be stocking up on mustard and ketchup as well as using the rest of my Catalinas.

On a very personal note, I have been able to do something with everyone of my 2013 goals today!

Financial Update- 2012

Posted on December 30, 2012 by Sheila

Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year. This was established prior to our learning of the significant financial changes that are occurring so I am trusting God to provide direction in this area. Currently we are focused on meeting budget each month!

When establishing this goal last year there were two major problems. The first was that I honestly has no clue what amount that we had in debts. I was afraid to look at it. I did have to look in order to pay off the debt. The beginning number was close to 15,000. The second problem was that I knew we would be losing the steady income. I was not sure exactly when but I knew it would happen. We did have some significant financial changes this year, the biggest of which is that Matt is no longer receiving a steady income. He has built several websites, with a couple more in the works so this has and is probably going to change more for the positive this year. So this is not a goal we have been able to meet this year but we have made significant progress toward it. Currently we have around 7500 in outstanding debt other than our mortgage. We have established a budget, started an emergency fund and are working steadily on playing off this remaining debt.

I am going to keep and update this goal for 2013. Our financial goal will contain 3 parts for 2013. First to pay off all outstanding debt except the mortgage by June, second to increase our Emergency fund to $2000 by December 2013 and most importantly to maintain a budget using a form of the envelope system where all events are planned for and we don’t end up “borrowing” to cover these expenses. All envelopes will start at 0 at the beginning of the year because my first paycheck is Jan 3rd so this is an easy time to put this in motion.

Groceries- Year End Update

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Sheila

Over the final few days of 2012, I am going to review each of the goals that I set this year as well as update and establish new goals for 2013. I am excited to be able to see in black and white some of the huge steps and reaching of goals that we have been able to achieve.

Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

First I want to report on December, currently we are sitting right at the $800 mark for the month. This includes items for Lily’s birthday, a dinner for 20 people last Sunday, newspaper subscription for the year and a purchase of chicken tenders from Zaycon foods. The local store Food Lion, has this awesome coupon out for $5 off $5. The limit is set at one per day. So we have been using it every day since I discovered on Thursday. I am not sure how long they will continue to allow its use, I am sure the expiration date is a misprint of 12/29/13. So I am plan to stop by each time we pass a store, which is at least once day. I have printed enough coupons for Matt and I both to use on a daily basis. So far we are having fun buying some items that we normal would not splurge on as tight as the grocery budget it. Checking the stockpile, we could honest eat from our fridge and freezer for a month with purchasing only diary, bread and meat. However I know this will not be happening in January as I have already heard that both Food Lion will run a special promotion the first 2 weeks of January as well as my favorite store to shop Harris Teeter. GOAL MET FOR DECEMBER!

For the year we have spent $8617 or approximately $715 a month on groceries. This is a significant drop from last year where we spent $9900 or $825 a month. Some of the changes this year include Zaycon Foods, more careful couponing on my part, Amanda living on her own and the fact that we are no longer buying diapers!!!!! GOAL MET for 2012!!

So what is next? My goal for 2013 is to spend $600 a month on groceries. I am going to be using the envelope system as well, which will increase the accuracy of all the totals. I don’t think this will be an easy goal. As I have mentioned earlier my stockpile is really full at this point so I am only buying items at stock up prices except for meat, and with the coupons that Food Lion is currently releasing I am positive that at least for January this goal will be met!

Grocery Goal for 2013 $600 a month this includes cleaning supplies, food and toiletries. This will also include supplies for our square foot garden and the purchase of any coupons.

Financial Update

Posted on December 16, 2012 by Sheila

This year has been a real struggle for us especially in the area of finances. It has brought many changes both expect and unexpected, however I can honestly report two things. First and foremost, we have experience and have no doubt that God is in control. Second, I have learned more about my spending habits then I thought was possible.

One of the goals that I set at the first of the year was to be debt free except for our mortgage by the end of December. My logic behind this was that I knew Matt would no longer be receiving a steady income and I wanted to adjust our budget so that we could keep even for at least the remaining two years that Matt will be at home full-time. I don’t expect that we will be meeting this goal this year. However I am not disappointed at all. During the month of December, we have made HUGE steps in this area! I had previously mentioned that Matt would be receiving his pension from Ecolab this month. That has occurred. We decided to use this to get us set up on the Dave Ramsey- debt free plan. How this looks for our family may be different that what you expect but I am excited to see things moving in the right direction.

First, I can honestly say that we have a budget that is very specific and doable. I have added many categories to my previous budget to include things like car insurance, clothing, hair and gifts. I know that this is going to take work over the next year to first of all stick to the budget but I can see things starting to change! That feels so awesome that I want to continue on this path even if it means not going out to eat or spending less on gifts! Along the same lines, I have begun using the envelope system to track both our grocery budget and gas budgets. I had resisted this in the past due to using cash to pay for gas is now a big ole headache. I was able to find a free app on my IPhone that has made this a breeze! I can easily add money and just as easily subtract with each transaction. At a glance, I can tell how much is left in each of these categories! It also make spending the money more difficult for me because I have to decide where I am going to subtract from and seeing it in front of me makes this more difficult. Next, we are making progress on the “Baby Step” that Dave Ramsey uses. Our Emergency Fund is considered fully funded with $1000. I do plan to make regular additions to this fund for the next several year until it reaches $10,000 but baby steps allows us to accomplish things quickly so we will want to continue. Baby Step #2 is to create a “Debt Snowball”. I have created a list of all outstanding debt that we have except for our mortgage, currently that number stands at just over $8000 consisting of 12 items. We have been able to pay off 3 of the smaller medical bills and see a blank hole is also very motivating as well.

My goal that I am working toward currently is to pay off 2 more items on our debt snowball list. Due to our very tight budget for next year, it is not truly a debt snowball where elimination of each debt adds additional money to pay of the next debt. This simply does not work currently for us because we have not been making consistent payments on the majority of these debts but the idea of paying the smaller debt first is working and again very motivating.

I have been very honest and use real numbers for this update, I hope it helps encourage and/or motivate you!

November in Review

Posted on November 30, 2012 by Sheila

Blogging: This makes the 13th post of the month. I did not blog even once on our trip so that is the reason that I am 2 post short of for the month. Christmas is my favorite time of the year and with Lily’s birthday also I should be able to meet my goal in December.

Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: Staying on track! Now to decide on a plan for next year. GOAL MET!

Goal is 3 a week.

Groceries: Because of the traveling we did this month I reduced the budget to 500. I am still way under budget at $240 for the month! I am so excited! Our average per month spending is $712. I am planning to reduce this to $600 starting in January! 5th month for GOAL MET!

Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially:God answered prayer. We have learned that Matt will be receiving a pension payment December 1st. This will place us in a much more stable financial position as well as allow us to pay off several credit cards. I will share what we are able to accomplish with this after it happens. I will post more after this is complete but for the month of November we stayed on track.!

Weight: I have continued to exercise at least 1x a week. UGGHHHH

Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month.

November was a good month overall and travelling and staying on budget definitely made it better.

Travelling Budget

Posted on November 29, 2012 by Sheila

I hope you have enjoyed the past few days of pictures from our trip to Michigan, because now it is time to talk numbers. I was very excited this trip to stay under budget! The extra money we ended up using for Christmas gifts and clothing so that will help our overall budget as well.

One of the ways that we managed to stay under budget was by finding a hotel that offered a nice breakfast each morning. We ending up eating all 5 breakfast at the hotel and took cups of juice for snacks as well. I did learn that most times you can get a better deal when you book and deal with a hotel directly. This particular hotel, we found a better deal online. We also enjoyed the heated pool which provide free entertainment each day for us as well.

Gas was a huge expense. My budget was for $500. By using gas buddy on my phone and also filling up at Costco, we ended up spending only $419 for gas!

Food was the final area of the budget. I talked earlier about bring snacks for travelling as well as drinks. One afternoon we found ourselves far from the hotel with no drinks so we stopped at Burger King, ending up spending over $10 just on drinks for everyone. This was our only extra expense, otherwise we ended up saving around $150 from our inital budget of $100 per day. Several things that really helped up besides having lots of snacks was using a gift card I won in the basket from Lily’s school. We ended up eating 4 meals in our hotel room, which allowed us to use our own drinks. Finally, we purchased 2 meals at Costco, these were the ones we ate in our hotel room. The kids loved the food and we didn’t have to brave a restaurant and it wait to enjoy a meal together. The third meal in our room were pizza, the resturant was in the hotel parking lot, the kids loved walking to get the pizza. The pizza itself was awesome!

October in Review

Posted on November 1, 2012 by Sheila

Blogging: 12 post for the month of October. Just got really busy. Starting on a good foot this month so I only have 14 more post to do! We are traveling so that could go one of two ways. I could be inspired to post or just get too busy,we shall see.

Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: On track again this month! Definitely now need to increase the goal next year! God is AWESOME!

Goal is 3 a week.

Groceries: Continuing to make huge gains in this year. 4 month in a row that I am under budget!!! The next huge step for me will be to go to cash only for groceries. This will mean that I have to spend the grocery money more evenly. I am thinking this will make things so much easier to track once I get it started! With us travelling this month so therefore not eating at home for an entire week, I am going to reduce this spending to $500 for November.

Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially:God answered prayer. We have learned that Matt will be receiving a pension payment December 1st. This will place us in a much more stable financial position as well as allow us to pay off several credit cards. I will share what we are able to accomplish with this after it happens. In addition. Matt is also working on a possible 2 additional website!

Weight: I have continued to exercise at least 1x a week. The crud got use several weeks so no really changes on the sch Hopefully by November this will put me back in the ones.