Category Archives: Budgeting

Saving on Saturday

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I have said before that either by force or by choice saving money becomesa way of life. My day on Saturday (5/5/12) is a excellent example of this.

First, because of my over zealous to plant a garden this year, I lost all my plants in the last two weeks except for 2 tomato plants.  The debate has been whether to purchase more live plants or attempt to grow most from the seeds that I have been saving for a couple of years. I decided on Friday night to go ahead and give the growing from seeds a try. I did not have seeds for Jalapeno peppers or zucchini squash, so these I ended up purchasing for $3.75 at the nursery where we pick up our produce box. Total Saving $5

I noticed that one of the neighborhoods on the main road was having a couple of yard sales this weekend since it was still fairly early, we decided to stop at a couple. I was able to purchase Lily: a pair of jeans, a jean skirt, two shirts and a sweater and Zach a sweater and outfit for $10. A conservative estimate of the Total Savings $60.

Next, we had been hanging on to an empty gas cylinder, for almost 6 months now. The reason is that I recalled last year the electric company having an event where you could fill the cylinder for $5. Matt and I both noticed that this event was taking place on Saturday. An added bonus was the free lunch that was being offered at well. We managed to time our trip at around 11:30 so all 5 of us ate for FREE! Total Savings $35

After lunch and naps, Zach and Kendall had a birthday party to attend.  We love Mexican Food around here and because it was Cinco De Mayo, I knew we would want to celebrate. So I made our favorite dip, Mexican rice and soft tacos from left over taco meat. We had all the needed ingredients so the meal that would have cost $40 was free. We did add to our celebration by heading out for Ice Cream as a special treat. Total Saving $30.

Finally, I am focused on making sure that none of our produce box gets wasted this year. So I went ahead and steamed up the broccoli, used left over rice and shredded chicken from the freezer to make a casserole for lunch on Sunday.  I also went ahead and froze half of the strawberries as well. Total savings $35, based on cost of lunch alone.

Just by making a couple of choices and spending the extra time to prepare food ahead, I was able to save $170 this weekend. 

Making a Budget

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Just a quick heads up in the next week or so the blog will be moving. As part of Matt’s learning for his business, I will be moving this blog to its own site.  

But now, I often, at least once a month, talk about our budget. It seems I have been working and changing it for the past several years.  So today, I thought I would share with you some of the things I have learned and figured out that works for me.

  • In order to actually know where your money is going and how much you have or don’t have, you must have a budget
    • personally I am becoming more and more convinced that a realistic budget should account for all “expected” regular income. I do not include in my budget, some income simply because I can’t count on it. So when this extra money comes in, I have a choice to make. First; does this money need to be placed into the budget to help cover “regular” expenses?  If not then the choice is even tougher. Do I keep the money for “extras” such as meals out, upcoming expenses I forgot to budget for or should it be placed in to our second account for the “irregular bills” or finally savings?
  • Regular bills are all accounts that are due on a monthly basis, these include mortgage, car payments, electric, water, phone, cable and any and all loans and/or credit cards. I also include in this area gas and groceries. In the past, I have include a line for entertainment and dining. However at this point in our lives these are both luxury items. Therefore these items must come from unexpected/surprise income.
  • Irregular bills- After much debate and thought we recently opened an online account to use for these items.  I am already liking the idea of having separate money waiting to be used when things happen instead of finding an extra $200-$300 as things become needed. My list of irregular bills include Auto(both our cars are older and pay for), Auto Insurance, Gift (Christmas and Birthday), Clothing, Hair and Medical. Currently the Auto fund is for repairs, in the future this may turn into a saving account for a new vehicle Auto Insurance for us is due every six months. Gifts- the goal is $100. Clothing-$100 a month, Hair- $25 a month and Medical $100 a month. I will be placing money into this account as it is available, in the order of importance to me.
  • Savings- We are working toward establishing an emergency fund. The goal initially is $500. We previously had reached this amount just prior to needing  a new washer. So far we currently have $150 in this account.  After we have reached the goal, I would like to use this to help cover the irregular flow of income. This means that months that either Matt’s work or my work provides an excess over the budgeted amount, we place the excess into saving for future months that are not so successful.
  • Older expenses/bills- We unfortunately have a file of bills that we have been unable to pay in the past, the majority of these are medical in nature. Each month, my goal is to use at least part of any money that is saved, found or other acquired to slow pay off these debts. Once the Emergency Saving account reaches $500, I will then split extra money between savings and tackling these debits.

Do you have suggestions?questions? thoughts?

April In Review

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April has come and went.  Things seem only to stay at a high pitch non-stop pace for the entire month. So I am hoping that in May we can slow down, reset and reach goals!

Blogging: 10 for April, better than March but still not a goal!
Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: I can honestly say that with this goal I am not sure. I have spent time study and listening to Hebrews, I and II Peter but that is not the same as an individual devotion.  I can say that I have spent more time in prayer this month. So at least I am doing something right!
Goal is 3 a week.

Groceries: Failure again.  I really don’t understand why this month. One explanation is that we spent $250 which accounts for our overage this month on the produce co-op. We spent 1000 on groceries. Because of the major financial changes occurring in May.  I know we will not be over budget next month in groceries.
Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially: I dream/plan/pray for the month that this is steady and easy. But in the mean time, we continue to work with the circumstance that we are given. Matt learned in late April that his unemployment will end approximately 8 weeks earlier. Immediately, we made some tough decisions and cut out both my trip to Alaska and our family beach trip. Next we have formed a plan to try and keep up on a steady yet lean budget. Matt’s business is officially open. With our unsteady income  in the next 6-12 months we have open a second checking and saving account to hold money for “irregular” bills. This account will be used to place money into for future bills such as Christmas, auto repairs, clothing, and insurance. Our regular savings will continue to be the place we attempt to build an emergency fund.  In regards to debt, we have 1 personal loan and 2 credit card loans to pay off. In addition to several hundreds of dollars of medical bills and a tax bill. I started to type that I am almost certain that our goal of debit free will not be met this year but then I realize My GOD is bigger! So I am going to pray, work and strive to meet this goal!
Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year.

Weight- When checking the Wii, I realized that I exercised a total of 5 times in the month of March. Hopefully, I can get back on track in April.
Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150 by December by losing around 4 # a month.

You will notice that I have begun to use real numbers and am trying to be open and honest about our situation! Please say a pray or even better send us a word of Encouragment!

Different Ideas

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I enjoy reading several blogs, okay I stalk around 20  right now but who is counting?  One of the reasons that I read these blogs is to find new and better ideas.  I am always looking for new ideas regarding meal and of course budget/money matters. Several of the blogs I regularly read, help me stay up to date with coupons and sales, other simply make me realize that my life is not as crazy or mixed up as it can be.  Today I thought I would share some of the most interesting and useful things I have learned lately.

  • The concept of spending 10 minutes a day on projects that seem overwhelming came from The Peaceful Mom. I have been using this concept over the past several weeks to be able to first get and keep my coupons organized as well as stay on top of quizzing and other church responsibilities. My plan is to start trying to organize, delete and combine all the documents and photos that we have saved on the computers in the past 6 years. I am thinking that it will most likely take a month or so to finally get this all done but at least I have a plan for action.
  • Also over at The Peaceful Mom, she is sharing about her family’s challenge of living on 28000 a year. It is so encouraging to read how they are doing. I am still debating the idea of a second checking account to place money for things like clothing and extra irregular expenses.
  • I began to save and use Coke points from Couponing To Disney. One of the awesome new rewards is All magazine. This magazine is only sold at Walmart or via subscription. Currently at Coke Rewards I can earn a one year subscription for 337 points. I need about 30 more points! I have been debating on ordering this for about 6 months now and was waiting for the lowest price of 0.83 an issue again but FREE is so much better.
  • Caring with Coupons, is a lady that is most local for me. She also is the first to announce Harris Teeter triples and Super Double events. We just finished a week of Triples and she is suggesting that Super Doubles will occur in 3 weeks.
  • Southern Savers, is still my first stop for finding coupons and preparing for any deals.  Recently, we were able to go to Vista Print and get the first round of business cards and decals for Matt’s business.
  • My favorite place to find new food ideas is Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures, and we recently tried egg over rice! Simple, easy and filling.

I guess I should mention that none of these ladies know or request that I recommend their sites but it just seem like a good way to share the new things I am learning!

February in Review

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Blogging: This post will make 13 for the month. This does not meet my goal but I wanted to put it in perspective. This is more than 7 of 12 months last year!  I am starting to really enjoy blogging and not worried about what I say as much!
Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: I am declaring this a success for the month. Now I just have to stay on track! The most encouraging thing is that as I read the devotions a lot of the time, it is just what I need to hear. For example, today’s was that God’s timetable is perfect!  During the month of February, I have needed this reminder often and again today it was just perfect.
Goal is 3 a week.

Groceries: This is an area that has seen major changes this month. First of which is I am going to a envelope system for at least part of our budget. This month I started with our Grocery Budget. The second major change is that we decided that our Dining budget need to be eliminated. If we chose to eat out the money will come from either  the Grocery budget or “Slush” fund. I currently have $100 left out of $800 for our Grocery Budget this month!
 Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially:  February has been a very unsettling month in this year. Due to some law changes and things at one point we expected Matt’s unemployment to end. We know that sometime during the year, this will happen and he is working on opening his own business. But to face the posssibility at this point was very scary for us. God is Good! and his timetable is perfect! We have been faced with and leaning on this priniciple alot this month. So after much debate, we are still unsure how many weeks his unemployment will last but we have a better plan to deal with out finances afte that occurs!  We did finally get Gutters on the house this month! We spent 400.00 on medical expenses including glasses for both girls and paid taxes for the year. As I mentioned in Groceries we are going to an envelope system for part of our budget. We have developed a “slush fund” this will be the place for all unplanned for aka not spent in the budget money. This fund should allow us to get extra gas if needed, buy clothing and or go out to eat if needed. Hopefully this will make some of the budgetting easier.  No official debt was paid off in February but this should change with the new budget in March. Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year.

Weight- I am most disappointed in this area. At one point this month, I have lost but re-gained 4 pounds so officially for the month, I lost nothing. I have been successfull at exercising 4 x a week, water intake and food intake are the problems.

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

January in Review

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I am actually excited to write this first update for the year! I also am including some important changes we are starting to implement this month. I will be the first to admit that most of my excitement is due to the fact that with alot of conscience effort, I have met most of the goals this month.





Blogging: This post will make 16 for the month!! I can honestly say that I have had to think about blogging this month. But have been successful in at least getting something on paper.

Goal: 15 per month

Devotions: Major improvements this month including meeting the goal for the month. I need to continue with this focus and also add some meat to it. I am also extremely excited that Matt has “stepped up” and is taking an active role in being the spiritual head of the house!
Goal is 3 a week.

Groceries: So this is the major ouch I am way behind goal on this one. I spent $1120. So my explanations is as following: stock-pile. Food Lion the one local grocery store has been running an awesome “Brand sale”. I have made 3 separate trips spending approximately $85 each trip.  This is a store that I normally don’t even shop. The other part of the explanation is that we are attempting to stock up on items during the first 3-4 month of the year so that during the remainder of the year, it will make all things easier.
     I am planning on making some major changes in= the way I keep up with our budget in this area. I am going to pull out the designated money on Monday and keep a cash envelope for it each week. This first week will be the hardest since I usually shop at CVS on Sundays, so I may just end up taking a week off or at least                 
 Grocery Budget is set at $800 per month, this includes diapers, cleaning supplies, food and toiletries.

Financially: After looking at our spending and income for the month, we are $450 over budget. I can account for all of this in the medical bills that were paid during the month. In order, to continue without this overage tanking our budget for February, we will be using our unexpected tax return to cover. Other plans for the return including the completion of our addition with gutters going up!
     I realize that we need to place money in our budget for medical expenses and will begin this in March. No debt was paid off this month but we should begin to see one or more a month starting in February.
Goal: To be Debt free except for mortgage by the end of the year.

Weight– I lost 7 pounds in the month of January! An awesome start..at this rate I will reach my goal prior to December of this year! Currently I am exercising 4 days a week and drink 8+ glasses of water

Goal to exercise 3x a week and to be down to 150

Saving Money-Why we are NOT buying/raising Chickens

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One of the things Matt and I have been discussing over the past several weeks to help reduce our food expenses is the possibility of getting our own live chickens. The idea being that we would then raise both hens for eggs and a couple of roosters for meat. However, the only answer for us it NO!  The main reason is that the upfront cost as well as maintenance are significantly higher than what we are paying now. Below is the break down

Current cost: Chicken breast 21.99- 10# bag at Costco, 7 doz eggs 13.99 at Costco, chicken leg quarters $0.59 a pound on sale at Food Lion. I estimate that with the purchase of 2 10# bags of leg quarters the above items will last us approximately 2 months. A total of $50 or $25 each month.

Cost of chicken farming: Original building of coop and hen house $120 (divided into a year so $12 a  month). Chicken food $20 a month. With out even considering the initial cost of chickens we already are spending more for at least the first year on chicken farming. This does not include any labor cost or the daily expectation of gathering eggs or processing chickens.  I should add at this point that Matt does not like birds in fact he said “the only good chicken is a boneless one.”

But as you can see with the numbers chicken farming is not in our future.

Saving Money- Add to the Stockpile

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Just last week, I was excited to share that I thought our stockpile was near complete. I was even more excited that I was not even close to the grocery budget for the money. Well since then I have been shopping again at Food Lion and have a plan to go to Costco again tomorrow. Sounds crazy doesn’t it, what is even more crazy is that I am planning to move some money from dinning out to cover the Costco trip tomorrow.  But let me explain…..

Food Lion is the only “grocery store” in our area. We also have a Walmart that sells groceries but I really dislike Walmart. I rarely go to Food Lion because of their coupon policy and usually much higher prices when compared to Costco. But these past several weeks have been different. A good example is my trip tonight I spent 85.09 and saved 66.13 or 44%. This is not a huge saving percentage and in the past I would not even post about this trip but if you take a close look at what I bought for that $85 it makes more sense.  Chicken leg quarters were on sale for 0.59 a pound in quantities of 10#. This is actually 0.20 cheaper than my stockpile price. I ended up purchasing 40# of chicken. My thought is that I will crockpot cook one bag at a time. This should provide enough meat and chicken stock for at least 4 meals or 1 month so I purchased a 4 month supply tonight. While I was in the store, they have continued there “Store brand sale”, in addition to ketchup and BBQ sauce, they added cat food and salad dressing. I again grabbed several of the condiments as well as 40 cans of cat food, at 0.15 a piece it is cheaper than dry food. I also grabbed more sodas at 0.64, with coupons goldfish and pop tarts also made it into my cart.  So this 44% saving trip really is a great deal in real life.

We will head to Costco tomorrow for milk and other items we are out of just to finish off the month. Matt and I are already talking about several changes to the way we are budgeting. In addition starting next month, I am going to use a envelope system for groceries so that we can “carry” any remaining amounts over for a month when our financial situation changes as we are anticipating in the next 6 months or so.

Saving Money- Stockpile complete Now what?

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Back in November, I found a “stockpile” list on line and with a few changes, I posted it here.  With the financial changes we are facing in a couple of months, one of the ways we are preparing is by building the “stockpile”.  As I was reading over on Southern Savers, I realized that Food Lion has it “special brands sale.” Basically this give you a quarter back for each of the store items you purchase, in the form of a catalina.  After reading further, I realized that they also had several items on a great sale. So we decided to make a trip to Food Lion. I rarely go to Food Lion simply because of their higher price and the fact that they do not double coupons.  Ketchup, mustard and BBQ sauce are all on sale @0.88 with the sale this make each 0.63, this is the lowest I have seen any of these items. They also had there soda on sale for 0.89 with the additional discount that was 0.64 each. I purchased a total of 46 items of the store brand including bread and milk. While shopping I also discovered wing drumette marked down. I grabbed these for our Super Bowl party.  I did seperate my purchase out to 3 transaction to use the catalina and not have any left.  While putting these items away, I realized that we have added a lot to the stockpile this month. So I decided to check out the list vs what we actually have.  I am about 4 items short but these are not things I will run out and buy but probably will just grab extra the next time I buy them. So now what?

If you watch any of the shows on TV, you see they just keep adding and adding and adding. Not me!  I am not planning on adding to the stockpile unless an item is free or what I consider a stock up price. So I will continue to buy items especially at CVS and also watch the sales at other places. But for now, I just want to maintain this level of stuff. So unless,it is a great deal it won’t be coming to my house! I also have managed to spend only $600 of our $800 budget so far this month. I know this will go up at least by $50 but that still is awesome for us and below budget!

A Productive Day in the Kitchen

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We are a busy family, we need things to be as convenient as possible. We also are trying very hard to be good stewards of the money that God has provide. Combine all of these things for the maximum benefit, the result is a day in the kitchen. I discover Freezer Cooking several years ago, I even used recipes from the site http://www.30daygourmet.com/.  I also have learn what our family likes and adaptive some other things to do to make evening meal especially easier and less expensive. Matt loves bread so of course I made some artisan bread. (Disclaimer: I have not purchase the rights to any recipes, I use google and tried only the free ones from 30 day).

Here is a list of things that have been finished or if indicated will be finished on Sunday.  I am including only one list because we also made a trip to Walmart today and the kids have not been neglected :).

Breakfast- Baked Banana Oatmeal (Confession: this is a site I discovered yesterday, I can’t wait to try out many more of her recipes).
Lunch- Ham and cheese crescent rolls
Dinner- Salisbury Steak with gravy, mashed potatoes and squash casserole.

Frozen Meats- 3 Salisbury Steak (30 day gourmet)
                        3 meals of shredded chicken
                        2 Cheeseburger Pies (30 day gourmet)

Other Frozen things- 5 cans Navy/White Beans
                                9 cans of Chicken Brooth/ I simply threw all the throw away parts of chicken back in crock pot, filled with water to the brim and cooked on low for another 6 hours.

Finished on Sunday            did
To be completed– I will try and remember to list actual quantities after they are finished. These are all soaking and will cook overnight. We will finished up on Sunday afternoon!
                           3 cans Re-fried beans
                           3 cans of Black beans
                           3 cans of Red beans