5 Things Friday Financial

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This is a sad and hard post for me today but in the real world things are not always happy and warm. So this is real for us.

1. We are in limbo with refinancing our house. My understanding is that we are actually waiting on FHA to process paperwork and that is currently taking a long time. We have not even been given a time line at this point so we wait.

2. In the past two weeks, the white van has continued with mechanical issues, unfortunately the issues are becoming larger and more expensive each time. After prayer and consideration, we have decided we need to sell the van. In fact, if it does not sell as is in the next couple of weeks, we are going to call a junk yard and sell it that way.

3. The combination of both 1 and 2 also mean that we are looking at the need to purchase a new or new to us vehicle this summer instead of October/November. After some discussion with the mortgage broker, our only option is to wait until the refinancing of the mortgage is complete. The current plan is to purchase a mini van that will not only be my transportation to and from work but also the primary vehicle for us as a family.  Currently we are sharing Matt’s van and he will be using his white truck as needed.

4. The white truck is small but will hold up to 4 people at a time. The bigger issue is that neither the heat or air condition is working at this time. Our weather indicates that the temperature will consistently be above 90* for the next 10 days. If and when we are able to get rid of the white van, we are planning to have the air fixed in the truck.

5.I am a stress eater. I have been struggling especially with this over the past week. Yesterday, both Lily and Kendall invited a friend over to play/spend the day at the pool with us. We ended up eating pizza for lunch and hamburgers for dinner. So our entire $40 pool budget for the month of June has now been spent.

All about the Food

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The past several months have been a struggle in regards to food/groceries and our budget.  We have been attempting to eat what we have and maintain a $600 a month grocery budget while keeping a crazy schedule. I am very thankful that when school ends this Friday, our schedule will become a little bit simpler because the kids will be able to sleep in a bit later in the morning in addition to getting a nap during the day if we are really late getting to bed. School ending will not have an effect on our grocery budget however. We have been packing lunches all year long so in theory we should be eating the same amount of food.

With our busy schedule it has been several months since I have been able to devote time to restocking our freezer with items that make life easier at dinner and breakfast time. The good news is that this weekend, I have been able to accomplish a little bit of that. I am trying to be creative and use food before it ends up in the composite pile as well.

Saturday cooking included: French toast, deviled eggs, potato salad, mandarin salad, watermelon prep, sour dough bread, banana chocolate chip muffins, Mexican rice and a baked spaghetti.

I made a huge batch of French toast, using sour dough bread that needed to be eaten. The down side to making my own bread at this point is that I have to feed the starter every 7-10 days, I could simple toss a cup of starter after feeding it but that feels like waste to me.  I was able to use up a loaf and half of bread this morning. Matt is also planning to make pretzels for a treat and it will use the same dough as well.

My kids love to help in the kitchen and I know that I need to encourage and develop that skill as well so this weekend, the little three have been taking turns helping to prepare food. Kendall read the French toast recipe and Zach dump in the ingredients. Lily was able to make “mandarin salad” following the recipe with just guidance from me. For Zach next turn, he was able to help dump and turn on the blender for mixing up bread dough. Kendall helped with deviled eggs today as well.  The kids really enjoyed working in the kitchen. I was able to get all the food prepare that I had planned so it was definitely a win this week..

One of the areas that is always a struggle for us is Sunday. I really like the idea of not cooking and having a day of rest. In order for it not to turn into a eat out day. I am trying to prepare things ahead. The muffins were made on Saturday. Lunch was prepared on Saturday night and will cook while we are at church. Dinner is also all prepared and will just need to be heated up or in the case of most of the food just loaded on plates.

Overall I am very pleased with the food progress we made this weekend and hope that with some extra prep we can avoid eating out and still maintain a budget during June.

Now to the menu plan with some notes about our work on Saturday.

Breakfast-French toast (leftovers from Saturday) ,  Banana Muffins (made for breakfast on Sunday) Cereal, Poptarts, grits and toast.

Lunch-Lunches are going to be packed later today(Sunday) and I will be taking either a salad or leftovers.

Dinner– In addition to the kids “normal” practice this week we have a meeting for Matt on Tuesday and for Sheila on Thursday.

Saturday- Lunch: Potato salad, Mandarin salad, watermelon, deviled eggs. Matt needed some meat so he eat leftover steak.  Dinner- Mexican rice with salsa, cheese and chips.

Sunday- Lunch- Baked Spaghetti (noodles left over from last week and I need to use up the mozzarella cheese , Dinner- Left over meat choice of chicken, steak or pork with the sides from Saturday or a salad.

Monday- Hamburger steak with sides ( whatever is left) from Saturday
Tuesday- Tacos
Wednesday-Rice creole
Thursday-  Options include leftovers, breakfast, pizza chicken  or pulled pork. (I will make the decision Wednesday night based on what the refrigerator is looking like and my mood.)
Friday- Cowboy beans that will be reheated in crock pot. We may add some corn bread just to make things fun.

Finally the budget discussion, after much thought, prayer and analyzing the numbers, I have decided to increase my grocery budget to $700 a month beginning in June. Food prices have been on the rise for the past several years and I have maintained the $600 budget for almost 3 years. In addition as the kids are growing they are beginning to eat more. With this realization I will be add the $100 a month in hopes of making the budget more realistic and obtainable . Is your budget changing?

 

Saving on Saturday 06/06/2015

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sos

I cheated a little this week. First of all, I actually did the saving on Friday night although the deal is good through Sunday. Next, no picture I forget till everything was put away so…

This week I am saving on groceries and adding to our stockpile. The only grocery store in town Food Lion is running a fairly decent sale this weekend, combined with coupons I was able to save 55%. Here is what I purchased; 9 2L soda $0.99 each
2 box of Pasta Salad $1.50 each(coupon machine in the front of store gave me $1.00 off 2)
12 boxes of Hamburger helper $0.99 each, used 4 $0.75/3 coupons, from SS 5/03 insert
1 bag of self rising flour(ran out last week and Costco does not sell)

Total spent with taxes $22.51, total saved $27.12 or 55%

Anytime I leave Food Lion with saving more than I spent I consider it a major accomplishment! As I was checking out with the usually “coupons” that they given I received a free 8×8 hardcover book from Shutterfly.   I came home to try it as I am always doubtful but it worked! I was able to order our third autograph book for Disney and paid shipping only!  That officially makes it a great trip to Food Lion!

 

5 things Friday

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1. The white van left me completely stranded yesterday. Luckily after some investigating, Matt was able to replace the battery with one we already had so no out of pocket expense.

2. Our house appraisal came in much higher than we anticipated, which sounds like a good thing but it means more choice and decisions to be made. I am going with the lesson my mother taught me “never count your chickens till they hatch.” so waiting to actually share numbers and our new budget after everything is settled.

3. Lily and Kendall have 1 more week of school left. Both are excited for the summer! Lily finished required testing this week and scored 5 out of 5, the highest possible on both Reading and Math.

4.My work is crazy. For the first time EVER, I actually worked 40 hours this week. I was really nervous about going over 40, which is not allowed. I managed to stay inside the 40 by 3 minutes.

5. The weather is much cooler than normal and it has rained every day this week. My garden is loving it! We even have corn spouting from the seeds I planted last Saturday.

 

May in Review

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Blogging:  Goal: 15 per month Goal Met! I am at 17 or 18 post for the month!

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.  Goal met for the month.  I am moving in the right direction.

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

Financial Goals-
1.  Pay off all debit by December  2015, except for mortgage.  
a. Home Depot-   I am now planning to pay this completely off in June, but this is going to be depended on a couple of factors that I don’t have any control over.
b. American Express   – Smaller than anticipated payment. I only paid $200 this month.
c. Personal Loan (used to purchase van) .The current scheduled payment is $217 a month with this scheduled to be paid off in December 2015.

2. Emergency Fund to $2000.  Fail

. 3. Groceries: Spend $600 a month . After what seems to be an extremely long month. We ended up spending $712 for the month This was not a true success but it really is a success because our monthly average is down to .$572 for the year so I am back on track.

4. Gas: Spend $400 a month with any remaining to be move to Auto fund for repairs.  Goal Met. I spent $402 on gas this month including covering tags, taxes and inspection on Matt’s van,  a new fuel filter on the white van and new radiator  cap for the car. This is a huge success.

Disney- No progress

May seems like a very long month. In the area of finance it does not appear that we made any progress but we are in the process of refinancing our mortgage which will dramatically change our path. Currently we are waiting on the appraisal. Once things are more settled, I am planning to share details, as well as plans. Looking ahead to June, I anticipate another month of close to or over our budget for Groceries just based on things we are starting to run low on. I have not changed the budgeted amount in 3 years even with the significant rise in price and an increase of consumption of food due to growing kids, so I may need to readjust in July based on our actual spending in June. Gas prices are suppose to stay close to their current rate however with us going to the pool on a frequent basis I think we are going to keep that amount the same at least for the summer. I will definitely share changes and new goals in June so that should make things interesting overall.

 

 

Saving on Saturday-5/30/2015

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sos

This saving on Saturday was one that sort of happened. If you had ask me even on Wednesday about it, I probably would have not had a clue. First the story and then lots and lots of pictures.

One of my co-workers is starting a small nursery. I decided to take all the plastic trays and small pots that I have been collecting for the past several years. to her to see if she could use.  I did not realize how expensive they were but really I  just hated to throw them away. She was very excited to get them, and a couple of weeks later when I mentioned that one of the pepper plants I planted had died, she offered to bring me some.  She ended up bring me 6 “rainbow peppers” this week. Next my friend bought at Costco a vegtable/herb growing kit at Costco with little seed pods that are guaranteed to grow. She ran out of room and brought five to me on Friday. I was sort of at a lost because we are all out of room in the square foot garden, but mentioned to Matt that I might go see if I could find some wood to add another section.

The abandoned wood pile deserves at least a paragraph of it own. We began really digging in the pile to finish the composite bin several weeks ago. This wood is actually from the deck that was on the house when I purchased it 22 years ago. About 13 years ago before meeting Matt, I had a friend to tear down the old deck and replace it with a larger one. Instead of recycling or even burning to old deck, he simply cut it into 6 foot sections and deposited in the woods behind the house. These boards are now what we are digging out and reusing.

I walked down to the edge of the woods and spotted a section of decking, I was even able to pull it out of the weeds all by myself. After bringing the wood to the front of the house, we knew exactly what section we wanted to add.

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This morning after a trip to Lowes, I planted the remaining 5 “rainbow peppers, three of the garden pods that my friend gave me. After counting out the remaining squares I decided to head in the freezer and plant another 45 stalks of corn.  So the only real cost to this project was $40 worth of dirt that we purchased.  I am very very pleased with the way this project turned out and am also very hopefully that we will reclaim that $40 in the month of August with a second harvesting of corn and peppers. Here are the pictures I took after finishing planting and watering today!

5 things Friday

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1. I sent my list of “sit down” dining reservations over to our travel agent this morning. She will be making these on Sunday! It is so exciting!

2. Today is our 11th anniversary. We celebrated by adding on to the square foot garden.

3. I made our first official harvest of the year, 1 small squash a ziplock gallon bag of dill and another bag of cilantro.

4. We are waiting not so patiently for our house appraisal so that we can refinance.

5. Swim season has officially started with practice 3-4 nights a week. This week I have been working until 6:30 then picking up Zach and Kendall from swim practice before coming home. I really dislike this schedule!

CVS shopping 5/26/2015

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Consistency is the key when shopping at CVS. I will be the first to say that in recent months, I have not made a trip to CVS in weeks. But this week was well worth the effort. I ended up with 3 separate transactions. I started the week off with 5 ECB from the Coke products I purchased last week. I ended with 5 ECB from the Nail polish.

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Total spent was $5.30 and total saved $41 or 89%. I like to think of it as free nail polish and bath wash with half price sun screen. I should also say that I purchased 3 photo prints to use for Kendall’s poster as well.