As an extension of yesterday's check-in, I'll pick up where we left off with our menu over the past week or so. We have deviated from the plan a bit, which is why I do menu planning the way I do -- to allow for flexibility!
{Wednesday}
B: Muffins, yogurt, cereal
L: PBJ for Dan, ham & cheese for Bob, and a lunchables type pack for Ash & Eli with chips and juice.
S: Animal crackers from the bread store -- free!
D: Breakfast for dinner - eggs, hashbrowns, bacon, cheese, english muffins and chocolate milk
Late night snack: Cinnamon bread toast, cucumbers & ranch for Bob
{Thursday}
B: Cereal (yogurt for Elijah)
L: Ham & cheese sandwiches with strawberries & popcorn
S: Grapes
D: Chicken lettuce wraps, potstickers & crispy zucchini fries
S: Cinnamon toast
{Friday}
B: Cinnamon toast & cereal for the kids, plus a yogurt for Elijah. Hard boiled eggs for Bob.
L: Mac & cheese, strawberries & chips for kids. Strawberry/banana smoothie for me.
S: Marshmallows, chocolate chip cookies from the store for free.
D: BBQ pizzas - one pepperoni and one zucchini basil.
{Saturday}
B: Cereal (and grapes for Elijah)
L: Left over zucchini pizza for D & E, peanut butter sandwich for Ashlyn with snack mix
Egg & ham sandwiches (Bob and I)
S: Grapes & apple slices
D: Beef & broccoli with rice (used the asian salad dressing as a marinade, out of teriyaki/soy)
S: Bob - macaroni & milk (his weird occasional snack/lunch)
Carrot/zucchini cake with cream cheese frosting
{Sunday}
B: Cereal & toast for kids, breakfast in bed for me! Egg, toast, ham & cake.
L: Picnic! PBJs, cantalope, pretzel thins, water & juice boxes
S: Ice cream ($11)
D: Chili (went with chili in the crock pot instead of the mexi pasta meal I was going to try)
S: Cake
{Monday}
B: Cereal (seriously.... it never gets old)
L: Cheese slices, pepperoni, pickles & chips
Ham & cheese for Bob, last english muffin and breakfast leftovers for me.
S: Marshmallows
D: Chicken pasta bake, mozzarella cheese & green beans (another deviation from our menu plan, but we had all the ingredients to throw together and the kids all had seconds and Dannon even had THIRDS!)
S: Finished off the carrot/zucchini cake.
The fridge/freezer/pantry is down to pretty slim pickins and we've got a few days to go until payday. I had planned on doing another breakfast for dinner meal, but we've eaten eggs along the way and I don't think there are enough left for a meal for all of us. Trust me, I'm not complaining. I got breakfast in bed out of the deal! I may do hardboiled eggs with the remainders and possibly potato salad or egg salad sandwiches. We definitely have enough of the chicken pasta bake leftover for lunch, so sandwiches for dinner one evening are a definite possibility.
Another good by-product of this challenge is that not having a TON of food choices in the house is helping us to really use what we have without making much waste or throwing things out. I like that!
Stay tuned for at least one more post on this grocery challenge subject, I'll do a wrap up/recap on Friday or shortly thereafter.
Tuesday, July 30, 2013
Monday, July 29, 2013
{Another} Grocery Challenge Check-In
So.... As we have progressed through the first week of this challenge I have made a few discoveries:
A) I focused A LOT more on dinners and not quite enough on breakfast, lunch and snacks.
B) I am going to be well over my $100 goal, even though I feel like we've made good use out of our purchases and continue to be smart about what we're buying.
C) I am caught in a vicious cycle! It is good for our well-being to get out of the house each day, but I have a tendency to spend money when we're out. Our daily "field trips" need to be more about going to the park/library/free events and less about using that time to run to the store... BUT... going to the park with three kids by myself isn't always good for MY well-being (or more specifically, my patience and sanity) ... AND ... when you take kids into the store after lunch you can bribe them with free cookies from the bakery. (Kids like cookies and my budget likes free snacks!) Finding a balance that works for us is a never ending challenge!
I am trying to focus on what I am learning as I complete this challenge, and not feel like I have failed because I have gone over my grocery budget goal. This process is giving me a clear picture of what we consume regularily, example: We drink this many gallons of milk over this time period. Same with loaves of bread, boxes of cereal, etc. When I have a better idea of how long these products last for our normal consumption, I have a better idea of what our final grocery budget will end up being, and how much to stock up on to get us through each pay period. I hope to build enough of a stockpile to meet our needs between sale cycles without spending a lot of money out of pocket while we are continuing to pay off some debts and find an even keel, financially speaking.
Here is the breakdown on the additional trips to the store we have made over the course of the last week:
.jpeg)
.JPG)
Chocolate Cheerios - $1.17 (on sale 3/$5 used $1/2 coupon)
Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch - $1.17 (same as above)
Safeway sugar - $2.34
Jif peanut butter - $2.99
Paper towels - $0.79
Gallon of milk - $2.59
Pizza dough from deli area - 2/$3.00
.JPG)
.jpeg)
A) I focused A LOT more on dinners and not quite enough on breakfast, lunch and snacks.
B) I am going to be well over my $100 goal, even though I feel like we've made good use out of our purchases and continue to be smart about what we're buying.
C) I am caught in a vicious cycle! It is good for our well-being to get out of the house each day, but I have a tendency to spend money when we're out. Our daily "field trips" need to be more about going to the park/library/free events and less about using that time to run to the store... BUT... going to the park with three kids by myself isn't always good for MY well-being (or more specifically, my patience and sanity) ... AND ... when you take kids into the store after lunch you can bribe them with free cookies from the bakery. (Kids like cookies and my budget likes free snacks!) Finding a balance that works for us is a never ending challenge!
I am trying to focus on what I am learning as I complete this challenge, and not feel like I have failed because I have gone over my grocery budget goal. This process is giving me a clear picture of what we consume regularily, example: We drink this many gallons of milk over this time period. Same with loaves of bread, boxes of cereal, etc. When I have a better idea of how long these products last for our normal consumption, I have a better idea of what our final grocery budget will end up being, and how much to stock up on to get us through each pay period. I hope to build enough of a stockpile to meet our needs between sale cycles without spending a lot of money out of pocket while we are continuing to pay off some debts and find an even keel, financially speaking.
Here is the breakdown on the additional trips to the store we have made over the course of the last week:
{7/24 Franz Bakery Outlet: $5.50 & Safeway: $6.31}
.jpeg)
Bakery Outlet:
Two loaves of whole wheat white bread - $2.00
1 package english muffins - $1.00
1 loaf cinnamon bread - $2.50
(not pictured 3 small snack sized bags of animal cookies given to the kids for free!)
Safeway:
2 ltr 7UP Ten - $0.54 (+ .05 Oregon bottle deposit)
2 ltr A&W Ten - $0.54 (+ dep) These were on sale with my Just For U specials but they were a CA deal and not an OR deal. I was confused so the cashier took $1.25 off the normal price of $1.99. My special offer would have made them 75 cents each. Sometimes you are on the winning side of a price difference, and sometimes you're on the losing side. In my opinion, when its just a few cents one way or another its not worth it to go in to the customer service desk.
Coffee creamer - $2.54 (used a 75 cent manu coupon)
Gallon of milk - $2.59
{7/25 Target - $16.40 - $10 swagbucks gift card = $6.40 OOP}
Popcorn from the snack bar - $1.43 (used a 10% off savings from the Cartwheel app)
Baby carrots - $0.69 (used a $1 off mobile coupon)
Strawberries - $0.89 (used 5% savings from cartwheel app & $1 off mobile coupon)
1 box elbow noodles & 2 jars of sauce - $1.00 for all 3! (used $1 off mobile coupon wyb one sauce & one pasta, pasta had a peelie coupon for $1 off wyb two sauces.)
Tension rod for shower curtain - $12.39
I cashed in swagbucks for a $10 egiftcard to Target that I was able to load onto my phone. Stay tuned for more info on Swagbucks!
{7/26 Safeway: $14.05}
.JPG)
Chocolate Cheerios - $1.17 (on sale 3/$5 used $1/2 coupon)
Honey Nut Cheerios Medley Crunch - $1.17 (same as above)
Safeway sugar - $2.34
Jif peanut butter - $2.99
Paper towels - $0.79
Gallon of milk - $2.59
Pizza dough from deli area - 2/$3.00
.JPG)
The boys enjoying more free cookies!
{7/28 Fred Meyer: $11.97}
.jpeg)
Nearly out of milk again, I wonder if we are allowed to raise cows in this county...
Fred Meyer half gallons milk/oj - $5 on sale 4/$5 with FM store coupon
Coffee creamer - $2.50 (used FM store coupon)
2 Tillamook yogurts - $0.60 cents each (used a B1G1 free printable = 30 cents each)
Small block of sharp cheddar - $1.88
Colgate toothpaste - Free with ecoupon loaded to card
Store brand nasal spray (for my honey with sinus issues) - $1.99
These little side trips to the stores have brought our grand total so far to right around $140 and I anticipate that there will probably be one more trip this week for incidentals. We're on the home stretch! If I can stick to $75-100 per week on groceries and household needs for the 5 of us I'll definitely be a happy mama!
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
Grocery Challenge Check-in & Couponing tips/reminders
*First I feel compelled to mention that it is 8:29am on Wednesday morning and not only did the wonderful man in my life bring me my favorite coffee from Starbucks this morning before he left for work (Thanks for the gift card, Mom!) but I was able to take a shower AND the kiddos are all still asleep! This is unheard of! I'm sure I just jinxed this all by writing the words and they will be awake and needy in minutes, but for now I am enjoying the quiet time with my coffee and thoughts.
Last night I had the pleasure of "attending" a couponing web class hosted by Angela of Frugal Living NW. My motivation for participating in the class was the special offer for the Sunday Oregonian subscription, but she mentioned some basic couponing tips that are great reminders for couponers of all experience levels.
The first thing she said that stuck out to me was, "Don't let a coupon burn a hole in your pocket!" It is easy to think, "oh, I have this coupon so I need to use it." Not true. Coupons are only saving you money if A) the coupon is for an item that you need or use regularly and B) using the coupon will make the item less than the full price of the store brand/generic. The best time to use a coupon is when it matches up with a store sale on the item, don't be afraid to save them until that point.
She also touched on store sale cycles and buying enough during the sale to last your family until the item goes on sale again (store sales cycle every 3-6 months depending on the item). When you stock up at rock bottom prices during a sale you give yourself the ability in the future to "shop" from yourself instead of running to the store and possibly paying full price for that item you need. (and how often do you really go into the grocery store and walk out with that one thing you need to complete your recipe and not one of these and one of those and oh, that too?)
The last tip/reminder I wrote down was to be strategic about stockpiling. Stockpiling doesn't have to be crazy. Its about having items on hand that you need and use regularly. If your storage space is limited, only keep on hand the best deals that don't come around as often as others. It doesn't make sense to keep piles and piles of pasta and toothpaste on hand when those sales are available frequently, instead use your space wisely for more costly items like detergents and other household products you use daily.
I'm super thrilled for my Oregonian subscription to start! I paid $39.98 to have two Sunday papers delivered for an entire year! If I did the math right, that breaks down to about 38 cents per paper. The Sunday Oregonian is $2 if purchased at the store. That would add up to over $200 over the course of the year! Our finances are tight right now, but to me, this offer was worth shuffling some money around to cover the up front cost of the subscription in order to see the savings for an entire year.
As far as our grocery challenge goes, I think we're doing well! Here are the details of our meals & snacks over the last few days. What I hope to establish by tracking this and sharing with you is that a tight grocery budget doesn't have to mean pasta or beans every day. When you shop and plan your meals around what is on sale its possible to maintain variety.
{Sunday}
B: cereal (you'll notice we eat a lot of cereal! My 4 year old son, Dannon, prefers to mix as many open boxes of cereal that we have into one bowl every morning. The last few days that has meant Kellog's chocolate krave, cocoa pebbles, vanilla chex and hershey's cookies & creme. I buy whatever cereal I know they will eat and I can get for $1.50 or less per box. Right now its all the good stuff, sometimes its healthier options and they gobble those down too.)
L: PBJ sandwiches (made with my dad's homemade raspberry jam!) with chips/spicy snack mix.
D: Grilled pork chops & potato wedges
(forgot to track the snacks on Sunday)
{Monday}
B: Cinnamon rolls & cereal
S: Apple slices
L: PBJ, chips/spicy snack mix/fruit snacks & juice
S: Pickles & snack mix
D: Steak fajitas
{Tuesday}
B:Muffins & cereal (& hard boiled eggs for Bob)
L: PBJ for Dan, P for Eli, Ham & Cheese for Ash, chips, grapes & juice
S: Peanut butter crackers & marshmallows (things I found in the pantry)
D: Grilled chicken salad with carrots, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cheese & crutons
Last night I had the pleasure of "attending" a couponing web class hosted by Angela of Frugal Living NW. My motivation for participating in the class was the special offer for the Sunday Oregonian subscription, but she mentioned some basic couponing tips that are great reminders for couponers of all experience levels.
The first thing she said that stuck out to me was, "Don't let a coupon burn a hole in your pocket!" It is easy to think, "oh, I have this coupon so I need to use it." Not true. Coupons are only saving you money if A) the coupon is for an item that you need or use regularly and B) using the coupon will make the item less than the full price of the store brand/generic. The best time to use a coupon is when it matches up with a store sale on the item, don't be afraid to save them until that point.
She also touched on store sale cycles and buying enough during the sale to last your family until the item goes on sale again (store sales cycle every 3-6 months depending on the item). When you stock up at rock bottom prices during a sale you give yourself the ability in the future to "shop" from yourself instead of running to the store and possibly paying full price for that item you need. (and how often do you really go into the grocery store and walk out with that one thing you need to complete your recipe and not one of these and one of those and oh, that too?)
The last tip/reminder I wrote down was to be strategic about stockpiling. Stockpiling doesn't have to be crazy. Its about having items on hand that you need and use regularly. If your storage space is limited, only keep on hand the best deals that don't come around as often as others. It doesn't make sense to keep piles and piles of pasta and toothpaste on hand when those sales are available frequently, instead use your space wisely for more costly items like detergents and other household products you use daily.
I'm super thrilled for my Oregonian subscription to start! I paid $39.98 to have two Sunday papers delivered for an entire year! If I did the math right, that breaks down to about 38 cents per paper. The Sunday Oregonian is $2 if purchased at the store. That would add up to over $200 over the course of the year! Our finances are tight right now, but to me, this offer was worth shuffling some money around to cover the up front cost of the subscription in order to see the savings for an entire year.
As far as our grocery challenge goes, I think we're doing well! Here are the details of our meals & snacks over the last few days. What I hope to establish by tracking this and sharing with you is that a tight grocery budget doesn't have to mean pasta or beans every day. When you shop and plan your meals around what is on sale its possible to maintain variety.
{Sunday}
B: cereal (you'll notice we eat a lot of cereal! My 4 year old son, Dannon, prefers to mix as many open boxes of cereal that we have into one bowl every morning. The last few days that has meant Kellog's chocolate krave, cocoa pebbles, vanilla chex and hershey's cookies & creme. I buy whatever cereal I know they will eat and I can get for $1.50 or less per box. Right now its all the good stuff, sometimes its healthier options and they gobble those down too.)
L: PBJ sandwiches (made with my dad's homemade raspberry jam!) with chips/spicy snack mix.
D: Grilled pork chops & potato wedges
(forgot to track the snacks on Sunday)
{Monday}
B: Cinnamon rolls & cereal
S: Apple slices
L: PBJ, chips/spicy snack mix/fruit snacks & juice
S: Pickles & snack mix
D: Steak fajitas
{Tuesday}
B:Muffins & cereal (& hard boiled eggs for Bob)
L: PBJ for Dan, P for Eli, Ham & Cheese for Ash, chips, grapes & juice
S: Peanut butter crackers & marshmallows (things I found in the pantry)
D: Grilled chicken salad with carrots, cucumbers, hard boiled eggs, cheese & crutons
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Grocery Challenge: aka moving is expensive and we still need to eat!
Since my poor, poor blog is often neglected, I haven't written a recent update. Here is the big news:
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
I <3 Target mobile coupons! I'm back from my morning of grocery shopping, I took pictures of my purchases from each store and I'm thinking I'll go into detail with a blog post (my poor neglected blog) Anyway, the overall update is that I decided to shoot for $100 over the next two weeks, shopping for our needs on a $50/week budget would have been too limiting because I like to buy value packages of meat, etc. I went to Target, Fred Meyer & Albertsons and spent a total of $92.23 on food items (plus another $7.99 for a much needed broom/dust pan and $5.99 for a 150ct bottle of kid vitamins so we can stop giving them gummy bears, lol!) I will end up slightly over my goal of $100/2 weeks because I know we will need to get a few more gallons of milk, fresh fruit and I've planned on bbq pizzas next weekend and I'll buy the dough from Safeway 2/$3. Might end up closer to $125... but if I can feed our family of 5 breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks for the next 12 days on that amount I'd say that is a huge success!
WE MOVED!
Moving is a chaotic process, and we definitely experienced our share of chaos, but we are now happy residents of Troutdale, Oregon. The best things so far about Oregon? We are just a 3 hour drive away from my parents, the temperatures are significantly cooler than Northern California (we're talking 20-25 degrees cooler!), I don't have to pump my own gas AND we're within a pretty close radius of quite a few shopping options!
Now let me tell you the downside of moving to Oregon: The act of moving is expensive. We went with a 26 foot Penske moving truck and let me tell you, we used every INCH of that truck! Gigantic moving trucks are not cheap, nor is the diesel for a 465 mile trip. Rents are also higher in this area than what we were blessed with in Red Bluff. $365 more a month to be exact, but thankfully we found a great (big) home that will meet and exceed the needs of our family for the next few years until we are able to purchase our own.
Oh, and if the moving expenses weren't enough... the registration on our van expires this month so we're forced to deal with getting the registration transferred and dealt with a lot quicker than we may have done otherwise.
Bob will be getting a cost of living increase, which will definitely help with our higher housing costs but I needed to find a way to decrease some of our other expenses, especially in the here and now while we try to get back on track with our finances and budget. Enter my facebook status post from last night:
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
I <3 Target mobile coupons! I'm back from my morning of grocery shopping, I took pictures of my purchases from each store and I'm thinking I'll go into detail with a blog post (my poor neglected blog) Anyway, the overall update is that I decided to shoot for $100 over the next two weeks, shopping for our needs on a $50/week budget would have been too limiting because I like to buy value packages of meat, etc. I went to Target, Fred Meyer & Albertsons and spent a total of $92.23 on food items (plus another $7.99 for a much needed broom/dust pan and $5.99 for a 150ct bottle of kid vitamins so we can stop giving them gummy bears, lol!) I will end up slightly over my goal of $100/2 weeks because I know we will need to get a few more gallons of milk, fresh fruit and I've planned on bbq pizzas next weekend and I'll buy the dough from Safeway 2/$3. Might end up closer to $125... but if I can feed our family of 5 breakfast, lunch, dinner & snacks for the next 12 days on that amount I'd say that is a huge success!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Clutter Re-Cap!
I did it! I joined a month long challenge and I followed through (quite successfully, I might add!) Can you tell that I'm giving myself a pat on the back? If you've read any number of my blog posts or know me in real life, you know that I tend to be follow-through-challenged. I always have these great ideas and the best of intentions, and then somewhere after the first few days the motivation escapes me and I quit. I'm not proud of that, its something that I'm slowly working on changing, and I am proud of myself for this accomplishment!
The Clutter Challenge was to get rid of 7 or more things every day in the month of May. Some days I found more than 7 items, some days I wrote "7 Things" on my to-do list, only to end up writing "14 Things" on the next day's list. I wish I would have kept a running tally to see exactly how much I purged from the house! There were a few things that got sold online along the way, some things that went straight to the trash or recycle and a giant pile that made it's way into the garage for our upcoming moving sale.
One thing I learned from this challenge is that not only do I have a habit of holding on to things for those "what if's" that I think up, but also that it does help to sometimes walk away for a bit and then approach things again later with a fresh outlook. Two big rubbermaid tubs of things that didn't sell at the consignment sale were sitting right next to our front door for most of the month of May. I emptied them out this morning and told myself that I would only keep the best items for the fall consignment sale, and only what I could fit into one of the tubs.... everything else would be garage sale bound. When I looked through those two tubs a few weeks ago, in my mind I wanted to keep everything for the next consignment sale. This morning, with renewed motivation, I kept only a quarter of the items. Yes, consignment sales draw much better prices than yardsales, but it also would require moving and storing more than is really necessary.
At this point, I have completed the challenge, but I plan on continuing to keep an open mind about "stuff" and try my best to only keep the things that are used often or loved much. After all, everything we own needs to fit in a moving truck in a few weeks!
The Clutter Challenge was to get rid of 7 or more things every day in the month of May. Some days I found more than 7 items, some days I wrote "7 Things" on my to-do list, only to end up writing "14 Things" on the next day's list. I wish I would have kept a running tally to see exactly how much I purged from the house! There were a few things that got sold online along the way, some things that went straight to the trash or recycle and a giant pile that made it's way into the garage for our upcoming moving sale.
One thing I learned from this challenge is that not only do I have a habit of holding on to things for those "what if's" that I think up, but also that it does help to sometimes walk away for a bit and then approach things again later with a fresh outlook. Two big rubbermaid tubs of things that didn't sell at the consignment sale were sitting right next to our front door for most of the month of May. I emptied them out this morning and told myself that I would only keep the best items for the fall consignment sale, and only what I could fit into one of the tubs.... everything else would be garage sale bound. When I looked through those two tubs a few weeks ago, in my mind I wanted to keep everything for the next consignment sale. This morning, with renewed motivation, I kept only a quarter of the items. Yes, consignment sales draw much better prices than yardsales, but it also would require moving and storing more than is really necessary.
At this point, I have completed the challenge, but I plan on continuing to keep an open mind about "stuff" and try my best to only keep the things that are used often or loved much. After all, everything we own needs to fit in a moving truck in a few weeks!
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
May Clutter-Busting Challenge!
I am joining one of my favorite bloggers, Money Saving Mom, in her challenge to get rid of 7 things every day in the month of May! I was hoping that she would set up this challenge to give us each an area to focus on each day, but it appears to be a free-for-all. I can do this!
This afternoon I decided to tackle our tupperware/baking/small appliance cupboard in the 15 minutes or so I had before we had to leave to pick Sis up from school. This area can get to be a problem. Here is my "before" photo, one of all the crap... er, I mean, kitchen-ish supplies that I pulled out from this cupboard, the items I'm getting rid of, and how nice and neat it looks afterwards!
(Imagine that a picture is posted here. For some reason its refusing to load and I think I had better walk away than get frustrated further and end up doing more damage somehow!)
(5/2/13 Edit: It was still bothering me that the picture wasn't loading. I can be persistent sometimes!)
I ended up pulling 8 things out of this area to get rid of, a few will go in our yardsale & yardsale free box and the coffee container and lid without a bottom went straight to the recycling. I think I'll be able to spend a few more days focusing on the kitchen before I run out of things to eliminate! Feel free to follow along, or join in if you would like! If you join in the clutter-busting fun please comment and share how you're doing with this challenge!
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Possible Visions into our Future
Coffee is the redeeming factor to any morning for me. I enjoy getting the kids settled with their breakfast and cartoons and having some time to sit and wake up. I have a cup or two of coffee, check my email, poke around on facebook, and lately I have added browsing the most recent rentals posted to Craigslist.
This morning I found a rental that spoke to me. Now, we have some time left before our move.. so more than anything I'm getting an idea of what is available, and what is within our price range. The listing I found this morning is for a 4 bedroom, 1600 square foot townhome in Cascade Locks. To Google I went, because I didn't have a clue where Cascade Locks was! Well... turns out its about 45-an hour away from Portland. East. Right along the Columbia River. Small town living, with only 1,144 people at the 2010 census. About half the size of Kalama, where we lived prior to Bob getting hired with Cook. The school offers K-6 and has an approximate enrollment of 60 kids. To put this in perspective -- Ashlyn's current class has 30 kids!
I don't know if this is a place where we will actually end up living, but its exciting to think about this move becoming reality. The listing said it will be available near the beginning of July, which would be perfect for us. Small town living DOES have it's ups and downs. Commuting would obviously be one of them, but Bob will have a company vehicle and gas card so that helps with expenses immensely! We enjoy being within a short drive of a big city, and this area would definitely qualify. Plus, lots of hiking and outdoor activities. I see our future outfitted in NorthFace & Columbia Sportswear for sure! The beauty of this particular place is that we would still be less than a 4 hour drive to my parent's house, and it has a 4th bedroom that will most definitely become a guest room. I'm still not completely sold on the idea of a townhouse, but I could picture our life in that area.
In other news, I love my TO DO lists. I accomplished everything yesterday except for our closet. My list today is more generalized -- picking up, sweeping and vacuuming. I am excited to join with one of my favorite bloggers, Money Saving Mom, in her May challenge to eliminate clutter! Kicking off tomorrow, May 1st, I will be following along and finding 7 things each day to remove from our home. Moving Sale here we come! As much as I love to shop and collect things, I like the idea of a more clutter free life where the things in our home have a purpose. I'm done with having stuff just to have stuff.
7 items each day x 31 days in May = a minimum of 217 items that will be GONE from our house! I'm not sure if I will participate in posting a recap/picture each day... maybe I'll do a Friday afternoon post and stay accountable to the challenge on a weekly basis. Commitment and consistency. I'm determined to see this one through!
Life Is Good.
This morning I found a rental that spoke to me. Now, we have some time left before our move.. so more than anything I'm getting an idea of what is available, and what is within our price range. The listing I found this morning is for a 4 bedroom, 1600 square foot townhome in Cascade Locks. To Google I went, because I didn't have a clue where Cascade Locks was! Well... turns out its about 45-an hour away from Portland. East. Right along the Columbia River. Small town living, with only 1,144 people at the 2010 census. About half the size of Kalama, where we lived prior to Bob getting hired with Cook. The school offers K-6 and has an approximate enrollment of 60 kids. To put this in perspective -- Ashlyn's current class has 30 kids!
I don't know if this is a place where we will actually end up living, but its exciting to think about this move becoming reality. The listing said it will be available near the beginning of July, which would be perfect for us. Small town living DOES have it's ups and downs. Commuting would obviously be one of them, but Bob will have a company vehicle and gas card so that helps with expenses immensely! We enjoy being within a short drive of a big city, and this area would definitely qualify. Plus, lots of hiking and outdoor activities. I see our future outfitted in NorthFace & Columbia Sportswear for sure! The beauty of this particular place is that we would still be less than a 4 hour drive to my parent's house, and it has a 4th bedroom that will most definitely become a guest room. I'm still not completely sold on the idea of a townhouse, but I could picture our life in that area.
In other news, I love my TO DO lists. I accomplished everything yesterday except for our closet. My list today is more generalized -- picking up, sweeping and vacuuming. I am excited to join with one of my favorite bloggers, Money Saving Mom, in her May challenge to eliminate clutter! Kicking off tomorrow, May 1st, I will be following along and finding 7 things each day to remove from our home. Moving Sale here we come! As much as I love to shop and collect things, I like the idea of a more clutter free life where the things in our home have a purpose. I'm done with having stuff just to have stuff.
7 items each day x 31 days in May = a minimum of 217 items that will be GONE from our house! I'm not sure if I will participate in posting a recap/picture each day... maybe I'll do a Friday afternoon post and stay accountable to the challenge on a weekly basis. Commitment and consistency. I'm determined to see this one through!
Life Is Good.
Monday, April 29, 2013
A Case of the Mondays
Some Monday mornings are just blah. This particular Monday morning has been straight up awful. The one accomplishment I am patting myself on the back over is coming home from dropping Ash at school and making coffee, because believe me... I had convinced myself that stopping by Starbucks for a toffee nut white mocha was going to be the reset I needed for today. BUT -- moving is not going to be cheap, even if the man's company helps us with some of the associated costs. So, despite this morning getting off to a bad start, I came home, made a pot of coffee and wrote out my to do list.
My goals for today include:
Call about activating Nasonex coupon
Call ItWorks (IT DOESNT) about the wrong item auto shipping
Pick up Ash at 12:45 from school
Menu plan for the week
Fold & put away the boys clothes
Clean the boys room
Attend mediation orientation meeting this afternoon
AND
Tackle the closet in our room. Eliminate what we don't need to keep and box up what we're keeping but don't need to use on a regular basis.
I am hoping for an EPIC moving sale. My goal is to have $500 saved up for extra moving expenses, whether it be earmarked for a pet deposit, setting up new utilities or filling our fridge/freezer/pantry. The great thing about my goals is that I know they are reasonable, and better yet -- REACHABLE! Its all about being productive and staying motivated.
With that being said, I'm going to pour myself another cup of coffee, allow myself another few minutes on facebook, and get my hiney in gear!
My goals for today include:
Call about activating Nasonex coupon
Call ItWorks (IT DOESNT) about the wrong item auto shipping
Pick up Ash at 12:45 from school
Menu plan for the week
Fold & put away the boys clothes
Clean the boys room
Attend mediation orientation meeting this afternoon
AND
Tackle the closet in our room. Eliminate what we don't need to keep and box up what we're keeping but don't need to use on a regular basis.
I am hoping for an EPIC moving sale. My goal is to have $500 saved up for extra moving expenses, whether it be earmarked for a pet deposit, setting up new utilities or filling our fridge/freezer/pantry. The great thing about my goals is that I know they are reasonable, and better yet -- REACHABLE! Its all about being productive and staying motivated.
With that being said, I'm going to pour myself another cup of coffee, allow myself another few minutes on facebook, and get my hiney in gear!
Wednesday, April 24, 2013
BIG Changes Coming Our Way!
Once again, I want to thank Bob's company, Cook Security Group, for being so awesome!
After being passed up for the first position he interviewed for, he promptly submitted his resume and interviewed for another position, this time the Project Manager position. While he was interviewing they mentioned that there was an open Service Technician spot in the Portland area. He got a call later that afternoon that they needed someone ready to hit the ground running for the project manager position but wanted to offer him the open service tech spot!
It is so exciting to see our long term plans being put into action! Bob has accepted the position in Portland. We are preparing to move when school is out this June as long as they have filled his current position here by that time. It is so extremely exciting and overwhelming all at once! Moving is a pain, but being closer to my family and out of the crazy summer temperatures will be oh so worth it.
We keep discussing what we want our life to be. Will we live in Washington or Oregon? Apartment/Townhouse or a single family home? Country? Subdivision? City? Our options seem endless! I can't wait to settle into our new life, regardless of what it ends up looking like. Until then we continue to somewhat mark time here. With possibly 2 months still until we move, its too soon to pack and too soon to find a new rental. We can't make firm decisions quite yet, but we can dream..... and we are :)
After being passed up for the first position he interviewed for, he promptly submitted his resume and interviewed for another position, this time the Project Manager position. While he was interviewing they mentioned that there was an open Service Technician spot in the Portland area. He got a call later that afternoon that they needed someone ready to hit the ground running for the project manager position but wanted to offer him the open service tech spot!
It is so exciting to see our long term plans being put into action! Bob has accepted the position in Portland. We are preparing to move when school is out this June as long as they have filled his current position here by that time. It is so extremely exciting and overwhelming all at once! Moving is a pain, but being closer to my family and out of the crazy summer temperatures will be oh so worth it.
We keep discussing what we want our life to be. Will we live in Washington or Oregon? Apartment/Townhouse or a single family home? Country? Subdivision? City? Our options seem endless! I can't wait to settle into our new life, regardless of what it ends up looking like. Until then we continue to somewhat mark time here. With possibly 2 months still until we move, its too soon to pack and too soon to find a new rental. We can't make firm decisions quite yet, but we can dream..... and we are :)
Friday, March 8, 2013
Motivation (and a plan!)
Bob applied for a new position within his company last week. I am so proud of him for having the desire to challenge himself, work towards promotions and continue to support our family. I don't know what his chances are for getting this position, but what I DO know is that if it is offered to him we will be moving. I am thrilled about the idea of living in the Southern Washington/Portland area again, but when I look around our house I'm not so thrilled with the idea of the actual moving process. Last night I decided that I need to go through our home, room by room, and purge as if we are getting ready to move. If he gets the position then I'm one step ahead on the process, and if he doesn't get the position then our house is neater, cleaner and more organized.
--On a side note: I saw a banner for the Watershed Festival on Facebook this morning. Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and TONS more country artists that I would love to see. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 15th. A successful yard sale would totally offset some of the cost of tickets! First order of business is to see if my parents would be willing to watch the kiddos and give Bob and I an amazing weekend away. Hmm...
Anyway, back to the scheduled programing. Purging. I wrote out a list of each area in our house and came up with:
Bathrooms
Master Bedroom
Master Closet
Boys Room
Hall Closets
Ashlyn's Room
Living Room/Toy Area/Entry
Kitchen
Laundry Room
Garage
Backyard
11 areas total, some will require more time than others. My plan is to give myself two weeks, starting today, and focus on one area at a time. Two weeks will give me a cushion so that if I'm not able to work on an area one day, or if something takes more than one day (garage) I can devote more time. I will go through each area and determine what we are keeping and what needs to go. The "GO" items will be further divided into categories - yard sale/consignment, free or trash. Whatever doesn't sell from the yard sale/consignment category will be donated. Once I have committed to getting something out of the house I will make sure it goes, one way or another. Wish me luck!
--On a side note: I saw a banner for the Watershed Festival on Facebook this morning. Toby Keith, Brad Paisley and TONS more country artists that I would love to see. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 15th. A successful yard sale would totally offset some of the cost of tickets! First order of business is to see if my parents would be willing to watch the kiddos and give Bob and I an amazing weekend away. Hmm...
Anyway, back to the scheduled programing. Purging. I wrote out a list of each area in our house and came up with:
Bathrooms
Master Bedroom
Master Closet
Boys Room
Hall Closets
Ashlyn's Room
Living Room/Toy Area/Entry
Kitchen
Laundry Room
Garage
Backyard
11 areas total, some will require more time than others. My plan is to give myself two weeks, starting today, and focus on one area at a time. Two weeks will give me a cushion so that if I'm not able to work on an area one day, or if something takes more than one day (garage) I can devote more time. I will go through each area and determine what we are keeping and what needs to go. The "GO" items will be further divided into categories - yard sale/consignment, free or trash. Whatever doesn't sell from the yard sale/consignment category will be donated. Once I have committed to getting something out of the house I will make sure it goes, one way or another. Wish me luck!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Meal Planning & Money Saving
I've started this entry twice already, and also discovered TWICE that the auto save function wasn't working. Third time's a charm, right?
I have finally found a meal planning method that works for our family! I save money on groceries and sanity at 5 o'clock. I'd call that a win-win for sure! This is a peek into how I do meal planning now. Its been some trial and error, and what works for me might not work for you. I think the key here is to be purposeful and flexible at the same time. Don't keep forcing yourself to do something that isn't working. For me, staring at the fridge/freezer/pantry and thinking, "Ok, whats for dinner tonight" was one of those things that just wasn't working. Now I can glance at the list on my fridge, consult the man to see what sounds good to us both, and pull meat out in time to defrost or begin any other prep that might need to be done.
Step 1: Go shopping. I shopped on Saturday at Safeway this week. I have found that the best way for me to save money in combination with meal planning is shopping first and buying whats on sale. Everyone has a general idea of what their family likes to eat and will eat, pick from those main ingredients that are on sale. Build your meals around what you can pick up at the store, not by finding recipes and then purchasing all the ingredients necessary (unless you know from your store's weekly ad what is on sale... then pick your recipes and build your meals around what you have on hand and what you can pick up on sale.)
.JPG)
This is a picture of Saturday's grocery haul, and the following items are what I intend to use for our meals this week and next. I spent a total of $141.24, with 48% savings that breaks down to $90.55 card savings, $19.97 Just For U savings and $14.95 paper coupons redeemed.
I also want to quickly highlight the Just For U deal on Ranchers Reserve beef, $5 off a $20+ purchase. I was able to add this offer to my card and it has a limit of 1 per day, good from 2/27-3/5! I was able to find 3 packages of Ranchers Reserve beef that added up to $20.02 which equaled paying $15.02 after the offer was applied. Safeway also frequently runs a deal where you receive a $10 Catalina (the type of coupons that print out with your receipt, and are good to use on your next purchase) on a $75+ purchase and this past weekend was one of those offer periods. Since the Ranchers Reserve deal is good through tomorrow, I sent my $10 Catalina coupon with Bob to work today and gave him instructions to stop by Safeway on his way home and pick out $20 worth of Ranchers Reserve beef. Depending on how close he gets to $20 without going over, the Just For U offer will take $5 off, and after using the $10 catalina coupon he will pay $5 (or slightly over) for another $20 worth of beef! I'm anxious to see what he picks.....
The Meat:
6pk boneless skinless chicken breasts - 2.49/lb for a total price of $7.25 (my target price for chicken breasts is $1.99/lb, but we had used all of our chicken in the freezer and I wanted to add some variety to our mostly beef menu this week!)
2 Hilshire Farms Sausages - B1G1
Ranchers Reserve beef strips - $5/$20 Ranchers Reserve purchase with my Just For U offers
Ranchers Reserve stew beef
Ranchers Reserve london broil
The Supporting Roles:
1pk egg noodles
1 family size herb & spinach ravioli - on clearance for $2.99
2 bell peppers
2pks frozen corn Green Giant Steamers - $1.98 for both after Just For U savings
asparagus (made a great addition to our pulled pork and potato salad on Sunday night!)
Step 2: Assess what you have on hand, and what you were able to purchase. Come up with 5-8 meal ideas that you can make with what you have. I say 5-8 because its likely that you will have enough for a leftover night, you may be accounting for a meal at friends/family or ordering pizza/eating out. (or those nights where nothing sounds good so you just eat a bowl of cereal.... hands please, who else has done this?)
I have tried meal planning that assigns specific meals to specific days, but there are times that my "assigned" meal just doesn't sound good. I like having the flexibility of picking something off the list and knowing that we have everything needed to prepare the meal. Which brings me to step 3....
.JPG)
Step 3: As you create your meal list for the week, make a separate grocery list that includes the few items you might have forgotten at the store or that you are now determining you need to round out your meals. This shopping trip should only have to be a few items because you have already done the bulk of your shopping.
Some of the items on my menu are utilizing things we had available (creamy wild rice soup base, 1lb ground beef, spaghetti sauce & noodles, tortillas) and some of the items from my grocery shopping trip won't make it on this week's menu. Are you seeing the trend with being flexible? I like being flexible!
Since the man's schedule can vary, I like to include a crock pot meal, a few quick and easy meals and a grilling meal or two.
Our Menu:
-Stroganoff in the crock pot & frozen corn (using the egg noodles and stew beef)
- Fajitas (using beef strips & bell peppers)
- Grilled chicken and twice baked potatoes
- Creamy chicken wild rice soup with homemade bread, hopefully.
- Sausage & poatoes with frozen corn (Hilshire farm sausuages)
- Spaghetti & meatballs
.JPG)
Monday, February 25, 2013
What $100 in Groceries Looks Like to my Family
.JPG)
For all of us that like visuals -- here it is! This is what $100 in groceries looks like in our household. Well, $115.85 to be exact.... or.. $111.33 (after my Endorse rewards) to be exactly exact.
I do a big-ish shopping trip generally once each weekend to make sure we have what we need for the coming week, though I do generally end up running to the store mid week to get milk and those few items that we need to round out our meals (which is why you don't see any milk pictured here!)
This was my shopping trip at Safeway this weekend. I want to highlight how its possible to save money on groceries without going all "Crazy Couponer" or running from store to store to store. This was one store, maybe 15-20 minutes of before shopping prep time to check the contents of our fridge/freezer/pantry, and maybe 10 minutes to load savings onto my Just For U account and check to see what the others in blogisphere were saying about Safeway deals this week!
I stock up on items I know we will use when prices are low. This may not look like a "complete" shopping trip, but that is because I always try to use what I have at home. Sometimes I buy more meat, sometimes I buy more canned goods... the way I shop is dependent on the sale cycles.
Here is a breakdown of this shopping trip:
3 boxes of honey nut cheerios medley
1 box of peanut butter cinnamon toast crunch
1 box of Safeway brand graham crackers
2 bottles of Safeway brand apple juice
1 47.8oz jar of Safeway brand applesauce
4 boxes of Safeway brand pasta
1 box of Safeway brand fruit snacks (Star Wars, yeah baby!)
2 bags of soup mix (B1G1)
2 boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars
2 boxes of Better Cheddar crackers
1 family size Oreos
2 pouches of McCormick chili seasoning
2 boxes of Capri Sun roarin waters
1 Mrs Butterworth syrup
2 Plum Organic tots pouches
4 4pks of Angel Soft tp
1 box of Kleenex
2 Kraft Fresh Take cheese/seasoning mixes
18 ct eggs
2lb sharp cheddar cheese block
2lb shredded medium cheddar cheese
1 container blue cheese crumbles
1 16oz container sour cream
1 package of Challenge stick butter
3 3pks of Dawn scrubbers
1 package Mom to Mom (Safeway brand) diapers
1 package Monster High erasers (clearance priced for 99 cents)
1 loaf white bread
3.7lbs hamburger
4lb pork shoulder roast
2.6lbs bananas
1 cucumber
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
1 onion
2 avacados
1 bag baby carrots
5lb box of Cutie oranges
1 bag salad mix
1 bag spinach
1 bottle of Maries salad dressing
1 package tortelloni (clearance priced at $1.99)
.JPG)
My savings breakdown shows the value of shopping sales and using store cards:
Total Saved - $97.95 or 46%!
(Card savings - $62.18, Just for U savings - $20.67, paper coupons - $15.10)
I think this shopping trip shows that you don't need to make couponing a full time job in order to see savings, the smartest way to shop is paying attention to sales and cycles and building your menu around what you are able to pick up at the grocery store and already have on hand. I know the food we eat isn't always the healthiest, but I try not to buy a lot of processed foods. There may not be a lot of coupons for produce and whole foods, but they DO exist, and store sales and club card savings can really help you in those areas! The key is being flexible with your shopping trips and menus.
As always, I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have about couponing. Happy Shopping, go save some money!
Friday, February 15, 2013
Pay Period Review {Feb 1-14}
We interrupt this regularly scheduled review to admit that the budgeting attempts went out the window! I find that its harder to budget and be responsible when we have more money than we are used to having. Now that our tax refund has been mostly spent/enjoyed/earmarked for bills, and we have made it past two birthdays and Valentines Day we are actually happy to be back to our normal financial situation.
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Pay Period Review { Jan 18-31 }
Budgeting should be a four letter word.
Its a challenge and disappointment, a goal and a curse. I need to continue to remind myself that this is a work in progress and that even at a minimum, having a budget outlined and tracking our spending is a HUGE step and better than doing nothing at all.
Our "monkey wrench" during this period and our current pay period has been Ashlyn's birthday and receiving a hefty tax refund. Some people see having a big influx of money as a good thing. Personally, it scares the heck outa me! I can be so impulsive at times that I stress over purchases and how to spend and be responsible at the same time... but more on that to come with the next review!
Ashlyn turned 10 yesterday! It makes me feel old to be the parent of a ten year old... the fact that I'm on the brink of 30 doesn't phase me, but a 10 year old daughter seems monumental! I wanted to make sure we celebrated this birthday in a big way, so we invited Ashlyn's best friend from our neighborhood to spend the night with us at the new Holiday Inn Express here in Red Bluff. We had a great time at our girl's night slumber party/pool party!
All in all, including the cost of the hotel room, pizza, snacks & birthday gifts I think we were able to keep Ashlyn's celebration in the $150 range. I love being purposeful with gift giving, planning ahead and shopping for deals. We were able to get an outfit from Justice (Yikes! Expensive!) for Ash to wear to dance rehersals. It was $30 for a pair of yoga type pants and a cute top, and that was after I used a $25 off $50 purchase reward card that I got for free from a lady on Red Bluff Needs. Now, had it not been her birthday I probably would have searched the thrift stores for an outfit or two, but birthdays deserve something new! We also gifted a pair of Monster High Earbuds (free through Amazon when I redeemed some swagbucks, an American Girl book called The Care and Keeping of You that I found at a yardsale last summer, an American Girl craft kit that I got on super clearance at Michaels and an 8x10 print of the fruits of the Spirit with a cool frame also found at Michaels.
Now, onto the regular scheduled programing:
Groceries/Consumables:
Initially budgeted: $300
Actual spending: $349.87
Hmmm.. Over again. I need to determine a better way to work within this category. I think I do pretty well with the grocery part in seeing big savings, but this will be something I focus on continuously. Using coupons, shopping sales and menu planning is helping us tremendously. We need to get back to using cloth diapers more frequently, and maybe be a little more selective with the drug store deals I'm doing. I know the way I shop saves us money in the long run, but I need to do better at keeping the budget in mind WHILE I'm shopping!
Eating Out:
Initially budgeted: $50
Actual spending: $18
It seems like this can't possibly be right. Did we actually not get pizza, or anything else with the family? This $18 included $9.11 at Sonic for an afternoon ice cream treat one day, and $8.89 for a late night Mom & Dad McDonalds run.
Gas:
Initially budgeted: $50
Actual spending: $45!
Yep, loving our van (and Safeway's gas reward program) more and more and more!
Spending Money:
Bob's budgeted: $50
Bob's actual spending: $79.81
Bob's spending was mostly eating out while he was working. This number is crazy to me, I would think he might want some of his spending money to actually spend and buy himself stuff he wants. Granted, he filed an expense report and will get about $50 back from his per diem allotment when he had to spend the night on the coast for work. Still... definitely need to work on this area for the budget AND our health.
Hailey's budgeted: $100
Hailey's actual spending: $84.01
I am so proud of myself! I really thought this would be a bigger challenge, and I'm sure there are times where it will be, but it helps to be aware of this category and be more specific and conscious of my purchases.
We had a lot of "extras" during this period: $10 at the mobile vet clinic to get Dallas utd on his rabies shot, $45 for Ashlyn's dance costume for the recital coming in June, $55 for Dannon's soccer registration and $40 to some friends of ours. I was thrilled to be able to raise the $100 for the kid's activities by selling items on Red Bluff Needs and Craigslist.
Part of my yard sale/thrifting hobby is knowing what I can buy for cheap and resell. When Ashlyn and I were in Sacramento during the beginning of January I found a like new pair of women's K2 inline skates. The beauty of owning a smart phone is that I could look up the specifics on the spot. I ended up buying the skates for $8.99 when I realized they retailed for $120+ and successfully sold them on craigslist for $50! That one ten dollar purchase ended up paying Ashlyn's costume fee. Bring on yard sale season!
Its a challenge and disappointment, a goal and a curse. I need to continue to remind myself that this is a work in progress and that even at a minimum, having a budget outlined and tracking our spending is a HUGE step and better than doing nothing at all.
Our "monkey wrench" during this period and our current pay period has been Ashlyn's birthday and receiving a hefty tax refund. Some people see having a big influx of money as a good thing. Personally, it scares the heck outa me! I can be so impulsive at times that I stress over purchases and how to spend and be responsible at the same time... but more on that to come with the next review!
Ashlyn turned 10 yesterday! It makes me feel old to be the parent of a ten year old... the fact that I'm on the brink of 30 doesn't phase me, but a 10 year old daughter seems monumental! I wanted to make sure we celebrated this birthday in a big way, so we invited Ashlyn's best friend from our neighborhood to spend the night with us at the new Holiday Inn Express here in Red Bluff. We had a great time at our girl's night slumber party/pool party!
All in all, including the cost of the hotel room, pizza, snacks & birthday gifts I think we were able to keep Ashlyn's celebration in the $150 range. I love being purposeful with gift giving, planning ahead and shopping for deals. We were able to get an outfit from Justice (Yikes! Expensive!) for Ash to wear to dance rehersals. It was $30 for a pair of yoga type pants and a cute top, and that was after I used a $25 off $50 purchase reward card that I got for free from a lady on Red Bluff Needs. Now, had it not been her birthday I probably would have searched the thrift stores for an outfit or two, but birthdays deserve something new! We also gifted a pair of Monster High Earbuds (free through Amazon when I redeemed some swagbucks, an American Girl book called The Care and Keeping of You that I found at a yardsale last summer, an American Girl craft kit that I got on super clearance at Michaels and an 8x10 print of the fruits of the Spirit with a cool frame also found at Michaels.
Now, onto the regular scheduled programing:
Groceries/Consumables:
Initially budgeted: $300
Actual spending: $349.87
Hmmm.. Over again. I need to determine a better way to work within this category. I think I do pretty well with the grocery part in seeing big savings, but this will be something I focus on continuously. Using coupons, shopping sales and menu planning is helping us tremendously. We need to get back to using cloth diapers more frequently, and maybe be a little more selective with the drug store deals I'm doing. I know the way I shop saves us money in the long run, but I need to do better at keeping the budget in mind WHILE I'm shopping!
Eating Out:
Initially budgeted: $50
Actual spending: $18
It seems like this can't possibly be right. Did we actually not get pizza, or anything else with the family? This $18 included $9.11 at Sonic for an afternoon ice cream treat one day, and $8.89 for a late night Mom & Dad McDonalds run.
Gas:
Initially budgeted: $50
Actual spending: $45!
Yep, loving our van (and Safeway's gas reward program) more and more and more!
Spending Money:
Bob's budgeted: $50
Bob's actual spending: $79.81
Bob's spending was mostly eating out while he was working. This number is crazy to me, I would think he might want some of his spending money to actually spend and buy himself stuff he wants. Granted, he filed an expense report and will get about $50 back from his per diem allotment when he had to spend the night on the coast for work. Still... definitely need to work on this area for the budget AND our health.
Hailey's budgeted: $100
Hailey's actual spending: $84.01
I am so proud of myself! I really thought this would be a bigger challenge, and I'm sure there are times where it will be, but it helps to be aware of this category and be more specific and conscious of my purchases.
We had a lot of "extras" during this period: $10 at the mobile vet clinic to get Dallas utd on his rabies shot, $45 for Ashlyn's dance costume for the recital coming in June, $55 for Dannon's soccer registration and $40 to some friends of ours. I was thrilled to be able to raise the $100 for the kid's activities by selling items on Red Bluff Needs and Craigslist.
Part of my yard sale/thrifting hobby is knowing what I can buy for cheap and resell. When Ashlyn and I were in Sacramento during the beginning of January I found a like new pair of women's K2 inline skates. The beauty of owning a smart phone is that I could look up the specifics on the spot. I ended up buying the skates for $8.99 when I realized they retailed for $120+ and successfully sold them on craigslist for $50! That one ten dollar purchase ended up paying Ashlyn's costume fee. Bring on yard sale season!
Sunday, January 27, 2013
1st Budgeting Pay Period Review
I have done my best to track our spending in the following categories: Groceries/Consumables, Eating Out, Gas and personal spending. My hope is that we can determine amounts for each category that challenge us to stay within budget, but are also realistic for our life and our needs. We set rough dollar amounts for each category to give us an idea of what will work, and will review and tweak these amounts once we determine what our spending habits really are.
This is a review of how the first pay period went.
Groceries/Consumables:
Initially budgeted = $250
Actual spending = $347.35
Yikes! I think its a good thing this is a category that we can work on to see better savings, though $250 for this category is probably a bit low. I would like to be able to increase this budget category to $300 per pay period and do our best to reach that goal and then whittle it down a bit. This category is really broad, includes diapers, dogfood, booze, newspapers (for coupons, of course!), groceries and drug store deals. Pretty much everything we eat or consume in some way.
Eating Out:
Initially budgeted = $50
Actual spending = $79.47
Another category where we overspent, but I feel we did pretty good. This included a trip to Sacramento to take Ashlyn's grandma Tobie to the airport. Ashlyn and I enjoyed a thrift store shopping afternoon and lunch at Chick-fil-A. We also had a last minute meal planning fail where nothing really sounded good to me so we ordered pizza. Dominos put a $26.83 dent into this category, but provided dinner and a few lunches for our family. I think we can continue to try and stick with a $50 family eating out budget, though we may need to make some exceptions during February when we have Ashlyn's birthday, my birthday and Valentines day.
Gas:
Initially budgeted = $50
Actual spending = $38.19
Under budget, wahoo! One thing I love about our new van is the gas mileage, that plus the fact that I don't do a ton of driving makes this category an easy one for us on a normal basis.
Spending Money:
Bob's initially budgeted = $50
Bob's actual spending = $29.77
The majority of Bob's spending was on lunch while he is working. This is something we need to focus on. He was within his spending limits but I'm sure he'd enjoy spending his money on something fun occasionally, we need to do a little more lunch packing and a little less McDonalds buying.
Hailey's initially budgeted = $100
Hailey's actual spending = $106.33
YES!! This impresses me, big time! I'm a shopper. This amount was spent during our thrift store shopping day, a Redding trip to Joann's & Michaels and included a few birthday items for Ashlyn!
There were also a few random expenses & purchases that came up during this period, $14.20 in ebay fees and $40 that we spent on a chair from Red Bluff Needs. Not just any chair, Dannon's favorite "Awesome gamer chair!"
All in all, I think this was a good start to our budgeting attempt! Tracking our spending in these areas will help us to be more aware of where the money is going, and which areas we can focus on improving. I'd like to also start keeping track of the money I bring into the house by selling items on the facebook buy/sell groups I'm a part of and Craigslist. More on that to come with our next pay period review!
This is a review of how the first pay period went.
Groceries/Consumables:
Initially budgeted = $250
Actual spending = $347.35
Yikes! I think its a good thing this is a category that we can work on to see better savings, though $250 for this category is probably a bit low. I would like to be able to increase this budget category to $300 per pay period and do our best to reach that goal and then whittle it down a bit. This category is really broad, includes diapers, dogfood, booze, newspapers (for coupons, of course!), groceries and drug store deals. Pretty much everything we eat or consume in some way.
Eating Out:
Initially budgeted = $50
Actual spending = $79.47
Another category where we overspent, but I feel we did pretty good. This included a trip to Sacramento to take Ashlyn's grandma Tobie to the airport. Ashlyn and I enjoyed a thrift store shopping afternoon and lunch at Chick-fil-A. We also had a last minute meal planning fail where nothing really sounded good to me so we ordered pizza. Dominos put a $26.83 dent into this category, but provided dinner and a few lunches for our family. I think we can continue to try and stick with a $50 family eating out budget, though we may need to make some exceptions during February when we have Ashlyn's birthday, my birthday and Valentines day.
Gas:
Initially budgeted = $50
Actual spending = $38.19
Under budget, wahoo! One thing I love about our new van is the gas mileage, that plus the fact that I don't do a ton of driving makes this category an easy one for us on a normal basis.
Spending Money:
Bob's initially budgeted = $50
Bob's actual spending = $29.77
The majority of Bob's spending was on lunch while he is working. This is something we need to focus on. He was within his spending limits but I'm sure he'd enjoy spending his money on something fun occasionally, we need to do a little more lunch packing and a little less McDonalds buying.
Hailey's initially budgeted = $100
Hailey's actual spending = $106.33
YES!! This impresses me, big time! I'm a shopper. This amount was spent during our thrift store shopping day, a Redding trip to Joann's & Michaels and included a few birthday items for Ashlyn!
There were also a few random expenses & purchases that came up during this period, $14.20 in ebay fees and $40 that we spent on a chair from Red Bluff Needs. Not just any chair, Dannon's favorite "Awesome gamer chair!"
All in all, I think this was a good start to our budgeting attempt! Tracking our spending in these areas will help us to be more aware of where the money is going, and which areas we can focus on improving. I'd like to also start keeping track of the money I bring into the house by selling items on the facebook buy/sell groups I'm a part of and Craigslist. More on that to come with our next pay period review!
Wednesday, January 16, 2013
2013
Well, 16 days late, but....
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bob and I kicked around some ideas for goals to work towards in 2013 (and we do have things we want, erm.. NEED to work on) but what we ended up coming up with is a 2013 Bucket List! We had a little mini New Years Day adventure and took the boys out to breakfast at the Black Bear Diner in Paradise. Going out to breakfast on new years day is becoming a tradition, 2 years in the running now! Anyway, on our drive home we came up with this list that I jotted down on the top of the to-go box that was holding my mini apple pie. In no particular order, here is our list:
Boys baptised
2 camping trips
Visit 2 new Food Network restaurants
New ink
Find a church
Real vacation (Tombstone, Lincoln City, Great Wolf Lodge)
Volunteer opportunity
5K
Attend 1 sporting event
Geocaching
Family emergency kit
1 new recipe/month cooking together
Monthly dates
These are all things I'm really excited about! A few are a little more daunting to me than others (finding a church and participating in a 5k), but I really feel like this is a great mix of experiences and things we want to do together and as a family this year. I really want to focus more on living with purpose. There is always going to be the daily grind, but I want to feel confident that we are experiencing life in positive ways, and ways that might be a little different than how we normally do things.
In addition to our bucket list for the year, we are focusing on building and following a budget. Its hard. We're not even completely 2 weeks in to the first budgeted pay period and I feel like I've blown it. I need to remind myself though, that we haven't "blown it" we are learning. Its going to be a process and if we can improve a little bit each month, by the end of the year we should have a handle on this!
Here is a rough outline of what our household budget looks like right now. It always looks great on paper, but doesn't carry over quite how I would like it to in real life. The biggest blessing of all is that Bob has a great job, and even though we don't have it all, and often have more month than money, we have a roof over our heads and food to fill our bellies!
Monthly Expenses - $2000
(rent, water, PGE, Directv, Sprint, Allstate, AT&T, car payment, Rx's)
Gas - $120
Groceries/Consumables - $500
Eating out - $100
Personal spending - $250
Debt Payoff - $200
(Tier 1 - Court, Kohls, Chevron, Sprint, Orchard CC)
I'm trying my best to get a handle on this budget thing. We're not friends. Yet. My hope is that since a lot of our budgeting categories are going to be per pay period, that I can track our spending and update here as a way to stay accountable and also as a way to see where we started, and how we finish. My biggest brag so far is that we had a debt free Christmas AND paid off the balance on the Kohls card in December. According to www.undebt.it we are set for our Tier 1 debts to be paid off in April 2013. I think we'll have them out of the way before that!
Here is to wishing 2013 is happy, healthy & successful!
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Bob and I kicked around some ideas for goals to work towards in 2013 (and we do have things we want, erm.. NEED to work on) but what we ended up coming up with is a 2013 Bucket List! We had a little mini New Years Day adventure and took the boys out to breakfast at the Black Bear Diner in Paradise. Going out to breakfast on new years day is becoming a tradition, 2 years in the running now! Anyway, on our drive home we came up with this list that I jotted down on the top of the to-go box that was holding my mini apple pie. In no particular order, here is our list:
Boys baptised
2 camping trips
Visit 2 new Food Network restaurants
New ink
Find a church
Real vacation (Tombstone, Lincoln City, Great Wolf Lodge)
Volunteer opportunity
5K
Attend 1 sporting event
Geocaching
Family emergency kit
1 new recipe/month cooking together
Monthly dates
These are all things I'm really excited about! A few are a little more daunting to me than others (finding a church and participating in a 5k), but I really feel like this is a great mix of experiences and things we want to do together and as a family this year. I really want to focus more on living with purpose. There is always going to be the daily grind, but I want to feel confident that we are experiencing life in positive ways, and ways that might be a little different than how we normally do things.
In addition to our bucket list for the year, we are focusing on building and following a budget. Its hard. We're not even completely 2 weeks in to the first budgeted pay period and I feel like I've blown it. I need to remind myself though, that we haven't "blown it" we are learning. Its going to be a process and if we can improve a little bit each month, by the end of the year we should have a handle on this!
Here is a rough outline of what our household budget looks like right now. It always looks great on paper, but doesn't carry over quite how I would like it to in real life. The biggest blessing of all is that Bob has a great job, and even though we don't have it all, and often have more month than money, we have a roof over our heads and food to fill our bellies!
Monthly Expenses - $2000
(rent, water, PGE, Directv, Sprint, Allstate, AT&T, car payment, Rx's)
Gas - $120
Groceries/Consumables - $500
Eating out - $100
Personal spending - $250
Debt Payoff - $200
(Tier 1 - Court, Kohls, Chevron, Sprint, Orchard CC)
I'm trying my best to get a handle on this budget thing. We're not friends. Yet. My hope is that since a lot of our budgeting categories are going to be per pay period, that I can track our spending and update here as a way to stay accountable and also as a way to see where we started, and how we finish. My biggest brag so far is that we had a debt free Christmas AND paid off the balance on the Kohls card in December. According to www.undebt.it we are set for our Tier 1 debts to be paid off in April 2013. I think we'll have them out of the way before that!
Here is to wishing 2013 is happy, healthy & successful!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)