Do you spend money on things that aren't very frugal?
Use the comments box to give your opinion.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Budget Update
So... I've spent a little more on food than I had originally budgeted for, (click here to see the previous budget), but interestingly enough, I'm still under my whole grocery budget!
The full grocery budget was at $450, and we are on the 20th of the month, with pretty much everything covered, and I've reached $380. I have yet to calculate how everything was broken up, but I'm not too worried about how it all divides if it goes down just a bit. I know you can't spend less each month, but I do aim to spend less and less until it is absolutely impossible for me to save even one more penny than what I am doing.
I told my husband this week that someday we will have enough room in our budget to splurge on things like roast beef, or quality steaks. I love the steaks I made last night (Click here for the recipe), but they aren't comparable to a really thick and juicy steak. They are certainly a good change from the regular ground beef though.
I am continuing to compare groceries, but it's taking me awhile. I can't believe how long I spend in each aisle... it takes me hours in each section of each store! I don't have a lot of time right now, as a busy mom with little kids and a husband to look after, but I'm working on it slowly. I'll get there soon!
The full grocery budget was at $450, and we are on the 20th of the month, with pretty much everything covered, and I've reached $380. I have yet to calculate how everything was broken up, but I'm not too worried about how it all divides if it goes down just a bit. I know you can't spend less each month, but I do aim to spend less and less until it is absolutely impossible for me to save even one more penny than what I am doing.
I told my husband this week that someday we will have enough room in our budget to splurge on things like roast beef, or quality steaks. I love the steaks I made last night (Click here for the recipe), but they aren't comparable to a really thick and juicy steak. They are certainly a good change from the regular ground beef though.
I am continuing to compare groceries, but it's taking me awhile. I can't believe how long I spend in each aisle... it takes me hours in each section of each store! I don't have a lot of time right now, as a busy mom with little kids and a husband to look after, but I'm working on it slowly. I'll get there soon!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Highly Recommend Dave Ramsey
So as most of you know, I'm like majorly into Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and Total Money Makeover! This stuff has changed my life.
If you have debt, or can't seem to make ends meet, you really need to go check out his site. Dave Ramsey is about the best thing that has happened to my entire family tree! It's not only my financial life that has drastically turned for the better, but it's my brother's and sister's, my brother's and sister's in law, it's my parents, and someday, my children!
When I registered for the Financial Peace University course, I wasn't sure that it would do us any good. After all, it's not like I was automatically finding a new higher paying job! He wasn't going to come in and give me a million bucks to help me out! I was a little skeptical, but excited as well. I knew I was willing to do what it took, whatever that was, to make things work, and I knew he could tell me how.
On our first night of the course, my husband and I knew without any doubt that we could tackle this thing. We could, and would! By the end of the course, we had personally paid off over $7000 of debt!!!
Now let's get something straight. My husband and I are not big earners. My husband is a drywall taper, and I am a stay-at-home mom. One income, which I'm incredibly thankful for, that is somewhere around $45,000 a year. In the 3 months that the course took us, we had a $1000 emergency fund set aside, and we put $7000 towards debt!!
How? Easy. Or not easy. Simple, not easy. We cut, and I do mean cut, a LOT of spending, and sold every last thing we could think of. It really was not easy at all, but it was worth it. We also received our tax refund, which contributed $4000 to the debt payment. We literally cut every last penny that we could, and I began my journey into finding ways to seriously save money. I searched local classified ad sites for free stuff, and I sold some stuff of my own. Slowly, we made progress.
Where are we now? Debt free, except for our house!!! Yeah baby!! :D Our house should be paid off in 23 years if we stick to the plan, but we hope to be completely debt free in 15 years. I'd love for it to be sooner, but that will depend on how income goes. We are currently working on getting a full emergency fund in place (3-6 months worth of expenses), and by the looks of it, that should be taken care of within the next year.
I am so thankful to Dave and his teaching, I cannot believe that I am finally out of this rut of always spending a little more than we make! My husband and I haven't argued about money, we haven't been surprised at each other's purchases, and we haven't wished the other took more financial responsibility. We are truly reaching Financial Peace!
We will update you here and there as we head towards the ultimate goal of being completely debt free, and building wealth. Thanks for staying tuned, and for traveling along with us for this journey.
If you have debt, or can't seem to make ends meet, you really need to go check out his site. Dave Ramsey is about the best thing that has happened to my entire family tree! It's not only my financial life that has drastically turned for the better, but it's my brother's and sister's, my brother's and sister's in law, it's my parents, and someday, my children!
When I registered for the Financial Peace University course, I wasn't sure that it would do us any good. After all, it's not like I was automatically finding a new higher paying job! He wasn't going to come in and give me a million bucks to help me out! I was a little skeptical, but excited as well. I knew I was willing to do what it took, whatever that was, to make things work, and I knew he could tell me how.
On our first night of the course, my husband and I knew without any doubt that we could tackle this thing. We could, and would! By the end of the course, we had personally paid off over $7000 of debt!!!
Now let's get something straight. My husband and I are not big earners. My husband is a drywall taper, and I am a stay-at-home mom. One income, which I'm incredibly thankful for, that is somewhere around $45,000 a year. In the 3 months that the course took us, we had a $1000 emergency fund set aside, and we put $7000 towards debt!!
How? Easy. Or not easy. Simple, not easy. We cut, and I do mean cut, a LOT of spending, and sold every last thing we could think of. It really was not easy at all, but it was worth it. We also received our tax refund, which contributed $4000 to the debt payment. We literally cut every last penny that we could, and I began my journey into finding ways to seriously save money. I searched local classified ad sites for free stuff, and I sold some stuff of my own. Slowly, we made progress.
Where are we now? Debt free, except for our house!!! Yeah baby!! :D Our house should be paid off in 23 years if we stick to the plan, but we hope to be completely debt free in 15 years. I'd love for it to be sooner, but that will depend on how income goes. We are currently working on getting a full emergency fund in place (3-6 months worth of expenses), and by the looks of it, that should be taken care of within the next year.
I am so thankful to Dave and his teaching, I cannot believe that I am finally out of this rut of always spending a little more than we make! My husband and I haven't argued about money, we haven't been surprised at each other's purchases, and we haven't wished the other took more financial responsibility. We are truly reaching Financial Peace!
We will update you here and there as we head towards the ultimate goal of being completely debt free, and building wealth. Thanks for staying tuned, and for traveling along with us for this journey.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Monthly Meal Planning - My technique
Over the last few weeks, I have been brainstorming ways to meal plan. I hate feeling boxed into one set meal for each day, I never know what I really want until I get to about 3:00pm and have to start thinking of dinner anyways. To have a menu means much less time thinking, but it also means much less creativity.
I've thought of things like, what if I have company? Or what if it's too hot outside to roast a chicken for hours in the oven? What if it's cold and rainy, and I just want soup? What if we are scheduled to have spaghetti and I really want perogies?
Meal planning has sounded very boring to me, something I wouldn't be able to cope with.
After giving it much thought though, and making a massive list of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that I like to make, I came up with a plan. I picked 35 dinners, 35 lunches, and 35 breakfasts, (yes, there were many duplicates, especially for breakfast and lunch), and wrote them out on index cards. For dinners, I had 30 "regular" dinners, which are all fairly low-priced, and 5 special dinners that may cost a little more. I listed the ingredients on the cards, as well as any side dishes I could choose from. I then gathered every ingredient off of those cards and created my monthly shopping list.
I put the index cards in a small box and separated the cards into each meal. Instead of being held to a certain meal for each day, I can now choose from the box of cards, and make meals based on what I've planned for. I made 35 choices so that if I have guests, I can expand the meal without going short at the end of the month. If I have no guests for meals, I'll save money next month because I'll still have some left over groceries.
Usually, our grocery/household items bill is $600 a month. This is broken up as follows:
This month, our aim is to do the following budget:
We'll see how we do, but so far, it's been pretty good! I'm hoping to gather coupons for diapers and cash in on London Drugs coupon stacking this month as well, and that would free up some more cash.
I'll keep you all posted, we'll see how it goes!
I've thought of things like, what if I have company? Or what if it's too hot outside to roast a chicken for hours in the oven? What if it's cold and rainy, and I just want soup? What if we are scheduled to have spaghetti and I really want perogies?
Meal planning has sounded very boring to me, something I wouldn't be able to cope with.
After giving it much thought though, and making a massive list of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners that I like to make, I came up with a plan. I picked 35 dinners, 35 lunches, and 35 breakfasts, (yes, there were many duplicates, especially for breakfast and lunch), and wrote them out on index cards. For dinners, I had 30 "regular" dinners, which are all fairly low-priced, and 5 special dinners that may cost a little more. I listed the ingredients on the cards, as well as any side dishes I could choose from. I then gathered every ingredient off of those cards and created my monthly shopping list.
I put the index cards in a small box and separated the cards into each meal. Instead of being held to a certain meal for each day, I can now choose from the box of cards, and make meals based on what I've planned for. I made 35 choices so that if I have guests, I can expand the meal without going short at the end of the month. If I have no guests for meals, I'll save money next month because I'll still have some left over groceries.
Usually, our grocery/household items bill is $600 a month. This is broken up as follows:
- $130 - Costco diapers, Huggies Wipes. (Huggies wipes are the same price at Costco as the Kirkland wipes are, and I far prefer my Huggies.)
- $100 - Goat's Milk. (I keep this as it's own category because it's SO expensive, and my kids are allergic to cows milk, and I won't feed them soy milk.) Sometimes we get almond or rice milk to cook with, as it's just a little cheaper than the goats milk. We do no other diary, so no yogurt, cheese, or anything like that, unless we get goat cheese on a very special occasion.
- $320 - Food
- $50 - Other household groceries (paper products, cleaning products, etc.)
This month, our aim is to do the following budget:
- $100 - Diapers etc. (Using less wipes, trying to potty train my son)
- $80 - Goat's Milk (I've been watering it down just a little and using it less in cooking)
- $230 - Food
- $40 - Other household groceries
We'll see how we do, but so far, it's been pretty good! I'm hoping to gather coupons for diapers and cash in on London Drugs coupon stacking this month as well, and that would free up some more cash.
I'll keep you all posted, we'll see how it goes!
Walmart vs President's Choice
So, dear readers, I have completed the first of many grocery price comparisons.
Edmonton Walmart vs President's Choice
After a very thorough price per unit comparison, I am surprised to say that Walmart beats President's Choice! I'm talking about specifically The Wholesale Club items, which are said to be even cheaper than Superstore. I was very surprised. At least here in Edmonton, Walmart's Great Value brand, even in the lower quantities, beats PC's No Name brand for price per unit.
I expected to find that Great Value beat No Name in the smaller quantity cans and packages, but I was very shocked to find that even in the price per unit of the larger cans and jumbo sized items, Great Value still comes out on top! Some things, like large bags of cooking oats, large jugs of oil, and some frozen goods are cheaper through No Name, but Walmart has better priced frozen veggies, though not of the same wide selection.
So far, I have not done a lot of the paperwork behind the comparison, but that will come and I will prove to you that Great Value is indeed of great value. The sad thing is, some Walmart stores do not have the selection that I have access to at my local Walmart. If your store doesn't have the canned and frozen foods, you won't be able to find these amazing deals. I am thrilled that my local Walmart is continuing to upgrade over the next year, and will be adding produce to their inventory. I hope to find some excellent deals in that area as well.
I have created a meal plan for the month of July, and using relatively low expense meals, I have done nearly all my grocery shopping and spent only $169!! I need to buy some ground beef and bacon (Costco seems to be the best for these items), and possibly top up on eggs and milk as the month goes on. But for the most part, I have cut my bill by 50% by simply shopping the cheapest place, for the store brand items, after I've made a month's food menu.
Eggs, milk, and butter are all considerably cheaper at WalMart than anywhere else I've looked. Bread is cheaper at Wholesale Club for their $0.99 bread. They have bagels, hot dog and hamburger buns, specialty breads, English muffins, and many other types of bread all in their discount shelves, all for 99 cents.
In my opinion, once it's all weighed out, I'd give Walmart the gold medal for today's comparison. Their logo and statement beneath is ringing true so far.
Edmonton Walmart vs President's Choice
After a very thorough price per unit comparison, I am surprised to say that Walmart beats President's Choice! I'm talking about specifically The Wholesale Club items, which are said to be even cheaper than Superstore. I was very surprised. At least here in Edmonton, Walmart's Great Value brand, even in the lower quantities, beats PC's No Name brand for price per unit.
I expected to find that Great Value beat No Name in the smaller quantity cans and packages, but I was very shocked to find that even in the price per unit of the larger cans and jumbo sized items, Great Value still comes out on top! Some things, like large bags of cooking oats, large jugs of oil, and some frozen goods are cheaper through No Name, but Walmart has better priced frozen veggies, though not of the same wide selection.
So far, I have not done a lot of the paperwork behind the comparison, but that will come and I will prove to you that Great Value is indeed of great value. The sad thing is, some Walmart stores do not have the selection that I have access to at my local Walmart. If your store doesn't have the canned and frozen foods, you won't be able to find these amazing deals. I am thrilled that my local Walmart is continuing to upgrade over the next year, and will be adding produce to their inventory. I hope to find some excellent deals in that area as well.
I have created a meal plan for the month of July, and using relatively low expense meals, I have done nearly all my grocery shopping and spent only $169!! I need to buy some ground beef and bacon (Costco seems to be the best for these items), and possibly top up on eggs and milk as the month goes on. But for the most part, I have cut my bill by 50% by simply shopping the cheapest place, for the store brand items, after I've made a month's food menu.
Eggs, milk, and butter are all considerably cheaper at WalMart than anywhere else I've looked. Bread is cheaper at Wholesale Club for their $0.99 bread. They have bagels, hot dog and hamburger buns, specialty breads, English muffins, and many other types of bread all in their discount shelves, all for 99 cents.
In my opinion, once it's all weighed out, I'd give Walmart the gold medal for today's comparison. Their logo and statement beneath is ringing true so far.
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