Holiday Havoc

Hey y'all!  Wow.. nearly 1.5 months since I posted!  Life certainly gets in the way when you let it but I have NOT given up on our quest to become debt free.

I have been updating the little total ticker there on the right sidebar, and if you look you can see we've paid off $3,220.13 since I started this little blog in September.  That's just 3 months worth of effort. Not included in that total are 2 medical bills that popped up, incidentals on a trip to Michigan, baby shower gifts, Thanksgiving expenses, and the fact that we have gotten ourselves a baby emergency fund in place.  I've started a side Avon business (link on the side) to bring in some extra income and Hubs and I have been working our way through Financial Peace University Online. Oh and there's this little thing called CHRISTMAS coming up so a little extra income has been allocated toward gifts the past month as well!  Whew… it has been a busy month but I'm feeling really encouraged about where we are right now even if this month's snowball payment was fairly small.

The plan for December?  Pick up those few last minute Christmas gifts, pay cash for 2 new tires on our car, and hopefully attack the snowball a bit harder.  Also this month we have 3 family birthdays and Christmas!  I’m planning a little extra for restaurants and fun things like going to see the lights in Gatlinburg or other Christmas-y things we can do as a family.  The holiday season has a way of wreaking havoc on the budget but we are trying to be as prepared as possible!  We also plan to finish up our FPU classes and move forward in 2015 with a more complete budget.  This will make us cut back a bit in some areas but will also help us save for a those inevitable rainy days.  Things like new tires or dryer repairs or unplanned medical expenses will have their own sinking funds monthly so that when these kinds of expenses pop up, we will be ready for them.  Even with these extra categories, we will have money leftover to apply to the snowball and will continue to push toward becoming debt free. 

We are wrapping up this year faster than I would like but we feel good about our plan for the next one!

Are you making any special budget considerations for the holiday season? Do you have any budget related goals for 2015?

Cutting The Grocery Budget–Wrap Up

We’ve had a little break in posting because we had a somewhat surprise visitor in the form of my 90year old grandpa!  We hadn’t seen him since early June so this was quite a treat!  At that point Baby Wee had just started walking.  Now she’s running and climbing everywhere, displaying more of her personality everyday!

But I promised a wrap-up with tips and tricks that I had learned during this process and so here we go!

Here are the top 5 easy to do things that helped me to cut our grocery budget by 33% in just one month!

Menu Planning -  Ok, I was already doing this before we set out to cut our budget BUT I made one small change in HOW I planned.  I planned my menu around the items that were on sale that week.  See, I told you it was simple!  Somehow, it had never occurred to me to do this before I bought the Grocery University program. Once I read that I was like “DUH!!”  While we still might decide on a meal or two that just sounds good at the time, switching to mostly on sale ingredients helps immensely!

Shop Your Pantry -  Another simple and obvious tip!  Most of us have shelves and freezers with food purchased and then forgotten.  It’s always a good idea to take stock of what you already have on hand before heading to the store or even before menu planning!  This also comes in handy if you need to whip up a plan B one night because a quicker, easier dinner is warranted.

Use Coupons -  I told you these are easy to do right? Get a paper and get some scissors and start clipping!  Then get on your computer and start printing and clipping some more! Ask friends and family to give you their leftovers, pick up those coupons in the grocery aisle displays… It’s worth it, I promise.  I used to think coupons were a hassle but they really can save you big money – especially when you combine them with store sales and double coupon policies.

Know Your Prices – You may very well need to shop around to get the best prices.  I’m working on creating a Price Book so I can quickly reference prices of commonly purchased items.  It’s worth it to know what the normal and sale prices are on certain items so you know if that week’s sale is actually a “good deal.”  Currently, I have a general idea of prices but over the 4 weeks of tracking I know there are things I got at less than a “good deal.”  Some things could be cheaper at Sam’s Club even without a coupon, but unless you know the normal price per serving or ounce you might end up paying more.  Also, stores generally have sales on a cycle.  If you can figure out that your favorite pasta sauce is on sale every 4 weeks, you know the ideal time to stock up and use your coupons!  Knowing prices and sales cycles is really beneficial when you use it to stock up on things like meats – things for which you generally can’t find coupons.  If I see pork loin for $1.99/lb, I’m going to stock my freezer with self cut chops and roasts. If I see hormone and antibiotic free chicken breasts for $2.99/lb you better believe I’m buying a bunch! Stocking up when you know the price is low is a great way to save money even if you spend a little more during that trip.  Remember, we are shopping from our pantry and fridge/freezer before spending a dime at the store that week!

Get Organized – Know what is in your pantry and fridge. Know your “good deals.” Organize your coupons so you can find them quickly and easily.  Make a menu board with your favorite recipes to make menu planning faster.  With a toddler in tow, I need to be able to menu plan and grocery shop as quickly as possible.  I also don’t want to miss out on an unadvertised deal because I can’t find the coupon I know I have somewhere. 

My process looks something like this:

• Clip coupons from Sunday paper and file.  Pull coupons that will expire this week to the front.  Discard any expired coupons.
• Peruse the grocery store sale flyers when they come out on Wednesday. 
• Make a list of all “good deals” that I see or items we need to restock and print.
• Use the lists (usually 2 from 2 stores) and my pantry/fridge to make a menu for the week & highlight ingredients needed on the lists.
• Match highlighted items from the lists to coupons. 
• Hit the store(s)!

It really can be as simple as that!  Just a few small and easy changes made a big change in our budget.  There are even more tips I learned from Grocery University and implemented over the month, but these 5 tips are the easiest things I did.  They are also easy enough that pretty much anyone can do them!  I hope they can help you and your family too.

Delectable Banana Bread

Now that fall is upon us, I’m back into baking mode!  I love baking bread, cakes and cookies but we don’t have air conditioning so here in the South that means summer is a barren wasteland for all things homemade baked goods.  It’s just too darn hot to run the oven!  But summer also means lots of fresh fruits… some of which just don’t get eaten before they start to go bad.  In the spirit of saving money, I try to stick fruits in the freezer before they spoil too much so we can use them up when we get a chance.  This is how I came to have 8 blackened bananas in a gallon baggie in my freezer.

We always seem to have 1 or 2 bananas that just don’t get eaten before they start to go bad and I hate to waste them.  I remember when (ok showing my age here…) you could get bananas for $0.25/lb and now they average about $0.59/lb.  I hate spending that much but I actually like bananas so I try to buy them when they go on sale.  But with just 1 or 2 bananas leftover every few weeks you can’t do much so when I get one that is turning I stick it in a gallon baggie and pop it in my freezer. Then I just add to the baggie each time we have extras until I get 6-8 very ripe bananas. 

And then this delicious bread happens.

For this recipe you need about 3 cups of banana which is between 6-8 bananas.  BUT if you don’t have enough and are really craving banana bread you can substitute the missing portion of banana with applesauce.  I have made it with up to one cup of applesauce and it was just as banana-y as if I had used all banana!

First you want to combine your sugar and butter until it’s light and fluffy.  I don’t know the why behind this step but I do it, its pretty easy.

Next, you add the eggs and bananas (and applesauce if you choose). Mix well.

Finally, sift together your dry ingredients. (I will fully admit I totally skip this step – hey I have a toddler to get back to!) Then mix the dry ingredients with your banana mixture until just blended together.

Grease your loaf pans well.  I like to use butter and a paper towel to coat the pan but cooking spray works just fine.  If you have trouble with sticking, make sure to coat the corners really well.  Then fill your pans with the mixture until they are about 1/2-3/4 full.  I usually get 2 loaves with this recipe. One large and one medium sized.

Then bake for 45-60mins or until the centers come clean when you stick a knife or toothpick in. (My medium sized loaf took about 45mins and the larger loaf took closer to 60mins.)  Let them cool in the pan for about 10 mins and then remove from pan to finish cooling. Slice and enjoy with some butter or ice cream! Ready to start baking?  Here’s the recipe:

Delectable Banana Bread

3 cups	Banana, mashed (about 6-8 ripe bananas)
2 cups	Sugar
1 cup	Butter
4	Eggs, beaten
2.5 cups	Flour (I use all purpose)
2 tsp	Baking Soda
1 tsp	Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

With electric mixer, cream the sugar and butter together.  Add the bananas and eggs and beat until well mixed. (You can substitute the banana with applesauce if you don’t have quite 3 cups.)

Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Blend the dry mixture with the banana mixture until just mixed.

Pour into 2 greased loaf pans.  Bake for 45-60minutes or until a knife or toothpicks comes out clean from the middle. You can also watch for the edges to start to separate from the pans – mine sometimes don’t do this so I always use the toothpick method.

Cool in pans for about 10 minutes then remove from pans and let cool.  Enjoy!

Frugal tip: If your family can’t eat both loaves before they go bad – not a problem in my house – you can freeze one loaf for later use!

Getting a Handle on Spending

I came clean a few weeks back on our total debt and our deadline to pay it off, but I didn’t really discuss how we plan to pay it off.  Honestly, I really didn’t know how we would.  I figured we would start a snowball type plan to get it done but I didn’t know where we could get any extra money to do this with.  I spent the last 4 weeks focusing on our grocery budget because to me it was the easiest place to cut.  I knew we were overspending in this area and I was right!  The extra $200 a month is a great start but I want to be more aggressive in getting this done.  You Dave Ramsey fans out there might call this getting “gazelle.” 

I’ve read Dave’s books and looked into his methods. I know they work for a lot of people and I know some of it can work for us. The one thing I was struggling with was how to live on a cash only basis.  My credit union that I’ve had an account with for over 30 years has no branches here in the state so cash can’t be taken out to be re-deposited at specific times to pay bill categories.  But I liked the thought of having “envelopes” and having set amounts for those categories.  I needed a way to keep my accounts electronic while still tracking specific category spending.

Enter You Need A Budget – or YNAB.

This is an actual screenshot of my budget in YNAB.  The “budgeted” amount is the total amount I’ve placed in that “envelope” for the month, the “outflows” are what I’ve actually spent from that “envelope” and the “balance” is the amount left to spend in my “envelope.”  This is all separate from my checking account yet helps me track my allocations without the money ever leaving the account.  I can also track the spending just like you would with a check register – remember those?  The best part is you can load the program on as many devices as you like!  I have the free app loaded on my Android phone that let’s me quickly see how much is currently in my envelope AND enter transactions as they happen to immediately update the totals across all devices. 

For example, I’m at grocery store A and I check to see I have $100 left for the week in that category.  I shop and I spend $75.  I enter that amount on my phone before leaving the store and immediately my husband who is at store B can see on his app that we now only have $25 left for groceries and adjusts his spending accordingly.

Since I started using the program about 4 weeks ago, I’ve been much more aware of what I’m spending and where.  I get a paycheck and immediately prioritize where the money gets allocated.   Then I don’t worry about if we have enough to get gas or go out to eat because I can always see exactly what I’ve already earmarked for that purpose.  If “Murphy” happens, and he always does, you can adjust your categories as needed but still know you have enough to cover everything.  I can’t say enough about YNAB it is the easiest and most liveable plan I’ve ever used.   And in the short time I’ve used it we have “found” over $400 to use toward our snowball this month!

YNAB has a FREE trial – and I mean completely FREE for 34 days – so you can see if the program is right for you.  They also have free online classes to help you customize the product for your needs.  I just bought the program before our free trial ended because I love it so much!  It has made budgeting…. FUN! Yes, I actually said that.   So try YNAB by using their free trial, and if you like it, please come back here and click through my link to get yourself a $6 discount on the program. (out of full disclozure - I might also get a $6 bonus if you do!)

Cutting the Grocery Budget–Week 4

This is the last week in my grocery challenge to trim $200 from our grocery bill and I am happy to report – I DID IT!!  The goal was to go from spending roughly $600 per month to just $400 – about a 33% reduction. The total I spent for this month on groceries (including household and baby items) was just….

In my budget, that is a savings of 37% or an actual $222.09!  I will be putting this extra cash to paying down our debts and to hopefully get us to our goal even sooner.  To me that total above is simply amazing.  Amazing because I always thought I was a smart shopper before. Amazing because I didn’t think we had anywhere to scrape extra dollars like that from. Amazing because it was so much easier than I thought it could be! 

I even saved money this week when I was feeling overwhelmed and tired and didn’t really get the greatest of deals.  This way of shopping and the simple act of using coupons is really saving our family money and is sustainable.  That is the important thing to me -  that this will be something I can achieve consistently if I keep at it.

This week I spent $90.13 between 2 stores – under budget by almost $10.  So without further ado… where did I shop and what did I get? 

First we went to Target – now I admit we mostly went here to get a deal on Starbucks coffee and ended up with other things entirely. This is my problem going to “big box” type of stores where they have more than just grocery items – BUT -  they do tend to have better prices on the household and baby items. I guess it’s a tradeoff and I just need to get more willpower not to scour the entire store!  So, back to the shopping… we went to pick up Starbucks beans that were on sale AND had a $5 gift card offer.  Most of the bags were gone, completely cleared out.  The ones that were left were blends Mr. Wee doesn’t like so we didn’t get any coffee.  Bummer!  By the way, did you know there are smartphone apps that will pay you to snap a pic of empty shelves and upload them?  Holy crap I would make so much money around here…. if only the apps were compatible with my phone! (iPhone users – check out gapNsnap if you are interested)  So what did we buy here then?  Baby Wee was out of Hylands Teething Tablets – best invention ever – so we picked those up using a Cartwheel offer.  We also used a Cartwheel and Target coupon to purchase Plum Organic baby food packets.  Finally, they had a sale on a giant jar of Jif for $5 – normally the same jar runs $6.99 at the grocery store.  Total spent: $24.99, total saved: $6.37.

The bulk of our shopping was done at Kroger.  I will admit I had been in a sort of love affair with Kroger the past few weeks after getting some great deals.  This week, I even decided to skip looking at my local Ingles ad because I was certain the better deals would be here – mistake.  Ok, I did still get some good deals here this week but I’ve become slightly disenchanted.  I got caught up in the 10/$10 promotion but found many of the items cleared out from the shelves… other shoppers informed me they had been empty since the day the ad came out.  Maybe they restocked during the promo, maybe they didn’t.  Either way, I was disappointed.  I was able to get greek yogurt, frozen veggies, organic mac n cheese, pasta and condensed soups (yes, I know making them is healthier but time is sometimes a premium!) for $1 or less when combined with coupons. I also stocked up on organic chicken broth for soups for fall!  Overall I spent $65.14 here and saved $33.94 – a 36% savings.  After the last few weeks of saving 40% or more, this felt like a fail.  But I still saved money – that is the most important thing to remember!

Next week I plan to recap some of the biggest things I’ve learned over the last 4 weeks but if you want to start saving now, I really want to encourage you to check out the banner link to my affiliate below:I know I’ve mentioned Grocery University in previous weeks of this challenge, but I cannot stress enough how great this program has been for our family!  I bought the program figuring I would at least recoup the cost of the program with a tip or two, so what was the harm?  The program costs $9.97 and over the last 4 weeks I’ve saved $222.09.  Seriously, how can you not love that?  Some of the tips are common sense or things you might know if you’ve been on a tight budget, but I think there are at least one or two tricks your family might benefit from in there too.  I encourage you to check it out!

What does your grocery budget look like? Could you stand to trim it?