Budget Leak

One of the best things I ever did for our budget was making the switch to cloth diapers when our daughter was around 6 months.  I had looked into cloth diapering before she was born and was intrigued but Hubs wasn’t completely convinced. Once she was here and we were going through $50-70 per month just for diapers (not to mention diaper genie refills, wipes, rash creams..), the switch to something more economical just made sense. 

Lately though, our budget has taken a hit again as I “fell off the wagon” with my cloth.  Travel, the holidays, sickness… I haven’t used them much since November started and it’s cost us around $215!!! WHAT?!? Our Gazelle budget can’t handle that and I’m getting back on the wagon. Immediately. 

If you haven’t ever considered cloth diapers but need to trim your budget, I highly suggest you look into them!  When I started my research it was about how to use, the different kinds/different brands, how to wash… but I hadn’t truly looked into the cost savings until right before I made the switch.  This post by I Heart Budgets was my favorite cost comparison by far.  It was a simple breakdown but made so much sense.  We took the plunge.  And even though our daughter is still in disposables at night and at the grandparents on days I work, our cloth has (and will) save us so much!  Here is a look at our numbers (if we had started from birth and I hadn’t fallen off the wagon):

First Baby	Disposables	Our Cloth Experience
upfront costs	Diaper Genie – $30	Around 60 Diapers with approximately 120 inserts @ ~$10 each (various brands/styles) Wet Bags/Pail Liners – $30
Monthly Costs	Diapers – $70/month average Wipes - $10 DG Refills – $6 Rash Cream – $4	Disposables – $20/month average Wipes – $10 Rash Cream – $2 Diaper Liners – $2 Water (well) – $0 Electric – $5
Cost for 2.5 Years	~ $3,240	~$1800

Ok, so I went a biiiiit overboard when purchasing my diapers and have way too many currently!  And since we still use disposables half the time, our savings is a mere $1440 over the average span of diapering.  BUT… I can sell back my cloth diapers when I’m done (rough estimate of resale value $450)  which brings the savings to around $1890.  If we have a second child, I can use the same cloth diapers and diapering a 2nd child would only cost us approximately $1,170 if we continue with disposables part time.  Taking into account a 2nd child, we would save over $3,500 just on diapers!

Just look at all that cuteness! What’s not to love?  Oh ok, yes I realize there is the added laundry.  But really its an extra 2-3 loads a week for us. And it’s really not such a bad thing when you have such a cute little helper!  This mama is back on the wagon starting today!

New Year. New Goals

Happy 2015 y’all!!

Did any of you actually make it to midnight? I was reading (aka falling asleep) in bed when the hubs woke me up to say Happy New Year!  It made me think, “Where was I when 2014 started?”  Nursing baby girl back to sleep I suspect… or changing a diaper. Either way, I was probably too exhausted to really take note.  I feel like I spent 2014 trying to catch up on sleep… still trying to meet that resolution truth be told.  (Mads is a terrible sleeper. There, I’ve said it.)  BUT I finally feel like my brain works again (most days anyway) and I feel like having more direction for the new year is in order!

So what’s in store for 2015?

1. Get Out of Debt – ok so this is slightly cheating because I announced this resolution months ago, but our commitment is still there.  Budgets have been made, an emergency fund is in place, and we are ready to go!  All debts except the student loans will be paid by this time next year!
2. Declutter the House – we moved from a new 2bd townhouse to a 1947 3bd mountain house. Sounds like we sized up, right? Yeah… in 1947 they weren’t so concerned about things like closets. We went from having 3 walk in closets & 3 fairly big regular closets to having 3 of the teensiest, tiniest closets known to man. We have TOO MUCH STUFF!  And sadly, most of that stuff is just stuff to take up space and gather dust.  I’m hoping some of this stuff can be sold and used in pursuit of goal #1.
3. Learn to Knit (& Possibly to Crochet & Sew) – I got knitting lessons from the hubs for Christmas along with a set of wooden knitting needles. One of his most genius gifts ever! I’ve been wanting to learn to knit for a while now and I never seem to find the time to watch YouTube until I pick it up.  I tried teaching myself to crochet from a book and it turned out only half correct. I need time carved out and a more hands on demo.  He solved that with the lessons.  Not sure when I’m starting quite yet, but seriously he arranged for special lessons to be held on Saturdays just for me!  (best.husband.ever)
4. Cook Healthier Food for the Family -  We don’t eat terribly, but we aren’t an all organic/vegan/raw/no hormone/gluten free/no antibiotics/whole foods only family either.  I’d like us to find a happy balance and incorporate more fruits/veggies and less processed junk.  We already try to only buy hormone & antibiotic free meats/poultry and I will be keeping that in the plan.  I got a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas from my hubs & In-laws and plan to put that to use in helping with this goal too.  Homemade whole wheat bread anyone?
5. Take More Me Time – I’m bad at this, like really terribly bad.  To illustrate, I haven’t had a professional haircut and/or color since a few months after my daughter was born and she’s going to be 18months this month. I’ve gotten maybe 1-2 massages and had my nails done about that many times too.  Aside from the physical, I rarely set aside time to write here – which is why, as you can see it doesn’t happen. I have a good 5-6 devotional books that have gone unread. Craft projects - or should I say supplies for craft projects -are stuffed in drawers and boxes waiting to be started let alone finished. These are things that make me, me.  They are important and special and deserve attention.  Sometimes I need to realize I am important and special enough to deserve it too.

So there you have it, my 5 goals for the new year!  I feel like they all can tie in to the #1 goal on this list – decluttering can lead to some income, knitting (& crochet & sewing) can cut down on clothing needed and provide a source of gifts, focus on cooking means less eating out and junk food spending, and actually doing a craft project or two might lead to less purchasing of Etsy items I can make myself.  (An organized home with happier, healthier occupants will just be a bonus!)

What are your goals for the new year?

Paper or Plastic?

This post contains affiliate links from Grocery University.

During the month of September, I decided to tackle out outrageous $600 grocery budget and using a little planning and the tips learned from Grocery University we were able to cut our spending by $200!  Since then, I’ve lightened up on the planning a bit BUT have still managed to use the tips to keep our spending at just $400 per month.. well actually October was $415 but November was a paltry $175!  So where do we go from here?

I’m considering setting a goal of paying only $300 per month for groceries!  Since I’ve been able to maintain $400 or less for a couple months with minimal effort I think I can do some extra planning and stick to a $300 budget.  I also pulled out household and baby items into their own line items in the budget so the $300 will be strictly for food related expenses.

Another change we will be making in the new year?  Paying CASH for groceries.  It’s easy to overspend when you can just swipe the plastic, but handing over those paper bills  makes that shopping trip much more real.  If you head to the store with a plan for the cash, you need to stick to that plan and not give in to impulses as much.  This will be a real challenge for me as I use my debit card for everything and rarely carry cash. 

As I plan to cut our budget even further, I’m looking over and listening to my Grocery University materials again to really ingrain the tips into my brain.  I really believe that this program helped our family save $200 a month and that it can help us to save an additional $100!  And let me add that my savings didn’t happen with stores that double $1 coupons or at ones that allow a high dollar coupon to be used on trial sizes.  If you watch the extreme couponing shows you know that’s often what gets them to a $1 total for $1000 of groceries but that just isn’t realistic.  One of my regular grocery stores doubles up to $0.50 coupons, another doesn’t double, and another doesn’t even take coupons!

If you haven’t checked it out yet, or know someone who could use a little help in trimming some spending, I encourage you to check out the program or share the link with a friend because there is a SALE going on TODAY!!!  Normally, Grocery University is $9.97 but TODAY ONLY the price is just $4.97!! It’s a great deal and could make a great gift for someone struggling with this area.

Another great deal for today is Financial Peace University!  The home study course is just $129 (normally $399!!) and the online format that Hubs and I are going through is just $109.

Check out these two great deals to get your 2015 off to a great start!

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.