Octobers Food Costs = $300

We went shopping on the 5th to do our once a month large shopping day, purchasing everything we needed for Octobers menu. I did forget hot sauce and cranberries as we were tired and just plain tired of fighting the large shopping crowd that day. Seems like everyone in town was shopping! I was very pleased with the final result of our menu cost though......

$300 for a family of 4 for a whole month of food!

Now we will of course have to get milk and bread as we run out throughout the month and some fresh fruit but that is pretty much it. We have $150 left for food so I figure the $50 for these items and the remaining $100 I can use for either reduced meat sales or to build up my prepping pantry. Not that I am preparing for the end of the world or anything but I would love to have a stocked pantry that could last several months to a year.

As for spending the $300 for the month, that actually is a figure I am tickled pink with for a family. That is actually on the high side too because it was not JUST for what was on the menu which only covered dinners. I have 8 lbs. of rolled oats at home so I did not have to worry about that but I did have to buy other things.

While I won't list every single thing I bought for the $300 (the receipt is a mile long!) I will give you and idea of some of the items we purchased for that money.

Honey ( always pricey)
25 pounds of sugar ( tis the baking season)
6 pounds apples
lots and lots of fresh produce such as cabbage, carrots, bananas, brussel sprouts, green peppers...
40 pounds of potatoes ( hey they were on sale for $3 a 10 pound bag!)
Heavy cream ( again always expensive)
6 packages of bacon
24 cans of tuna
Apple Cider ( my only splurge and so worth it!)
Blue cheese
mozzarella cheese
cheddar cheese
Walnuts
Raisins

Okay, Okay you get the point and that does not even cover a 1/4 of the list but those were some of the major ones that stick out for me.

No cold cereal  was purchased or anything so we did pretty good! The one thing I do plan on going back for Tuesday ( other than the 2 items I forgot!) would be some large pumpkins while they are on sale so I can cook it up and freeze the puree.

Okay, so I am off to go make some pumpkin bread and granola cereal this morning! Have a fantastic week you all!

What are you making from scratch this week?

 

Sinful Spending Spree

Well what can I say?

With my mind racing in many ways of everything I need to do and everything I want to do combined with some extra money from tax refunds, I joined the rest of consumers and am certainly guilty of spending! No excuses, it is what is is.

This is a downfall with windfalls of money when you live on such a small income. When money becomes available, you tend to want to purchase things, you have put off forever and a day!

So yeah, yesterday was fun, fun, fun but stressful on how much was spent at the same time! I have no excuse, it just happened and apparently I had no will power to stop it.

It started off by taking kids out to breakfast- we have NEVER taken kids out to breakfast.

Then we took them as a surprise to see CROODS at the movie theatre for discounted tickets and concession price day.. ummmm my 11 year old daughter has only been to a theatre twice, I myself have not been in 9 years.

Those two were not so bad, a morning of fun for around $55 dollars.

Then we went to the farm supply store---------baby chicks, bunnies-----oh how it puts you in the mood to spend! No we did not buy anything live. Instead we bought a 4 foot high, 50 feet roll of chicken wire for our upcoming chicken pen and coop project. We also bought a bag of Diatomaceous Earth for chickens, and well then we bought an incubator with turning trays. This was a bit pricey but on sale.

The incubator is a 3 win for us though- homeschooling projects, hatching batches of chicks to sell AND hatching batches of chickens for butcher.

THEN we went to WALMART and bought a Norton Virus for our computers- I did really need this.

BUT THEN - my daughter reminded us I promised to buy points for XBOX Live so we bought that. Then looking for clothes poles that they do not carry we saw expandable screens so we bought 4 of those. This is due to many windows not having screens and every year we buy something to help cut down on how HOT it gets in here without an air conditioner or shade. The first year we had one fan, last year we had 3 fans, this year the screens to open more windows!

Well it did NOT stop there- I have waited years to replace my love for bird watching but my yard has no where to hang ANY THING so we bought a pole to fit 3 bird feeders on. Then had to buy the 3 feeders and then some bird seed too! This is for my lifting my spirit to  kick cancers ASS project! Oh is that an excuse? ...............................no not really LOL.

I also got a Canning Kettle, replace my long lost waffle maker and got a Food Processor!

So leaving Walmart they gave us a coupon to be able to shop at SAMS CLUB without having to pay the membership fee. This is good until the END of April. Our Food stamps will be replenished in 2 days. Hubby was like we can not go to SAMS club until we get a freezer!

Well my initial desire was to get a used freezer off of Craigslist, buy hubby had a valid argument so we dropped off everything including kids...........

And went to Sears and got a 5.1 cubic foot freezer! It is not really large, it is a fairly small one and we debated on a larger one, but in the past, we never could fill a larger one and my youngest only has 5 years before 18. Once the kids all leave home, it is perfect size anyways not too mention I do live in a small trailer! Combined with the freezer on the fridge , should offer plenty of new food storage option.

This week we will also be purchasing a food dehydrator and clothespole too!

Now as I mentioned, this is not out of our monthly budget or income at all but still it made out for a VERY EXPENSIVE DAY..........but I must admitt, was VERY FUN!

Do you tend to get the SPRING SPENDTHRIFT SPENDING BUG?

Flyaway Frugality

If I am to be honest, these last 2 months have been anything but frugal, it seems costs have gone up in every catagory, which I suppose is to be somewhat expected when a serious illness strikes. Especially when the illness falls on the frugal financial manager of the household, the foundation crumbles when only one does the finances and the cooking.

Hubby now does the food shopping, although I am trying to get him to take an initiative and not just get what I ask him too but to get the types of foods him and the kids can make. It does not work me telling him what to get based on my cooking skills when I am not cooking! It is a huge adjustment that we are working on. If he gets what I ask him to but he does not have the cooking skill, then he just sits around saying tell me what to make and how to make it I will do it. The problem there is many times I am too exhausted to guide him through that type of process. My response will usually be, I have no idea what is in the cupboards, you will have to look.......well then the conversation ends there and creates a huge dinner time problem.

At the same time, he does need to get what I ask him to which is usually a variety of different foods and small snacks that I need around to be able to eat something. With my taste buds and sense of smells changing every few days it seems, I never know what I will be able to eat or what will make me ill just thinking of it. This certainly has increased our food bill altogether!

Gas for the vehicle has tripled almost with all the trips to hospitals and extra trips for needed things that I just can't keep on top of because I am not walking around checking what we need. Since hubby does not do this either it creates a lot of unneccessary trips for things we have been running out of.

I am freezing all the time as I lose more weight so I keep the temp in the house higher than I always have as well.

Since my first chemo last week, I am feeling quite a bit better however so I am hoping to take this week to develop a plan of getting back on track and crash course teaching hubby! LOL

This is one reason I have tried for years to get him involved with the finances , in a married household this really should be a 2 person endeavor. With only one in charge of it, when they fall ill, the whole household can crumble and it can have some serious consequences. Unfortuantly it was never something hubby wanted a part of as he liked me taking all that stress off of him. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining, he is a wonderful man and has been such a huge help in many ways lately.

I never would have made it through the last 2 months without him, but from a financial perspective I have always known it is best when both spouses are involved because how hard a family can fall if it only falls on 1.

So I suppose my goal is for the rest of this month is to create a plan and have the goal for March of hubby and both kids learning and taking an active role in the finances and developing their cooking skills while learning the art of frugality!

As a whole, this simply is just a huge adjustment period for us, one I have full confidence that we will get worked out and back on track with frugal goals!

 

Heat = Stress

January always brings levels of stress when it comes to heating in a winter climate, the tank is low, frigid weather has arrived, and one wonders how to pull $650 out of their butt to get another delivery. Even on a budget plan, one can easily fall behind in the payments. Your eye nervously watches the gauge on the tank, almost daily keeping fingers crossed that it has not moved much.

Right now personally we are looking at 28 percent in our tank, hubby's hours have dwindled again leaving us $130 short on paychecks. The weather turned bitterly cold last night coming in with winds in surplus of 50 miles an hour. Tomorrow and Tuesday are to be even colder, around 2 degrees without wind chill.  Being in a trailer, these temps are even worse and it seems in right through the walls and floors with not much in the way of insulation. The thermostat is set to 65 for the day and 60 at night, although I may turn it down to 55 tonight just to help pace how fast we use up the propane.

Somehow we always manage and I always tell myself not to put too much stress on it, but that always seems easier said than done. When the gauge hits 30% I always stress about the propane and how we will figure out a way to get it filled. Food seems so much easier to worry about and easier to come up with and manage what you have then heat. Without heat, who wants to face 0 or below temps with only an electric oven as a heat source?

This time around I actually filled out paperwork for the State of Emergency help with  heat, not sure if we will qualify or not but I figured it would not hurt to try. With my health issues right now, I have surrendered to trying to get all the help we can with the future outlook of perhaps me being able to get healthy enough to work again. So if we need help right now to do that, so be it.

Hubby also just told me his W-2 will be mailed out in just 3 days, so that is hopeful to that I may get that and be able to get taxes done and our refund back before the propane runs out completely if I can not get help through the State of Emergency. But in the end, I trust that it will all work out the way it is meant to.  Stressing over heat come January is not new to me, it is a stress I usually have all year round as it is the most expensive expense we have below rent.

So in the meantime, conserve, conserve and supplement with the oven to ensure it last long enough for the next fill up! I really wish we had a wood burner!

How about you, do you stress over heating or do you stress more over another expense?

Let's Compare Shall We?

How do our expenses stack up to how the average American spends their money? 

If you look at the Bureau of Labor Statics  you will see for 2011 making an average income of $63,685  spent  49,705         of that and broken up as followed below.



Average American Expenditures    

 Food at Home          $3838   My Family  $3600
Food (dining out)     $2620  My Family  $  350
Housing                     $16803  My Family $8100
Apparel                     $1740   My Family $  200
Transportation         $8293    My Family $4160
Health care                 $3313   My Family $    0 
Entertainment           $2572    My Family $ 500
Cash Contributions  $1721   My Family $    0
Personal Insurance
and Pensions              $5424   My Family $   0
All Other Expenses   $3381   My Family  $ 700


Looking at this, you can see while we spend just a little less than the average tends to spend at home, we spend far less in the eating out department. It is an occasional treat for us where we average just $30 a month in eating out as we do not always do this every month and certainly never more than once in a month.

Housing in another huge difference and I factored utilities and heating into our housing costs where we spend around half what an average American family spends in a year for. This is due to living in a cheaper rural area where housing itself can be found quite a bit cheaper than metropolitan and urban areas.

Apparel is another large gap, we have need once in awhile for shoes, socks and underwear but other than that we get our clothes free from others cleaning out their closets, gifts or for a quarter to a buck here and there at garage sales or thrift stores.

Transportation is also half of the average, I am making an assumption this is due to us being a one car family?  Included in this cost was our monthly car payment for 2011, gas, oil and car insurance.

Health care-- I need to fix this, and am in the process of working on it. Right now we do have Medicaid with a high deduct able but I am hoping to get something else perhaps in place ASAP.

Entertainment does not cost us much either and most what we choose to do is either free or very l ow cost like weekend camping trips, fishing, hiking and the like. Looking at the average expense in this area and I can see we spend far, far below average! WOOT WOOT

Cash Contributions- While I would love to get to a place where we can give cash contributions- we differ a little here at the moment.  We give and are generous by things we do or have on hand that could be helpful to others.  We may let someone stay with us awhile while they are down on their luck, send a bag of food to someone we know who needs it, bake sweet treats and take them to our elderly neighbor who no longer bakes, give surplus from our garden to those who do not garden, or simply stop and help someone who obviously could use a helping hand.

Personal Insurance such as Life Insurance is also something I need to fix! Enough said


So if you compare our expenses to national averages, you will see that due to our low expenses and cost of living, our income is really comparable to someone who perhaps is making twice as much but spending far more.

It all evens out, it really does... I like comparing the numbers sometimes as they can help me know how I am doing and the differences we have by the choices we make in our lives.

 

June Grocery List #2 = $100

Health Food Store = $30

2 lb jar Raw Organic Honey
raw sunflower seeds
sweeted Carob chips
1 lb Oat groats ( a little coarser than bran)
coconut oil
Coconut pieces

My adult daughter not included in this list spent an additional $12 on Kelp powder, flax seeds and organic raw vinegar

Walmarts = $70

Paper
12 double roll package of toilet paper

Dairy

1 gallon milk
cottage cheese
8 ounce block mozerella cheese
1 quart of heavy cream
8 ounce cream cheese
2 large containers plain yogurt
1 dozen eggs

Snacks

whole raw almonds
healthy mix nuts (also has some cranberries and things in it)
2  2 liters of Root beer pop ( root beer floats!)
1  2 liter Sprite  ( for a punch later this week)
large tin of raisins
Chopped Dates
White Grape Juice

Baking

Large bag of Corn Meal
Wheat Germ
Olive Oil
Brown Rice
3 cans 14.5 ounce diced tomatos

Frozen

Large Bucket Vanilla Ice Cream

Fresh Produce

Bag of Green Onions
Fresh Pineapple
Strawberries
bananas

Out with May Screwed for June

The problem of over extending yourself on a low income is that it can have devastating effects on your financial picture. May could of and should of been planned for much more appropriate with no whim purchases adding to an already tight budget. Well what can I say, I am not perfect and this blog is to share the good, the bad and the ugly of low income living. We make splurge purchases just like any other family does from time to time. I always know May can get a tad pricey for us and I thought it was planned out, but then a few things came up on a whim that proved to be horridly expensive.

The other problem I have at this time of year is that TIME is NOT my friend! I have not had time to sit down and figure out June, income wise , bill wise or goal wise. April usually marks the increase in activities for me and peaks in productivity throughout the whole summer. It will not slow down again until winter arrives. This can lead to a severe lack of organization which in itself can be dangerous for an income challenged family.

• The Ugly Facts for May-  $550 spent in food on our couponing experiment which is double for most months on what we spend. It did give me $20 dollars in amazon gift cards I can use towards Christmas presents though!

• Purchase of Chickens and Hutch, Food and Feeders- This costs us around $170 altogether- a totally unplanned purchase that originally was suppose to wait until NEXT summer!           

        

• 2 Birthdays + Mothers Day- While a few things were purchased ahead of time this still left a few more items to purchase along with the extra money for Birthday meals. Around $200 was spent in this category.
• Gardening Season- Additional $80 spent here on an electric cultivator (thrift store purchase), seeds, hoses etc

• Last minute camping trip as hubby announced a 3 day off week- Embarrassed to say we spent $300 here for a three day camping trip last week of May. This included gas for truck, camping fees and the insect repellent, cooler and food we needed for the trip. Yes I was well aware we were already way overextended for the month. Hubby rarely gets 3 days off in a row though so I wanted to take advantage of it and figured perhaps getting a quiet few days in nature would help my creative ideas and still my mind for some needed solutions for our goals.

Well if ya do the math, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the money had to come from somewhere when we only make $1500 a month!

• The Uglier Truth for May: Bills went unpaid, stocks got cashed out, sealed jar became unsealed...........ummmm yeah temptation to do more than survive can get you into trouble from time to time.

• Investments Cashed Out- Here I sometimes wonder why I am doing it anyways to be honest. Hubby is so far behind the times if something ever happened to me he would not have a clue on how to turn on a computer let alone access our investments. If he managed that far, he does not have a clue about investing at all anyways and then would never know what to do with it in any fashion, shape or form!. We had built up a meager $400 that we cashed out for.

• Bills unpaid-  The telephone and electric bills went unpaid which means trying to catch them up in June. When a budget only covers bills from a monthly stand point...it can be very difficult to play the catch up game.

• Sealed Jar Unsealed- I know, this is really bad and was around $300, our emergency stash which none of the things in May were emergencies. This leaves us back to a pay check to pay check ZERO savings living which really stinks! Back to square 1 and trying to re-build what it is we are trying to accomplish here! A cushion and less stressed life!

• Garage Sale Failure- This was very disappointing for May and I don't understand it. Our garage sale business was a total and utter failure! I have a few ideas on the whys and will be working on correcting those issues in the future.

While I am not happy at all with how this all panned out, I know it was a total lack of discipline, I am by no means perfect and there is nobody to blame but myself. At the same time, it is a cash only living where we do not use credit cards or anything like that to live far beyond our means. Now in a way you could still say we did by not paying the 2 utility bills which we now have to catch up in June for but that is only a small gap of debt. You don't pay your utility bills and they get shut off which we have never let it get to that point.

So this weekend before another busy week is occurring for me of a flurry of activity, I will be sitting down and getting back to the basics. Reviewing goals, getting inspiration from extreme minimalists, no cash living types and the home business gurus and seeing what I can do and how I can grow to reach the goals we have set out.

In the mean time.......

Keep on truckin on

Over Spending and Getting Off Track

Regardless of income, I think for a lot of peeps out there it is quite easy sometimes to get sidetracked off the course of our goal. Spending too much, and fully aware of it too! Goals getting set aside, not keeping progress in check, finances out of kilter from the over spending..........I am no exception to this, I am after all human well last time I checked anyways, don't listen to the rumors, I swear they are not true!

When life gets busy, and your plate fills up it is so easy to start sliding, your energy gets scattered, logging expenses fall by the wayside ( which is what keeps you on track in the first place!) One small action of non-action starts a whole series of slides. If you avoid the truth and keep plugging away well then it turns into one mightily avalanche, a mudslide that could be as divesting as taking out California.

Well May seems to always be that month for us with the clump of birthdays and the nice weather turning our attention to anywhere but being inside! I have actually quit logging expenses for a few months now and every month since spending while okay has been climbing out of control, a little over budget here, a little over budget there.

We definitely have overextended ourselves for may, especially with the acquiring of chicks who of course now need a pen. I did build one a couple years ago when we lived in North Carolina but my health was a little better then, we were able to salvage a lot of free materials to do so and well we actually had tools 2 years ago! ( Tools sell real good when you have to downsize to the trunk of your car to move 800 miles away!)

With all the activities and projects we have going on and tallying up the supplies along with the tools (no salvaging free materials this time around) we decided to go with a hutch and pen unit that would be simple and easy to put up, and yes it comes at a price for that ease, the hutch cost us $150 ( a nice enclosed cage with removable cleaning tray and a roost in it)  The pen that attaches to it will cost $120 that we will get in 2 weeks.  So yeah pretty hefty but at least it may save my back this time round and will not be an all day project. ( Me and my then 9 year old daughter built it the 2 years ago.)

So keeping it real, yeah I know MY BAD, as frugal as I can be I am human just like anyone else and yes I can go through a month and overspend, overextend, throw caution out the window and basically turn our finances upside down. Oh and lets not forget Mothers Day, I had to send my momma flowers and a movie she has been dying to get..."War Horse." Well what can I say, I love my momma!

So here I am and seeing the budget posted here on our budget page, it is time to review things again anyway as some things have changed and are coming up that needs to get fit in. It is time to crunch the numbers, see where we are at, and perhaps even come up with monthly action lists so I do not get so sidetracked. My goals are way off and I am no where in the same ball park of where I want to be in our goals, again this boils down to time management for me, I do realize this.......perhaps I can get a clone or two or three. Perhaps I need to urge my family members to help more as I get better at delegating some of the to do's around here.

I see a whole lot of reflecting , decisions and planning coming up!

Warning We Spend on Learning Opportunities.........

Cutting and keeping expenses low for us, does not mean a life of deprivation, although perhaps in some areas when life demands it we do have to go without for periods of time. One area though that we try real hard in achieving is always coming up with the financial means to give our children learning opportunities.

You see we homeschool yet we do not do so in the traditional sense, we do not educate using a public school model, we do not use a set curriculum, test or grades, or even a set schedule. We are unschoolers which means learning is child directed according to interests and strengths of our children. As parents we are facilitators with a deep involvement and always available to our children. We introduce activities and new experiences to help our children explore areas they may not have thought of. Sometimes this leads to new found passions, other times they find they do not like what we have introduced and have the opportunity to say no thank you.

We view learning as a life long endeavor where learning is not as simple as cutting out hundreds of cookies of the same shapes and sizes. Learning is not a one size fits all mold and no set age and which one MUST learn a particular subject. Learning is also not something that is separate from living only to be done in a set time frame.

I am always on the look out for new material, new opportunities and new experiences. I make conscious purchase decisions for birthdays, holidays and throughout the year of where to spend money to enhance the natural curiosity and interests of the children.

This year for example we purchased a chemistry set for our sons birthday, we even purchased a shower curtain that displays the periodic table of elements. He is also fascinated with Japan so over time we have purchased many things related to Japan such as language courses, dictionaries, books on their culture, documentaries on the Samurai swords and such. He plans on going to live there when he turns 18 and we support this in any way we can, for this is the path he has decided is right for him. This may change but as this has been his path since he was 4 I don't think so.

Our daughter is creative and artistic so we recently spent money for her to take several art workshops and even an art mentor program through a local art gallery. She has also stated an interest in learning to play violin so we purchased a violin for her birthday and she will start violin lessons right after her birthday in May. We also routinely spend money on craft and art supplies as she goes through them like there is no tomorrow! She is into animals as well, so here I did purchase a zoology course from Aplogia that we are working through now.

While I may watch pennies in most every other sense of the fashion, learning opportunities is not one of them. I will do what ever I need to do to raise money for these additional expenses and feel it is always money well spent. A few years ago, our son thought he wanted to learn to play electric guitar, so we had to special order one for him as he was left handed and our area did not have any left handed guitars. We paid twice as much as we would of normally and put him through 3 months of lessons when he discovered he did not like it as much as he thought he would.

Many looked at this as a waste of money but money was not the issue for us. We paid not so he could learn guitar, we paid for the experience which he discovered in the end, he did not like. How could he have known for sure if we had not spent the money for him to find out?  We do not feel we waste money by offering them new experiences which is a process of self discovery and a learning process all in itself.

We feel that life experiences and opportunities for learning, is not one area we are willing to cut expenses in. We can not always afford everything they may hope for such as at the moment dance classes, but we try then to find alternatives to give them a taste that we can afford such as dance lesson DVD's or similar materials.

I have my kids best interest always in mind and will always put our money toward the opportunity for learning and growth to keep that burning desire to learn and grow alive.

We spend for learning..........

How about you, where is one area in your finances that you are not willing to cut corners on?

Annual Credit Report Review

Well it is that time of year to get a copy of our credit reports, and score and see where exactly we are sitting. I actually dread this time of year, mostly I know what it says...........WE SUCK!

No matter what you may think your report says about you though, it really is a good idea to get a copy once a year to review it, see what has changed and what options you may have in order to restore your good name.

So last night I sat down and got our free yearly copies at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp


Yes we do have some debt, I will have to add it all up to see the exact amount but between the 2 of us, it looks like maybe around $5,000. Not great but not bad and very doable to actually pay off. For some reason it looks like my couple judgements I have had for years just vanished. (very high medical bills from a miscarriage I had a long time ago) I have no idea why they disappeared but I knew something was up when I did not get a Michigan state refund garnish paperwork this year and simply got the refund.

But I do still have some open accounts that need to get paid, a goal for this year for sure and due to lack of activity as well this now gives me a poor credit rating of 587.

Hubby actually does not even have a score, while most of his debt is medical from his heart attack a few years back, he has not had any new activity on his credit report for 2 years so there fore no score can be calculated.

So we need a plan of action to raise my score, and get hubby back on the board with a score.

I just found out he did have a choice to have his car payments reported to the credit agencies and he turned it down! It was like really baby? come on!  Fear is what prompted him to do that as he was afraid we would make a late payment and get a bad mark on the credit so he thought no reporting would be better. I really wish he would let me know these things since I do all the finances!

The thing is as I told him, where we got our car is financed through the actually dealership and if we are 1 day late we get our car taken a big fat REPO. So it was like DUH have them report your payments because knowing we can not be one day late, makes it a priority to pay the dang payment and we won't be late! But now he tells me this after over half the payments have been made! UGH UGH UGH.

Hubby get on board please! Love ya but COMMUNICATE!

In any case, we of course need some work in our credit worthiness department, but this is the first time in our life we are actually spending less than what we earn, taking steps to improve our quality of life and there is always hope...............always room for improvements...................always a work in progress...............always a willingness to change what we wronged...............

February Expense Breakdown

Okay I admitt I was not logging expenses and really slacked off on it just being a way way busy month. Usually I track every cent but january and february for some reason I let it slide.

So best as I can from what I can remember

Groceries       hack hack gag gag going to get sick now........$750

Eating out/pizza                                                                  $250

Car repairs                                                                        $1,000

Vet  (dog and cat and includes all shots and spaying)          $700

Gas for car                                                                        $130

Educational Curriculum                                                      $230

B-day gifts ( 2 kids one in april one in may)                       $230

Rent                                                                                 $475

Propane                                                                           $130

Electric                                                                             $35

Phone                                                                              $75

online                                                                               $10

Netflix                                                                             $12

Craft supplies for daughter                                              $120

Movies to add to our home movie collection                   $100          ( I know I know BAD)

Tent                                                                              $80

Date night ( first one in a YEAR)                                   $500

Furniture (couches)                                                       $220

Investing                                                                        $200

Emergency Fund                                                          $400

Other funds  and goals    savings                                 $400



Thats about all I can remember, shocking I know and quite disgusting not at all like me for spending but a few things that really needed tending to got taken care of like car repairs and animals getting spayed which is a MUST.

And no, I am not going to total  all that up,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I am going to go run and sink into denial! DENY DENY DENY!

March Budget - $1100 expenses

Rent                               $475 paid
Propane                         $100 paid
Phone                            $75 paid
Electric                          $35 paid
Car Insurance               $120 paid
Car Payment                $180 paid
Gas for Car                  $100 paid (took $95 to fill up)
Netflix                         $12
Online                         $10
Groceries                    $113 paid  ( actual $147)

Total Expenses           $1100
Income                        $1400

Leaving $300 where $200 goes to investing  $100 to Emergency Fund

we took $1400 of our refund to throw into our checking account as this is our monthly income. This allowed me to sit down and write all the bills out today and go grocery shopping to get it all done at the beginning of the month. This will also allow us to always have the next month coming up income already in the bank by the first of each month.

As the money comes in through pay checks and other forms throughout the month I will put it all together so that at the end of the month it we will have April's $1400 deposited in the bank. This simplifies things so much for me rather than trying to deal with all the small amounts that come in throughout each month.

Family of Foodies Defeats Well Stocked Pantry Goals

Perhaps it is because I grew up with shelves in the basement, huge freezer, and cupboards crammed full of food....a mixture of store bought and what was canned or frozen from the large garden. I use to love seeing all that food growing up and never was really ever concerned we may go hungry. There was an abundance of food and we were really ready for just about anything........at least for awhile.

Perhaps stocking food for up to a year, recommended by preppers and survivalists......well just makes plain sense to me!

So I have always had this nostalgic dream of having 6 months to a year stocked food supply.

This month I spent way over my typical food budget......around $720, add another $200 for dining out to that! My goal was to boost our pantry, this is NOT the first time I have tried this but may well darn be my last time I try! Or I really need to review exactly what I need to store that the family will leave the heck alone!

My family LOVES food it all it's forms and are really food junkies, I mean really they are AL:L ABOUT FOOD.

So what did all that spending on food this month accomplish? ZILCH!

They simply ATE MORE and at the end of the month we are really not much better off than when I spend $150 to $300 in a month!

The one thing it did do was I still have plenty of whole wheat, sugar, flour and rice. I have plenty of peanut butter and molasses. I have a few cans of salmon and about 5 lbs of chicken breasts in the freezer. I have plenty of honey and syrup.

so in a few bulk ways it did help but really not by much.All  the dried fruit is mostly gone, I am left with one bag of banana chips and one bag of dried cranberries. I also still have a bag of coconut.

But really they ate their way happily through most of what was spent on food.

Unless I got a huge chest that locked I think it is time to either admit defeat or re- evaluate how I could build up a stock pile that they won't eat up all in a month!I mean REALLY?

Sigh it was a nice though but a very expensive experiment of trying to attain to me, a worth while goal!

If this was any other family.......it may of had a chance!

Photos: New Couches

$120

$60

$40

What do you think? Were the prices next to the photos worth the purchase price? Personally I think they look far better than our old couch!

Time for a New Couch?

I am sure you have heard the recycle sayings of use it up, wear it out..........well we usually really really wear something out before it gets replaced! Soles of shoes flapping off your shoes to wear you are tripping all day, or toes sticking out the big hole, jeans full of holes or falling off you know.

Well this has been our couch over the past 2 months, a small rip in  the seam, which dear hubby did sew all up at one point but then our dog took to perching on the top of the couch to be able to see outside to guard our home. As a small pup she also had a liking for plucking the stuffing out of the hole which resulted finally of what you see in the photo! We throw a blanket over it during the day so all that stuffing is not finding it's way all around the house! This couch is is SAD shape!

I think it is wore out beyond repair as reupholstering really is not my thing! So we took all the stuffing out and put in garbage bags to save for filling  for our daughter's sewing projects..........she is making a teddy bear as I type. The couch also has a nice metal frame that will be easy enough to dismantle and put the metal frame into our scrap pile to turn in for scrap metal money.

Then off to the thrift store we went and I should know not to take hubby and kids with me but it really sounded like a good idea at the time. The idea was to select furniture that would actually seat all 5 of us without anyone (me and hubby EVERY NIGHT) on the floor when it is our last 2 hours of the night family TV time. (the only time of the day I watch TV and if I don't I can not get my mind to quit racing with ideas and will be up ALL night so I need this wind down time!

I had a full sized couch and a small love seat in mind and then hubby caught sight of a MAN chair! An over stuffed bulky thing with a huge ottoman to go with it! I swear he has never forgiven me for setting fire to his recliner several years ago which is another story all it's own but the point was I was sick of moving every year and while he worked it was my job to do every move with 2 babies and a small compact car for 6 years straight! This led me to have a bonfire and set fire to our furniture........easier than moving it no? His recliner was also very old, falling apart, no longer working properly, looked horrid and smelled even worse but........that was HIS MAN CHAIR so he was not happy!

I told him there was NO WAY it would fit in our small trailer along with 2 other pieces of furniture and we debated, playfully argued, and went back and forth until I gave in to his pouting and not at all practical purchase!

So we settled on 2 small love seats and his stupid man chair and spent $200 in total with a $5 delivery charge, which I really do not think is too bad for well made, in great shape furniture.

Did it all fit? Well yeah but looks awful as it is now comfortable but so so so crowded now and the living room seems crammed packed to the hilt! His man chair cost $60 and I do really think I should of saved that $60 but he is a hard man to refuse with his brown puppy dog eyes. I told him I think he needs to look for a better paying job so we can move to a place that has a larger living room now! HA HA like THAT would happen!

This is actually the first time I EVER went to pick out any furniture so was a really new and fun experience for me and I was torn between 3 love seats so the kids had a deciding vote after that sat in every one to try out how they felt and one I was thinking about they both turned down flat.

I must admit is is nice to have comfortable seating off the cold and drafty trailer floor and it was nice not to have to spend too much. I am actually looking forward to sitting down and watching Alcatraz in my spot I already claimed tonight with a nice cup of hot green tea!

Ouch Thats Gonna Leave a Mark

When we bought Bronco Bob, we were quite aware that he had 100,000 miles on him so a few car repairs more than likely would be on the near horizon for him. One item noticeable to the naked eye was a cracked belt.

So hubby took him in last week for an oil change and to get the belt replaced.........$120 not so bad but running a diagnostic on Bob proved to be news we really did not want to hear at this time, suspension and steering issues that would run close to a grand.

Well this does put a little kink in my plans however does not totally throw them out  the window......I am still determined to divvy our tax refund up into increasing our monthly income over the course of 12 months!

So yesterday Bronco Bob went in and they fixed the issues stated and found yet one more thing wrong that added yet another $100 to the total. Apparently some brackets were so rusted out the mechanic told hubby the slightest bump and they would break and have the whole thing fall apart where we would not be able to steer at all. Hubby was like fine, show me and well the mechanic gave a very vcry light tap and it all came down so yeah it needed new brackets LOL.

Total cost came to $875! OUCH OUCH OUCH

That was yesterday AFTER we dropped our puppy and cat off at the vets to get our puppy micro chipped and both pets spayed. We go pick them up today and I am estimating that bill to be around $380!

Expensive month indeed! Thankfully for the first time in 2 years we actually have the money to cover these expenses!

How is February going for you?

Decluttering and Low Spend Challenge Update

                  

Okay I know I know, I am real late posting these and I really did not want to, as I am very embarrassed about our "hot spot" areas which is basically any surface area! Please keep in mind we only have about 150 square feet a person where we live and go easy on us please!

The first week was personal space and even though my bedroom is open to the family during the day as our computer room or lounging on our bed to read, it is as close to personal space we have. The dresser areas are always mounded with clothes from my hubby and our youngest daughter ( who happens to change clothes several times throughout the day!) Both our daughters dresser is in our room as their room is just too small.

So Yeah, I cleaned it up and put everything back in it's drawers and took all the clothes my daughter will not wear and added them to her scrap material bin as she does a lot of sewing projects. I have become anal in making sure they keep their clothes where they belong........IN DRAWERS in the meantime!

The second week was family space and I again chose my daughters bedroom as I had just cleaned it top to bottom about 3 weeks from these photos and it looked like it did before I cleaned! Most of it was stuffed toys and mounds of fabric scraps from sewing. This told me there was no where to put anything so I went to Walmarts and spent $25 and got an over the door shoe organizer that holds barbie dolls, Nintendo Ds and games, small pet shop toys and little toys and hair ties.  I also got a 3 bin net laundry hamper and one bin is for webkinz toys, another for odd toys too big for the shoe pocket organizer and the third bin holds all her fabric scraps! What a difference these 2 items made! and a week later it is still CLEAN! LOVE IT LOVE LOVE IT!


Now for the NO SPEND part...............well again not doing too well this month as I spent a lot on educational items including a shower curtain with the periodic table of elements on it..........HOW COOL IS THAT? Now I just need test tubes and a test tube holder for toothbrushes!

I did have February 10, 11 and 12 and now today as a no spend day so that makes a total of 5 so far this month.

We took our bronco in the other day and spend $120 to get an oil change and a much need belt replaced just to find out we have about $800 more in repairs needed ASAP all related to steering issues so we will be doing that this month too! Such is plans, you can plan all you want but I tell ya, Karma or fate or the universe or whatever you want to call it always throws things at ya to where plans just well don't happen!

I am still trying to use our refund to add to monthly income but if huge expensive items like auto repairs keep happening..........well at least we DO have the money to get it taken care of now! So all is good ......

February has turned out to be a very expensive month but it has been fun and enjoyable and things that really needed taken care of is getting done so no biggies.............

How are your decluttering and No Spend Challenges going?

Failing the Low/No Spend Challenge Update on All Accounts!

Okay so  a very very very NOT typical month for me. I am doing HORRIBLE with the challenge in every way!

First of all the only NO SPEND day we have had is February 2!

I spent double what I planned to for DATE NIGHT (clearing throat of huge embarrassment) $500
(now this has been our first DATE NIGHT in a year and since we homeschool we are with kids 24/7  not to make excuses but perhaps a tad easier to see how I was moved to not care too much what we spent and WE HAD A BALL and we did not steal anybody's reservations and get chased all over town by thugs! LOL)

I also spent WAY WAY more than usual on groceries! I actually hit close to the national average for my sized family by spending $650 but I also bought a lot of bulk stuff so many things will last more than one month.

Hubby desperately needed work shoes and Jeans------he split the zipper right out of his only pair of jeans a few days before date night and had to wear his sweat pants under his jeans. So yeah, needed jeans in a big way poor guy! $45

Bronco Bob is happy that we put more gas in him then ummmmmmmmmmm ever at one time  $60
$15 more goes in him today

The kids got as promised as belated Christmas gifts  $150

I paid forweb hosting and domain costs for a new site I am launching

I bought a JUICER!!!! $50  

I KNOW I KNOW HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE!

BUT I have NOT gone over the top surplus above what we planned on adding to our monthly income.

I DID  Invest $188  + $12 monthly fee  for a total of $200

I DID put away $100 in Savings!



For the Decluttering part of the challenge?? HUGE FAIL

hoping to make up for that this week as this past week was spent with a broken down furnace and doing what we could to stay warm!  Thank goodness the weather was mild for this time of year!
Now with the furnace fixed and the propane tank filled up full yesterday we were just in time for the weather to turn cold again! YEAH love being warm for some reason!

End of January Report

End of January Report

23 No Spend Days!

Extra Income made independently from the 9-5 world  =  $150

These extra income sources came from

Google AdSense  , Article page views, Royalties, Pop can returns,Donation and Scrap Metal ( check out income report page!)


I have automatic investments in place and invested $100 for January $88 on actual investments where $12 goes to sharebuilder fees for a total of $100.

We are totally caught up on all our utilities now  with the exception of not enough on our budget plan account for fuel delivery but we will have the money this Friday , call to pay and get a fuel delivery as we stand at 22% in tank right  now.  After that everything will be back to normal monthly payments again! YEAH YEAH YEAH

Taxes done and electronically filed!

Still need to start doing a lot more work on my Simply Homeschooled blog but did better in January than I have in awhile. Much more to do there though!

Overall I am quite happy with how January played out even if I did not quite do everything on my action list I wanted to.

Not only did I catch everything up as far as bills, but I was able to STILL invest money, save a little and we even ate out once and got pizza twice for the month. ( we do not usually eat out or pizza 3 times in a month)
Also we were able to earn $150 just from here and there multi streams

All in all I would say January was a GREAT way to kick off a brand new year!

How did your January Go?

An Examination of Food and it's Cost

National monthly average for a low cost food expense according to the FDA for a family of 4 would be around $660 for 2011. The liberal plan is quite a bit more and even the thrifty plan at around $520 a month has always seemed like another planet to me and hard to conceive. I have always thought I did fairly well, the last couple of years as food prices soared, I average $300 a month for a family of  5 which includes personal products like toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste along with pet food. Actual food itself would be around $250 a month. Pretty good considering what the National average spends right? Perhaps, Perhaps not!

I have been  doing a lot of web surfing the past couple of weeks, debating how I might cut that expense down even further. As you will notice in my Budget plan post I gave myself a generous $155 a month food allowance for my family. Can it be done on that with today's food prices? Can I reduce it even further and still feed my family healthy?

While I have never watched the show on TLC about extreme couponing, it did start me thinking. I use to think couponing was a waste of time and I could do better by simply buying generic foods and only getting what was on sale. Now I am not so sure as I read more and more about extreme couponing, I do see with time and effort it may surpass what I  do with food prices. You can find tips for extreme couponing at http://www.livingrichlyonabudget.com/extreme-couponing-tips   and http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/616273/save_money_with_13_extreme_coupon_shopping.html?cat=46

Also I have been reading some on the Dollar a Day projects which REALLY got me thinking how to reduce food spending. http://www.dollaradaybook.com/  and http://365dollaryear.blogspot.com/  also http://hungryforamonth.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_archive.html   are just a few sites to give you food for thought!


So my plan? I would like to start rather than a dollar a day which would be $5 a day for my family if you gave each one a dollar a day, $2.50 a day to cover the whole family.  Rounded off after multiplying that by 31 days I am giving myself $80 a month for general shopping.  This will leave me $75 if I go off of my $155 a month allowance to experiment with extreme couponing or simply focusing on a few items to build up my pantry. One of my goals for 2012 is to have a years worth of food stocked up.

I will do another post on exactly how I plan to do this with the breakdown of meals and general shopping lists!