I was just curious to see how many pop in lol. I don't advertise my blog but I am so truly enjoying meeting other bloggers and really and I mean really appreciate the wonderful support in which I have been getting :).
I am having fun too visiting everyone elses blogs, I know that I am not alone when it comes to paying off debt, living frugal, saving money etc....and I have been getting some great ideas :). I don't always leave comments but be assured that I have been to everyones blog who has left a comment on my blog.
Well, just wanted everyone who reads this to know how truly grateful I am :)
Signing off for now...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Blah day today
I sat down and went over our bills and debts today, it is just so overwhelming! I am giving my paycheque to our mortgage broker on Thursday, it is $300, thank goodness I picked up those few extra shifts :).
A couple more bills came in that I had completely forgot about,that is not good. I forgot about the connection fee for the cable and our first bill is due Thursday on the first. $186, Yikes! our monthly payment is $36 but we had $150 connection fee. We also got a bill which is due immediately for the alarm system we had in the house we sold, that is $95.
I had a tooth pulled out this evening and I was planning on going to pick up my groceries after this. It took a bit longer to haul out and I ended up getting a couple of stitches...I went to the grocery store with dh after the fact but then felt "sick" , I had to get out of there lol. So, looks like tomorrow just may be another spend day although I have enough food to cover us for a few days so I just might take tomorrow as a no spend day anyhow. My dentist bill was $6.40 because we have dental insurance, Yay! :)
My parents couldn't make the rent of $370 to cover the mortgage on our investment property (a house), their house hasn't sold as of yet. My parents however are going to rent their house out hopefully in a few days so that will help them out as it is cheaper for them to live in our house opposed to their own. So, that is $370 we will cover out of our snowball. We decided not to sell, at least wait and see how it goes until the spring, We will be back on track before then anyhow :).
I am still determined however, I can't let a few bumps or potholes in the road get me down :)
A couple more bills came in that I had completely forgot about,that is not good. I forgot about the connection fee for the cable and our first bill is due Thursday on the first. $186, Yikes! our monthly payment is $36 but we had $150 connection fee. We also got a bill which is due immediately for the alarm system we had in the house we sold, that is $95.
I had a tooth pulled out this evening and I was planning on going to pick up my groceries after this. It took a bit longer to haul out and I ended up getting a couple of stitches...I went to the grocery store with dh after the fact but then felt "sick" , I had to get out of there lol. So, looks like tomorrow just may be another spend day although I have enough food to cover us for a few days so I just might take tomorrow as a no spend day anyhow. My dentist bill was $6.40 because we have dental insurance, Yay! :)
My parents couldn't make the rent of $370 to cover the mortgage on our investment property (a house), their house hasn't sold as of yet. My parents however are going to rent their house out hopefully in a few days so that will help them out as it is cheaper for them to live in our house opposed to their own. So, that is $370 we will cover out of our snowball. We decided not to sell, at least wait and see how it goes until the spring, We will be back on track before then anyhow :).
I am still determined however, I can't let a few bumps or potholes in the road get me down :)
Monday, October 29, 2007
2 days to prepare for my November No Spend Days
It is time for a family meeting. I need my whole families input so that I do not forget any extras such as toothpaste and whatever else which might cost me an extra trip to the store.I have been playing around with a few ideas over the past week or so to make this as smooth as I possibly can.
Tomorrow I will be filling the car up with gas, this is a must for dh driving to work and back. I will go tomorrow to pick up some groceries and have a list in hand.
My girls are doing well with the change jar in which we had set up for them. Today after work I will be going through our cupboards/fridge and freezer to take stock.
Planning is the key, I don't want to reach in the fridge for butter only to find that we hav'nt any left, that will not be acceptable.There will be no room for error.
Our bank account balance will be $0 after paying our debt,food,car gas etc...I have to do it this way. I will however be keeping about $20 aside. $20 might not seem like a lot of $ but if the kids need say an emergency dental appointment, this will cover it as we have dental insurance.Cough medicine? no problem.
Well, off to plan! :)
Tomorrow I will be filling the car up with gas, this is a must for dh driving to work and back. I will go tomorrow to pick up some groceries and have a list in hand.
My girls are doing well with the change jar in which we had set up for them. Today after work I will be going through our cupboards/fridge and freezer to take stock.
Planning is the key, I don't want to reach in the fridge for butter only to find that we hav'nt any left, that will not be acceptable.There will be no room for error.
Our bank account balance will be $0 after paying our debt,food,car gas etc...I have to do it this way. I will however be keeping about $20 aside. $20 might not seem like a lot of $ but if the kids need say an emergency dental appointment, this will cover it as we have dental insurance.Cough medicine? no problem.
Well, off to plan! :)
Friday, October 26, 2007
Great Deal but No Money.
Do you ever notice that when you have no extra money to spare that all of the good deals seem to come out? Why is this? Is it because of a feeling of deprivation? Is it because we feel like we deserve to live like we did before debt? Is this some kind of a test of wills?
I have heard it all, or at least a lot of excuses on why someone should purchase this or that by saying for example "Well, it only cost x amount of $ and it was too good of a deal to pass up."
Too good of a deal to pass up? If one is in debt how could you not pass it up? I don't mean spending money to survive like with food,housing,electricity etc....I am thinking along the lines of above and beyond what is a necessity.
I am writing this entry, because I have been offered a great deal! I owe debt but as myself being a human,I have been debating back and forth should I purchase this item? Should I actually just pay the minimum on all of my debts so that I may purchase this item? I justify this with the fact that I am still making minimum payments so what is the harm?
There is "harm" by doing this, for me personally anyhow. For one, the item is $500. Way too much to take out of a snowball. What I should have maybe done is when each pay came in take out a little bit of $ and set aside and that way when a great deal did come along it wouldn't be such a large amount of money at once. But then there is the emergency fund which needs funding.I really should have funded that first and foremost opposed to worrying about a good deal.
Another thought to consider,the $500 which I would take out of our pay isn't our money anyhow, it belongs to whoever we owe debt to, we had already spent that $500 prior when borrowing in the first place which belonged to someone else whether it be a credit card,personal loan etc.
Bottom line for me? Never forget this feeling of frustration and think twice in the future before spending someone elses money.
I have heard it all, or at least a lot of excuses on why someone should purchase this or that by saying for example "Well, it only cost x amount of $ and it was too good of a deal to pass up."
Too good of a deal to pass up? If one is in debt how could you not pass it up? I don't mean spending money to survive like with food,housing,electricity etc....I am thinking along the lines of above and beyond what is a necessity.
I am writing this entry, because I have been offered a great deal! I owe debt but as myself being a human,I have been debating back and forth should I purchase this item? Should I actually just pay the minimum on all of my debts so that I may purchase this item? I justify this with the fact that I am still making minimum payments so what is the harm?
There is "harm" by doing this, for me personally anyhow. For one, the item is $500. Way too much to take out of a snowball. What I should have maybe done is when each pay came in take out a little bit of $ and set aside and that way when a great deal did come along it wouldn't be such a large amount of money at once. But then there is the emergency fund which needs funding.I really should have funded that first and foremost opposed to worrying about a good deal.
Another thought to consider,the $500 which I would take out of our pay isn't our money anyhow, it belongs to whoever we owe debt to, we had already spent that $500 prior when borrowing in the first place which belonged to someone else whether it be a credit card,personal loan etc.
Bottom line for me? Never forget this feeling of frustration and think twice in the future before spending someone elses money.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
If I Were Debt Free........
I meant to have this post typed up a couple of days ago, ugh, with work and a few other occurances I havn't had a chance to get on line. Lynnae whose blog is being frugal Tagged me to write a post on "If I were Debt Free" :)
Dh and I were debt free except for the mortgage and we actually weren't doing too badly however, "things" happen and now we have a few debts to pay. One thing about having this new debt, is that it has helped me to rethink on a few obligations. Having already lived without debt (again, besides the mortgage) I am even more determined to go without in order get back to our previous way of living.
So,when we are debt free (which is a given :)) Dh and I will be focusing on:
(1) Getting our emergency fund back up and running, We will be aiming for 6 months of living expenses to begin with.
(2) Fully fund our Freedom Account
(3) Dividing all of our money left over each month after our regular bills are paid in full, we include putting money into our retirement fund as a regular bill. Our money will be divided into (a) paying down the mortgage (b)putting money aside for our girls education (c) a new to us car fund (we really do not want car payments of any kind :) ) (d) vacation money to visit our friends and family once a year.
That is what we will be doing......we might revamp this a bit but this is pretty much written in stone for now :)
Dh and I were debt free except for the mortgage and we actually weren't doing too badly however, "things" happen and now we have a few debts to pay. One thing about having this new debt, is that it has helped me to rethink on a few obligations. Having already lived without debt (again, besides the mortgage) I am even more determined to go without in order get back to our previous way of living.
So,when we are debt free (which is a given :)) Dh and I will be focusing on:
(1) Getting our emergency fund back up and running, We will be aiming for 6 months of living expenses to begin with.
(2) Fully fund our Freedom Account
(3) Dividing all of our money left over each month after our regular bills are paid in full, we include putting money into our retirement fund as a regular bill. Our money will be divided into (a) paying down the mortgage (b)putting money aside for our girls education (c) a new to us car fund (we really do not want car payments of any kind :) ) (d) vacation money to visit our friends and family once a year.
That is what we will be doing......we might revamp this a bit but this is pretty much written in stone for now :)
Friday, October 19, 2007
Well, One bill down, a few more to go!
I tell you, I am sooooooooooooo Happy,Happy,Happy! Today was dhs payday and we got the rest of the motel paid off.
Next week will be his pension and that will pay for the regular bills.
In two weeks will be dhs and my pay again and we should have part of the money to pay the mortgage broker some and then have him paid off in full by the end of November.
We are putting every extra cent that we can mangage to come up with towards this debt. Dh did get the change for our dds change jar so that will do them for a month. I will be getting the minimum for groceries ( included is extra butter,eggs and milk lol)and again, use my imagination. It has been hard that way but all soooooooooo worth it in the long or short haul.
We are making our regular payments on the credit card for now but will snowball any extra on it as soon as we get the others paid off.
Life is Soooooooooo Good! :)
Next week will be his pension and that will pay for the regular bills.
In two weeks will be dhs and my pay again and we should have part of the money to pay the mortgage broker some and then have him paid off in full by the end of November.
We are putting every extra cent that we can mangage to come up with towards this debt. Dh did get the change for our dds change jar so that will do them for a month. I will be getting the minimum for groceries ( included is extra butter,eggs and milk lol)and again, use my imagination. It has been hard that way but all soooooooooo worth it in the long or short haul.
We are making our regular payments on the credit card for now but will snowball any extra on it as soon as we get the others paid off.
Life is Soooooooooo Good! :)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Kids and Allowances
I have been trying to rack my mind on different ways to help save money and for our family,to not have the feeling of being deprived. This has mostly to do with the children not feeling deprived actually.
We have two girls and they are 14 and 16, yes, two teenaged girls lol,who like to hop on the transit bus once in awhile to visit with friends or buy a hot lunch with their friends and even enjoy going to the odd movie.
We have not had the money to do this as we have been so focused on paying down our debt sooner than later. I think that i may have come up with a perfect solution..I hope!
Tomorrow is Dhs payday. When he goes to the bank to deposit his pay I am going to have him pick up $85 in change which will include one roll each of twoonies,loonies and quarters. I will then take two plastic jars one for each dd and put their names on them. Then, I will put $40 in each and this will be their allowance for the month which works out to $10 a week each. Prices are high here, just for a return transit bus ticket for the girls to go and visit their friends is $3.20 each and one hot lunch is minimum $6. That is a total of $9.20 for one week. If they want to go to a movie, for students it is still $8 and if they want to buy a pop or juice there I don't even know if $2 would cover it at the movies.
I am thinking with the girls seeing all of that change it will last longer subconciously opposed to giving them a $5 or $10 bill.
Anyhow, that is what we will try and see how that works. The $5 left over from the $85 we will put into our change jar.
We have two girls and they are 14 and 16, yes, two teenaged girls lol,who like to hop on the transit bus once in awhile to visit with friends or buy a hot lunch with their friends and even enjoy going to the odd movie.
We have not had the money to do this as we have been so focused on paying down our debt sooner than later. I think that i may have come up with a perfect solution..I hope!
Tomorrow is Dhs payday. When he goes to the bank to deposit his pay I am going to have him pick up $85 in change which will include one roll each of twoonies,loonies and quarters. I will then take two plastic jars one for each dd and put their names on them. Then, I will put $40 in each and this will be their allowance for the month which works out to $10 a week each. Prices are high here, just for a return transit bus ticket for the girls to go and visit their friends is $3.20 each and one hot lunch is minimum $6. That is a total of $9.20 for one week. If they want to go to a movie, for students it is still $8 and if they want to buy a pop or juice there I don't even know if $2 would cover it at the movies.
I am thinking with the girls seeing all of that change it will last longer subconciously opposed to giving them a $5 or $10 bill.
Anyhow, that is what we will try and see how that works. The $5 left over from the $85 we will put into our change jar.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
How Low Can We Go?
Momof3 wrote a post "Could you live on $12,000 a year?". It reminded me of the past when I finally came to terms that our finances just weren't working out for us. I had sat down with pen and paper at our kitchen table and started working a plan with the question "How low can we go?" I started out with by prioritizing our list. First came housing, food and so on. I even went to the spending plan online calculator at Crown Financial Ministries but instead of putting in our actual earnings per year I put in our Net income, $0 for taxes, $0 for tithe and less income than what we were actually bringing home. So say if we were making Net $25,000 a year I would put in $20,000 a year.By putting in a lower income the money that was not included with income we tweaked to compensate for extra on the house,school,and whatever category we couldn't possibly follow that budget by.We took the left over money and put it towards our emergency fund and or debt. If you tithe you can either put the amount of $ you give in the box or you can subtract that amount before you do your budget.We help our parents, my parents lately it is every month right now so I consider that as our tithe at the moment. We also when we can put money in the jars at stores for cancer research,boy scouts etc. Not to long ago we gave $100 to a minister and his wife to send to a village in Africa. We try and do our best right now, even when things seem to be extra tight.
We seemed to get off track however but that is Ok, we are not perfect but we do know when we have had enough and it is time to do damage control.
This worked out really well for us. So yesterday, pen and paper on hand I started tallying up the figures.I figure that to live comfortably we can do this with $2568.75, this included mortgage,house and property taxes,food,hydro,phone,insurances,gas,cable,internet,along with a $300 freedom account,entertainment etc.
Our food budget I allotted for $400 a month, I wanted to go lower on the food budget but with a family of 5 and with 2 cats I know that we will be comfortable with that amount.
The freedom account will cover your irregular expenses but you still need money set aside incase of job loss, illness, insurance deductables and so on. This is where an
Emergency Fund is a must! Dave Ramsey has the 6 babysteps which include an emergency fund, this has helped a lot of people.
So, I challenge everyone to sit down whether it be at your desk or table at home with pen and paper on hand and figure out....Just how low can you go?
We seemed to get off track however but that is Ok, we are not perfect but we do know when we have had enough and it is time to do damage control.
This worked out really well for us. So yesterday, pen and paper on hand I started tallying up the figures.I figure that to live comfortably we can do this with $2568.75, this included mortgage,house and property taxes,food,hydro,phone,insurances,gas,cable,internet,along with a $300 freedom account,entertainment etc.
Our food budget I allotted for $400 a month, I wanted to go lower on the food budget but with a family of 5 and with 2 cats I know that we will be comfortable with that amount.
The freedom account will cover your irregular expenses but you still need money set aside incase of job loss, illness, insurance deductables and so on. This is where an
Emergency Fund is a must! Dave Ramsey has the 6 babysteps which include an emergency fund, this has helped a lot of people.
So, I challenge everyone to sit down whether it be at your desk or table at home with pen and paper on hand and figure out....Just how low can you go?
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Possible Job Loss For Dh
Well today has not been the greatest day to say the least. Dh might not have a job. I will know more this afternoon I guess.
If this happens, we will have to sell the investment property which is a house that my parents are living in. I had to call my mom and tell her to give her fair warning on the situation. It might not come to that but I have a feeling that it will.
If we do end up selling, we will pay out our debts, help my parents get settled, put money aside in an emergency fund and keep a bit to help us live until dh gets another job.
I don't think that it will take long to sell as the price will be right for a quick sale.
Maybe us having to live extra frugal these last couple of weeks was Gods way of getting us started so that the transition wouldn't be so hard on us. We are eating so much better and with me walking to work and all I have lost a total of 4 pounds over the past couple of weeks :).
The kids are eating healthier too.I had bought bag of apples not too long ago, just the regular ones which the kids in the past would never think of eating, well, they have been eating them to snack on! My dd 16 said how much she is enjoying drinking juice now too lol. They are also not being so picky at meals, they said at one point there is nothing to eat in this house, I told them there was plenty, they just need to not be so picky and eat the cornflakes for breakfast, have toast with cheesewhiz or peanut butter etc....experiment with the veggies, pop some popcorn for a snack in our air popcorn machine and eat all of their supper. My kids all have different tastes but they really are now eating and enjoying certain foods that they would have passed on in the past. We all love the whole wheat in our bread which I have been making too.
Signing off....
If this happens, we will have to sell the investment property which is a house that my parents are living in. I had to call my mom and tell her to give her fair warning on the situation. It might not come to that but I have a feeling that it will.
If we do end up selling, we will pay out our debts, help my parents get settled, put money aside in an emergency fund and keep a bit to help us live until dh gets another job.
I don't think that it will take long to sell as the price will be right for a quick sale.
Maybe us having to live extra frugal these last couple of weeks was Gods way of getting us started so that the transition wouldn't be so hard on us. We are eating so much better and with me walking to work and all I have lost a total of 4 pounds over the past couple of weeks :).
The kids are eating healthier too.I had bought bag of apples not too long ago, just the regular ones which the kids in the past would never think of eating, well, they have been eating them to snack on! My dd 16 said how much she is enjoying drinking juice now too lol. They are also not being so picky at meals, they said at one point there is nothing to eat in this house, I told them there was plenty, they just need to not be so picky and eat the cornflakes for breakfast, have toast with cheesewhiz or peanut butter etc....experiment with the veggies, pop some popcorn for a snack in our air popcorn machine and eat all of their supper. My kids all have different tastes but they really are now eating and enjoying certain foods that they would have passed on in the past. We all love the whole wheat in our bread which I have been making too.
Signing off....
Saturday, October 13, 2007
A nice surprise with our Hydro Bill :)
We received our first hydro bill in the mail yesterday. We are on an equal billing plan and pay monthly. At our previous residence our equal billing plan we paid $217 every month, here our new monthly payment is $162 a month! That my friends is a total of $55 a month in Savings or $660 a year savings, WooooooooWhoooooo :). We pay less house/property tax here as well opposed to our previous house, savings there is an extra $100 a month or $1200 a year which is 1/2 of what we had to pay at our last house.
Talley it all up and we are already ahead of the game with savings: Monthly $155 or Yearly $1860.
What am I going to do with this extra money? I am going to do the smart and frugal thing of course, I will be putting that towards our debt but first, I will add it to our emergency fund until we have $500 in there....then it will be alllllll snowballed into our debt.
As the saying goes, you can't miss anything in which you never had lol.
Talley it all up and we are already ahead of the game with savings: Monthly $155 or Yearly $1860.
What am I going to do with this extra money? I am going to do the smart and frugal thing of course, I will be putting that towards our debt but first, I will add it to our emergency fund until we have $500 in there....then it will be alllllll snowballed into our debt.
As the saying goes, you can't miss anything in which you never had lol.
Countdown, 5 days until payday!
Today I took out a ham. I am now running out of milk so I will have mashed whipped potato with this by using my powdered milk! I usually do my baking with powdered milk but have not used it for potato but it is going to be great! Oh yes, I will have corn niblets with this as a veggie :)
For lunch I have some pizza sauce and salami, I will cut some bread spread some pizza sauce on each, add salami oh yes and cheese. We have had this before and it also taste great bake at 350 till the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp.
I need to make more bread today, it will be 100% whole wheat.
I have 3 eggs left so I have to use that sparingly for baking. I need something sweet to bake and since I only have whole wheat flour I will have to surf the net. I do have a can of pumpkin and shortening for the fat, so we shall see.
Tomorrow morning for Breakfast I will make fried whole wheat biscuit dough with syrup along with left over ham from tonights supper. I havn't had fried biscuit dough but I do know that fried bread dough is a winner in this house :). I do have some cooking spray which I will use in the pan.
This is almost like playing a game lol.
For lunch I have some pizza sauce and salami, I will cut some bread spread some pizza sauce on each, add salami oh yes and cheese. We have had this before and it also taste great bake at 350 till the cheese is melted and the bread is crisp.
I need to make more bread today, it will be 100% whole wheat.
I have 3 eggs left so I have to use that sparingly for baking. I need something sweet to bake and since I only have whole wheat flour I will have to surf the net. I do have a can of pumpkin and shortening for the fat, so we shall see.
Tomorrow morning for Breakfast I will make fried whole wheat biscuit dough with syrup along with left over ham from tonights supper. I havn't had fried biscuit dough but I do know that fried bread dough is a winner in this house :). I do have some cooking spray which I will use in the pan.
This is almost like playing a game lol.
Friday, October 12, 2007
6 more days till Payday!
And I cannot wait! I am running out of a lot of things. Note To Self: stock up with butter/margerine and flour for the freezer!
I have been doing so much baking and making bread that I went through the flour in which I already had, I remembered that I had a bag of whole wheat flour however, and much healthier too lol, so that will get us through for the next 6 days.
Payday I will be stocking up on a few things needless to say. I most always cook from scratch anyhow but I always had extra $ on hand in case I ran out of something.
Other then that, all is good :). We usually have chip/pop night on Friday or Saturday evenings but I replaced this with aired popcorn and juice which is crunchy and with a bit of melted margerine it is great!
I have been doing so much baking and making bread that I went through the flour in which I already had, I remembered that I had a bag of whole wheat flour however, and much healthier too lol, so that will get us through for the next 6 days.
Payday I will be stocking up on a few things needless to say. I most always cook from scratch anyhow but I always had extra $ on hand in case I ran out of something.
Other then that, all is good :). We usually have chip/pop night on Friday or Saturday evenings but I replaced this with aired popcorn and juice which is crunchy and with a bit of melted margerine it is great!
Thursday, October 11, 2007
This is a list of things in which my family did when starting off living Frugal
Lynnae over at being frugal asked her readers "What's the easiest frugal thing you do?" My response was just too long so I thought that I would post it here.
When I first started out 4 1/2 years ago now, I had never even seen the word "frugal" never mind knowing what the word meant. We had just moved to a new province (we live in Canada) and money was T-I-G-H-T to say the least. I did a search on the internet for low cost but nutricious meals for my family. A whole bunch of links came up and that is when I noticed the word "frugal". I remember thinking what on earth is that? I did a search on Frugal and boy oh boy was I hooked!
Durring the search on that very first day I also saw a saying, I can't remember where now but it said "Buying what I want now will often result in later Needing what I can't buy." The first thing that came to my mind was, what if my children need medicine? I quickly wrote that saying down on a piece of paper and carried it in my wallet for "Months", that saying is now of course in my subconcious :).
Since just moving I need to get my pantry stocked back up. I also wanted to add that we are in debt as of 4 to 5 weeks ago with unexpected expenses when buying our house,We will get out of debt however sooner than later this I know:).
The following are what I do and enjoy to live frugally:
(1) I Cut my families hair as well as my own, You can do a search on haircutting for more information and steps for doing this.
(2) Dh and I shop for our clothes at value village and have in the past gone to the salvation army. You would be surprised at what you can find that is just like new or in some cases still have the price tag on them. The girls like to shop at the "trendy" stores so we allow them x number of $ on what we think is reasonable and if say their shoes exceed the amount we are willing to give them, they have to make up the difference with money they have either saved or earned.
(3) I wash all of our clothes in cold water, when I am doing the sheets and towels etc I will still throw in some javax and they turn out great.
(4) We have always had basic cable. The phone service in which we had I did have long distance on it as we have no family where we live, I called to see if they had a better package as I was paying $29 just for long distance, they said that because I called they did have a deal which is not advertised, and I immediately got $11 dropped off my phone bill per month. savings? $133 a year. It pays to inquire, I then called my insurance company and raised our deductable to $500 from $250 deductable and saved an additional $4 a month. Another thing in which I was just told by an employee from our phone company is that alot of time a customer has to ask for certain deals, he said that they just can't call everyone. Maybe it wasn't the exact words in which he should have said but I am thankful that I had received this information.
(5) Shop the loss leaders, They are advertised on the front page of the flyers, These are usually the best deals but look at all of your food flyers to compare.
(6) Keep a stocked pantry with your loss leaders. If you eat a jar of say peanut butter per month (you might use it for making cookies etc) and you can save for example $1,00 a jar then buy 12, this will give you a years supply :).
(7) I will cook once but eat twice or sometimes 3 times. If we are having say a roast of pork,roast beef dinner, chicken etc, I immediately put aside approximately 1/2 to freeze for another meal. Even spaghetti sauce, make a double or triple batch and freeze what you are not eating that night for another night.
(8) We had paid cash for a (beater)car for $500, mind you dh only had to travel a 15 minute drive each way to work plus grocery shopping etc..but it lasted us for 1 year and a bit while we saved aside money for a better vehicle and we got I believe $50 for parts when we did get rid of it. This gave us time to save up money and pay cash for another vehicle when we upgraded. Not having car payments is truly a blessing! :)
(9) We buy all of our furniture 2nd hand.An exception would be appliances for us and we did buy new with cash our first bedroom set after being together for over 15 years( it was 1/2 price and it can be passed down for generations to come), Keep your eyes and ears opened for the good deals and think of the $ you will be saving.Our furniture was new to us, we just didn't pay the high prices in a furniture store :)
(10) We don't live above or within our means, we live below our means. :) We are not cheap, we are frugal :).
When I first started out 4 1/2 years ago now, I had never even seen the word "frugal" never mind knowing what the word meant. We had just moved to a new province (we live in Canada) and money was T-I-G-H-T to say the least. I did a search on the internet for low cost but nutricious meals for my family. A whole bunch of links came up and that is when I noticed the word "frugal". I remember thinking what on earth is that? I did a search on Frugal and boy oh boy was I hooked!
Durring the search on that very first day I also saw a saying, I can't remember where now but it said "Buying what I want now will often result in later Needing what I can't buy." The first thing that came to my mind was, what if my children need medicine? I quickly wrote that saying down on a piece of paper and carried it in my wallet for "Months", that saying is now of course in my subconcious :).
Since just moving I need to get my pantry stocked back up. I also wanted to add that we are in debt as of 4 to 5 weeks ago with unexpected expenses when buying our house,We will get out of debt however sooner than later this I know:).
The following are what I do and enjoy to live frugally:
(1) I Cut my families hair as well as my own, You can do a search on haircutting for more information and steps for doing this.
(2) Dh and I shop for our clothes at value village and have in the past gone to the salvation army. You would be surprised at what you can find that is just like new or in some cases still have the price tag on them. The girls like to shop at the "trendy" stores so we allow them x number of $ on what we think is reasonable and if say their shoes exceed the amount we are willing to give them, they have to make up the difference with money they have either saved or earned.
(3) I wash all of our clothes in cold water, when I am doing the sheets and towels etc I will still throw in some javax and they turn out great.
(4) We have always had basic cable. The phone service in which we had I did have long distance on it as we have no family where we live, I called to see if they had a better package as I was paying $29 just for long distance, they said that because I called they did have a deal which is not advertised, and I immediately got $11 dropped off my phone bill per month. savings? $133 a year. It pays to inquire, I then called my insurance company and raised our deductable to $500 from $250 deductable and saved an additional $4 a month. Another thing in which I was just told by an employee from our phone company is that alot of time a customer has to ask for certain deals, he said that they just can't call everyone. Maybe it wasn't the exact words in which he should have said but I am thankful that I had received this information.
(5) Shop the loss leaders, They are advertised on the front page of the flyers, These are usually the best deals but look at all of your food flyers to compare.
(6) Keep a stocked pantry with your loss leaders. If you eat a jar of say peanut butter per month (you might use it for making cookies etc) and you can save for example $1,00 a jar then buy 12, this will give you a years supply :).
(7) I will cook once but eat twice or sometimes 3 times. If we are having say a roast of pork,roast beef dinner, chicken etc, I immediately put aside approximately 1/2 to freeze for another meal. Even spaghetti sauce, make a double or triple batch and freeze what you are not eating that night for another night.
(8) We had paid cash for a (beater)car for $500, mind you dh only had to travel a 15 minute drive each way to work plus grocery shopping etc..but it lasted us for 1 year and a bit while we saved aside money for a better vehicle and we got I believe $50 for parts when we did get rid of it. This gave us time to save up money and pay cash for another vehicle when we upgraded. Not having car payments is truly a blessing! :)
(9) We buy all of our furniture 2nd hand.An exception would be appliances for us and we did buy new with cash our first bedroom set after being together for over 15 years( it was 1/2 price and it can be passed down for generations to come), Keep your eyes and ears opened for the good deals and think of the $ you will be saving.Our furniture was new to us, we just didn't pay the high prices in a furniture store :)
(10) We don't live above or within our means, we live below our means. :) We are not cheap, we are frugal :).
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Being Frugal, not Cheap with Meals.
Being short on $ really is not much fun! I just want to get our debt paid off quickly and that will be the end of that.
One thing in which is a bonus however is being creative with our groceries.It helps that even when one is leaving no extra $ while putting most of it towards debt we still have plenty of food lol. The way things are going I am wondering really if I could feed a family of 5 plus 2 cats for about $250 a month Canadian $ and with no coupons to speak of. I am going to see if I can actually do that for next month. It might be difficult however as I already had a lot of my meats on hand for suppers but we shall see.
One thing in which I have noticed however, I have been using 1/2 of the meat in which I normally would use. Hamburger for example. I always used say, 1 lb for macaroni. I made this the other night for supper and used 1/2 a pound of meat but as I fried up the meat I did use a fork to mash up the meat so that it crumbled opposed to having bigger pieces. It worked out perfectly for us :).
I had cooked up a roast tenderloin a few weeks ago and put 1/2 aside for another meal. The roast cost $6 Canadian but it feed the 5 of us and, tonight I will be heating up the other half to have hot pork sandwhiches with homefries and veggies :)
I like keeping a salad made up in the fridge as an appetizer. I actually keep the lettuce seperate from the other veggies though,for example, I like to keep cucumber in a seperate dish so that the lettuce won't go soggy. By doing this the lettuce etc will stay good for at least 5 or 6 days, Plus an added bonus is that I already have lettuce cleaned and sepertated for when I make sandwhiches for lunches.If I find that the cucumber is starting to dry out a bit I will pour a bit of vinegar in the dish.
Another thing I did which I hadn't in a long time was buy some noname brand jello packages. I can get a package which makes double of the name brand jello and tastes just as good, for just about the same price.It felt good last night when I made up a batch of jello for lunches today, along with sugar cookies :).
I find what is helping to keep the grocery bill down and not feeling deprived or hungry is to have a big batch of salad made up for the week, homemade soup in 1 cup servings in the freezer,homemade bread (or store bought) on the table all as an appetizer or to go with your meal.
Whipping up homemade cakes,cookies,pudding etc is always nice too as a sweet after supper.....
So really, opposed to eating up all of the meat at once durring dinner and being so full you can hardly move away from the table lol, we have done ourselves a favour by frugally having a 3 course meal durring dinner time. :). For some reason we are eating better now opposed to when I didn't have to cut back on those $. :)
One thing in which is a bonus however is being creative with our groceries.It helps that even when one is leaving no extra $ while putting most of it towards debt we still have plenty of food lol. The way things are going I am wondering really if I could feed a family of 5 plus 2 cats for about $250 a month Canadian $ and with no coupons to speak of. I am going to see if I can actually do that for next month. It might be difficult however as I already had a lot of my meats on hand for suppers but we shall see.
One thing in which I have noticed however, I have been using 1/2 of the meat in which I normally would use. Hamburger for example. I always used say, 1 lb for macaroni. I made this the other night for supper and used 1/2 a pound of meat but as I fried up the meat I did use a fork to mash up the meat so that it crumbled opposed to having bigger pieces. It worked out perfectly for us :).
I had cooked up a roast tenderloin a few weeks ago and put 1/2 aside for another meal. The roast cost $6 Canadian but it feed the 5 of us and, tonight I will be heating up the other half to have hot pork sandwhiches with homefries and veggies :)
I like keeping a salad made up in the fridge as an appetizer. I actually keep the lettuce seperate from the other veggies though,for example, I like to keep cucumber in a seperate dish so that the lettuce won't go soggy. By doing this the lettuce etc will stay good for at least 5 or 6 days, Plus an added bonus is that I already have lettuce cleaned and sepertated for when I make sandwhiches for lunches.If I find that the cucumber is starting to dry out a bit I will pour a bit of vinegar in the dish.
Another thing I did which I hadn't in a long time was buy some noname brand jello packages. I can get a package which makes double of the name brand jello and tastes just as good, for just about the same price.It felt good last night when I made up a batch of jello for lunches today, along with sugar cookies :).
I find what is helping to keep the grocery bill down and not feeling deprived or hungry is to have a big batch of salad made up for the week, homemade soup in 1 cup servings in the freezer,homemade bread (or store bought) on the table all as an appetizer or to go with your meal.
Whipping up homemade cakes,cookies,pudding etc is always nice too as a sweet after supper.....
So really, opposed to eating up all of the meat at once durring dinner and being so full you can hardly move away from the table lol, we have done ourselves a favour by frugally having a 3 course meal durring dinner time. :). For some reason we are eating better now opposed to when I didn't have to cut back on those $. :)
Monday, October 8, 2007
Another No Spend Day Yesterday Oct.7th 2007
I imagine there will be many no spend days between now and our next payday. Since I could only deposit a minimum of $10 into my ING account the other day( I am paying myself $5 per no spend day) and I only had one actual no spend day at that time, I will consider yesterdays no spend day already in the bank.
Because we are paying down our accumulated debt and I will have so many no spend days I am wondering if I will end up "owing" myself lol. Better to owe myself opposed to others :).
Well, from here on out all "No Spend Days" will be taken out of our next payday and I will have to decide then where it will go, I am thinking now on debt. I will try to squeeze an extra $20 out of next pay to put towards the emergency fund though.
Oh, wanted to add as well, the $10 which I sent to ING came out of Dhs gas money, that leaves him $30 for next week opposed to having $40 for gas. He figures that he will only need $20 for that week so I might have another $10 to tuck away :). I will wait and see next week.
Because we are paying down our accumulated debt and I will have so many no spend days I am wondering if I will end up "owing" myself lol. Better to owe myself opposed to others :).
Well, from here on out all "No Spend Days" will be taken out of our next payday and I will have to decide then where it will go, I am thinking now on debt. I will try to squeeze an extra $20 out of next pay to put towards the emergency fund though.
Oh, wanted to add as well, the $10 which I sent to ING came out of Dhs gas money, that leaves him $30 for next week opposed to having $40 for gas. He figures that he will only need $20 for that week so I might have another $10 to tuck away :). I will wait and see next week.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Why we are behind financially at the moment.
I thought that I would do a post on why at the dh and I are behind financially at this time in our lives.
First off, I messed up! Well, Dh and I messed up but I am the one who does the finances, bill paying etc...for our family.Dh and I find that it works out better for us this way although, I feel like I have failed over the past few months.
We bought two houses within a 3 month period. We had taken equity out of our main principle dwelling this past Feb. $42,000 we ended up with after paying the lawyer fee etc. We bought a couple of second hand vehicles and a bedroom set, it was our first new bedroom set since being together for 15 1/2 years at that time. The rest of the money we put into savings. We then found an investment property in May which was perfect for us to invest in at the time. We put down total 25% plus paid inspector and appraisal fees,lawyer fees etc.. Total amount was just a bit over $25,000 cash. We still at the time had some money left in savings, not much but a bit for emergencies.
We then decided to move closer to our dds school. I was starting to make up to 5 trips a day driving the kids to their sports,friends and school on some days. Those 5 trips a day round trip would add up to 2 1/2 hours of driving in one day. The kids were getting frustrated too as in the winter I find it hard driving on the roads, I just wasn't comfortable driving around the river and all.
Ok, to get on with the topic, We wanted to keep our mortgage payments the same and just move our interest rate of 4.99% to the house we would end up buying. My mortgage broker told me that I needed to come up with $19,500. I had an idea on what we could sell our house for which should have given us $8,500 from the sale so Dh and I would need to come up with $11,000 I confirmed this with our broker and he said yes that was right. I honestly thought at first where on earth could I find that kind of money? Well, we sold a toy( one of the vehicles we had just purchased, used the rest of our savings, dhs vacation pay and his overtime and I can't remember what else right off the top of my head.
All I know is the day we signed the papers to finalize the sale of our house we were something like $3000 short! There were extra fees, surveyer fees among a few others which caught Dh and I off guard. I called our mortgage broker, I was in shock thinking, what have we done? We just sold our house and can't afford to purchase another one. Then to top that off, the bank had also made a mistake and all with the paper work, which was off by $2000. We wanted to keep the same amount of mortgage to port everything to our next house but the bank had put that we owed $2000 less then we actually did.
While talking to our mortgage broker he told us that he was putting money into our bank account out of his own pocket to help make up the difference with what we already had in our account. The money that we had in our account had to pay for our motel fees,we told him that if he felt responsible, not to,it was up to us to double check all of the documents,he insisted and said that it was already being wired. Dh talked to the front desk at the motel to let them know what was going on so we were able to delay that payment for a bit. The next thing I know though is that the credit card was climbing out of control as well, everything was crazy for a bit.
So, we owe,we owe...Ouch! The hotel bill was $2100, we paid $1400 on it 1 1/2 weeks ago. We have a balance of $700 which will be paid on Dhs payday the 19th of this month. That will be one bill paid off! YAY!
Then we have our mortgage broker to pay $1700 , again, the end of Oct we will be paying him $1000 because we still have our regular bills to pay...He will be paid off no later than the middle of Nov.
We then have the credit card bill......$5,900 yup, crazy I know but it just seemed to go up and up but I asked Dh for it tonight,we decided that once it is paid off in full we will decide on what to do with "it". I have an idea, it is called scissors lol, but I don't think Dh is ready to do that yet.Anyhow, come December, Dh will have some commission money due to him from work and we will be putting whatever he gets on the card.
I feel pretty good writing this down. It helps to see it typed out.
One thing is for certain however, I never want to ever forget the feeling in which I felt at that time.If I remember this feeling, I will surly never make the same mistake twice.
First off, I messed up! Well, Dh and I messed up but I am the one who does the finances, bill paying etc...for our family.Dh and I find that it works out better for us this way although, I feel like I have failed over the past few months.
We bought two houses within a 3 month period. We had taken equity out of our main principle dwelling this past Feb. $42,000 we ended up with after paying the lawyer fee etc. We bought a couple of second hand vehicles and a bedroom set, it was our first new bedroom set since being together for 15 1/2 years at that time. The rest of the money we put into savings. We then found an investment property in May which was perfect for us to invest in at the time. We put down total 25% plus paid inspector and appraisal fees,lawyer fees etc.. Total amount was just a bit over $25,000 cash. We still at the time had some money left in savings, not much but a bit for emergencies.
We then decided to move closer to our dds school. I was starting to make up to 5 trips a day driving the kids to their sports,friends and school on some days. Those 5 trips a day round trip would add up to 2 1/2 hours of driving in one day. The kids were getting frustrated too as in the winter I find it hard driving on the roads, I just wasn't comfortable driving around the river and all.
Ok, to get on with the topic, We wanted to keep our mortgage payments the same and just move our interest rate of 4.99% to the house we would end up buying. My mortgage broker told me that I needed to come up with $19,500. I had an idea on what we could sell our house for which should have given us $8,500 from the sale so Dh and I would need to come up with $11,000 I confirmed this with our broker and he said yes that was right. I honestly thought at first where on earth could I find that kind of money? Well, we sold a toy( one of the vehicles we had just purchased, used the rest of our savings, dhs vacation pay and his overtime and I can't remember what else right off the top of my head.
All I know is the day we signed the papers to finalize the sale of our house we were something like $3000 short! There were extra fees, surveyer fees among a few others which caught Dh and I off guard. I called our mortgage broker, I was in shock thinking, what have we done? We just sold our house and can't afford to purchase another one. Then to top that off, the bank had also made a mistake and all with the paper work, which was off by $2000. We wanted to keep the same amount of mortgage to port everything to our next house but the bank had put that we owed $2000 less then we actually did.
While talking to our mortgage broker he told us that he was putting money into our bank account out of his own pocket to help make up the difference with what we already had in our account. The money that we had in our account had to pay for our motel fees,we told him that if he felt responsible, not to,it was up to us to double check all of the documents,he insisted and said that it was already being wired. Dh talked to the front desk at the motel to let them know what was going on so we were able to delay that payment for a bit. The next thing I know though is that the credit card was climbing out of control as well, everything was crazy for a bit.
So, we owe,we owe...Ouch! The hotel bill was $2100, we paid $1400 on it 1 1/2 weeks ago. We have a balance of $700 which will be paid on Dhs payday the 19th of this month. That will be one bill paid off! YAY!
Then we have our mortgage broker to pay $1700 , again, the end of Oct we will be paying him $1000 because we still have our regular bills to pay...He will be paid off no later than the middle of Nov.
We then have the credit card bill......$5,900 yup, crazy I know but it just seemed to go up and up but I asked Dh for it tonight,we decided that once it is paid off in full we will decide on what to do with "it". I have an idea, it is called scissors lol, but I don't think Dh is ready to do that yet.Anyhow, come December, Dh will have some commission money due to him from work and we will be putting whatever he gets on the card.
I feel pretty good writing this down. It helps to see it typed out.
One thing is for certain however, I never want to ever forget the feeling in which I felt at that time.If I remember this feeling, I will surly never make the same mistake twice.
What I have on hand for suppers for the next 11 days
Ok, dh and I went to pick up a few groceries last night. I did get my turkey but they weren't on sale :( , I had planned on spending no more than $15 for the turkey and veggies for our thanksgiving dinner and the turkey alone cost $17.19! This was for a 9lb turkey which is to feed 9 of us tomorrow. We should be fine however, that should be plenty I would think lol. My turnip was $1.51 and cranberry sauce was $1.77(that was the cheapest I could find) Anyhow, I over spent by $3.05. This is what I bought:
Turkey--------------$17.19
Med ground beef-----$ 4.01
Med ground beef-----$ 3.96
Turnip -------------$ 1.51
10lb potato---------$ .97
10lb potato---------$ .97
iceburg lettuce-----$ .97
cranberry sauce ---$ 1.77
Colgate toothpaste--$ .69
Colgate toothpaste--$ .69
4 litres(3 bags)milk$ 5.13
________
Total $37.86
GST (tax) 6% .08
TVP (Quebec tax) .11
________
Grand total $38.05
So, I didn't waste our money , I bought two 10 pounds of Potatoes as I need to also make my everlasting yeast and I am feeding a family of 5 right now. There is Dh,me Ds aged 23, Dd 16 and Dd 14. We had just used up the last of our toothpaste yesterday and considering we brush our teeth 2 to 3x a day I figured I had better get two tubes just in case lol.
I have 11 days until my "First" payday from the school, it will include my first week there, last week along with this upcoming week. the following week will go towards my next pay. I am hoping to get about $200, I am not sure with taxes etc though.
On hand for dinners with Meat I have :
2 small steaks= 1 meal--------beef pot pie
1 small ham = 2 meals-------(1)Fried ham,mashed potato,veggies (2)ham,corn scalloped potato
2 lbs of hamburger = 3 meals-----(1)hamburger and macaroni (2)homemade spaghettie (3)Not sure of the 3rd meal yet
1 Turkey = 3 meals (1) turkey dinner (2)turkey soup (of course! lol) (3) turkey fried rice.
1 1/2 pork tenderloin = 3 meals---(1) Roast pork dinner,potato,gravy and veggies (2) pork fried rice, (3) Hot pork sandwhiches with baked homefries.
Ok, that is 12 meals right there for suppers, I do have a small pkg of salami,one green pepper,onions, mozorella cheese,and pizza sauce so I will be seeing how far I can stretch this to have a pizza night.
I think that I have too many meals with potato so we can also instead have something like grilled cheese (using cheeze whiz) and tomato soup. I also have 3 boxes of kraft dinner on hand. I have lots of spices and baking supplies.
Today I will be making- triple batch of sugar cookies with sprinkles, 1 banana bread (I have 3 ripe bananas in the house lol) I have a can of pumpkin so I will make either pumkin bread or muffins. I will sometime this week also be making up a couple of cakes but I put them in bread pans and freeze,that way the cake won't get eaten up all at once.I have powdered milk in the house that I use for baking, this helps save on the milk.
Breakfasts will consist of either cereal (corn flakes),oatmeal, toast with peanut butter or cheeze whiz,jam etc, pancakes,muffins, french toast,fried bread dough with syrup.
I have apples for fruit, the milk they can have with breakfast,I have 7 cans of frozen juice in the freezer.
Lunches they can take sandwhiches or leftovers or I have canned chicken noodle soup etc...
I also have enough salad to last us about a week so they can have that as an appetizer for supper etc...
I will probably tweak this as I just went through it quickly. I went $3.05 over yesterday on what I had planned for groceries so I will either take that out of our change jar or dh said that he should be ok with about $20 for gas till my payday we will see.
My payday is basically gone, I have to pay $190 to the school for the girls to eat their lunches there (no cafeteria, they take their lunches but everyone has to pay this fee). I am thinking of paying 1/2 of this on my first payday and then the other 1/2 at the end of the month.
Anyhow, I also have 1 pound of bacon so I am off and running, I am making for brunch today pancakes and bacon. Tonight for supper we are having the hamburger and macaroni :)
Turkey--------------$17.19
Med ground beef-----$ 4.01
Med ground beef-----$ 3.96
Turnip -------------$ 1.51
10lb potato---------$ .97
10lb potato---------$ .97
iceburg lettuce-----$ .97
cranberry sauce ---$ 1.77
Colgate toothpaste--$ .69
Colgate toothpaste--$ .69
4 litres(3 bags)milk$ 5.13
________
Total $37.86
GST (tax) 6% .08
TVP (Quebec tax) .11
________
Grand total $38.05
So, I didn't waste our money , I bought two 10 pounds of Potatoes as I need to also make my everlasting yeast and I am feeding a family of 5 right now. There is Dh,me Ds aged 23, Dd 16 and Dd 14. We had just used up the last of our toothpaste yesterday and considering we brush our teeth 2 to 3x a day I figured I had better get two tubes just in case lol.
I have 11 days until my "First" payday from the school, it will include my first week there, last week along with this upcoming week. the following week will go towards my next pay. I am hoping to get about $200, I am not sure with taxes etc though.
On hand for dinners with Meat I have :
2 small steaks= 1 meal--------beef pot pie
1 small ham = 2 meals-------(1)Fried ham,mashed potato,veggies (2)ham,corn scalloped potato
2 lbs of hamburger = 3 meals-----(1)hamburger and macaroni (2)homemade spaghettie (3)Not sure of the 3rd meal yet
1 Turkey = 3 meals (1) turkey dinner (2)turkey soup (of course! lol) (3) turkey fried rice.
1 1/2 pork tenderloin = 3 meals---(1) Roast pork dinner,potato,gravy and veggies (2) pork fried rice, (3) Hot pork sandwhiches with baked homefries.
Ok, that is 12 meals right there for suppers, I do have a small pkg of salami,one green pepper,onions, mozorella cheese,and pizza sauce so I will be seeing how far I can stretch this to have a pizza night.
I think that I have too many meals with potato so we can also instead have something like grilled cheese (using cheeze whiz) and tomato soup. I also have 3 boxes of kraft dinner on hand. I have lots of spices and baking supplies.
Today I will be making- triple batch of sugar cookies with sprinkles, 1 banana bread (I have 3 ripe bananas in the house lol) I have a can of pumpkin so I will make either pumkin bread or muffins. I will sometime this week also be making up a couple of cakes but I put them in bread pans and freeze,that way the cake won't get eaten up all at once.I have powdered milk in the house that I use for baking, this helps save on the milk.
Breakfasts will consist of either cereal (corn flakes),oatmeal, toast with peanut butter or cheeze whiz,jam etc, pancakes,muffins, french toast,fried bread dough with syrup.
I have apples for fruit, the milk they can have with breakfast,I have 7 cans of frozen juice in the freezer.
Lunches they can take sandwhiches or leftovers or I have canned chicken noodle soup etc...
I also have enough salad to last us about a week so they can have that as an appetizer for supper etc...
I will probably tweak this as I just went through it quickly. I went $3.05 over yesterday on what I had planned for groceries so I will either take that out of our change jar or dh said that he should be ok with about $20 for gas till my payday we will see.
My payday is basically gone, I have to pay $190 to the school for the girls to eat their lunches there (no cafeteria, they take their lunches but everyone has to pay this fee). I am thinking of paying 1/2 of this on my first payday and then the other 1/2 at the end of the month.
Anyhow, I also have 1 pound of bacon so I am off and running, I am making for brunch today pancakes and bacon. Tonight for supper we are having the hamburger and macaroni :)
Saturday, October 6, 2007
I transfered my No spend day money into our ING account
But, I just started this challenge and have only had one no spend day for this pay period.We are paying ourselves $5 for each no spend day we have. When I went to transfer the $5 into our ING account towards our emergency fund I wasn't able to do so, with ING apparently the minimum amount to transfer into our account is $10. So, I transfered $10 opposed to the $5 which with things being so tight right now was hard to do but I did it :).
Anyhow, I just wanted to post this to stay accountable :)
Anyhow, I just wanted to post this to stay accountable :)
I am Preparing for More No Spend Days.
So, today is Saturday. We have decided that today we will fill up the car with gas for the upcoming week and I will be picking up a few groceries as well, just the necessities. By doing this all today this should prevent us from having to run to the store,gas station etc. throughout the week. Having a No Spend day 2 days ago has really helped motivate me and make me even more determined.
I will be also making up a few more loaves of bread if not today then tomorrow to put aside and freeze for the week ahead. This will give us 5 loaves of homemade bread for 5 of us for lunches,breakfast etc...I am hoping it will do.
There always seems to be something in which I have missed which causes us to make extra trips to the store, dh will call from work to see if I need him to pick up "something" at the store on his way home and I usually say "yes" and he will pick up butter or bread just little things and it all adds up.
I havn't gone through all of my cupboards etc but will do a quick check here in a bit before going to the store.
I have been so tired lately but I didn't realize how tired I actually was lol. Last night at 7:30p.m I told dh that I was going to lie down for 1/2 an hour or so, I didn't wake up until 8:30a.m this morning! That was 13 hours of sleep so I figured that I must have needed that. I can't remember the last time I have slept like that.
Well, signing off for now :)
I will be also making up a few more loaves of bread if not today then tomorrow to put aside and freeze for the week ahead. This will give us 5 loaves of homemade bread for 5 of us for lunches,breakfast etc...I am hoping it will do.
There always seems to be something in which I have missed which causes us to make extra trips to the store, dh will call from work to see if I need him to pick up "something" at the store on his way home and I usually say "yes" and he will pick up butter or bread just little things and it all adds up.
I havn't gone through all of my cupboards etc but will do a quick check here in a bit before going to the store.
I have been so tired lately but I didn't realize how tired I actually was lol. Last night at 7:30p.m I told dh that I was going to lie down for 1/2 an hour or so, I didn't wake up until 8:30a.m this morning! That was 13 hours of sleep so I figured that I must have needed that. I can't remember the last time I have slept like that.
Well, signing off for now :)
Friday, October 5, 2007
Frugal Doings
Well, today I am making 2 loaves of homemade bread along with a pan of a dozen rolls. As I mentioned we are going to be extra tight with our $ for the next couple of weeks. To help save money on groceries I will be making our bread opposed to buying it at $1.59 a loaf.
Yeast here is expensive, we get a small jar and it is almost $5. To help me save on having to buy yeast as I will be making breads,hotcross buns,pizza and whatever else needs yeast in a recipe, I will be making a recipe called ever lasting yeast to save on having to buy more over the next 2 weeks. I have made this before and it is wonderful! The only thing in which I did find however is that once you use it you will have to replenish it with more potato water but considering we have potatoes about 2 times a week we should be fine.
Well, that is my frugal doings for today :)
Yeast here is expensive, we get a small jar and it is almost $5. To help me save on having to buy yeast as I will be making breads,hotcross buns,pizza and whatever else needs yeast in a recipe, I will be making a recipe called ever lasting yeast to save on having to buy more over the next 2 weeks. I have made this before and it is wonderful! The only thing in which I did find however is that once you use it you will have to replenish it with more potato water but considering we have potatoes about 2 times a week we should be fine.
Well, that is my frugal doings for today :)
Reduce A Bill Challenge
Mom of 3 over at Working for Financial Freedom is having a reduce a bill challenge which we can all join in with her ,she is doing the Reduce a Bill Challenge where she will be line drying her clothes so that she can reduce her electric bill.Lynnae over at beingfrugal just successfully completed a challenge with her family by not eating out for an entire month and has inspired Many of Us! I am challenging myself to see if I can make 10 no spend days this month.I averaged it out and figured that everyday we spend money it is a minimum of $5. Each no spend day I am going to mark on my a calender for a reminder and each payday I am going to take out that specific amount of $ saved. So, if I have had say 4 no spend days by payday I will set aside $20 and then wait for the next payday to see how many no spend days in which we have had.
We need to beef up our emergency fund, at least get a little something in there. Once we have our baby emergency fund of say $500 I will then focus on using the no spend days $ to go towards our debt.
This is truly exciting! Today is payday and yesterday was a no spend day so I will take out $5 and transfer it to our ING account for our emergency fund!
I can't wait to see how this goes :)
We need to beef up our emergency fund, at least get a little something in there. Once we have our baby emergency fund of say $500 I will then focus on using the no spend days $ to go towards our debt.
This is truly exciting! Today is payday and yesterday was a no spend day so I will take out $5 and transfer it to our ING account for our emergency fund!
I can't wait to see how this goes :)
Thursday, October 4, 2007
Chocolate Macaroon No Bake Cookies
I had this recipe in an old cookbook , the cookbook is so old the cover is not even on it anymore. You can actually find this recipe all over the internet but I havn't seen the directions quite like I cook them up and I have heard here and there how some people have difficulty making them as they will not hold together well etc...
I will put the recipe here and type down how I make them up in case anyone who has tried and this recipe has not worked for them, maybe the way I do it might help :)
"No Bake" Chocolate Macaroon Cookies ( I usually double this recipe)
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup marg or butter (I use margerine)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 cup of coconut
3 cups of quick oats
(1) First I get everything in order. I put in a large bowl (or 4 litre ice cream container) coconut,oatmeal,cocoa. I mix that up and set aside. I then put in a seperate bowl all by itself the sugar. Next I make sure that I have a long strip of tinfoil on my counter and get out two large tablespoons, I will use one spoon for scooping up the cookies once finished in the pot and the other to scrape off the cookies so that I have nice mounds of cookies on the tinfoil.
(2) I take the butter and melt it in a large pot on medium heat, once melted I add the milk and wait for that to heat up. I then add the sugar stir it all together on medium heat until it starts to boil stirring occasionally...I do sometimes turn up the heat or I will put a cover on it and keep peeking to see when it has started boiling but I still stir it occasionally lol.
(3) Once you see it first start to boil, even just a few bubbles make sure if you were using a lid to take it off and look at your clock and time it for exactly 3 minutes, this is a crucial step ( for me anyhow lol)I find that if I let it boil for more than 3 minutes the cookies will fall apart when trying to put them on the tinfoil.Keep stirring every now and again.You can also turn the heat down to min.once it is in a full boil.
(4) When the 3 minutes are up immediately turn off your burner, take your pot over by your tinfoil and start scooping the cookies and put on the tinfoil. Wait for them to cool before eating :)
I also wanted to add that this recipe usually calls for 1 tsp of vanilla but I do not use it. I also do not add coconut for when the kids take them for a snack at school as it is a peanut free school and there are a few children there with allergys. Instead of adding coconut I just replace it with 1/2 cup of oatmeal, unless I double this recipe then I add a full cup.
I will put the recipe here and type down how I make them up in case anyone who has tried and this recipe has not worked for them, maybe the way I do it might help :)
"No Bake" Chocolate Macaroon Cookies ( I usually double this recipe)
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup marg or butter (I use margerine)
2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
1 cup of coconut
3 cups of quick oats
(1) First I get everything in order. I put in a large bowl (or 4 litre ice cream container) coconut,oatmeal,cocoa. I mix that up and set aside. I then put in a seperate bowl all by itself the sugar. Next I make sure that I have a long strip of tinfoil on my counter and get out two large tablespoons, I will use one spoon for scooping up the cookies once finished in the pot and the other to scrape off the cookies so that I have nice mounds of cookies on the tinfoil.
(2) I take the butter and melt it in a large pot on medium heat, once melted I add the milk and wait for that to heat up. I then add the sugar stir it all together on medium heat until it starts to boil stirring occasionally...I do sometimes turn up the heat or I will put a cover on it and keep peeking to see when it has started boiling but I still stir it occasionally lol.
(3) Once you see it first start to boil, even just a few bubbles make sure if you were using a lid to take it off and look at your clock and time it for exactly 3 minutes, this is a crucial step ( for me anyhow lol)I find that if I let it boil for more than 3 minutes the cookies will fall apart when trying to put them on the tinfoil.Keep stirring every now and again.You can also turn the heat down to min.once it is in a full boil.
(4) When the 3 minutes are up immediately turn off your burner, take your pot over by your tinfoil and start scooping the cookies and put on the tinfoil. Wait for them to cool before eating :)
I also wanted to add that this recipe usually calls for 1 tsp of vanilla but I do not use it. I also do not add coconut for when the kids take them for a snack at school as it is a peanut free school and there are a few children there with allergys. Instead of adding coconut I just replace it with 1/2 cup of oatmeal, unless I double this recipe then I add a full cup.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
threw some money into the change jar today....
$3. matter of fact lol. It's a good start. Dh mentioned that he had a bit of extra money in his pocket, I asked him if he had any change that he could put into the change jar and that was the amount he had. A very pleasant surprise! :).
He had $20 on him as part of his gas money plus the change and I asked him if he could start putting his change into the change jar which he was more than happy to do. He doesn't need to put it all in, it is nice for him to have some pocket change so that he doesn't feel totally deprived. If we start feeling deprived then I find that really defeats the purpose of trying to be frugal and get ahead.
Because we are going back to paying cash for groceries etc opposed to using our debit bank card we should notice a difference once again with our change jar. It is a step in the right direction.
I am challenging my dh and myself to keep it up! :)
He had $20 on him as part of his gas money plus the change and I asked him if he could start putting his change into the change jar which he was more than happy to do. He doesn't need to put it all in, it is nice for him to have some pocket change so that he doesn't feel totally deprived. If we start feeling deprived then I find that really defeats the purpose of trying to be frugal and get ahead.
Because we are going back to paying cash for groceries etc opposed to using our debit bank card we should notice a difference once again with our change jar. It is a step in the right direction.
I am challenging my dh and myself to keep it up! :)
2 More days until Dhs payday
And it is basically gone already! It will be 2 more weeks after that until his next pay so I need to really and I mean really get my frugal mind ticking here.
I have to get my plan into action. Dhs pay is $916, we also have $118.86 in our bank account so the total right now is $1034.86.
What we need to pay "out" this Friday is $873.14 mortgage, $45.75 medication, $40 for a week of gas. The total is $958.89 which leaves us left with $75.97
We will need another weeks worth of gas so another $40. Now I am down to $35.97.
I need to go through our pantry etc and work with that for meals and snacks. We also have our Thanksgiving this upcoming weekend along with a few vegetables, I will take $15 out of that. We are now down to $20.97 left for the two weeks.
I will list either this evening or tomorrow what we have in our pantry,fridge, and freezer and see what I can come up with for meals and what I will need for any extras to buy out of the money left like eggs for example. We just moved so I have not had a chance to get my stockpile going so we are pretty low.
By Gosh, we are back to living from Pay to Pay to get caught up. We can do this! I know we can :)
I have to get my plan into action. Dhs pay is $916, we also have $118.86 in our bank account so the total right now is $1034.86.
What we need to pay "out" this Friday is $873.14 mortgage, $45.75 medication, $40 for a week of gas. The total is $958.89 which leaves us left with $75.97
We will need another weeks worth of gas so another $40. Now I am down to $35.97.
I need to go through our pantry etc and work with that for meals and snacks. We also have our Thanksgiving this upcoming weekend along with a few vegetables, I will take $15 out of that. We are now down to $20.97 left for the two weeks.
I will list either this evening or tomorrow what we have in our pantry,fridge, and freezer and see what I can come up with for meals and what I will need for any extras to buy out of the money left like eggs for example. We just moved so I have not had a chance to get my stockpile going so we are pretty low.
By Gosh, we are back to living from Pay to Pay to get caught up. We can do this! I know we can :)
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
I am ready to get back on track!
I am ready to "scream" as far as our finances go right now, but instead I have decided to take the energy which I would use for "screaming" and put it towards getting on track.
I don't know what has happened to me but, dhs credit card payment was 1 day late, I can't believe I didn't pay more attention! I knew when it was due but then thought it was the day after the due date when it needed to be paid.
We have had a lot on our minds with the move and all but I have had it with excuses, and anything else in which I can come up with on "why" this happened or that. We knew the bill had to be paid and on which date and we had the money to pay it! So, I am going to plug away, get us back on track!
I feel like my old self now after this vent, I am rolling up my sleeves and getting back to debt free.
I don't know what has happened to me but, dhs credit card payment was 1 day late, I can't believe I didn't pay more attention! I knew when it was due but then thought it was the day after the due date when it needed to be paid.
We have had a lot on our minds with the move and all but I have had it with excuses, and anything else in which I can come up with on "why" this happened or that. We knew the bill had to be paid and on which date and we had the money to pay it! So, I am going to plug away, get us back on track!
I feel like my old self now after this vent, I am rolling up my sleeves and getting back to debt free.
Monday, October 1, 2007
My First Day At Work!
I Love it! The kids are great :). We were getting ready to line up from play time outside so the Children could get their lunches, I looked at a little boy sitting on a swing and I said to him " Are you ready Freddie?" He looked at me and said "My name is not Freddie!, My name is Anthony!", He will always have a special place in my heart :)
I have to stop and think as well that most of the children speak mainly french outside of the school. Some of the "sayings" in which I might say they may not have heard of before lol.
It took me 25 minutes to walk each way, I wore my flat shoes but I think that tomorrow I will wear my sneakers and just change them when I get there.
I have to stop and think as well that most of the children speak mainly french outside of the school. Some of the "sayings" in which I might say they may not have heard of before lol.
It took me 25 minutes to walk each way, I wore my flat shoes but I think that tomorrow I will wear my sneakers and just change them when I get there.
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