May budget challenge

Every month I track how much money I save using coupons and getting things on sale. But I never track how much I'm spending. I tried tracking about a year ago, but it took to much time. This time I'm only going to track my grocery and HBA instead of every single penny I spend. Honestly, I have know idea how much my family spends a month on food and other necessities. My guess would be $400-$500, but I don't know for sure. I plan to budget us for only $400 (I plan to lower this once I get a grasp on how much we really spend)These are the rules I plan to follow:

~Eating out/Fast food won't count, but I won't use it to avoid grocery shopping
~If I get reimbursed for something it doesn't count as OOP
~Things like photos, birthday presents, and clothes won't count as part of my $400 budget,
~But pet expenses will!

Great deals at Staples

The back to school deals have started already, and school around here doesn't start for another two months! I'm not complaining though, I LOVE sales. Back to school time is the best time to stock up on any and all office supplies you may need. This week Staples is having things like Scotch Tape & BIC Pens on sale for only $1 each (limit two) Check out your local Staples for all the details. Can't wait to see what sale the rest of the summer brings.

Toy Box Re-do

I have such a hard time saying no to anything that's free. I figure I can always come up with an idea later. At first when we got this Sponge Bob toy box from a family friend, I had no idea what to do with it. No one in my home is a Sponge Bob fan (that goodness!) My son does love dinosaurs though. So after some thinking, this is what I came up with.



Cost:
~Toy Box: free
~Painter tape: free (already had)
~2 cans spray paint: $6.50
~Dinosaur decals: $10.20 (full price was $17.99, but I had a coupon)
TOTAL: $16.70

Sunday coupon preview

Tomorrow is definitely a good day to buy multiple papers to stock up on coupons! With the holidays, the coupon inserts haven't been that great, but this Sundays paper is going to have 5 inserts! With the craziness of birthdays and the holidays, I haven't bought a Sunday paper since October and most of my coupons have now expired :( Can't wait to replenish my coupon stash tomorrow. You can stop by Sunday Coupon Preview for an entire list of tomorrows coupons to decided how many papers you'll be buying.

Sunday Coupons

I'll admit that I don't buy the Sunday paper. My MIL has it delivered and she saves the coupons for me. I figure why pay to save? The Sunday paper costs $3. In my opinion that's a lot of money to pay for coupons. On rare occasions I will buy the paper, but only if there is a good amount of coupon inserts, like this weekend. There will be 4 coupon inserts in this Sundays paper! For a run down of all the coupons check out Taylortown Coupon Review . Happy clipping!

Tips for Kids hand-me-down challenge

Buying every article of clothing second hand for an entire year may sound a bit tricky. I was wondering of all the different places where I will be getting all these clothes and this is what I came up with.
~Hand me downs. If you know a few people that have kids older than yours ask them if they wouldn’t mind giving you their kids out grown clothes.
~ebay. Stay away from the top auctions that have “70+ name brand items”. They tend not to be to much of a bargain. Best bet is to find auctions that will be ending soon that are being sold by a single person instead of an ebay store.
~craigslist.org. There are usually people trying to sell their kids old clothes.
~Freecycle. Best thing about this website is people are giving the clothes away for free.
~Resale shops. This includes stores like The Salvation Army. There are a ton of kids resale shops in my area that I will be visiting.
~Yard sales. Items usually go for around $1 an item. If not, you can always try to talk the seller down.

Real ways to save money

Act like you aren’t saving money at all. Ok, let me explain. Lets say when you go to the grocery store between sales and coupons, you save $20. Instead of thinking “awesome, I saved twenty dollars” take that savings and stick it in an envelope. If you think about it, you really didn’t save that money, you just spent $20 less than you thought you would. It doesn’t mean you just added it to your savings account.

You’re more likely to spend that twenty on something else, like a coffee from your favorite shop, or maybe a new dvd or toy for your child. From now on take whatever the savings from your shopping trip is and round up to the nearest dollar, then stick it in an envelope. The next time you have to go to the bank, take that envelope with you (even if it’s only a couple of dollars) and deposit into your saving account. Do this with all your shopping. Even big ticket items. Act like you paid full price even if it was on sale and put the difference into your savings.

Kid's clothing challenge

I'm giving myself a challenge when it comes to buying clothes for my 2 kids. I vow to NOT buy and new clothes for my kids for the next year. I am doing this for two main reasons, 1) Buying clothes at resale shops (or yard sales) is a lot cheaper than buying them new in the store, and 2) I do try to live my life green the best I can and I'm sure this falls into the "reduce, reuse, recycle" motto.

I think I'll call it Kids hand-me-down challenge

I've always picked up a few things here and there at resale shops, but now I will buy everything there. The only thing I will buy new will be footwear and underwear, because I'm picky about those things. I was fortunate this winter to have my mother spoil my kids with clothes for Christmas. I swear she bought them enough outfits to last two weeks without having to do a single load of laundry. But spring is coming, and my little ones have been growing. I will be posting what I buy and how much I spend once I start shopping.

Working on it...

So far I haven't been doing well on my resolutions. I've eaten McDonald's twice-yuck! I finely sat down and made up a menu for the next week. I will try my hardest to stick with it. Oh, did I happen to mention that my food budget for the month is only $230. Yes, I will feed a family of 4, as healthy as possible, on no more than $230 in a one month period. Here is the menu for this week.

WEEK 1:
Sunday
Breakfast: Pancakes & sausage
Snack: 2 gram crackers, small yogurt
Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich on wheat, red pepper slices
Snack: small sweet from Christmas
Dinner: Tofu stir fry

Monday
Breakfast: Frozen blueberry waffle, yogurt
Snack: Pria bar
Lunch: Ham & cheese on wheat, apple
Snack: a few wheat thins w/ sliced cheese
Dinner: Baked salmon, mashed potatoes, summer squash

Tuesday

Breakfast: Wheat toast, Clementine
Snack: Fruit cup
Lunch: Leftovers
Snack: 2 cookies
Dinner: Steak, sweet corn, rice pilaf

Wednesday
Breakfast: Cold Cereal, yogurt
Snack: Peach cup
Lunch: Turkey sandwich on wheat, Clementine
Snack: Almonds
Dinner: Sloppy Joe's made from scratch w/ homemade potato salad

Thursday
Breakfast: Wheat toast, banana
Snack: apple w/ peanut butter
Lunch: Salad, yogurt
Snack: small bowl of sherbet
Dinner: Cheeseburger pie w/ green beans

Friday
Breakfast: Bagel w/ low fat cream cheese, banana
Snack: muffin
Lunch: Ham & cheese on wheat, baked potato chips
Snack: cucumbers & dip
Dinner: Homemade veggie pizza w/ homemade sweet potato fries

Saturday
Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, turkey bacon
Snack: yogurt w/ homemade granola
Lunch: Chicken cutlet sandwich, carrot sticks w/ low fat dip
Snack: brownie
Dinner: Leftovers

Tightwad Gazette vs. Miserly Moms

Out of all the websites and messages boards I have searched, looking for tips on how to stretch my dollar even further, I have come across two titles often. Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn and Miserly Moms by Jonni McCoy. So I went to my local library to check them out and judge for myself.

A lot of negative things have been said about the Tightwad Gazette, here are a few I‘ve heard:
“It is just way to over the top.”
“There is a difference between being thrifty and being cheap, and she (the author) is just cheap”
“Some of these tips are just disgusting!”
“I feel sorry for her children”
I also found most of the people bashing the Tightwad Gazette recommended Misery Moms instead.

Now in my opinion Tightwad Gazette beats Miserly Moms hands down! Tightwad Gazette gives all kinds of tips on saving money and repurpose things to be reused that others may think was trash. For example: using old pallet racks to make a compost bin or an empty cereal box as a magazine holder. It seems the only tips in Miserly Moms was how to save on your grocery bill. People also need to keep in mind the Tightwad Gazette was published between 1993 and 1996, where Miserly Moms came out in 2001. So, yes, some of the tips will be out dated.

I’m sure for a lot of people the tips they find in Miserly Moms will be extremely helpful. I’m also sure that those people are new to living on very little money. I’ve been strapped for cash for awhile now and was already aware and practicing the tips found in Misery Moms before I even read the book.

I have been able to feed a family of four a well balanced diet, which includes 3 meals a day and 2 snacks, on only $200 a month, and I have been doing that for over a year. In fact, my family eats healthier now, on $200 a month, than we did when we spent $500 a month.

I would highly recommend both books though. But if you would like to save money on things other than just your groceries, invest in the Tightwad Gazette. I have also included the links to both websites so you can see what each one is about.

Birthday on a Budget

My daughter, Ali, turned 2 on Oct. 7th. The first half of October for us has been very busy. We decided to forgo the big birthday bash and keep it really simple. I had bought all of Ali's presents back in August when MA was having their tax free weekend. Anything to save a few extra dollars! I don't have any wrapping paper, I try to be creative and use other things. I think its good for the environment AND my budget. This year I had my son, Logan, color large pieces of recycled paper, with the help of his grandma, and used that for wrapping paper. It was a fun craft project for him to do for his baby sister. I also tried to make Ali's cake. Ali is completely in love with the Fancy Nancy series by Jane O'Connor, so I tried to make a cake that looked like Fancy Nancy's sunglasses. This is how it came out, so you be the judge.This is what Fancy Nancy's sunglasses really look like:

Okay, so they don't really look alike, but I'm not a cake decorator so give me some credit. The cake was delicious and that's all that matters. Plus it was fun to make. A budget friendly and fun filled birthday with a homemade cake and wrapping paper.

Grape Jelly

A few Sunday's ago I was out yard sale hunting, looking for good deals on things I could use. One of the things I was looking for were old mason jars used for canning. I have never canned anything before, I wanted them for Christmas gifts. An inexpensive, yet thoughtful, gift to family and friends are homemade sweets in a jar. Well, I came upon an estate sale that had been going on since Friday and was in the finale day of the sale. Long and behold THEY HAD MASON JARS! The exact size I was looking for! I made a deal with the nice lady to take all 70 of them off her hands for just $10, which is only about 14 cents a jar.



Now I don't have 70 people on my shopping list, which made me think that to save a little extra cash maybe I should try canning. My sitter-in-law was about to come for a visit from the-middle-of-nowhere PA. (It is a very rural area) and she has tons of fruits and veggies growing on her property. When she found out we had so many jars she offered to pick some of her concord grapes so we could make jelly. Well she brought about 30 lbs. of grapes with her and we spent over 5 hours making 10 jars of grape jelly and about 2 gallons of grape juice, and the only cost to me was $1.40 for the jars.



It would take me forever to use 10 jars of jelly, so we kept 5. I won't have to buy jelly now for at least a year!