A Bit of Randomness

Well, it's almost a new year and my blog is sorely lacking in updates. It kind of went to the wayside (along with house cleaning) after Robert came home. It seems like I have more time to do things when he's gone (or working) than when he's home all the time!

I am finally back into meal planning -- and hoping/praying that we can finally stick to our budget this year so we can save more money. Saving has (sadly) been a lower priority lately with all our eating out, buying Robert some new clothes, and purchasing our lovely piano (more about that below)!

It's amazing how much money you can save when you go into the grocery store with a plan and a list instead of just thinking of "meals" (if you can call them that) as you go. Our first planned meal was last night - homemade ham and bean soup (using dry beans). Very delicious. Robert loved it. I made homemade corn muffins to go along with it, which was a nice compliment.

I made some sandwich bread yesterday as well - but I think I took it out of the oven too soon, so I'll have to try again next time. I want to start making all of our bread again. I bought some wheat gluten, hoping that will help the bread become less "crumb-y" ... hoping anyway. I might try a small amount of bread flour if that doesn't work, because my italian bread recipe turns out so nicely.

I would also like to start making all of our desserts from scratch. I made some wonderful butter toffee, caramels, and candy bar treats with the help of my mom when my parents were visiting earlier this month. We still have some toffee left over but everything else has been eaten. The candy was so rich and so delicious. I can't wait to make the caramels again to try to improve on them. (They were a bit hard, probably from boiling too long.)

And I've even started making cinnamon rolls from scratch. I've made two batches now (the second was much better), but they are delightful! And they are made with baking powder, so they're fast and easy. The link is on my recipe page.

And last but not least, my new piano! Well, I should say our piano. Robert and I have been eyeing pianos since before Benedict was born (maybe for almost a year now). We considered one, but they were a little out of our price range. I was set on buying a full sized keyboard if we were going to spend the money. There's no use buying one (in my opinion) if I can't even play all my favorite songs on it! So we finally broke down and bought one as our Christmas present to each other this year. It came with an attached stand, pedals, weighted keys, and a bench. I'm so thrilled with the purchase!

Well, if you're still with me, I'm going to try to update once every week or two from now on so that I have a little motivation to stay on track, but also to share with you what I've been up to in the kitchen as well as any new updates with Benedict.

We're Out of Debt!!!!!

Today, the last check is being delivered (via online bill pay) to the credit card company which means we are DEBT FREE!!!!!

I was so excited when I discovered a way to pay it off a month early. Now we can start building our emergency fund and we (God willing) will not have to worry about paying bills or not having enough money again.

This means we will also be able to have money for Robert's birthday and Christmas (which like I said here, is a big deal for us).

So, we will be able to accomplish all of our financial goals for this year. Which is so wonderful, because with the past few months getting so far off budget, I thought we were "doomed" for sure!

More Ways to Save

Saving money is becoming a big part of my life. Right now it's because we're paying off our debts and in the future it will be for setting up an emergency fund and saving for retirement and other things. So I'm always looking for and thinking about ways to save. It's almost become my "job" - Robert makes the money and I save it!

Here's some ideas I've come across recently:

1. Reuse items instead of trashing them (or buying new). You can use a gallon ice cream bucket for soaking small stained items and plastic food containers for leftovers or to organize your desk supplies. Also, we were going to throw away our nightstand that got broken by the movers but we really needed a nightstand and decided to fix it (just needed some glue) instead of spending money on a new one.

2. Take advantage of the library. This can potentially be a huge money saver. If you buy books or movies, or rent through Netflix or at Blockbuster - why are you wasting your money? The library has tons of resources at your disposal for free.

3. Use cash (if you can't, it means you're spending above your means). This is huge. Not only because it has been statistically proven that you spend 12-18% more when you use plastic, but because it also shows you when you need to stop spending. Use envelopes. If the money is gone, you can no longer spend from that category anymore (if it's groceries ... either make do with your pantry items or take money from another category).

4. Make a few meatless meals a week. Meat can be expensive depending on what type you're buying. Beans, rice, and pasta are very inexpensive in comparison and you can make great meals with those ingredients. Another way to save with meat is to make meat a "side dish" instead of the main course of the meal or half the amount you put in casseroles, etc.

5. Make a meal plan. If you just buy food without a plan for that food that's the same as spending money without a plan for that money (most of it will go down the drain i.e. the garbage disposal). Make a plan of what meals you will serve throughout the week (or two weeks or month) and make a grocery list for those meals based on what you will need. This can save you tons of money in no last minute trips to the store, no food expiring before it's used, etc.

6. Stick to that grocery list. When you're at the store keep your eyes on what you need. If it's not on your list, it doesn't go in the cart! Even if something is a "great deal" who cares. You're buying more than you need and could potentially be throwing it away!

7. Combine all your errands. Save gas and time by running all of your errands at once. No quick trips to one place everyday. Try making one "errand trip" per week instead.

8. Stay home. The more you go out (trips to the grocery store, movies, mall, "browsing", "window shopping") the more likely you are to spend money.

9. Turn off the lights. I hardly ever use the lights when I'm at home during the day. The sun is bright enough (even with the blinds closed) that I don't need any extra. Also turn off lights when you leave a room. Even only a few minutes of the lights being on is costing you more in electricity than turning them off and back on when you return.

The Total Money Makeover

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey was so wonderful and uplifting. I enjoyed reading the debt and money myths and the encouraging stories of others. Even though we have already started our "money makeover" without realizing that's what we were doing, I still learned a great deal about where to go from here.

Before reading this book, my favorite financial author was Mary Hunt, but I think, no I know, Dave Ramsey has surpassed my expectations, become my favorite, and his is one of the best books I've ever read.

Now that I have read this book, I'm looking forward to reading other books by Dave Ramsey. I also started listening to his radio show on the internet.

This was the first book I checked out of the library in a long time. And I'm certainly glad that I did. I definitely recommend this book to anyone with any kind of debt.

More Money Savings

One thing that I've learned through reading all the "tips and tricks" from others, is that, when saving money, not everything applies. So here are some tips that apply to us, hopefully some of them apply to you too!

**Lowest cell phone plan - Make sure that you're not spending more money that you have to. Check your bill and see if you can cut your minutes, text messages, etc.

**No home phone - For the most part, there's no reason to have a home phone. If you do need one, shop around and make sure you're getting the best plan. There is so much competition with plans, it's not worth it to stay with your current plan just for convenience.

**No cable TV - There are so many other things you can do with your time. Having a TV on can be distracting and dissuading. Sometimes I felt I "needed" to finish watching a TV show instead of finishing laundry or dusting the furniture. We've started collecting TV series DVDs so that the shows we love, we can watch anytime. It's much cheaper than cable. - Just to be fair, we haven't given it up yet, but I have a plan (in my budget) to cancel it in September.

**Budget - I've talked about this before, but I'll say it again, "If you don't know where you're money is going, you'll never get ahead."

**Give 10% - Giving to others is a wonderful way to save money. If you're focused on others, you don't need as much for yourself.

**Save 10% - Giving to yourself is important also. You have to save to get ahead. If you keep living paycheck to paycheck and have no way to deal with emergencies that come up, you'll just get into (more) debt.

**Lessen eating out - We're still working on this one, but I'm trying to get us down to just one meal out a month. The more you eat out (even fast food costs $3-10 per person) the more money you're wasting. I can make our meals at home for less than $1 to $2 per serving.

These final tips are more about being healthy than they are about saving money but I thought I would share anyway.

**No/less convenience food - Don't buy boxes, mixes, fresh or frozen doughs, or already made corn bread, oatmeal, cookies, tomato sauce/pizza sauce, bread, rolls, muffins, pizza dough. This can sometimes be more expensive because with coupons and sales processed, convenience foods can be next to nothing or even free. But it is healthier to know (and control) exactly what goes into what you're making.

**Make food from scratch - Use more fresh ingredients and whole foods. If the label has more than five ingredients or you cannot pronounce an ingredient on the label, the item is most likely not healthy and highly processed.

**Using organic - This is definitely far from saving money (as a note it is four times the price for organic milk than for non-organic milk), but eating less pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics is better for your body. It is more natural and healthier to eat certified organic food. Think about this, if you were making this food yourself in a garden or on a farm, would you use these things (pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics)?

Check back for more tips in the future.

Saving Money & Financial Goals

I've read a lot of books, taken classes, and read advice from other blogs and websites about how to save money. If you want to find it, there's tons of information floating around out there. My favorite "financial guru" thus far is Mary Hunt - and truth be told, she doesn't even have a degree in finance or accounting. She's just been there (in debt), and I think that's one of the most important things!

Since we've been working on getting out of debt, I thought I would share a few of the ways we save money and still live well on one income.

1. We cut our cell phone bill by 30% by making sure we got all available discounts and cutting our text message plan to the smallest one available.

2. We cut our grocery bill by 25% by planning our meals and buying less (or no) convenience foods. The only convenience foods I buy are trimmed and ready chicken breasts, spaghetti sauce, and pizza sauce. I'm going to start making our own sauces though as soon as we use up what's left in the cabinet.

3. We use our programmable thermostat and we don't have an air conditioner (we would have to buy/install a window unit ourselves). In winter, we keep the house at 70° during the day and 60° at night (the furnace doesn't even come most nights).

4. We have a budget!!! -- This is the most important thing. If you don't know where your money is going/supposed to go, you'll never get ahead.

5. We're working our butts off, more like "sacrificing our butts off", to pay off all our debt by November. We definitely made some poor choice last year and now we have to pay for it (literally)!

Goals -- by the end of the year I would like to we will have:
* All debts paid off!!!!
* Start an emergency fund
* $200 for Christmas presents ... this is kind of a big deal for me because Robert and I didn't buy Christmas presents for each other last year.

Feel free to give any advice of your own ... I'm always open to new ways to save.

Just starting out ...

I've never done this before so it might be a rough start. :-)

Today Robert's on duty - which means he has to stay on the ship overnight and do whatever work needs to be done (which is sometimes nothing) - so I'm all alone at home. I wanted some mac and cheese, so I tried adding Campbell's Cheddar Cheese soup to the noodles but it was bland. So I threw in a handful of shredded cheddar and it still wasn't that great.

I've been surfing the web all day long. I made an Alphabet chart with upper and lower case letters and pictures. I've been really interested in homeschooling things lately. So this was just one of many pre-planning things I've accomplished.

We're over budget on almost everything this month but somehow we're still $200 under the paycheck - figure that one out! lol And somehow my checking account balance on my budget is like $50 off (lower gladly, but still off). I don't know how that happens either because I only round up to the nearest dollar with expenses and down to the nearest dollar with income.

I love budgeting. I can't believe I finally found my calling. It's so great. And the more I get into it, the more I'm trying to find ways to save money! I have our monthly budget done all the way out to December 2012! I have 11 funds in my Freedom Account (only 4 of which have balances above $0 right now). BTW - a Freedom Account is a savings account to free you from living paycheck to paycheck. We are fully funded for all our insurance premiums for the year and for our deductibles. My current funds are: car insurance, renter's insurance, Robert's uniforms, insurance deductibles, moving expenses, contingency fund, car, house, paycheck (used when they screw it up), Christmas & gifts, and vacations. A contingency fund is used when you find yourself without a paycheck (fired, laid-off, switching jobs, etc).

We plan to pay cash for our next vehicle and pay at least 20% (hopefully more) down when we buy our first home. We will also be debt free by the end of the year! We're really excited about that (me mostly)!!