almost to the end of the month!

I love February! Not only is it my birthday month, but it's a short month and that makes it seem easier to stick to the budget. Those 3 days sometimes make a world of difference. I'm starting to pull together our numbers and see how we did sticking to our February budget. This is our 2nd month for having the budget and we are definitely improving. The biggest overage for this month? I can already tell that it was our trip to see family and sports expenses for the kids. I'll know more details by Sunday when I finalize the numbers. But, I'm encouraged by what I'm seeing today. Also...this was our first month back on cash and using the envelope system! Huge improvement. A few things went on the credit card, such as utilities that get billed directly to it and also gasoline. (It's just easier to swipe the card than to go inside to pay cash for gas).

More to follow. Also, we had a nice sized income tax return. More about that later and how we'll apply it!!!

lent

What did I give up for lent this year? Restaurants & Fast Food. Six weeks no restaurants...should save about $100+ and hopefully will help in my quest to lose some weight!

this week's grocery game

I'm finally getting my stockpile to the point where when I run out of something I have a replacement handy on the shelf. It's nice being able to go to the store and get things simply to stock-up and then add in a few needs along the way.

One thing I'm not going to need for a long time is LAUNDRY DETERGENT! I have stockpiled enough for about 9 months! I keep waiting on dishwashing detergent sales and coupons...that's something I'll be in need of soon.

This week I had to buy a few things for dinners, but most of our ingredients I already had in the pantry. Everything else I purchased is for stockpiling.

I made 2 grocery trips: one to Publix and one to Kroger. I spent $81.14 and SAVED $92.02! Woo Hoo!!! I love it when I save more than I spend. I think I MAY actually end the month under my $400 budget. Still have a few days to go, so I'm not ready to report the numbers yet.

Here's all that I got for $81.14:






Free or almost free items:
toothbrush - FREE
All laundry detergent - $0.49
Candles - each $0.17

whatcha got cookin?

Here's what we're eating this week!

Last night - Bean and beef burritoes, chips & salsa, grapes
Tonight - Cranberry baked chicken, potaotes, green beans, grapes
Tomorrow - Pork loin, broccoli w/cheese sauce, brown rice, cantaloupe
Thursday - Soup and sandwiches made w/left over pork
Friday - Smoked chicken and veggies
Saturday - Pasta with turkey, garlic bread
Sunday - Breakfast for dinner

home sweet home

This past week we were on the road to see family. Today is my first day back into the swing of things and getting into my routines again. The trip was wonderful and it was great to visit with family. I absolutely love visiting family when it's not centered around a holiday. I LOVE all of the holidays and fun/food/fellowship that comes with them, but I truly love visiting when there are no expectations and stresses that come along with holidays. We had a great time.

For expenses -- I budgeted $450 for the trip. I spent $700. Gas was $350, food was $200, and my dh used some miles and paid $150 to fly into the city to drive back with me and the kids. It's a 15 hour drive and he was worried about me driving it roundtrip. So, we spent $500 just on transportation. I'll have to really consider all of us flying and renting a car for our next visit. We put over 2000 miles on the car and spent more than 35 hours driving. $700 is pretty pricey for a roadtrip...especially when we hope to do it again in June. I'd planned to spent a maximum of $1000 visiting family this year. It also may be cheaper to fly our family in to see us? That would be one possibility to consider too.

So - that's a quick update from the past week. Time for me to get back into my routines and get me chores done!

food waste friday

I see several bloggers participating in Food Waste Friday. 1/2 dozen daily is where I saw it first and I thought it'd be fun to try and then see how much I throw out each month.

Here's what went in the trash this morning:




I'm disappointed that I had so much casserole left over. We had it for dinner one night and then lunch the next day. I wish I would have frozen half of it. Besides the casserole, in the trash went strawberry milk, 1/2 can of evaporated milk, lettuce (never used), green onions, 2 hard boiled eggs and 3/4 can of spaghetti sauce. Not including the thrown out casserole, it's about $4 that I'm throwing away. Both milks were both free, so they're not counted in my $4.

blow money

Until we started our cash/envelope system this month, I had never given myself permission to have "blow money". I always assumed I couldn't afford it and should be focusing our money to other points in our budget. After sitting down with our budget last month though (for many, many hours) and realizing that to reach our financial goals AND to not get burned out in the process, that each member of our family needed some blow money to do with as we please.

Today I was so excited to have my blow money. I love Valentine's Day and always make a huge deal out of it for the kids. We don't do lavish gifts, but instead do lots of fun decorations (and a little bit tacky!!) and fun little goodies and treats. I have a box of decorations that are reused each year. This afternoon I was at Dollar Tree to pick up some paper plates for my son's Valentine's party, and that's when I spotted all the decorations. Lots of fun, tacky ones! I knew I didn't need them, but it was so hard to resist. That's when I remembered I had my blow money...money to do with as I pleased. So, I picked out a few things and $9 later I was satisfied with my purchases and additions to our decorations, and happy that I hadn't spent money that needed to go towards something else in the budget.

How do you spend your Blow Money?

this week's grocery game

Today and yesterday I did my coupon shopping. Because my youngest was at home, he got to witness first hand how much money coupons actually save. When we went to our 3rd store (to get the Rain Checks I mentioned yesterday), he said, let me guess, "We're coming here because you have coupons." Well I did get my rain checks and it was painless. The cashier at the Customer Service desk knew exactly which item I was asking for and wrote out the rain check for me without any problems. I have a month to redeem it.

So here's what I got for my 2 coupon trips...





And this is what I spent...

Out of pocket - $63.65
Saved - $65.02

Most of what I got is going to stockpiling. The fruit and some of the snacks are needed for this week. Everything else goes on the shelf for a while! The only other trip I'll need to make to the store is on Friday or Saturday morning for our Valentine's meal.

grocery store rain checks

Did you know that some (not sure if all do or not) grocery stores give rain checks to you for items on sale that are out of stock? I went to Publix today to do my coupon shopping. I wanted to get Trix yogurt, Wisk, and French's Mustard. All were on sale for Buy One Get One free, plus I have coupons. They were out of stock on these things and I mentioned to the cashier that there were just a few things I wanted that they'd run out of. I was really surprised when he told me I could go and get a rain check. I didn't have time to do it today because my son (who's home sick) was waiting for me out in the car. But, I'm definitely going back tomorrow to get the rain checks, and will always ask for them in the future. It seems the more I coupons shop with sales, the more I see almost free or free items out of stock.

With my coupons, I plan to spend $1.04 for a 6pk of yogurt, $0 for the mustard, and $4.00 for the 100-oz Wisk. So, $5.04 plus any tax. Without the sales price and coupons, I would spend almost $15!!!

I'm so glad to learn that I can get rain checks. I also shop at Kroger and wonder if they have the same policy. I'll find out soon!

Tomorrow I'm doing my Kroger stockpiling and will let you know how much I spent for the week's grocery trips!

no spend & no drive day

My youngest was home sick today, so we didn't go anywhere. My hubby did a little shopping for me (we needed some Pedialyte and Gatorade), but I didn't spend and I didn't drive, so I'm counting it in my favor!

Today I worked on organizing my cookbook binder and getting my coupons together for this week's grocery trip. Most of what I'm cooking this week is from the pantry and freezer, so this week's shopping trip is mainly to stockpile and to get supplies for our Valentine's dinner.

this week's menu

Here's what's cookin' at our house this week. My husband is going to be out of town for 3 nights this week, so we've got some kid-friendly food planned.

Tonight - Baked ziti, garlic toast
Tuesday - Fish sticks, mac & cheese
Wednesday - Fun nuggets, strawberries
Thursday - Spaghetti, meatballs, garlic toast
Friday - Out to eat for my birthday dinner
Saturday - Our V-Day Dinner...baguette, spinach dip, salmon, couscous, asparagus
Sunday - Pizza Delivery

Should be a low-spending week at the grocery store, as I have most everything on hand already. I'm checking coupons and sales today for any stockpiling items we need!

february goals

Goals for February (taken from my 210 things to do list...)

Write weekly letters to my grandmother
Send pictures to the grandparents
Send a letter to my niece in college Done 2-22
Call out-of-state friends every other week
Go to see family during our Winter Break - Done 2/14 week
Make a fuss over Valentine's Day - Done 2-13
Take boys for well visits to new Doctor - Done
I need to go for my well visit - test for gluten intolerance - Done 2-22
Sort through pictures and artwork to decide what to frame
Buy frames for pictures above and hang them up on the walls
Top off Emergency Fund for 6 months saved expenses
check credit reports and credit scores - Done 2/22
close boys out of state bank account
open accounts locally for both boys
organize and purge Favorite Recipes - Done 2/8
organize cabinet above dishwasher
laundry room - organize - Done 2/21
coat closet - organize
move photos on computer downstairs to a memory stick
research prices for new kitchen (energy efficent) appliances
Can we get the sirius to work inside our house?
renew passport
start my bucket list
Update Christmas card list and addresses
Determine who to send 2010 cards to…need to send DH's great aunt/uncle

update on 210 things to do list

oops -- didn't mean for it to be a week since I've posted. Here is an update on how I've been doing with my goals for 2010.

In January, I did good with my goal of staying in touch with friends and family. I wrote a letter to my grandmother each week, sent highlights of the month pics to all the grandparents of the boys, sent basketball pictures to grandparents, and called my out of state friends. I also sent a letter to our niece who's in college.

I purchased birthday cards for everyone on my list in January and addressed them all. I'll add a personal note and the stamp when it's time to mail them. They're stacked in order in my cabinet, ready to go as needed. I have the birthday marked in the upper right hand corner where the stamp will go, so that I know at a glance when the card needs to be mailed. Already mailed 3 birthday cards -- on time!!

I received a spa gift card for Valentine's Day in 2009 and it was going to expire on 2-10-10. I used that 2 weeks ago -- what a treat!!! I can't believe that it took me a year to use it.

As for our finances, we did pretty good for the month of January. We went over budget for groceries and unbudgeted items. But, we expected it to not be perfect this month. The good news was that our income was less than outgo. We kept track of our expenses each day on a spreadsheet and could always tell at a quick glance how much money was left for each category.

Exercise - need to do better at meeting these goals. I only ran about 5 miles for the month...pitiful! I have lots of running to make up for to meet my goal of 365 miles for the year.