We are $3665.87 lighter than we were in July. Not as much as I hoped but other changes were more significant. We enjoyed our first year being cash only, our first cash only Christmas, and our first months on a budget. We will be leaving 2011 with one more debt than we started but a year from now we will be hopefully down three and making good progress on the 4th. Three of our debts are thankfully with a credit union where way more goes to principle than interest so we are always making progr
So here is the menu that I came up with for this month........it was a lot harder than I thought it would be because I was trying to have variety and please most of the people here.
1)Roast chicken, rice, veggie
2)Pizza, fruit
3)Shepherd's Pie
4)Shepherd's Pie
5)Hot dogs, mac and cheese, veggie
6)pork ribs, salad, veggie
7)Chicken tacos
8)pulled pork sandwiches, tater tots
9)Grilled chicken salad, garlic bread
10)Cheeseburger Pie
11)Chicken and dumplings
12)Chicken and dumplings
Here are the goals I wrote out at the start of November, then my progress.
1. Pay Sallie Mae off by the end of this year, this should be relatively easy. Done! Yippee!!!!!! This should clear the bank tomorrow.
2. Fund Roth's enough to get to 15% before the end of Feb. I anticipate needing $3K for this. For next year we have the 401-K's up at 15% so there will likely be no Roth contributions next year, we needed the tax break in 2012 more than ever. Probably not going to do this. We'r
I just got done going over our old budget and updating it for our new lives here in NJ. I have had the numbers in my head for a while but sitting down and writing them down really helped
Income: $2,296
Groceries: $600
Gas: $135
Misc Exp.: $400
Blow money: $100 ($50 each)
Home Phone: $3
Netflix: $8.35
DH haircut: $20
Tracphone: $60
Hulu: $8.35
Internet: $58
Life ins
You know I read a lot of frugal blogs and books in the search for how to save every penny I can around here. Over time I have read several different large family blogs that have all claimed to be able to use ONE chicken for THREE meals. Now for a long time I have sat there and looked at that statement in wonder. How in the world is one tiny little chicken supposed to feed 7 people three times? Well we finally managed it and I thought I would share how we did it
Day one:
Roast chicken with
I have been working up January's menu today and think I have it done.
All meals are in the order they will be served:
Spaghetti and Bread
Layered Dinner Casserole and Bread
Mexican Chicken with corn and Rice (crock pot)
Leftovers
Tortilla Soup with Salad and bread
Pizza and Salad
Taco's and Spanish Rice
Roast with green beans and rice
Black bean chili with rice
Hamburgers with homemade fries and corn
Spaghetti and bread
Creamy Chicken with green beans and rice (crock pot)
She
So today is payday for us and also the time when we look at our monthly budget and see how we are doing. This month is a bit different since we started doing the once a month shopping and menu planning.
Normal budget:
First two weeks...
Food: $400
Snowball: $200
Second two weeks....
Food: $400
Snowball: $200
Total Food: $800
Total Snowball: $400
This months budget:
First two weeks...
Food: $650
Snowball: $0
Second two weeks...
Food: $90
Snowball: $500
Total Food:
The past few years have been interesting. I come from a family culture of huge gifts, and it's not really just about materialism, it's about thoughtfulness, getting people things they wouldn't get themselves, personalized gifts, and seeing the smile and joy on the faces of people I love when I get it right. With my mom though, giving gifts has always been an expression of love.
Let me say this year I still haven't fully achieved a frugal Christmas, but at the same time, I'm thinking about
Man if I had not put that FFEF into CD's, I would likely be sending a hunk of it into the feds as an estimated tax payment.
We increased our withholding this year, but it still didn't make it up to last years total taxes. I guess we didn't calculate very well.
I'm going to sink as hard as I can this month and squeeze the budget as much as possible to get that estimated tax payment to the IRS before the end of the month. Squeezing the budget is what I used to do in BS2 all the time, but
So over the years I feel like I have read every single thing ever written on the subject of cutting the grocery bill. I was trying to think of all the tips today and thought I would write them all down to help myself (and anyone else who is curious) remember them all.
*Once a month shopping
*Buy in bulk
*Shop sales flyers
*Coupon on items you will use
*Grow you own fruit/veg
*Can/freeze your home grown produce
*Menu plan
*Join a CSA
I am already planning our garden for this spring
Every year I say that we are going to have a frugal Christmas and then every year we go over board due to poor planning. This year we are sticking to our guns
Gift's for extended family:
***Pillow cases personalized by my kids ($12 total)***
~Grandma
~Grandpa
~Nana
***Handmade "Faith, Love, Hope" Sign ($15)***
~My Brother and SIL
***$10 Game Stop GC ($20 total)***
~11yr old nephews
***Crayon Roll and Coloring Book ($20 total)***
~Niece
~Nephew
Total for extended f
So I managed to do my once a month shopping trip this week and we ended up spending $500 at Costco and $120 at the Commissary. It is a lot but our grocery budget is $800 a month and we are done except for milk and fresh veg for this month, so we are on target.
Projects for this month:
*25 Sausage biscuits, from scratch, in the freezer **Check**
* 4 spaghetti sauces in the freezer **Check**
* Pizza sauce, from scratch, in the freezer
* Pizza rolls assembled and in the freezer
* Cinnamon
It's so lucky that I put the next month of FFEF into that CD, or else I'd be sending it to my Roth IRA right now.
Our average snowball is about 2K per month.
We've not had any income from DH's business in the past 6 months, but he has upcoming checks coming in, but the first few are going to reimburse money he borrowed from our budget to pay for some stuff for his business.
We need:
5K Roth #1
5K Roth #2
likely 3K for SEP-IRA
All before April 15.
Also we might owe some
This house is OURS!!
This house is OURS!!
I'd paint it in John Deere Green, letters four foot high, if I could.... but I dont speak computer, so this will have to do!
Totally paid off!! Totally!! As in Balance on the loan ZERO dollars and ZERO cents. I am totally dancing all over the house, and shouting it from the rooftops. That would be from the top of MY roof. The one I own. *L* Pulling into the driveway after going to the bank and sending the wire transfer for the fina
A few months ago we finally made the switch to running our own asset allocation. (When I say we, I mean I did all of the legwork, my DH doesn't "get" investing.)
What it looked like before:
My 401-K: all in a low fee Vanguard balanced fund
His 401-K: all in a medium fee Fidelity target retirement date fund
My Roth: all in a indexed Fidelity balanced fund
His Roth: same as mine
His rollover IRA: in 4 higher fee American funds
What it looks like now:
My 401-K: 2 index funds:
I'm sort of bummed because I know we have DH's income coming in, but I'm expecting a bunch of reimbursements from my work as well as some from his work, and we advanced him money from our budget for end of the year expenses for his business so what he brings in now will go to filling in the RED in our budget for those reimbursements instead of moving us forward.
Oh well, I guess we'll be moving forward soon enough.
Thanks to this board I shrunk my home maintenance fund a little smaller a
I feel so much better having this FFEF in place. It's in CD's for now, so that I won't be tempted to touch them at all. One month has a 3 month interest penalty which has already expired, so I'd lose nothing on taking that out. The second one has a 6 month interest penalty so in 4 more months there would be no loss if I needed it, and the third one has a 6 month penalty so we have another 6 months to go on that one.
It's great to have another mini-goal accomplished.
I have about $500
In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought I'd take a moment to list out what I'm thankful for this year.
While I sometimes feel like I'm making no progress at all, I've actually at least put together a game plan.
I have a great supportive family and two great foster daughters who light up my life.
I have wonderful friends that keep me from taking myself too seriously.
I have a stable job that keeps my mind engaged most of the time and the days go by quickly.
I have enough money to pay all
Okay now that I have the menu planned it is time to get the grocery list done! I still need to look up the recipe for the mexican casseroles and the baked oatmeal but this is everything else.
11 lbs ground beef
2 roasts
2 whole chickens
2lbs Chicken
4 packages of pepperoni
2 LARGE cans of tomato Sauce (the #10 cans from costco)
Basil
Oregano
Garlic Pwder
5lbs Carrots
10lbs frozen mixed veg
3c. Pearled barley
4pk Tortilla's
5lbs Mozzarella
3pk Hamburger buns
1 box lasagna noodl
As I prepare for my once a month shopping I have been working up a menu for the month of December. One that has cheap, big, simple, healthy meals that when able can be turned into a meal for the second day as well
December's meals (all meals are in the order they will be served):
1 Spaghetti
2 Pot Roast
3 Beef and Barley soup (leftovers from day 2)
4 Beef and Barley soup
5 Roast chicken
6 Chicken noodle soup (leftovers from day 5)
7 Mexican Casserole
8 Pizza rolls
9 Taco's
10
