Surviving Summer

Summer break can be hard keeping a balance. There is the pressure to make every moment of life a memory and count. This is unrealistic and most people will admit it to themselves but there is still that idea that we all feel the need to try to live up to. Now I've never been a super mom who even half way actually tries to live up to this ideal. But in the past I have done things that have in one way or another contributed to our debt. Even when I thought I was making safe and savvy choices, I was still probably adding to our debt. I'm not saying the choices I was making were directly contributing to our debt, but without trying to keep to a budget or even having a budget it was contributing.

What were some of the good/bad choices I was making:

We would go to the free/$1 summer movies at our local theater- but sometimes I'd fall in the pitfall of buying popcorn or candy. We plan on going to the park and having a picnic- but the downfall for me I would run out of time and we'd stop a fast food. We'd get discount coupons to go to the zoo, but in the end the cost of gas to Tucson and then all the passes even at a discount cost us a lot. We have also gone to stay with my parents to do swimming lessons up in the Phoenix Valley where swimming lessons through the city half the price per child's lesson. However, staying up at my parents we tended to eat out a lot and do activities that we can't do at home, but end up costing us a lot more- ie museums.

story time at our local library

Suggestions:

• Wherever you are going- bring cash for only how much you plan on spending. If that means you have to call ahead and ask some questions, plan ahead.
• Planning ahead! & Be prepared. I met a mom at a museum once that she always packs a lunch and snacks for the day. Even when the plan is to be home in time for lunch. If we are planning to go out for the day, I have started making lunch for all of us while making lunch in the morning for my husband. Also I have just started planning ahead to be out for lunch.
• Find out what summer activities and programs your library and city offer. 
• Budget it in. Its not that all those things that cost money are bad, but figure it out and plan it in the budget. If you have places you love to go and would enjoy going once a week or more and they offer a family pass, figure out the cost, you might need to budget it out for the whole year and then when the year is over you can buy your family pass. For example: we looked into the zoo for a family pass. With our family's size and the family pass price we'd have to go 2 1/2 times (so 3 times) in a year and the pass is paid for. We then have to decide if that is worth it to us- right now it is not.  But maybe someday in the future (when we are out of debt).
• Check out deal sites and ask at the grocery store. Deal sites like Living Social and GroupMe can be a great place to pick up deals to local museums and attractions. (I do this every time we are going on vacation, I watch to see what local things we can get deals). Also ask at the grocery store information counters. They sometimes have discount tickets to local attractions- check all year round some tickets are seasonal. Another place to ask is at the library youth desk.

I wasn't the only mom who was taking advantage of the cooler temperatures and the park shade

This summer with an entertainment budget of $0, we have spend lots of time at the park (we have been going at least twice a week and staying for an hour or two, each time I invite all our friends to join us), at story time, and at the free movies.

July's Grocery Shopping

Finished my once a month shopping. This last weekend we went to Mesa. That means a trip to the bread store and to Costco.

To start my husband and I had a long talk about what needed to be purchased and we decided we needed to split the household items from the groceries. If I am going to have a budget of $200 for groceries it is $200 of food. But I wanted to have some flexibility between grocery and household. So for this month's budget was $230 for grocery and household $210 and $20 for household items (shampoo, toilet papers, paper towels, soaps, ect)

7/6/15 (husband had to pick up a prescription and I had him pick up a couple items in addition)

Prescription         $1.43*

Body Wash          $4.63*

cabbage                   $.94    

                                     =$7

7/10/15

Bread store                 $15

Costco

Cherrios  ($7.89-2.30) $5.59

Yellow Onions      $3.49

Potatoes 20lb        $7.79

Skippy Peanut Butter (9.79-2.80) $6.99 x2

Mild Cheddar  2#    $4.85

Chocolate Chips      $9.99

Feminine Hygiene pads (12.49-2.50) $9.99*

Trident Gum         $7.89

5 Doz Eggs           $10.99

Batteries 9V         $15.89*

Mixed Veggies    $6.49

3pk Lettuce          $2.79

Seaweed               $9.79

Sliced Cheese      $9.99

Tortillas  40ct      $3.89

Tortillas  80ct      $3.49

Mini Peppers       $5.49

Sliced Ham          $9.89

Yeast                   $4.39

Corn Tortilla Chips $3.19

Carrots                $4.79 x2

tax                       $11.00

                                        =$164.30

7/14/2015

Dill pickle chips    $1.50

butter tub               $1.29

Yogurt     (.50x10)   $5

Milk  (3x1.99)       $5.97

Salsa                      $4.99

Shampoo               $1.39*

Animal Crackers (.88x3) $2.64

Hot dogs      (.89x2)  $1.78

Jello                       $.39

Blueberries            $.97

Butter Sticks  (2x.99) $1.98

Pork shoulder         $10.80

Apples                    $1.67

Graham Crackers   $1.69

                                  +tax =$41.79

Total= $7+$15+$164.30+$41.79= 228.09

leaving me $1.91

(household $31.94, grocery 198.06) 

I made one impulse purchase at Costco- I bought the Seaweed for my husband's snack food. I also made one purchase that I would have been better to have bought at the grocery store- the mini peppers. 

There were so many things I wanted to purchase that I just did because the money wasn't in the envelope. It is hard. I have never had to be that disciplined with our money. It was a little rough. I had to remind myself we have plenty of food we aren't going to starve. 

I still need to go get honey at the local farmers market but I will have to put it off for one more month.

Affordable Bread

Bread - We all eat it. Unless you're gluten free and have given up trying to eat gluten type foods. 

Here are the problems with bread...

healthy verses cheap

time verses convenience

I have friends who make their own bread. Some of them have their bread day and the spend the day making bread and that is their bread for the whole next week.

When you make bread- cheap bulk yeast, flour or wheat with a wheat grinder bring the cost lower and lower. But it takes lots of time. Also if you're bad at bread making, like myself, it can be less affordable when you have loaves that aren't edible. 

In all my blog reading of those trying to save money I remember one mom said she gave up on buying the organic super healthy thick bread. Instead she just went to stocking up when on sale and never spent more than $1 per loaf.

A few years ago my sister introduced me to Alpine Valley Bread. She is a huge fan of Whole Foods and Sprouts- and like stores. She had found Alpine bread there and fell in love with it. Their bread is healthy and hearty. It has the weight to it like homemade bread. Then someone introduced her to the bread factory and the discounts of buying the bread at the factory.

They are located in Mesa Arizona on Southern east of Country Club.

On Wed. and Fri. at 1pm all fresh made that day loaves are discounted to $1 a loaf limit 5 per person until all the loaves are sold (they close at 3pm).

But in addition to those sales and that going in and buying fresh loaves is cheaper and more fresh then the specialty stores, irregular loaves and day old loaves are 50 cents a loaf. Considering we bring our loaves home and put them in the freezer, day old is the least of our cares. The 50 cent loaves aren't the most exciting. They tend to be the less popular breads (ie multi-grains breads or cracked wheat). Sometimes they have specialty breads, buns, rolls, and desserts for great deals.

When we go, I have found going in the morning is best. The store section opens at 8am. If you wait to until the $1 deals (best way to get the specialty breads) the 50 cent loafs are all gone.

We don't live in the Phoenix Valley. My sister lives in Mesa, almost down the street from the factory. They don't have a huge box freezer. Since she didn't have the freezer space for a lot, she would go once a week and get their family's bread for the week. For us I go every other month or every three months. It depends on if we can get up on a week day before they close.

This last trip I had $15 of our grocery budget. So I was looking at about 30 loaves that would need to last us about 3 months. When I got there they has some boxes filled with 15 loaves each. I asked the cashier about them. My first thought wasn't a discount for the bulk but instead I was thinking if they were already in a box and wouldn't get smashed on the ride back home. She said that if I bought the whole box (unopened) they were $5 a box (would be $7.50 when 50 cents a loaf). Done. 45 loaves for $15 that will make a huge difference when it comes to making our bread last for 3 months till the next time we come up.

Showing up at the right moment to places like this makes getting great deals a matter of luck or in this case I don't see it as luck- I see it was a huge blessing. Yes we are going to be eating 9 grain bread and nothing else for the next 3 months, the point is we have enough bread for 3 months and it only cost us 33 cents a loaf. We were blessed.

There are places like this all over. Do some searches make some calls.

What are some things ya'll do to make staples like bread cheap and affordable?

Avoid our Pitfalls of Credit Cards

Credit Cards are the worst type of debt. I fooled myself for years into thinking having "revolving debt" was the way to go. I got into the habit of convince back in college and have continued those bad habits.
I realized in college that if I used my card for my every purchases instead of my debit card. I didn't have to pay attention to what was in the account at that moment. I didn't have to worry if my paycheck was deposited today (and was available) or if it will show up tomorrow. So I used my card to make the everyday purchases and then told myself I would pay it all each month.  Sometimes it worked out just like that. But then there were the months I was unemployed or didn't have as much income as I normally did for my spending. Or I straight up over spent. As life got even crazier and I paid even less attention those numbers added up even more. There are a lot of people who get into lots of debt because they impulsed bought, often big ticket items. We aren't bad at that. We have had our moments, but that is not the bulk of our debt. And to compound it all is the compounding interest. Once you have that carry over balance getting rid of that balance again is almost impossible only making payments.

So here is a warning to you.

All debt is bad debt. Revolving debt is still debt and the easiest pitfall get trapped into. Sure I thought it was making my life convenient (and it was convenient) but I was also ignoring the responsibilities to my finances. I was addicted to my credit cards. Not exactly to the overspending but to the easy non-accountable way I didn't have to worry about every penny. But that isn't good for our pocketbook nor is it good for the soul. God's plan is for us to be accountable.

Now we are paying the price of our non-accountable actions. We are now being held responsible for all the actions we have taken.

Learn before. Don't use credit cards. If you're in the same boat as I am. Cut up those cards, go cash, and force yourself to learn to be accountable. It is possible. We can do it.

No debt is good debt.

Metal Lunch Box for under $5

Hey everyone, today we went and let my son pick up a new metal lunch box for taking to school. I only allow him to take metal lunch boxes because he is so rough on them. Last year, we bought him a really nice thermal bag.

this is what happened to it on the first day of school. I took it back to the store.

After that he is only allowed to have metal lunch boxes. For his birthday my dad asked what he should get him and we recommended a new lunch box. After going to 3 stores my dad called and asked "Where do you buy metal lunch boxes?" I didn't know what to tell him. His one that we had (before it was lost) I had bought on the internet. I mentioned this to a friend and one day I get a text that she saw a bunch of metal lunch boxes at Hobby Lobby.

Awesome. Today we went to there, with the coupon on my phone we went to Hobby Lobby to let my son pick his lunch box for this next year.

All the metal boxes at our local Hobby Lobby are $6.99 each.

My son picked the Avengers box

$6.99 with our 40% off coupon total with tax came to = $4.52 YAY!

For under $5 we got our son a new metal lunch box. We had budgeted $20 to get something our son would be happy with and we only had to spend $4.52.

WE did it! One full month!

We did one full month. Our first month.
accomplishments:

• In our first month we were able to put aside our $1000 emergency fund.
• Pay off my student loan
• Pay on our Van's loan
• Spend less than $80 on groceries for the month
• managed to use cash for everything that is not on automatic withdraw

I know I should see this as a HUGE accomplishment. But I have to constantly remind myself of that. I have to look at this list and say "look how much we accomplished in only one month". Otherwise, I look at all the changes we have made in our lives and feel depressed that this is our new life for a while. 

So I choose to look at the list and remind myself we are making progress!

Why Once a Month shopping?

I get a lot of shocked looks and questions when my local friends find out about my once a month shopping or even our twice a month limit.

How we allot our funds is the last paycheck of the previous month is for all bills that occur before the 15th of that month's budget. The first paycheck of the month is for everything else- so gas and groceries come out of that paycheck. About the 15th of the month I go grocery shopping.  We allow for a second trip that normally happens around the 5th, where one of us (most of the time my husband on his way home from work) goes in and gets milk and a couple fresh items to hold us over til I do our large trip. The second trip is normally about $10 (rarely over) depending on if there is anything else I need.

Why I do it-
1- Less times to the store means we spend less.
2- The planing it takes to make sure we have what we are going to need for a month means we spend less.
3- We live 20 minutes south of town HWY driving. Gas costs a lot. The fewer trips to town I am making means we spend less.
4- It forces me to be a planner. Planing ahead means that we already know what is for dinner, it is probably already partially made. That means dinner is most of the time ready when my husband gets home from work and we are less likely to be temped to eat out. Most of our bad choices when it comes to eating out is because dinner wasn't ready to go. Eating out less means we waste less food I bought at the store and we spend less.

What I do before I go?
-Take inventory of what I have. Make a list of what needs to be replenished and what items I need to use up in my planning.
-Go through the calendar from now until my next shopping trip. Consider plans for each day and assign a mean(s) to each day appropriate for that days needs.
-While planning the means look at the Ads. I normally plan to do on a Monday or Tuesday so that I can use that week's ad to plan what we are buying. If there are no good sales for that week I could go I will then move my shopping to Thursday so I can use Wed's ads to make changes to my plan.
*tip the meat I buy this month is often used for next month's meals, that way I am not at the mercy of what I find to reconfigure meals.
-Go though my calendar meals and add to my shopping list any items that would need to be purchased to make those happen.
-Add to the shopping list items for snacks or making homemade snack food
-Using the ads and previous shopping trips to assign an expected cost to each of item on my shopping list
-Add up all the expected costs, if the expected amount exceeds this month's budget I go through and highlight items I can do without for another month. Also take into consideration if less of an expected item could be purchased to still meet your needs ie- getting 2 lbs of apples instead of 3.
Since these items are still on my list I won't forget that I still needed them, but this way if enough items cost less then I expected to pay for them I can add an item or two from my highlighted list.
-Sit down with or have my husband take a look at my lists, see if he noticed anything I had overlooked or forgotten.
*have a second pair of eyes or do it yourself- look through everything again with a calendar of that month's events in front of them. That way they might notice overlooked things like a party in a child's classroom or that you're assigned snacks for the Tball team.
-after everything is double checked I should be ready to grab my envelope and go

While at the store:
-no item goes into the cart without writing it on the paper. I use a paper that I put three columns on- One for the item name, Two for the expected cost, Three for what the items actual cost was. As I go through the store I put what the actual cost of each item and how many I put into my cart onto the paper.
-I use to enjoy talking my kids with me, now I only go do my once a month shopping when I have no kids only one kid. In addition I only go when I have 2+ hours open to go. If I feel rushed in the store by kids or time restrictions then I make bad choices, forget, or spend more than I wanted. I make sure I can take my time.

this is the way I use to try to once a month shop

When I get home- I rotate, prep some items, and put away. I have a running list of what needs to be bought on a chalkboard inside my cupboard. The top is my Costco list the bottom is the grocery store.

use the inside of a cupboard to create a running grocery list

Last thing I do is delete off the list things I did pick up and write anything on the list I decided I could wait until next month.

Murphy's Law

Why is it whenever you set a goal for something- out of the woodwork comes all the millions of reasons, excuses, and obstacles that weren't there before? Some people call it Murphy's Law.
In college I owned this posted and it was in our kitchen. Made for a fun conversation starter- after all everyone has their own Murphy story.

So we've had our visits or about to be visits from Murphy since resolving that we are going to be financially responsible and get out of debt.
1- Our washing machine started to leak. It is leaking into the basin. It wasn't making any mess. I was running the the last spin cycle an extra time and drying them more in the dryer. I was worrying that we needed to call someone, or get a new washer. Our washer is pushing 10 years old (we've had it for 6 years and the people gave it to us told us it was about 5 years old). But we tightened the knob in looking at and it stopped dripping for a little while.  I am all ready to start doing laundry at my in-laws or a laundry mat. Looks like we are using borrowed time before we have to get a new washer.
2- Our microwave has been slowly falling apart. This last week the turning plate fell out and crashed in to tiny pieces. At the moment it is still working, but if it dies I will be doing more stove and oven cooking. I can live without a microwave for a little while if it comes to that.
3- Last week I chipped my tooth. It is my front tooth. I am not in pain. I can still eat just fine. But I need to set up a dentist appointment now.
There are other little things that have tried us. That's the way it goes. But we are resolved- it is past time. 

Why I'm here

First off I'm not starting this blog as a way to become one of those guru bloggers. Or even make a little cash from the traffic or advertising. I'm here to make myself and my family accountable.

My family of 6

My husband and I recently came to a realization. Yes we live well. We paid all our bills, we had money for things that we wanted- or at least that is what we thought. Whenever we looked at our finances, there was always this pile of debt that tried as we may to throw money at it wouldn't go away. We would buckle down and make meaningless goals and continue to throw money at the pile of debt, but the interest kept eating all that money. We would then give up, keep throwing money at it and pretend it wasn't there, and not talk about it. Just wishing and hoping and dreaming that throwing money would one day work and about all those things we wanted to do in the future "when we had money".
I had heard many of my friends and blogs talk about the book "The Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. And more specifically the "cash and carry" method he talks about and the "snow-ball" method of eliminating your debt and what Dave Ramsey is all about. But, there seemed to be something totally off to buy a book about saving money, in order to save money. My husband and I were having a finance conversation about money and our goals. I suggested that I had recently seen a friend post about how this book had changed her family's outlook on money. It had been a required reading for her accounting class. I mentioned my issues with buying the book to "save money" but my husband was actually more on board then I thought. That evening he got on his Kindle and purchased an e-copy. He spend all weekend reading it whenever he got a chance. He was all fired up and ready to get started- after I read it. I use to love to read. But as a mom I have the hardest time reading anything that takes me more than a minute to skim. Not to mention I read supeeeerrrr slow. But I knew our goals and dreams were going to stay out of reach unless we made some deliberate choices to change them. So I read it. Took me a whole week of trying to read every moment I could pull away from my children to read.

So here we are. Almost done with the first month of our total money makeover and it has not been easy. We have decided we are going to make sacrifices to reach our goals. Some of those include: canceling our Netflix account, canceling our summer vacation, making more things from scratch, no fast food or eating out for probably the next year... Just with anything when we want to show the LORD we are serious about a goal we show Him by making sacrifices. We've set up our budget and have our emergency fund, and even paid off my student load that was barely hanging in there. There are times I have wanted to cry, but it is my heart changing.
On a spiritual note, we are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, aka the Mormons.  We have been commanded to not go into debt, and if you are in debt- to get out of debt. For the past few years I have been telling myself lies- and didn't even realize it. Any time we were counseled to get out of debt I would tell myself "we're working on it" and convince myself it would happen. People it won't ever happen unless you are actively trying to do something about it with specific goals. Set the goals work to the goal, do it with purpose. I know my family isn't alone, just saying you are trying to pay off that debt isn't doing it.
On another note- I feel guilty that I help perpetuate lies, I am never going to find the people who I lied to and ask their forgiveness. I don't even remember most of them, and the sad part is I wholly believed the lies I was telling. Let me explain. I supported myself through college by working as a teller (and other positions) at some credit unions. Now I was born to goodly parents who lived debt free and taught me the evils of debt. They taught me how to make a budget and how to live within my means, and for the most part I did. But when I entered the world of finance- I met lots of people who told me differently. Lots of people who told me that debt can be good. Debt is needed, debt is the only way you are going to be successful. I bought into it hook line and sinker. I told myself that I could have a little debt. I would still be living within my means, I could make the payments. I can have a credit card -even my parents had a credit card- but my dad is one of the few people in the world who actually pay off every single penny with each purchase they make when they make that purchase. I thought I could be that disciplined. But it was all lies to myself. Lies I had become so numb to that I didn't even realize that they were lies until I was reading Dave Ramsey's book. In addition, I had given up on cash. When I was a teller, cash was something I "counted" out to other people. It was paper to me. I could touch up to $200,000 a day and it meant nothing. When I had my own cash I spend it like you should drink water and couldn't understand where it ever went. I decided me and cash didn't get along. I divorced cash for the sleek world of cards, that way I could keep tract and see every single little penny I spent. And at that time that actually worked for me. As a bank employee I could see and check my account 100 times a day. I watched every penny leave my account and be accounted for. Fast forward 9 years and I haven't worked in the finance work that whole time and I check my bank account online maybe once a week. Plus now their are two of us with drawling from that account, and we aren't always communicating on what and when we are spending money. So we've made some bad choices to avoid making other mistakes. Now I can't go back to my days as a teller and tell every person that I spoke to suggesting debt was the way to go and tell them how stupid I was. But I can now, right here say stop using credit cards, don't be afraid of cash, stop saying we can having it now and instead say we can save for it now and buy it when we have the money.  For everyone I knew as a teller I say, I am so sorry I tried to lead you down the unwise path. Please forgive me. And for everyone who is in debt just like we are. We can do it! We can get out of debt with sacrifice and with deliberate choices to pay off our debt.