a month in review

A few days over due but you will forgive me I am sure. I have been a little busy.

Last month I committed to shopping for groceries with cash. I determined to curb my tendency to buy many of an item when it is on sale if it means going over budget. I made a plan that consisted of creating a menu based on sale items, and filling in those gaps with items purchased at great deals and stored in my pantry.

Well, the cash part did not work out so hotly. I am sure much of this has to do with the fact that I nearly never have cash on me and I am pretty sure I have long forgotten my ATM pin. So, instead I had to exercise more discipline with the credit card after the first time -that trip involved cash.

I did follow my shopping list plan. It was interesting. For instance, some weeks the stores seemed to offer an abundance of good deals and during those times of plenty, my cart was full. Then there was a week where it seemed that nothing I needed was available for a great price. Ugh!! At that time I had to plan more carefully, not buy as much and utilize the basement store. Gotta love the basement store.

Planning a menu based on the current available deals worked fabulously. My mom taught me that trick and it sure paid off.

Hmmm, I guess that will be all for now.


Still, I DID IT! We even had some surplus this month. A-MA-ZING. So there you go.

days 9-18 in review

Well, I had a goal of cash-only shopping for the whole month. I didn't quite make it. :-) This set of days I didn't have cash on me - which is the standard around here so I broke out the credit card. BUT I pretended like I only had cash. That means I made my purchases seperate from toiletries and the like and I did not go overboard with shopping for deals.

Results: Came in under budget by about $12! So I'm thinking.... what to do with $12? Then I realize... case lot sales.
Confession time: One month we went through our food budget in [gulp] FIVE days! Because the case lot sales were too fabulous - and I even reeled myself in! So I'm thinking all this "excess" each month will be totaled and then I'll set it aside for when olives are $0.75/can and a 25# bag of sugar is $12. That's when I stock up.

I was even able to buy a few extras this second set of days. Canned corn was a great deal as was soup (a staple for Aaron during the school week).

Anyhow, so far, I think we're doing pretty well.

As a review, making bread does make quite a positive dent in the budget, not going to the store is incredibly helpful, putting on blinders when at the store is also key and making a menu based on the sales has been a fabulous strategy.

Until next time, this is Rebecca, signing off.

woot woot

Ya'll I went shopping. But let me explain!!! Wednesday I had a mystery shop located in the Springville Walmart. We were also running low on milk and ripe fruit (there's a pear sitting in the friut bowl that is determined not to become appealing) so I needed to make a WIC trip. And I did. And that (plus toilet paper and coasters - NOT FOOD ITEMS) is all I did.

I was mentally set. I knew I don't have the control to not purchase great deals so I simply didn't look. I got what I need, kept my eyes on my list and my children and hurried through the store.

Some of you might understand the significance of this accomplishment, the other set of you and just nod and smile at me.

Heads up for the next trip though. I've noticed that we're running low on things like chicken stock base... and item I like to have on hand but not exactly part of the menu budget and a pretty chunk of my seventyish dollars. [sigh] I guess we'll just have to see how it goes.

And that about sums it all up! Thanks for reading. Talk to you next time!

i did it! my first cash-only grocery trip

I did it! I think I mentioned that above... I went grocery shopping with cash. This is probably the first time I’ve intentionally gone to the store with just cash since my credit cards days began at age 17.

I started by breaking out food budget down by day. We have a monthly amount of $240 for food. I considered just doing weeks, but then that leaves 3 days left out to dry at the end of the month. In a month of 31 days that comes to $7.74/day for a family of 5. Now to some people (like Tara) that might not seem steep but I just took it as a challenge (that I expected to fail).

I planned to shop for 9 days of the month with the 1^st already past. That left me with a budget of $69.68. I can do that.

I sat down with the sales papers and theobsessiveshopper.com. I wrote down all the great deals, where they were located and their price. Then I got out some cook books and made a plan of meals based off of the ingredients on sale this week. Plus Kraft Mac-n-Cheese, a special request from Katie. Done and ready to go to the store.

Then Aaron came home. The man was supposed to bring treats to class so he went and purchased a few things. There went $15 and bought me a yummy milk shake he’s wanted to get me for a while. There went $4. So I’m down to $51. ::grumble grumble::

Lesson number one: your family has 2 adults in it that can spend money.

Aaron was home today so he watched a sleeping Joel while the other ladies and I headed to Wally World. Over all, it was a nice experience. Clare slept basically the entire trip and Katie was quiet. Had either of them been a distraction, it would have been much less pleasant. At check out I totaled $42.02. I knew I needed to leave some left over in order to have some wiggle room in case something comes up before next Friday’s trip.

I won’t share my shopping list with you, but let’s focus in on a few things.

Salmon. One of our local stores was selling salmon for $2.99/lbs Best price I’ve seen in over a year. Walmart prices matches. So I pick up 2- 1 lbs bags. We’ll only use one tonight and I’ll add the second to our frozen food storage. This is the type of thing I would normally purchase several more of. So far, I’m not lamenting it because I knew I only had so much on me and a goal (and a blog to hold me accountable) but come the time after next when I want fish… you’ll hear it. I’ll wail that loud.

Leeks. Well, at 2.48/lbs, when I need 2? That’s not gonna happen. Potato and leek soup is off the menu.

I did get some tea for sore throats that was a splurge. Yet I still had money left over.

Now in the spirit of full disclosure during this experiment, we do use WIC. With WIC I can only get certain things so if we didn’t have WIC and I needed to come up with baby food, it wouldn’t cost as much as it did today… but WIC paid for it today and they only have certain items they cover. That being said, milk, tuna, lentils, baby food, and goat milk were covered by the Utah tax payers today (thank you, we really do appreciate it and you can send any hate mail to my email). So I did not count them in my budget or my total.

Lesson two: I only really plan for dinners. Breakfast and lunch are generally covered by WIC and leftovers.

Lesson three: making our own bread is making a financial difference. Since I refuse to do it in the summer, we all better pray Aaron has a job by then.

Lesson four: I haven't redone our food budget in forever. I don't know how much we actually consume. Sometimes I throw in toiletries and such which throw the whole month off. Today, I purchased soap and detergent separately (sorry check out guy).

Conclusion: I might be able to do this… if I can keep myself out of the store for the rest of the week.

$$$the rest of the days and Divine intervention$$$

Well, day 10 ended up being chicken enchiladas. That's when I realized we only had 4 tortillas left and no canned enchilada sauce with no time to make my own.  :-) Oh well! Heavily stuffed tortillas and tomatoes for a sauce.

Thanksgiving leftovers served us for nearly a solid week after Turkey day so that took up most of the end of the month! And they were soooo yummy. It's one of the few times a year I have gravy. And I do enjoy me some gravy.

The frozen pizza dough turned into 2 pizzas and a calzone (since I ran out of sauce). Those were yummy, but, I did mention I love pizza, right? And there was a McDonald's evening but I wanted to meet a friend and when you have kids they need somewhere to run around so McD's it was.

If I'm going to be honest (oh, I don't like this)... I WENT TO THE STORE!!!! But I did limit myself! I'M SORRY! I HAD TO!!! But was only a few times!!!! Okay, maybe "had" is a strong word, but, but, but.... Well there we ingredients to our Thanksgiving contributions and okay, while I was there it is impossible for me to not to pick up great deals I KNOW we'll use when I can get them for tremendous discounts. I know, I know! But there is a balance, right? I'll borrow from December! (Which is why I may borrow from January in December, it's a vicious cycle.)

Still, our freezer is less full, the food lasted longer than I anticipated it would and I might have spent $ at the grocery store but it was much less than it would have been without this little task at hand.

During one of these said trips I had an interesting experience. I forgot my wallet and by a stroke of luck (or Divine intervention) I happened to have Katie's preschool $ in cash because I forgot to drop it off first. After realizing what I'd done and that I would have to pay for everything with cash I found myself being very conscious not just of "this is a great deal on something we use!" but also, "do I have enough cash on me right now to pay for it?" So, I've toyed with the idea and [gulp] I think I will pay for our groceries this month in cash. Only cash and only groceries. Let's see how much we really DO eat. There, I typed it and now I can't go back.

I'm always torn. If you stock your pantry with sale items you'll use later, then use those items you are basically always eating at a discount. I like to think of it as shopping your pantry. Now, this is smart. BUT if you don't have the money then you don't have it! No matter how great the deal is. So. I'll try an experiment and see if maybe I can find that balance somewhere in the month of December.

I'm terrified.

days 5, 6, 7 and 8/9

Day 5 - left overs. We love left overs at our house.

Day 6 - dinner with family.

Day 7.
I thawed out some chunks of dead cow and marinated them in teriyaki sauce (love me some teriyaki). Made some roasted potatoes, left over cauliflower and peas from yesterday and grapes.

Of course the kids wouldn't eat pieces of steak even if it is tenderized from 36 hours of marinading... so they got cheese quesadillas. Works for me.

Days 8/9
Tonight I have prepared for you a white chicken chili. My first time concocting such a culinary treat that includes chicken and peppers from the freezer. For future reference, you can't  begin a crock pot meal in the later afternoon and expect it to be satisfactory by dinner. Therefore, we had pot stickers (from the freezer), green beans, pears and grapes tonight. Tomorrow (day 9) we shall dine on the chicken chili for lunch. AND since I prepared more chicken than I needed, chicken pot pie or chicken enchiladas might make an appearance tomorrow! I know, I'm so excited I almost peed my pants too!

pizza pizza day 4

I couldn't have pizza every day. But I could certainly chow down once a week and not get tired of the stuff. So tonight was nice. :-) We made home-made pizza. I have an easy bread recipe that works fine for pizza crust so I whipped up a batch of
[Katie is reading this as I type and has needed help with only 3 words. I am proud of her reading skills. THEN I realized I might speak/write at an elementary level.]
crust and sectioned it out into one for each older child, a large one of the adults and the remaining I shaped in to three pieces and stuck in the freezer (yes, I broke a rule for the rest of the month).

Some tomato sauce with seasoning, cheese and toppings.... here comes the freezer. I (apparently) have a few rolls of MSG-free sausage. I thawed and cooked one of those. I also have slices of green pepper that I cut up frozen and tossed on top. A can of mushrooms, a can of olives and you have some pretty good pizza.

Apple sauce and cucumbers to go with it. The kids made their own, choosing their own toppings, smashing the cheese into the sauce and making a merry ol' mess! They loved it and ate well.

Okay, so I did add to my freezer tonight. I hadn't planned on it but, well, sorry, I did. I'll try to use up the dough before the end of the month. I almost made cal zones out of the dough but laziness got the best of me. :-)

what % of your $ is spent on your home?

Me and my nerdy self finally sat down to do something I've wanted to accomplish for a while. And since the internet provides a to share personal information without feeling like it's crossing any boundaries AND because it might help someone else out, ya'll get to see my figures. :-)

This provides a break down of our continueally evolving budget catagories and the percentage of monthly income we delegate (notice I said "delegate" not actually "spend") in each. Give yours a whirl and see what you get!

The math is pretty straight forward. Take how much you pay each month for mortgage, let's say... $850 divide it by your total monthly take home let's say... $3000. Then multiply that figure by 100 to make it a percentage. So for my example here:
850/3000*100
this couple spends 28.3% of their monthly budget on their mortgage.

Here's what I discovered today:
tithing/fast offering/charities                                                     13.4
mortgage/home insurance/taxes                                               24.4
extra to pay off principle                                                           1.6

phones                                                                                     2.5
health ins.                                                                                 8.8
AAA membership                                                                     0.4
Car ins.                                                                                    2.1
Spending money                                                                       3.6
(clothing, fast food, anything extra for the individual)
Internet                                                                                     1.6
(currently less since I called about changing to another company)
Home gas                                                                                 2.1
Utilities                                                                                     4.6
(we aren’t that extravagant, Salem City has high utility charges)
Preschool                                                                                 2.3
Car registration                                                                         0.6
Christmas gifts                                                                          0.4
Date night (when it happens)                                                   1.4
Gas for cars                                                                              5.3
Food                                                                                        8.5
Other                                                                                      14.5
(toiletries, car repairs, redbox, art supplies[Aaron])
Savings                                                                                    1.9       

"AAA membership," you laugh. But let me tell you, not budgeting that in makes for a great big surprise every May! A friend of mine makes a yearly budget. I thought she was crazy, but now I get it. Think about Christmas and birthday gifts. Do you save for those? If you don't and if you are on a tight budget, you either go without giving, scrimp by the rest of that month or go over budget! So this year - it is my first year doing it - I budgeted for Christmas. Not much (obviously) about the same I budget for AAA membership apparently. :-) So, um, don't be surprised if they are homemade again this year. :-) 


Breaking things down this way puts your budget into a different perspective than just using dollar figures. Take my above example of a $850 mortgage payment on a $3000/month take home. Telling yourself that $850 for the chance to live in a nice home, safe neighborhood and 2-car garage isn't so bad is probably true. But if you only bring home $3000/month you are spending nearly one-third of your expendable income on your home! Living is likely to be a large expense but think of it like this: if you lose your income or it becomes reduced, your ability to make those house payments each month become more and more jeapordized with each percentage increase. It looks like 25% is suggested as a comfortable number. 


Notice what isn't in my list up there? Retirement. Notice what is barely peaking its tiny head through? Savings. I think about this a lot, but at the moment, what you see is about as well as we can do. Here's to praying that we have no major catastrophe before my hubby graduates and is able to find meaningful employment.

Now I am by no means an expert. I know some of you know far more than I do. So please, feel free to comment below.

Thank you and have a nice day. :-)

day 3... i didn't want to do it

Day 3 has rolled around. In preparation I dug through our large freezer downstairs and found some ground beef (thought that was all gone) and stew meat and thawed them in the fridge over night. These bundles of protein were generously donated by my husband's aunt and dead cow who had too much of the dead cow. :-) We sure have appreciated them.

All afternoon I kept wondering what to make. And the only thing that kept coming to me was Robyn's Stroganoff. Except, that's what Robyn made on Sunday and even though it is a meal I enjoy, I just wasn't in the mood today. But when 4 rolled around (oh that hour!) and Katie was hungry and I realized I'd forgotten about lunch again (for me, the kids got fed); stroganoff it was. Normally, our meals are dictated by what I'm in the mood for but since I felt the pinch and the meat was there, I went for it. An experiment within an experiment: will Rebecca eat what she cooked when she didn't want to cook it? Results? Oh, I ate it, but I didn't love it. Am I the only (non pregnant) one whose whimsical food moods have such control over what is consumed??? I swear it's only gotten worse with age. Hmm, I say that about a lot of things. :-)

Anyhow, Robyn's Stroganoff served over whole wheat pasta and steamed carrots this evening. The beef was the only freezer ingredient. Man, only day 3 and I'm already losing some pizazz. :-)

day 2

Freezer items:
prepared chicken/cheese/broccoli thing
2 prepared salmon/crab thing

Pantry items:
instant rice
parsley
canned mushrooms
oil

Fridge items:
parm cheese
butter
onion
carrots

Tonight I baked the pre-made things I purchased who knows when, but on sale. Then I threw together an attempt at risotto that I'm sure pales in comparison to the real stuff, but tasted GREAT anyway (I mean, what wouldn't with that much butter and cheese????). And then people started needing me so carrots for veggies!

I always buy these fun things when they are a great deal and tuck them away in the freezer for "just in case" days. But then I never feel like the day justifies a "just in case". So that is something this month is about. I'm using up all these fun things like salmon crab thingys. :-)

Aaron stole the camera today or I'd have a picture up for you. I know, I can hear the cries from here.

freezer cooking day 1

Welcome to my first post under "economist". I've known since before the birth of this blog that the job title of economist would be a must for any homemaker, but I didn't know quite yet what to write. And then, as it always does, life presented me with an opportunity AND a friend with a suggestion.

So, somehow I managed to burn through our entire month's grocery budget in half the month. "How?" asked a husband. "Uh, I don't know," replied the wife. I should probably go check my account (I write down EVERYTHING we spend) and track this problem down. But, back to being on track...

I had the chance to talk to my wonderful friend today (::wink:: @ Temma) while I lamented cooking meals to only share with my children since the hubby is gone most evenings out of the week. We yacked about a few ideas and tossed some things around. She asked if I cook extra and then freeze? Well, I do, but... Hmmm, I thought, the freezer is getting kind of full. Then, around 4 (my what-to-make-tonight hour of the day) I examined my pantry and decided I wanted to make Spanish rice. GREAT! But I wanted to add meat to make it more substantial for the kids and my nursing self. And then, DING DING DING, I remembered the 1/2# ground turkey I cooked and froze. Perfect!

Spanish rice (yummy, btw) with spinach (more for color than nutrition really), steamed broccoli (also from the freezer) and olives. It was yummy. Successful dinner + full freezer + no money = my attempt to cook each meal the rest of this month using things from our freezer(s).

Oh, no worries, I fully expect to fail. I mean, how much does a freezer or two really hold when you use it as your go-to every night (well, you know, when you cook anyway) and purposely don't replenish your stock? Can you even make appealing meals using freezer items? Can you make the nutritious and balanced? How long would your freezer food storage last... really?

The answers to these riveting questions and more, when we return!