So I have been budgeting and paying off credit cards for over a year and a few months and I was going to share some of my secrets. Don't get me wrong there is so much that I want to buy and I do buy it but now it is hard for me buy stuff without knowing I have the money for it. It has been 2 years since I used my credit card and I have no credit card debt on the one and only card I have it is just for big emergencies that come our way but right now the balance is 0! I am working on a debt that we used from a past patient who gave us money when we bought the house and I have since then paid that person off and gave the title of our car back to the bank and now I am paying the bank. The cool part of doing it this way is I can see my balance and I can pay it anytime with as before I was only mailing this person a check of $100 each month and since I am paying off this debt each month with more than $100 I don't have to put alot of money in the mail hoping this person gets it each month. And we had a car loan with my bank and I paid it off last year and the loan now is $100 less a month than it was last year! Sweetness! All I have for my own personal debt is this loan and my student loan and then I am done. I honestly do not think I am going to work on my student loan as hard as these last debts hope to help someone out with his next. So my goal is to pay $200 a week to this loan at the bank until it is paid off and Larry is not working out in the field in Canada and working the long hours anymore which was bringing in alot of money so I am on to being frugal and budgeting. Since paying off the debts I have paid off already I saved $662.43 on monthly payments that we were making a month on our credit cards and car! That is sweetness! So here is how I have been trying to be frugal and budgeting...
-Go to Starbucks once a week. I would love to go everyday but that is spendy. I know I should cut it cold turkey but I can't yet I love my caffeine!
-Carry $20 cash and that is all I get to use for the week for special things like coffee, lunches out, and things I want to get. This isn't for the kids it is just for me. I had to use it for Misha 2 weeks ago to get her toes clipped but she needed to be pampered!
-When I get coffee or lunches out to spend less then $5 on my meal or try to not go to much over. It actually is easy if you get soup or half a sandwhich or a quiche or Taco Bell thinks like that :)
-Go to the store 2 times a week and try to only spend $50 each time or $100 each time depending if it is the beginning or end of the month. Stock up on items in your house. If there is a two for one I grap it but one in my kitchen cupboards and one in the pantry.
-Use coupons! But make sure you use only things you need. I have a big ole purse that has my coupon binder (a must!), wipes the cheapest ever they are the Target brand, snack for the kids and I make my grocery list on my phone or on post its.
-Get hand me down clothes. Find some friends who can help you with this it is so helpful and you can save so much!
-Realize that your kids do not need everything else that everyone else has. I buy my kids one thing a month and sometimes I don't even do that.
-Keep every promo discount card that you get in the mail you never know when you need to use it! Like yesterday I went to Victoria Secret cause I was given money and I had kept a discount card and a free panty card that I got maybe a month or 2 ago and knew I could not afford it or use it and I was given $75 and spent $62 by using the promo coupons! If you keep them and they expired oh well maybe the next one that comes to you you'll use.
-Get the weekend Oregonian. It has coupons and if you see something you like then put it up on your fridge and budget for it instead of going and buying it that day. I just started getting the paper as a promo for 6 weeks and I like it now that it comes only friday-Sunday. I like going out and getting it or having the kids get it and drinking my tea with it.
-I love fuffy coffee drinks and tea so I stock up on my tea bags and use those during the week for on my way to work and when I get low then I get more. Don't get more until you either used stuff up or are close to using up the stuff you use all the time. Right now I am craving cold chai's and so instead of buying them at Dutch Bros, who make the best, I bought a container of Tazo Chai at Target, super cheap there like under $3.50 for one, and just use 1/2 Chai and 1/2 milk over ice and my craving is cured. I am on my second drink from this one box and I think I can get 3 or 4 more drinks. So find clever ways to make your drinks at home and see if you can do them for alot cheaper.
-Keep leftovers! This is a must especially for kids. I reuse alot of food and if it isn't giving it to my kids an hour later cause they are hungry or putting it in my lunch for the next day it saves so much it is crazy!
-Every month I boil eggs and make egg salad sandwhiches and they can last me a whole week for lunch! That is when I am on a crunch and want to make sure I am not spending any money or going out to buy lunch. Tunafish sandwhiches can be used the same way make a couple cans and you have 4 or so lunches! Savings!
-Use up all your household product before you buy another especially if you want to try something new. I am really bad at wanting to try new things like dishsoap or body wash stuff and I am still working on this one. But use up all you have in your house then get new stuff. Total savings there.
-Put your holiday items in bins for the next year. If you have leftover Easter stuff put it in a bin and save it. If you have suntan lotions or little swimmers put them in a bin for next year so you can save a buck or two next year. I love organizing this way and then you don't have to go looking for this stuff and wonder where you put it the year before.
-Use up all your lotions and perfumes before you buy more. This one is so hard for me cause I just found a new perfume at VS that I love! But maybe a coupon promo thing will come my way ;) I have alot right now and need to just be happy with what I have and be more girly and put them on.
-Plan your meals for the month. Put it on your fridge on a erasable calendar. Look in your fridge and freezer for what you have and make meals on what you have and put them on the calendar. Then if you are short on days then go to the store and get the things you need. I have on every Wednesday pizza night I either will bake a frozen one, make one, or order one depending on what we have in the house. I have a left over day which is on Sunday and I use and make something up with the leftovers in the fridge and if I don't have any than I just use what I have. I have friday nights as take out night. I am pretty tired by friday so I either take the kids out to Burgerville or get take out so I do not have to cook. Bad I know but for my peace of mind I need the break from cooking and most the time my kids do not eat dinner very well so it is one night of peace from that.
-I love to read books. I try not to buy books at cost. I either get them at the library and if I buy them then I go to the used library book places where they cost $1-4 each. I have about 3 authors I really like right now so I have been reading that way. If there is one I want to buy like I bought a canning book on Amazon I go to either Amazon and try to use my free shipping Amazon mom on things. I try not to buy anything on Amazon where I have to pay for shipping. My kids are sometimes hard to get out the door to go to the store or mall so Amazon is my friend and I love getting packages at the door. If I go to Borders or Barnes and Nobles to get a book I do not go without a coupon. I can't pay regular anymore I have to have some type of discount even if it is only 10% off. I know it is all in my head but once you do it so much with coupons it is hard to pay full price at places like that.
-Use your environmental bags when you go to the grocery store or any store you can save 5-10 cents each and they are so easy to use and I keep mine in my car and use them everywhere. If I don't remember to bring them to the store I have been this last week just asking them to put it back in my cart. Crazy I know but I am trying to be more efficient and I just can't store all those paper bags all the time.
-Don't toss or get rid of any type of tupperware container or bins you never know when you need to use it for something else. This takes up alot of room if you have alot that you aren't using. But it will save you money down the line I reused 4 different types of bins this vacation weekend by reusing them for kids toys and a bin to put toys in on the porch. And I have been looking for a seat container holder for the porch and now I don't have to cause I reused a huge red round toy bin that was in the shed housing a fake ficus tree. Not to mention Grace loves the new bin cause it is red and she thinks I got it for her. Priceless, literally. Reuse is a big saver!
-Use your resources. I get free bread the 1st and 3rd wednesday of the week of Oroweat bread, muffins, and pizza dough. Sometimes there isn't alot to take but I take enough to keep in my fridge and it has worked out great.
That is all I can think of at the moment. Hope this helps you be frugal this spring! I am venturing to the canning world. My goal with canning is to have food that I have made in the pantry to eat all year or 1/2 a year and to also make items that will work for birthday, get well or holiday gifts for my friends and family. If you have any ideas to add or ways you do it I would love to hear them. :) I need more inspiration.
Happy Sunny day to you all! I finally got batteries in my camera and I am going to take pictures today the day before Easter! Whoo Hoo!
He had to get a picture with his bunny cause when he is nervous or unsure of something bunny is there. So bunny went in the car to school but stayed in his carseat.
Once he was at school he was SO excited! We got there when Logan did and Logan is on the left of him in this picture. I think these other boys are going to be some friends of his too! He is all smiles!
Here he is once he got in his class he was all done with me and Grace he didn't even notice we were gone. He put his name stick in a pouch and told me mama I did it can I go into school and I said yes and he was gone into Preschool heaven. I just let him go in and do his thing I didn't go in and make sure he was ok and Grace and I went to Starbucks together to have some breakfast and then she went to daycare. Hunter and I had went the Friday before for the meet and greet at his Preschool which was nice cause we got to check everything out before the big day! It was so weird to be alone for the next hour and a half cause I knew my buddy was in the teacher's hands and I had no control of him and he wasn't with family. I was just hoping he was listening and obeying and going to the bathroom right just stressing over the little stuff. I know one of his teacher's cause she is a patient and I know some of his fellow students cause they are patients too! But still that first day was nerve racking! When I went to pick him up he was so excited to see me and I was so excited to see how his first big day was! I can't believe how much he has grown and that he is officially in school!
If you look to the right you can see her before picture and then see her now!
This is her saying thank you for my new look now let me sleep or rub my belly
Hunter playing on the "family" Iphone hanging out on the entrance to the yurt. He looks like Larry so much in this picture! I love that he is in sweats and barefooted just hanging out in the fresh air! :)
There you go! Tonight I cleaned out my laundry room had alot of what was in the first picture in the laundry room. Now I still have alot of it in my bedroom and carport and I hope to tackle it each night and finish it up and make my house all pretty again. But more organized and workable. Goodwill is going to love me this week!
Hunter would not smile so we told him to show us his guns and this is what he did.
Grace and Larry playing trains at my mom's house.
Hunter wasn't really into the whole take pictures before leaving the house, but we powered through and did them. Grace's Easter outfit was all hand me down clothes I didn't have to buy a thing. I wanted to buy her a cute new dress and black shoes but we had what she needed so I didn't buy hers. :) Hunter's was handme downs and old stuff and I should have put a different shirt on him so he didn't match the red wall but oh well he probably would not have changed it anyways. Happy Easter everyone! 