31 Days to Financial Freedom, Day 16: Past vs. Present

This marks the halfway point for this 31 Days journey, and the 46th day that our family and I changed our ways for the better.  We are in such a better place today than we were on August 31st. 

So, I wanted to show you exactly was has changed between August 16 and October 16.  Here is our spending from August 1 - August 16, and October 1 - October 16.

Item:	August:	October:
Groceries	$383.69	$88.96
Gas	$254.39	$160
Eating Out	$207.78	$16.24
Bills	$868.95	$1216.30
Snacks	$69.25	$7.21
Shopping	$343.36	$9.92
Saving	$31.49	$200
Total	$2158.91	$1698.63

Groceries:
I have no idea how we spent that much money in groceries in the first 16 days of August, especially considering how much we also spent eating out.  This is the result of not properly planning our meals, not having a budget, and not having a shopping list!  We made 17 trips to the grocery store in August, meaning I was having my husband buy food that we needed for dinner that night, versus either using what we already had in the house, or having him shop once a week.  We've made nine trips to the grocery store so far in October, but that's mostly trips for just milk or just bread (yes, I'm slacking on the homemade bread) because we go through those pretty quickly.
Average cost per day in August:    $23.98
Average cost per day in October:   $ 5.56

Gas:
We made one trip about 60 miles south, and another trip about 120 miles south during this time in August, which is why our gas amount was so high.  That's an extra 360 miles on the mini-van and in the gas tank.
Average cost per day in August:    $15.90
Average cost per day in October:   $10.00

Eating Out:
Again, how did we spend this much eating out and groceries?  On more than one occasion, we ate out for lunch and dinner! 
Average cost per day in August:    $12.99
Average cost per day in October:   $ 1.02

Bills:
In August, our daycare weekly tuition was $168, and that was reduced to $115 in October due to our son starting kindergarten.  August's bill amount didn't include our mortgage payment.  This is how messed up our priorities were!  The only bills I had paid at this time in August were one previous month of Pen's student loan, another payment on another of his student loans, the utilities payment from the previous month, out satellite bill (comes out automatically), two weeks of daycare, and our car insurance (again, comes out automatically).  So far this month, I've paid our mortgage, 2 weeks of daycare, both of Pen's student loan payments, out satellite payment, and our car insurance. 
Average cost per day in August:    $54.31
Average cost per day in October:   $76.02

Snacks:
*Sigh*  Again, this is money spent at gas stations and convenience stores on little stuff that added up!  What a complete waste of money.
Average cost per day in August:    $ 4.33
Average cost per day in October:   $   .45

Shopping:
This includes a $134 trip to Target and a $102 shopping spree at Fashion Bug, along with useless other crap.  We went away for a weekend, and I forgot to pack shirts for me, which happens often.  My husband says I do this subconsciously so that I have an excuse to go shopping, and I think he's right.  October's shopping is for Halloween costumes.
Average cost per day in August:    $21.46
Average cost per day in October:   $    .62

Savings:
Sure, money went into our savings account, but it also came right back out.  Just a reminder, we save $400 per month.  $200 comes out of each of my paychecks and goes right into a separate account.  Previously, we would have to withdraw all or a portion of that $200 so we wouldn't be overdrawn on our main checking account.
Average cost per day in August:    $ 1.98
Average cost per day in October:   $12.50

Total Average cost per day in August:    $134.95
Total Average cost per day in October:   $106.17

Sure, our total average cost per day wasn't all that different, but look at where the majority of our money was going!  On food, we were spending an average of $41.30 per day in August!  Now we've got that down to $7.03.  What a difference!  I am so thrilled with our progress.  And by doing little stuff like this, it shows me that the changes we are making are really working.  Plus, I'm 8 pounds lighter than I was on September 1st! 

31 Days to Financial Freedom, Day 15: Everyday Ways to Save

We can all do a little bit everyday to help us save money.  Small amounts add up to huge amounts (like $117.14 spent on soda and candy bars at the gas station).  The typical breakfast I would eat at work would cost me $1.49, five days a week.

$7.45 a week.
$34.27 a month.
$411.24 a year.
$2,056.20 for most of the time I have worked here.

See how it escalates?  By changing little things we do every day (and making note of those changes), it can help us reach out goals much faster.  So now, instead of buying my bagel with cream cheese and a carton of milk at work, I bring bread and a jar of peanut butter from home.  I buy a half gallon of milk to keep in the refrigerator, or I just drink water (better for us anyway!). 

We all know the financial benefits of eating at home versus eating out.  Spending $7 per day at lunch is a waste of money.  Buying a $4 cup of coffee when you can make it at home is a waste of money.  These are habits that we must break.  I'm not saying it's never okay to eat out for lunch or buy a cup of fancy coffee, but these are things that we should be rewarding ourselves with for a job well done, not a benefit of waking up in the morning.

Pen and I have set short term goals for ourselves.  When we reach those goals, we reward ourselves with things we should have always viewed as "treats".  For example, we set a short term goal of saving up $800 to pay off the coach that's sitting in the furniture store.  Well, this Friday we will have done just that.  And to reward ourselves?  We're stopping by our favorite Chinese restaurant on the way home and picking up some take out.  It generally costs us $25 for two entrees and an appetizer (my mouth is watering just thinking about it . . . ), but the point is, we reached a short-term goal and we're rewarding ourselves with something we just felt entitled to previously.

Since the $800 will clean out our savings account, our next short term goal is to replenish it, and then some.  Once we have $1,000 in our savings account, we'll pick something else to treat ourselves with.  It won't always be food.  Other rewards may be a trip away with just Pen and I (something we haven't done in 4 years!), a trip to an amusement park, etc.  It should take us about 2 1/2 months to save up $1,000 (we save $400 per month).  Once that goal is met, we'll decide on something special to do.

There are everyday ways that we can save money, which will allow us to reach the $1,000 mark a little faster. 

Gas:

• Americans spend a ton on gas.  The average American spends $2,000 a year to fill up their tank, according to a Huffington Post article I read back in March.  That's $4,000 for our household.  By driving less, we're saving big bucks.  Last month we spent $257 on gas, $167 for Pen's car (his drive to work is about 25 minutes, so he uses more gas), and $90 for mine (mini-van).  However, that was not filling up our tanks.  I only budget $50 per week for Pen's car, and $30 for mine.  Yes, I know during the winter our tanks should be full.  So . . . driving less will help save.
• Turning off the engine instead of idling.
• Warming up the engine before driving (this doesn't apply to newer cars I hear though).
• Opening up the windows instead of running the AC if driving in town.
• Driving 55 instead of 65 on the highway.
• Getting rid of unnecessary weight in your car (like the bookshelf that has been banging around in the back of my van for the past month).
• Not tailgating.
• Keeping tires inflated to the proper pressure.
• Walk or ride bikes when you can.

Food:

• Bring your breakfast and lunch instead of buying it.
• Making enough dinner for leftovers for lunch the rest of the week
• Ditching frozen, prepared meals in favor of not frozen, prepared meals (macaroni and cheese in the box, frozen lasagna or other frozen meals, garlic bread, etc.)
• Eating what you have (how many moldy strawberries have I thrown away in my lifetime?!)

Electricity:

• Turning off the flippin' lights when you leave a room
• Keep your furnace down to 65 and your AC up to 75
• Use a surge protector to power down your TV and gaming consoles (we don't do this for our TV and DVR because if you unplug your DVR, your shows won't record, and I don't think I can live with Dr. Phil, Ellen, and Gilmore Girls during the day).
• Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs (if every U.S. household replaced just one regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb, it would prevent 90 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the equivalent of taking 7.5 million cars off the road.  On top of that, replacing one regular light bulb with an approved compact fluorescent light bulb would save consumers $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.)

Other:

• Borrow books and movies from the library instead of purchasing or renting them.  Our son has borrowed How to Train your Dragon every Saturday for the past two months.
• Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth, doing dishes, or giving the kiddos a bath.
• Don't overfill your refrigerator.
• Save your clean, used aluminum foil, and or use a cookie sheet to cover casseroles in the oven.
• Buy the bigger container of yogurt instead of the individual packaged kind and use a Tupperware container.
• Reduce the amount of laundry detergent you use by 1/2, unless the clothes are really soiled.  We've been doing this for a while, and the clothes are still clean.
• Cut your dryer sheets in half or even fourths.  It still gets the job done, and that box of 250 sheets will last muuuuuch longer.
• Use dish towels instead of paper towels.
• If it's yellow let it mellow.  If it's brown flush it down.  Ew.
• If your pillows are flat, cut open a portion of the seam and re fluff or add more stuffing as necessary, then sew up the seam.  It won't matter how tidy your seams are, because it will be inside a pillow case!  You can also launder pillows in hot water, then dry on high.  This will fluff pillows as well as kill all the gross-ola stuff that lives in there.  This has reminded me to wash our pillows.
• I pluck my eyebrows instead of waxing them.  This saves me $4 every month at the salon.  I wouldn't recommend this if you wax anything else though.  Ow.
• SMOKING.  Seriously.  Who wants to light their money on fire?

Ok, I'm going to go wash my pillows now.

31 Days to Financial Freedom, Day 14: Jelly

We've had a crazy busy weekend here, and we haven't even left our house, except for a quick library trip yesterday morning.  This weekend, I have made pumpkin pie, cheesy potatoes, ham, whipped cream, biscuits, and jelly.

Oh, and last night I made "mystery dinner".  Funny story.  The plan for Saturday night's dinner was to make biscuits and gravy.  I made the biscuits (recipe to come in a few days), and I started to work on the gravy.  I opened the package of defrosted sausage and realized it was spicy Italian sausage!  That wouldn't work for biscuits and gravy!  So I improvised, and made biscuit pizza.  I browned the sausage and added almost an entire can of crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, and garlic and onion powder.  I added it to a baking dish, covered it in cheese, and added the biscuits on top (at this time, the biscuits had been cooking for about 5 minutes, so they were still pretty doughy).  I cooked it for about 15 minutes until the biscuits were done, and it tasted pretty good!  But . . . biscuits and gravy would have been better.

Today I'm going to share the way we make jelly.  This recipe will yield three jars of jelly, which lasts our family around a month and a half or two months.  It can be a bit of an expense to get it started if you don't already have the jars, but I considered that an investment because we've reused them over and over since we've purchased them. 

Jelly:

1 and 1/2 container of strawberries
4 cups sugar
1 package pectin
3/4 cup of water

That's it!  Start by cutting up the strawberries.

 

 

Then use a potato masher to mash them all up.

 



Six-year-old in Iron Man mask is optional.  Also, don't depend on the six-year-old in the Iron Man mask to stick with this.  Approximately 4 seconds after I took this picture, he scampered away.  Measure out 2 and 1/2 cups of the mixture into another bowl.  I actually had to mash up a few more strawberries to get to 2 and 1/2 cups.  It's better to have to mash more than mashing too many, right?  Add the sugar, and stir occasionally for about 10 minutes.  This will be the consistency after the sugar as been incorporated:

It will look a little wet, but the pectin will make it set.  Speaking of the pectin, add it to the water in a small sauce pan on the stove.  Stir constantly until it's a rolling boil, and allow it to boil for one entire minute, then add the pectine to the strawberry mixture and stir constantly for three minutes.

Then using a funnel, add to the jelly to the full line of the ball jars (I use a ladle - about two ladles fills up the jar).

That funnel is awesome.  I found it in the same place I bought my ball jars.  It fits perfectly!  This recipe will fill three jars.  Once the jars are filled, screw on the lid and let it sit for 24 hours.

However, for best results, I recommend hiding them in some way from your husband and children, like under a towel!

It takes 24 hours for this to turn into jelly.  Right now it's just soupy sugary strawberry juice.  Once the 24 hours is up, you can freeze or refrigerate the jelly, or give it away to a friend!  Come back later for homemade pumpkin pie, biscuits, and some more crafts.  And to hear me talk about the St. Louis Cardinals' post season some more. 

31 Days to Financial Freedom, Day 13: Rag Wreath

It's really starting to look and smell and feel like autumn around here!  The leaves are changing on the trees and beginning to make their descent to the ground, resulting in the intoxicating aroma of burning leaves.  I love that smell! 

We usually start decorating for holidays and seasons stupid early, but for whatever reason we just really haven't this year.  Mind you, I've had the tubs of Halloween and fall decorations up from the basement for weeks, but actually putting out the decorations hasn't happened.  I'll blame it on Piglet 1's birthday party . . . three weeks ago. 

Anyway, I'm jumped on the burlap wreath bandwagon and made my own!  Last night was Game Five of the National League Division Series, St. Louis Cardinals vs. the Washington Nationals.  I am a crazy crazy crazy St. Louis fan, and I knew I would need something to occupy my time, so I decided right before the game started to make this wreath!  I had bought the material to make it months ago.  In March to be exact.  And it has sat on top of the shelving unit in our office/craft room, untouched. 

I started off with a yard of natural burlap and a yard of white burlap, a wire wreath form, and a rotary cutter (although I deserted the rotary cutter about a minute into the project).  The burlap and the wreath form cost $8.07 (the receipt was still in the bag).  Seven months ago.  Not too bad!

First, I decided how wide I wanted the rags, and I chose roughly 1 inch.  I started cutting the white burlap, and for the first long row of cutting, I tried really hard to make a straight cut.  That only lasted the first cut.  After that I just eyeballed it.

Then I decided how l long I wanted the rags.  I cut a couple different lengths and tied them to the form to decide what looked best.  Once I had the length I wanted, I used a sharpie and the bottom of a box to draw the length so it would make it easier to cut.  It ended up being about seven inches.

Then I started cutting.  And cutting.  And cutting.

Once I had a decent pile of the white, I start tying the burlap rags onto the form in random places.  I knew I was going to have too much burlap, and I wanted to keep as much of it intact as I could to use it for future projects.  So I cut a decent amount, and figured I could always cut more.  Once I had a good portion of the wreath form covered in white, I repeated the process with the natural burlap.

By this time I was completely covered in burlap.  The floor by my chair was completely covered in burlap.  And Descalso on the Cardinals had just hit a beautiful hit that brought in two runners.  My heart was racing, and my fingers hurt. 

I really like the look of the two colors of burlap together.  I tried to go every other, but I was paying more attention to the baseball game than the wreath to be honest. 

By this time my husband had finally started to see what it was supposed to look like.  I wanted this to be a wreath that I could use all throughout the year, but I wanted to put a fall spin on it for this season.  I dug through the tubs of decorations and found these three little guys that I got at the dollar store years ago.

I used jute to tie the scarecrows to the wreath so I could remove them after fall was over (and add some sort of winter or Christmas decoration!).  This is the back of the scarecrow.

For this one, I used the jute in between the body and the stick to secure it to the wreath and make sure it would stay put.

For this one, I used the jute to make a belt.

Once I was done attaching the scarecrows, I fluffed the wreath and used Command utility hooks to attach it to our front door.  I'm not sure how long it's going to last out there, because it's just so cute I want it in the house so I can see it all the time!

Here's the back:

Here's the front:

I.  Love.  It.  Sorry for the picture quality - I had to use my iPhone and it's raining like crazy out there!  I love the rustic look of the wreath, and I also love that I can use it year round.  It looks great without any accessories, too. 

So, have you jumped on the burlap wreath band wagon?  What's your favorite look?  Also, the Cardinals won, after bringing in four runs during the 9th inning.  During the 8th inning, I abandoned the wreath and instead nervously paced my living room, so I actually finished it today.