June's Budget

This was the first month that L and I followed our "new" budgeting system that we created. It was pretty successful for the most part - we only went over our grocery budget a little bit. This is impressive considering we had pretty much eliminated dining out (minus a couple quick meals, and one date night equipped with a paid babysitter).

I think the biggest thing that helped our budget was meal planning. We planned all of our meals around what was on sale, and worked hard to create meals with what we had in the house. I made a lot of substitutions on recipes - some worked, some didn't. Also, since there's a new babe in the house, simple meals were the focus.

Speaking of new babe, we pretty much dreaded any dining out with two kiddos, so that was good incentive for avoiding restaurants. Nothing like a crying babe and a demanding toddler to simplify living, right?

So overall, we spent less in spending than we do typically, and stayed pretty close to our grocery budget. Still, I think we could have done a little better as far as stretching meat and using even more ingredients that we had in the house. We'll see. I don't feel like I sacrificed on produce, though this month we'll focus more on the farmer's markets, so we should incorporate more fresh ingredients in our meals.

Let's hope that even with me returning to work next week (yikes!), the budget will continue successfully.

Praise of the Day:
That our God provides

Oh, Hello Compost Bin

You know, now that we're in a house, one of the first things we (I) wanted to do was set up a compost bin. Maybe there's a little bit of my father's blood in me (he's a big gardener), but I've been talking about it for two months now.

Composting is great for a few reasons. First and foremost, it's a great way to reduce landfill waste. It's a simple frugal way for us save a little of money, as we pay per trash bag and it creates free potting soil for us to use. Lastly, it's a great and easy way to show a little love for your garden, lawn, etc.

We decided to go the simple route in making a compost bin, because we're newbies. We used this guide, and it was incredibly easy and cheap to do. It cost us less than $10 to get started!

It's amazing how many items can be put in your compost bin! Here's a great list that covers what can and can't be used. I am already thinking that this is really going to reduce our landfill consumption - yay!

On a completely off topic, but in the spirit of my last post on gratitude, here's my ongoing list:

4. Smiling babes
5. A great worship service yesterday
6. That I still have two weeks to be home with both kiddos.

Flower Power

E helped me plant these flowers on Saturday. They were on serious markdown, so I wasn't incredibly concerned if she was rough with them. Mostly she liked putting the dirt in and watering the flowers. "More water" she kept repeating. This is one of the fun aspects of parenting - teaching her, helping her learn, and seeing her eyes light up with excitement. I wish I had bought a few more plants, because flowers just make everything happier, don't they?

She has loved watching her Daddy work on our house, and it feels like we're getting somewhere, thank God. We're going room by room (ignoring the kitchen and living room at the moment), and each night we've tried to get something done - even if it feels minor.

Something that's helped us get our bottoms moving is 1) my nesting instinct 2) the fact we've decided to go without cable once again. No cable = no channels. We went cable free a few years ago when we bought our first house, and didn't want to pay for cable. I don't remember missing it (though, we relied heavily on our friends T and B to record Lost episodes).

We found that we were using cable as background noise, and we ended up watching shows that we never even cared about. There's nothing wrong with vegging once in a while, but it sucked up more time than it should have. So we're back to pocketing some extra cash, and being "forced" to find something to do in the evenings, even if it is just reading, etc.

Of course, don't worry. We're still feeding our Lost addiction and watching it online. Some shows are just worth keeping up with. :)

To Buy or Not to Buy

Well since we're expecting another baby, we've started thinking about buying a house. This is supposed to be a great time to buy, right? We've spent some Saturdays touring homes, speaking with our realtor (who's also our landlord) about the local market, and looking at our finances/seeing what we qualify for.

Our credit is really strong, we don't have another house to sell (thank God), we have a fair bit of savings considering we paid cash for our vehicle a few months ago. Still we just don't feel like we're ready to buy, despite what a lot of people keep telling us.

I think Dave's getting into my head. He suggests that you don't buy a house until you have your debt paid off, and have three to six months of savings. We've always been a fan of Dave, but I'm starting to realize how wise his advice really is.

Now we're not following the order of his baby steps, but certainly understand his reasoning for it. We have some of my student loans to pay for, but instead have focused all of our "extra" money on building a down payment. This was wise, in my opinion, since both cars broke at the same time, and drained some of our savings when we decided to buy a more reliable vehicle. I'm glad we had that money - otherwise we would have had to taken a loan.

We've decided to save x amount for a down payment, and will have that once we get L's bonus (praise God for this). We will then focus on saving three to six months worth of expenses, especially in this volatile economy. Once that is done, we will then discuss whether we want to buy a house or focus on paying off the rest of my student loans.

Dave has often referred to renting as "patience money", and that's exactly what it is. It's not an ideal situation, and it's not supposed to be for forever. Still, if a couple of years of living in an less than ideal place results in a better place financially, and a house that we really enjoy, then it's worth it in our opinion.

For those dealing with "house fever", read this blog from Simple Mom. It calms me pretty quickly. :)

The Grocery Budget

If there is one area in our budget in which we could be more careful, I would say it's our grocery budget. Several months ago I would have said it's the amount we spend on dining out, but a busy toddler (and a cold winter) has remedied that for us, thankfully.

There were a couple of things that I've decided to implement to help us track and hopefully, spend less every week.

1. Use cash and bring a calculator. The calculator does slow down the process a little bit, but it helps me track how much I have in the cart. And the cash ensures I don't overspend.

2. Have a rough meal plan for the week. We get the circulars each week, and it's given me an idea of what we could make with what is on sale.

3. Have a cooking day. Last Sunday I made some soup, roast, and enchiladas, so that on the days I'm tired or running late, we don't feel the pressure to resort to pricier, unhealthy, convenience meals. The roast easily lasted us four meals. Plus, I'm not feeling so stressed about getting dinner on the table. Less stress = happy mom/wife.

4. Cook from scratch. We're pretty good at doing this - mostly for health reasons, but recent studies have reminded me why it's worth taking the extra time to eat whole, non-processed foods. It's not only cheaper and tastes better, but is so much better for you.

5. Buy what produce/meat is on sale. We have a tendency to spend a lot of fruits and veggies, which is better than the alternative, but I'm trying to be more efficient. Over the summer we froze some fruits and veggies, for soups/stews/chilis/smoothies. That has helped our budget too.

6. Stock up. Meat went on major sale here, so we stocked up.

7. Use what's already in the pantry and refrigerator. This is one of the things that we do that drives us crazy - we end up throwing good food out that we just didn't end up using. So we're clearing out our fridge and freezer, hoping to save some money and curb waste.

8. Eat more oatmeal and less cereal. Oh my goodness. It's so much cheaper and better than that boxed stuff. Another downfall of ours.

9. Buy in bulk - it's often cheaper. Plus it helps curb unnecessary packaging, which is yucky for the environment.

10. Have fun. Get creative and enjoy creating meals at home with the family, and the kiddos. Food should be enjoyed, and not stressed over, in my opinion.

Anyone have any other good suggestions for curbing the grocery budget? I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting here.

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

I am constantly running out of Swiffer pad refills, and it drives me crazy how expensive they are to buy all of the time. For a while I was just using old rags and a bucket to wash the floors, but this got tiring really fast (E did love to help, but she slipped too many times for my comfort).

Today I realized that we were out of them (again), and since it was too much of a hassle to run to the store, I read where some make reusable pads. It worked well enough for me to say bye bye to the $5 or whatever it is to buy the refills. I just used some microfiber towels, folded them in half and sewed it. Voila - pads. Less trash and more money. Yay.

In equally exciting news, I feel like I'm getting ready to go back to school with the list of materials I need to buy for work. Pens. A planner (old one donated to L). A lunch box and a water bottle. And oddly enough, I'm pretty excited about looking for these items, but I used to love the fall of the year and getting my backpack ready for the first day of class. Strange, silly me.

Anyway, back to the daily grind of chores and figuring out dinner, before it's too late to thaw anything. Note to self: pull meat out the night before you need it.

Two Week Challenge

L and I are pretty frugal people. We downsized from another rental into the cheapest, decent place we could find, which included all utilities. We are driving paid off vehicles, and hope they run forever. We use cloth for nearly everything, so that cuts down on the cost of paper products. L is able to walk to work, so we save on gas. We're don't "own" a lot of stuff, and don't enjoy shopping much.

But there is one thing that kills us. And we have no will power.

We eat out way too much. It's actually a little ridiculous.

So, as of Sunday, we gave ourselves a challenge. No eating out for the next two weeks. You may think this is an easy task, but truly, not so easy for us, which is a little sad. :) I'm thinking that if we make it the two weeks, we should try it for a month. We may have to work up to that, though. :) I'll try to post what we had for dinner the previous night. Maybe it'll compel me to keep up the trend, right?

Dinner Last Night: Quinoa Vegetable Soup with Bread. It was okay, but it was missing something. Quick and cheap to make, though.