Thrifty Thursday- 5 ways I saved money this week

Thrifty Thursdays are a new segment I am starting to show how we save money.  I want to start this week by showing 5 ways we saved money in the past week.  This past week was Thanksgiving and we had a pretty low key holiday.  Hubby had to work all day and had a pot luck there.  We sat down to a celebratory dinner of chicken, green bean casserole and an apple crisp when he got home.  We watched a movie and then he went to bed.  Which leads me to my first way I saved money...

1. Make Money- I babysat on Thanksgiving/Black Friday so another family could go face the crowds.  While they were out shopping in the freezing weather, I was inside, warm and enjoying a rare night of cable.  I told them I couldnt babysit until after Tim went to bed so that we wouldnt miss out on any holiday time together.  Pretty easy way to earn some dough.

2. Stay Away from Sales- Just because there are crazy sales on Black Friday does not mean I need to take advantage of them. One way I saved money was to NOT go shopping on Black Friday.  I am always a sucker for a sale and if I went out, I am sure I would come back with "deals too good to be true".  I have to limit my shopping exposure because I have horribly bad willpower, so I stayed in (and babysat) instead of hitting the shops.

3. Bringing Home the Bacon...errr Ham.  I mentioned earlier that Hubby had a pot luck at work on Thanksgiving.  They served a huge ham alongside a turkey.  Hubby, being the thrifty guy he is, brought me back the ham bone with meat still on it.  This next week we will make split pea soup using the ham from his potluck.  Thats one less meal we have to buy and I love stretching something that would normally have been thrown out.

4. Drink Free Coffee- I love Starbucks.  I am kind of ashamed to admit that I have a gold card with my name on it because that shows how I cant stay away.  I know I can make coffee at home (and I have really been trying to make cafe like drinks at home so I dont have to pay the high prices at Starbucks).  Our RV park has a keurig machine stocked with free kcups in the laundry room.  When I went to the office to pay rent for December, I swung by the laundry room and made myself a free cup of coffee.  Its not nearly the Peppermint Mocha I love from Starbucks, but it was warm and free and kept me from going out to Starbucks. 

5. Swagbucks- I have really been trying to maximize my earnings on Swagbucks to earn Amazon giftcards.  Swagbucks is a website where you earn points by watching videos, taking surveys, etc.  If I make it a daily habit to earn 90 points, I can earn a $5 Amazon gift card every 5 days.  It usually evens out to $5 a week.  But hey, thats $20 a month in Amazon credits for not having to ever leave the RV.  Did I mention the RV Park has free wifi?  You could earn way more than 90 points a day but I dont want to be a slave to the computer so I feel like that is a good compromise. 

June Budget

 

As promised, here is June's budget. We are always a month ahead, which makes planning the budget a little easier since there are no surprises. However, last month Hubby missed a couple 12 hour shifts at work so his paycheck was a little lower than normal (ok a lot lower!) If the budget seems a little tight, its because of the check factor. Hubby did put in some over time last week, so July will be a little better.

Our budget process is based off Dave Ramsey's plan and we use cash envelopes as our main source of dividing up the finances. At the beginning of the month, we look at what we made the previous month and use that number for our income. Last month Hubby brought in $2000. I budgeted for the set bills (like bills, rent, etc) that we don't use cash to pay for. All the other categories come out as cash and are put in their respective envelopes. That said, here is our budget breakdown.

Income $2000
Expenses
- World Vision-$30
 - Giving- $170
 - Rent- $650
 - Electric- $100
 - Metro PCS (Hubbys phone)- $25
 - Sprint (internet)- $40
 - Storage- $60
 - Groceries- $200
 - Gas- $400
 - Auto Insurance- $60
 - Pets- $20
 - Blow (My spending money)- $40
 - Blow (hubby's spending money)- $40

You will notice there is NO entertainment or eating out category this money. Usually we try and incorporate dates into the budget but we are sacrificing this month. We also don't pay health insurance yet as we are still covered under the military for a couple more months. The above budget adds up to $1835. That leaves us with $165 extra. We will hold this money aside in case something comes up. At the end of the month if we haven't needed it, we will transfer it to our savings account. Also, if we have any extra money in a category we can deposit it into our savings account, or use it the next month for extras.

Each month we do a new budget for the next month. There are certain categories that are set, like insurance and rent. The cash categories are more flexible and we can beef them up or tighten the belts depending on the previous month. I always love looking at other people's budgets to see how/what they do with their money. I am sharing our budget in hopes that it will help someone trying to figure out their own budget. I am always open to comments and tips to help with the budget. I will share in a later post what we do with my income from babysitting.

 

Packing Lunches

Since money is extremely tight we had to cut out all the extras. No more grabbing lunch out. This is easier for me since I am not in town. Hubby however works two jobs. I had to get in the habit of packing two meals for him each night before bed. He leaves around 530 in the morning, so there is no way I am going to pack something then. I have found if I pack his lunch the night before I am more likely to actually do it, and he can grab it and go in the morning. Something I have done to help make packing lunch time easier, is to divide up lunch items as soon as I get home from the grocery store. Before putting snack items away, I divide them into the jelly size mason jars (more on the plastic lids later). It takes more room in the pantry, but its incredibly easy to grab and go. Same principal applies to yogurt in the fridge. That way when I am gathering lunch items, I can spend the least amount of time needed. Typically I will pack two leftover meals (one for lunch and one for dinner) as well as a dairy snack (yogurt with home canned jam or applesauce) and one or two snacky snacks (think pretzel bites, trail mix, etc). I will also fill a mason jar or two with water and crystal light). I hate spending money on individual packages of a larger item because you are mainly paying for the packaging. It takes only a couple minutes extra for me to divide up a larger package when we get home from the store. Packing lunches has saved us soo much money, especially on the double shift days (where hubby goes from one job to another). Before packing lunches, we would just grab something quick $5-10 each meal per person. If hubby works 7 days a week and 4 of those are double days, we would be spending $55-110 on meals a week. There is no way we have that kind of money to throw away on cheap food- not even good quality food, Im talking about fast food here. So not only are we saving money we don't have to waste, but we are eating more healthy home made food. Let me tell you though, it does take dedication and planning. Some nights I just want to fall into bed and sleep but I will remember I need to make his lunch. Yes, he could pack his own, but I think he is already doing so much by working two jobs. My "second' job is to support him in as much as I can. I don't think its fair to make him pack his own lunch at 11 pm when he is getting home. Call it an act of love if you will... Do you pack lunches? Buy food out? Eat at home?

Just Ask

Sometimes saving money is as easy as just asking! The other day I was at KMart, and as usual I went to check the canning isle. I have a habit of going to these isles wherever I am to see if they have anything I need on clearance. They had the plastic storage caps (which we use once we divide up snacks for use in the pantry and lunches) in damaged boxes. I needed to buy more of these anyways, so I asked the cashier if there was any discount for damaged boxes. item was fine, but the packaging was all dented. I got 10% off just because I asked. Sometimes you never know until you ask. These boxes were already damaged- in no way am I suggesting you stomp on a box to damage it just to get a discount. That is stealing in my eyes. However, if I see a product that I need and its damaged, I have no problem asking if they give a discount. This applies to many other places as well. The other day at Home Depot, I got mulch for half off just because the bags were ripped. Mulch is mulch to me, and I am just going to throw the bag away anyways. If you are looking to save money and don't mind damaged packaging or torn bags, just ask! You never know.

So Blessed

God is good!  Less than two weeks since moving back I got a job in my small town doing what I love!  I had been planning on looking for work, and was presented with this opportunity to nanny for a family in my town.  As my mom would say its a "God Thing".  According to the US Census Bureau, there are 975 people in my town.  There is one bank, one stoplight, two restaurants and three liquor stores.  My chances of finding a job in my town were basically nil.   We are about 30 minutes away from any town.  You can drive in 4 different directions to towns, but they are all about half hour.  So working in town I thought was my only option.  The main problem with that, as I found out before, is that my whole paycheck would go to gas.  I had been offered a retail job in town, but at the pay rate, it wouldn't be worth it.  It was hard to turn down a job offer, but knowing that after gas and other working expenses we would only be netting $100-200 for full time employment.  I decided to trust that something better would come along.  I knew that either I needed a good salary for a town job, or something decent yet closer to home.  And that's what I ended up with.  Less than 5 miles from my house is a fun family who needed a nanny.  Full time, four days a week I get to spend quality time with some adorable little tots.  I thank God for providing exactly what I needed.  I don't think I could handle the stress of retail or office work right now.  I know childcare can definitely be stressful and its not all cuddly and cozy.  But God knows that I need down time.  I need to sit on the lawn and blow bubbles.  I need chubby baby army reaching for me.  I need snuggles and hugs, and that's exactly what he gave me.  I am so incredibly glad that I didn't settle for the retail job. My prayer was not that God would give me something specific.  My prayer was that God would show me where I need to be.  And I believe He did.  So my friends, I encourage you to trust that God will provide, even (and most especially) when you don't see how.  He knows just what you want and need, and in time he will provide. 

Cleaning Up The Place- Free and Naturally

We have been working hard around here to clean everything up.  In the house there is endless work, with the animals there is plenty to do and around the yard there is never ending cleaning needed.  Our property is just under 5 acres.  While the majority of it is woods, the house and yard sit on maybe an acre and a half.  In the yard there are an unusual amount of stumps from where the previous owners took down trees.  These stumps were on our "someday when we have time and money" list.  Meaning that they don't really bother us so they are not a big priority.  We have a farmer for a neighbor who uses our access lane to get to his property.  He generously brought us a burn barrel to take care of our "stump problem".  Not wanting to seem ungrateful, we decided we might as well start working on the stumps while we can.  Nightly we have been burning out our stump (the former tree was huge!) and it is incredibly relaxing to sit in front of a fire after work.  Luckily, our property has an abundance of branches, twigs, leaves and other burnable items.  Not only are we burning the stump, but we are cleaning up the surrounding area as well.  I am always a fan of doing something naturally and free.  We are only burning branches and leaves so we don't need to be concerned about harming the ozone layer. We also don't need to rent a stump grinder to get rid of the stumps.  And if all that wasn't enough, we can throw the ash on the compost pile!  A win all around in my book. 
  Speaking of doing things naturally and free, I thought I would share our lawn mower with you.  We have one of the push reel mowers and man oh man is mowing our lawn a workout!  Before we had a riding mower, which we sold when I moved.  Not having the funds to buy another one, nor wanting to have yet another machine dependent on gas, we bought this used mower.  It works great, except on the hilly portion of our lawn.  Hopefully I will get used to it and mowing wont be so much of a workout.  On the other hand, I can always use a workout...
  Another way we clean naturally and free, is by hanging clothes on our line.  When we bought the house in 2010, we sold our dryer and haven't bought a new one.  We do have a washer but at least we can save on the drying costs.  I love hanging clothes out to dry.  There is something so very simple about hanging wet clothes, and later they are dry.  No electricity used. 
  Not only do we save money by burning yard waste, mowing with a reel mower, and line drying clothes, but we can feel good about our choices environmentally.  So you have time, or if you can make time, I would encourage you to find a way that you too can clean up for free.  These are just three of the ways we personally do.  What do you do to clean?  What could you do to cut out costs in cleaning?  I would love to hear about it!

c

Extra Income

This month, for a few different reasons (some to be announced soon) finances are super tight. I love my nannying jobs, but needed to take on something extra. Thankfully we have family friends who run the food operations for our local amusement park and D League Basketball team. They were incredibly generous in giving me some weekend shifts. This past weekend I got to work at the Santa Cruz Warriors game. For the night I felt like I was back in high school working at the Boardwalk. The uniform hasn't changed much since then (nor has the food). Next weekend I will be back in the arena serving beer and hot dogs. On Sat morning I am also proctoring a CBEST test for extra income. That is all to say that in the course of one week I will be working 4 different jobs for 4 different people. I am definitely not above taking on extra work when the money gets tight. What are other ways you earn extra money?