November Resolutions

Goals, to-do's; I sometimes think I might be the most dysfunctional person I know. I generally have a few million goals/ to-do's swirling around and fighting with each other in my head. Generally, as in at least 95% of the time every day. How can it be possible to need to address so many issues at all times?

This coming month there will be no less than a million goals swirling around up there but I've resolved to tackle just a handful in specified categories.

NOVEMBER RESOLUTIONS
Category 1.) Abe
-Work on gratitude
Okay, that's an entire blog post in itself. Can I do a quick synapsis... and go! 

My boy, growing so unbelievably fast has recently, or maybe not so recently been spending all of his time wanting. I'm not exaggerating. He watches maybe 15 to 30 minutes a day of youtube videos about Nerf guns, Legos, other random toys: scooters, hoverboards, oooh, can't forget the dog videos; he's constantly planning future pets. 15 to 30 minutes of youtube leads him to start dreaming and planning (both fantastic things) ALL DAY about how much money he'd need to save for which ever thing he's wanting most that day. What the time frame would be for acquiring said thing. When he's on an animal kick he's trying to decide which type of cat or dog would be best to start out with (when he's an adult and moves into his own place and gets his first pet). The problem is that he spends all of his free time and all of his head space dreaming. There's genuinely no gratitude for right now. And he makes himself crazy wanting, planning, dreaming. 

This month's "work on gratitude" plan includes:
-No youtube videos about toy stuff (or dogs or cats).
-Spending sometime each day consciously thinking and talking and doing some writing about things he's thankful and happy for RIGHT NOW.
-A bit less TV and more books.
-Purposed time playing with toys everyday. Yes, I am going to make him play with his toys.
-Have him train the dog, at least two new tricks
-And last but not least spending more quality time with him; going to the playground, doing puzzles, baking cookies, etc; Life gets so busy. He has TONS of stuff but it would do his little heart good to have more quality time.

Category 2.) Little Wren
-Get rid of baby potty
My baby is fully potty trained. No accidents, no naptime diaper, no longer needs reminders to go, but we still have the baby potty scooting around the living quarters with her. It's how we potty train. Judge away if you'd like but both my babies were potty trained almost fully at 20 months. It's going to take a little work on my part (MUCH less work than getting a 20 month old toddler potty trained) but I need to get rid of the baby potty. She's fully capable of using the regular one.

-Return three baby proofed areas back to normal.
It's not dangerous stuff like the cleaning supplies cabinet, more like, returning books to the front book case. Previously she would rip pages out of our books or totally shred them. And if not destroying them she would at least empty them all onto the floor (over and over and over). She's old enough now for these sorts of things to slowly return to normal. To clarify, she has her own book shelf filled with board books that she can access at all times.

Category 3.) Me
-Spending fast
Here we go again, back to the same old beast. The holidays are upon us. I am honestly not looking forward to Christmas expenses at all. I want to implement a serious spending fast like the good old days, at least for the rest of the year. Christmas presents will not be a part of the spending fast but that doesn't mean I intend to spend all willy nilly on Christmas either. 

Yesterday was the first time in a very long time that I really spent super creatively and it was so fun. I'm ready to spend a few months hyper focused on spending.

Yesterday I went to work with a $1.75 store coupon in my pocket. I grabbed a big handful of loose change from the change pile where my husband plops his loose change that he never uses. I brought my mug, a few bags of tea, and peanuts.

The first thing I did before ever clocking in was spend 99cents in change on a bag of m&ms for my little Wren who woke up when I was leaving and was crying franticly at my departure. I promised her m&ms upon my return (which calmed her down for my husband) and I knew that I needed to buy them so that I wouldn't forget, because for certain she would remember.

At my first break I jotted down a list of meals for the next two days:
Tues. Dinner :Cheese burgers with roasted sweet potato and onion (no necessary groceries)
Wed. breakfast: Bagels and cream cheese (check)
Wed. lunch: Alfredo on Rotini (check)
Wed. Dinner: Eggs and rice with peppers, broccoli, and onion -need rice and eggs
Thurs. breakfast: Eggs and Sausage (check)

My grocery list:
eggs $1.19
rice $1.59

I wasn't sure if I actually needed to buy eggs and I wasn't positive that we had rotini. I didn't have enough change in my pocket, combined with the coupon for both. The eggs were part a main meal and I was pretty sure we did have noodles so I chanced it. 

Unfortunately I have been having sugar problems this year (it's been boiled down to hypoglycemia). I started to feel a bit shaky with mild dizzy spells hitting. The mild dizzy with shaky is not too troubling but when full on vertigo hits at work it terrifying so I knew that I needed additional food. I ended up going to my car to dig up more change because I was determined to not use the bank card yesterday. I found enough to buy some Quaker rice cakes $1.69 which worked wonderfully at kicking the shaky dizzy feeling I'd been battling for about an hour.

I spent $5.46 yesterday.
$1.75 was the coupon
$3.71 loose change

I like that kind of spending day and I loved getting rid of so many pennies.
Today will be a good old fashioned NO SPEND. Even better.

Two week spending report

Two weeks in, almost. January has been cold (duh, right), icy, and busy. 

Yesterday little Abe SHOULD have had his first swimming lesson since summer. He and my husband went to the YMCA. Little Abe got all ready, changed, showered, they sat down at the pool and then someone told them that lessons were canceled because school had a snow day. I guess you could call it an ice day. Almost all the snow melted Wednesday and we'd had freezing rain all night. The whole world was covered in a VERY slick blanket of ice and so, No school. We didn't know school was canceled.

I'd bought a small toy for Abe Wednesday if swimming lessons went well Thursday. (My child is very shy with strangers) My husband gave him the toy even though lessons were canceled. Well, that was a waste of $6. Anyway, that's a long story to report $6.

The spending categories I record here are as follows:

• Groceries 
• Food out 
• Pets
• Stuff 
• Toiletries
• Clothing
• Christmas
• Gifts
• Cleaning and house supplies
• Garden

I think everything I spend money on fits nicely into these ten categories. I assign Christmas and Garden their own categories only because I'm interested in seeing where those two things end up each year. I guess you could call those special interests.  The only things I don't tally here are car expenses, educational expenses, and health expenses. Oh, and of course bills. Everything else I spend money on gets reported here. My husband's spending on himself is not included.

So far this month I've spent in the following five categories:

Food Groceries $164.20: an average of $12.63 a day
Pets $29.15: an average of $2.24 a day
Stuff $10: an average of 77 cents a day
Toiletries $24.93: an average of $1.92 a day
Cleaning and house supplies $44.93: an average of $3.46 a day

Average daily spending for 2017: $21.02

Looking at the short list of categories I'm happiest to report that there's been no spending in the food out category over the last thirteen days. No coffee shop coffee. No pizza (except homemade). No food or snacks out. That's always a fun accomplishment.

The other thing to note is high spending in toiletries and cleaning supplies. I have stocked up on some things this month but the stock up makes me so happy. Being the frugal gal I am there are some things I hate buying not on sale when they run out. Toilet paper (which I have not stocked up on yet) and laundry detergent are two of the biggest annoyances. Whenever I have to purchase either of those things full price because we've run out I get so beyond annoyed. I've gotten a pretty good stock pile of laundry detergent this month at a pretty great price. There won't be any full price last minute detergent buying here anytime soon.

A portion of the toiletries spending this month is face soap for my husband. He uses a certain kind/ brand and I never know when he's out (and don't think to randomly buy soap for him). Basically I almost always end up buying face soap for him full price. We now have four containers of it from a pretty good sale so I think he'll be set for awhile.

All in all, I'm really happy with this month's spending so far. Groceries is a tad bit high but we haven't eaten any food out. So I'm calling that a total win. Pets is right on track. Stocking up on toiletries and cleaning supplies. We've a free bag of dog food from finally hitting the buy 12 get 1 free deal. And there would be spending in the Christmas category but I  purchased $35 worth of stuff on clearance with an $11 store reward making it all free. Great way to start the year!

You know one thing that is kind of strange, despite inflation and adding a person to our family our average daily spending on food groceries has been pretty darn close to an average of $12 a day for over five years. Hmm, I guess I aptly named this blog oh so many years ago. Hehe!

Some August Spending Goals

Almost a week ago already I posted July's numbers and commented how I need to set some reasonable spending goals for this month.

Goal #1: Get the grocery budget closer to $12 a day.
Currently at an average of $12.44 a day this year, I'm left with a total of $291.81 in the grocery category to get me back to a $12 a day average by September 1st. Generally I don't come in under $350 a month on groceries (and that's on a good month).

I'm setting the grocery spending goal this month at $325. That will get me really close to $12 a day while not diving me insane (I think).

Goal #2: Don't spend in the STUFF category.
I tend to be very frugal when it comes to buying new things. We live in a society consumed with stuff. We constantly need a new this or a better that. We're always on a mission; organizing, crafting, fixing, baking, cooking, traveling, socializing, something. And these missions, goals, plans always require more stuff. Our kids always need something new. Our spouses always need something new. Our houses always need something new... right? It seems that way but I don't buy it and I try not to buy it. I can live without A LOT no matter how much of a "necessity" it is. But for a list of reasons I've been slipping lately with this and I've been finding myself picking up the this or the that which I don't really need. It just feels like I do.

I need to be very conscious this month of impulsive stuff buys and just not make any. Granted I'm talking about items that might cost $1.50 or maybe they're $3 or $7. In the grand scheme of things they're always little buys but a little buy here and a little buy there soon become a lot of money.

Goal #3: Food out is stupid food. Just stop it.
It's the 6th today. I already have three purchases in the food out category on my spending tally. That's not okay. My goal for this category is to buckle down again and to have a talk with my husband about having ONE more food out purchase this month. So, the goal is to only have one more blue line on the spending tally for this month.

Goal #4: Other categories: Pets, Toiletries, Cleaning. Done.
Pets and toiletries are already on the spending tally for the month. I'm purposing to be done with spending in all three of these categories until September. Unless there's a great sale on dish soap or laundry detergent I don't want to spend anymore on any of these three things.

All of this leaves my spending budget for the month at a very low $478 ($15.42 a day).
Now I just need to write this brain storm out on paper so that I can focus on it and stick to the plan.
It's amazing what actual paper does for my plans, but for me putting it here first is detrimental.

Budget and birds

I have this month's spending budget set at $470. Traditionally when I have a really low spending month, like I did in May it's followed by a really high spending month.

This month is quite officially the month of drastic change in our house (at least it feels drastic to me). I'm worried that all this new and different and adjusting is going to majorly effect the budget. So no matter where I do land concerning money spent this month I need to pay really close attention to what is coming in, what is going out, and what we're spending on.

Maybe I won't be able to hit my goal this month (I'm a realist). I'm not going to lose my mind if that's the case BUT I do need to pay really close attention. It's so easy during the ups and the downs and the crazy bits of life to just plain lose attention. You know, like one minute it's the first of the month and then next minute it's the 28th and oops, you haven't looked at the bank account once or recorded any spending. That's how my $470 budget can turn into a $770 spending. Yikes!

That being said, I spent $65.22 on groceries Wednesday. The house was pretty void of food. I also spent $4.76 on garden soil. Yesterday was a no spend and today I am going to pick up a few more groceries. These three purchases will already have made a considerable dent in my budget but I'm not worried about it. One day at a time. I just have to pay attention.

I managed to get a new picture of the baby birds and it's way too interesting to me to not share. This one's not blurry. I took it one day after the last one so who knows if that third egg hatched or if it's a dud. These babies are totally one of those, "they're so ugly they're cute" situations. At least they're cute to me and probably to their adoring parents too.

Average daily spending for 2016: $18.36
$400.02 left in June's budget

Spending Ramble

Today we were in need of laundry detergent (go figure; I run out of my stockpile right when I'm trying to spend next to nothing). I could have (probably should have) bought apple juice and milk but I only picked up the detergent. Luckily I had a $2 off coupon for it. I have some free meat coupons to use because I got a bad package of meat and called the company. I'll use those tomorrow and we can eat something like tacos or chili (my husband's two favorite meals). I picked up a super inexpensive pork loin and made stew (also quickly becoming a favorite of the hubby) over the weekend and it lasted for a few days. I'm going to keep a look out for another inexpensive cut of meat and make another batch. We have the carrots, potatoes, onion, and peas already and I make the stock from whatever meat I'm using. I'll just need a few more veggies and a head of garlic for that.

So far it looks like I'll be able to FINALLY hit my budgeted month's spending (for the first time this year). I mean I'm going to have to stick to my guns but I figured that with extra planning and determination I could do this. The two things that have been the biggest struggle these past few days are, A.) It finally warmed up and I have for years had this horrible ice cream addiction whenever the temps get anywhere above 75. For the past few days I've SOOOO wanted to drive over to the little ice cream shop and get a snickers flurry/ blizzard/ whatever it's called in your part of the world. I'm proud of myself for refraining but gosh the craving is awful. I'm now telling myself that I can get one in June. That's only a few days away. It's not like I'm avoiding ice cream or flurries for ever but right now that kind of treat is not in the budget. I could buy ice cream and make a flurry at home but that's not the same as soft serve from the ice cream shop and we try to not have ice cream in the house because we eat the whole carton so quickly anytime that we do. It'll just have to wait until June.

And B.) There is a toy that I really want to buy little Abe. I did almost buy it today but it's like $18 and he certainly doesn't need any more toys. It's just something that he wants and wouldn't you know that right when I'm buckling down and trying to spend less suddenly I feel this intense need to buy my son a new toy. You see that little devil, little angel me arguing back and forth on my shoulders?
"But it'd make him so happy."
"But you can get it for him later, he doesn't need it anyway."
"There's no point waiting, really, just pick it up now."
And so on and so forth. Ah, self control and restraint how I loathe thee!

So far so good.

Average daily spending for 2016: $18.72

$60.56 left in May's budget (8 days)

What would you spend $624 on; The spending game

I work in six different super centers as a vendor/ merchandiser (I don't actually "vend" anything). The stores I work in are all part of a local large chain. I personally find the dynamics of each individual store quite interesting. One of my stores is a little bit hillbilly. If you walk down the main aisle at that store there tends to be more hunting and fishing items on display. One of my stores is in an area with a high population of Hispanic residents and you will find a  much larger variety of ethnic foods related to Hispanic cuisine at that location compared to the others. One of the stores is near a very large university and it is VERY geared towards college kids. One of the most interesting differences that I've found is that one of the stores, near a high population of Dutch descendants has these awesome Dutch pig in the blankets in the frozen foods department that none of my other stores carry. It took my awhile to realize why I could only find them at one store (and to figure out which store I'd bought them at).

Most shoppers are very unaware of the differences between stores. Besides small layout differences the average customer has no idea that one store will offer a larger variety of a particular item than another based on clientele. Most shoppers are also unaware that prices are a few cents higher on most items in a store depending on whether or not there's a Walmart across the street and also depending on the overall economic situation of the area. Lower income areas tend to have lower priced items throughout the stores. (The chain I work in began in 1934 (28 years before Walmart) and is credited with pioneering the modern supercenter concept. The owners originally wanted to keep the stores local (unlike Walmart). It is rumored that Walmart tried to buy the company which refused to ever sell, after which Sam Walton vowed to build a Walmart directly across the street from every single location of this chain. Walmart has been pretty successful in this vendetta. However a few stores are still without the competitor directly across the street and the prices on items throughout are higher at those stores by a few cents.) At one store a yogurt cup will cost 59 cents and at another, only a few miles away the same yogurt cup will be 65 cents. Most customers don't realize this. These subtle differences fascinate me.

I could be wrong but I imagine most if not all chains operate with this same model. Lower prices where there's more competition and in lower income areas, higher prices where there's more wealth and less competition. There are three stores in particular not very close to my home (closer to a big city about 40 minutes away) where a few of my friends shop. The price differences at these stores is actually pretty drastic even though all three stores are quite close together. I've talked to my friends about the price differences between the lower income area store (with a Walmart across the street) and the the higher income area stores (both don't have a walmart directly across the street).

My friends were completely unaware of the price differences until I pointed them out. BUT they both said the same thing, they prefer the higher income area store and "the small price hike doesn't seem like such a big thing." In fact one of my friends drives farther to go to the higher priced store. Mind you, I used to work at this particular lower income store once a week, for several years (it's no longer one of my locations). It's not a bad store and if you go during the morning/ afternoon it doesn't seem "low income" or unsafe. It is a bit older, not quite as clean and fancy and it does get a little more interesting in the evenings but the friends I'm referring to do shop in the morning/ afternoon.

For example's sake, if you had a cart with 40 items in it and the average cost was 10 cents per item higher (that would obviously balance out to where some items would be 2 to 3 cents more and others would be say 40 to 60 cents more) that trip would cost you $4 more at the higher priced location. If you shopped a similar trip three times a week your groceries would cost $12 more a week and $624 more a year. Now, most people honestly don't notice the subtle price differences. Literally, every person I've ever pointed these price differences out to has been unaware of them. But even once I've pointed out price differences people have almost always said, "I like this store more."

The way we shop, where we shop, and paying attention to every penny goes a long way if you actually care about spending $624 to shop in a "nicer" store as opposed to spending $624 on an actual thing (or having that extra $624 to put towards debt or savings). When we throw quick stops at a "convenience" store into the picture price differences can actually be quite drastic. Instead of 2 cent or 10 cent differences there will be several dollars worth in price differences. You really do pay for convenience at a convenience store.

What would you do with $624 (or more)? Do you pay attention to price differences in shopping centers where you live? This is just one little aspect to the spending saving game but it's an aspect that's incredibly intriguing to me and something that I don't think a lot of people pay attention to.

2015 Spending goals chart

Two posts back I wrote about my spending goals for the rest of the year. I broke down each of the eleven spending categories that encompass the average daily spending you hear me going on and on about here and I assigned each category an end goal. I've left myself a cushion because boy oh boy do I need one. Now I am just going to try my hardest to stick around the plan.

I do all of my budgeting, try to budget out for about a year ahead of time in Microsoft Excel so of course I've made an Excel spread sheet to track the category spending for the rest of 2015. I have the appropriate formulas plugged into each column so that I don't have to actually do any math myself. Believe it or not me and numbers aren't actually buddies. This spread sheet is super handy because now each time I make a purchase I just plug it into the appropriate column and I can see how much I have left in that category for the rest of the year.

The numbers at the very top of each column are the goals I set for remaining spending in each category for the rest of the year. The bottom numbers in red show how much is left to spend. The numbers in the middle are what's been spent since I sat down and set the goals in place.

As you can see, three of the eleven spending categories are already maxed out. There's a good chance I'm going to have to put some of the allotted "toiletries" budget into the "cleaning" column. Some of the remaining "stuff" monies might end up in the "groceries" category. We'll see. I'm cutting it really close with pets and probably with Christmas too. I know I'm cutting it close with groceries but a goal is a goal. I'm just trying to put something out there to aim at. And right now this is it.

2015 Spending Goals

All year I've been tracking my totals and average daily spending broken down into eleven different categories. Today I've looked over those numbers and set spending end goals for this year for each category. The numbers on the left are what I've spent so far this year. The numbers on the right are my end goals. The numbers in the middle are how much I have left to spend in each category in order to meet the end goals.

My main goal for the year is to end with an average daily spending under $18 a day. The end goals I've just set would put my daily spending average at $17.65 a day. That goal leaves me with a nice cushion should I have a moment(s) of splurge.

Groceries $3522.86 - $12.02 a day                 $600.49                       $4123.35 $11.55 a day 
Food out $398.91 - $1.36 a day                      $11.64                        $410.55 $1.15 a day
Pets $331.35 - $1.13 a day                             $79.20                        $410.55 $1.15 a day 
Stuff $239.79 - 82 cents a day                        $27.96                        $267.75 - 75 cents a day
Toiletries $237.28 - 81 cents a day                 $30.47                        $267.75 - 75 cents a day
Clothing $231.44 - 79 cents a day                  DONE                        $231.44 - 65 cents a day
Gifts $184.62 - 63 cents a day                        $11.73                        $196.35 - 55 cents a day
Christmas $73.47 - 25 cents a day                 $122.88                      $196.35 - 55 cents a day               
Cleaning $104.34 - 36 cents a day                 $13.96                        $118.30 - 33 cents a day
Garden $43.25 - 15 cents a day                      DONE                        $43.25 - 12 cents a day
School/ kiddo crafts $19.47 - 8 cents a day    $16.23                        $35.70 - 10 cents a day

Total: $5393.15 avg. $18.41 a day (296 days)  $914.56          $6301.34 - $17.65 a day (357 days)

This leaves a $71.40 cushion for $17.85 a day
or $106.81 cushion for $17.95 a day

$914.56 for the rest of the year - 8 weeks left


Today's 31 days of Thanksgiving post: The first mission trip I signed up for evoked all these comments of “this is really going to change you,” from various people who I told I was going. “Yeah, sure… nah. I know what to expect.” Truth be told I was the one going on the mission trip but they were the ones who were right. I’ll be honest in saying that I have no idea how much of an impact I made on the world through my travels but I changed a lot after four different trips to Guatemala. I left a large part of my heart in a part of the world that previously I hadn’t known existed. I became somewhat of a minimalist no longer wanting or desiring stuff, really of any sort (still very much am to this day). My life was given a new perspective with which I use to look at the world and everyday situations all the time.

My heart grew and my eyes learned a new way to see. I hope that through my time there and through many prayers that have been prayed since that I have had an impact on a country I love dearly. I know the impact it’s had on me. Today my thanks not only go out to Guatemala and its really beautiful people but to the people who I traveled with and met while I was there, my Guatemalan family. When something so life changing happens the people you share the experience with become a very important part of one’s life. I'm thankful for them all!

Well, I gave it a go: Part Two

I mentioned the other day that I needed to buy some new pants for little Abe and that I was going to give the thrift store another try. Shopping the thrift store for clothing is another tip in the book Money Secret of the Amish. Yes, they do make their own clothing and have a very strict dress code but the Amish are frequenters of thrift stores, garage sales, consignment shops. They will buy used clothing and alter the items to suit their needs or use the fabric for much less than it'd cost to buy new fabric.

Inspired by the book, I stopped in a consignment shop on my way home from work Wednesday. The store was HUGE and so well laid out and wonderfully organized. I kind of loved it (and I do NOT like thrift store shopping). A lot of the pieces cost more then something one might find at a thrift store but there were some really cheap finds too. And I'm starting to wonder what has happened to me. They had a sale where any items with brown or yellow tags were 20% off. I was trying really hard to find things that I liked with those brown or yellow tags. I mean really, I'm in a consignment shop looking through marked down used clothing AND trying to save 20%. I have a problem, right?

My goal was to not spend more than $5 on any one time for the kiddo. That was the goal. I wanted to get him pants, PJ's and a nice sweatshirt. This place was HUGE but for some reason all the 3T/4T racks were covered in 3T clothing. I had a VERY difficult time finding any 4T clothes let alone ones that met my criteria. There were only three PJ's and I did not like them. I couldn't find a nice sweatshirt in the right size that didn't cost a bundle. So here's what I came away with:

The grey colored blue jeans with all the original tags still on were $6.34. Yes I went over my $5 goal with this one but they were brand new and had a yellow tag (so I saved and extra 20%).

The grey pants with the stripes were $4 something.

The black pants were $1.92.

The sweater was over $5 too. I think it was $7.92 but I really liked it so I got it. I can see little Abe getting a lot of use out of it.

I spent $20.18 on these four items. That sounds like a lot of money to me but I think I did pretty good. I looked at new clothes at the store before going to the consignment shop. The cheapest, cheap pants were $4.98 so I definitely saved money on the black and grey pants. The grew pants with the white and orange stripes down the leg are very sturdy, very thick, in great condition and are WAY nicer than the brand new pants in the store that I saw for $4.98. The cheapest blue jeans I saw brand new at the store were $10 so I saved money on the brand new grey $6.34 pants too (plus the store tag that was on them said $19.50).

I justified the two "over $5" purchases because of the $1.92 pants. I hate shopping but now he has more pants that fit and a nice sweater. I'll call the "thrift" store shopping trip a win.

Well, I gave it a go

I am really tired and a little brain dead right now but I feel like I have a lot I want to write about tonight. So I've chosen one of today's news stories (haha, I just called moments in my life "news stories") and I will be bringing you another installment of "How I'm trying to put Money Secrets of the Amish into use."

First of all today was a horrible spending day. Horrible! I don't even want to look at all the spending we did set side by side but I think I successfully put two of the book's principles into play. Our oven went on the fritz a few weeks back (and we do not own a microwave anymore). You know how much I adore baking? I haven't done any baking for several weeks except for one time when I decided I'd given the oven enough "rest" so I figured I could try to bake an apple pie. Yeah, um, it took about two hours for the pie to bake fully (it was supposed to take around 45 minutes) and the crust was weird and the apples dried out pretty badly. Epic fail and then "yep, the oven is really broken" reality set in.

My husband had said something about going to look for a new oven. I gasped and said, "Uh, no we need to call an oven repair man." He then goes, I kid you not, "do they have those and how do you think you're going to find one?" Have I mentioned that my husband is the exact opposite of mr. fix-it? Okay, deep breath... "Yes honey." Without telling him that a new oven is NOT in the budget, because really he's sick of hearing about what is not in the budget, I explained to him that our oven is really old but really nice and I am not prepared to scrap it.

The book Money Secrets of the Amish talks a lot about fixing things up that you already have instead of going out to get new versions. The author writes about how often times the Amish will go out and buy used and broken down items and fix those up instead of buying anything new.

Now here's where I could make this very long story short but my husband doesn't get that much credit so I must brag on him a little here. He took it upon himself to find and to call one of these oven repair men that he didn't even know existed. I didn't know until I got home from work one day that he'd scheduled someone to come by. He scheduled the first place that he could get a hold of (many of the numbers he called never answered). The place he scheduled has a $95 service fee. It's also a very high end appliance sales place in town. My husband all on his own decided that the $95 was way too high and that we were going got get raked. Then he got a hold of someone else that his mother recommended. This oven repair man stopped by last week, looked at the oven, ooh'd and ahh'd over the oven, said he used to own a less extravagant version of the same model, "they don't make em like the used to," and then said he'd have to order a part and would get back to us.

He left without billing us after chatting away with my husband for at least 20 minutes and came back today and repaired the oven. The total cost was $140. Here's the most interesting part to me. He said that they had "old" new parts for our oven in their warehouse. This would be a brand new part for the oven but old/ made a very long time ago (just like the oven). The old new part cost $40. The new new part would have cost $95. Mind you we never once brought up price or cost or any financial anything. He said the old new part is actually a lot better/ higher quality and he recommends it but a lot of people would prefer new. My husband was more than happy to pay $55 less for the same part. I guess all my "nagging" is really starting to sink in.

For a brand new oven, we'd probably be looking at a price tag between $500 and $1500.
For the repair we spent $140.
That's a win!

And the oven is working great now. Little Abe currently has handfuls of mini banana bread muffins in his fists. I'm not joking. We LOVE mini banana bread muffins and I've not been able to make any for weeks!

$10 a day for 10 days

I feel a challenge coming on!

I received "Money Secrets of the Amish" in the mail the other day and have read all but three chapters. The book has proved to be very interesting and much like the other book *my husband bought* recently, very encouraging. Reading through it has even further opened my eyes to how really very frugal I have become. I'm growing increasingly more and more proud of this title.

One very interesting fact surrounding this book: it was recommended to me by one of my very favorite fellow bloggers who happens to reside within the beautiful British aisles, almost 4000 miles from my hometown. The author of this book she recommended happens to reside not even 40 miles from my hometown. One of those "it's a small world" moments?

Not only has this book brought to light how very poorly I practice delayed gratification but it's helped remind me that many of my financial weak points are still the exact same weak points I started this journey with. Here goes, I always pay the credit cards on time because credit cards are scary and they will not only throw down bigger than average late fees but you also run the risk of them raising interest rates. Now, I DO NOT need interest rates going up on these darn cards. I am not good however at paying all the other bills on time. A $6 fee on the electric or a $8 fee on cable here and there, I can handle that (and I always pay before shut off/ we've never had a service disconnected). But in reality we're just throwing cash in the trash. I really do play the money juggle game weekly particularly due to another family member but I'm going to try considerably harder to work on that issue as well (without nagging; I have ideas).

This month, with the remaining ten days I would really like to pay the rest of the bills on time (and all bills there after). I would like to end the month in the black and I can do it. A part from the fact that I've become a very frugal gal this blog has also taught me that when I set my mind to something (and I really truly have to set my mind to it; just writing it on a piece of paper, typing it out, and hoping it happens is not the same thing) I will accomplish said something! One of the Money Secrets of the Amish is to always pay bills on time. That's darn good advice that I have not been following.

The other motivating factor for spending $10 a day for the next 10 days is my daily spending average. It's been consistently sticking around $18 a day (a few pennies over in fact). I've quite officially found out what my spending average is. It's $18 a day. I really want to end the year under that number, even if that's a measly penny under, $17.99 a day, I want to end under. But averaging $10 a day for the next 10 days will get me to $17.65 a day and if I can stick closer to that then I'll be a little bit happier with where we're at financially this year.

This is not going to be an easy challenge. I will have to really set my mind to it. Planning is essential but I have a goal: paying all the bills on time. And I have the determination. Plus challenges are good especially for someone who lacks the will power to execute delayed gratification. Teaching an old dog new tricks (almost daily now)! Here goes!

Spending rundown today: $0 NO SPEND day 71 for the year.

My budget for the month is $513.62  $450.79 which leaves $100

Average daily spending for 2015: $17.95

Are You Wealthy?

I received "The Millionaire Next Door" in the mail today. (referenced in a post last week) Only 14 pages in, I am really enjoying the way the Authors explain their definition of wealthy. I also really like their definition of wealthy. Normally wealth is thought of in terms of material possession and the total sum of money you have in savings. They define it based rather on percentages. How much do you save compared with how much you earn?

Here's the fun formula you can use to find out if you are wealthy:
Take your age and multiply it by your before tax total yearly income, this would include income from investments. Then you divide that number by ten. The example, "a 41 year old makes $143,000 a year, and has investments that return another $12,000 a year. He would multiply 41x155000 and then divide by 10. This 41 year old SHOULD have a net worth of $635,500. That net worth would classify him as an "average accumulator of wealth." A greater net worth would classify him as a "prodigious accumulator of wealth," WEALTHY! And a smaller net worth would classify him as an "under accumulator of wealth."

You may ask, how can someone be considered wealthy if, for example he is only worth $460,000? After all, he's not a millionaire. Charles Bobbins is a forty-one-year-old fireman. His wife is a secretary. They have a combined annual income of $55,000. According to our research findings, Mr. Bobbins should have a net worth of approximately $225,000. But he is worth much more than others in his income/ age category. Mr. and Mrs. Bobbins have been able to accumulate an above average amount of net worth. Thus, they apparently know how to live on a fireman's and secretary's income an still save and invest a good bit. They likely have a low-consumption lifestyle. And given this lifestyle, Mr. Bobbins could sustain himself and his family for ten years without working. Within their income and age categories the Bobbinses are wealthy [at $460,000 net worth]. 

The Bobbinses are quite different from John J. Ashton, M.D., age fifty-six, who has an annual income of approximately $560,000. How much is Dr. Ashton worth? Is he wealthy? According to one definition, he is, since his net worth is $1.1 million. But he is not wealthy according to our other definition. Given his age and income, he should be worth more than $3 million. With his high-consumption lifestyle, how long do you think Dr. Ashton could sustain himself and his family if he were no longer employed? Perhaps for two, at most three, years.
-excerpt from The Millionaire Next Door

So maybe you don't have $1 million or $3 million in net worth (maybe you do), are you a prodigious accumulator, an average accumulator, or an under accumulator of wealth? Are you wealthy?

We are very much "under accumulators of wealth." We are in debt and our net worth is very low, although it has just recently rose from a negative amount. I read these past few pages in this book though and I have to be slightly impressed not only with the progress we've made in getting out of debt but the fact that I've learned to live such a very low consumption level lifestyle. We ARE on the right track! This is the exact sort of lifestyle that it takes to become wealthy; living within your means and saving a great deal along the way. It will take awhile to get there but we ARE on track! Yay!

Spending rundown today: $1.68 on lunch. $15.01 on groceries. 

My budget for the month is $513.62 which leaves $203.92

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.00

Men are from Mars Women are from Venus

So it's no secret that in our home my husband is the spender and I am the, hmm, would be saver if we had extra to save. My husband put in a vacation day for last week so he worked 5 days but got paid for 6. Mistakenly, he told me that he'd done this so I worked it into the budget. "Worked it into the budget" means moved payments around so that everything would be getting paid on time (as opposed to two things I was going to be paying late) and sort of covered some of his back spending (dinner out with friends and a few CD's he recently purchased) with the extra income. I always do this. I literally look over and sometimes re-work the budget every single day.

We don't fight about money any more, hardly ever anyway. At the beginning of this year I made a conscious decision that yes we are married and this is a union but he is his own person and our marriage isn't worth ruining over constant battling about the budget. Money will never be that important to me. I have stuck to my decision and hardly pester or even question him about, in my mind, nonsense over spending. And in truth I think he's done better with his purchasing decisions this year then ever before. (it's worth noting, again, that this is our highest ever debt payoff year)

When he told me yesterday what he planned to purchase with the extra money from the vacation day I should have seen it coming but I hadn't. I told him that I'd already worked it into the budget and he could tell I was extremely frustrated. He said something like, "Why do you do that? When there's extra just leave it alone." He said something about how I "could have all the extra money" from the upcoming holiday pay. Then I got mad and I might have yelled at him when I said, "You mean to pay bills! You know I never buy ANYTHING for myself right?!?! Nothing! EVER!"

So here's where it gets kind of funny and the only reason I even bothered to type any of this out, I really try to keep him out of this blog. Every time I mention him I get well intentioned comments from readers about how he needs to grow up and things along that line. I don't need to hear things like that. He is my husband and he sucks with money but he is a good man. Well, I had three books sitting in my shopping cart on Amazon. I hadn't intended to purchase any of them anytime soon (and probably would have gotten them from the library). They were all used, pretty cheap books but each had several dollars shipping costs so they came out to about $6 each. I put them in the shopping cart online so that I didn't forget that I wanted them.

After our argument I went to work and he went to Amazon and purchased the three books. Then when I got home he told me that he wasn't going to buy the thing he'd planned to buy (it wasn't exactly a cheap item) and that he'd gotten the books for me that were in the cart. I never told him that he couldn't or not to buy what he wanted. And now I will be getting two books about MONEY and frugality and a children's book for little Abe about bravery. I don't think he knows that he just bought two books about spending less for me. That's funny right? What an incredibly odd form of an apology to your wife when fighting about spending too much money. I hope this little story made some of you giggle. I keep laughing to myself about it.

Just as a man is fulfilled through working out the intricate details of solving a problem, a woman is fulfilled through talking about the details of her problems.
- John N. Gray
Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus

Debt Quote Tuesday; Getting Ahead

There are plenty of ways to get ahead.  The first is so basic I'm almost embarrassed to say it:  spend less than you earn.
-Paul Clitheroe

This quote is perfect for today because I've been thinking along these lines a lot lately. I like how he say's "I'm almost embarrassed to say it." Like, duh, everyone should know this. But do we? I've heard that no matter how much you make rarely will it be enough. People who get raises or move on up the ladder in their careers just buy nicer cars and bigger houses, they begin spending $15 on a t-shirt instead of $5 or $25 instead of $15. More often than not we spend our money. Period. And as a society we're darn good at spending more then we make. We spend money with our eyes. We spend money with our tummies. We spend money with our dreams (even if we're only dreaming about that next mocha frappuccino). You know that once you start dreaming about Starbucks you're likely to find yourself standing at a counter or pulling up to the drive through window shortly there after.

Spend less. That is pretty much always my goal but here I am thinking about it again and by golly thinking about spending less has gotten me a pretty far way along this journey (this very long, slow, arduous journey).

This is silly but one way I've started to spend less is by no longer putting creamer in my coffee. I never thought I'd drink coffee without creamer but a few months ago I ran out and decided to try a week without it and wa-lah a few months later I still haven't bought any. (I know I'm mildly insane) Before cutting it out I probably bought one small thing of Hazelnut Coffeemate a week, usually around $2.49. When the big ones went on sale I'd buy a large one for probably $3 and that'd last two weeks. So if I cut out creamer for a year and saved $3 every two weeks well I'd have saved $78 that year. If I never found them on sale and spend $2.49 a week (come on that doesn't seem like a ton of money) I'd have saved $129.48 in a year. Spending less is spending less. (that $3 number seems really low but I'm thinking the sale is two for $6... now I have to watch the sales on creamer or this is going to bug me)

It's first thing in the morning so this could change but I'm planning a no spend day for today.

Spending rundown today: $0. NO SPEND day 62 for the year.

My budget for the month is $436 which leaves $208.51

Average daily spending for 2015: $18.10