Emergency Fund

This is a little funny story.

Our mortgage is due on Wednesday next week but we get paid on Thursday. If I pay the mortgage on Thursday there will be a late fee. In order to pay on Wednesday I'd have to use the overdraft and pay an overdraft fee. I figured it out and the overdraft fee would be less than the late mortgage payment fee and I guess it's better not to pay the mortgage late.

Ok, so I've been working out the best scenario for this situation in my mind for at least a week until today when it dawned on me that I have $460 in the emergency fund. I guess that paying the mortgage on time isn't quite an emergency but really I'm laughing at myself for not having thought of it earlier: Use $300 from our emergency fund to pay the mortgage on time and the very next day put the $300 right back into the emergency fund. No fees. Mortgage gets paid on time. And even though I'll be using our emergency fund it will only be for one day. We've lived paycheck to paycheck for so long that using money from savings for this little dilemma didn't even cross my mind.

I guess having an emergency fund isn't such a bad thing after all   : )

coffee coffee coffee

Today was a bit rougher. Two days a week I leave for work and my husband is home with the baby. I don't mind leaving for work at all when my son is with his daddy. In fact I like them spending time together without me. The other three days my mother in law comes over and watches baby Abe. I'm SOOOO glad he's not in day care and that he gets to spend three days with his Grandma but it's difficult leaving his with anyone other than his daddy.

I was feeling emotional at work all day, a bit depressed, and it was a late day (didn't get home until 7:30PM) which always drags on sooo much. I wanted to buy everything, and eat, and eat, and eat. I'd pretty much decided that I would purchase the dreaded money eater "Starbucks mocha" on my first break until I came up with a little compromise. I did buy a coffee (the first one I've purchased this year) but a plain black $1.75 cup of coffee and a chocolate bar to accompany it. My little indulgence costs about half of what the mocha would have and quite frankly was just as enjoyable if not more... Oh my gosh I just realized I had a Starbucks gift card in my wallet all day. grrr

All in all I experienced a long, dragging, draining day... but it's Thursday and the weekend is just a day away; two whole days with my boy. I cooked dinner at home, AGAIN. I'm quite proud of myself for this regular accomplishment thus far this year. And I spent very little, again. I took this week's spending cash out of the bank and my cash envelope is ready to go. I know that VERY soon I'll be purchasing two bags of dog food and I want to be able to stay within $12 a day despite the upcoming expense. In 2010 whenever I was doing well the darn dog food would always creep up and ruin it for me. I'm planning a bit better this year I think.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $10.42

Off to bed!
Goodnite

Today's lovely: Quite late dinner of home baked Mac'n'cheese (my Grandma's recipe).

This Week

Tomorrow is the start of a new financial week for us. I thought today I'd do a weekly update.

This week I:
accomplished two no spend days
successfully stuck to budget and used cash for purchases
used up food we had that was close to expiring
brought lunches to work and didn't purchase any coffee
got rid of one un-used item a day from our home
am on track to get $1000 in the emergency fund before February

I've also been having a much easier go at sticking to the budget and spending wisely than I've had in a LONG time. Granted it's a new year and I've got a little extra umph pushing me along, but I feel like having one really attainable goal, "$1000 in the bank" sitting right out in front of me is helping so much. Hopefully if I'm able to continue setting encouraging attainable monthly goals like that then I'll be able to keep really chugging along this year. We shall see.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $10.67

Today's lovely: Do you ever find yourself happening upon an aroma that instantly (if just for a brief moment) transports you to a place, a time, a memory that makes your heart sing? This morning for only a second or two I traveled a dusty winding road in the hills of Guatemala, smelling ash from the little fires burning in tiny rickety homes spotting the gorgeous mountains.

Standing on a Guatemalan Mountaintop

Debt Quote Tuesday Shopping Adventure

I almost forgot it was Tuesday.

Keep on beginning and failing. Each time you fail, start all over again, and you will grow stronger until you have accomplished a purpose - not the one you began with perhaps, but one you'll be glad to remember.
-Ben Stein

Before leaving the store today/ work I made up a grocery list of  stuff we would need over the next few days. I had $12.35 to spend today in order to stick to my $12 a day budget. I picked up a few things and realized I was a bit over $12.35. I changed out the cheese in my cart for a cheaper bag. Then I put a different thing back. Then I chose another one. I walked back and forth through the store several different times trying to get what I could, enough at least for food tonite and food tomorrow. It was challenging but exhilarating too. I felt so accomplished checking out with my handful of items. I was victorious. The other shoppers around me had no way of knowing that I was a conqueror reveling in my plunder but I knew it and it was GREAT!

I'm going to shoot for a NO SPEND tomorrow. I think we have enough food to squeak out two mores days but I'll at least try and accomplish one NO SPEND... baby steps.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $12 a day

Today's lovely: I saw a swan fly high over the highway while I was driving to work. It was long, graceful, and looked so free; added a bit of peace and calm to my morning.

Lovely Monday

Ah, Monday morning (succeeding a VERY wakeful night with a fussy babe). The first day back to work after 9 days off. Yep... It only took about 7 attempts to leave the house this morning before I really departed. I packed a lunch, made sure to drink ALOT of coffee and brought a water bottle with me. Today progressed surprisingly well. And the only purchase was some frozen yogurt for myself and the hubby.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $11.95

                                                          Week one of 2013: CHECK



Today's Lovelies:
*Filling the tank before gas jumped 32 cents a gallon.
*Brilliant sunshine smiling upon the cold dreary wintry world.
*A proud solitary tree that stood alone in a spacious field. I love those trees.
*A silly short old man with a bushy grey beard hoping to "help" me with my job by offering antics. Then exchanging fun stories about his niece and my little boy. Strangers spreading joy... lovely!
*Best of all, tickling my son and watching him giggle when I arrived home from work.

Almost One Week Down

NO SPEND number one under the belt!
shooting for 100

I have never had such tasty quiche in all my life but I honestly think it's because I'm so proud of myself for cooking at home all this week, for sticking to the budget, for blogging everyday again, and for devising a plan and thus far following along with it. 

As for that little roma (a few of you left thoughtful comments about it). I'm going to make ground chicken hamburgers in a day or two so that those 4 hamburger buns don't get thrown out. I'll chop up the tomato to top off the burgers.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $12.69

Today's lovely: Making then eating pineapple upside down cake. Being a pretend stay at home mom this week was awesome!

Cupboard Check

Well that was surprisingly delightful. We have a lot of food in the house that I was completely unaware of. Like macaroni and spaghetti noodles, taco seasoning, hamburger buns, tuna fish, and some Spanish rice. I think I can quite easily pull off a NO SPEND today and tomorrow. Plus I now have several meals in mind that I just need to pick up one or two things for to get us through this week.

I don't know if it's going to be possible to come anywhere near $12 a day this year. Purchasing things like Dog food, Cat food, toiletries, and gifts for people is really going to push the envelope. We will be under the $12 a day budget for this first week. I'm so happy about that. It's just such a wonderful way to start the year. I'm currently looking forward to the challenge, feeling good about these first 6 days, and trying to psych myself up for a difficult but potentially very rewarding road ahead.

My goal is to come as close as I can to $12 a day average and as close as I can to $15000 in credit card debt by the end of 2013. $1000 emergency fund in January... I hope so. Get that debt snowball rolling again... yes please! Enjoying family, lovelies, and victories... sounds good. I'm certainly looking forward to seeing where this year takes us.

Junk... Food

Yesterday I took out the spending cash from the ATM. Today I purchased a few groceries. I'm planning a NO SPEND for tomorrow so I'm going to count today's spending as two days for my daily average. If I'm super diligent I might be able to pull off a NO SPEND on Monday too.

Despite the small amount of food I keep in the house I really need to pay attention to what we have and use what we have. A little extra effort in this area will save ALOT of money and prevent so much waste. I throw away so much food because I forget about it and it goes bad. Like right now we have one Roma in the fridge. If I don't plan something for that little guy I know I'll be throwing it away shortly. This year I really really really don't want to throw away food. I wish there were a way to track how much food I've thrown away over the years and how much money it all amounted to. There's no way of knowing but I'm serious about this. NO MORE FOOD IN THE TRASH! That goes for leftovers too.

Tomorrow I will clean the fridge out and the cupboard and make a list of everything in the house and then give each item a purpose. On the menu for tomorrow: turkey bacon quiche and pineapple upside down cake. Is it horrible that I sometimes look forward to a day depending solely on what food will be in it? I do.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $12.69

Today's lovely: Listening to the tiny raindrops like countless itty bitty musical notes tapping away on our tin siding. Not sure why it's raining in December... actually this pretty much just means we'll be waking up to a world of pure ice. Anyway the sound is lovely.

New Year Challenges

I've yet to post a New Years Resolutions list. I like such lists but they're also very overwhelming. And sometimes I feel like my lists set me up to fail. I have been thinking though about a few different things that I'd really like to accomplish this year.

I LOVE writing Thanksgiving thank-you notes. It's one of my favorite things of the year. I also love sending out Christmas cards but these two time consuming favorites happen very close together. This year I'm challenging myself to write and address one thanksgiving thank-you every week until November. I won't seal or stamp the envelopes until Thanksgiving (that way I can read through them each if I'd like to come Thanksgiving). Then I can hand them or mail them all out when the time comes. As for my Christmas cards. I'd like to purchase about 60 stamps before December so I don't have to deal with that expense during the most expensive month of the year.

On that note Birthday cards and mail are just great. I want to mail one Birthday card a month this year. But it has to be homemade. I guess I really want to shine a little extra light into lives of people I care about this year.

Also, I love my 45 daily goals. I want to work on making habit out of my 45 daily goals.

I'd LOVE to get the Credit Card debt under $15500 and I'd like to shoot for 100 no spend days this year.

So basically my New Years resolution is to stick to a $12 a day budget and buy alot of stamps : )

Friday

My husband and I went to see The Hobbit today. It's the fourth time we've been out together, just the two of us since the babe came home (10 months ago). We picked up a pizza afterwards and still I'm under my $12 a day budget. So far so good! Yay

Average daily spending for the year so far: $11.68

Today's lovely: Singing and drumming/ pounding on a box with baby Abe. He loves to sing!

Thursday

According to the budget I've drawn up for this month I should have $1000 in the emergency fund by the end of January. It seems too good to be true and as usual I've drawn up a very tight budget.
It'll be a challenge but we can feasibly accomplish baby step one, $1000 in the bank this month.
That'd be so incredible! What a way to start the year.

Little things to help me stay on track:
Take this week's spending allowance out of the bank.
Only spend cash.
Stick to the budget and try to get hubby to as well.

Average daily spending for the year so far: $8.57

Today's lovely: Watching my son eat cheerios for the first time. He's such a big boy. I cannot believe how fast he's growing up.

Bottles of Water

Our financial week begins today.

I've decided I'm going to present the question each week to myself and my husband, "what one thing will you do to save money this week?"

I just read through The Frugal Graduate's bottled water post. 

She poses a very interesting question about banning small bottles of water. I stopped buying bottles of water a few years ago but I have been purchasing gallons of water (very cheap) here and there over the past year or so. This week (and from here on... with tiny exceptions like if I'm visiting Guatemala) in order to save money I will not purchase water for myself. I have nothing against tap water. It's pure laziness when I buy water. I just need to make sure to bring water to work with me. At most I think I spend $2.64 on gallons of water each week. BUT that's $137 a year. Uh, I think I can drink from the tap from now on.

What one thing can you do to save money this week?

Such a Spectacular Day... then Suddenly

I woke up nice and early, in a good mood. I have the week off of work and I'm pretending that I'm a stay at home mom this week. I put the pot roast and veggies in the crock pot first thing. I spent some quality time reading books to and laughing with my boy. I deep cleaned the bathroom. I haven't done that since before the baby came home, I know gross. Something about getting the toilet fixed yesterday inspired me to spruce the place up. And I'm a stay at home mom this week. Cleaning the bathroom just seemed practical. I even used an old toothbrush and steel wool to get the grime and hard to reach places. I've never done that before. It was rather invigorating.

Hubby had the day off too so it was nice being together AND getting along. We even utilized a gift certificate and had lunch in a nice little diner. It was pretty neat too since we were the only three in the quaint little restaurant. We learned that baby Abe like pickles. So fun. The only little dip that morning was when my  husband attempted to be nice and took us through the Starbucks drive through. I was planning a no spend day and I thought for a bit that I'd just put that Starbucks trip into his spending column for the week but I'm going to do the responsible thing and take it out of the $12 a day. It was for the both of us and he didn't know he was ruining a no spend. Putting that aside the house smelled so amazing when we got home. The pot roast aroma made me feel really good about myself.

When dinner time came around I scooped out the really tender awesome looking meat only to find that dang plastic thing they put under the meat in the container sitting in the crock pot. It cooked right in between the meat and veggies for over 8 hours. Needless to say my spectacular day turned to tears and a bit of a break down. My husband laughed at me while I stood at the back door holding a box of treats, trying to get the dog to come inside, while bawling about the ruined/ potentially poisoned pot roast. He say's "honey, do you  need me to get the dog? The neighbors are going to think you're crazy." My thought process went a little something like this: "almost $15 of food ruined, wasted, DESTROYED!... we have no dinner now... I'm a horrible stay at home mom... we have to spend money now... there's no way I'm cooking something after this ordeal... I'm a failure"

Hubby picked up the phone and tried to order out. The place didn't answer their phone (they've a bad habit of doing that). I sucked it up and made eggs and bacon. I actually cooked. We didn't spend money. The pot roast was ruined but now that we've food in our stomachs the evening wasn't really ruined after all. Ah, what a spectacular day <with tiny hints of sarcasm>.

Average daily spending for the year: $8.08

Two questions for the week
Do I need it?
Can I live without it?

Here we go!

January 1st 2013
We had to fix the toilet. Both of the bolts that secure it to the floor broke.
Ah, but my husband's Aunt and Uncle took us out for a very nice dinner.
I LOVE free dinner!

Average daily spending for the year: $9.03

Ok, so it's only been one day but it feels so good to be under $12 average daily spending.

: )

AND here we go!

Two questions for the week
Do I need it?
Can I live without it?

Debt Quote Tuesday Rice and Beans

"beans and rice. rice and beans."
-Dave Ramsey

Translated: live within your means, under your means infact. Get out of debt.

There STILL isn't $1000 in our emergency fund. That is the first step. Step number one in the Dave Ramsey plan and I have not accomplished it yet. (Granted I didn't attempt to for a long time)

GOAL: $1000 in the EF before the end of January
REWARD: Scottish Meat Pies from Ackroyds and Bewley's Irish breakfast tea.

I like rewards. Rewards might work for me.

Two questions for the week
Do I need it?
Can I live without it?

Today's lovely: waking up before the baby and drinking some coffee while reading a book.

Happy 2013!

New Years Eve

Before we move onto the new year I shall say farewell to the current one.

Lovely, lovely 2012:

I became a mom. There aren't enough words to explain the awesomeness of this accomplishment.

I was able to look at my sweet boy's face 306 days this year, watch him grow, snuggle him, and and love him.
Despite the lack of sleep, being overworked, and fighting like cats and dogs or maybe like lions and hyenas my husband and I are still in love.
We took two trips to Chicago.
Saw Kimbra, New Order, and Refused in concert (3 different shows) with hubby.
Health, happiness, and comfort for the pets (our furry children).
I relish every visit with family and getting to see my nieces and nephews.

I didn't go to the movie theater once this year. My husband is a movie watching freak so this realization is really neat to me. Ah, a year to remember! No movies : )

We tried Indian food for the first time and it was super yummy.

A good friend joined me on the financial adventure. My husband might not be fully on board but having regular support makes such a difference.

I may be ending this year tired, chubbier, not less in debt, and having spent much too much time indoors but 2012 you were a nice year.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Easy Pumpkin Cream Cheese Muffins

Did you know that if you mix a 15oz. can of pumpkin with a box of cake mix you get muffins?

Yep, just cake mix, pumpkin, 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes and wahla! Thank-you pinterest. I guess it's low cal too. Although I added a cream cheese filling to mine.

Crazy easy cheap breakfast muffins!

The cream cheese filling was just 8oz. cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/3 cup of sugar. I put a little pumpkin batter in the cup, then some cream cheese filling, then more batter. Yum.

Happy New Year

I'm pretty relieved this year that Christmas is over. It was nice. My boy seemed to really enjoy his first Christmas. But I am glad it's done. I don't remember ever feeling that way before.

Only three days until 2013.
2012 has been such a rollar coaster. I've never been SO incredibly blessed (new baby boy) and yet I lived this year in a sleepy haze taking huge steps backwards financially.
Only three days until 2013. I'm quite happy about the symbolic new beginning.

Wishing everyone a FABULOUSLY blessed New Year filled with lovelies and victories!

Four Quarters

Now that I have a son I'm thinking very practically about how to teach him about giving, serving, about the meaning of Christmas and about love. He's only 9 months old but I know I need to start now, not put if off, not wait until "he'll get it." Around this time of year you hear alot about random acts of kindness. About people buying other people's coffee for them in the drive thru. You don't know your coffee has been paid for until you pull up to the window and the clerk says, "that person just bought your drink." I haven't personally experienced one of these instances but you hear about them. Ever since I saw that lady running a Starbucks coffee up the hill to that beggar man I've been thinking regularly about what I might do, what random act of kindness might I bless someone with?

I'll tell you something, the littlest things in the world can be a blessing to someone. A smile, a door being held open, a tiny bit of extra effort assisting someone. Today I witnessed yet another random act of kindness, like the lady with the coffee, however small it may have been.

I was walking into work, into the supermarket as I passed by the quarter machines, the ones with the little toys, stickers, candies. There was a piece of notebook paper taped to the top of one. In blue ink it read something along the lines of, "random act of kindness: these quarters are for you to use as you wish. have fun. left here by a 3 year old boy." Oh my gosh, seeing it in person, not just on pinterest was... my entire day was impacted. I spent all morning feeling goosebumps, feeling overwhelmed by the picture in my head of a three year old boy and his mother purposefully going out of their way to shed a little light in this world. I can not even tell you how many people would have passed by those machines this morning and possibly, if they'd been looking, noticed that note and those quarters just as I had. Possibly hundreds of people felt that same warm glow that I'd felt because of one little boy and four little quarters. Sure someone, possibly several someone's most likely got a trinket from the quarter machines and if they were any thing like I was as a child that was the high light of their week. My mom never let us get stuff out of those machines. But literally hundreds of people may have been impacted by that random act of kindness. There were still 3 quarters there when I left 2 hours later.

Anyway, after my last post I couldn't resist sharing this one with you. What an awesome thing it is when we take a little time to try and be kind to someone. And it really doesn't need to cost alot. Awesome!

Just in case you weren't sure what I was talking about

A Bum

I was driving to work and I noticed a lady running through a large field away from a parking lot towards nothing, except a steep hill on which the exit ramp for the expressway sits. I'm pondering for a minute, "What the heck is she doing? She must be chasing a paper that's blown away? Am I not seeing a dog that got loose? What the heck is she doing?" She starts up the hill and I notice a cup of coffee in her hand (Starbucks) and then I see the man who regularly holds the sign "Homeless. Will work for food." at that exit ramp.

We have virtually no people holding signs where I live. I've seen three here total in my life that I can recall. This guy is fairly regular to that corner now though so I've seen him at least 10 times standing there. Well, she ran up that hill with the Starbucks coffee and he walked over to meet her. She handed it over, said something simple and ran back to her car (at least a quarter mile away). I teared up a bit. I've been to Chicago countless times. I'm not totally numb but when you're visiting Chicago you generally try to not notice "them". You can't help them all. It'd be impossible. So it's almost easier to just ignore them. Then you see this one guy in your town. You didn't help the others why should you stop to help him? Anyway who know's his story? I certainly can't employ him. Ugh.

I guess sometimes his story doesn't matter. I doubt she was giving him her coffee. She probably went to the Starbucks right across the street from that parking lot and purposefully purchased it for him. That took some thought, some effort, some time... and then she ran through a field and up a hill. The only bit of the story that she seemed to consider is that a sad mad was standing on a cold corner with a sign. She thought, "I bet he'd like some coffee." And then she gave him some. 

I guess all I'm saying is that I want to do a little extra, like that. I may be in debt (like a crazy fool). I may have a tight budget. I may need to reign in the spending (every minute of every day because I'm a sad sorry sap who can't seem to grow up). But I want to always care and always DO a little extra. I think we really need to keep our eyes open in order to make that happen and for that matter be prepared to say "yes, I'll do it" when the opportunity presents its self.

I don't want to be a bum just ignoring or for that matter not noticing. I want to be a weirdo running through a field towards nothing, metaphorically speaking. Hmm, what might I do "differently" today for someone else's benefit?