Frugal Friday #6

By Angela on January 9, 2016

If you’re new here: On Fridays I share a few frugal things I did during the week. Then in the comments you to share a frugal thing or two you did during the week. If you are a blogger feel free to link to your Frugal Friday post in the comments and we’ll come check it out.

Remember that office plan for Darren? To make that work for him I need to buy a leather chair ($1,500), an oak executive desk ($900), an 8×10 rug ($700), 2 locking lateral filing cabinets ($600), a 42 by 36 picture frame with glass ($65), and a royal blue velvet moroccan pouf ($200), for a grand total of $3,965. There are a few other expenses too (like wood for the build in bookcases, flooring and the optional tv and tv cabinet.)

Darren's office before fireplace view leather chair

Darren's office blue desk

I’m not in a hurry to start this project since I have a few other rooms I’m working on. On the other hand, Darren really needs a space to be organized in. So I started looking around the web on craigslist for affordable options. You’ll never guess what I found?!!!!

There was an office having a business closing auction. I got those locking filing cabinets for $16 each or $32 instead of $600. All they need is a new coat of spray paint (since they are putty colored now, and I have my heart set on white.)

The executive desk was $60 instead of $900. It just needs a coat of blue with black glaze in the details.

The giant picture frame for the dry erase board was only $6.

Then Craigslist had a leather chair for a mere $50. It just needs a coat of leather stain to nudge it a little more golden brown instead of reddish brown (for $6.)

leather chair

The area rug was on sale 80% off for $156!

I found a sewing pattern for the moroccan pouf on Better Homes and Gardens. I haven’t settled on fabric for it yet, but my mom is looking in her stash for something that might work and I have old towels and batting on hand to fill it.

My grand total: $304 for a savings of $3,361

It’s your turn. Inspire us with some of your frugal activities this week.

How to Use Your Debit Card Like a Cash Envelope System

By Angela on January 7, 2016

I am personally convinced that cash envelopes are the best way to stay on budget, but I also know that this method doesn’t appeal to everyone.

I’ve talked to people who won’t shop with cash. It makes them nervous to carry it around. They don’t like making change between budget categories or the fact that cash leaves no trail. Then there’s that nervous feeling they get that they might not have enough to pay for their stuff (which is kind of a bonus, because it is what ultimately curbs overspending.)

There are several apps that allow you to track debit card spending as if it were in an envelope. Dave Ramsey has one called Every Dollar. The basic version is free with a paid version available if you want it to automatically sink with your bank account. You enter your budget into the app, then record your purchases as you make them. The app subtracts and lets you know what you have left in the categories. Below are similar apps that are also initially free.

Good Budget
Mvelopes
Expense Keep
Simple Track
Budget Ease
Envelope+ Kid–for kids to track their spending

I like that debit cards come out of the bank account right away, so there’s no accumulation of debt. The danger is the card will scan as long as there is money in the account even if that money was budgeted for something else. If you are spending cash and spend another category’s money—you KNOW it right away, because you had to take it out of the envelope for that other category. It’s a conscious decision. Going over budget with a debit card is less clear cut until you write it down.

When you are scanning a debit card, the only way to keep on budget is to record the purchase BEFORE it’s made. Then you can see ahead of time if there is enough money in that category. I intend to record my purchases, but I DON’T, this is why I can’t see myself giving up cash any time soon. Using a debt card requires more organization and discipline—character qualities that aren’t yet well developed in my repertoire.

If you aren’t a smart phone fan, my sister-in-law showed me a paper and pencil method to using your debit card like envelopes. Get a small notebook that will fit in your purse.

Give each budget category it’s own page and write the amount you’ve budgeted for that category at the top next to the title. Then as you shop, write down what you spent in each category on the appropriate page and SUBTRACT so you can see what’s left.

If you need to move money from one category to another record it in the book. For example if you need to move $50 from clothing to food, simply, subtract it from the clothing page and add it to the food page, with a note of where it came from.

At the end of the month, create new pages for each of your categories. Clip the front pages together so you can access your new pages easily. Add post-it tabs with labels to help you find your categories easily. You can reuse the tabs by moving them to the new sets of pages each month.

Do you think any of these methods would work better for you than cash?

How to never go over your food budget again….ever (+Darren’s Office Plan)

By Angela on January 5, 2016

I’ve been having trouble focusing on work the last few days, because I’ve been dreaming about our basement. It’s supposed to be Darren’s office, but right now it looks like this:

Yes I’m embarrassed, and yes this will eventually circle back around to the food budget. He can’t work down here because it’s too cold (there’s a crack in the exterior door) and it’s an organizational disaster….so he’s in my office. I don’t mind sharing my office with him (you believe me, right?), but I want him to have his own space that has organizational systems that work for him.

I love how photoshop, even poorly done, can create visions from daydreams.

I did a craigslist search for the office items that were sure to blow our budget and I found a business closing auction a few cities over. I bid on the essentials and have been sitting at my computer hitting refresh ever since. Right now a brown version of the above desk has my name on it for 5 cents and is begging me to paint and glaze him a pretty blue. The auction is over in 9 hours and 12 minutes…..excuse me while I hit refresh.

The other side of the room currently looks like this:

But would prefer to look like this:

Except that Darren thought the space needed a TV….so I made a tiny tweak….

Then I got lost on pinterest searching for tutorials on sewing Moroccan poufs after I saw the prices of ready made ones. Who knew this was the perfect use for my stacks of worn out towels? Of course I had to research the best value on navy velvet (ooh, maybe my Mom has some in her stash!) and find free building plans for bookcases and buffets…..and refresh.

Budgeting is like making these concept pictures in photoshop. It’s dreaming and planning without ever touching a paint brush or saw. Eventually that plan needs to come to life, and it doesn’t always turn out like the picture said it would. I can’t tell you how many money fights Darren and I have had when we were using credit cards for all our expenses. We figured we would pay them off at the end of the month and earn the 1% back. When we compared our credit card bill to our budget we were over EVERY TIME. We could barely pay it off and made no traction towards our financial goals. He would ask, “What did you BUY?” (insert accusing voice inflections here.) I’d swear it was all necessities: food, clothing, toilet paper…..

Then we switched to cash. I put my food money for the month in an envelope and when it was gone we had to eat what was already in the house. I made decisions differently when I could see clearly the plan and the goal (the cash that’s left.) That first cash envelope happened 11 years ago and the system is still the best one for us. Here are my tips from years of experience:

Only budget for people FOOD in your grocery budget. Have a separate category for pets, cleaning supplies, paper products etc.
Take 1/4th of the budget and save it in a separate envelope for the last week of the month. If you don’t, you’ll learn to be VERY creative with your cooking that last week.
If you shop at stores for food where you also might buy items from other budget categories (such as clothing or cleaning supplies) be sure to get enough small bills when you pick up your cash so you can make change for yourself between the categories.
If you are scared of carrying cash (because you know every criminal in town will pick up the scent and try to rob you) try just using cash for food. If it works out you can add other categories later.
If you hate it, you can always go back to your old method :).

Do you currently use cash? What are your tips for making it work?

This is Day 3 of our Series: Shrink Your Food Budget

How much can you afford?

By Angela on January 4, 2016

Choosing how much to budget for your family’s food is very personal. I’m transparent about how much we spend hoping to encourage families who can’t afford to budget much. I know on the other side there are families who can afford to spend more and feel guilty when they see our budget. That’s NOT the intent at all. If you can afford to spend more, do it without guilt.

For years my rule of thumb was $50 per person per month. As soon as I became pregnant I upped the budget $50 to help with a few extra convenience foods while I dealt with pregnancy illness. After the baby was born the higher budget allowed me to afford weight loss friendly foods and protein powders to lose the baby weight. It was baby related food expense even though the baby still didn’t eat from the table.

Beef topped bean enchiladas

At my old rule of thumb our family food budget would be $400. We lived with that for the last few years out of necessity. Tuition for Christian school, music lessons, kids activities, and home and auto repairs were out of control. We could hardly breathe. Last spring when school and dance lessons ended for the season we decided to take part of those payments and increase our food budget to $500 a month. Then again this fall we upped it to $550.

Chicken Taco Salad

Realistically I’d like that food budget to be a little higher. If our income stays the same, to increase the food budget another category has to decrease. We have been looking at our budget overall to see where we could find room to breathe. We made the hard decision to put 3 of our kiddoes into public school (they are doing great), drop out of dance lessons, and cut back on music lessons. We also limited our sports to one session a year. These decisions were hard in the moment but have left us more family time–a big win. While that helped a lot, the money is going towards looming expenses instead of food.

So how do you go about figuring out what your food budget should be? There’s going to be some back and forth figuring as you plug in your numbers. We started by putting in our mortgage, utilities and other necessary bills (subtracting from our take home pay as we went.) Then as we put in the rest of our budget items and the money ran out, we looked back at the previously budgeted items to see which ones were adjustable. We found food to be the only large necessary budget item that had a good deal of wiggle room. We slid the adjustable categories around until we came up with something we thought might work. We tried it for a month, then next month adjusted the new budget based on our experiences.

Cream Cinnamon Rolls

The government has some recommendations for how much food should cost. They base their food stamp amounts on the thrifty plan, but have 3 other plans that allow for bigger budgets. On their thrifty plan my family should budget $1,265. That would be a DREAM! Crown Financial Ministries recommends budgeting 9% of your income on food. For us that’s a lot less than $1265 and is a good place to start.

What do you do if the food budget you need to stick to is WAYYY below what you’re used to? Don’t worry. We’ll walk you through it later this week. Your homework for today and tomorrow is to come up with a target number.

This is Day 2 of our Series: Shrink Your Food Budget

Shrink your food budget Day 1: What do you spend?

By Angela on January 2, 2016

It’s none of my business and you don’t have to tell me, but you need to know for yourself. Do you know how much you spent in December on groceries? How about November or October?

If you don’t have a clue, search for all the food receipts you can find and add them up. If you are still using credit or debit cards, you’ll have a record on your statements and can add up the charges from food stores to get a ballpark figure. If finding out what you spent those months is impossible, make sure to keep track of what you spend this month. Every time you spend record it in your phone or keep your receipts. Pick the method that works for you and do it.

Once you figure out how much you spent, decide how you feel about it. Is it enough? Is it too much? Can you afford it? What do you want that number to be? WHY?

“Why?” might be the most important question to answer today. If you don’t have a big enough “why” you won’t be able to stick to any positive change. Our why includes a hope and a future for our kids. We can eat our money right now, or they can have music lessons, a college fund and opportunities. We can’t do both.

Here’s the deal. I won’t spend less on food if it means my kids are eating non-nutritive junk, and I won’t ask you to do that either. Is it possible to spend less and still eat healthy food? I know it is and this month I’m going to show you how. Who’s with me?

This is Day 1 of our Series: Shrink Your Food Budget

Happy New Year!

By Angela on January 1, 2016

The new year is a gift waiting to be unwrapped and revealed little by little. There’s not much in the new year that I have control over and that’s a little scary. One thing I can control is that I can draw closer to God through it all. That is a peaceful though.

It’s always interesting to look back and see what the most popular posts were through the last year. They usually surprise me and this year is no different.

3 Ingredient Slow Cooker Biscuits and Gravy. I created this recipe during the year that I didn’t have a functional kitchen and it struck a chord with overwhelmed moms everywhere.

2. Coconut Blueberry Muffin in a Mug. I made this recipe for a blueberry contest with a big cash prize that I was hoping to use to finish our master bathroom. I was in the middle of a fitness contest and made the recipe as healthy as I could and still taste great. I didn’t win or even make it onto their website, but the rest of the world approved.

3. Plywood Countertops: These countertops are temporary while we save up money for real ones. Seems like there are lots of people needing lower cost options for their kitchen. Here’s the update post for how they look finished.

4. First-Steps: This isn’t technically a blog post, but it’s the heart of what this blog is about. I’m happy that the message is getting out.

Look how tiny these kids are. That baby is now 8 and the girl holding his hand is almost 16. And little Grant wasn’t even born yet….sniff. Good memories. We have got to take an updated family picture!

Speaking of the message getting out, I’m dedicating January to shrinking grocery budgets everywhere. If you haven’t known where to start or how to spend less, this is the month for you!

Merry Christmas

By Angela on December 22, 2015

I hope things are well with you. Take a deep breath with me and try not to feel stress. I’m need to be offline with my family until New Year. I might pop in and blog, but I need it to be ok not to.

Here’s a little peak at our fun this week.

Wide mouth mayo jars (borrowed from my mom since I don’t save stuff.) wrapped with twine and layered with Epsom snow, freezer burned cranberries and a tea light. I plan to reuse the salts for healing soaks later.

Progress in the shared boy room. Formerly black lamp spray painted green and made over night stand with new pulls, a new top and a new paint job.

Our presents are almost all wrapped. I have collected different papers after season clearance sales over the years and have several years worth. I’m a little bummed because there are so many cute wrapping ideas out there that don’t fit in with my stash. On the other hand this is easy and the kids get just as excited about our mismatched wrapping. So not Pinterest worthy but family and budget friendly and that’s better than ok.

Caleb, my oldest boy is ripping out the 45 year d carpeting while I’m safely tucked away in another part of the house. I have developed a severe allergy and this is part of making the house safe for me.

Acts of service like this really make me feel loved.

For more than 2 months my entire body has looked like this. It itches like poison ivy that won’t heal. I noticed on Sunday that there is a line around my face sides of neck and chest where the rash won’t cross that coincides with where I use my anti-aging products. So I tried a bit in an affected area. 2 days later it is clear. I’m hoping it’s not just a coincidence. Basically the doc thinks this is a dust mite allergy gone wrong from stress. Any worse and I’d need an epi pen. I’ve been on so many medications and the only thing that helped was prednisone–yuck. I’m exploring all the natural options and will report back if anything works.

Making Disney Affordable

By Angela on December 17, 2015

Jo, is a friend of our family and as an avid disney fan and travel expert has experience making Disney affordable. If you’re looking for a clutter free family Christmas gift that you can save up for all year, this might be the perfect thing for you.

Hi there! I’m Jo, a lover of all things Disney and thrifty. Typically these two terms don’t

go hand in hand, but I’ve found several ways to save on a Walt Disney World vacation.

My husband and I just love Disney World (oh, and so do our kids), so we make it a

priority to visit as often as we can. This was easy when we had no children and lived 45

minutes away from the parks, but once we started having babies and moved far away

from Orlando, it became much more of an investment to visit. I’ve picked up several

tricks over the years to make a Disney World vacation affordable, and I’d love to share

those tips with you!

First of all, I recommend planning your trip as early as possible and taking advantage of

Disney’s payment plan. Disney allows you to make a reservation with a $200 deposit.

After that, you can make as many or as few payments as you like, as long as the

balance is paid 30 days before you check in. If something comes up and you have to

change or cancel your vacation, you get 100% of your money back or transferred to

your new vacation dates. For my family, this is huge. We make our reservations as early

as possible and break the trip total down into as many payments as we can. There are

no fees or interest like putting a vacation on the credit card, and the trip is paid in full 30

days in advance! You can actually feel like you’re on vacation instead of counting every

penny spent, because you already paid for it! By booking your vacation way in advance,

you give yourself more time to pay the balance off, and you also have a larger selection

of resort hotel rooms from which to choose. The cheapest rooms go the quickest, so it’s

definitely best to grab those as early as you can.

I often hear people wonder if it’s really worth it to stay at a Disney resort hotel. After all,

Orlando is a big city with lots of budget hotels nearby. In my experience, it is always

better to stay on Disney property. I love never having to leave the magic behind at the

end of the day and have always found Disney’s resort hotels to be charming, fun, and

convenient. But I also love saving money, and it’s true that the nightly rate at a Disney

hotel can be more than an off-property site. However, there is some value built in to a

Disney resort that off-property hotels just can’t compete with. First of all, Disney resorts

provide complimentary transportation to and from the Orlando airport. It’s called the

Magical Express, and it doesn’t cost anything when you stay on-site. Parking all over

Disney property is free when you stay on-site (currently daily parking rates at the theme

parks are $17/day). They also provide free continual transportation from the resort

hotels to all the parks and attractions via buses, monorails, and ferry boats. Disney

resort hotels also have three pricing tiers: value, moderate, and deluxe. The value

resorts are great for families trying to stretch their dollar, and all the above benefits are

included at every resort. Finally, the Disney payment plan referenced above is only for

those staying on property. Can you tell I’m a fan?

In the past few years, Disney World has rolled out the My Disney Experience feature.

Through the use of their site, your hotel reservations, dining reservations, Fast Passes,

and even your credit card information is loaded onto what is called a Magic Band. You

wear your Magic Band during your entire stay and use it for everything. Seriously, it

becomes a part of you and feels so weird after your vacation when you have to take it

off. Magic Bands are complimentary for every person in your traveling party when you

stay on property. (For those staying off-site, Magic Bands start at $20 per person.)

Here I am last year with my Magic Band… oh, and two adorable boys.

Not only does it matter where you stay, but it also matters when you stay. Prices

fluctuate at Disney World all year long. During summer and Christmas breaks, when the

crowds are the highest, prices skyrocket because there is such a huge demand. But

during “value seasons,” such as February and September, prices come down by quite a

bit. For example, the cost of staying at a value resort over the week of Christmas starts

at $201 per night. But in January, that cost plummets by $100 a night! Disney also

offers promotions throughout the year, and those promotions are usually concentrated

on times when crowds are lower. Simply put, it’s cheaper to visit Disney World when

school is in session, because many families can’t go during those times. For example,

Disney World will offer a percentage off your resort hotel or throw in a free dining plan.

There are HUGE savings to be found when you combine a Disney promotion with avalue season! I honestly can’t remember the last time my family paid rack rates for a

room at Disney World just by using these tips.

Let’s say the only time you can visit Disney World is during summer vacation, and there

are no promotions during the time you visit. Fret not, there is still an incredibly easy way

to save 5% on your Disney vacation… if you have a Sam’s Club membership. If you

don’t, make friends with someone who does, because Sam’s sells discounted Disney

gift cards! (For those of us who have to fly, Sam’s also sells discounted Southwest gift

cards.) I’ve also been told that you can save 5% off of Disney gift cards at Target by

paying with your Red Card, but my local Target has never given me that discount, so

you’ll want to check with your store. Disney gift cards can be applied to your trip balance

as well as merchandise and dining inside the parks. We make every single payment

using these Disney gift cards. It also works if you want to ask for Disney gift cards for

holiday or birthday gifts! You aren’t adding clutter to your home and are one step closer

to the vacation of a lifetime!

So, you’ve planned early, snagged an affordable room during a value season, taken

advantage of a Disney promotion, and paid your trip balance off with discounted gift

cards. But there are still ways to save money once you are on your vacation! Disney

World allows you to bring food and drinks into the parks, so my Disney bag is always

stuffed with plenty of snacks for whiny kids (AND adults) as well as empty thermoses for

tap water. Quick service dining locations will give you a free cup of water if you ask for

it, and there are also water fountains throughout the parks. You can also have groceries

delivered to your hotel room (Amazon Prime just started same day delivery too!), so you

can still do this if you are flying and don’t want to waste suitcase space on a huge box of

granola bars. All resort hotel rooms are equipped with a small refrigerator, and some

rooms even have a kitchenette if you choose to eat in your hotel room.

If your children are anything like mine, they are going to be begging for toys at Disney

World. You’ll probably want something special too! I recommend checking out the

Disney Store website before your trip. They sell a lot of the same park merchandise, but

you can get it much more cheaply by buying it before you travel because the Disney

Store is constantly having sales. In fact, I just checked their website to see if they were

having a sale, and sure enough, all Disney Parks merchandise is 25% off. You won’t

see that in the parks, so definitely take advantage of those savings.

Finally, the easiest way hands down to save money on a Disney World vacation is by

going through an authorized Disney travel agent. A good agent will make sure you get

the best rate possible, and using a travel agent is completely FREE. I am such an

agent, and so I am constantly reviewing the rate seasons, upcoming promotions, and

available discounts for my clients in order to save them as much money (and stress) as

possible. I can work with all sorts of budgets and families to plan the vacation of their

dreams, and I feel honored to have helped families visit Disney World when they

originally thought they wouldn’t be able to afford such a luxury. If I can help you in any

way, please don’t hesitate to email me or check out

my Facebook page. I love visiting Disney

World, I love saving money, and I really love helping others do the same!

My Five Favorite EASY Christmas Cookies

By Angela on December 14, 2015

Today Darren took Caleb and Grant to the farm to visit his parents and I stayed home to be available to the kids who go to school and to paint the shared boys room. I’ll be posting all about their room transformation in March. If you don’t want to wait that long to get updates, I’m posting about it in real time on instagram #sharedboysroom

But for now, I want to give you my favorite Christmas cookie recipes. The easy, last minute kind. I’m going to link up to the original sources, so you can open the same page I do when it’s time to cook :).

Christmas Crack

This is a more chewable version of a Heath bar. I can’t. stop. eating. this. So I only make it when I have somewhere to share it.

For a delicious twist, Diane made hers with pretzels!

2. Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Ritz

My family has been sharing this one Christmas Eve for as far back as I can remember. It’s easy to festive up with some Christmas candy sprinkles.

3. Melt in Your Mouth Eggnog Cookies

We’ve already made 3 batches of these. They aren’t as easy as dipping a ritz in chocolate, but there’s no dough chilling or rolling out involved. And the frosting just spreads on with a knife. Sooooo yummy.

4. Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods

Kids cannot mess this up. They might mess up your kitchen….but the pretzels will be delicious.

via The Baker Chic

5. Fattigmann Bakkles (Poor Man’s Cookie.)

My mother’s grandmother was from Norway. When she got really excited, she could only speak in Norwegian. Sometimes she would call my mother and speak hurredly in Norwegian and then hang up abruptly. Then she would call back and scream and hang up again. My mother knew that usually meant she had lost her purse….and then found it. She adored bananas and would stop at the store and buy a bunch as she walked home from her job cleaning houses. Sometimes she would mindlessly eat the entire bunch before getting home. She brought this recipe with her from Norway and we make it every Christmas to remember our heritage.

Sometimes I sub eggnog for the heavy cream in this recipe—delicious.

via Debesys

Frugal Friday #5

By Angela on December 11, 2015

1. We ran out of butter. Horrors! It’s so expensive this time of year that I couldn’t bring myself to buy more than a pound at a time even though I was hoping to bake. My mom went shopping with Heather and I, and we stopped at a grocery store to look for the sale priced pineapples. They were sold out of pineapples but had butter for $1.99 limit 2. All 3 of us went through the line separately to buy 2. Let the baking begin!

2. Heather and I needed dresses for our Christmas concerts this week. We’ve both grown and nothing fits. Happy for her, sad for me. I found mine at Ross for $17 and hers at Burlington coat factory for $12. They were both name brand dresses that retailed for $65+. We also grabbed sparkle shoes at payless at a 50% off sale plus an additional 25% off coupon for members (About $12 a pair.) I wouldn’t have had the coupon, but I did a quick google search to see what was out there before heading to the store. I saved the code to my phone, just in case, even though it said “online only” and the cashier made it work.

3. I used up a bag of frozen wild blueberries that had been in the freezer a little too long. I used 4 cups of them to make blueberry muffins for snacks/breakfasts. For half the flour, I subbed the crumbs saved from the bottom of the cereal bags over the last few weeks. Then with the remaining blueberries and thawed liquid I made jello by adding stevia, plain gelatin and chia seeds for nutrition. It’s delicious but the family won’t touch it–more for me ;).