One Month Is Up...The Grocery Budget Summary

A couple weeks ago, I talked about my February Shopping Summary, and mentioned that I was keeping track of all my grocery purchases from February 17th to March 17th.

It was painfully eye opening, to be completely honest. We had no idea we spent that much on food. We had an idea for sure, but to see it all spread out in front of us was shocking. But we have to eat right?

A couple things I noticed were that I buy too much junk food for myself (I'm in the process of remedying that now though), I buy too many extras that I don't plan for (things I need, but forgot to put on my list, but I am also working on fixing that too), and we need to cut back on our meat consumption. I need some good vegetarian meals, and also need to give the kids smaller portions of meat.

The grand total for the whole month was:

$758.51


Now keep in mind, that that does include all household products like pet food, cat litter, cleaning supplies, toiletries et cetera. We spend an average of $45/month on our dog (he goes through a 50lb bag once a month, plus a big box of biscuits, which he gets 1-2 of a day), and the cats we probably spend about $50. They need cat litter, which is about $15-20 month, dry cat food about $10-15 (we buy a $22 20lb bag and it lasts about 1.5-2 months), and wet cat food about $10.

I go through a lot of cleaning supplies and general household items like trash bags, cleaning supplies, laundry detergent etc. And with 5 people, sometimes 6, living here full time, we go through a ton of soap, shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste etc.

I always make sure the kids have plenty of fruit, and we always have staples in like Goldfish crackers, graham crackers, string cheese, and oatmeal. I don't buy off brands of certain products like peanut butter, toilet paper, ketchup and mustard, and toothpaste, and I use all dove products like body wash/soap/deodorant (the kids get cheaper stuff because they go through it faster and are wasteful).

Honestly though, I wish I could cut down the household/food bill. But I don't see how unless I just cut out my junk food consumption. I make food last by using left overs, and I buy a lot of off brands (except where I mentioned above). If I didn't count the pet supplies and the cleaning products/toiletries, our total would be about $550-600, and even less if I didn't eat so much junk food, so I really think that is ok. I really don't feed the kids unhealthy food though, it's just me. I have a problem of snacking too much at night after they go to bed. Food has become my best friend and I'm going to break up with him.

We spent a lot extra this past month though because my husband was home for a week, we had a birthday party to buy for, and my mom came to visit. I didn't include the two times we ate out as a family, plus the burger king trip we made the day my husband came home. eek. lol. Normally we don't eat out for dinner unless it is a special occasion, and I think my husband's last birthday ever (29! LOL) is a special occasion.

Before I ramble on too much, I'll end this for now. I *think* the next month should be a lot better. I don't have any birthday parties and no company coming. Plus I am eating healthier now.

Check back on April 19th for an update!

Financial Update

On Monday my husband and I went to the bank to *finally* open a savings account. We didn't put as much into it initially as we had wanted to, but still set up a monthly draft from our checking account to our savings account. It has been a goal of ours to finally have a savings account, so we are happy we were finally able to accomplish that goal.

With the new account we're also able to do 6 transfers online and unlimited in the branch. Our idea was to take the money that we saved from paying off our credit cards and our daughter's bedroom set, and put that into the account each month when the original bill was due. That helps keep me accountable at least, and it's like I am just paying another bill.

Today we came upon a bit of extra cash, unexpectedly. My husband is a truck driver and saves up all his change. He HATES to pay with change, so he just tosses it into a drawer he has in his truck. So before he came home, he transferred it all into a half gallon jug and filled it up 1/4 of the way. And at Wal Mart today, while buying groceries, we used Coin Star and cashed it in. We were able to get $150!!! There were over 1000 pennies in there alone! And best of all, the money went straight into our savings account, on top of what we had put in there today when we opened it.

Hooray!

Happy New Year!!

Out with the old and in with the new! I can't believe it is 2009 already, 2008 went by so fast.

2008 was a bit of a challenging year for us. We decided that to save ourselves, we had to sell our house. We actually listed it almost one year ago and were lucky to find a buyer almost right away. We moved in March into a rental, the kids started at a new school and we began a new life in a new city. Selling the house was difficult for sure, but at least we aren't drowning with our mortgage, right? 2008 was also a happy year for us, as we were able to become more financially stable. The kids also made new friends, adjusted well into a new school and love it there. I was able to get a YMCA membership and get some time to my self a few times a week while I work out. My husband is still the #1 Driver at his work and we made more money than 2007!

This year we started out with some old family traditions. My husband's family is German, so they always did Pork and Sour kraut for new years day, and that will be our dinner. My family being Dutch, we always made Oliebollen, which is a dutch apple fritter served with icing/powdered sugar. I made that today and we just had a mid afternoon snack. The Oliebollen was a hit, the kids and my husband love them.

2009 is going to be the start of a new adventure for our family. I can't go into too many details per the request of my husband, but it will bring a lot of change and excitement. Just wish us luck! I'm going to be doing a lot more canning/jam making this summer. I did that last summer, and our jam stores are dwindling, so it will be nice to have some fresh stuff this summer. My husband is looking into doing a different route with his job, and if all goes well, he will be home quite possibly every weekend for a day or two. That would be a very welcome blessing for our family; we get to spend more time together, and it would also help hold me more accountable in the housework department. lol

This year we also have some financial, as well as personal goals. Financially we're going to pay off our two credit cards (the balance is only $1300) once we get our tax return. With our tax return, we will also pay off our youngest daughter's bedroom set. Paying off those 3 bills will save us about $160 a month, so that is a huge boost to our savings account each month.

And last, but not least, my personal goal is to lose weight. I know, it's hack to say that, but I do plan on it. Hubby and I are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary this year, so I would like to be considerably thinner for our anniversary. We actually plan to go away for a night or two while my mom watches the kids. He proposed here , so we thought it would be fun to go back there for our 10th anniversary. I know we just had our 9th, but I'm really looking forward to this one!

Pardon my long-windedness.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Why Is Everything So Expensive?

This is getting riduculous! School pictures came back this week and the package we need so we have enough pictures is $30 per child! So that right there costs me $90. Then let's not forget we also need to get pictures of the baby, so there is another $10 for a pkg at JC Penney (I don't like Wal Mart, Target is too expensive and I don't like sears either). $100 for freakin' pictures!

Then we have the kid's school pumpkin run, which we have to send in money for pledges. We're giving them each $10, so there goes another $30. And then our oldest wants to be in Choir, and we HAVE to order a shirt from them for $16.

The grand total is.... $146

Pisses me off!

So here is what I did: I said no to school pictures. Yes, I really did. There is NO reason why I should have to pay that much for photos. So I scheduled an appointment for all the kids to go to JC Penney on Friday morning (no school) and we're going to get a group shot. I don't want to pay sitting fees for everyone...and who freakin' charges $10 per person for a sitting fee? UGH! Anyway, I will purchase a portrait club card for $20 which gives me free sitting fees for 2 years and a bunch of other crap I will never use, and 2 free 8x10 photos, which I can use for the Grandparents. So that brings me to about $30 for photos including tax. Not too bad, but not as cheap as I was hoping.

I will still have to pay for the Choir shirt, and pledges and pictures, but it will be about half as much as I would have paid had I bought school pictures.

Now I'm off to go spend more money and go grocery shopping...fun fun!

Renting Vs. Owning A Home, And The Impact On Our Finances

I wrote quite awhile ago about Renting Vs. Owning your own home.
To update, we put our house on the market mid to late january, had a buyer with our first showing, and finally closed late April. We've been renting since the beginning of March though, as we decided to vacate our house while we had the time. We have now lived in our rental for three months, and have been paying rent for four months.

Renting has it's ups and downs to be honest. My dishwasher just broke, and all I had to do was call the property management office and they took care of it. Now it's fixed! With our house, we had a European dishwasher that was broken, and we didnt even bother to fix it because the service fee alone for a company that could fix it was $125.00. And we just didn't have the money. My rental is being fixed up outside, painted, new trim etc. We have a fence too. Unfortunately, we didn't have the money for any of that when we owned our home. I guess a downside to renting is that it just isn't ours. I can't really see too many "downs" to renting right now to be honest with you.

So, the impact on our finances...

Our mortage payment, with taxes, and insurance included was $1863.00 a month. Ouch! Our rent here is $1025.00. We also do not have a water bill anymore, as we're on a well, so that has saved us $50.00 a month. Just with those factors, we're saving $888.00 a month!!

We did splurge and enroll at the YMCA, which costs us $77.50. That brings us to $810.00 a month saved.

Our middle child is no longer in pre-k, so I am saving money on that, but I also use the money from her pre-k to go to childcare at the YMCA for the baby when I work out. So that balances itself out.

We've also added internet costs, as we purchased a much needed computer with our tax returns. My hubby also has internet for his lap top, so both internet costs are around $100.00 a month, bringing us down to $710.00 a month saved. However, our home internet bill will go up another $20 in a few months, but that doesn't bother me at all. So we're saving around $700 a month, give or take a few bucks.

Now, we have not started a savings account yet, as we're waiting for the summer miles for my hubby to start rolling in. That has just started happening, so I will be doing that shortly.

We don't have a lot of debt, just our van, and two small credit cards. Our credit card balances are less than $1500 together and our van is around $11,800.00. I always pay more than the minimum of the credit cards, and we just pay the van as it is, the payment due each month.

We still hope to purchase another home, but it probably won't be here. We plan to move out of state to somewhere cheaper. And probably not for at least 3-5 years. We want to have a nice sizeable downpayment for a nice sizeable house on some property.

And don't forget, I have posted a few times today, so don't forget to read those as well. I updated on my weight loss!