Spending Freeze – Grocery Shrink

Wrapping up the Spending Freeze

By Angela on February 2, 2015

Can you believe the 31 day freeze is over? I know some of you have already told me you are going for another month and I think that’s awesome.

We had a possible $200 from our basic living expenses to put back into our goal fund. Those dollars were kept separate from my purse, where they would have normally gone. Those budgets were: eating out, misc., hygeine, and blow money. The clothing fund also came out of my purse, but we can’t put those saved dollars into our goal fund. They need to be saved for future needs that we know are coming.

We had a few expenses and mistakes which left us $173 from money that normally disappears throughout the month.

I was gifted $200 from 2 separate places for Christmas/End of year bonuses that I decided to donate to the goal fund.

I also earned an extra $400 selling items on craigslist and online.

So the Spending Freeze found $773 for our project! Guys, this is huge for us. This means we can move the door, do the drywall, and basically create a finished bedroom to sleep in. The bathroom won’t be done yet, but still I had doubts that this much was even possible.

I’d love to hear how your spending freeze turned out–good or bad. Nobody can do this perfectly but even a little push in the right direction is awesome!

Spending Freeze Day 20: I wish you…

By Angela on January 20, 2015

Source: blog.freepeople.com

Bravery….

To add your unique self to all recipes! Substitute. Create new variations. Adapt it to your tastes. Adjust it to maximize your budget. Fix it to fit your allergy or fitness plan guidelines.

Food prices change all the time. Sometimes fresh mushrooms cost less than canned. Sometimes they cost a lot more. If a recipe calls for mushrooms that will end up cooked, don’t let food snobbery tell you that you can ONLY use one kind or the other.

Of course, I’m not just talking about mushrooms. It’s true for all foods. Greek yogurt can stand in for sour cream and sometimes cream cheese in a recipe. Sometimes Greek yogurt is the more expensive choice, sometimes it’s less.

Source: http://www.yourwriterplatform.com/build-your-writing-career/#more-4734

Freedom….

To Dream BIG. (Yes you CAN be debt free! Yes, my family CAN have the work situation it has always dreamed of.)

To make the best choices for your family without worrying what others will think.

To use canned cream soup….or make it from scratch. We love you the same either way.

To use canned crescent rolls or homemade. We can all live in harmony 🙂

To eat wheat or be gluten free. And to know how to do both, so if my gluten free friend comes over for dinner, fixing that meal will be no big deal. (freedom to write poetry……ha ha)

Knowledge…..

To know stuff like a Tablespoon is 3 teaspoons and 2 Tablespoons make an ounce.

To know that sugar + Fat makes a cookie a cookie…..so using yogurt here is gross. But xylitol chemically behaves like sugar so you could do that instead.

To know stuff like 4 cups of shredded cheese is a lb, so 2 cups is 8 oz. (Because 16 oz is a pound.)

And stuff like 4 cups of cut fruit or veggies, but 2 cups of hamburger, applesauce or yogurt also makes a pound. (Think about air space…..hamburger and thick creamy stuff doesn’t have much room for air, but fruit, berries, and vegetables do.)

And to have your favorite recipes memorized. So if you happen to be a place where food is needed, you can whip on an apron and save the day with nothing but your mind, and basic pantry staples.

AND Because knowing stuff makes Bravery a lot easier.

Spending Freeze Day 19: Every Day Low Cost Foods

By Angela on January 19, 2015

For the last 7 years I’ve been shrinking my grocery budget by using every day low cost foods as the basis for all our meals, and adding in surprise deals (foods that are normally not as affordable but I found a great deal) when I find them. By keeping these things on hand, I have the makings for almost any meal we could think of.

Here’s a starter list of every day low cost foods:

Fruits and Vegetables: (These vary by season, but year round I buy….)

Apples
Bananas
Carrots
Potatoes
Onions
Seasonally I also use: strawberries, grapes, oranges, grapefruit, pomegranate, pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, pears, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, sugar snap peas, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes

Frozen Foods:

broccoli
peas
mixed vegetables
corn
carrot coins
pepper and onion blend (Dollar Tree)
Normandy blend (Costco)
Oriental Blend (Costco)
Whole Strawberries (Costco) for smoothies
Wild Blueberries (Costco) for THM and FYM recipes

Meats:

canned tuna (Aldi)
canned mackerel (Walmart)
frozen chicken breasts (Costco)
whole chickens (Aldi)
ground turkey (Aldi)
ground beef (when we can get it from the farmer)
Beef roast (when on sale or from the farmer)
Turkey Burgers (Costco)
Pork roast (When on sale)
Boneless pork ribs for BBQ (When on sale)
turkey bacon (Aldi or Costco)
Costco or Aldi lunch meats (for the kids to make lunches for school)
Occasionally, hot dogs
Breakfast sausage (when on sale)
Salmon filets—these are higher priced $3.99lb at Aldi, but I keep them on hand for my weight loss plan
Sometimes Shrimp ($3.99 at Aldi), Turkey Kielbasa, and Italian flavored ground turkey
Pepperoni (for homemade pizza)

Dairy

American Sliced Cheese (Is this food? I choose to believe it is….lalala, I can’t hear you)
Shredded cheese (in 5lb bags from Costco) We buy a cheddar blend and Mozzarella
Milk
Almond Milk (for me because I have lactose issues)
Cottage Cheese
Eggs (lots and lots of eggs)
Cream Cheese (when on sale–I usualy buy Nefchatel)
Plain Greek Yogurt (I buy a bit for starter when I let my starter get too old, but normally make my own) Then we flavor it at home
String cheese—this use to be at staple for snacks for us but everyone got tired of them and I have quit buying them
Real Butter (I know it’s expensive, but I just can’t bear feeding my family fake butter)

Bread

100% whole wheat sandwich bread (for the kids) I buy it at Aldi for $1.29 a loaf, but occasionally can find it at Dollar Tree or on sale for $.79
Tortillas–the kids use a LOT of tortillas. (I buy special low carb ones for me and Heidi.)
Bagels (These are becoming more rare for us as prices rice, but Dollar Tree sometimes has name brand ones.)
Ezekiel bread–this is just for me and Heidi. It’s $6.99 for 2 loaves at Costco
Bagel thins or Sandwich thins–I buy them when these are on the day old table at the discount bread store
Pasta–Especially lasagna noodles, macaroni, bow tie, spaghetti, egg noodles, spiral
Oat rounds, bran flakes, crisp rice, sometimes puffed brown rice, and Protein cereal (Millville brand)

The rest of our bread, I make. Things like: pancakes, waffles, cornbread, dinner rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls, fat egg noodles, biscuits etc.

Canned

Green Beans (Usually home canned from the garden)
Salsa
Tomato Sauce
Spaghetti Sauce
Rotel (aldi brand)
Green chilies
Pinto, Black, & Navy Beans
Tomato soup, some cream soups (rare), chicken noodle soup (for emergencies)
Apple sauce (Usually home canned from donated apples)

Snacks (In a perfect world we wouldn’t need these, but I’ll be honest and admit this junk food fits into our super low budget.)

Tortilla Chips (Costco)
Veggie Straws (Aldi or coupon at Costco)
Graham Crackers
Ritz type crackers
Cheese Crackers
Sometimes club crackers or animal crackers
Saltines and oyster crackers
Brown Rice Cakes
Ramen noodles (the kids are crazy about these, I cringe)
Peanuts (sometimes)

Other:

brown rice
oatmeal
quinoa
flax
salt & pepper
spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves
spices: chili pepper, garlic powder, cumin, garlic salt, paprika, seasoned salt, cayenne
Spices: basil, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary,
Flour
Hard White Wheat Berries (for grinding into fresh flour)
Sugar (brown & white)
stevia, xylitol
baking powder, baking soda
cornstarch, glucomannan (for thickening sauces)
Plain gelatin
Oil (coconut, olive, and vegetable oil)
non-stick spray
honey (used sparingly)
Peanut butter–we use a lot of PB
Corn syrup (I sometimes use this instead of honey in cooked recipes, since honey looses it’s health benefits when heated) Not to be confused with High Fructose Corn syrup, regular corn syrup is lower in sugar than honey.
yeast
Almonds (I buy the 3 lb bags at Costco) and slivered or sliced ones from Aldi
Craisins and Raisins
Sunflower seeds (Aldi)
Condiments: Ketchup, mustard(s), salad dressings, pickles, BBQ sauce etc.

Spending Freeze Day 15: Food Part 2

By Angela on January 16, 2015

There’s no magic wand for saving money with food. It’s like everything else that matters–it takes hard work, and a little bit of sacrifice to make it happen.

When I give tips such as shop the sales, garden, make more from scratch….The thing I hear a lot is, “I don’t have time for that.” That’s a statement I relate to and get frustrated about at the same time. I have 6 kids. They play violin and piano. They do sports and ballet class. I work 4 part time jobs and have a toddler. We volunteer at church. I understand busy.

We all have the same number of hours in the day, and we each get to choose how we spend them. When I hear “I don’t have time for that,” I understand that person to mean, “That is not important to me.”

I usually buy bread instead of make it from scratch. The savings of making over buying bread isn’t high on my priority list with everything else on my plate–even though I understand the health benefits. On the other hand, I do make my own Kombucha and Greek Yogurt. It probably doesn’t make sense to anyone else.

You don’t have to do EVERYTHING the hard way to whittle your budget down to a workable number, but you will have to choose some things. Your hard, won’t be my hard. I don’t do coupons, maybe you do.

The important thing is that you are willing to push up your sleeves and do something to change the direction of your finances. Do what YOU have to do. Your family is counting on you. And the people watching are about to be inspired.

If you had an envelope with $200 cash and knew you had to feed your family with that alone for the month, would they starve? I bet you’d figure it out. What are the first 5 things you’d buy?

(PS $200 is a ridiculously low amount–and I’m not in any way suggesting that is what your budget should be…. I think it’s interesting for arguments sake to think about what we’d do with it. When your survival depends on it, something changes in your brain. Unfathomable things become fathomable.)

My first 5 things: Salt, Dry Beans, Wheat flour, Eggs, & Yeast

My 2nd 5 things: Potatoes, carrots, onions, brown rice, Whole Chickens

Leave what you would buy in the comments :).

Spending Freeze Day 12: Figuring Your Hourly Wage

By Angela on January 12, 2015

Hourly-Wage

When you DIY to save money, you earn an hourly wage. Sometimes that wage is amazing and proves the activity was definitely worth your time. Sometimes the wage is so low it actually cost you more to DIY than it would have to buy it done. It’s an easy formula to figure it out.

1. A = How much it would cost hire or buy it done

2. X=How much time it takes you to do it yourself

3. B=How much the supplies and tools cost you (I don’t count the tools that I already have on hand or would use again in the future.)

4. Y=How much you saved by doing it yourself. A – B = Y

5. X/ Y= your hourly wage

Reader Example:

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

Rebecca’s husband’s truck needed repair. The garage estimated $1500-1800 for the job.

He spent $226 and 2 hours to do the work himself, including necessary tools.

He saved $1274-1574 by doing the repair himself.

His hourly wage was $509.60-$629.60

If his hourly wage was less than that on his regular job, it was worth it do the repair himself…In this case it definitely was.

That was a pretty extreme (but real) example.

What about little things like making homemade tortillas? You can read about that here.

Are any of you willing to share an hourly wage you earned recently by DIYing?

Spending Freeze Day 8: Getting Creative

By Angela on January 8, 2015

Having money to spend gives choices. Sometimes having too many choices can make it harder to make a decision. During our spending freeze, we have the ease of few choices :). Example to follow:

We had to take down our Christmas decorations this month. Sniff, sniff. I didn’t get some of them up until December 23rd…..we were kind of slow. So taking them down right away seemed too fast. I wasn’t emotionally ready for Christmas to be over…..

…until I was. Then I imagined red hearts everywhere and thought, “Why not take Christmas down and put some Valentine stuff up?” Never mind that Valentine’s Day is 38 days away, or that we have never decorated for Valentine’s Day before.

Add that we are in a spending freeze and don’t have any decorations from previous years….because we don’t decorate for anything but Christmas.

I smelled a challenge. Not to win a spot in Better Homes and Gardens….bwa ha ha ha….No. What you are about to see definitely doesn’t rise to that level. I just wanted to make the place feel festive for the kids.

I found a foam wreath form that used to have cotton balls hot glued to it. It looked cute on pinterest, but it looked dumb when I did it. So I pulled the cotton balls off and ended up a wreath form covered with hardened glue and fuzz. It was too expensive to throw away and too ugly to sell at a garage sale so I put it in the pile that makes my office look really trashy.

I had a spool of pearl edged burlap ribbon left over from a wedding shower and wrapped the wreath. My plan was to just wrap it up and hang it up…but I ran out of ribbon :(. My first though was to run to the store and grab another spool. At most it was going to be $2…..but spending freeze.

Not enough ribbon….so the remnants of glue and cotton balls still shows.

Aak. So I looked around my office to see if I had anything red. I found some long strips of polar fleece left over from a blanket project.

Without measuring I folded it over to be able to cut a semblance of a square

Rounded the edges

Cut a spiral

And rolled it up (starting with the outside edge) to make roses. At the end, the round part in the middle glued over the bottom to hold it all together. Then I spent about 20 minutes making a bunch of them. It went fast, because I didn’t measure anything. The un-uniformity of it all made a nice effect.

I love how it turned out!

Valentine Entry Wreath

I hung it in my entry over a piece of fake Ikea fur and a couple of candles. This pic doesn’t do it justice…

We found small bits of Valentine candy and thought to make centerpieces out of some Dollar Tree candle glasses I had on hand. But the tiny amount of candy looked stupid. And then the boys ate all the candy. So we tried something else.

Black eyed peas with a votive nestled in. A scrap of burlap ribbon and a hand stitched felt heart. It isn’t what we’ve always dreamed about as far as decorations go but it was 100% from stash and is a little bit festive.

To add to the festive, we added some of the same hearts to our Ikea plants over the stove.

These are my favorite.

If I can find some red construction paper, I’d like to make these.

Spending Freeze Day 5: Do You Have Enough Categories?

By Angela on January 5, 2015

I’m 100% convinced that cash budgets are THE way to stick to a budget and ultimately save the most money. But that doesn’t mean the first time you try a cash budget, it’s going to work out perfectly.

We slip a note like this to the teller every month. It tells them how many of each type of bill we want for our envelopes. It took us several months to figure out what size bills to put in each category to make it easier at stores like Target or Wal-mart where I spend from more than one category.

One of the mistakes we made in the beginning is not having enough categories. If there’s too much stuff lumped in together there’s not going to be enough money for something. For example, if you have food lumped in with cleaning supplies, kleenex, and shampoo—towards the end of the month, you might not have enough to eat….but your hair will smell good.

Cash envelopes

Stacks of cash ready to be divided up into envelopes.

My husband and I made a video for you of how we divide up our cash envelopes. It gives details on the different categories we have in our envelopes. There are a few categories in our budget which aren’t currently funded. Items like: haircuts and beauty, furniture replacement, and date night. As our income goes up, we will fund them. We have $0 place holders in the budget so we don’t forget.

A lot of our categories aren’t funded as much as we’d like. Every time there’s a change in one bill, other categories are affected. For example, this month our gas bill went way up with the colder temperatures, so we reduced our grocery, vitamin, and clothing categories to make up for it.

Some of our budget categories go into the safe instead of my purse. This allows us to save up during the year until a big bill annual comes. This includes things like soccer fees, summer camp registration, and appliance replacement. If I had this cash in my purse, it’s likely I would spend it on a cute lamp….just keeping real.

Caution: Slippery Ahead

By Angela on December 29, 2014

Caution Slippery Ahead

When do you feel like spending money? What are your triggers? I can tell you exactly what mine are:

1. Reading cute blogs with DIY projects. I spend money on the supplies which I may or may not actually use.

2. Seeing the new thing my friend just got. I want one too…

2. Social shopping. I’m more apt to spend money when I’m with other people who are spending. I’m at my worst when I’m shopping with my best friend….my husband. We’ll buy stuff together that we wouldn’t dream of buying alone.

3. Feeling sorry for myself. Stupid thoughts like, “Everyone else has ___ but I don’t.” Or worse, I’m not providing well for my kids unless I get them____.

4. Feeling empathetic for a fund raiser or new biz.

5. Overwhelm/Chaos — I’m tempted about things like deli pizza, fast food, paper plates, and purchased gifts when I’m too busy and overwhelmed to make the things myself. Also, if I’m disorganized I tend to buy the wrong thing/food when I’m at the store.

6. Surprises: last minute birthday party, bake sale, school treat day…

So for every one of these and the few more I might think of, I need a plan of action. What will I do? How will I cope?

1. Pin the projects for later…or limit my reading this month. I’m going to need the extra time to list all my stuff on Craigslist.

2. Thou Shalt Not Covet. Practice being happy for her and being happy for me for the great progress I am making this month. Plus, I can always put the item in my amazon wish list.

3. Practice gratitude. It’s hard to feel sorry for myself when I realize how blessed I am.

4. Not this month. “I really want to help you, but I can’t do it for 4 weeks. Can I order then? No? Please ask me next time, I just can’t this month.”

5. Have some items on hand for fast to fix meals that will keep us out of fast food joints and delis. Taco night, simple spaghetti, and Mackerel Patties are on standby for crazy night.

6. Last minute things will be dealt with from stash…at least for the next 31 days.

Print your worksheet here: Spending Freeze Caution Slippery Ahead

Guidelines and Rules

By Angela on December 28, 2014

We’re still on vacation and by “we” I mean you and me. The actual spending freeze will start on January 1st :). Until then, take a few minutes and think about what you want your rules to be. Here are some guidelines that I think are a good idea.

Spending Freeze Guidelines

In addition to the things above set up some basic rules for yourself below.

Spending Freeze My Rules GIF

This month is my daughter’s 15th birthday. I have set aside cash for her gifts so I will write that in the “Things I May Spend On” section. Also, I have an important baby shower coming up this month that I’ve set aside cash for. The things that I may NOT spend on include organizers at IKEA (sigh), clothes, and misc. craft supplies (unless they involve the baby shower or birthday situation.) I need to give this some more thought to think of what things are likely to pop up in January.

To download PDFs of these two files click here: Spending Freeze Guidelines and Rules.

Your Goals

By Angela on December 27, 2014

I’m super excited about all the “I’m in” comments from yesterday. Thank you! It’s such a good feeling to not be alone.

When I have a goal that requires a big sacrifice (say a fitness challenge with Fit Yummy Mummy), I do better when I think about it awhile before the sacrifice begins. It gives me time to wrap my mind around what I’m agreeing to do, what it will change in my daily life, and for how long. With enough time to think about it, my whole being commits to the process. I will DO this! It’s not a whim that I’ll forget about in a couple of days, it’s going to happen.

It’s important to note that this Spending Freeze is for the month of January only. What I’m asking you to do would be miserable to sustain for a lifetime. We did it for 6 months one time (to win the trip to the Bahamas with Dave Ramsey) and while it was hard, it was doable. 1 month is even more doable. It’s long enough to get momentum, but short enough to ask you to do some crazy stuff to reach your goals. If you hate it, it was over. It can be that thing you talk about….”Remember that time we listened to that crazy blogger and….” On the other hand, if you decide it isn’t all that bad, you can extend it to further reach your goals.

Why the freeze? I don’t know about you, but our income covers our expenses and not much more. We could stop music lessons, sports and school expenses and make more traction, but I’m hoping to create traction without my kids missing out on opportunities. (On the other hand, if we had a real emergency, like a sudden job loss–the music lessons and sports would instantly be on the chopping block.) By sacrificing some of the “stuff” that we consider part of our basic needs, I can make traction. Here are some things we could temporarily do without: computer paper, ink, shoes/clothes, printed photos, certain foods, movies, restaurants, cosmetics, toilet paper, or paper towels.

Wrap your mind around what we are about to do, and while you’re wrapping….Let’s set some goals. What would you like to accomplish this year? Then highlight the ones you can specifically do this month.

Spending Freeze Goals

If you need ideas, start with Dave’s baby steps:

1. $1,000 mini emergency fund

2. Debt Snowball

3. 3-6 months of expenses in savings

4. Invest 15% of household income in retirement

5. Fund College for Kids

6. Pay of Home Early

7. Invest and Give

We are on baby step 5b…which is saving for a special project. Our bedroom has been torn up for 3 years.. exposed studs, insulation, & pipes, 45 year old carpet, dim lighting, a bathtub sized hole in the floor….you get the picture. We are saving to fix it as inexpensively as possible while still getting a good finished project.

When you are writing down your goals, be specific with dollar amounts. This is private. No one but you and your husband needs to see it, so be detailed.

While you are being specific break it down. Our bathroom project is huge — moving walls and plumbing lines huge. If I simply saved up for the entire project it would take us 4 constant years of spending freezes to get there. I can’t think like that. I don’t have the strength to keep momentum that long.

If I break the project down into smaller parts, my sacrifice center understands that. I can save up to move the door. And then to build the wall. Once the wall is up, I can paint the bedroom side of the suite and live in a finished room.

Download your worksheet here: Spending Freeze My Goals