Originally posted May 25, 2010
This picture does not fully represent my childhood Christmases--you can still see the base of the tree, but it does show off my beloved Spice. Anyway, Christmas at my house was BIG; there were 5 girls, plus mom, and my step dad. When I was in first grade the teacher told us there was no Santa. Of course I went home to confirm with my sister who was not even in school yet--my mom was mad at that teacher! I said it could not be true because mom would never spend that much on toys!
As we got older, Mom would buy things we had been eyeing for awhile, or surprise us with a piece of jewelry, or give us something we didn't know we needed (one year we were all gifted with a tape dispenser since mom was tired of us taking hers--I still have mine). Mom continues to do Christmas BIG and the family is growing! Mom never went into debt for Christmas. For her, it was shopping the sales, shopping the sales, and shopping more sales.
I want to have big, eye-popping Christmases for my kids; on the other hand, my husband had a very different experience and BIG was not part of his Christmas. When we took Financial Peace University last fall, with Christmas fast approaching, the class was left with the question--how much to spend on Christmas? Dave Ramsey gives guidelines (percentages) for every other category, but not gifts. A classmate was watching a morning news show and their financial adviser suggested 1.5% of your income for Christmas. Well, we did not and do not have $600 for Christmas. We took the 1.5% for a gift budget and applied it to yearly gift giving. $50 a month, which has been accumulating. This year, aside from birthdays,various holidays, and our anniversary, we have two weddings to attend. Well, I'm still not sure what gift professor will give his friends; for my sister, I will be making her wedding cake (and traveling 3,000 miles with the kids--that's gift enough!).
Back to saving for Christmas (and other gift giving occasions), I use Swagbucks. My goal is a minimum of 20 Swag Bucks a day. After every 450 Swag Bucks, I redeem for a $5 Amazon gift card. What can you do with $5? Build them up. Amazon allows many gift card codes to be entered; unlike Target, which limits you to 4. Last Christmas I spent the few gift cards I had, plus money from the gift giving budget, and always bought $25 to receive free shipping. I even bought a couple things right after Christmas and put them away for Easter!
If you start today with Swagbucks and earn 20 bucks a day, you will have 3,600 bucks by Christmas. That's 8 $5 gift cards for searching. I search for "yahoo mail" every morning and I am surprised how often that earns some bucks. Also, when I am searching, I go to the other pages--you can get bucks for looking at the other pages, or comparison shopping, or images, etc. You will not get swagbucks for every search, but use it as you normally use a search engine and you WILL see the bucks accumulate! I currently have 8 $5 Amazon gift cards ready to go. I did use some last month, and money from the kids' allowance budget, buying diaper liners and books for the kids. You need to know gift cards are posted around the 1st and 17th each month after you request them.
Disclosure: The link to Swagbucks is my referral link--I get nothing if you sign up, but I do earn matching bucks when you get bucks searching, up to 1,000 per referral.
Jan 10, 2011
Evolving Budget
Originally posted May 24, 2010
After 6 months of being on a budget, some things changed. My couponing/saving skills improved, I wanted to give more to charity, gas prices went up, our co-pay doubled, and my students loans were paid off (in part due to a gift from family and, thinking we were no where near ready to buy a house, we emptied our house savings fund). After we paid ourselves back, we took the money we would have spent on my student loans and applied them to Professor’s student loans, which are currently due to be paid off in April 2013.
As of this past April, our budget is as follows.
Giving
8.5% Charity 40.00
Church 260.00
Savings
19.8% House down payment 600.00
Retirement
Housing
26.6% Rent 985.00
Renter's insurance 13.00
Repairs, maintenance 40.00
Utilities
6.9% Electricity 88.00
Water 41.00
Phone 81.00
Trash 20.00
Cable 15.00
Food
8.1% Groceries, toiletries 200.00
Stockpile for groceries eliminated
Restaurants, take-out 60.00
Pet food, litter 25.00
Transportation
4.9% Gas 58.00
Maintenance, repairs, tires 50.00
Insurance 52.00
License 13.00
Car replacement
Clothing
1.3% Children 16.00
Adult 30.00
Medical
3.9% Doctor office visits 60.00
Portland Parking 4.80
Dentist
Optometrist
Prescriptions 45.00
OTC medications 10.00
Veterinarian 20.00
Personal
4.0% Life insurance 37.70
Baby sitter
Gifts 50.00
Professor's allowance 10.00
my allowance 10.00
Kid's allowance 10.00
Haircuts 25.00
Recreation
3.1% Entertainment--family 10.00
Vacation 100.00
Debt
12.8% Professor's Student Loans 450.00
my Student Loans eliminated
Spent Pay Period Total 3600.50
Income Actual Pay 3763.61
We are still not able to fund certain categories. Our rent has gone up because we went to month-to-month rent when we realized we could be serious about buying a house. Professor no longer gets any overtime, which has lessened extras at the end of the month. We still need to adjust for higher gas costs and the fact that I drive a lot more on the days I have the car; whereas last year, my little man was taking two naps a day and we rarely left the house.
The “Restaurants, take-out category” is also the budget that date nights come from. Once in a blue moon get take out an instead aim for two $30 meals or less per month, and free babysitting from a wonderful friend.
I would love to get the Pet food, litter category down, but the cats have nasty reactions to many, many foods, including Iams. They are not on a diet I need to buy at the vet--yet.
After 6 months of being on a budget, some things changed. My couponing/saving skills improved, I wanted to give more to charity, gas prices went up, our co-pay doubled, and my students loans were paid off (in part due to a gift from family and, thinking we were no where near ready to buy a house, we emptied our house savings fund). After we paid ourselves back, we took the money we would have spent on my student loans and applied them to Professor’s student loans, which are currently due to be paid off in April 2013.
As of this past April, our budget is as follows.
Giving
8.5% Charity 40.00
Church 260.00
Savings
19.8% House down payment 600.00
Retirement
Housing
26.6% Rent 985.00
Renter's insurance 13.00
Repairs, maintenance 40.00
Utilities
6.9% Electricity 88.00
Water 41.00
Phone 81.00
Trash 20.00
Cable 15.00
Food
8.1% Groceries, toiletries 200.00
Stockpile for groceries eliminated
Restaurants, take-out 60.00
Pet food, litter 25.00
Transportation
4.9% Gas 58.00
Maintenance, repairs, tires 50.00
Insurance 52.00
License 13.00
Car replacement
Clothing
1.3% Children 16.00
Adult 30.00
Medical
3.9% Doctor office visits 60.00
Portland Parking 4.80
Dentist
Optometrist
Prescriptions 45.00
OTC medications 10.00
Veterinarian 20.00
Personal
4.0% Life insurance 37.70
Baby sitter
Gifts 50.00
Professor's allowance 10.00
my allowance 10.00
Kid's allowance 10.00
Haircuts 25.00
Recreation
3.1% Entertainment--family 10.00
Vacation 100.00
Debt
12.8% Professor's Student Loans 450.00
my Student Loans eliminated
Spent Pay Period Total 3600.50
Income Actual Pay 3763.61
We are still not able to fund certain categories. Our rent has gone up because we went to month-to-month rent when we realized we could be serious about buying a house. Professor no longer gets any overtime, which has lessened extras at the end of the month. We still need to adjust for higher gas costs and the fact that I drive a lot more on the days I have the car; whereas last year, my little man was taking two naps a day and we rarely left the house.
The “Restaurants, take-out category” is also the budget that date nights come from. Once in a blue moon get take out an instead aim for two $30 meals or less per month, and free babysitting from a wonderful friend.
I would love to get the Pet food, litter category down, but the cats have nasty reactions to many, many foods, including Iams. They are not on a diet I need to buy at the vet--yet.
Being Comfortable
Originally posted May 23, 2010
Probably the worst thing about being comfortable is knowing it won’t last. I was up at 4:20 this morning. I tried to fall back asleep, but finally got out of bed at 5:40. The kids are not up. They might sleep in today since I am already up. For me, sleep goes out the window when change is coming. Big change is coming! We will sign for our house on Monday (tomorrow!). This means it will be time to redo our budget. We took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University last fall and hammered out the following budget November 2009.
Giving
Church 260.00
Savings
House down payment 700.00
Retirement
Housing
Rent 885.00
Renter's insurance 13.00
Repairs, maintenance 25.00
Utilities
Electricity 88.00
Water 41.00
Phone 81.00
Trash 20.00
Cable 15.00
Food
Groceries, toiletries 300.00
Stockpile for groceries 20.00
Restaurants, take-out 60.00
Pet food, litter 20.00
Transportation
Gas 58.00
Maintenance, repairs, tires 50.00
Insurance 52.00
License 13.00
Car replacement
Clothing
Children 16.00
Adult 30.00
Medical
Doctor office visits 30.00
Portland Parking 4.80
Dentist
Optometrist
Prescriptions 45.00
OTC medications 10.00
Veterinarian 20.00
Personal
Life insurance 37.70
Baby sitter
Gifts 50.00
Professor's allowance 10.00
my allowance 10.00
Kid's allowance 10.00
Haircuts 25.00
Recreation
Entertainment--family 10.00
Vacation 100.00
Debt
Professor's Student Loans 150.00
my Student Loans 300.00
Spent Pay Period Total 3,559.50
Income Actual Pay 3,815.33
Not too bad; things in green are currently unfunded. We had some extra at the end of every month. I wish I could say it was put into savings, but I only have a vague idea where it went: going to the dentist ate up some and when our co-pay doubled in January, the extra was spent on that too. Also gas prices have gone up.
This budget is monthly and is meant to accumulate in most categories. When the insurance is due to car or rent, we pay all of it. Vacation is a bit high, but there are two out of town weddings coming up, and we all fly to NY every other Christmas. When this budget was written, we were credit card debt free and had doubled payments to my student loans. For those looking VERY closely, we only get $10 a month each for allowance and I had to insist that the kid's get 'allowance' money too, because I knew my money would be spent on them.
Probably the worst thing about being comfortable is knowing it won’t last. I was up at 4:20 this morning. I tried to fall back asleep, but finally got out of bed at 5:40. The kids are not up. They might sleep in today since I am already up. For me, sleep goes out the window when change is coming. Big change is coming! We will sign for our house on Monday (tomorrow!). This means it will be time to redo our budget. We took Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University last fall and hammered out the following budget November 2009.
Giving
Church 260.00
Savings
House down payment 700.00
Retirement
Housing
Rent 885.00
Renter's insurance 13.00
Repairs, maintenance 25.00
Utilities
Electricity 88.00
Water 41.00
Phone 81.00
Trash 20.00
Cable 15.00
Food
Groceries, toiletries 300.00
Stockpile for groceries 20.00
Restaurants, take-out 60.00
Pet food, litter 20.00
Transportation
Gas 58.00
Maintenance, repairs, tires 50.00
Insurance 52.00
License 13.00
Car replacement
Clothing
Children 16.00
Adult 30.00
Medical
Doctor office visits 30.00
Portland Parking 4.80
Dentist
Optometrist
Prescriptions 45.00
OTC medications 10.00
Veterinarian 20.00
Personal
Life insurance 37.70
Baby sitter
Gifts 50.00
Professor's allowance 10.00
my allowance 10.00
Kid's allowance 10.00
Haircuts 25.00
Recreation
Entertainment--family 10.00
Vacation 100.00
Debt
Professor's Student Loans 150.00
my Student Loans 300.00
Spent Pay Period Total 3,559.50
Income Actual Pay 3,815.33
Not too bad; things in green are currently unfunded. We had some extra at the end of every month. I wish I could say it was put into savings, but I only have a vague idea where it went: going to the dentist ate up some and when our co-pay doubled in January, the extra was spent on that too. Also gas prices have gone up.
This budget is monthly and is meant to accumulate in most categories. When the insurance is due to car or rent, we pay all of it. Vacation is a bit high, but there are two out of town weddings coming up, and we all fly to NY every other Christmas. When this budget was written, we were credit card debt free and had doubled payments to my student loans. For those looking VERY closely, we only get $10 a month each for allowance and I had to insist that the kid's get 'allowance' money too, because I knew my money would be spent on them.
Look what was in the mail!
Originally posted May 18, 2010
Yesterday's mail was filled with two 2 TWO checks--Ebates and Opinion Outpost and samples.
I do not do every freebie that comes along, but some I can really use, or donate. Yesterday I received $13 from Ebates and $20 from Opinion Outpost. I also received free samples from Kraft, which came with some coupons and rebate form! In addition, some trial size Pantene for curly hair from VocalPoint.
I no longer buy a ton of things on-line, but when I need to get toner for the printer, I use Ebates. I have mentioned Opinion Outpost in the past; I do not spend hours doing surveys, but as the kids are watching Dinosaur Train, I knock out a few surveys. All money I make from rebates and surveys currently goes in a separate savings account to be used for storage at our new house. I found having a separate account is useful to keep that money from being spent on bills. Plus, it's AMAZING how quickly that account has grown!
Disclosure: links to Ebates and Opinion Outpost are referral links.
Yesterday's mail was filled with two 2 TWO checks--Ebates and Opinion Outpost and samples.
I do not do every freebie that comes along, but some I can really use, or donate. Yesterday I received $13 from Ebates and $20 from Opinion Outpost. I also received free samples from Kraft, which came with some coupons and rebate form! In addition, some trial size Pantene for curly hair from VocalPoint.
I no longer buy a ton of things on-line, but when I need to get toner for the printer, I use Ebates. I have mentioned Opinion Outpost in the past; I do not spend hours doing surveys, but as the kids are watching Dinosaur Train, I knock out a few surveys. All money I make from rebates and surveys currently goes in a separate savings account to be used for storage at our new house. I found having a separate account is useful to keep that money from being spent on bills. Plus, it's AMAZING how quickly that account has grown!
Disclosure: links to Ebates and Opinion Outpost are referral links.
Time for ME
Originally posted May 10, 2010
My Mother’s Day gift to myself was a day of couponing by MYSELF. Professor was home with the kids and I finally got out of the house at 2 pm; my goal was no later than 11 am. I decided to go into the far away tax-free land and not fight traffic trying to get home, so the Prof and kids were on their own for dinner. This is the second time I have missed dinner—ever. I have been late a few times, but missing dinner is a big deal here. Clearly the mommy guilt is getting to me as I type this….
So, where did I go with all my free time?!?
1 Fred Meyer, 1 Target, 3 different Safeways, 2 Rite Aid (only bought at one--would have done more, but forgot some coupons and items I had rainchecks for are still not available!), and 1 Walgreens.
So, what did I get with all my free time (and coupons and catalinas)?!?
The break down in no particular order and not by store:
5 loaves bread
14 bottles Multi Surface Windex
8 Scrubbing Bubbles that look like aliens
2 refills for said aliens
3 Schick Hydro razors
4 Motrin PM
4 Dove Ultimate deodorant
1 EOS shave cream
2 Old Spice Odor Blocker
4 Tresemmé Fresh Start
2 18 count eggs
2 bags gummi bears (one did not make it into the picture since I ate them)
1 canola oil
1 Foster Grant kids sunglasses
2 Nexcare comfort bandages
2 Soft Scrub
2 Kotex U
4 Purex 3-in-1
1 Lipton to go
2 Welches 100% juice
2 Capri Sun
3 Wacky Mac
2 lbs strawberries
3.36 lb asparagus
Most of this will not stay in my home. I don’t know who will get it, but it cannot live here. The best part for me was coming home this evening in time to read stories and sing Snuggle Puppy to the kids and then having the apartment QUIET. I took all my purchases out and tallied up the totals.
So, what did I spend during all my free time?!?
Target: used $5.96 on a gift card and received a $5 gift card
Rite Aid: spent $4.56. I am still kicking myself because I forgot to hand over 2 $1 Kotex coupons!!! I will receive $5 in single check rebates.
Walgreens: used $3 Register Reward, spent 76¢, and received $5 RR
Safeway: used $36 in catalinas, spent $1.02, received $48 in catalinas (gave $3 to the lady behind me after my last transaction when I used the $10 off $50 coupon on a large order)
Fred Meyer: spent $2.70 on 5 loaves of bread and hung out at the coupon exchange basket for awhile
In cash I spent $9.04—technically, I spent $10 if you count the 96¢ difference in gift cards at Target. I will get back $5 from Rite Aid and I sill have catalinas to spend at Walgreens and Safeway.
My Mother’s Day gift to myself was a day of couponing by MYSELF. Professor was home with the kids and I finally got out of the house at 2 pm; my goal was no later than 11 am. I decided to go into the far away tax-free land and not fight traffic trying to get home, so the Prof and kids were on their own for dinner. This is the second time I have missed dinner—ever. I have been late a few times, but missing dinner is a big deal here. Clearly the mommy guilt is getting to me as I type this….
So, where did I go with all my free time?!?
1 Fred Meyer, 1 Target, 3 different Safeways, 2 Rite Aid (only bought at one--would have done more, but forgot some coupons and items I had rainchecks for are still not available!), and 1 Walgreens.
So, what did I get with all my free time (and coupons and catalinas)?!?
The break down in no particular order and not by store:
5 loaves bread
14 bottles Multi Surface Windex
8 Scrubbing Bubbles that look like aliens
2 refills for said aliens
3 Schick Hydro razors
4 Motrin PM
4 Dove Ultimate deodorant
1 EOS shave cream
2 Old Spice Odor Blocker
4 Tresemmé Fresh Start
2 18 count eggs
2 bags gummi bears (one did not make it into the picture since I ate them)
1 canola oil
1 Foster Grant kids sunglasses
2 Nexcare comfort bandages
2 Soft Scrub
2 Kotex U
4 Purex 3-in-1
1 Lipton to go
2 Welches 100% juice
2 Capri Sun
3 Wacky Mac
2 lbs strawberries
3.36 lb asparagus
Most of this will not stay in my home. I don’t know who will get it, but it cannot live here. The best part for me was coming home this evening in time to read stories and sing Snuggle Puppy to the kids and then having the apartment QUIET. I took all my purchases out and tallied up the totals.
So, what did I spend during all my free time?!?
Target: used $5.96 on a gift card and received a $5 gift card
Rite Aid: spent $4.56. I am still kicking myself because I forgot to hand over 2 $1 Kotex coupons!!! I will receive $5 in single check rebates.
Walgreens: used $3 Register Reward, spent 76¢, and received $5 RR
Safeway: used $36 in catalinas, spent $1.02, received $48 in catalinas (gave $3 to the lady behind me after my last transaction when I used the $10 off $50 coupon on a large order)
Fred Meyer: spent $2.70 on 5 loaves of bread and hung out at the coupon exchange basket for awhile
In cash I spent $9.04—technically, I spent $10 if you count the 96¢ difference in gift cards at Target. I will get back $5 from Rite Aid and I sill have catalinas to spend at Walgreens and Safeway.
Digging into Debt III: Oh Canada!
Originally posted May 10, 2010
Professor found a job and we were living well. We were delusional, but we were living well. We made it to Calgary with two fish tanks (complete with fish), two birds, and three cats. We had a nice two bedroom upper level of a house within walking distance to my research lab. Professor found a job in another research lab within a few months. We were back to a two income household with one new car (complete with car payments). We were starting to accrue credit card debt, but it was minimal and I paid more than the minimum. At the time, credit cards did not require much for the minimum and continued to send great balance transfer offers, which I used.
There were a few things we never accounted for such as registering the car in Alberta, opening bank accounts, but not being able to get a credit card (we used our American cards—DUMB! Hello transaction fees….). We had also lived in Idaho so long that we had not had to have credit checks for telephone service or cable in a long time. Since we had no credit history in Canada, we had to put down deposits for everything.
Digging into Debt
Digging into Debt II
Professor found a job and we were living well. We were delusional, but we were living well. We made it to Calgary with two fish tanks (complete with fish), two birds, and three cats. We had a nice two bedroom upper level of a house within walking distance to my research lab. Professor found a job in another research lab within a few months. We were back to a two income household with one new car (complete with car payments). We were starting to accrue credit card debt, but it was minimal and I paid more than the minimum. At the time, credit cards did not require much for the minimum and continued to send great balance transfer offers, which I used.
There were a few things we never accounted for such as registering the car in Alberta, opening bank accounts, but not being able to get a credit card (we used our American cards—DUMB! Hello transaction fees….). We had also lived in Idaho so long that we had not had to have credit checks for telephone service or cable in a long time. Since we had no credit history in Canada, we had to put down deposits for everything.
Digging into Debt
Digging into Debt II
My Budget for Effective Giving
Originally posted May 8, 2010
Now that we are budgeted and Professor saw what I could do with coupons and sales last Christmas (to give away), we have a charity budget. Each month I go to the bank and withdraw cash and divide it into various envelopes. The grocery envelope gets $200 and the charity envelope gets $40; the only two envelopes I carry with me. Other envelopes for clothing, household, pet care, etc. are left at home, unless we are going out for those items. There are few impulse buys with this system.
I can get a lot for $40 a month and I pay more in Washington state sales tax than I do for the items I buy to give away. Tax is on the sale price—precoupon. OTC medicines are taxed and this is where the majority of my charity money goes. Food is not taxed, and food is a favorite item to give away.
Not all my giving is completely altruistic. I work on Single Check Rebates and accumulating purchases towards various rebates using items I buyto give away. Money from SCR and rebates go into a separate savings account and is not recycled back into the charity envelope. When I get catalinas worth money off my next purchase when buying items for charity, the catalinas are split; some buy food for my family and some go back to get more items for charity. My cereal crazyness last Tuesday required a little money up front: $3 for 4 boxes of cereal. Then I received $3 and $4 catalinas. After that, depending on what coupons I had, I would pay nothing or $1 for 4 boxes of cereal and I continued accumulating catalinas. I have not tallied all my Albertsons receipts from Tuesday, but I know there is still $5 in my charity envelope, which will get refilled on the 10th (Monday).
If you want to give, start with a budget. You can start with $5 a week, or month and see how far it goes. After some practice, you will find most of your charity money might go to pay sales tax too!
I do not know how much this cost me out of pocket, but sale prices before coupons for 35 Benadryl products, 5 Stayfree, and 5 Carefreewould was $189.55. If someone had told me last year that I would be able to give this much, and more, quality items away EVERY MONTH, I would not have believed them.
I like to give. I like big Christmases, big birthdays, big baby showers, etc. My giving has gotten me into trouble. Back when I didn’t have a budget and I would find great deals, I would buy them to give away. That did not work. Of course, back then I was not effectively couponing and spending around $400 a month on groceries.Now that we are budgeted and Professor saw what I could do with coupons and sales last Christmas (to give away), we have a charity budget. Each month I go to the bank and withdraw cash and divide it into various envelopes. The grocery envelope gets $200 and the charity envelope gets $40; the only two envelopes I carry with me. Other envelopes for clothing, household, pet care, etc. are left at home, unless we are going out for those items. There are few impulse buys with this system.
I can get a lot for $40 a month and I pay more in Washington state sales tax than I do for the items I buy to give away. Tax is on the sale price—precoupon. OTC medicines are taxed and this is where the majority of my charity money goes. Food is not taxed, and food is a favorite item to give away.
Not all my giving is completely altruistic. I work on Single Check Rebates and accumulating purchases towards various rebates using items I buyto give away. Money from SCR and rebates go into a separate savings account and is not recycled back into the charity envelope. When I get catalinas worth money off my next purchase when buying items for charity, the catalinas are split; some buy food for my family and some go back to get more items for charity. My cereal crazyness last Tuesday required a little money up front: $3 for 4 boxes of cereal. Then I received $3 and $4 catalinas. After that, depending on what coupons I had, I would pay nothing or $1 for 4 boxes of cereal and I continued accumulating catalinas. I have not tallied all my Albertsons receipts from Tuesday, but I know there is still $5 in my charity envelope, which will get refilled on the 10th (Monday).
If you want to give, start with a budget. You can start with $5 a week, or month and see how far it goes. After some practice, you will find most of your charity money might go to pay sales tax too!
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