Drugstore Trip 1/8
I decided to brave the cold this morning, and with coupons and list (and a diaper bag, baby and dawdling toddler in tow), try my hand at drugstore couponing again.
Although I didn’t get everything I wanted, I got some things on sale. Here’s some of the items that I got this week. Sorry there’s no pictures, my camera battery was dead.
2 pkgs Stayfree pads: $0.29 after 3/1 BOGO coupon and in-store coupon
1 Revlon Eye Shadow: -$.01 overage with $2.00/off coupon and in-store coupon
Desitin: $1.99 after online coupon
2 pkgs Christmas after sales candy: $0.24
Tax: $0.83
Total: $3.34
2 Oust Sanitizers: $3.99 with 1/3 BOGO Coupon, earned $6 ECB
1 Palmolive Dish Soap $0.96
Tax: $0.63
Total: $5.58
ECBs earned: $6.00
Check out Common Sense with Money for more drugstore deals.
Free Classical Music
Here’s a free album of classical music from Amazon. I’m downloading mine right now.
Saving Money by Using What You Have
January 6, 2010 by Chelsea
Filed under Frugality, Piggy Bank
I can freely admit that the creative part of my brain is often underused and perhaps even undervalued. I am used to routines, schedules and deviating from the normal can be hard for me. Yet this year I’ve been more determined to be a wise steward and make do with what I have.
My husband made a delicious dinner for New Years and I was in charge of dessert. I have always been a fan of pudding parfaits and wanted to make them in fancy, festive glasses. The only problem is we don’t have any fancy, festive glasses. So I looked through my cupboards and this is what I found. Festive canning jars. They may not have been fancy glasses, but they were better than our usual plastic ware.
One bad habit that I’ve picked up is spending hours skimming through various tot school blogs looking for ideas for creative play for my son. I often think if I had this cool toy, or these expensive art supplies my son will be happier in his play. I don’t take into consideration the fun stuff I have just lying around the house. While I was cleaning up the kitchen I ran into an empty cinnamon jar. It was going to find an immediate new home in the trash, but I decided to give it to my son with some shortened spaghetti so he could do this.
Both of these ideas were quick, easy substitutions that didn’t cost a cent but still fulfilled their functions.
See more ways to save at Lifeasmom’s Frugal Friday.
New Baby
We are excited to announce that we had a baby girl last month! I have been very busy getting ready for her, chasing my two-year old and teaching piano lessons. Perhaps life will slow down a little and leave me more time to post. Here’s to hoping :).
Our New Way of Budgeting
After reading “America’s Cheapest Family”, my husband and I decided to alter the way that we budgeted. In essence we do a zero-based budget where every dollar of Tim’s paycheck is accounted for before we spend it. But where our budget gets a little more complex (but essentially easier) is that we divide our bank account into basically sub-accounts such as clothing, groceries, utilities, rent, etc. The total of all of our sub-accounts is what is in our bank account. It’s similar to the envelope method but instead of using cash we just kept track of our expenses on paper as we spend throughout the month, and always know how much is left in a category to spend.
The advantages of this budget is that I always know how much is in each sub-account for clothing, rent, etc and when the balance is zero, I know I have to wait for the next paycheck. In addition, we have the freedom to carry over any money left in a certain category to the next month or put the money into savings. We usually carry the balance over which is especially helpful for things such as utilities where some months have higher expenses than other months. If we find that there’s too much money left over at the end of the month we’ll either put it into savings or adjust the budget the following month.
The disadvantages of this budget is that it takes a little more time to set up and use than using Quicken did, although it does get easier with practice. Also, you need to make sure you’re not too strict staying in the budget that you can’t plan for unexpected occurrences in each category such as an extra high utility bill or an unexpected extra trip that depletes your gas account. You can get around this by simply transferring money from one sub-account to another, but it is important to only do this when necessary.
The first thing I did to prepare this budget was create an excel spreadsheet that divided each of our expenses and subtracted them from Tim’s paycheck. Each month Tim and I alter the different balances for the month’s needs, but I always make sure each dollar is accounted for.
The second thing I did was to make a budget notebook. I put each expense listed on the spreadsheet on a loose leaf piece of paper and arranged them alphabetically.
Finally, I broke out our checking register. Now I was prepared to start the budget.
Here is the process that I use to budget, starting a few days before Tim’s paid.
1. After talking with Tim, use the excel spreadsheet to decide how much to fund each sub-account for the month. We make sure to fund our tithe and savings first.
2. “Deposit” the money into a main check register and also record each deposit in our main sub-account notebook. For example, I would put the total amount of Tim’s check in the register, but then I would go through page-by-page in the notebook and deposit the alloted amount. For example, if I assigned $50 to utilities for that paycheck then I would add $50 to whatever (if any) balance was left from the last paycheck.
3. Add up the totals from all of the sub-accounts, these should equal the balance in the checkbook.
4. As purchases or extra deposits are made throughout the pay period, record them in the checkbook and the notebook and adjust the balances.
5. Reconcile the account with the balance and purchases listed from my bank online
This process was a little tedious at first, but now the process is a lot more smooth and I end up balancing the checkbook about once a week, and then on paydays. We also set up our budget so that each paycheck funds one-half of our monthly bills and expenses. For example, to pay for our July rent we we will fund half the rent account the second check of June and then fully fund it the first check of July. This way, all of the paychecks are evenly divided and we’re not paying rent out of one check and then catching up later in the month with the other expenses. This also pads our checking account a little to avoid overdraft fees.
I still use the envelope system and cash for a few categories such as garage sales, clothing (which we mainly purchase at garage sales), Tim’s lunches and groceries (because I spend less using cash). I just record a withdrawal and don’t keep a sub-account of cash because I can easily count it in the envelope.
Even though it feels strange going to a mostly paper system, when I had used Quicken for years, this method is really fulfilling our family’s needs right now and keeping us on track. If I ever find a similar computer program we may use that, but for now this system works for us.
