House Update

So, as some of you may know, my family and I have been in the process of building a new home. We have done some of it, but mostly it has been done by a contractor. They said that they are hoping that it will be done within 2 weeks, but I'll believe that when I see it.

We will need about $2000 at closing to cover the closing costs of switching from a building loan to a mortgage plus the extra stuff we had done on the house that we will owe the contractor. We have $2500 right now and while that is enough, I really don't want to wipe out our savings. My husband was hoping we would get enough back from taxes to help us put more in savings, but we are only getting about $300 back, mostly due to the fact that he was on unemployment at the beginning of the year.

So, we need money saved and we need it fast. When I was looking at my budget for February, we have very little that will be left over to go in savings. We have some things that we are going to put on Ebay and Craig's list to help us get some extra money (bowflex, calipers for machining, a bin of McD and BK toys from late 90s - so if anyone is interested let me know lol).

We are also on a strict budget. I just keep telling myself we're broke. There is no extra money to spend. I was going to go to a Zumba event in Elmira this weekend, but decided we need that $15 in savings, plus it would have cost us for the gas. All in all, I am better off going to Zumba at my gym because it is already paid for.

My husband's biggest issue is eating out and spending money on coffee and other crap. I know it's hard because he is going back and forth to the new house several times a week, but we have both decided to take control of this issue. So far we have eaten at home every day since last Thursday. Tonight's dinner is Chicken Paprikash (recipe from South Beach diet cookbook). Next we will work on the coffee issue. It really does all add up.

What ways do you save money or make extra money when time is running out? Let me know by leaving a comment. And for all those in the Northeast - stay warm. It's going to be cold later!! brrr. I am sooooo ready for spring already.

Tuesday Roundup: Freebies, Coupons, Tips and More

Free Samples and Coupons

Have you joined Kraft's First Taste Program yet? If you haven't, then what are you waiting for? Signing up is easy and you get coupons for free Kraft products. Who wouldn't love that?

Once, you are all signed up for Kraft, General Mills has a similar program called the Pssst...Program. Fill in your email address, answer a few general questions about your shopping habits (10 questions), your home address, create password, household size and ages, and answer some more questions about your eating habits. You will then receive an email so it can be verified.


Call for Money Saving Tips

USA Weekend wants all your best frugal and money saving tips. Click here to share with them your tips for possible inclusion in an article. Also, they ask if you know any terrific blogs or websites for frugality. Please feel free to mention my blog. LOL. I am getting a list ready of my best tips to send in and will definitely be mentioning my favorite frugal blogs/sites: $5 Dinners, ConsumerQueen, Frugal Village and Saving Cents with Cents.

Online Coupons

• Blue Bunny ice cream - save $1 on 1.75 quart
• Kashi Go Lean cereal or TLC bares - save $1.50 off 1
• Kashi Heart to Heart cereal - save $1 on one box
• Eggo Bakeshop coupon here.
• Juicy Juice coupon here.
• Colgate Total Advanced - $1 off 1
• Purex Complete 3-in-1 coupon here
• Arm & Hammer products - save over $4.25 on select products
• Free Aquafresh samples and other coupons - HERE
  

Also don't forget to print off your coupons from the regular online coupon sites:

• Coupons.com
• Smartsource
• RedPlum
• Penny Pincher Gazette
• Coupons Inc
  

Spending Update

So, this week we have been trying to spend as little as possible. We have done well so far with only spending money on a gallon of milk($1.99). I went to Walgreens and Rite Aid Sunday and only spent a little over $10 out of pocket - after rebates and register rewards, they paid me to shop.

We still have to go buy a few things that are on sale at the grocery store this week. Tops has a few good deals this week that when combined with coupons is going to save me mucho money. We will also have to run to Wegmans to get corn on the cob, strawberries and potatoes. I have $30 budgeted for this trip but I'm hoping to spend a lot less.

We're trying to get things sold on Craig's List and Ebay, but no luck yet. One of my biggest pet peeves with Craig's List recently has been all the spam. I posted three sets of clothing and get emails asking me if I am still unemployed! From 3 separate people, supposedly. It really makes me doubt whether I want to sell on there anymore. This is the second time I have listed these lots of clothing and I reduced the price of each by about $10. Know anybody who is needs to buy 6-9 months or 12 months boy summer clothes, or 18 months girl summer clothes? We are also trying to get rid of some of hubby's mics, our treadmill, the bowflex (which was seldom used) and a body by jake machine that works the tummy. If we could sell these things, it would improve our finances dramatically.

Starting next month, I would like to start tracking our expenses on here, on either a weekly or monthly basis. Not sure how I want to do that exactly, but I will decide by next week. Maybe it would help us stay within our budget a little better. Of course, if I was actually offered a job that might help too. LOL. If anyone knows of any employers needing to fill a position for administrative assistant, bookkeeping, it help desk, etc, in the Twin Tiers, please let know.

Have a wonderful and safe day!

Trying to cut back

I was not too happy today when I figured and paid bills. Our checking account is down near $100. Now, keep in mind that the checks for rent and water were just paid and they were well over $600. We don't have anymore bills going out for a week and a half so we will be fine. We also have about $800 in our savings accounts, but I am holding out on transferring those to our checking until I absolutely have to.

Hubby is going to put some tools on Ebay, along with a broken saw that someone could use for parts. He also wants to get the Bowflex on Craig's List. I need to re-list the clothing I put on Craig's List two weeks ago (summer clothes - boys' sizes 6-9 month and 12 months, and girls size 18 months). We could have a rummage sale, but with two little ones, it makes it even more work to have one.

We have about $60 left to spend for the month on food. We do have more than enough in our stockpile, it will just take some planning. We definitely have enough vegetables - I would say there is about 50 bags of veggies in our freezer, plus we do have a few canned. We also have TONS of pasta and rice. I have several bags of flour and sugar so I can make quite a few things that we would normally buy. I can even make our bread, either in the bread machine or by hand. So, we will definitely not starve. It is instances like this, when I am glad that we have a stockpile!

We have $60 for miscellaneous spending for the rest of the month and $120 budgeted for 3 weeks of gas (although we don't usually go through a full tank a week I always budget for extra). So, any extra from those two expenses can go into the food budget at the end of the month to replenish our stockpile.

We are trying to come up with as many ways as we can to save money. As mentioned in yesterday's post, we had our cable reduced today, so that will save us $50 a month. We already had our Verizon cell phones canceled and we got Net10 prepaid cell phones. This saves us $46 a month! We haven't used the air conditioning yet and will hold out as long as possible, by opening windows up at night and closing windows and blinds during the day.

I am open to any other money saving ideas that you would like to share. Please leave me your tips in the comments.

Envelope System for Budgeting

We have decided that we are spending too much money 'here and there'. Well, actually I decided. LOL. Although my husband does agree we are getting low on money. A few bucks a day really add up.

So, we have decided to start the envelope system for our expenses. These would only be for things like groceries, gas and we have a miscellaneous category. All our bills (except rent) are automatically sent out each month. If you haven't heard about the envelope system it is a way to budget your money where you have envelopes marked with each expense. You put the amount you have budgeted for the week (or month) in cash in the envelope and when the money is gone, it's gone. Dealing with cash helps people because they can actually 'see' how much money they have. With a debit card or even a check, you sometimes don't realize how much you really are spending until later.

We will be putting $50 a week in the envelope for gas (this is a little high but if the price keeps going up, we may be up to $50 to fill our tank again soon), $60 a week for food and $20 a week for miscellaneous. I am hoping that this will curb all the extra spending on coffee at the gas station and other spending.

How do you manage your money? Do you have any tips on budgeting or how you keep your spending now? Leave a comment for me and let me know.

Meal Planning Saves Money

Would you like a way to save money easily, with or without using coupons? Well, meal planning is it. Planning your meals can not only save you time during the week, but also save you money. It also helps keep you from walking into the kitchen and searching for half an hour trying to figure out what are going to make for your family.

Menu planning does not have to be an elaborate thing. It doesn't have to be complicated or look fancy. You can use a blank calendar that you buy from the store, or that you print off the Internet or Microsoft Word. You could also use a spreadsheet and just list the days in a single column. Or, you could also just use a scrap piece of paper (to save on paper).

I usually just list mine on a piece of paper or in a spreadsheet. It is easier to do it in a spreadsheet because you can move things and delete things easily. It really is about your preferences though.

After you decide what kind of format you would like to use for your meal planning, you need to check your schedule for that week. Is there something going on a certain day. Is there a picnic or other event where you will be eating? You won't want to schedule a meal for that day then. Is there a day where your kid has a game at 6 pm? If so, you will want to plan on making something easy and quick.

You will also want to check your cupboards and freezer and see if there are meals that you already have most ingredients for. You can also meal plan around the weekly sales at your local grocery store. All you need to do now is fill in which meals you would like to make each night. Just remember, you can always change meals around if you'd like.

After filling in the week's worth (or you can plan for more than a week if you would like), make a list of ingredients you will have to buy to make those meals for the week. When you go to the store, just buy the stuff on the list. You will save a lot of money doing it this way. If you stock up on things for your stockpile when you get great deals, and then plan your menu around your stockpile, you could possibly have very little to buy each week for your meals.

As I make the meals each night I cross them off my list, that way I know I made the meal and the ingredients are not available anymore. What I also did to help myself menu plan, was to do a list of all the meals I make on a regular basis. I posted it on the inside of my cupboard and use it for meal planning and for when I have not had time to meal plan. These are the meals that I always keep ingredients in my stockpile for.

I hope this helps you plan your meals and saves you lots of money. Let me know if you already meal plan or if you are going to start. How do you plan your meals?

Words of the Week Wednesday

Every Wednesday I write about 1-3 sites I have found recently that I think you will like to go visit. Today's sites are:

1. Stouffer's is having a contest on their site. Usually I don't post contests, but I really think that it's a very interesting contest. In order to get an entry into the contest each week, you have to post a goal of how many times you want to eat at home with your family. Then at the end of the week you fill in how many times you ate at home, and that enters you in the contest each week. I think it is a wonderful that they are promoting eating at home with your family. Not only does it promote family and together time, it also saves you money. You can check out the contest at Take the Challenge -Let's Fix Dinner.
2. Have you ever made homemade bread? It is so yummy. But many homemade breads are not good as sandwich bread. Ever try putting peanut butter and jelly on regular homemade bread? Doesn't work very well. I found a delicious recipe for homemade sandwich bread. A fellow member at Frugal Village posted it on there and it is so awesome! You can find the recipe on the White Sandwich Bread thread. While you're there, browse around the rest of Frugal Village. It is a wonderful place where people share their frugal tips with each other.
   
3. Erin from $5 Dinner.com was recently featured on Raychel Ray. You can see the show segment here. Erin's blog centers around how she feeds her family for $5 per meal. She uses the stores' weekly ads and coupons to plan her meals for the week. She not only provides recipes, but also pictures of the meals when she makes them. She also just got a contract to write a cookbook! Congrats Erin!

If you have any blogs or sites (anything dealing with frugality, money or coupons), please leave it in my comments and I will look it over for possible inclusion in the next Words of the Week Wednesday.

Words of the Week Wednesday

I came across a wonderful blog recently = Frugal Dad. He is very insightful and the content is always really well written. Today he posted a collection of 122 ways to trim your budget. This is an awesome collection of different tips from readers and also from him. There are some on there that I haven't even heard of before!

I thought I would share with you the ones pertaining to food shopping and couponing and then you can go read the rest of the list yourself. You can read the rest of the list here.

Some of the tips include:

• Using two coupons when you buy something Buy One Get One Free
• Sign up with various manufacturers and stores to get coupons and special offers
• Spend about 10 minutes a week cleaning out your coupons and getting rid of ones that are expired. I usually do this on Saturday before I get a new messload of coupons on Sunday.
  
• Don't just rely on coupons from the newspaper. Other good sources include the internet and magazines.
• Don't forget that places like Family Dollar take coupons also. They usually have really good prices on cleaning products and when combined with coupon it's even better.
• Keep your coupons in your car, or better yet, your purse. This way you always have them with you if you come across a great deal.
  
• Knowing each store's coupon policy will save you a lot of headache and help make planning your shopping trip more efficient.
• Know your prices. Knowing what you usually pay on the things you buy the most, will help you know if that sale price is really a good deal or not. Just because it is on sale doesn't mean that it is a good deal. Make it a point to know what the normal price for commonly bought products is at either Walmart or Target. Using a price book (just get a small notebook) might help you find the cheapest. What I did was I kept track of everything on my receipts in a spreadsheet for a while. This told me not only how much I was spending on certain things, but also where I was getting the best prices.
  
• Use couponmom.com or afullcup.com to find out what coupons match which sales at what store.
  
• Don't buy things unless they are on sale. To be able to do this, you need to have a stockpile. When you get a good deal on things, stock up so you can last until the next time they go on sale.
  
• If your store doubles coupons up to 99 cents, you can make out pretty well with those 75 cent coupons. These become $1.50 off and can make your product cheap or even free.
  

**Hints in purple are the ones I added.

I hope you liked this list. Go check out Frugal Dad's blog for even more tips on saving bunches of money. Do you have any couponing or other frugal tips you would like to add to the list. Leave me a comment letting me know.

Online Bill Pay Saves Me Big Bucks!!!

A few years ago we started using online bill payment through our old bank. It was free and so easy to do. We have all our bills set up to automatically be mailed at a week before they're due, except for the rent.

I pay doctor's and hospital bills on a weekly basis and everything else is monthly. With the money going out automatically, I don't forget about a bill and it makes my life SO MUCH EASIER! I also use Money to track what we spend, and that also puts those automatic payments in there a day before the bank sends the check or sends the payment. The only thing I have to add is any checks written or any debit card uses. We haven't bounced a check in over four years.

We not only save money by not having any late fees or bounced check fees, we also save a lot of money on stamps. We now buy a book of stamps and it will last us months! I figure we save at least $6 a month by not having to buy stamps.

Tell me what you think. Do you use bill payment? Why or why not? How much does it save you?

DO REALLY NEED CABLE?

Now that baseball is basically over and the Mets did not make it into divisional play, AGAIN, my husband announced that now we could reduce the cable to channels 2-13. This costs about $10 a month, so our cable and Internet will go from being about $100 a month to about $55. With the main channels we can still watch network television and the kids can still watch PBS. Before we cancel it, we will be taping a bunch of the kids favorite shows like Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Backyardigans, etc.

Saving $45 a month is a big deal. That's my highest credit card payment right there. I could be using that to snowball all our debt and get rid of it quicker.

We won't miss cable too much. We spend way too much time staring at the TV anyway, so it will probably be good for us. Plus a lot of shows can be seen online now. I often watch Heroes online because I somehow forget to watch it. I always watch SNL online because I don't want to watch the whole thing, just the political satire. If we start getting bored with network tv, there is always www.Hulu.com which has older movies and tv shows. Also we can run down to the grocery store and rent a movie from the RedBox for $1 a night per movie. http://www.insideredbox.com/

How much money could you save by reducing your cable or canceling it? By the way, most cable companies have some form of the reduced cable for about $10, but you have to ask them about it.

Flickr Tags: cable,cable reduction,saving money,entertainment