So last year I embarked on a weight loss journey, like most of us do at some point in our lives. I lost 16 lbs over a years time (I yo-yoed a bit), and maintained since then.

It's no secret that you can lose weight by eating less and moving more. But does that mean healthy?! No, eating less junk doesn't make it healthy.

So about two or three months ago I started to research organics, chemicals, vegetarian living, "green" living, etc. I've found that the studies, never ending books, and internet articles are rather interesting...and alarming. The amount of chemicals and junk in the food we eat is awful, and the stuff in our house hold items? Ew.

But anyways, my concern is...HOW do you make this work on a budget? While it sounds strangly backwords, it seems to be cheaper to buy junk than "healthy" food. Not in all cases of course, such as in season produce and what not. For instance, let say that I have cereal & bread on my list. I need to feed my hubby and myself for a week. The supermarket has Special K on sale buy one get one free, and I have a coupon (lets sayit comes out to 3.00 for 2 boxes). But now I'm looking for organic and natural chemical free foods...so I look for my new found product and low and behold...its over 5 dollars for A 12 oz box. Next I go for bread, regular whole wheat is buy one get one free (2.79 for both) OR the organic loaf is 3.79-5.00 per loaf. While this doesn't seem like much, over a period of time...adds up.

Next on to house hold products. I have toothpaste and laundry soap on my list. I have a coupon for Colgate toothpaste (1$ off) and its on sale for 1$...FREE! But then I turn to find the "all natural" stuff...and its 3-4.00 per tube. On to laundry soap, a months worth of Era is about 11 dollars or so at Sam's...the natural stuff is 15.00.

All in all I'd probably be looking at a 20% increase on my grocery/household bill. This is not good...conidering in 7 working days I'll lose my job and we'll be on one income again.

But if everything I've read is true (I know you can't believe every single thing) than would it be a worth while investment for my hubby and I?

Slow, slow week at work. Ugh, I'm doing my best to stay awake. I hope it isn't like this the remainder of my time at this position.

Since I had time on my hands I planned out my shopping and chores for the weekend. We don't need a ton, so I'm pretty sure we'll only need 60 or so for groceries and households. It would be nice if I could stay in the 175 range for the next two weeks.

I'm fixing our grocery budget. I started tracking monthly spending in the middle of the month, so it messed up my whole spreadsheet. So I'm going to track for the remainder of Sept. by itself, then track month by month starting with October. I'm also concidering keeping track of my savings (via store sales and coupons). Why not know how much you didn't spend, as well as what you did?!

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I read something interesting on CNN today. "What have you given up?". Readers wrote in about what they are giving up with the economy downturn.

I was amazed to see so many people struggling to the extent that they are. I wasn't completely oblivious to the ordeal, just didn't sit down and actually focus on it. While I completely understand that life happens and as a result we all have hard times...we've all been there. But as I read more and more entries about giving up cable, shopping for new clothing on a regular basis, and not going out to eat 3-4 times a week...I had to wonder, are we having hard times or pissed cause we have to cut back on luxeries?! Both maybe?

My great grandma used to say "you can live with a lot less than you think you can" (spoken like a true depression survivor). She was completely right. While I understand giving up things that you enjoy are tough and not in the least bit fun, I don't think it defines "I'm not making it".

Since when does a luxery rack up in the same catigory as food and shelter?

Just, odd.

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I finally have the cat's appointment set. October 8th, 218.00. Ugh. I feel strange about the whole thing, we're spending a good portion of money and putting her through surgery for something "cosmetic" (if you can call it that). But I don't want to replace all the furniture and trim in the house either. She's made it very obvious that shes a home wrecker lol. Just the other day I decided to leave her out while I ran to the store, I came back and she pulled the table cloth off and busted my salt and pepper shakers. I'm sure that it would cost much more than 218 to replace things that she has scratched up or broken.

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Hubby got an assinment to go on a work trip Sept 29-Oct 10. Grrr. I feel like I just picked him up from the airport! At least work will pay for this trip. He is going to get some training for a large project to do here at home, so when he gets back I'm sure he will be working plenty of over time. That should be fun
:-(. He doesn't get paid OT, he is salaried...a nice cherry on top for the situation :-P! BUT at least he has a good job that pays well (knock on wood).

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I'm having a bit of a personal conflict. Back in MO I didn't finish my degree and worked full time. When we moved I got a full time job that pays well but now I'm being pushed out the door (laid off). I'm sick of this job to job crap (excuse my language), I want to go back to school and finish my degree. Hopefully that will help with some job stability. I don't feel like I'd be making a ton more with the degree, but I feel that I will def. have more oppurtunities.

My conflict is...should I work full time and put school second? Or should I go to school full time and put work second (PT)?
Hubby and I are ok on his salary alone. It is a bit tight, but nothing extreme. We still end up with some left over every month.

Decisions...Decisions...

Hubby called the insurance agent yesterday and they are going to adjust the insurance bill we got last week (for 700, it was quoted at 350ish)...so knock on wood that all works out.

We still need to meet with the insurance agent about lowering some of our cost because while I'm happy to have the bill fixed, were still spending 4500+ per year on insurance. I understand that we live in a "hurricane" state, but any help we could get to soften the blow everytime we get an insurance bill would be much appreciated.

Some had left comments about our auto insurance (thanks!) and I believe were about as low as we're going to get on that. We have a lowered rate for being married, no tickets or accidents (KNOCK ON WOOD!!), and so on. I haven't checked into the safe driver course though that some have mentioned...I'll def. have to do that.

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On another note, grocery shopping.
I started keeping track in the middle of the month (back in april or so) now when I calculate the "previous" month spending it accounts for the last two weeks & the first two weeks. I don't know why I haven't changed it. Ugh. Put it on my to-do list.

But anyways, Hubby & I spent $310.12 in the last 4 weeks on household and groceries. $89.88 under budget. Hopefully I can keep it at that, or better yet, keep going lower.

For awhile after we moved it seemed like the grocery stores didn't really have a ton of sales around here...until recently. Publix has started B1G1 sales and 50% off sales (usually frozen veggies) which have helped a ton! Most of the time I have a coupon to match the item. I got veggies this week for .60 per bag, and .20 per bag the week before.

I'm hoping to adventually work my way down to 250/month on groceries. I have a small stockpile going (thanks to the publix sales!) which obviously will help once that grows.

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Speaking of stockpile...Hubby & I were talking the other night. We are running out of storage! So even if I wanted to have a larger stockpile for sale items, baking items, or house hold items...I don't really have anywhere to put them.

Well, I have to make a confession here. The pets have thier own room. Since the dog broke her legs we are extra precautious about her safety (She stays on the floor at all times, no jumping on and off furniture) so when we have company over or we aren't around to watch her (shes a jumper) she has her own room.
Don't worry, a "pet room" was not a requirment when we were house shopping...we just happened to have a small extra room in the house that we weren't using. And of course Maggie (the cat) moved in there with her. So, since the cat is older and were getting her declawed and the dog is calming down a bit we think were going to move them out of there and make it a storage room (we have other things that need to be stored too). We'll leave it open so the animals can still get in there beds, food and potty areas but the cat will sleep where ever and the dog will stay in her (large!) cage at night while we can't watch her.

At least the good side to the "job ending" situation in a couple weeks is, I'll have plenty of time to do all of these things!!

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I've been thinking a bit about holiday shopping (seeing as how I like to get it out of the way in October or so) and I want to stay frugel and well, helpful this year. Buy or make things that will actually mean something and the recipent will actually USE!

So, I've decided that I'm going to take advantage of my scrapbooking hobby and make all of our xmas cards (I have the supplies I need already) and I'm going to make some scrapbooking gifts. It's something that is low cost and doesn't have to come out of our holiday budget because I already have all of the supplies. Besides a picture is worth a thousand words...right?

As far as something they will use, well what do you buy for someone who has everything they want/need?? I think we might be doing a good amount of gift cards this year (gas cards maybe? or Visa gift cards?)....Idk, we will see.

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The count down is on, 11 working days left. The job market is not at it's best right now. Finding a decent paying job (that isn't 45 minutes away) & works with my pending school schedule as well as hubby's schedule seems to be all but impossible.

It will all work out, in time. My impatience isn't helping :-)

So, a moment of thought/frustration on insurance.

Hubby and I have auto insurance (for 3 cars, one of which is hubby's first car (a Beretta, my Cavalier, and a Cobalt), house insurance, personal liability, personal property (our wedding rings), and flood insurance.

Back home we paid around 2300/year for all of this except the flood insurance (which is about 400).

We recently switched insurance agents (same company) and got all of our policies adjusted. The agent told us the personal liability would probably be around 350-400 dollars...OK we can deal with that. We get the bill....700 dollars!!!

Then we sat down and totaled up our insurance cost for one year...over 5000 dollars!!!

5 Grand for something we hope to never use?! Ugh, but I'm afraid it is something that we feel is important. Yeah, you may never use it but it only takes one time, then you'd wish you had it.

What gets me even more so is that it seems if you ever need to make a claim (and Lord forbid you need to make 2 claims in a 10 year period) that 1) your rates hike up or 2) they drop you!

It's a vicious cycle. But what can you can do?...Pay it.

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Hubby & I ran some errands today. We decided we needed a new pan (one I tend to use daily). Our current one is Teflon coated and the coating starting coming off! Ew, can not be good for your health. So we went out and bought a stainless steal pan (23 dollars)...I'm sure I'll use it forever and then some. I won't be buying anymore Teflon coated pots or pans.

I also treated myself to a chopper for the kitchen, I had a coupon for Bed Bath and Beyond so it was only 8 dollars. I cut up onions and freeze them...it was a decently agitating experience to stand in the kitchen cutting up a whole bag of onions to freeze (my eyes were rather red and watery).

I went to Wal-mart to grab a few household items...they had Fabreeze noticeables on sale for 5.97 and I just so happened to have a 5 dollar off coupon :-) & I had a BOGO free coupon for Febreeze fabric refreshers. We ran into Office Max, because I had a $10 off $10 purchase and could use some Post It notes..So all in all I saved 22 bucks today. I'm always up for a good deal.

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So, has anyone started holiday shopping? Or do you shop all year around?
I tend to do my shopping in October. I have a serious problem with holiday shoppers. Just the public in general while shopping (is it so hard to say excuse me? Id be happy to move for you), but it seems like the holiday season shopping is just awful sometimes.

Anyways, Hubby and I save up a holiday fund all year and luckily we don't have a bunch of people to buy for. Just our parents (we're only children), a few friends, and each other. I'm going to stick to the holiday budget this year! I tend to spend way too much on gifts every year. Maybe I'll make some gifts? I'm mostly looking most forward to family coming to visit, so I'm not going to be overly concerned with gift buying...it shouldn't be all about gifts anyway. right?

What a crazy week. Hubby left town this week, and work was on overload. Seeing as how we are closing out, everything that needs to be done is being assigned...3 weeks before D-day. Ugh. Oh well, I have half my to-do list done :-)

Hubby is coming back today, and as far as I know, it was basically a free vacation for him. His flight was free, he stayed with family so no need for hotel or food cost. :-) Usually we spend 500-1500 per vacation so that was a huge savings.

We're going on a book store date tomorrow (dinner and the book store), but I have a coupon for dinner and don't plan to spend to much in the book store. I know people usually say "go to the library" which makes sense, I know. But I trade my books & DVDs on SwapTree.com...besides if I like a book I'll read it a good 4 or 5 times before trading it off (BTW I usually only buy clearance books, why pay 25 bucks for a book when it will be on clearance in a month).

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So I'm gearing up for my last day at work. I'm really going to miss my weekly paychecks. I'm trying to stock up a bit on non-perishables and house supplies while I'm still contributing to the grocery/household fund. I'm also trying to put as much in savings as possible, the over time this week will help. Hopefully something part time will come along not to long from now.

Speaking of stocking up, I got my order of coupons in the mail yesterday. I used to think it was so goofy to pay for coupons. But I order high value coupons with a bit of time before they expire...usually things I will use on my weekly grocery shopping trip (pasta, soup, cheese, juice, house hold supplies). I got some coupons for $5 off the Febreeze Noticables plug ins...has anyone tried these? The lavendar scent is awesome, just FYI :-)

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I still have to call and make an appointment for the cat to have her claws removed (I'm going to schedule it in October since I'll be home to take her). I'm rather aggitated because we pay 16 dollars per pet per month for a 'wellness program' to cover office expenses. This has saved us a TON...it pays for vaccines, regular check ups, etc. I THOUGHT it paid for basic anesthesia cost should one of the animals need it, well it doesn't. Ugh. Oh well...looks like were stuck paying for the bill, along with the monthly fee.

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So just out of curiosity, would anyone be willing to give up their cable or dish to save money? Or have you done this already? Hubby and I record a few shows that we like (and we do watch them together so its kind of nice) but other than that we really don't watch a ton of TV. So I'm wondering if paying for Dish every month is really worth it?

It seems like as soon as you get paid, your paycheck is gone. This is nothing new to most people I'm sure. Just something that frustrated me a little bit today. (I get paid weekly, therefore I pay my bills weekly, IE Credit card)

My weekend spending:

Perscription: 49.78
Gasoline to fill the tank to full: 20.00
Gift: 3.00
Other/Misc: 8.00
Groceries: 55.00 (45.00 under budget!)
CC Payment for this week: 100.00
Downtown parking for work: 85.60 (last time I have to pay this! There's always a silver lining right? lol)
Magazine Subscription: 19.97 (I decided to subscribe to All You magazine, since I buy it monthly...and I'll get back 26% of my purchase through ebates :-) )
SwapTree Monthly Charge: 30.00 ... Lots of trades this month. But still not bad for everything I traded off.

Grand Total: $371.35 (Ouchy)

Ugh...Oh well. Work to live right? :-)

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Hubby and I tried a new recipe last night. In honor of our "Veggie week" (We decided to try an entire week of vegetarian meals)we thought we'd try some spinach enchiladas that were getting quite the review online. I made them, exactly by the recipe. Lucky for us, we had a plan B. They were not the least bit tasty....at all. So needless to say all that food got wasted, but it was luckily a decently cheap meal to make.

Our plan B was Salserita's. But I had a buy one get one free entree coupon, so it was only 10 dollars for us to go to plan B :-).

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Another big expense is about to come our way, we need to get our cat's claws removed. She is an indoor cat only, I wouldn't do it if she was an outdoor cat. She is starting to take quite the toll on our trim work. Ugh. It's either take her claws out or end up replacing any trim up to 2 feet off the ground all around the house. The vet quoted 200 bucks! That's what you have an "expense savings" for though right?




I tell you what, these animals of ours cost a pretty penny. But they are worth it.

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Hubby and I are thinking about planning a long weekend vacation possibly in November. A friend gave us some tickets to an amusement park about 3 hours from here, and my Hubby gets a nice hotel rate through work...so it wouldn't cost that much. I think a small vacation would be nice...Who wouldn't though, right?

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I hope everyone had a great weekend.

First off let me say that in the recent months we (Hubby & I) have managed to avoid some rather high cost bills. In July I had my wisdom teeth removed, and Insurance paid 1450 of the 1500 bill. Also, Hubby is flying out next week and FIL gave him his flyer miles to use...so he got a $450 flight for free. For all this, I am grateful. Very grateful.

I'd really like to keep our savings going strong, but I'm rather concerned that when my job is finished up and were on one income again, that keeping savings going will be a rather difficult task. Difficult but not impossible! Even if we can only put 25 bucks a month into savings, its something, right? :-)

The first place I obviously can cut from is our grocery/household/entertainment budget. I budget 400 per month for groceries and household...about 100 for entertainment (we go out to each usually once a week). I don't go over budget, but I don't exactly stay under by a large margin either. I seem to come in at about 350-400 per month. Of course I have been trying the whole coupon thing...but I have a gripe about couponing.

I have Publix, Winn Dixie, Super Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens within 5 miles of the home. Great. Usually I'll shop the best deals at all of them. But here is my gripe. None of them double coupons, nor do the coupons hardly ever match up the sales. Even if they do match up with the sales, it's not things hubby and I generally eat. Our staples consist of baking supplies, meat (ground turkey and chicken), bread, and produce. Most coupons are for processed goods such as poptarts, chips, granola bars. I make our snacks from scratch...granola bars, muffins, fruit salad, etc.

Granted I do find some coupons to use, for some soups, cheese, etc. Generally I use about $5 per week in coupons for groceries (which in all honesty $5 savings per week does add up over a year, 260 bux!). My question to anyone who cares to put in their 2 cents is, if you're in this situation, how do you cut cost? Also, is 400 (all other bills are paid before this amount comes out of our monthly income) a reasonable budget for 2 adults (this does include household products which I tend to buy in bulk at Sam's if I don't have a coupon/sale for it I.E. toliet paper and kleenex)? I use coupons, shop sales and deals to stock up when I can, try to buy generic, and go to a farmers market for produce (I LOVE the farmers market!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :-)

I must say though, I am rather envious of this lady(link). She has mastered couponing by all means.

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/


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On another note, if you haven't figured it out by now (hint: Winn Dixie) I live in the south and I'm rather concerned about the hurricanes coming our way. Hurricane Ike in particular. Cat 4 already! Over night! Ugh. My husband is going to be out of town next week when it possibly hits the US so I'm seriously concidering just putting up the shutters before he leaves and heading up to see family about 6 hours north for the week. I have the option of doing most of my work from home if I have to. The problem being that if I don't get called for anything, then I don't get paid. LoL. But I'm deathly afraid of storms (I grew up in Tornado country!) and my hubby wont be here, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Besides I could use some family time. Most of my family is still back in MO, and I miss them.

I must say that I really feel for the people in the Bahamas, they are getting slammed by every storm coming through! Seems like as soon as one storm leaves, a new one is literally right behind it. Ugh. Our enviroment is changing, slowly but surely. Very active hurricane season.



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I wanted to say Thank You for all the lovely "welcome" comments yesterday. I appreciate them! :-)

Have a good day everyone.

Well, here I am, the new kid. :-)
Hello everyone.

It has been a crazy year, and now that things are starting to settle down, hubby and I are recovering. This is my attempt to organize my thoughts, get on track, and hopefully retain some well needed advice from time to time in this crazy world of couponing, mortgages, and budgets.

We bought a house back in MO, then about a year later hubby got a promotion that would involve a move. A move 17 hours away!! So we packed up and headed south. In the meantime, we were planning a wedding and gearing up for the holiday season (which tends to be quite an expense for us. With 3 birthdays, 3 holidays, and 1 anniversery in a 6 week time frame, its a bit stressful on the wallet).

The move happened in October of last year, the holidays were well...the holidays, and the wedding came and went (all that planning and it came and went so fast!). Then came the damage assesment. We came out with CC debt (shocker! lol), a mortgage (at least it was just one mortgage, for a 3 month period we were paying 2 mortgages waiting for our house to sell. Then prayers were answered and his company took it into there inventory), student loans (hubbys), 2 car loans (I begged my husband to get a reliable car...he was still driving his first car and it kept breaking down), and everyday/monthly exspenses.

We have made quite a bit of progress over the past 6 months though. We have paid off half of our credit card debt, and built our savings back up.

Our savings took a pretty big blow last year. Not only with wedding and moving expenses (theres always something you didn't plan for) but a storm came through and damaged our garage door on the house in MO and we had to replace it (1K gone). Then our little puppy (1 lb pomeranian at the time) broke 2 legs!! That was a BIG expense, about 1-1500 we didn't expect to spend. But luckly she didn't need surgery, just cast. It was totally worth it, she is happy, healthy and full 5 lbs!! Luckly in the recent months we have been able to build our savings back up to normal, including a holiday fund! :-)

...Then came the bad news. The company I work for (a property management firm) is not going to be resigning the contract this year. Our company also does not have any other property in the immediate area, the closest being 3 hours away. What does this mean for me? This means that in 4 weeks, I will be out of a job. I found out about 2 months ago, so I've had time to digest it and get over it. I talk with hubby quite a bit, and we discussed the budget. I will be taking this oppurtunity to go back to school (spring of 2009) and finish my degree.

In the meantime I will be looking for a part time job that fits into our schedule (this in itself could be a pretty big challenge).

All in all I think we'll be fine. I hope no one is reading this in hopes of finding never ending advice on budgeting, finances, etc. Truth be told (I know, as if it wasn't obvious before :-)) I'm new to this "game" and I'm learning, so any (well intentioned lol) advice is always appreciated!