… computer!  Which was quite necessary, in the modern scheme of things.

We have been putting off the wheedling from our teenage son for well over a year, but the time had come: our old desktop lasted years longer than any other computer we’ve owned and it was one step away from crashing completely. Also, our son requires a computer for an online high school course — not to mention his regular classes — and I was paranoid that the old one would crash and breath its last after John leaves for California and I’d be left here not having a clue what to do.

My husband is the computer guru, not I. He’s the reason the desktop lasted even as long as it did — over five years? My, how times have a-changed! When he researched this time around, he reached a realization, “I am at the time of my life when I am getting off the tech-train.” He no longer has the interest or time to keep up with the latest and greatest in chip power speed and super high-powered ninja-bytes. (Can you tell I have no idea what I’m talking about?)

But John at least knows what the specs mean when he’s standing there determining which one he should ultimately purchase for our purposes. He visited three different local stores looking for a mid-grade PC with sufficient upgrades to keep it from becoming obsolete in just a few years, but without the unnecessary bells and whistles that cost an arm and a leg: we don’t need the thing to design the next space shuttle or calculate the speed of light; we just need enough of a machine to handle email and homework programs and carousing around facebook.

He ended up bringing home our first Gateway PC — no new monitor, as the one we have works just fine (much to our son’s chagrin).

With tax: $670.96.

Based on John’s research leading up to the purchase, we had estimated spending about $600, before tax. The first two stores didn’t have what he was looking for in stock. The third store had the one he wanted, but right beside it was the Gateway for $30 more (before tax) but with specs that added up to a lot more:

• i3 chip
• 8 MB RAM
• 1000 MB hard-drive*

*see below for an explanation and the corrected specs!

This was vs. the quad-core chip, six GB RAM, and 750 GB hard-drive of the Dell he’d originally planned on buying.

Lest you think I sound like I know what I’m talking about, I’m just writing down what John is telling me. All in all, I thought he did very well within the budget we had set for ourselves. He also knows how to install these things and set everything up. Did you know they want $70 to come out to your house and do that for you?

He bought a computer, and I got a much-needed night out.

I got a much-need night out with the ladies last night while Conner babysat (yea, for teenage siblings!) and John did the final computer shopping. I enjoyed a yummy soup and half-sandwich ($7.87) from Panera before the girls and I headed to a live concert and soaked our souls in the soothing tunes of an amazing new (to me) Christian singer-songwriter and pianist — who also just happens to be blind.

Pizza for The Boys: $19.98

Unbeknown to me, “The Boys” were ordering out a meal of their own, courtesy of Father John.

All in all, it ended up being a rather expensive day.

(At least the concert was free.)

Laptop Woes

It could be so much worse, of course. (Can’t it always?) But my laptop is also on its last legs!

Do I need a new laptop? Hmmm… define “need”, exactly. No, a laptop is not necessary for human survival. But it does greatly help me maintain sanity.

HOWEVER. A new laptop is simply not where I want to put more money right now. Not now. So John spent the afternoon cleaning up my laptop and generally running scans and wipes and… well, I don’t really know what all. But it is running so much better. (Thanks, honey!)

This is How You Budget

In the interest of planning ahead for the day the laptop does finally die… What laptop do you use or otherwise recommend? Bonus if you can give me an idea of how much it goes for, though these prices like to change as much as the weather in the Midwest, don’t they?

Do tell, and help this girl start planning the $$ accordingly. I thank you in advance.

**Update**

Ha! Forest just pointed out in the comments that he was very hopeful that I mistyped when I outlined the computer specs above? Did I ever! Here are the correct comps:

• Intel Core i3 550 chip
• 8 GB RAM
• 1 TB hard-drive (which I now know is the same thing as 1000 GB)

As John explained, “That’s what you get for interviewing me while I’m trying to watch the Florida-Alabama game!”

Just look at this as further proof of how clueless I am about such techie things.

Do you Goodwill? Frequent Thrift Shops? Hop yard sales? Yes, yes, and yes? Do you (hardly almost) never shop regular retail for your kids’ clothes?

I’ve steered away from yard sales in recent years. I’ve also declared [many times] that I will never again have one myself! Every time I do anyway, my husband is like, “Didn’t you say you were never going to do this again?” But that’s another story…

But I have a Goodwill here that I love. And a Thrift Store, too. If you’ve been reading here for awhile you are quite aware of my love affair with second-hand shopping…

Spending Less

My challenge for myself in recent years is to not buy something just because it’s a good deal. So what if that cute paisley shirt with butterflies and sparkles that my daughter loves is only $1.25? Does she need another shirt? How full is her dresser? Her closet?

If you’re like me and you don’t have a season for clothes shopping for your kids but are constantly on the look-out for good deals as you happen upon them, it’s important that you have a plan. It’s important that you know what they actually need. Or you do end up buying that cute paisley shirt with the butterflies and sparkles only to discover that it won’t even fit in the drawer along with all the other cute shirts she already owns and come the end of the season you’re discovering clothes at the bottom of the drawer that she never even wore!

Ask me how I know this.

I recently read a quote from Mary Hunt where she talked about people misspeaking when they say they’re saving money because they’re buying something on sale. “This shirt was 80% off — I saved so much money!”

As she points out, we’re not saving money: we’re spending less.

Ooh, I puffy-heart Mary Hunt. She really gets to the crux of the matter, doesn’t she?

There’s a reason women love those free gifts that come with a purchase: we love to feel like we’re getting something for nothing!  And if something’s on sale, well, that’s close enough, right? We women can get real creative when it comes to crunching numbers in stores: “Hey, I saved $20 on these pants because they were on sale, so now I can get myself that cute sweater over there with the money I saved!” Never mind if we don’t need it; that’s not the point. It’s our duty to optimize a good deal.

So back to buying clothes for your kids. Sometimes, sometimes, it’s easier for moms to rein in spending on themselves, but when it comes to their kids? Well, they’re suckers. “It’s for the children.” Seriously. And there’s a reason that stores have so much more of a selection for girls’ clothes than for boys: we buy more for our daughters! It’s so fun! They’re so appreciative!

At least my daughter is. It is so fun to bring home some new finds just to see the look on her face. Sometimes she even gasps and covers her face, like she can’t even believe what she’s seeing.

And while many of these clothes she needs, yes — children do grow, after all — some of them? Not so much. I just know how much she’ll love them. And they’re such a good deal.

Saving Cents and Using Sense

But lately I’ve been trying to economize not just in cents, but also in sense.

• How many clothes does my daughter need?
• Is she really enjoying all that she owns?
• Does she using everything she owns?
• What precedent am I setting for her?

Storing Off-Season Clothing

A big part of this process is organizing what you already have. Buying clothes throughout the year requires storing off-season items. It’s important to have a system for this so you don’t stash something away and then forget that you have it.

I’ve usually used bins for this purpose. When I come home with clothing I’ve found for the kids for the next season, I stash them in the same bin. I like to keep these bins in their rooms, either in their closets or under their beds. (I’ve even been known to stick them in a corner with pretty material draped over them and — wa-la! — it’s a table!)  Otherwise, they get stashed in random corners around the house until I “get around” to putting them away in that obscure storage corner on the top shelf in the furnace room, or wherever. As long as they’re easily accessible, it’s good.  Eyesores, we can work around.

Ideally, I go through these bins every few months to refresh my memory on what I’ve gotten them. Typically, though, I’m not looking through them again until the weather starts changing. This sometimes causes me to have purchased more of the same type of clothing than I really needed to because I’d forgotten I already had a Spring jacket — or whatever — stashed in there at the bottom, but I’m slowly getting better about that.

I just went through Peter’s and Olivia’s clothes a couple of weeks ago, for instance. And I discovered that Olivia has plenty of long-sleeve shirts to start her out for the year. This information became vital the next time I was at the Thrift Store and saw a cute long-sleeve shirt I knew she’d love — but I passed. Yea for me!

That shirt was a good deal, mind you. But so were all the other shirts that she already owns.

As the season wears on (pun intended) kids will continue to grow, and I will continue to purge their clothes as they outgrow them. I will also continue to keep my eye out for good deals as I’m out and about; rarely do I ever go “clothes shopping” anymore, at least not for my little ones.

Teenagers Require a Different System

Because I have a teenager, I know this system with the little kids will not be the one I use forever. In fact, our teenager being responsible for budgeting for his own clothing out of his allowance has been working amazingly well so far. Unfortunately, it also entails “clothes shopping”, as I rarely trust myself to buy things on the fly for him; nor am I looking on a regular basis. He will come to me every now and then with great urgency in an accusatory tone, “I need underwear!” As though I have known this for months and months and have refused to take him shopping despite his persistent pleas. I am still practicing the phrase, “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” But I don’t think he has it memorized yet.

Every now and then I will come home with some random t-shirt that I found at the thrift store for 35 cents or something ridiculous, and I give it to my son with great ceremony and tell him it is a gift and he can thank me later. These shirts are rarely good for anything other than “night shirts” for Conner, but he is appreciative nonetheless. It’s amazing how that happens when you start having to buy things for yourself…

Kids and Clothing Choices

I do think it’s important that children have a say in the clothing that they wear, which is one reason why I think our system with Conner is working so well: he would rather have fewer items that cost a little more instead of more clothes that he doesn’t like as much. Quality over quantity. And he defines quality. This is a valuable, discerning skill to develop. And he has no one to argue over the particulars with but himself and his pocketbook.

I am planning on going through Olivia’s clothing with Olivia very soon. Her tastes have been changing. For instance, no longer does she favor dresses over absolutely anything else. *sniff* In fact, last summer she had one pair of shorts to her name: I had always focused on buying summer dresses for her as she had always preferred those in the past. But by this August we noticed that she was starting to wear Conner’s old boxers that I had kept in her drawer as an option to wear at nighttime. Yea. She was dressing herself in boys’ underwear.

So I’ll be keeping my eye out for deals on girls’ shorts for her to wear next summer. Ahem. I’ve already found one pair. I think it put me back a quarter. Yes, at the Thrift Store. Along with several Spring and summer shirts for next year, all going in the bins. The whole stash cost me less than $5. *sigh* I’m going to miss my Thrift Store.

In the meantime, I am very interested in having her tell me with her own words what items in her drawers she likes and what she doesn’t. My little girl is a pleaser, she is. When you give her something she’ll tell you she loves it — and she probably means it at the time. But when you press her later to give an opinion, a different one might appear. At seven — going on eight *gulp* — she’s old enough now to start having a say on what she’d prefer to wear, within reason. And there’s no sense me bringing home — or keeping in her drawer — anything that doesn’t fit within her preferences. We are too privileged in this country, with too many worthy clothing options, to keep things we don’t like. Better to pass them along to someone who can use them — or better yet, to not acquire them in the first place. I am very grateful to have the choices we have.

What is your working method for buying and storing your children’s clothing? Do you find yourself ever forgetting items you have stored away? Or buying items that ended up  never being worn? Or do you strictly shop for clothing as it is needed? Please share in the comments — whether your methods have worked or not. We can all learn from successes and failures, don’t you know.

I stopped into Goodwill the other day, to look at the books:  one of my second-hand shopping loves.  (I justify it all in the name of future homeschooling.) My attention was immediately caught by the brand-new small kitchen appliances set on a table at the front of the store. Among them, an Oster 16-speed blender for $12.99.

Hey, we actually need a blender. I really need to get on that smoothie-making thing. Been thinking that for awhile. I’ve been wanting to get a food processor so I can mix up some healthy stuff all secret-like in the spirit of this great cookbook my domestic-goddess friend Lucy gave me, but this will do for now. Especially at this price. And we can make milkshakes, too. Bonus.

Goodwill doesn’t just sell used stuff, people. Do you know they regularly get donations from local businesses? The businesses get a tax break for their donation while making room on their shelves for new inventory at the same time. Goodwill gains even more profit by offering new merchandise on their shelves. And consumers get to buy brand-new products at bottom-barrel prices. It’s a win-win-win.

This blender runs about $40 at Wal-Mart — or $43.99 on Amazon, where you can go to read the product description. (I didn’t realize the photo I took was of the Spanish-language side until I edited it for this post.) (Whoops.)

I’ve been eying food processors for awhile but haven’t been able to decide on which one is worth the investment; nor have I been able to find one second-hand (or for free) (and I’ve been looking) (Hi, Erin!) so I’m excited about this blender tiding me over. I’m betting it can blend up a lot more than salsa and salad dressings (and Pina Coladas) (Hi, Honey!). At least, I’m going to give it a try. Hey, it’s supposed to be able to crush ice cubes and coffee beans, right? I bet it can handle a couple of cooked sweet potatoes and some black beans.

When’s the last time you stopped by your local Goodwill? Tip: shop at one in a nicer, highfalutin neighborhood. They get so many great donations that they can be picky about what they keep and what they pass on to another store. You might just be surprised at what you find.

With the recent beautiful, Spring weather (flurries in the forecast notwithstanding)  I decided it was high time to go through my kids’ seasonal clothes and assess the current situation.

You see, when I’m out and about at the second-hand stores I like to frequent, when I see something cute, I want to get it. However! Just because it’s oh so cute, and for my kids, that doesn’t mean I should buy it! Ahem.

The two main stores I frequent are the local Goodwill and the Thrift Store on base.

Actually, those are the two main stores, period: I rarely shop regular retail.

Ideally, I love to get hand-me-downs for my kids. I did score some cute, cute things from a friend for my 7yo daughter recently (thanks, Tina!), but that was totally lucky because her own daughter is actually quite a bit older and it was just a few things that she’d been holding onto but long outgrown.

Short of getting clothes for free, shopping second-hand options is simply the way I try to go for my kids’ clothes. It just makes budget sense.

And yes, I am including my 14yo son in that as well. No, it’s not easy shopping for discount clothes for a teenager… But I don’t think it’s easy shopping for a teenager, period.

When we first moved to Ohio over two years ago, I had a much different idea of what a bargain was. We had been living in Italy where clothes are quite expensive, even before factoring in the weakness of the dollar. There, anything under $10 was a steal, even on base. You know how you throw a yard sale in the States and you’re lucky if you can even get people to look at the adult clothes, let alone buy any of them? Yea. Not in Italy. Even adult clothes at a yard sale will fly off the racks.

After moving to Ohio, it took me awhile to find the second-hand stores that I now shop frequently. It’s taken even longer to get my discerning mo-jo down and really know a deal when I see one. I’ve gotten really, really picky.

One thing I’ve learned is that, even at second-hand stores, it can pay to shop off-season. Some places  (like the thrift store on base here) have no storage or space to display off-season clothing. So right now, for instance, when most people are just looking for summer wear, you can find some severely discounted winter clothing on clearance that hasn’t been completely picked through.

Unless something’s really cute. Then, you know.

But take this coat I found last week on clearance at the Thrift Store…

$1.80

I mean, come on!

(Olivia willingly modeled it for me, although she complained, “It’s so hot!” ) (And it really was that day; she had just come in from playing outside in the sun.) (Yes, Ohio, it does exist!) (And come on, isn’t she cute?)

This won’t be her only winter coat; she’ll still need one for snow and wet weather. I have complete confidence I will score one for a good deal either at the thrift store or goodwill. I just got Peter’s winter coat for next year at Goodwill today, as a matter of fact. For $3.50. At the thrift store, I also found several winter tops for Peter for under a dollar: 25 to 80 cents a piece.

Sorry, no pictures yet. He’s not quite as willing a model as his big sister.

I don’t always stick to off-season purchases, not at all. When something is really needed, or really, really cute…

Oh. my. word. This dress is to die for. Have I ever mentioned that Olivia is a dressy-dress kind of gal? Give her a sundress over shorts any day.

And the cost? $3.50.

Technically, Olivia didn’t need this dress. By going through her clothes, I was reminded of the cute dresses that I found at the end of the season last year, when summer clothes were heavily discounted and on their way out and winter clothes were coming in. She’s pretty good to go on dresses until she grows some more. But come on.

Oh, and the flip-flops she’s wearing are new, too. As in brand-new, from Goodwill.

$2.00

Yes, Goodwill has never-been-worn stuff donated to them. Overstock and stuff like that. You might be surprised.

All of my kids are kind of hurting in the shoe department, these flip-flops notwithstanding. I will make an exception for retail shopping when it comes to getting decent shoes, especially tennis shoes. That’ll be a future post, depending on how I ultimately end up finding what they each need for this summer. Especially for Conner — decent bargain-priced shoes for teens are few and far between. His feet have also grown by leaps and bounds this winter. I’m surprised his toes aren’t poking out the ends.

I do recognize that you can find real bargains shopping clearance racks at regular retail stores. I, too, occasionally buy clothes that way. I would only argue that going into a regular store to look for those bargains requires more will-power as it opens you up to temptations on the non-bargain racks as well.

How about the rest of you? Do you take advantage of second-hand stores to stretch the clothing budget? Will anyone out there fess up to being a *gasp* second-hand clothing snob?

Come on, I know you’re out there! I’ve even converted a few of you. I love nothing more than when someone compliments me on something I wear and I get to inform them that I got it from the Thrift Store for $2.50. I’ve been told I’m just “lucky” — but I think it’s just that, what little time I spend shopping, I spend it at Goodwill. How about you?

And if you don’t have access to second-hand stores where you live? Well then, God bless you. I’ve been in your shoes (no pun intended) and I do feel for you. You can just live vicariously through me right now, okay?

Toward the beginning of January, I joined a pantry challenge hosted by an amazing blogger who encouraged everyone to clean out their pantries and see how far you could stretch those grocery dollars for the month.

After my 14yo looked into our (crowded) pantry and declared, “There’s nothing to eat in here,” I decided drastic measures were necessary. Or at least, some measures.

I arbitrarily challenged myself to plan meals around the items we already have on-hand and to spend less than $200 on groceries for the entire month. “Groceries” to include personal items, toiletries, cleaning supplies, pet food and supplies…

I am very pleased to announce that I met my goal! Woo-hoo! With just a teeny-tiny setback when I forgot to take my cash to the store with me last week… (This was also the first month we started cash envelope spending.) But hey, technically I still spent under $200. The cash left in the envelope will be rolled into next month’s grocery budget, which I will be diving into in just a few short days…

(What? Can’t you tell a difference?)

Obviously, the pantry is still not empty. I actually made better progress in the freezer, percentage-wise: our meat supply is dwindling and the frozen veggies are almost gone…

The Hubs being gone, of course, also helps with the food bill. And I hope to continue this saving trend (much to my teenager’s chagrin) throughout the time he’s gone.

(Then when he gets back we can PAR-TAY!) (Just kidding.) (Sort of.)

My goal is to continue to plan meals around what we already have on-hand, and to restrict new items to the bare minimum of what we need each week and only stock up when I can match coupons with sale items or otherwise get a rock-bottom deal, a money-saving shopping method that I could certainly improve upon.

I do try to get a special something or two that my teenager can look forward to putting in his sack lunches… But even then, I’ve often “splurged” for something I have a coupon for.

This isn’t just about the dollars saved, however! I love the old adage, “Waste not, want not.” In our throwaway society, we have lost so many skills of how to make things stretch and get the optimum use out of our schtuff. I love the idea of finding a use for everything — not just the things in your pantry! and making do with what you have.

But I digress.

I originally wished estimated $1749.76 would go toward debt this month. That ain’t gonna happen. But leave no doubt about it, spending at least half of what we normally spend on groceries this month got us that much closer. Stay tuned for an update on the final figure.

***

To read how others did on their pantry challenge (and to find some interesting recipes) visit Money Saving Mom.

I was half-way through my grocery shopping today when I realized I had walked out of the house without taking cash from the “food” envelope.

The Envelope System

Cash spending is a new thing for me. This is my first month, actually. I’ve started off small — just four categories. (Food; gifts; clothing; and booze.) (Just keeping it real, people.) My husband recently deployed, and my hope is that, when he returns in four months, I will have this cash thing down for myself and we’ll just need to work together to help him remember to plan ahead for his day and take the cash he needs accordingly.

Based on the budget that we agree upon at the beginning of each month, of course! *ahem*

It Does Feel Simpler to Swipe the Debit Card

My reaction in the grocery aisle when I realized I was cash-less was very interesting to me:  After the initial annoyance, I immediately felt relief.

Mind you, I still stuck to my budget, which was $50, thankyouverymuch. I’m participating in the pantry challenge and arbitrarily decided one week into January that I would keep the grocery budget for the month under $200… So far so good.

So why would I feel relief? I didn’t take forgetting to bring my cash as an excuse to spend more, after all…

Or did I? A few things ended up in my basket that weren’t on the list: I justified them because I knew I would use them into the next month and I would still make my goal of $50. Would that have mattered to me had I known that, in using cash, whatever amount was left over could just roll over into the next month? instead of the “needed” (but unplanned) products? These weren’t deals I was taking advantage of, after all. Just little extra things: some extra produce; and a treat for my son (who was with me)…

It just felt like the pressure was off. Like I was playing a game. A game I still wanted to win, but I just found out that the score wouldn’t be published. The pressure of going up to the cashier and making sure I had enough to pay the bill was no longer there. I could just hand over the debit card, business as usual — even a few dollars over wouldn’t matter. Close enough, right?

Cash Vs. Debit?

I have heard from many people, and I have read many opinions, that cash spending is no different from using a card, so long as you have a budget. After all, it’s all coming out of the same account.

However. Many financial gurus — Dave Ramsey among them — quote statistics about how much more people spend when they use a card. Forking over cold, hard cash just feels different; people tend to be much more careful about how they spend it.

The Jury Is Still Out

I think, for us, that cash spending will be instrumental in creating a workable budget that we stick to. I probably won’t know for sure until The Hubs returns and we are doing this together again. Once we are in the groove of creating and sticking to a budget…Will it matter how we pay for those purchases? Hmm…

Thoughts? Who out there is on the cash system? I am talking about variable spending here, not bills and mortgage/rent and such. Has anyone gone back and forth budgeting for variables using cash and then switching to card, and vice versa? What difference, if any, did you notice in your spending? Do tell. Let us learn from thy wisdom, please.

I’ve mentioned my real-life friend Erin a lot lately, I know. She’s promoting her $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook, and it’s just so exciting I can’t keep quiet about it! I feel like a know an honest-to-goodness celebrity. What can I say? I love living vicariously.

But mainly, it wouldn’t be responsible of me not to talk about her, y’all, because she’s the real-deal. She’s super intelligent and organized, and her calling right now is to couple those gifts to help her family and yours to eat healthy meals on a very strict budget.

She personally feeds her family of four (plus baby) on an average $60/week. She shares her personal journey in learning how to do this in her cookbook. The first full three chapters are devoted to teaching strategic grocery shopping, couponing, and meal planning. I have never, ever, seen so much information of the like all gathered in one place. Truly.

The remaining eight chapters offer 200 recipes organized by category: pasta and pizza; chicken and turkey; beef; pork; fish and seafood; soups and stews; vegetarian; and homemade (breads, broths, salsas, dressings, etc.).  Each recipe is broken down by cost per ingredient, and frugal tips are included throughout. Some of my favorite examples…

Save and freeze the last bits of potato chips in a freezer-safe plastic container to use for potato chip-crusted chicken.

March is “frozen food” month. Frozen vegetables can be purchased for their lowest prices during the month of March, so stock up.

Fresh cranberries can be frozen whole and used for future meals. Look for them for just $1/pound around the Thanksgiving holiday. Grab an extra bag and toss it in the freezer to use in future meals.

If you plan to freeze chicken breasts in individual portions after buying a large family pack, consider adding the diced tomatoes and green chilies before freezing. As the chicken thaws, it will marinate in the sauce.

Erin kicked off her book signing tour last night at a local Dayton book store, and I took Olivia along with me to enjoy the experience.

Olivia loves Erin’s cookbook, by the way. Surprise, surprise.

“We should make every single one of these!”

At her signing, Erin addressed three core themes that are fundamental to saving money at the grocery store.

1. Understanding marketing ploys (and avoiding them).
2. Couponing, and the importance of matching coupons with circular sales.
3. Stockpiling and meal planning.

If you’d like to see her in person, which I highly recommend,

Check out her tour schedule:

Columbus, OH

Friday, January 15th from 4:00 – 6:00 PM

Kroger Store

6417 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center, Ohio 43035

Indianapolis, IN

Monday, January 18th at 7-9 PM ***Rescheduled!

Barnes and Noble

14709 US Hwy 31 North, Carmel, IN 46032

Cincinnati, OH

Tuesday, February 2nd from 7-9 PM

Joesph-Beth Booksellers

2692 Madison Rd Cincinnati, OH 45208

Nashville, TN

Thursday, February 4th at 7:00 PM

Borders

2501 Westend, Nashville, TN 37203

DFW, TX Area

Saturday, February 13th at 2:00 PM

TCU Bookstore

2950 West Berry Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76109

Houston, TX

Monday, February 15th, Time TBD

Houston Library

500 McKinney, Houston, TX 77002

San Antonio, TX

Wednesday, February 17th at 7:00 PM

Borders at The Quarry.

255 E. Basse Rd., Ste. 350, San Antonio, TX 78209

Check back at her site for updates. Erin also continues to post daily tips and recipes at 5dollardinners.com.

And buy the book! It’s $10.19 at Amazon, a little more at your local bookstore.

]]> http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2010/01/5-dollar-mom-save-money.html/feed 1 http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2009/12/a-reflection-on-budgeting-and-the-christmas-tally-is-in-i-spent.html http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/2009/12/a-reflection-on-budgeting-and-the-christmas-tally-is-in-i-spent.html#comments Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:33:10 +0000 jolyn http://budgetsarethenewblack.com/?p=475

… a whopping $715.

Keeping It Real Does that seem like a lot? How much did you spend? Did you create a budget and stick to it? Do tell.

The thing is, despite the name of this blog, The Hubs and I never really sat down and said, “We’re only going to spend this much on Christmas, and when it’s gone it’s gone.”

That is kind of how a budget works, after all.

Have I mentioned lately that this blog is chronicling a true-to-life work in progress? I’m just keeping it real here, people.

Budget-Schmudget Based on past Christmases, I sort of had an idea in my head that we would spend about $600. I didn’t write this figure down anywhere, and I didn’t keep a running tally as I spent along. I know, I know… what was I thinking? Like keeping track of how much I was spending as I went along wouldn’t be a good idea.

The Hubs and I didn’t even discuss the Christmas budget: since I do the majority of the Christmas shopping, it didn’t really seem necessary. (Again, I know, I know…) Because I’m writing about it this time around for all the internet to see should they so desire, I mentioned to him what the final figure was: no sense having him read it for the first time along with you all, after all. He kind of gasped.

I guess he thought it was a lot.

Did You Pay Cash? I did pay cash for everything (or debit card – whatever). Well, almost everything. I was too lazy to get up and get my debit card for a couple of online purchases so I did buy those using the credit card information the websites already had on file.

The Main Culprit… The biggest spending culprit was, by far, the Wii (and Wii Fit), which I actually purchased last summer. Well over half the total amount spent went to those and a game and accessories. We had all been wanting a Wii since last Christmas, when our financial situation was much more tenuous that it is now: Then, too, the tenants in our Vegas rental had just bailed, only we were not organized and working together on any kind of budget and we were still in a bit of panic mode, wondering how long we could keep up with two mortgages.

Looking Back Those tenants bailing on us in the Fall of 2008 was, really, a wakeup call for us as it highlighted our two very different reactions to a major financial shakeup: The Hubs thought we should go to the bank and see if we could renegotiate our loan (or something); I thought we just needed to crunch some numbers, cut out unnecessary spending, and hunker down and make do until we could rent it out again. Because I have always paid the bills and done the finances, I had a better understanding of where the money was going and where some corners could be cut. The Hubs just saw big neon lights flashing,  “Tenants Bailed! Tenants Bailed!” and kind of panicked.

We did hunker down and cut corners: kids’ activities; ordering out; impromptu trips… This mindful spending paved the way for me to discover Dave Ramsey a few months later in the Spring of 2009. I really don’t know if The Hubs would have so readily jumped on board if we had not had that wake-up call. Then about the same time we decided to start our debt snowball, our property manager procured new tenants. Only instead of going back to our usual way of doing things and putting that rent check toward activities and pizza and who knows what else, we had a plan to get out of debt. Hence the start of this blog.

Looking Ahead Our latest tenants bailed last month. We’ve come a long way since that time over one year ago when we weren’t even sure if we could support two mortgages. But we could be doing so much better. I have been contemplating making the move to cash. *gasp* Yes, cash. As in, no debit cards. It seems to be the missing step we need to take to really get a grip on more mindful spending.  Especially with our grocery budget, if I’m to be honest.

Jars? Envelopes? Anyone out there wanna give their input based on personal experience using cash for variable spending?

On the Horizon The New Year presents new challenges as The Hubs is getting ready to deploy. (More on that later.) But I’m sure you can relate: if we wait for everything to be nice and pretty and straightforward before we implement any changes, we’ll be waiting forever. Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans, and all that. Maybe that’s not the right quote for this situation… but you get what I mean.

What Did Your Christmas Total Include? This post started out as being about Chistmas spending and morphed into something akin to New Year’s resolutions and reflecting on the Ghosts of Christmas’ Past… To return to my main point of how much we spent on Christmas this year — the $715 went to my immediate family, my parents, MIL, sisters, and the name exchange that my side of the family does each year: each of our kids gets one present for one of their cousins. I also lumped teachers’ and bus drivers’ gifts in there, though I only spent a nominal amount on mostly homemade gifts for them.

How did you fare this Christmas? Did you stick to your budget? (Did you even have one?) Did you spend more or less than last year? Do tell!

*Sigh* I promised myself I would turn in EARLY tonight. Alas, I got sucked in by a new commenter (Hi, M&J!) so I had to go check out her site, which led me to other sites…

I found a couple of amazing new bloggers who are on their own amazing debt-free journeys! I’m so excited to start following them; I’m really needing some motivation about now. Go check them out on my right sidebar.

That’s okay, go on. I’ll wait.

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So. The Hubs and I had a discussion* this evening over getting a new lawn mower. Hubs isn’t wanting anything fancy; he’s just wanting a new push mower capable of… Oh, I forget what it was. Something about our current one cutting the grass too short?

He’s got his eye on one at the BX for $144. He figures it’ll be going on sale soon. I figure we’ve been using the one we already have this long, what’s a little longer? And the new one would just take up dollars that could instead be put toward debt now instead of sitting in the garage until next Spring…

What do you think? Am I being a complete uber-nazi?

September is looking to be yet another bad month for debt eradication. I can’t blame the car this time; rather, it’s a mish-mash of things: $100 here, $50 there, $500 over there… Details will be forthcoming.

*The “discussion” was actually quite calm. I just had to resist the urge to throttle his neck roll my eyes because he keeps bringing this up and I keep responding the same way. I guess he thinks he’s going to wear me down. I suppose that’s better than just going out and buying the thing no matter what I say? *wink* (Hi Hubs!)

I’ve always been a big fan of second-hand stores. In fact, you might say that my biggest problem is not spending too much at them! That“It’s such a good deal, I can’t pass it up” mentality.

I am doing much better in that area: really thinking hard about whether I really need an item, and not knee-jerking into getting it just because it’s a great price. Lots of clutter comes from getting a lot of really great stuff.

That being said, Goodwill and the Thrift Store are the first places I look when I need something. With the season change, that something right now is clothes. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone where we live right now who has kids the right age and gender who is able to pass their kids’ clothes down to mine — and I’m certainly not above asking.

My daughter, specifically, was in dire need of summer clothes. Her favorite thing to wear, each and every day, is dresses. So it only made sense to stock up on a few of those to last her all summer. I popped into Goodwill a couple days in a row and made a beeline to the size 6 girls’ section, and on day two I scored.The Hubs calls this her “Mint Julep” dress. “Shall we go out onto the veranda and drink our mint julep?”
We were waiting for her school bus and I told her I was going to go get my camera and I’d be right back, and this is how I found her waiting for me. What a tough girl.

I also realized, rather belatedly, that she needed some sport-type pants. She had grown out of hers but I didn’t worry about it because, you know, winter is over. (Right?) But I forgot about T-Ball. She would be the one to fall and skin her knee. Have I mentioned that Melodrama is her middle name?

I threw in the shirt for good measure. Which she does need. To go with her skirts, you know? Besides, it’s all sparkly and cute, and that’s a flag on there under that necklace and it’ll be perfect for July 4th and …

Oh, whatever. She loves it. And the shoes, too.

The kids’ clothes at our Goodwill here are priced at $2.19 for each item. The shoes are $1.99. The clothes you see above cost $10.75: two dresses; one pair of pants; one pair of shoes. That’s a steal in anybody’s book.

By the way, I had heard that Goodwill can also recycle fabric, so if you think your jeans are too holey even to donate, for instance, it’s still worth dropping them off at a Goodwill rather than throwing them into a landfill.

I asked them about it at our Goodwill here, and while Joe the Worker didn’t know specifically about the recycling program, he did say that any items that Goodwill can’t use in this country they go ahead and send overseas to various African countries, etc. You know, places where $2.19 isn’t a steal: it’s half their day’s wages.