Budget...............................Actual Expense.......Balance
$170 Utilities.......................$332......................($162)
$115 Phone.........................$116.....................($1)
$150 Gasoline.....................$116....................$34
$900 Groceries...................$942.....................($42)
$53 Eating out....................$60.......................($8)
$200 Clothing/personal......$200.....................$0
$50 Entertainment..............$53.......................($3)
$75 Babysitter.....................$0........................$75
$50 School Expenses..........$359....................($309)
$100 Miscellaneous...........$103....................($3)
$150 Vacation....................$163....................($13)
$150 Gifts..........................$167....................($17)
$150 Doctor/Dentist..........$136........................$14
$150 Car maintenance......$0........................$150
_____________ ____________________
$ 2463 Total $2747 Total
O.K. Biggest hits were utilities and school expenses. Utilities will be less next month because the waste bill ($87) covers three months. But even if I were to only add a third of that, bringing our actual monthly utilites to $274, that is still almost $200 over my budget. Water is high at $157. It is the one to target getting lower.
School expenses hopefully are mostly over. Free public education, not quite, but it is cheaper than when we were writing private school checks.
I almost made it with groceries. I was doing cloth diapers, and cooking up the last bit of pantry stuff, but we had an ant infestation and it broke me. I needed that bug spray. I got diapers too. I am weak.
Clothing and personal is $200 which sounds like a lot until you realize there are six of us. It seems someone is always in need of something. I was hoping to have personal money to roll over to next month, but Jeffrey needed some clothes. There goes my roll over, and next months personal is spent already as well.
So, overall not a great triumph, we spent $284 more than I had in my budget. I'll have to do better next month. The groceries got off to a rocky start with my small runs at the beginning, so that should be easier to keep under control next month. Focusing on water use will be a priority, and then just trying to have a few extra dollars rather than a few less dollars in the other categories. It was a good first month's try.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Monday, September 21, 2009
Day 21: Serendipity with Mrs. Child
I was thinking of a passage in a book about frugality a few days ago, and wondered where I had read it, when my husband handed me a late birthday present The American Frugal Housewife by Mrs. Child, a reprint of the 1833 addition. I flipped it open and my eyes fell on the exact passage I had remembered. Such serendipity is worthy of including a passage here.
"I once visited a family where the most exact economy was observed; yet nothing was mean or uncomfortable. It is the character of true economy to be as comfortable and genteel with a little, as others can be with much. It this family, when the father brought home a package, the older children would, of their own accord put away the paper and twine neatly...The other day, I heard a mechanic say, 'I have a wife and two little children; we live in a very small house; but, to save my life, I cannot spend less than twelve hundred a year.' Another replied, 'You are not economical; I spend but eight hundred.' I thought to myself,--'Neither of you pick up your twine and paper.' A third one, who was present, was silent; but after they were gone, he said, 'I keep house, and comfortably too, with a wife and children, for six hundred a year; but I suppose they would have thought me mean, if I had told them so.' I did not think him mean; it merely occurred to me that his wife and children were in the habit of picking up paper and twine."
My thought, what does the paper and twine represent for us today? We have so much waste. Mrs. Child begins her book with this sentence: "The true economy of housekeeping is simply the art of gathering up all the fragments, so nothing be lost." I have many fragments left to gather. I would like to think I am like the eight hundred a year gentleman, but I would like to be like the six hundred a year gentleman. My true goal is to be "as comfortable and genteel with a little, as others can be with much".
"I once visited a family where the most exact economy was observed; yet nothing was mean or uncomfortable. It is the character of true economy to be as comfortable and genteel with a little, as others can be with much. It this family, when the father brought home a package, the older children would, of their own accord put away the paper and twine neatly...The other day, I heard a mechanic say, 'I have a wife and two little children; we live in a very small house; but, to save my life, I cannot spend less than twelve hundred a year.' Another replied, 'You are not economical; I spend but eight hundred.' I thought to myself,--'Neither of you pick up your twine and paper.' A third one, who was present, was silent; but after they were gone, he said, 'I keep house, and comfortably too, with a wife and children, for six hundred a year; but I suppose they would have thought me mean, if I had told them so.' I did not think him mean; it merely occurred to me that his wife and children were in the habit of picking up paper and twine."
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Day 15: Mid-month budget check
Mid-Month day of reckoning:
Let me see how well I am doing with my budget at the mid-point of the month. I am nervous about our progress.
Budget...............................Actual Expense.......Money remaining
$150 Gasoline............................$40.........................+$110
$900 Groceries.........................$586........................+$314
$53 Eating out..........................$82..........................-$29
$200 Clothing/personal..........$77..........................+$123
$50 Entertainment..................$26..........................+$24
$75 Babysitter..........................$0...........................+$75
$50 School Expenses...............$306.......................-$256
$100 Miscellaneous.................$136.......................-$36
(Utilities and Phone I will not know about until I get the bill next month. Vacation, gifts,medical, and car maintenance will accumulate)
Gasoline is great. We have been using the fuel efficient car for all the errands, and the kids are walking to and from school. It has really made a difference!
Grocery budget is on target. I have a lot of food in the pantry, and enough money to make one more major grocery run.
Eating out is over. I will take the little bit left in entertainment and apply it to Eating out, so no more restaurants or blockbuster.
Clothing personal needs to accumulate. That will roll over into next month.
Babysitter can roll over as well. No point in paying a babysitter when we are out of entertainment and eating out money.
School expenses are going to have to take the 6 months to re-accumulate.
Miscellaneous is way over! I know we are still going to have more costs in that category, so I might have to increase it's budget. Maybe I can take some from Gasoline since our use has gone down.
Overall I am pleased. I think with a few tweeks this budget will work for us. Yea!
Let me see how well I am doing with my budget at the mid-point of the month. I am nervous about our progress.
Budget...............................Actual Expense.......Money remaining
$150 Gasoline............................$40.........................+$110
$900 Groceries.........................$586........................+$314
$53 Eating out..........................$82..........................-$29
$200 Clothing/personal..........$77..........................+$123
$50 Entertainment..................$26..........................+$24
$75 Babysitter..........................$0...........................+$75
$50 School Expenses...............$306.......................-$256
$100 Miscellaneous.................$136.......................-$36
(Utilities and Phone I will not know about until I get the bill next month. Vacation, gifts,medical, and car maintenance will accumulate)
Gasoline is great. We have been using the fuel efficient car for all the errands, and the kids are walking to and from school. It has really made a difference!
Grocery budget is on target. I have a lot of food in the pantry, and enough money to make one more major grocery run.
Eating out is over. I will take the little bit left in entertainment and apply it to Eating out, so no more restaurants or blockbuster.
Clothing personal needs to accumulate. That will roll over into next month.
Babysitter can roll over as well. No point in paying a babysitter when we are out of entertainment and eating out money.
School expenses are going to have to take the 6 months to re-accumulate.
Miscellaneous is way over! I know we are still going to have more costs in that category, so I might have to increase it's budget. Maybe I can take some from Gasoline since our use has gone down.
Overall I am pleased. I think with a few tweeks this budget will work for us. Yea!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Day 11: Personal Family Cookbook
My Personal Family Cookbook contains:List of meals
Recipes
Grocery list
Price book
The List of Meals is what I use to create a menu plan for the week (or two weeks depending on how often I am planning on going to the grocery store). It includes breakfasts, school lunches, suppers, deserts, and snacks.
Once I have my menu I flip to the Recipes to make sure I put everything on my grocery list.
The Grocery List is interesting. It is the reverse of what people usually do. Instead of making a grocery list every time I go grocery shopping, I have a complete list of the items I use, and when I am ready to make a grocery list, all I do is cross off items we do not need. I keep a lot of copies in my Personal Family Cookbook. That saves time, and helps keep me from forgetting to put something on my list.
The Price Book is made from the grocery receipts. I have the food items listed on the left column, and then the different stores I shop at are at the top of the columns. Then I am able to see what items cost at different stores.
_..._..._... _..._..._... _..._..._... _..._..._... _..._..._... _..._..._... _..._..._
I did my major grocery run. I love Super King Market! It is a chain here in Southern California. Today they had tons of things reduced, and I walked through the store and formed my menu plan from what was on sale. That is a great benefit of having a Personal Family Cookbook with me, I can take a quick peek at the other ingredients in a recipe and make a grocery list in the store. It made for a really cheap checkout.Super King Market (food that will last us two weeks)
$209
I did great going to Super King Market, but then I forgot I needed stuff for a picnic at school, so made a run to Ralphs at 5:00pm, and then needed nice stuff for breakfast for a guest, and so made another run to Ralphs at 10:00pm. ARRGG. Saving is all in the planning.
#@$%&*! Ralphs (quick food, for a supper, and a breakfast, and a little bit extra)
$137
Other expenditures:
Baby/House/kid stuff: $77
Miscellaneous (house) $10
Husband got coffee: $2
McDonalds: $23
Park entrance fee: $9
Blockbuster movie: $5
Total $ 430
Day 8: Big Lots vs. Office Depot with coupon
Supplies!
School supplies. Our schools wait until the first day to tell the parents what supplies are needed, and needed immediately, so there is not much time to search around. Luckily I got most of what I needed at Big Lots, and then I had a $10 off coupon at Office Depot, so I was suckered into going there for the last few items.
Big Lots: 46 items
$90.76
Office Depot: 18 items
$ 113.40
- 10.00
-----------
$ 103.40
That takes a huge bite out of my school budget. I also had classroom fees I had to pay:
one elementary kid: $10
the other elementary kid: $17
my middle school kid: $85
Total School supply cost: $ 306.16
I have budgeted $50/month for school costs, so that has spent all the money from September to February. So now they just need to wait until spring to need anything else for school. We shall see how that works out.
School supplies. Our schools wait until the first day to tell the parents what supplies are needed, and needed immediately, so there is not much time to search around. Luckily I got most of what I needed at Big Lots, and then I had a $10 off coupon at Office Depot, so I was suckered into going there for the last few items.
Big Lots: 46 items
$90.76
Office Depot: 18 items
$ 113.40
- 10.00
-----------
$ 103.40
That takes a huge bite out of my school budget. I also had classroom fees I had to pay:
one elementary kid: $10
the other elementary kid: $17
my middle school kid: $85
Total School supply cost: $ 306.16
I have budgeted $50/month for school costs, so that has spent all the money from September to February. So now they just need to wait until spring to need anything else for school. We shall see how that works out.
Monday, September 7, 2009
Day 7: Creating a Budget
"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pound ought and six, result misery.
Here is the breakdown of my monthly (family of six) budget:
$170 Utilities (water, electric, waste, and gas)
$115 Phone
$150 Gasoline
$900 Groceries
$53 Eating out
$200 Clothing/personal
$50 Entertainment
$75 Babysitter
$50 School Expenses
$100 Miscellaneous
_____
$1748 semi total
$150 Vacation
$150 Gifts: Birthdays & Christmas
$150 Doctor/Dentist
$150 Car maintenance
_____
$600 semi total
_____________
$ 2463 Total
I split the budget into two categories, the first one is expenditures we will have every month, and the second is money that needs to accumulate from month to month so that we will have the money to cover the (usually) large one time costs.
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Day 6: Grocery Setbacks
I had another setback. I asked my husband to go to the store for me and gave him a list. Sweet man that he is when he came home he said, "I got some other things that I knew we needed." $136
Under old ways of doing things I would have loved this, but we are not going to spend half of what we have been by doing the exact things we have always done. I see this experiment as me working at home. Being frugal is work, and the work of it is my contribution to our family income at the moment. I have my husbands full support with this project, and I am going to have to not shirk the work. So I have asked for some tough love, no help with grocery runs. Ouch. I think until we have our grocery purchasing under control I need to be the sole purchaser.
Under old ways of doing things I would have loved this, but we are not going to spend half of what we have been by doing the exact things we have always done. I see this experiment as me working at home. Being frugal is work, and the work of it is my contribution to our family income at the moment. I have my husbands full support with this project, and I am going to have to not shirk the work. So I have asked for some tough love, no help with grocery runs. Ouch. I think until we have our grocery purchasing under control I need to be the sole purchaser.
Day 5: Compiling Favorite Family Recipes
Super Saver ActivityFavorite Family Recipes
- The key to keeping prices low is a compiled list of our favorite family recipes (about 21).
- From those I make weekly meal plans (I do not assign meals to certain days, I just have a list of meals to eat during the week, and then what I feel like having that night I make).
- From the weekly meal plan I make a grocery list. I buy in bulk when I can, and that way I have things on hand and it cuts down on what I need to buy on a weekly basis. This works because I am not trying new recipes with strange ingredients. What we eat we will eat again in two or three weeks. Also I can keep my eyes open for good deals, because I know the things that I buy, and I will not be tricked into buying things that I do not need.
- For a time saver I double recipes, and freeze half, that way when I am short on time I can pull something out of the freezer, and we are not so tempted to eat out. I label and date what I have frozen, or else it becomes something I am afraid to eat and takes up room in the freezer until I throw it out.
Making only our favorite recipes has turned out to be a hit with my whole family. I thought we would get tired of the same things, but I have about three weeks of recipes, so nothing gets repeated too often. Even my husband who loves change is giving me high praise, because I am no longer a hit-or-miss cook. I know what I am making is going to be good. I used to be addicted to trying out new recipes. If the food was just OK, no problem, I would move on to trying new things, but a bigger problem was if the food was great I still rarely served it again because I was too tempted to try out new recipes. Naturally the kids do not like every meal on the rotation, but they can be placated by this method too--they know their favorite will be coming soon.
Yikes, another grocery run. I am getting low on groceries. Pad Thai noodles, chopsticks, beansprouts, milk, soy milk, bananas, apples, nectarines, plums, bug spray, and formula $35
(I've never bought formula before, but my daughter is 11 months, and technically babies are not supposed to drink cow milk until they are a year).
We got two movies from Blockbuster (and a coke): $12
My husband owed a friend $20
Total $67
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Day 3: Getting settled again after the fire
We are unpacking and settling back in from the fire evacuations.
Yesterday Jeff ordered expensive air filters for the AC because of all the smoke particles in the air.
12 filters $48
He also went to the grocery store to buy cake supplies. Since we were evacuated on my birthday I missed getting a cake.
cake stuff and sugary cereal I never buy $17
Today was the kids first day to school. They postponed the first day of school three days because of the fire. They'll start off with a two day week of school, which I'm glad about because things have been naturally a bit stressful. I have not gotten their school supplies yet, but I am not alone. Everyone is a bit behind.
Super Saver Activity:
Instead of running out to the grocery store for pack lunch stuff for the kids (which I was highly tempted to do) I made homemade Pizza Calzones with some homemade dough, leftover spaghetti sauce, pepperoni I had frozen in the freezer, and cheese. I then cut up a cantaloupe, and cucumbers for extra stuff to nibble. Probably saved $25, because that is the minimum I usually spend on a run to the grocery store.
Coffee and donut comfort for mom and dad after dropping the kids off $3
Drat, a local grocery store run by my husband to get me an avocado that I forgot and needed for the enchiladas I was making. $52. That's an expensive avocado. He also got diapers, grapes, chips, a cantaloupe, and a bottle of wine. Grocery runs are going to kill my budget. I need to be more careful with my planning.
Total $ 120
Yesterday Jeff ordered expensive air filters for the AC because of all the smoke particles in the air.
12 filters $48
cake stuff and sugary cereal I never buy $17
Today was the kids first day to school. They postponed the first day of school three days because of the fire. They'll start off with a two day week of school, which I'm glad about because things have been naturally a bit stressful. I have not gotten their school supplies yet, but I am not alone. Everyone is a bit behind.
Super Saver Activity:Instead of running out to the grocery store for pack lunch stuff for the kids (which I was highly tempted to do) I made homemade Pizza Calzones with some homemade dough, leftover spaghetti sauce, pepperoni I had frozen in the freezer, and cheese. I then cut up a cantaloupe, and cucumbers for extra stuff to nibble. Probably saved $25, because that is the minimum I usually spend on a run to the grocery store.
Coffee and donut comfort for mom and dad after dropping the kids off $3
Drat, a local grocery store run by my husband to get me an avocado that I forgot and needed for the enchiladas I was making. $52. That's an expensive avocado. He also got diapers, grapes, chips, a cantaloupe, and a bottle of wine. Grocery runs are going to kill my budget. I need to be more careful with my planning.
Total $ 120
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
The Frugal Journey
Goal: To lower our expenses to live on one income from September 1, 2009 to September 1, 2010.
We are a family of six that have just moved to expensive Los Angeles. We have three children school age, and I had gone back to work to help contribute to the family finances, and then we had our (wonderful) surprise of a 4th baby. I am committed to staying home and not putting her in childcare, like we managed to do with the other three, but a larger family, a more expensive city, and shaky financial times, calls for some drastic action if I'm able to stay at home.
My goal is not just to be able to live on one income, but to live well. I do not want it to be a year of torture for my husband and children. I want to put my creativity to the test and still have great birthdays and Christmas, cook healthy good food, and find cheap ways to have fun.
Day one:
O.K. I confess that I am sipping on my (hopefully) last Starbucks coffee for the year. But to my credit we were homeless at the beginning of this experiment. One of our first introductions to California living was an evacuation because of a threatening forest fire. Thankfully, after only three days we were allowed back into our home this evening, and so I am able to start my blog on time after all.
Expenses today:
Department of Motor Vehicles (getting our CA drivers licenses) $28 each $56
Lunch out (homeless remember?) $ 48
Starbucks $6
Windsheild wiper fluid $2
Total today
$112
One thing I did not include was our hotel bill. Perhaps I should have, but I was counting that as a pre-experiment expense.
Now a comment about eating out. Our family can go out to eat at Taco bell for about $12, but part of our family philosophy is eating healthily, and that has to be compatible with our frugality. Today we went to a little Korean Tofu Barbeque place that was near our inaccessible neighborhood. I knew we had hit on a good place when we were the only non Korean-Americans in the restaurant. It was fabulous. My eight-year-old's only complaint was that she did not want the fried fish set down beside her plate. It was fried whole with head,eye, and tail--everything. My son said it tasted great.
It will be interesting to see over the next few months how a healthy diet can be made cheaply. Luckily I do not mind cooking. I had a friend say she could suggest a good Korean cookbook if I was interested. I will have to call her up and take her up on it.
We are a family of six that have just moved to expensive Los Angeles. We have three children school age, and I had gone back to work to help contribute to the family finances, and then we had our (wonderful) surprise of a 4th baby. I am committed to staying home and not putting her in childcare, like we managed to do with the other three, but a larger family, a more expensive city, and shaky financial times, calls for some drastic action if I'm able to stay at home.
My goal is not just to be able to live on one income, but to live well. I do not want it to be a year of torture for my husband and children. I want to put my creativity to the test and still have great birthdays and Christmas, cook healthy good food, and find cheap ways to have fun.
Day one:
O.K. I confess that I am sipping on my (hopefully) last Starbucks coffee for the year. But to my credit we were homeless at the beginning of this experiment. One of our first introductions to California living was an evacuation because of a threatening forest fire. Thankfully, after only three days we were allowed back into our home this evening, and so I am able to start my blog on time after all.
Expenses today:
Department of Motor Vehicles (getting our CA drivers licenses) $28 each $56
Lunch out (homeless remember?) $ 48
Starbucks $6
Windsheild wiper fluid $2
Total today
$112
One thing I did not include was our hotel bill. Perhaps I should have, but I was counting that as a pre-experiment expense.
Now a comment about eating out. Our family can go out to eat at Taco bell for about $12, but part of our family philosophy is eating healthily, and that has to be compatible with our frugality. Today we went to a little Korean Tofu Barbeque place that was near our inaccessible neighborhood. I knew we had hit on a good place when we were the only non Korean-Americans in the restaurant. It was fabulous. My eight-year-old's only complaint was that she did not want the fried fish set down beside her plate. It was fried whole with head,eye, and tail--everything. My son said it tasted great.
It will be interesting to see over the next few months how a healthy diet can be made cheaply. Luckily I do not mind cooking. I had a friend say she could suggest a good Korean cookbook if I was interested. I will have to call her up and take her up on it.
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