November Monthly Food Budget- How Do I Do It?

We are on a strict budget. One of the ways that we maintain our budget is by only spending our allotted amount each month for food ($200). We budget $100/person. I will admit we do go a bit over each month, but technically we are a household of 3. Our little one is breast fed and with the extra calorie intake per day (500 calories extra), I find I sometimes eat much more than I did before! Soon, though, the budget will have to be increased as our little one begins eating more solids.

Sticking to a budget means going to the grocery store as infrequently as possible. Generally, the more often you make trips to the store, the higher amount of money spent on food will be. We aim for every other week, but since having a child, I have found that we are much more likely to go weekly (dang baby brain). This is largely due to me failing to notice food items that should have made the grocery shopping list.

Sticking to a budget and eating at home means lots of PRE-PLANNING. By not planning ahead and trying to “wing it” you will be much more likely to eat at a restaurant. I start with a monthly calendar of meals for each month. I do allocate for 2 meals each month to eat at a restaurant. This is by my husband’s request, if I had my way we would only eat out a few nights a year.

Here is November’s calendar (sorry that it's so blurry, read further to get the exact meals):

As you may or may not be able to see, I plan for 1 meal a day. I make enough at that meal to cover at least the next day’s lunch for the 2 of us. Many times though, I make enough left over to cover a few more meals.  Don’t worry, no leftovers go to waste at our house. As we go through the month, if we end up with a surplus of leftovers, I will scratch what is on the menu for that night and we will have a leftovers night for supper (dinner, as you may call it). This typically happens at least 1 time per month. 

On the menu, I list the main food. I do serve sides with each meal. These sides will be dependent on what I bought at the grocery store on sale or have in the freezer. This includes frozen vegetables, fresh vegetables, rice, etc. This helps to ensure a balanced diet for my family.

I also buy surplus items that can be frozen when I see them on sale to use for future meals (e.g., brats, frozen pizzas, bread, hamburger meat). This helps us to save money as well. The more you can shop sales, the better!

Lastly, as I plan for meals I try to have at least 1 night a week where we go meatless. This could mean meatless spaghetti, sandwiches, brinner with no meat, etc. Meats get expensive quickly and it is amazing how even 1 night without can make a huge financial impact.

Now, on to the meals! Here are the meals for this month (in case you can’t read what’s on the picture):

            November 2013

Day	Meal
1	Brats (pull from freezer)*
2	Egg Salad Sandwiches
3	Goulash
4	Dinner Out
5	Pizza
6	Brinner
7	Meatloaf
8	Chicken Nuggets
9	Barbeque Chicken with Rice
10	Steak
11	Corn Dogs with Macaroni & Cheese
12	Beef Stroganoff
13	Smoked Pheasant (Pull from freezer)*
14	Chicken Noodle Soup & Grilled Cheese
15	Dinner Out
16	Porcupine Meatballs
17	Tacos
18	Chili
19	Chipped Beef on Toast
20	Spaghetti
21	Beef & Corn Enchiladas (Pull from Freezer)*
22	Tuna Sandwiches
23	Sloppy Jo Sandwiches
24	Fried Chicken
25	Brinner
26	Pizza
27	Traveling/ with family for Thanksgiving, no plan needed
28	Traveling/ with family for Thanksgiving, no plan needed
29	Traveling/ with family for Thanksgiving, no plan needed
30	Steak

*Pull from freezer- these are items I either got another month when they were on sale and stuck in the freezer or are a meal that I prepared a double batch of and put the extra in the freezer. My husband also hunts and we do eat game food, such as the smoked pheasant. 

This helps our family stay on budget each month for food. What tips do you live by to keep your grocery budget in line?

Spender Versus Saver

This picture was created by Dave Ramsey and posted through his Facebook. If you have not heard of Dave Ramsey, he is the guru in personal finance and living a life debt-free. See his website here.

This quote speaks nothing but the truth for our marriage. I am here to tell you this doesn’t have to be a difference that couples fight over regularly! My husband and I have found harmony in accepting who is the spender (my husband) and who is the saver (me) and allocating money to satisfy both each month.  I wanted to discuss some of the uniqueness these differences have brought to our lives and the balance we try to make.

     1.       Acceptance. Acceptance. Acceptance- This one is easy to say but really hard to do. First, we both have to fully acknowledge which one we are (spender or saver) and then accept that our significant other is the opposite. Then, we have to be OKAY with that! Let me tell you, trying to change the other one rarely works!

If nothing else, find a way to laugh about your differences! My husband and I love to tease each other about on this topic. For instance, I have a tendency to make jokes about my husband’s “shopping sprees,” while he teases me about, “being so tight with money, we can’t buy toilet paper.” Both untrue statements (or are they?).

2.       The budget- With a saver and a spender, one person wants to see money go into shopping (can we say, “hello Cabela’s”) and the other wants a good chunk of change to go into savings. Both can win! At the beginning of each month, as you set your budget, make sure you are both getting some money into each of these categories. I have personally found that putting a special amount set aside for my husband works the best. We call it his “allowance.” Regardless, he is free to spend this allocated money any way that he wants and I am not to gripe about it!

3.       Major expenditures- Outside of my husband getting an “allowance” and being able to spend that money on anything he wants, all other expenditures need to be okayed by the other person. This just helps us to check and balance each other as we go through each month.

4.       Grocery shopping- When my husband (the spender) goes grocery shopping, even with a list in hand, he has a tendency to spend waaay more than our usual bi-weekly amount  ($100). Therefore, if at all possible, I try to do the grocery shopping. I stick to the list and keep our monthly budget where it needs to be. Although, occasionally letting him go shopping generally means a special treat for our household (yes, I do love me some oreos… or any chocolate)!

5.       Meals- We have found the spender always wants to eat dinner at restaurants (fast food or sit-down, he isn’t picky as long as we are out). The saver has a tendency to want to eat more meals at home. How do we balance? With trying to pay off debt (read about here) we are much more likely to eat at home. Each month we make a monthly menu at our house to help with planning for meals. We are sure to schedule in times to eat at restaurants a few times each month (typically 2 meals/month) to please the spender. I also try to have more foods that my hubby enjoys such as hamburgers, corndogs, hotdogs, macaroni and cheese… you know, the stuff he is getting at fast-food restaurants! HA!

 As I am looking over my title again, I realize again how easy it is for finances to be a fight. This isn’t really about spender vs. saver! Remember, you and your significant other are on the SAME team. The journey shouldn’t be about you versus him (or her), it should be about the two of you working together towards the same goals! For us, those goals include making our budget balance each month, someone getting spending money, someone putting money into savings, and paying our DEBT off. 

Are you the spender or the saver?

Debt-Free? OR Debt-Free!

Let’s talk money, money, money. More specifically, let’s talk about my debt. By the way, does my picture and title of this post confuse you?

In a way, it is meant to be confusing. Of course, I know my answer to this question but the answer may truly depend on who is giving the answer.

The personal debt that my husband and I have left to pay off is our mortgage. Yes, that is right, just our mortgage! We do have some business debt (house rental) that pays for itself (through a long-term renter) and is therefore a debt we do not count under personal debt. 

I have read many, many blogs where individuals claim to be debt-free despite still having a mortgage. I don’t think like that. Our house is currently owned by our bank and we have a loan to pay for it. Therefore, we are still in debt. For the time being at least.

We currently owe $63,000 on the house. We hope to pay this 30 year loan (26 years left on the loan) within the next 7 years. We are asking YOU to join us on our journey!

I am hoping to write several posts about how my family lives frugally and has paid off all of our past debt. Let me start by explaining to you how we have gotten into debt and what has been paid off. Then, look for more posts to follow giving tips and tricks we have learned (the hard way at times) to pay off debt quickly! 

Before I begin with our details, it is important that I point out that neither of us have family (or anyone else) financially supporting us. We do not make tons of money. We work hard to live on much less than we make and use the extra money to pay off debt as quickly as possible. We have watched family members who have filed bankruptcy and we have also watched family members come from nothing to making big-time money. We have learned from both.

Our Debt Acquired (currently paid off):

·     Student loans: I have a master’s degree and my husband has an associate’s degree.

·     Vehicles: I drive a Buick Regal (only a few years old). My husband drives a Chevy Silverado (about 6 years old). 

·     House renovations: Since moving into our house we have completed 2 major renovations and 1 minor (could be considered major, depending on how you look at it), all of which we saved up for and paid cash straight out. This included building an attached 2 car garage, adding a patio to our backyard, and a kitchen renovation. 

·     House modifications: When we moved in the windows needed replaced; which we did immediately. The first summer here, we unfortunately needed a new air conditioner as well! We saved up and planned for the windows but the air conditioner was a “surprise” that we had to use money from our emergency savings fund.

Our Current Debt:

·     Mortgage on our house: Loan was taken out in 2009 for $82,000 and we have $62,000 left.

Our Savings:

·     Having money to fall back on in case an emergency does occur is very important to us. For this reason, we have enough funds to live off of for 6 months if a crisis did occur (we pray one never does). 

Our Never’s:

·     Credit card debt: We have never had credit card debt. We have always paid off our cards each and every month. Have you seen those interest rates?!?!

This may not seem like a ton of debt, but we are both in our 20’s. That seems like pretty extensive money stuff (debt paid off and current debt) for our age.

What debt did you (or do you currently) aquire in your 20’s?