Finances

    DISCLAIMER: This is a hard subject to talk about, but I only am getting through tight finances because other people had the guts to share their situations and ideas with me. I hope this can be a help for other people, and I'm willing to hear ideas and support from people too. This is just planning, I will fill you in as time goes by! Please do not judge me or my family for what I share in this post. I am NOT asking for financial help in any way - please do not take it as a plea for help.

     Damon and I have had some tight times lately since Liam has arrived. We knew it would be hard financially once Liam was born, but I'm a worrier and I feel like that's all I do lately! Since I'm not working, it has been a day to day, paycheck to paycheck sort of situation. It seems like things keep happening to set us back a step and we haven't been able to save anything in a while. You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours." Seems like that's our life right now!

     Finances are one of the biggest stressers in a marriage and it's something I've always worried about (even though the Bible says to trust...[Prov 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..] and [Jer 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord.."] It's an every day battle for me to give it up to Him). I don't want my marriage to suffer because of it so I'm doing what I can to save every penny we can.
 
    I'm looking for a nanny job so that I can bring Liam too, but it's been slow going. (I had something all lined up but after a week she decided to drop out of school so I lost that opportunity. Bummer.)
 
     Thankfully, with the help of family, our baby purchases were kept to a minimum! YAY! We really saved money by accepting what people gave us at our shower and by finding everything else at thrift stores/sales. Before Liam was here I worked up a list of what we would need and the prices for them (Target & Walmart) and it added up to about $1,400. We didn't have that much to spend and I started getting scared (of course)! WELL, I needn't have worried because I didn't get a single thing I didn't ask for off of our registry (we received probably 70% of the list!).
       We also were given boxes and boxes of baby clothes! Liam is 3 months old now and to this day I have spent a total of $12 on clothing him! (I had to get summer clothes for when we are in Florida in March.) For my birthday and Christmas I asked for needed things like diapers, wipes, baby monitor, etc. We were able to stock up on diapers up to size 2 with gift cards. Things you want just don't take precedence anymore when you have a baby and tight finances!
   
      Another thing that threw us off track with saving was Liam wasn't breast feeding so I had to pump and then I wasn't producing enough milk so I had to supplement with formula which is EXPENSIVE! The blessing in that is we realized that he was intolerant to my milk and his colic went away on formula. (see earlier post Colic)

       This is where I hope people don't judge; Because our income is so low, and since I didn't have health insurance when I became pregnant, we qualified for Badger Care and WIC. I know a lot of people don't appreciate people who are on this, and they think that everyone using Government help are slackers, but we really are trying and do work hard. Because we have Badger Care, our hospital bills were completely paid for. This is such a blessing because if I didn't qualify, I would have tried a home birth to save money. As a result, I would have needed an emergency ride to the hospital because Liam was delivered by emergency c-section. (see earlier post Liam Anthony Petras) Without help, we would be in debt up to our eyeballs. I'm so thankful that those who need it have help. Our family realizes what a gift that is and we do not take it for granted.
     
     Even with help, things are very tight. SO instead of sitting on my butt and worrying about everything, I've decided to do something about it! Since I haven't been working, I've been doing all I can to try to help us save money and to spend wisely. Damon works about 26 hours a week but his job isn't offering any more hours right now. My job as his help-meet is to do what I can to stretch what we are earning.

     I've done a little research and as a result have decided a few things. Here's my list of ideas:

1.      Meals:

A.    Create a Weekly Menu ONE month in advance so I know what to shop for when I do the monthly grocery shopping. This will help to avoid random purchases.

B.     Make meals in advance and freeze them for days when I don’t feel like cooking.

C.     Plan to cook enough so that there are leftovers for Damon to bring to work for lunch so that he doesn't have to stop at the Gas Station before work.

D.    Make homemade as much as possible.

2.      Groceries, paper items, and clothes:

A.    Use cash as much as possible. Especially for things like clothes and groceries.

B.     Buy clothes at thrift stores like Goodwill and Savers. Avoid buying full cost ANYTHING.

C.     Buy groceries when on sale. Even if it means going to different grocery stores. Compare prices: using Sam’s club for staples and Aldi and Walmart as much as possible for everything else.

D.    Buy groceries only ONCE a month. This saves on extra shopping trips and random spur of the moment purchases.

E.     Freeze as much as possible so it lasts as long as possible: Milk, juice, onions, cheese, veggies, fruit, bread, meat, etc.

F.      Buy paper items like paper towels and toilet paper in bulk – use off brands as much as possible.

G.    Deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, face wash, moisturizer, razors, etc all should be bought when on sale and only as needed. Sticking with a certain brand isn’t necessary. Whatever is cheapest is best – except deodorant.

H.    Use coupons but remember that off-brands sometimes have better deals than coupons. Remember, Walmart has price match!

I.       Use as much “free” meat as possible. (Venison and fish) Buy in bulk, repackage and freeze all others.

3.      Pets:

A.    FIND COUPONS when purchasing pet food

B.     Budget vet bills – at this point we can kind of know when they are needed.

C.     Cat food is cheapest I can find, but may need to downgrade dog food.

D.    Figure out how long the food lasts so that we can budget it.

E.     Ration when we buy bones for them or get bones that last a long time.

F.  We plan to breed Denali and Gambell. Up front there will be vet bills while she's pregnant and we need to budget for these, but we will make good money on the puppies since they're pure bred. We need to be prepared for consequences of all puppies not selling and must take that into consideration before breeding. (Anyone want a pup!? LOL)

4.      Debt:

A.    Pay off Credit Card and then forget about it.

B.     Use Auto Pay whenever possible so payments don’t get missed.

C.     Get OUT of DEBT (This is most important right now)

a.       Pay off bigger debt first so interest doesn’t build up.

D.    Going out to eat, new clothes, and driving distances to see family are not needs, they are EXTRAS and should not be bought until bills are paid off each month.

            a.   Only go out to eat when coupons are available.

E.     If we don’t have money, we don’t buy it. Credit card is not considered money.

F.      If we don’t have enough money to pay the bills we may need to cancel things (like cable, Netflix, chiropractor)

G.    Because we owe family money: IE- we owe Beth and Kevin rent and a car payment and Kim a cell phone payment- that does not mean we don’t have to pay on time just because they’re family. These things come before extras.

H.    Set aside any extra money for savings. We should decide our goal increase per month.

I.       Start a savings account for Liam and put money in it every month. Even $10 is good.

J.       Do not go into debt for household things like couches and tables. Save up for them and use cash. (Or credit ONLY to be paid off right away)

Our shopping day is the 15th of every month since that's the day we get our Foodshare, so our menu month starts then. 

I've created a meal plan going from February 15-March 15. We will be on a family vacation from March 8-17. Our family is responsible for one meal while we are down there - I did not make a list for that. I also have not made a list for snacks on the road but we will be bringing all our food instead of purchasing from fast food and gas stations. (we are driving straight through-24ish hours)

here is the menu I created:                                                   

Here is the grocery list:

MENU:

-I shop once a month only for the meals planned and the allotted snacks (for days Damon works).

-Meals are marked in Yellow. 

-I can prepare some of these and freeze them as close to the 15th as possible (Lasagna, Enchiladas, etc) so if I am tired and don't feel like cooking I can just trade meals without going totally astray of my menu. 

-We have chiropractor appointments 3 days a week at 5 pm- they are marked in orange. Those days will need faster meals or meals that can be prepared ahead of time in the crock pot. 

-Every other Wed we go to a friend's house for dinner and then the opposite week they come to our house so we plan for 4 people those nights instead of 2. These even out since every other week I don't have to prepare food at all. 

-I usually make more food than one meal so that Damon can bring leftovers for lunches. 

-We will be gone March 8-17th so I don't have to plan meals for those days and I will not be shopping on March 15th but on March 18th. (this is an exception)

LIST:

-On the grocery list freezable items are marked in Green - I buy more of these at one time.

-WIC items have a star by them

-Each item has a number by it telling you how many of each I need 

-When I shop Feb 15 I will be marking what each item costs so that I can have an idea of price per item for every month so I can get as close to budget as possible. 

This endeavor is going to take a lot of time and energy but in the long run it will be worth it and I think it will save money. I used to shop once a month but would not have ideas for meals and would just randomly buy things that were running low in the house. If I wanted a meal that I didn't have everything for, I would run to the grocery (usually mega because it was close) and spend more money when I could have just made something I had in the house. 

Things like clothes and eating out will be on hold until we can get on track. When we are able to buy these things again, they will be second hand clothes and eating out will only happen when we have coupons. 

Damon's grandma Cleaver got us kleenex, toilet paper, and paper towels for our first anniversary (paper anniversary!) and we haven't had to buy any of these things since October! It has really been a big help :) 

Eventually things like this will be added to the list again.

-I am going to keep track (starting Feb 15) with how often we go through things like toothpaste, dog and cat food, diapers, wipes, toilet paper, etc so that we can budget for those things every month.
-I will also keep track of gas and how often we fill up/how many gallons we use so that we can budget that as well.

Stay posted for how things are going!