New Month Means New Food Budget

It's that time of the month again.  Gotta plan for the upcoming month on what you will spend on food (groceries, eating out, health & beauty items/toiletries).  Earlier this year, I made a personal goal to only spend $10/day to feed my family of 6.  Over those 3 months, I spent an average of $308/mo.  It was hard, very hard.  But, I learned how to make do with what I had in my pantry/freezer, and  how to make substitutions for items I did not have.

A couple key things I did was use Supercook.com, and how to look up new recipes online using up the items I did not know what to do with.  There are other bloggers out there to help you make the most of your challenged food budget.  One of my favorites, is Grocery Cart Challenge, where she feeds her family of 6 on $60/week!  She kinda inspired me to try spending $10/day.  Little did I know that the change was necessary for our household budget, as my husband had just started a new job traveling 3 hours round-trip 3x/week, and I had just left my job as a server to be a SAHM.  Fortunately, he has relocated to a local office in town & doesn't make those long drives.

Do you know how much you spend on food?  Do you keep track of it?  I used to NOT be able to go under $600/mo for our family of 6, $100/person!  But, once I decided that it was something I was determined to make happen, it became possible!  I surrounded myself with others with like goals.  It was easy to do in the Frugal Living section at MyTotalMoneyMakeover.com, a support team of members on the Dave Ramsey Plan. Choosing to use the envelopes, going to cash only was really hard, but it works.  When the money is gone, there is no more going to the grocery store!  It's good to have accountability to make a goal happen!  It's pretty easy to be excited at the beginning of the month.  But as the month progresses, that's when your mindset can easily change! Are you going to stay focused on maintaining your goal!?

This last month has been pretty relaxed for us in our grocery budget, to be honest.  It has been nice to buy the steak & shrimp at the Mexican grocery store as a splurge.  But, I "feel" like we are needing to cut back again.  My 2 full-size fridge/freezers are stocked!  So, I "think" we can manage cutting it down again....but do I "want" to?  (No, not really.)  But, should I?  Yes.  Especially, if I want to get ready & stock up on the sales coming up for this Thanksgiving!  (Does anyone still have a turkey they have not eaten from last year's sales?...Or am I the only one???)

You have until Wednesday to come up with your numbers for September!  I'll be making the finishing touches on my food budget final amount, as well.  I'm kinda leaning towards going from $600 for August to $400 in September, that's $13/day.

Tight Electric Bill

This summer has been really expensive for a lot, I know, with the extreme heat being in the 100's for months.  Personally, I have not experienced the heat and am not disappointed.  


A few years ago, when money was really tight while we were doing our debt snowball on Dave Ramsey's plan, I sought to find ways to cut down as many of the variable costs.  I wanted to apply as much on our snowball as possible to get out of debt quicker.  After doing some research, I was surprised to find out that our electric company had peak rates & non-peak rates for usage.


It is so "normal" to come home from work & do laundry, dishes, cook dinner, have all the lights on in the house, be watching t.v., etc.  What I found was that the "peak rate" (the highest rate) is between 4:30 p.m.-10:30 p.m.  Hence, the electric company is making the most of their cash during this time of day!!!!  So, when is the cheapest time of day?  Noon-4:30 p.m. AND 10:30 p.m. - 5:30 a.m.  From 5:30 a.m.- noon, it is 2x higher than the cheapest time of day per a kw.  So, the peak rate is almost 5x higher than the cheapest time of day!


Do not think that I am the "Electric Nazi," when it comes to being disciplined w/ avoiding the peak time of day!  I am not consistent in avoiding the peak time of day to do my dishes, cooking/baking, & laundry, but I'm aware of it!  Sometimes, I will stay up late to do some laundry after 10:30 at night.


****This information may not apply to you, but check it out!  I know some in TX get to choose their electric company!  While others are treated like my water company, in that the more kilowatts used, the higher the charge on the pyramid to reduce consumption.  


To find more ways to cut down your electric bill, check out this site:
michaelbluejay.

So Many Ideas

Sat down today just to write some things down for future blogs & took a few pics to post in the future.  I am really looking forward to sharing these ideas with you, hoping you will benefit much from it, as you get some ideas to put to use in your own home, or continue to use.

Some of you are friends that I've known for some time, & others I will get to know through this blog.  But, a little bit of history, traveling through 'memory lane' if you will, one of my first tries of Frugal Living occurred back in 2004.  I learned how to make my own baby food for my fourth son.  We had overspent our bounds a little at a time & had no wiggle room in our budget.  I was very scared but determined to get us out of the mess somehow, someway.

I prayed a lot for God to get us out of the mess.  I hoped to find money in the mailbox every time I checked it; nope, no money to be found.  But, I realized that I needed to "just do it" & start taking action to become debt free.  I truly believe that Dave Ramsey was an answered prayer.  I started listening to his radio show online about how to handle money for free.  The calls into the show on Fridays were my favorites, as people called in to scream, "WE'RE DEBT FREE!!!"  We worked the plan from June 2006 & finished paying off $106k in 49 months w/ many setbacks along the way.  July 2010, we celebrated our victory!

During the months up to now, little by little, I stepped out & tried something new to become frugal.  Now that we are debt free, I believe I am more frugal than before, finding more ways to save money (which seems strange to me).  Earlier this year, I learned how to be very disciplined & budget $10/day for food in my envelope for groceries.  It was very tight & was a personal challenge.  I did this for 3 months.

So, whether you are being frugal because you have no choice in your budget or you enjoy it, you are not alone.  The days will get better, if you don't give up hope for a better tomorrow.  Thanks for listening.

Angela

Liquid Laundry Soap

I've been making my own laundry soap for some time now, like way before we were getting out of debt.  But, even though we are debt free from doing the Dave Ramsey plan, I'm still making my own.

There are so many different recipes out there, powder vs liquid.  But, my favorite is the liquid, as I don't have to make it as often for powder & costs less.

Recipe:
1 cup Washing Soda
2 cups Borax (whitener & water softener)
1 bar Ivory soap shredded
1 cup Dawn liquid soap (optional)

I stir the grated Ivory soap in a large saucepan with about 1/4 full of water, until it melts.  Carefully, add the Borax & Washing Soda, stirring until dissolved over low heat; careful to not let it bubble-over (just from experience).  You can add the Dawn liquid soap at this time, as well.  Remove from heat.  I take 3 1-gallon size pitchers, filling them about 3/4 full in each with water.  Then, I portion the soap mixture amongst the three pitchers.

You do not have to wait until the soap gels up; it can be used immediately.  I use 1/2 cup/load for my xlarge tub basin in my washing machine.  For my whites, I use 1 cup with warm/hot water.  If you'd like, just stir it first, if there is any settling, for every load.

*I have always made this with Ivory soap for reasons that's what the recipe called for or was free after coupon.  I just made some tonight using an "Irish Spring" scent that was labeled mild.  I think my clothes come out smelling better than before using the Ivory.  The smell is not overpowering.