Spending Freeze Wrap Up

Seeing as it is the1st of March, it is time to wrap up February's spending freeze and see how we did. 

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0
Day 14 - $20.00 (hubby bought my roses for the 1st time in 8 years, so we will let this break in the spending freeze slide :)  )
Day 15 -  $20.00 (gas for Hubby's car)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $57.50 ($56 in groceries, $1.50 for Hubby's snack)
Day 18 - $22 in groceries
Day 19 -$0
Day 20 - $0
 Day 21 - $0
Day 22 - $0
Day 23 - $7 (milk and toilet paper, we needed more, but Logan bet me I couldn't go to the store for just 2 things)
Day 24 - $41 ($6 trash bags and tortilla chips, $35 gas in my van)
Day 25 - $0
Day 26 - $30 in groceries
Day 27 - $8 gas in hubby's car
Day 28 - $20 gas in hubby's car
Day 29 - $0

The goals I set were : 
Gas $115 
Groceries $120
Gifts or eating out $50 
for a total of $285

Actual spending-
 Gas - $153 ($38 over budget)
Groceries - $153 ($35 over, not too bad)
Gifts or eating out - $106.25  ($56.25 ouch!)
Total - $412.25 ($127.25 over budget)


I knew we were over budget..  and I am not too happy about those numbers, especially the eating out category, because that is the one we have the most control over.  It really is a temptation for the whole family, we like eating out.  I suppose one could argue we don't do much else in the way of entertainment we have to pay for (we don't go out to the movies or theme parks whatnot) But we really do need to be better about this.  In this season in our lives we simply cannot afford to eat out as much (and this was a 'good month').  I think that is the biggest lesson I learned from this year's spending freeze. 

Going forward I am going to try and plan our eating out nights, so when we get the urge we can look forward to a special night out rather than going on a whim. 

One area we did really well in, was impluse buys.  You know what I mean, you go to Target to pick up a prescription and come out with $50 in random purchases.  In fact, saying no has become more of a habit.  We aren't big spenders normally, but I can get pulled in by clearance racks and such.  Not today, I went to Target, to pick up a few things, and left with what was on my list.  Sure, I browsed the clearance racks, even put stuff in my cart...   and 2 aisles later, put it back.  Yeah me!

How did you do?  Did you learn anything?  Change any habits?  I would love to know. 

One last trip to the store, I hope

On Sunday we made a trip to Alberstons after picking our son up from his Dad's.  There are Twice the value coupons in the paper this week for Albies (they are good thru Tuesday) which made for some great deals.  As per usual, I got the majority of my deal match-ups from Coupon Connections (I just love her! not that we have met, but she is my coupon lady crush)

All told, I spent $30 for everything pictured, and I did it in 4 transactions.  My little bonus this week?  When I went to the store to pick up more papers (I need to bite the bullet and order more copies delivered to my door)  I stopped by the coffee shop and asked if I could have the coupons from the paper they had out for customers, and so I scored free set of doublers and 2 coupon inserts.  Yeah!

Now hopefully we can not need to go to the store for the next 2 days. 

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0
Day 14 - $20.00 (hubby bought my roses for the 1st time in 8 years, so we will let this break in the spending freeze slide :)  )
Day 15 -  $20.00 (gas for Hubby's car)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $57.50 ($56 in groceries, $1.50 for Hubby's snack)
Day 18 - $22 in groceries
Day 19 -$0
Day 20 - $0
 Day 21 - $0
Day 22 - $0
Day 23 - $7 (milk and toilet paper, we needed more, but Logan bet me I couldn't go to the store for just 2 things)
Day 24 - $41 ($6 trash bags and tortilla chips, $35 gas in my van)
Day 25 - $0
Day 26 - $30 in groceries
Day 27 - $8 gas in hubby's car

just 2 more days to go!

Lent Update, and 1 clean room.

I got off to a slow start with my 40 bags project.  One sick kid and a tired mama, ya know, life.  But I got caught up today and Logan has a clean room to prove it.

I picked his room to dive into today because for the last week or so we have been jokingly referring to his room as an episode of 'Hoarders'.  It wasn't that bad, but all of the flat surfaces in his room were piled high.  Not to mention the Lego land mines on the floor.  Ouch!

So armed with trash bags, Logan and I headed in.  We ended up removing 2 bags of toys and stuff, and 1 bag of  trash.  Oh, and a coat rack.  While we went through each item, we talked about blessing other children with our surplus of toys as well as the importance of keeping our rooms clean so we can welcome friends over to play. I still need to go through his clothes, and bring out some larger sizes from the bins, but that will be another day.

Hubby went through the kids books on Thursday and purged a bag full.  If anyone knows of a great place to donate kids books, other than the Goodwill, I would love some recommendations.

So for now we are caught up, 4 bags down, 36 to go.

How are doing on your goals?  Have you been following through on what you chose to give up?

Spending Freeze Update- Almost there

Just a quick post to update how our spending freeze is going.  I will admit, this year seems harder than last...  Not sure why, but I struggle.  The hardest parts being going out to eat, and the rate at which food is consumed in my house.  Four guys, regardless of age, eat a lot! 

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0
Day 14 - $20.00 (hubby bought my roses for the 1st time in 8 years, so we will let this break in the spending freeze slide :)  )
Day 15 -  $20.00 (gas for Hubby's car)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $57.50 ($56 in groceries, $1.50 for Hubby's snack)
Day 18 - $22 in groceries
Day 19 -$0
Day 20 - $0
 Day 21 - $0
Day 22 - $0
Day 23 - $7 (milk and toilet paper, we needed more, but Logan bet me I couldn't go to the store for just 2 things)
Day 24 - $41 ($6 trash bags and tortilla chips, $35 gas in my van)
Day 25 - $0

how are you doing?  I have tallied anything up yet, I think I am afraid to see how much I am over..... 

Happy Lent aka give it up baby!

Social media sites are all buzzing with talk of Lent.  It started today by the way.  What is lent?  I will like good old Wikipedia answer that one.  Everyone is asking, "what are you giving up?"  in the past I have given up the usual, coffee, soda, sugar...  but this year I am going to do something more in line with my current goal of living a more intentional life. So I will be following Clover Lane's lead, and purging my house of 40 bags in 40 days.  Go read her post about it, I like what she says. 

For me, I want my home to be more 'company ready' at any given moment.  I want my kids to enjoy their toys, not get lost in them.  I want everything to have a place.  in studying my home, and really looking at why things get cluttered, I realized it is because often times items don't have a home.  Stuff gets just set somewhere because no one knows where it goes, or where it is supposed to go is cluttered with other stuff.....  have I lost you yet?  Just talking about it makes my head cluttered.  So, I am excited!  Join me?  You know you want to.

This girl needs her coffee

And milk I suppose. I was sent to the store by hubby to get coffee and milk. We were out of both. I had a coupon for a free gallon of milk from the last Albertsons trip, so I just needed to find a way to save on coffee.  Our morning cup of joe is not something hubby and I are willing to compromise on.  In most cases, we will try different brands of an item to save money, but not with coffee. We gotta have our Starbucks!  I did have $1 off 1 coupons in mt binder, so I figured that is what I would use.  However, when I got to the store I noticed $3 off 2 peelies on the packages!  Score!  Plus, Starbucks coffee was on sale for $8.49 (not the best price, but we needed ASAP, actually Target has a great deal right now, $7.99 each, buy 2 and get a $5 gift card).  Anyways, I was a happy girl.  I also noticed I was less than 500 points away from my $5 reward, and I had printed a coupon to get 500 points when you spend$10.  So I went ahead and picked up a few other things and split my purchase into 2 transactions.  First the milk (free with my coupon) and everything else in the pic, then the coffee.  That way I was able to get the $5 reward to print on the 1st transaction and use it on the coffee.  All told I spent $13 on the 1st transaction, and $9 on the 2nd.
Not too bad, and it felt good to put together my own deal on the fly (and not just rely on my trusty favorite coupon blogs).

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0
Day 14 - $20.00 (hubby bought my roses for the 1st time in 8 years, so we will let this break in the spending freeze slide :)  )
Day 15 -  $20.00 (gas for Hubby's car)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $57.50 ($56 in groceries, $1.50 for Hubby's snack)
Day 18 - $22 in groceries
Day 19 -$0
Day 20 - $0

You gotta Spend money to Save money

Is the lesson I learned today.  At least sometimes this is the case.  Like today, Hubby called to say he was buying a snack to add to his lunch today.. Only $1.50, not a big deal, but he had to do it because I had been putting off going to the store, trying to stick to our Spending Freeze.  However, with $1.50 he spent today for one snack, I could have bought 6 snack bars, lasting him 6 days instead of one.  These little things add up.  So I bit the bullet and went to Winco today.  I chose Winco because we needed a lot of stuff, and there just wasn't the deals I needed at Safeway or Albies, and this shop couldn't wait.  The great thing about Winco, is that on average their prices are cheaper, and I can still use coupons.  I tried to buy things today that I could use to extend what i already had on hand (which isn't a lot).  Like Top Ramen, not something I usually buy but it is cheap, and will satisfy my oldest son's desire for a hot snack or lunch.  I also tried buying rice in the bulk foods section.  I am out of Quinoa, which I use to extend a lot of my recipes, so until I get to Costco again this will do the trick.  All told I spent $56 today, ouch!  I am hoping this takes us close to the end of the month... 

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0
Day 14 - $20.00 (hubby bought my roses for the 1st time in 8 years, so we will let this break in the spending freeze slide :)  )
Day 15 -  $20.00 (gas for Hubby's car)
Day 16 - $0
Day 17 - $57.50 ($56 in groceries, $1.50 for Hubby's snack)

a little over half the month, and we have gone over budget in the going out to eat area, and I have spent more in groceries than I would like, but I am trying to stay positive.  I will admit, there have been days where I feel like I am failing and should just throw in the towel.  But then I remember, each day is a new day, a every little bit helps. 

Got cereal?

There are some great deals to be had this week- Idid this trip at Albertsons on Sunday, and the deals are still good thru the end of today (Tuesday)  See Coupon Connections for the details (can you tell she is my favorite coupon blogger?)  :)  I spent $19 out of pocket for everything pictured above (including 4 Sunday papers) and I still have $3 in catalinas and 2 coupons for free milk (1 gallon each). 

As you can see I stocked up on breakfast foods, because those were the best deals I could make happen.  However this made the dinner section of my pantry a little sad.  The last 2 nights I have made completely new dinner recipes , out of stuff we had.  The besy part?, I used up odds and ends that I had hanging around, that normally would continue to hang around until they expired and got tossed.  Because of our spending freeze I got creative and made some new things.  Sunday night I made "Creamy Chicken Mac Casserole", and Monday night it was "Tangy Ranch Pasta with Chicken and bell pepper" 
Let me know if you want details on either one and I will do a post on what I used. 

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I) 
Day 9 - $0
Day 10 - $29 ($20gas for hubby's car, $9 pizza after rough hospital visit)
Day 11 - $0
Day 12 - $19 (groceries)
Day 13 - $0

Savings money on prescriptions

Alternate title - I love Walgreens!
So funny fact about me:I live less than a mile from a Walgreens, I go there often for awesome drug store deals, but I don't get my prescriptions filled there.  Instead I drive over 10 miles away to Target.  Why?  Partly out of habit, and  due to some past 'issues' with a different  Walgreens location.  You see, I have a special needs son, and he has some crazy prescriptions (like I need a cart to take it out to the car).  Anyways, years ago I had trouble getting them filled correctly, I started going to Target and they got it right so I stayed....  fast forward a bunch of years, and I am still going there, despite moving to a different city.

Lately the service and competency at my trusty Target has been less than stellar.  Today I decided to give my local Walgreens a try.  (well to be honest, I tried them a few weeks ago with a new Rx for my son and they went out of their way to fill it in the most cost effective way and were very helpful)  I had them transfer one of my meds, and when I went to pick it up  I was surprised to find out it is $13 cheaper!  Whoo hoo! Almost pays for the lunch splurged on today!  Not to mention the savings in time and gas!

It certainly pays to shop around for better prescription prices, I am excited to see if I can save on some others as well!

To make things even better?  I scored on this deal on hair gel while I was there, 2 bottles for FREE baby!  (thanks Coupon Connections for the heads up)

Spending Freeze recap
Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)
Day 8 - $17.20 ($3.20 for meds, $14 for lunch for the boys and I)

One week down - Spending Freeze

You know the saying no news is good news? That is the case of the last few days... I was so taken back by how much that we had already spent, that I avoided the store at all costs the past few days.

And my all costs, I mean my more coffee, which is huge. 
You see, I ran out of hot cocoa, and I always have hot coca in my coffee.  For me, a mocha, if even a 'poor man mocha' is the only way to go. (home brewed coffee, hot cocoa and milk)  So today I had to get creative, I tried melting a hershey kiss in my coffee, but it was lacking.  Then I tried adding milk and ground cinnamon and sugar.  Yum! it was very tasty.  I just may make it a few more days without going to the store. 

to recap:

Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20 Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0
Day 5 -$0
Day 6 - $0
Day 7 - $1.75 (hubby got a snack a work)

I tried to talk hubby out of the snack...  but he swore he was just too hungry.  Oh well :)

Spending freeze update- the first 4 days

The first two days we were off to a great start- we spent $10!!  Yeah us.  Then Friday came, and it was a spendy day. Yikes! 
I had a feeling it would be,we had to travel to the city for a doctor appointment at Children's Hospital.  It's a bit of a drive and we normally grab lunch on the way.  I tried to skip it, but not very hard, and we ended up all ordering a little less so we could enjoy but still be mindful of the budget.  The appointment was rough, I got stressed, traffic was bad on the way home..  blech.  Hubby to the rescue, offered Thai food to lift my spirits.  I just can't say no to Thai food!  Again, we ordered less,skipped the sodas and appetizers.  And in lieu of dessert  there we opted to get a little treat at Target.

We like to go to Target (it's near our favorite Thai place) to walk off dinner and browse.  Hubs had a gift card he has slowly been spending for months, so he got a video game.  I had $5 gift card from Shopkicks (I'll talk more about that in a different post) and I totally scored on the coffee.  It was on sale for $7.50 and had a coupon on it for $1.50 off as well. Oh and the cookie mix was on clearance for 98 cents.  All told, we spent $13 out of pocket there.

And we bought gas, both of our cars only had 1/4 of a tank at the beginning of the month, so both needed a fill up. 

So here is how the month has gone so far:

Day 1 - $0
Day 2 - $10 (drinks with the girls)
Day 3 - $133 ($12 McDonalds, $38 Thai food, $13 Target, $20   Hubs gas, $50 my gas)
Day 4 -  $0

Um yikes! lets not have anymore days like day 3 shall we?  Not good.  I do solemnly swear to be Way better! 
How have you done on your 1st week of the freeze?

It's time for the 2nd Annual February Spending Freeze

Time has flown, like money leaving my bank account, and it is time again for the February spending freeze.  This will be our 2nd year doing this, to read about how we did last year, go here.
Last year my goal was to spend $100 for anything that was not a monthly bill (gas, food, shopping etc)  We blew that number out of the water and ended up spending $257.16.
Some things we learned?
Gas is a gold digging girlfriend you can't get rid of, you hate her, you need her, she will take you for a ride and leave you.
Going out to eat is like getting drunk, feels great at the time, but it is expensive and leaves you feeling bad afterwords.

So with that knowledge in hand I have created our goal for this year (and I would love it if you would share your goals in the comments!)

Gas $115 ( we spent $93.40 last Feb, but hub was unemployed and I have one more kid in school this year)
Groceries $120 (we spent $104.26 last year, I upped the budget this year bc the boys are eating a TON lately..  can we say growth spurts?!)
Gifts or eating out $50 - I know we have at least 1 birthday this month, possible hospital time for my oldest, and we haven't been out to eat in over 3 weeks, so I am not sure I can make it the whole month w/o a night off.
so the total out of pocket budget this month is $285!

Just like last year, I will update every day or 2 where we are at, and where some of the great deals are.  I would LOVE LOVE love it if your would let me know if you plan on doing something similar!

Happy New Year! ok, maybe not but...

I have a love hate relationship with New Year resolutions...  like most, I set them, have the best of intentions and normally fail by this time.  So this year I took a different approach.  In part it was because my December was so crazy (rental house issues to the extreme, Christmas, illness, car fix-ups, you name it) and because this year i wanted to take time, think things thru and really, really set goals for myself.  So I gave myself January (aren't I generous!)  to think about what I want my life to look like, really think about what brings me joy and how I can make all the different interests I have come together.

Anyone that knows me, knows that I have too many interests to possibly succeed at them all, and can get lost in endless tangents (both in talking and in projects).  This had to several blogs, that I start, write a bunch and abandon.  Well no more my friends!  this is it, Mama Monkey is where all my randomness shall reside.  Not totally random, I have narrowed down my passions into 3 main categories. 
Saving Money
Making Money
and Making Stuff

So that is what i will share with you on this little piece of the web.  And soon I will work with my smart hubby and make category tabs so that you can easily find posts in the subject you are interested in.  in the meantime, bear with me and come along for the ride.