Friday, May 23, 2014

FOF


So for this week's Finances on Friday - I attempted something I've never done before. I made a grocery budget for two weeks, made up a day by day menu ... went to the store and ONLY bought what I would need, and am going to try and stay out of grocery stores for two weeks. 
At first I was a little worried about how I would have fresh produce, but decided that for the first week we would eat fresh, the second week we will eat frozen veggies and fruits. I bought some organic chicken at Costco and baked it up, shredded it up and have just added bits of it to meals for the kids. I've been eating black beans or wild salmon ( the frozen variety.) So far so good, but holy moses, being yeast free is no joke and I miss pizza. 
I also put designated "fuel money" on a King Soopers gift card so that we would have set budget for fuel. I figure if we run out gas, we will quit running and stay home. This is a trial run, mind you ... we will see if it works. We are one week in, however, and I think we are on track to meeting our goal. 


 Some of the little ways I saved money :
~ we made up our five gallons of 2 dollar laundry detergent. I had a lovely bar of almond soap from Italy that Zac bought me for Mother's Day so I donated it to the cause. The soap smells beautifully.
~ The before mentioned grocery budget and having to peel off chicken skin. Gag me.
~ I didn't spend on cent at any stores this entire week
~ I only went to one place this whole week, and it was ten minutes from our house. 


~ made a baby gift out of things I already had on hand
~ used a coupon to get a gift for Tristan ( I'm starting to collect his gifts for next month)
~ cashed in my "points" for a Amazon gift card to help pay for my hubby's father's day


~ Went to Old Navy and used up all of my points from my incredible sweater deal a few weeks ago. I also signed up for their card just to get the points and for paperless bills and got points that way. I was able to get myself 6 pieces of clothing for absolutely free. It was a good day. 
~ had my kids help me around the house...free labor right? That counts for something
~ cut off jeans for Trin to have some shorts
~ made salt dough with the kids
~ crafted with what we had on hand
~ made all of our meals from scratch
~ skipped the coffee from Starbucks even though I WANTED it
~ made an extra payment on our credit card

And now for my confession...the way I DID spend money this week....the only way...it was necessary. Zac and I both are having incredible back and neck pain every day...we have for weeks and we are realizing it's our mattress. We can't afford a new one...but I could afford a very nice memory foam topper. So, after much investigating I ordered one for our bed (free shipping.) It came today, we made the bed...let's just say it's my favorite place on earth at this moment. It's so amazingly wonderful. I told Zac that I feel kind of terrible ordering it, but as usual, my sensible husband said "we were able to pay for it, I don't think we need to be in pain for another year because we don't want to pay 100 bucks for something that will help us sleep well every night." The man is right. 

Oh! And we were able to SAVE our goal amount this week.
Feeling blessed,
Alyssa

if you want to link up to Finances on Friday go here


5 comments:

  1. Alyssa, consider getting a new mattress from QVC. They have great brands and deals. If you get easy pay, you can pay it off in five or six payments and use your debit card to do so. You pay it off over time using your cash...no credit.

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  2. What a cute gift! Very creative. I think you did great. I use the pantry method and that works pretty well. I always have the same basics in the pantry and freezer and then plan my menus around that. Anyway, good job this week.

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  3. That's so awesome you have a comfortable mattress topper. Once upon a time we inherited my inlaws bedroom furniture with mattress. During my pregnancies with six of the kids I had horrible hip pain, but just thought it was some pregnancy thing I'd have to deal with. We ended up moving and getting a new mattress and low and behold, no more hip pain! We could have kicked ourselves for waiting so long! Through SIX pregnancies!

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  4. love the baby gift...sounds like you had a good week !

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  5. Way to go, Alyssa! What a GREAT week! Not going to stores and having a grocery menu/list REALLY helps save. But going to a store and getting six clothing items for free is pretty rock on awesome too. :-)

    One reason I call this Friday thing "Finances on Friday" and not Frugal Fridays is because I believe there is a time to save and a time to "strategically spend". When you strategically spend you aren't exchanging money for impulsive, unnecessary things but thinking about the spending, using money you already have and making sure it the spending of it will help you save in the long run (time, money, resources, sanity, comfort, etc.) That was what buying that foam thing was- strategic. And you shouldn't feel guilty about it ONE BIT.

    Money is meant to be spent but it is meant to be spent WELL.

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