Working on our finances

Jonathan and I are working on our finances in part, many Thanks to Dave Ramsey and his teachings.

While I was searching other blogs out there who might be on his plan I found a great site NCN Blog. No Credit Needed blog is a great story of how a family got out of debt by not using credit, and budgeting....this stuff really works and I just eat it up. Also on the NCN Blog you can have a chart that allows you to mark your successes I have signed up for one and can not wait to get working on it. Check out this site, there are great stories and resources available through this site. One of my favorite things to do is to click on the other members charts and see progress...that gets me motivated!!! So Check it out!!!!

Goodwill shopping!!

I have to say I typically love shopping at goodwill or thrift stores. Today was no exception. We had about 45 mins to kill this afternoon and headed to Goodwill. I got some of the best ever deals. I purchased 3 denim skirts for me, 1 pair of jeans and a new doll for Allison, a pair of sleep shorts and a book for Lindsey, a bakset that I will spray paint and give as a Christmas gift, and for Jack he got the best toy ever according to him. It was a Buzz Light Year. The toy was only $1.91 and he has carried and played with it all day. If he never touches it again it was worth it. :>) My grand total for my day of shopping was a whopping $22.00 Check out some of my purchases...

I always love a great deal!! Have a wonderful week!!

TightWad Tuesday

How to save at a theme park:

• Coupons - the local theme parks here usually have coupons on the coke cans or in local grocery stores. Making the entrance fee a little less.
• Buy the Park's Refillable Cup - the theme park that we visit about twice a week allows us to bring in our refillable cup each time so we only paid $14 - $3 coupon = $11 total and our drinks are refilled for $.99 each time. The day you purchase your cup the park we visit offers a bracelet and you get free refills that day only!
• Pack a Lunch - often theme parks will have picnic tables in there parking lots for those who pack a lunch. Ours does not, but we bring our chairs get under the trees and enjoy our lunch. This does require forward thought...I like to make all sandwiches at home, those are packed with chips or snacks. We pick up a bag of ice for the cooler, I pack disposable cups & drinks and we have a nice lunch then return to the park.
• Buy a parking pass if you have a seasons pass or plan on making more than one trip to the park during a season. The park we visit it is $10 to park once. The parking pass is $30. We have already been enough to more than pay for this one.

I hope these ideas help. I know we use them to save money every season!!

Have a great summer!!!

TightWad Tuesday

My Tip for today is for Dishwasher Detergent.

With the rising cost of groceries we are always looking for ways to cut back on items we use everyday. I have been making my own laundry detergent for a while and it works great. So next I turned my thoughts to the dishwasher.

I have not come up with nor have I found a recipe for homemade dishwasher detergent, but I have come up with a way to stretch the usage of a box of powder.

What I am using:

• 2.8 - 3 lb box of dishwasher detergent (I use the Great Value brand from Walmart)
• 3 cups baking soda
• 2 cups borax

Combine all together in a large bowl w/ whisk. Make sure all are evenly mixed and put in an airtight container until needed. I put about 1/4 cup in each time I use the dishwasher. The small box mixed this way usually last us about a month and we use the dishwasher regularly at least 2 times a day.

Another tip regarding the dishwasher is to use vinegar in the Jet Dry reservoir. I bought 5 gallons of vinegar for $2.39 at Costco a couple of weeks ago to use for various things. This was less that one application of Jet Dry and it will last for a long long long time!!

TightWad Tuesday

My tip for today is once a month grocery shopping!

I know that it is something that can only be done if you have the room. We started off last month with everything stacked to the ceiling, but finished the month off and actually saved money. I did spend all of my grocery budget of $580 for a family of 5, but what I did not have were all the extra trips to the store. I planned a menu for the month and stuck to it. I only had to run to the store to replenish the milk and that was all I bought. By doing this I eliminated the extra $30-$40 dollars above the budget grocery trips that we had each pay check. So we saved $60-$80 dollars last month. When JON and I did our budget this weekend we could see the difference and are looking forward to next month.

Side note...I bought several bulk items at Costco. I love Costco and I know that it is not always a savings ... you must watch, but we get alot of really good deals!!!

Tightwad Tuesday

I am a day late, but we are still working on the swing. We are on hour 12 of the 6-10 hour project full review coming once we finish!

TIGHTWAD TUESDAY!!!

We recently needed tires. 4 new tires for our van. We undoubtedly have an odd tire size because everywhere we called would have to order the size we needed, and boy were they expensive.

Then Hubby called Kaufman Tire. They also had to order the size we needed, but they had them the next day and at a more reasonable rate. Hubby took our van in next day on his lunch because they have the 39 minutes or less or $39 off deal. 4 tires were going to be $425 total - all fees & taxes. (this was about $150-$200 less than everywhere!!) Long story short....Hubby got there and they put the tires on in 1 1/2 hours. When it was time to check out he asked about the 39 min or less deal. Cashier spoke with manager behind closed doors and then came back and only charged us $370 I am not sure how that math worked out, but we did not complain.

If anyone is in need of tires try Kaufman and remember the 39 min or less deal!!

Have a great week!

Cutting Back!

I know the cost of everything is going up. We feel this mostly in our gas & grocery budget.



Jon and I have been discussing different avenues for saving on gas. The only real solution is to drive less. We considered trading cars getting a motorcycle, but those ideas only add to our debt and we really want to stick to our plan to pay everything off including the house in less than 7 years....SO a new car or motorcycle are out for now. We plan on combining trips out, no more Sunday afternoon drives (yes we do this regularly for 2-4 hours), & JON may even take on a side job to off set gas but keep us on our plan. Jon always does whatever we need...I am so thankful for him.



The next item on the list is our grocery budget. We currently spend $580 every month for a family of 5. We have one in diapers still ... hopefully not for long!! The $580 covers everything Costco visits and anything that comes from Walmart for the month. I usually do well at keeping us at budget, but we never have extra. I am going to start in May keeping a side note of my budget and what I have spent, and really watch what I am buying. I am also going to make it my goal to cut our budget by $50 in the month of May. I am not sure where this will come from with the cost of everything going up, but I am determined to save money. Maybe I should invest in more into bulk buying at Costco. We will see and I will keep y'all posted!



We have made some progress in the month of April. We paid off a credit card, saved our EMG fund, started a car fund envelope, and paid another card down $100 extra dollars. We are proud of our progress and hope that since we will be spending more time at home and not on the road MAYBE we can save a little more next month.



Have a great week!!!

Tightwad Tuesday - FOLLOW UP

Follow up to my post below. I have made laundry soap from scratch!


What you need:

16 cups of water
1 bar of soap (I used Ivory)

1 cup baking soda
1 1/2 cups Borax

DIRECTIONS:
Finely grate the bar of soap.
Then bring the 16 cups of water to a boil. Add in soap and whisk constantly until dissolved.



Remove from heat add in baking soda & borax and whisk until dissolved. Let it cool and whisk occasionally over the next 24-48 hours. It will turn into a gel consistency. I have read that it is ok to use before reaching a gel consistency, and I hope it is because I started using it right away :O)

Final product can be placed in any type of storage container with a lid. I would suggest air tight. Makes the entire house smell clean :O). A big thanks again to Lea @ Farmhouse Blessings.

Have a great day!

Tightwad Tuesday

I am having a great week, and I hope everyone out there is also!!

I am always on the search to assist my DH JON in our quest to get out of debt. This week I decided I would try to make my own laundry detergent. I have read so many success stories from other bloggers sites that I think I can do it also. My recipe that I am using comes from: Lea @ Farmhouse Blessings ... http://farmhouseblessings.blogspot.com/2008/03/frugal-friday-homemade-laundry-soap.html I do understand that this will not make us rich, but every little bit helps. I currently spend $10-$12 every 2 weeks on laundry detergent.

So my first test will be the expense part. I have purchased Borax 4 lbs @ $3.34, Ivory soap 3 for $.87, a throw-a-way whisk for $1.00, and baking soda for $1.00. My running total is only $6.21 and looking at the measurements I will make several batches before having to re-stock my items. I will be starting this morning and will post pictures later today showing how it went.



Have a great day!