Gifts now and Gifts Later

For each child for birthday and Christmas we give them some small toys and clothes to open AND put some money into their college fund. Compound interest over 15+ years adds up (hopefully more than college tuition inflation!). So they get some gifts to open now and some fund for the gift of college later!

Budget Tracking

I'm a fan of knowing your budget.  Realistically knowing what goes out in a month.  Knowing those "odd ball" expenses that don't come up every month such as paying insurance premiums.  If you don't have a budget here's how to start.

1. Write down every penny that goes out of your pocket during the month.  Every.single.penny.  If you don't know what's going out and where it's going it's rather difficult to get a realistic budget.  Use a spreadsheet or just write it down on a piece of paper, whatever works for you.  It sounds fine and dandy to set a goal of $x for say groceries but if you actually spend $y and it is no where near $x then it isn't realistic.
2. Add up all of the "odd ball" expenses.  Divide that up over 24 pay periods (assuming you or someone in your household get's paid twice a month) and then take that out of your paycheck on payday.  If you do online banking you can do this automatically.  That way when that car insurance bill comes in your mailbox you won't be scrambling to pay the bill.  (I'm also a fan of doing automatic savings this way too.)
3. After you see where all your money is going over the course of two months you can see where you may need to make changes.  You may not have realized you were spending so much money on renting movies for example.  Spending a $1 here or there does add up.
4. Write your budget down.  Be realistic but set goals that you think you can reach.  You may have been spending $y on groceries but with some organization, coupon clipping, sale hunting, baking more from scratch, etc. you may be able to lower that amount spent.
5. Put that budgeted money in cash, in envelopes.  David Ramsey (Omma "brand" shout out) is a fan of this method.  We "feel it" more when we use cash.  It's more "personal."  And it is visual.  I've tried the method of writing down what was spent on our credit card to stay within that limit and it didn't work for me.  I always ended up spending more.  But when I have cash in hand I can see how much is there, how much is for each week, and how much I have left.

Automatic Savings

Perhaps you or your spouse get direct deposit on pay day.  Perhaps you're already set up with online banking as talked about here in one of my previous posts.  Did you know that with online banking you can set it up to automatically transfer money into your savings account on payday?! Assuming of course that you 1) have a savings account with the same bank 2) have direct deposit 3) use online banking and 4) the online banking program offers such a function (which many do by the way).

This works so nicely because you budget for it, it's automatic, and it's money you don't miss.  It doesn't somehow become part of your spending budget and is there for emergencies when you've blown your budget for whatever reason (like I did this month with three unexpected medical expenses).  Hey life happens, that's why we have an emergency savings and why automatic transfer into savings is a great idea.  If you can't set it up to transfer automatically or you're uncomfortable with the idea you can set manual do this transfer on payday.

Scrubbers

When I'm not crocheting my dish scrubber I buy them from the dollar store.  To make these last longer I cut them in half (because really, how much of it are you using at one time?).  Makes my $0.50 scrubber a $0.25 scrubber and I end up with 4 scrubbers instead of 2.  Yeah!

Online Banking and Bill Pay

Many banks are offering free online banking and bill pay.  What a great idea!  One would hope that a bank's website is secure as they have a large stake in it if it isn't.  And you save on paper, envelopes, checks, and stamps!  What a wonderful thing!  Many banks also have the option where you can see where your money is going easily, have e-copies of the canceled check, etc.  If you have multiple accounts with the same bank you can transfer funds between them all online.  It is easy to balance your checkbook as you can see everything as it goes through your account almost instantly.  If you don't take advantage of this, check it out!

Case Discount

I happen to live near a Whole Foods store.  They have great bulk items, inexpensive natural and organic foods and household items, and case discounts.  Other stores have this too but I LOVE Whole Foods and their case discount.  Everything in the store has a case discount, it just depends on the item how much of it you have to purchase to get said discount.  I found this out quite by accident buying formula for my son.  I had three canisters and the very helpful check out clerk says "did you know you can get 10% off if you buy one more?"  When I looked dumbfounded he explained how the case discount works.  I can get organic formula for less than a regular store brand with this discount.  Best.thing.ever!  I buy yogurt, shampoo, lotion, all case discount.  I've asked at some of my other stores that I shop and they also do discounts on certain items.  It pays to ask if you can get a case discount!

Juice

As we've had a number of illnesses running through our house, we've gone through a fair amount of juice.  So let me tell you about juice!

I first off, love the V8 and Ocean Spray fruit and veggie blends.  I find that Ocean Spray is generally cheaper but sales and coupons sometime make V8 win out.  I have declared this juice "hands off" to everyone but our son.  Super picky eater toddler and this is a way to get some veggies in him.

For the rest of us in the house, we get the frozen concentrate.  Because really, many of the pre-made juices are from concentrate but cost 2-3 times as much.  I stock up when they have them on sale and keep a stash in my deep freezer.  When mixing it I have found that adding 1/2 cup extra of water will make it go a little bit longer.  But generally I can't go a full cup extra as then it looses it's taste quality.  (Again, going to cheap and not staying frugal.)  Unless you like watery tasting juice then have at it!  ^_^

Soap

If you air out your soap it will harden and last longer. I have a mesh bag under my sink with soap. The mesh is small enough to keep the soap clean too.

When you get to the end of a bar of soap, what do you do with it? I like to put it in a sponge. Get a bath sponge at the dollar store, cut a slit in it, put the soap fragments in it, and use it in the shower. It lathers us nicely.