» Debt

Groceries and money How much to spend?

Tricia — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:33:00 +0000

A lot posts I read across the blogosphere have a lot to do with groceries and money. You know, “how much should you spend, how much is too much , what are other people spending” and stuff like that. It is really hard to come down with a definite dollar amount. Food is a need, a want, an addiction and just tastes sooo good. It appears to be that you need to spend as much on food that is required to survive since food is a basic that you can not live with out. But that is not the go ahead to buy the most expensive brands of food either. You have to find a healthy medium. Now before I continue please keep these 2 things in mind; always remember you have to do what works for your family not everyone else, the rule is you should only spend 15 – 20% of your income on food. What methods work for you?

There are a lot of things that need to be considered when setting your grocery budget:

how much income do you have
how many people do you need to feed
do you clip coupons
do you plan menus
do you have other sources for food? Maybe your own garden, free breakfast program at schools, you know someone with a garden?
are you brand loyal? this is not always a good thing. There are some items that I always buy generic: salt, pepper, sugar, cooking oil, flour, pancake mix, panacake syrup, bread, potatoes and applesauce just to name a few.

For our family of 6 we roughly spend $420-$477. So far this is working for our family. I am hoping this will go down if I ever can get started with the once a month cooking. I am a little curious though, what are you spending on groceries?

Reasons I love Guaranty bank

Tricia — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:00:00 +0000

I love my bank because it has a pretty good rewards program where we get money back. That is a big plus in my book. Another reason I am showing my bank “love” is because I was going through my mail and found 2 coupons for a free fee reversal. This means if for some reason I have a overdraft, I give the bank my coupon and they erase the $39 overdraft fee! This is just one of those things that I am glad to have in hopes that I will not need it. And I would like to give myself a little pat on the back because we have had no overdrafts since the beginning of the new year!!! (That is a big deal since I used to get 3-8 overdrafts a month.)

I just found out they have a savings plan for kids. I think that is a great idea because while I am learning how to make better money decisions I would like to teach my kids about money right from the start. It is called the

Free & Easy Kids Club Savings Account

By making it fun and rewarding to save, the Free and Easy Kids Club savings account helps teach savings habits that kids can take into adulthood!

Create Great Savings Habits:

Just $10 to open and receive FREE gift: kids can start with what’s in their piggy bank!
Prizes awarded for deposits: Kids receive a prize whenever they make a deposit (one per day please!) so they look forward to saving!
Interest earning: Kids can watch their money grow and learn how interest works.
Monthly statement: Kids get a statement showing how much they’ve saved, which encourages more saving!
Free & Easy Kids Club website: fun activities, games and practical tips for kids and parents on allowance, savings and more can be found at our Kids Club Website!

Flexibility for small and big savers:

Every dollar counts: Kids are rewarded for deposits of just $1 but we hope they save much more!
Automatic deposits: Adults can set up systematic deposits in any amount from their checking or savings account into their child’s account.
No monthly service fees or minimum balance requirements
Any adult including parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles can open an account for the special children in their lives.

I think this will encourage even the youngest member of our family to save. I plan on signing the kids up next week.

A moment of weakness

Tricia — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 23:01:30 +0000

Well yesterday I had a moment of weakness. My husband and I went to OfficeMax because I wanted to look at some clip-art software. I was looking through the software trying to make a decision between 2 when a clearance sign caught my eye. It was not in my direct line of view and it was off to the side but it caught my eye anyway. So of course I just had to take a quick peek. At first I saw nothing that I could use or even wanted. But then I saw it. A mp3 player. And not just any mp3 player but the one my daughter has been asking for since October of 2007. The regular price is $69.00 and it was on sale for $25!!! I just had to get it. My daughter will be 14 on March 26th and I had no idea what I would be able to get her for her birthday that was in our price range. So I had my clip-art software ($9.99) and the birthday gift ($25) and I was ready to go. My husband is in line and I am just looking around, you know at the cameras and stuff then something else caught my eye. It was a mini photo printer regular price $99.99 on sale for $35! I remember seeing this printer years ago wishing I had one. So I rush towards my husband to tell about the deal of a lifetime on a printer. Guess what he said? “Why do you want another printer, don’t you have 3 now?” I just stopped in my tracks. I could not believe he would not let me get this printer. I felt a little embarrassed. I mean why should I have to beg for $35 to get a printer? I actually wished I had my credit cards. I could have just bought it and that would have been the end of it. I was actually quite upset after we left the store. I really wanted that printer. But late last night I started thinking. I really did not need that printer. I have printers at home. One of those is a HP that I love very much. I think what got me was the printer was on clearance. I saw that little yellow sign and felt I had to have it. It would be stupid if I did not buy it. But in my case it would have been stupid if I did by it and I am so glad my credit cards are in the freezer. Over the past few months I have learned a little but I still have a ways to go. I am definitely glad I was with my husband.

Money Matters E-Book

Tricia — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 21:07:43 +0000

There is a great ebook about money matters that is free over at Beingfrugal.net It is a collaborative effort between 16 personal finance bloggers:

• My Dollar Plan

• I’ve Paid for This Twice Already

• Being Frugal

• Gather Little by Little

• DebtFREE-Revolution

• Mrs. Micah

• Remodeling This Life

• Cash Money Life

• Moolanomy

• My Two Dollars

• Credit Withdrawal

• Millionaire Money Habits

• Credit Withdrawal

• Chance Favors

• Plonkee Money

• Quest For Four Pillars

I am so happy that this is available. I already downloaded my copy. Go get yours.

All the cool stuff you find online

Tricia — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 19:24:50 +0000

If you are anything like me you find a lot of stuff online that you bookmark to look at later. Sometimes I still can not find because my bookmarks are at least 300 links. I came across this site called Lifetips. I love the purpose of this site. It helps you to manage all of your tips. It is easy to use, I just use the copy and paste method. You are able to put your tips all in one place and download it free as a ebook. You can even share your tips on various social networking sites like Myspace. I think this a great idea because I am finding lots of great information related to being frugal and getting out of debt. You can even share you tip ebook with family and friends. (I always have people ask me, do you have a list of all those sites you go to?) Your ebook will be a great frugal gift too.

Medical Expenses

Tricia — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 22:08:47 +0000

Well, over the past week I was able to pay another one of my debts. It was a bill for my therapist. The bill was at least a year old and I feel horrible for letting it go so long. My DH’s job changed the coverage for mental health from CompPysch to Blue Cross Blue Shield. When we had CompPsych the copay was only $12 a visit. Which we could afford because I only went 2 times a month. But when it changed to Blue Cross Blue Shield our copay went up to $36 a visit!! I had some rough months in 2007 and went more than 2 times a month. Sometimes I went every week. By the time I realized that the copay had changed I had already been charged and my bill was over $500!! But I do not blame myself. I am pretty sure notices were sent out in the mail and knowing me, I never opened them. When I g0t really depressed about bills, I used to just ignore them. I did not open them in hopes the debt would go away. I know, i know stupid right? I was at a point in my life where I did not care about bills and personal finance. I spent like crazy without thinking about the consequences. But back around October, I knew I had to straighten up and be a grown up. Sometimes I behaved like a spoiled little brat who had to have her way. I made a decision to stop seeing my therapist until I could pay off the bill. Fortunately I was still able to get my medication refilled but I knew i would feel horrible if I continued to see him knowing I could not afford it. Another decision I made was to up the amount that was put into our Health Savings Account. Through my husband’s job every year you are able to make decisions about your insurance coverage, life insurance and savings for daycare or/and or health. In 2007 I did not choose enough for the deduction. So I sat down, figured out what all our deductibles, presciptions and co-pays would be. Then I was able to set a deduction amount that would cover them all so what happened in 2007 would never happen again. (See, I’m learning to be a little more responsible).

So I am very happy to say I was able to pay my mental health medical bill off. $747.38 gone!!! Now I still have some dental bills I need to pay and I don’t feel depressed about it. I honestly feel like I know getting out debt is possible. It is a slow process but I am glad that it is. I am learning that I do not want to feel this way ever again because of debt. This journey is hard and exhausting. Once it is over I never want to do it again.

Free Money

Tricia — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:52:16 +0000

I was talking to my dad today and he told me about this program at Bank of America. It is called “Keep the Change”. After you sign up, every time you buy something with your Bank of America check, your purchase is rounded up to the nearest dollar amount. The difference is then transferred from your checking account to your savings account. You are literally keeping the change. Another plus of this rewards program is Bank of America matches 100% of the amount of your Keep the Change transfers during the first three months after you enroll, and they will match 5% thereafter. The maximum total match is $250 per year. Limited to five checking accounts. This program sounds like a really good idea, especially for someone who uses their debit card for all of their purchases. The change you get could go towards paying down your debt.

Personal finance and saving money

Tricia — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 02:02:59 +0000

I was doing one of my favorite things, visiting blogs, and while I was at Family Finance and Other Things, I found a site that I had never been to before. Simple Savings . Simple Savings is full of great personal finance information. It has this really cool chart that you can use to track your old money habits and the cost, your new money habits and the cost and how much you saved. This is such a great idea! I think it will make a big difference to be able to see your savings in black and white. The site even has these tips sheets for freezing food, affordable gift giving, having a garage sale, and grocery shopping. I plan on printing the sheets up and starting my own little frugal binder. I have the worst memory in the world. Simple Savings is even giving away this handy calendar that will help you to make Wealthy spending habits. I am super excited, I will starting on my binder tonight.

Debt Consolidation

Tricia — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:50:09 +0000

One of my new debt blog finds is debtconsolidationcare.com . This site is definitely interesting. It is a getting out of debt community. There a lot of useful tools at this site. There are some finance calculators including a debt to credit ratio one. (don’t ask about my obsession with calculators, i am a little quirky). Debtconsolidationcare.com even has a nice chat room. I think that could be handy if you have a quick question or thought and need some immediate feedback. I like the way it is set up because even if no one else is on, you can run it in the background and get a nice little ding when someone enters the room. You can even do a little private chat. I am glad I came across it. There are some really good tips on there.

Frugal support

Tricia — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:10:11 +0000

I can not believe I am sticking with this frugal stuff. Any one that knows me , knows that I can get discouraged pretty easily sometimes. But it is something I am trying to work on. I am a work in progress. But today I woke up and I can’t even explain how I am feeling. The only word I can think of is blah! This whole process is definitely not easy. It is especially hard when I see others spending money so freely. I start thinking, “I used to be like that, get my tax refund and go on a shopping spree. We just would go and buy any and everything we wanted. But my emotions are all weird. It is not like I even want to shopping or need anything. So why am I feeling this way? I mean I know I am looking at money differently. I do not want to be in debt anymore. I am literally exhausted with the stress that comes with being in debt. And I do feel different. I am actually not thinking about spending as much as before. And I have not defrosted any credit cards and I am proud of myself for that. I think today I just needed a little frugal support. I found a post at frugal village that really talked to me. It made me feel better because at the end of the day I am happy and didn’t have spend any money to get this way.