#5: Menu Planning

Ah, menu planning. It was my husband who first suggested we start this. My initial reaction: are you friggin' kidding me?! We hadn't been married that long and we'd just decided that it made more sense for me to stay home, since we were about to start trying for kids. I'm traditional(ish), but I have my limits! Actually, it turned out that meal planning worked pretty well for us. We'd sit down together on Sunday night and figure out what we wanted to eat for the next week. We'd build in maybe one lunch out and one dinner out. Then, I'd make a list of all the ingredients we needed for the dishes we'd selected and go grocery shopping.

This is menu planning at it's simplest. Even if this is all you do, it will still save you money. For us, this eliminated all the quick runs to the grocery store for those few items we didn't have but needed to make whatever we felt like making. Average cost of those quick trips? About 10 bucks a pop. And at one point, we were doing this almost every day after the husband got home from work.

If you want to save even more, figure out your menu plan, then grab those grocery circulars and find the specials. Then, pair them with your coupons.

If you really want to save the big bucks, do the process in reverse. Huh? There are several grocery stores near us, but I pick the 2 with the best deals each week. Unless there are just some killer deals, it simply isn't worth the gas to drive all over town. Plus, I'd rather hang out with our kids :) Anyway, I find the best deals out the circulars, pair up with coupons, and schlep it all home. Then, each evening I spend about 5 minutes loosely planning out the next day's menu. Probably not the most efficient way to do things, but it works well for us. We outlawed those "quick trips" to the grocery store (with the exception of milk, eggs, flour) so if I don't have something a recipe calls for, I'll modify it. Speaking of running to the store for eggs, my in-laws were visiting a while back and I was going to make apricot scones for breakfast. I actually make great scones, but there was one tiny little problem: we were completely out of eggs. Adding insult to injury, the recipe only called for one lousy egg. Oh, and did I mention that my mom-in-law was a professional wedding cake baker for most of her adult life? Fortunately, my sweet father-in-law slipped out and came back with a dozen eggs and my scone batter was saved. Mildly Mortifying.

But, I digress. Here's what today's menu looks like:

Breakfast: Whole Wheat toast made from bread bought at farmer's market. "Protein Shake" made of 1 cup plain almond milk and banana. I throw them in the blender with some ice and the husband and I split it.

Snack: veggie-based juice made with our Champion Juicer

Lunch: Leftover roasted veggies from last night's dinner and bruschetta made from the farmer's market bread, fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic olives, and a sprinkle of feta.

Snack: leftover juice

Dinner: homemade veggie pizza. We buy the ready made dough balls from Safeway, so it's a quick process.

The kids basically eat what we eat- you should see Mr. Baby go after roast zucchini. They drink the fresh juice we make, too. The big exception we make with their diet is that their afternoon snack is more substantial- peanut butter sandwich, yogurt, or applesauce typically. Our toddler also drinks cow's milk, which I feel is important at her age, though I personally feel better when I limit my dairy. Our son eats most of his solid food early in the morning, whereas our toddler likes to have a light breakfast, then load up at lunch.

I also drink a ton of hot tea, both caffeinated and decaf. It's so chilly here that I have a real issue drinking cold water. We actually had to turn our heater on last night...and it's June. Here's one of my absolute favorites. If you haven't tried it , you need to! It tastes great plain or with a bit of milk and honey.

I'd conservatively estimate that we're saving a good 30% on our grocery budget by meal planning the way that we do. We could save more if we ate more processed "coupon" type foods, but I really believe that junk food is only cheap until you get the bill for the heart bypass.

Next up, #4 Trade, Swap, Barter and Mooch

#6:Getting Your Priorities Straight

EDIT: A funny thing just happened. My husband walked into our room and said, "I just read about those people who downsized to really small houses so that they could get rid of their mortgages. I can actually see us doing something like that." We're still trying to decide how drastically we're willing to change our lives. If we lived like that for even a few short years, we'd be able to stockpile some serious cash. It would open up the potential to pay for our eventual home outright and to use the small one as a rental cottage for residual income.

I think a lot of people do a lot of talking about prioritizing without realizing what it truly means. Here are my priorities:

 I think when you're married to someone in the military, you realize that you could lose them at any time. Not trying to be morbid or anything, but it does put things in perspective. Couple that with being told that we would most likely not be able to have kids of our own without medical intervention (long story, irresponsible doc) and it makes me really appreciate those three faces up there.

 Once you figure out what is really truly precious to you, it will save you so much time and money. Seriously. If you know what you want and you want it bad enough, chances are you'll make it happen. Of course, that means letting go of some material stuff. It also means taking a good hard look at what you really need vs. what you think you need. Here are a few things we "do without" that provide us with the greatest savings. These certainly wouldn't work for everyone, but they make it possible for us to live how we want to live, so it's worth it to us.

 1. We share a car. This is actually a huge money saver for us. You're probably thinking, "wow, I could never share a car with my spouse." I actually used to think the same thing. When we got married, "my" car became our car. We saved up over the next couple of years and last Christmas, my husband got me the SUV I'd had my eye on for a while. I was soooo excited. After 2 years, I finally had my own car again! But, then something funny happened; we stopped driving our first car. It literally started to grow moss. So, we sold it. There's no use paying for insurance and oil changes on a vehicle you aren't using. Granted, I stay at home and the husband telecommutes for the most part these days. (Another long story) We also live withing walking distance of 2 grocery stores and multiple restaurants. (And our marriage is pretty solid. I absolutely don't advocate giving up your wheels if it isn't!) But if you have multiple vehicles simply because it is the norm for American households, maybe it's time to rethink it. With an average cost of ownership at 8k per year, per car, that's a pretty significant chunk of change!

2. Shopping. Well, ok, obviously we shop. (And if you're shopping online, I have a couple of tips for you here.)What I mean is, we don't shop for fun or out of boredom. If I don't need a new cardigan, I don't go into Macy's. It is that simple. Shopping for fun or entertainment gets really expensive, really quick. Have you ever heard that most of us wear 20% of our wardrobe 80% of the time? Well, that was true for us. So we eliminated the other 80%. We buy what we need and wear what we buy. I must admit, this was really a tough one for me. I'm a girl and I love to shop. Was that redundant?! Our clothes do need replacing a bit more frequently since they see more wear, but it's still so much cheaper than keeping a closet stuffed to the brim with crap that isn't getting worn.

 Here it is. And, this is a shared closet. We have a medium size rubbermaid tub that holds our winter coats in the off season and a hanging bag for uniforms, but other than that, what you see is what we wear.

I really don't know how to put an exact dollar amount on how much we save by buying only the clothes we need, since I never really kept track of it before. I estimate, however, that the total annual saving is probably around 2k for the both of us.


 3. Here's the biggie: we have a small home. And by small, I mean that the 4 of us live in precisely 938 sqft. We're fortunate enough to have a really great floor plan that is super space efficient-no hallways in this house! As the kids get older, we'll likely get a bigger house. But it still isn't going to be monstrous. We save gobs of money on our mortgage and heating/cooling bills.  The next-biggest house we considered buying would have tacked an extra 400 bucks onto our mortgage alone. The worst heating bill we've ever had was $150 bucks, and it was super cold that month! We also had a newborn, so we were keeping the place extra toasty. From the people I've talked to, it seems that most of them have heating bills nearly double ours. And I can clean our house top to bottom in about an hour if I have to! Don't get me wrong, I am not knocking big houses. I daydream about them, actually. But, at the end of the day, our small house is more than adequate for right now. Yes, we could afford a larger home, but we'd really rather have the cash than the extra space. Again, I know this isn't practical for every family. But, if you're curious to see how a few families made ultra small space living work for them, click here. Some of these places are gorgeous as well as functional, too. I love this Texas cottage. And while this is a lot extreme for my tastes, this family traded in their home for a mortgage-free 320 sqft living space.Don't the words "mortgage free" sound magical, though?

Next up: meal planning

#7: Getting Someone Else to Do The Heavy Lifting For You

There are a couple of website I use when I don't have the time to find my own grocery deals. I prefer to peruse the ads of a few convenient grocery stores and match their specials to my coupons myself, but there are some weeks when it just isn't practical. For that, I like Coupon Connections.




 You just click your store at the top of the page and a list of the best items from the store's weekly circular and coupon matches appear. If you have limited time to look for deals, this is a great blog to follow. Bear in mind, the proprietor does get paid to promote certain sales/items, so you have to use your judgement as to whether a "deal" is a good one for you.

And this lady just plain inspires me; her monthly grocery budget for her family of four is just $100 dollars. It is amazing how far she can stretch a buck. Granted, she grows a lot of their own food and her lifestyle isn't exactly practical for everyone. I have learned a few cool tricks from her site and she almost always has fun, produce-centered recipes that really help when I find myself having a "what the heck am I gonna make for dinner tonight" moment.


Next up, #6: Figuring Out Your Priorities

#8: Online Shopping

Welcome to #8 in my Top Ten series of cheapo living tips- you can read tips #10 and #9 here. I use 2 websites to keep my online spending as low as possible- Ebates.com and Retailmenot.com. Ebates is really cool- before you make a purchase, you just go to their website and select the retailer you want to shop at. Ebates offers a different percent cash back depending upon the store, but I usually get anywhere from 3% to 12% back on my purchases. Signing up is free and you can choose to get your cash back via paypal, which is nice, since you don't have to hand out any sensitive information. Cash back accumulates and is paid every quarter. Side note- you can also use Shopathome.com...it is much the same as ebates, I just prefer to only use one site.

 Once you've gone through a cash back site like ebates or shopathome, head over to retailmenot. Make sure you do this in a new tab so that you don't disrupt ebate's ability to track your purchase. Retailmenot posts current coupon and promotion codes for a ton of online retailers. You simply enter these codes at checkout. This is where I get my biggest savings. I'll typically wait to make a purchase until I can find a code that will give me at least 5 bucks off and/or free shipping. Depending upon your spending habits, you aren't likely to see a ton of cash back from sites like ebates or shopathome, but I usually get enough back to take a free trip to Starbucks. Speaking of Starbucks, if you buy their bagged coffee, save those empty bags! Each one can be redeemed for a free cup. We usually wait until we have 2 bags, then use them if we have to drive somewhere bright and early :)

 And at the risk of pointing out the obvious, craigslist is a really great place to get some good stuff for next to nothing. We actually just bought a really great coffee table off of craigslist this morning. It's an Avington table and retails at Target for $120 bucks. It was in perfect condition. The guy we bought it from was originally asking $70, but the husband talked him down to $60 AND got him to throw in a homemade cedar table he was also trying to offload. I would have been thrilled to get just the coffee table for the price, but in our case, a little bargaining went a long way! That being said, there are plenty of crazies out there and I NEVER buy or sell anything without the husband present AND we do not let people into our house.

The coffee table fits just perfectly in our room.

I'll spare you the before and afters, but I gave the cedar table 2 coats of leftover paint and added 3 milk crates from Michael's for extra storage. I'll probably do something fun on the crates eventually (like "top secret" "secret" "unclassified")but for now, it's functional as a desk/ media center in our living room.

 Also from Craigslist...my $10 Pier 1 Shelf:

And a $15 buck chair that I covered in about $6 worth of fabric:

That's 4 pieces of furniture for a total outlay of 91 bucks! Sorry about the picture quality. Life hasn't really lent itself to photo editing these past few weeks. Next up on my top ten list of How To Live on a Military Salary Without Asking Your Parents for Money/Robbing a Bank: #7: Getting Someone Else To Do The Heavy Lifting for You.

Trolling at Target

I originally started shopping at Target because they have (in my opinion) prettier stuff than Walmart for about the same prices. But, I've recently learned a few tricks that have helped me get some killer deals at Target. It isn't all essentials, but there's nothing like getting exactly what you want on the cheap. Basically, there are 2 things you need to know to shop Target effectively:

Tip 1: Scour the endcaps that aren't facing a main aisle, basically, the hidden endcaps. Clearance stuff gets put here and you can find some awesome deals.

Tip 2: go to coupons.target.com Target's coupon policy allows you to redeem 1 manufacturer's coupon AND 1 store coupon per item. I wait until I have both coupons and the item is on special (look at the weekly ad) and then I snap it up: I can usually get Nivea body wash for about 50 cents, Garnier facial moisturizer for about 2 bucks, and toothpaste (typically Aquafresh) for free-50 cents. If you're watchful, you can also find great deals on shampoo&conditioner, coffee, and other pantry items, too.

So, here's where #10 (a ridiculous amount of situational awareness comes in):

I noticed in Target's weekly ad this morning the the TargetHome curtain panels were on sale for $12 each.  We needed 4 panels for our living room, so that would have been $48 bucks, which would have been decent on its own.

But, Target had a coupon online for the same curtains, "Buy One, Get One 50% Off." So, off we went, expecting to get our curtains for $36 bucks- an awesome deal.

Buut, when we got there, I checked the endcaps, just in case. And there they were. 4 panels, marked down from 24.99 each to 7.48 each. 

All four panels cost us $22.44 after coupons. Not too shabby. Sorry for the picture quality, btw.

So, that concluded #9 of my top 10 list for cheapo living. Next up: #8- online shopping.

This Is How My Brain Works

I get asked (a lot) how we can afford for me to stay home with our two kids on a military salary (hint: it a'int the commissary!) So, I figured I'd share my "top ten list" of cheap living strategies over the next few weeks. None of this is rocket science, just stuff I've learned through trial and error. If any of this helps you find a little extra money in your budget, great! So, without further ado, and yes, I/m kind of working backwards....

 #10: A ridiculous amount of situational awareness
So, what does that mean?

That for me means:

 a) the grocery store I frequent is offering 4x the gas rewards on each dollar spent on gift cards this week

 b) the grocery store offers home depot gift cards

 c) we really need mulch for our flower beds right now...and it's on sale this weekend for Memorial Day @ Home Depot

 d) there is a $5 off a 50 dollar purchase coupon in my inbox from the Home Depot garden club newsletter

So.... 1st, I bought 2 $25 dollar Home Depot gift cards and received 200 points in gas rewards, which equals 20cents off per gallon. Combined with my grocery reward, I'll actually get 30cents off. Getting 30 cents off per gallon means I've saved $6 for the entire fill up on my 20 gallon tank. That may not seem like a lot, but it gets better.

 2nd, The mulch we like is 4 for $10 dollars at HD, so with my $5 off coupon and gift cards, I can get 22 bags, which should more than take care of our needs.

Does that make sense? By anticipating our family's needs and planning carefully, I can usually make our purchases do double duty for us. I shelled out 50 bucks, got a free $5 to spend, and saved $4 at the pump. My fifty dollars spent like 61 dollars. Roughly, 22% more bang for my buck.

 The big picture: let's assume you can do this (or better) with all of your cash. For the sake of argument, we'll use a 2,000 per month take home pay. Getting 22% more for each dollar means you actually have the buying power of 2,440 month. That 440 should about cover a car payment, or more :) But, I can almost always make our money go farther on everyday items...

 Stay tuned for #9, Trolling at Target. (yes, I know it's trawling, but I like trolls. They are short, like me, so it's "trolling.")

Cheap Chair Makeover

A while ago, we picked up this chair for 15 bucks off of craigslist.

I wasn't really sure what I was going to do with it, but I thought she had some serious potential with her wavy back and curvy legs;)Yes, please feel free to enter that sentence into the Top 100 Things That Sound Really Dirty but Aren't contest. The black paint had been applied pretty badly...also, it was oil based, so I knew I didn't want to try and sand it all off. After removing the seat, I scrubbed the frame down with deglosser and a green scrubby pad. The "upholstery" was just a very thin piece of muslin, so that had to go, too. I really didn't want to spend a bunch of money, either, so I painted it with some leftover teal and gave it a quick gloss to protect the finish form two adorable little children who shall remain nameless. After I pulled off the thin piece of muslin, I discovered that our chair was one of those chairs:

Yep, she was one of those fake needlepoint kind of girls. We sort of had one of those, oh, honey moments. And then we got over it and bought her some brand new fabric in a great shade of tangerine. A 50% off sale combined with coupon meant we walked out of there with a 1/2 yard of upholstery fabric for about 5 bucks.

I just centered the pattern on the seat and began my faux-pholstery, as we like to call it ;)Once centered, I flipped the seat over and used a staple gun to secure the fabric to the left side.

I started on the left since I am right handed- that meant I had my dominant hand free to really pull the fabric tight (like so tight you think it's going to rip) before I secured it. Then, just pleat the 4 corners and staple them:

sorry for the blur

Secure the front and back:

And, done!

The finished product:

Not counting drying times, I spent just slightly over an hour working on the chair. I originally planned to re sell, but I think I'm going to hang on to this one ;)


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