Blog Post: Meat Stock Up Prices

One of the things I have a hard time keeping track of is meat prices. It's the one thing I really need to keep a price book on.

For The Mommas put together a nice posting HERE with some recommendations for stock-up prices for various meats and cuts.

I thought I'd share as I also get asked often what is a good price to stock-up on for meats.

Free Financial Advice Today from NAPFA

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Click here for details and/or to ask them a question. You can also just view the current discussion going on.

Total Geeks: Taste Testing

In case you haven't figured it out by now, Rich and I are a bunch of geeks. :) We are always looking for odd ways to have some fun. Our latest: Taste Testing! In my last run to Aldi's, I saw some Nacho Cheese chips and Corn Chips for $.99 a bag. I am usually pretty leary about trying odd-brand chips but I figured I'd give it a try. We did have some Doritos at home and I picked up a small size bag of Fritos for $.99. What was the outcome?

I couldn't tell the difference between the corn chips. But my wallet could! The Clancy's bag was 12 oz and the small Fritos bag was 3 3/8 oz! Talk about getting your money's worth! Now the Nacho chips, I could tell a difference but oddly, I preferred the Clancy's version over the Doritos! They had me sold!

So you can believe that I am going to be getting our chips at Aldi's! I just figured I'd pass this on in case, you too, were leary about trying an odd-brand chip. Give it a whirl! You might find that you not only like them better but can save some $$ on your grocery budget!

Cutting Costs: Dresser Alternative

When we transitioned Nathan from the nursery to his "big boy room" we decided we'd keep his old dresser in the nursery, as it matched the crib. We were already having to buy a footboard and bedrail for the full-size bed we had in the Guest room, so I didn't want to splurge on a dresser, too. So I tried to think of another alternative.

At the time, I was using a 6-cube storage unit for his toys that I had got on sale for $12 at Target and I thought to myself...why couldn't I just get some baskets and use that? So, that's what I did! I really wanted to use those canvas baskets but I didn't want to spend $6+ each for them. I got lucky and found some colorful red/blue baskets at our local dollar store. They have nice handles and slide out of the cube slots very easily. Since Nathan's clothes are still small, I was able to use the top rack for two extra baskets for light-weight storage items.

The benefits? Putting his laundry away is sooo much easier now! I don't have to keep opening several dresser drawers. The other bonus is that when it's time to pick out socks, shoes or pants, I let Nathan go and grab his own. Yeah, he doesn't always match, but he has fun. And no one sees us at home anyway! (You gotta let your kid live a little!) The bottom two shelves hold extra books and coloring supplies. But the very best part of the storage unit is, I don't have a dresser in his "living space." So now, he has more room to play!

So in the end, instead of spending hundreds of dollars on a dresser that wouldn't match his bed set later, I spent $20 (plus tax) on a very useful shelving unit. The nice thing is, when we do go to get him a nice dresser, this storage unit will go into the pantry for more stockpiling! (I have TWO others full already!) :)

With economic times being tight right now, don't think you have to spend top dollar on things like dressers, if you can't find them used! There are alternatives that are just as good that will work for what you need them to! And that way, you can put the money you saved onto paying off your bills!!

Cutting Costs: Apple Orchard vs. Store Bought

Two weeks ago, we went to an apple orchard and had an amazing time together as a family. And since then, we've been reaping the benefits of all those apples! Not only did we have them for snacks almost every day, but I also made homemade caramel apples (for us and for a playdate) and crockpot applesauce. The only additional things I needed to buy were a bag of caramels and one lemon. (I had the peanuts from that amazing Planters/Kraft free deal back when!) So all these things ended up costing me $12.50.

I started thinking at lunch today...how much would they have cost if I bought them at the store. So I started totally up the figures for 7 caramel apples, 2 jars of applesauce and then the remaining apples. $33.25! And I figured low for the apples!

By taking the time as a family to pick/make our own, I saved us $20.75. It may not sound like a lot, but don't get me on my soapbox about how far $20 can go! :)

Not only did we have monetary savings, but we had healthy savings, too. By having the apples around, we didn't eat some snacks that weren't as healthy and/or processed! You can't really put a savings figure on that! And one extra bonus...Nathan is now saying the word, "apple!" Yes, we've eaten that many! :)

There are still a few more "picking" weeks left. So if you haven't gone, consider taking the family out for a day of fun at the orchard. Your frugal outing might turn into a grocery savings, too!

Cutting Costs: Inexpensive Children's Book Case

I have spent many months trying to find a bookcase that I liked for Nathan's books. On most accounts, the bookcases were just very, very expensive! In other instances, they didn't appear to be safe, despite being advertised for kids!

A few weeks ago, I was de-cluttering the laundry room and decided to get rid of my "cart" that fit in between the washer and dryer. It has three shelves, but I had really only been utilizing the top one. The other two stored cleaners. With Nathan getting more freedom and exploring more, the cleaners had to be put up or discarded. I started to think how the cart was the perfect size for his books!

I cleaned up the cart and dragged down ALL of his books to the main level. I couldn't believe what a perfect fit they were! Those little board books fit great in the openings. I turned the larger books sideways and put them on the bottom shelf. I did have a few that didn't fit, just because we have so many. (I'd have that problem with any bookcase!)

To "spruce" it up, I added sticky foam letters that spelled out "Nathan's Books" on the side. (I found these at Michael's on sale for $4.99 for a huge tub! Enough to last us many, many years!!)

All in all, I saved us quite a bit of money by utilizing what we already had for a new purpose. If I had to buy this cart, it still would have only cost me $5-10, as opposed to the $60+ dollars all the others seemed to run. Nathan has helped himself to the books many times without it wobbling or looking like it was going to fall over, either.

The best part of this shelf is that Nathan now has access to his books and is constantly bringing me one to read. Our reading time has increased immensely by having them out and displayed! (Sometimes, I'll find him sitting on the floor, just flipping through them himself. It's the cutest little sight!)

Have you found an item that you re-used for a new purpose? Share your creativity and frugal ideas with us!

Children's Books: Building Up a Collection

If there is one thing that I can't buy enough of, it's books! If I were to ever "win it big," I can guarantee you that I would have one room in my house designated for nothing but a gorgeously well-stocked library! (As my friend, Liz, and I were saying this week, everyone has their shopping obsession. This is mine!) Now since we've been on a budget, I check all my books out at the library. But I still buy some for Nathan. He really gets his favorites and they only let you renew them once. He's also still a little rough with some and I'd hate to ruin a library copy. Here are the ways I've built up a really nice collection for him...for not very much!

New Books
1) Sign-up for Barnes & Noble and Borders e-newsletters. Quite often, they will send out coupons for 15% any one item and on occasion a 40% off coupon!

2) Amazon- For awhile now, they've been running a 4-for-3 sale on books, magazine and home items. Usually the books can put you over the $25 limit to get free shipping.

3) Promotions- Several companies offer promotions for getting free books with the right purchase requirements. Kellogg's/Target had this one going on that ended in September.

4) Dollar Stores / Target $1 bins - Some of Nathan's favorite books came from Target's Dollar Bins!

5) Make sure and put them on your children's Birthday/Christmas lists!!

Used Books
1) Goodwill/Salvation Army/Thrift Stores - I cannot get over how many books these stores have. And you can buy them for usually $.25 - $.59. Sign-up for Goodwill's Club, and get 5% off purchases of $20 or more.

2) Used Children's Stores - They tend to be a little pricier here but places like Once Upon a Child or Children's Orchard usually has books for $1.50 - $4.

3) Libraries - Several libraries sell books for mere donations. A lot of libraries will also have yearly sales where you can really rake in the deals!

4) eBay - A good portion of our collection came from eBay. I made the mistake of buying a couple individually until I discovered book "lots." These are fabulous. Many sellers will put a collection of 10-30 books together and sell them in a "lot." I ended up getting a huge collection of 30+ Touch and Feel books and Clifford books for about $18! All in great condition!!

5) Regular Used Book Stores or Book Swaps - One of the book swap sites I've heard of is PaperBackSwap. I've never tried it yet, though.

I personally think books are great presents. They open a whole new world for children and they are known for speeding up their talking skills, too! Whether you buy them new/used or check them out at your library, make sure you get your kids into books at a young age so they'll grow to love them more and more!

Happy Reading!

TMM Journey: Two Months and STILL Having Fun!

The weirdest thing for me about being on a vocal strict budget is, some people think that you are poor, near filing bankruptcy or just plain gone crazy and aren't any fun any more. When in actuality, it's all the opposite! We are not poor - we have savings called "an emergency fund!" We are not near bankruptcy- we are ahead on ALL bills. And we are happier and having more fun now than before! :)

September for us was a good and sad month. Yes, that's sad with an "S." The good part was that our utility bills were lower and since I didn't make so many "deal" trips and always multi-tasked outings, I was able to save $75 in gas! WOW! (Sometimes, are the deals worth it?!) But the sad part is, we didn't see a $150 check hadn't cleared so our "starting income" was lower than we thought. We did break even though. But I was sad in that I didn't have extra Christmas money, like I thought. BUT here's the great thing! Because I didn't have that money in the budget, I really analyzed what I had already bought throughout the last few months. And...I am almost done shopping! Had I not been without that money, I might have spent too much! What a blessing in disguise!

I did stay within our budget limits for groceries, baby, pet and household. Sometimes, it felt like a part-time job but so very worth it! I always keep the big picture in view!

Our outings included: a Cubs game, a family night out at Old Country Buffet and Apple picking. Our total spending was around $55! (Now some of this is budgeted under outings and the rest comes out of our own "allowances.") Who says you can't have fun as a family for not a lot! And can you really put a price on memories?

Our upcoming goals are:
1) Have all debt and SUV paid off in December.
2) Have our 2008 car paid off by March. (Wow! Who would have thought!)
3) Start our 6 months expenses emergency fund.
4) Start Nathan & Baby's college funds back up. (We never stopped our retirement!)
5) Pay off our house within six years. Yes, we've re-analyzed and we think it can be done in six and not seven like we originally thought.

I really thought this TMM plan was going to be painful but it's been great. Rich and I have always been close and communicated well but it's just grown all the more. We have "meetings" on all major purchases or anything that wasn't exactly in the budget. And for some reason...we are happier! :) I think once you get in the habit of not over-spending, you find out that the true core of happiness is each other. Everything else is just materialistic. Very cliche, I know. But true.

Hope you find this to be true in your life, too. As always, I'll close with the recommendation of Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book.

How did you do this month?

Tuesday Tip: Does $20 REALLY Matter?

Two weeks ago, I shared a tip of how avoiding "It's Only" shopping for even $5 a week (around $20 a month) could save you $260 a year. Now here's a new way to view $20.

Say you apply an extra $20 a month to your house loan. Here is a link to a mortgage calculator to figure out how much you'll save through the course of your existing loan by adding even a mere $20 to the principal.

One example. Say you have $150,000 left on your loan to pay, at 6% interest and you have 25 years left on the mortgage. If you just paid your basic payment of $966.45 a month for the remainder, you'd have 300 payments to make. Now, if you applied $20 extra a month to the principal of your loan, you would only have 287 payments left to make. Or you'd save yourself 13 payments, cutting off a little over a year of your loan! Look at it this way: $20*12 months*25 years=$6,000 you'd apply. It would result in $12,563.85 you wouldn't have to make or a total savings of $6,563.85!

That's what you could save by shaving off $5 or so a week. And what is $5? A few Starbucks coffees. Making one less convenience meal a week and opting for a cheaper homecooked meal. Cutting back on bottled water and getting a filtered pitcher. Downgrading your cable and/or phone plans. Or simply cutting spending.

So next time you think $20 doesn't make a difference...remind yourself of how many house payments you'd save!

Side Note: Depending on the type of house loan you have, this calculator may not work. Also, paying the $20 on your house loan may not be your best option if you have existing debt and/or other loans with higher interest. The purpose of this tip is not financial advice but to merely show you that $20 can go a long way! :) (I also had fun playing with the calculator so I thought some of you might, too!!) It's just a way to get you to train yourself to never think that making small cuts to your spending habits doesn't add up. Some people think 10 $.50 off coupons a week aren't worth clipping/using. Those few coupons could be the $20 you use!

Happy Tuesday!

Cutting Costs: Freezing Grapes

We have been having phenomenal sales on grapes lately. So much so, that it's become my latest pregnancy craving! I know the prices are going to skyrocket here soon enough so I decided I'd freeze some. I finally found time to do the research online to see if there were any special tricks to freezing grapes. (Do I wash them first? Freeze then wash upon using? etc. etc.)

Since I had some library books due, Nathan and I made a quick little trip into town to drop them off, pick up grapes and get our "supplies" for Thursday's latest adventure. Since I still had a bit of a cold-headache, we made it quick! I think I ended up with about 7 lbs of grapes @ $.99lb.

Nathan helped me rinse off the grapes and then I laid them out to dry. (pictured above.) Now some sites after this said to put them in Ziploc bags, while others said to freeze them on a cookie sheet first. Since I figured the freezing them first couldn't hurt, that's what we did.

I am still amazed at how well that little $10 Handi-Vac works at sealing up the bags! When I thawed some corn I had frozen last month, it tasted as fresh as the day I blanched it. So I'm hoping the grapes will be the same way!
It didn't take very long at all. The longest part was just waiting for them to dry on their own.

So if your stores are having sales on grapes too, consider freezing up some for some "fresh" produce this fall/winter when the prices are too high to fit many into your budget.

For cost savings, I could figure that these grapes would have cost $3 or more a lb. later in the season but to be honest, when they go up in price, I just don't buy them. So my savings are that I get to enjoy them for many months to come!

What is your favorite thing to freeze/can? And/or which things save you the most $$ by freezing/canning? I am really starting to enjoy this "getting ready for winter" prep so I'd love to try out a few more things!

The Simple Dollar Article - Check it Out!

The Simple Dollar site has a great article on "The Least Important Bill."

Definitely check out his example of how getting rid of a $20 bill can help you pay your credit card off in 4.5 years instead of 25!

(I say to myself...25 years of credit card debt! WHOA!) And for those of you whom that is a reality...let me refer you once again to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book! :) Rich and I are looking at 6 years to be debt-free, including the mortgage, (plus 6 months expenses in savings) if we stick with his plan! "Live Like No One Else, So You Can Live Like No One Else!" I'm hoping you can find this path, too!

Hope you enjoy the article!

Tuesday Tip: It's Only...

First of all, I have no idea why I am up! I rolled over and thought, what day is it? And then I realized it's Wednesday now. I really have to add Tuesday Tips to my to-do list! (Can I blame preggo-brain for everything I forget these days? Please!) On to the tip...

I don't know how many times in the past that I have justified purchasing something because..."It's Only..." and I hear myself saying a dollar or five bucks etc. Well, traveling down this frugal journey (I am still such a newbie compared to most of you. And I do still falter at times!) I have discovered that anytime I say, "It's Only" it's usually best to put the item back! :) Anytime that phrase pops up, I REALLY rationalize whether I truly need it or if I am being sucked into buying it because of the pretty red clearance tag, so to speak.

Anytime you fall into this trap, remind yourself this. If five times during the week, you say, "It's Only a Dollar" and throw it into your cart, it's costing you $260 at the end of the year. And for most of us, $260 is a car payment. ONE WHOLE CAR PAYMENT!

And to be honest, most "It's Only" purchases end up in the trash or donated. Think you don't tell yourself this a lot? Every time you WOULD have bought something when you've said that, put a $1 in a tin and see how much you end up with at the end of the month! You might just surprise yourself!

Now if you do find a great "It's Only," by all means, throw it in the cart, pat yourself on the back...and then email me so I can buy it, too!! :)

Happy Wednesday, Everyone!

Cutting Costs: Trip Calculator

So we make all those trips to Wags and CVS and it doesn't seem like much on the gas but here's a way to calculate how much each trip is costing you per day/week/month/year. Just type in your starting/ending address, cost of gas, mpg that your vehicle gets and how many times per day/week/month you make the trip.

You might be surprised to see how much the gas is adding up for just little trips. And you can start figuring in your gas costs into your savings at each store. (Is the deal worth the expense?)

Hope this helps!

TMM Journey: Our First Month Complete!

All of our August debits have cleared and we just put the final approval on our September budget. So, how did we do on our first month of budgeting and on the TMM Journey? We were $125 under budget! For most, this may not sound like a lot, but when you do Dave Ramsey's plan, you budget EVERY penny of your income. So we cut our costs even further than expected!

We completed our $1,000 emergency fund and paid-off/closed three of four credit cards. (We normally have these paid off each month but we took a huge hit on expenses the last two months, some our own doing. Our fridge went out and we lost all that food and had to buy a new one. We took advantage of sales to stock up on diapers/wipes until APRIL for two kids. We have 6 months of meat and pasta stocked up. We built a sand-box for Nathan. We had to buy furniture for Nathan's new room. And we had a $300 vet bill. Whew! We now budget in a little for expenses like these so it's not such a hit!) Anyway, our goal is to have our last one paid off, along with our SUV by Christmas.

Surprisingly, we were able to do a lot on very little. For $75, we were able to get in a trip to Brookfield Zoo, a local baseball game, a Culver's/Dairy Queen outing, a family BBQ and a movie/dinner outing for our date night.(Prior, we probably would have spent that on just the movie/dinner!)

I cut our groceries to $149, which was mostly more stocking up. I probably could have gotten by on $80 or less for necessities. Our water machine is gone. Our phone bill is cut. And we didn't put one penny on a credit card!

I think it was a great first month!

How did yours go? If you haven't begun your budgeting adventures and would like to, pick-up the book Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey!

Cutting Costs: The Paper Towel Challenge

If you ask most Moms of Toddlers how many paper towels they use, they'll simply answer: ALOT! I never knew how many we went through, either, until recently. I bought a larger pack of Bounty through a great CVS deal. When the pack was almost out, I couldn't believe we had gone through that many so quickly! I had one extra larger pack left and I vowed to make it stretch as long as we could.

I decided to invest in some colored dish cloths and paper napkins for now. (Once I find some cloth napkins on clearance, I'll switch to them.) Basically, I've been using different colored dish cloths for different purposes. One for cleaning. One for basic dish/counter cleaning. And one for "Nathan clean-ups."

Since our towel loads are small to begin with, I don't see these cloths adding any extra water or laundry soap to our budget. In the end, I think it will save us (and the landfills!) in the long-run.

For fun, I put a Post-It on the paper towel holder last week with that day's date. I wanted to see how long it would take us to go through it. It has skewed our results though! Every time I see the Post-It, I stop and ask myself if there's a better alternative to the paper towel! It's been a week, and our paper towel roll has barely been touched!

So my challenge to you is this: Put a Post-It on your paper towel holder and see how long it takes you to go through it. If it's a short timeframe, ask yourself if you shouldn't find alternatives, too!

UPDATE: I finally had to change the paper towel roll on 9/10! 20 days on one roll! WOW!

Good luck!

TMM Journey: Life Without Credit Cards!!

So it has officially been three weeks since we COMPLETELY cut ourselves off from any credit card usage. Prior to this, our policy was basically that everything would go on the card and we'd pay it off at the end of the month, earning us 5% on gas/groceries and 1.5% on everything else. Only a few payments a month and we didn't have to keep track of a debit card. Sounds logical, doesn't it? Here's proof it's not!

1)Gas - How can one over-spend on gas; you fill up when you're empty, right? Not really. When you set up a budget and only allow so much gas$ per month, you will think twice before you drive anywhere. By using a debit card, the money HAS to be in there! I now try to do only one shopping trip a week. Anytime I do go out, I try to multi-task as much as possible to keep our gas costs down.

2)Groceries - Here is our biggest area of savings. We set aside $40 a wk. now for groceries. I set up a weekly grocery plan; Put my $40 cash in my purse and grab my coupons/binder and set off. By having only $40 CASH in my purse, let me tell you, I stick to my grocery list! How embarrassing to not have enough $ at the check-out! If I see a good deal that's not on my list, I will either pick it up if I have enough or log it for reference for later. (It's better to think about the deals than to act impulsively!)Over the past three major shopping trips, I have probably passed up 8-10 items I would have normally just thrown into my cart.

3)CVS & Walgreens - I both love AND hate these stores!! I love how shopping right can have you walking out of the store for just a few bucks and a bagful of items! But sometimes, there's just too many deals for one transaction! So you either drive to multiple locations or make several trips. Since our closest stores are 18mi.(round-trip), I have to figure in $2-4 in gas. So now, I pick the best deals and pass up on the others OR I only pick them up when I'm already out on a different errand.

4)Online Shopping - What's that? I haven't made an online purchase since our budget. Yeah, in part I am still leary about using my debit card online but mostly, I think about the deals more and pass up on them. They'll be around again before Christmas! :)

5)Other Shopping - For the most part, I'm not a big shopper. I hate crowded stores and long check-outs. I used to do most of my shopping online. Most who know me know I love eBay and Amazon! :) But now having a small amount of my own personal money, I REALLY think twice before spending it. And quite honestly, I am valueing the items I do buy for myself more because I know of all the items I "sacrified" to save for that one item.

Overall, while we were earning up to 5% credit card rewards, I think we were FAR spending that by not being super-smart-shoppers. Even though we were paying them off, we were still buying things we didn't need. And that money could have been put towards our vehicles or house. So in the end, I am a BIG fan of cash/debit only now!

So here's my challenge to you. (Do you DARE take it?) Give up your credit cards for one month and see how your shopping habits change! And in case you haven't already checked it out, think about reading Total Money Makeover. It might just make you over, too!

Good luck!

Cutting Costs: Freezing Corn

One thing we look forward to each summer is corn-on-the-cob from our local farmer's market. I always wished I could have this flavor of corn all year round. While searching for farmer's markets in our area, I found this fabulous article on how to freeze corn. I thought to myself, why not?

I picked up 4 dozen ears of corn and started off on the adventure. Nathan had a good time "helping" me husk some of the ears. (I turned my back for a second and he had started munching on some, though!) :) All in all, the process wasn't too bad. I wasn't able to get a FoodSaver machine (We're on a budget!) so I invested in a Handi-Vac by Reynolds. They run about $9 or less and the bags are around $2 each. How simple are they to use? I let Nathan use it to suction out the last bag. I was very impressed with it. I'll have to see how well it keeps things from getting freezer burnt. I plan on using this for everything I freeze now! The bags cost around the same price as regular freezer storage bags.

How much of a savings? Well, it was hard to put an exact dollar on this. I lost some from Nathan stealing it and feeding it to the dogs but overall, I ended up with about 24-12oz bags of frozen corn. I did leave some ears for lunch/supper. So in the end, I think I saved about $15 with just this one batch. (I figured low, getting the 12oz bags on sale for $1 in the store.) If I would have done this without Nathan, I probably could have gotten a few more bags but we had so much fun that I didn't care about our "losses."

But overall, can you really put a price on farm-tasting corn year-round? I am looking forward to adding some of this to our Taco Chili recipe that we make on the first kick-off game of the Bears!

Cutting Costs: Silly Expenses!

The great thing about budgeting is that every $1 of income is accounted for. Do you know where all your income goes? Yeah, we didn't either! We had some things set-up to be paid automatically with our credit card each month. This is convenient, however, if you aren't checking your bills each month, a price increase or fee might sneak in on you. Here are the "silly expenses" we found when we started digging into our bills for our latest TMM Journey. Go ahead and laugh- We did!

1)Water Delivery- We started this when I was pregnant with Nathan. We were tired of buying bottled water and wanted healthy water,too. Our city water isn't the greatest tasting! We swear when we started this, it was closer to $25mo. When we made our budget, we found it was up to $46! The cost had just gotten lost with our other credit card purchases and didn't stand out each month. What did we care, it was being paid for. Little did we know, over time, there were water price increases and "energy fees" added on. Sadly, we were only using about 15gal mo. so it avg to almost $3gal! SILLY! Needless to say, we canceled delivery and invested in a water purifier pitcher until we decide if we need to get a faucet system or not. Yearly Savings: $552!

2)Landline Phone- The great thing about phone companies is that they can take a $50 phone plan and make it $70 after all their taxes. We weren't even using it all that much. And in the meantime, we racked up 3,000 roll-over minutes on our cell phones. SILLY! We cut our landline phone to the bare bones plan and are using our cell phones for outgoing calls now. Yeah, it's not always the greatest reception but check out the Yearly Savings: $540!

3)Mutt Mitts- What the heck is a Mutt Mitt,right? It's a glorified doggie-doo bag. Rich faithfully walks Homer twice a DAY and with bad timing, can have to carry "doo" for 7-8minutes. It didn't seem like much $ until we figured yearly costs. SILLY!Now,he'll be using grocery sacks or something else free! Yearly Savings:$120!

Total Yearly Savings: $1,212! Sounds like a lot now, right? But then we looked at it this way..almost SIX car payments! By cutting out all these "sillies" we are now 6mo. closer to having our car paid off. All just by cutting out simple conveniences. And we've just gotten started into itemizing everything. Who knows what else we'll find!

So, I encourage you to take a good look at your expenses and cut out all your silliness,too. It will pay off, literally! :) Wait until you see what you find! Feel free to share your findings/stories in the comments field. We can all learn together!

First Post! - Blogging and Our TMM Journey

I couldn't decide what I wanted to do for my first post so I just decided to explain how I came to the "blogging" world. I have become a huge fan of Crystal Paine, of moneysavingmom.com, and have been regularly reading her blogs. I am impressed by how well she has her life together at such a younger age and how she simplifies everything. (Yet still makes it seem like you aren't missing out on anything.!) I saw one of her postings on Dave Ramsey, author of Total Money Makeover, and since then, things have been very different. I was inspired by the book to stop and ask myself, "Where will I be in 10 years if I keep up this lifestyle?" Basically, by lifestyle, I mean living like a normal American. Just because you can pay your bills each month, doesn't mean you are doing well! Living a life of using credit cards tends to allow you to buy so many more things than you really need. Money that could be spent paying ahead on vehicle loans, retirement, college savings or the mortgage!

So I had my husband, Rich, read the book, as well, and I am happy to say that as of August 1st, we are a "no credit card" family that uses only cash/debit for purchases. We've put together a great budget and are starting Dave Ramsey's "debt snowball." (Wanna know what that means? Read the book!) :) I guess a good goal is to have all credit cards and vehicles paid for, 6 months living expenses saved, retirement and college savings set up and our mortgage paid for in about 7 years or less. They say the grass is a lot better to walk through when it's paid for! :)

Over the last few weeks of reading the book and getting our budget in place, we have been actually having...gulp...fun! How can budgeting be fun? It is when you share in it together and talk about how different things could be... The things that are possible when you are debt free...And all the ways to creatively cut back on expenses. When you dig down deep, it's amazing the silly things we spend money on.

So here's to new beginnings. And to new bloggings!