My 'Plan'

I've decided I want to try something for a few months. Instead of focusing so much on budgeting I am going to start focusing more on planning. I am hoping that by doing more planning other things will begin to fall into place. I realized that I was putting all of my effort into budgeting and getting good deals, etc.... BUT what good is a basket full of cheap groceries if you can't put them together with the things you have at home to make a complete meal!?!? We would end up having to go back to the store and in the end we spent more money that we would have, had I just planned ahead of time.



I am going to try and be more faithful to menu planning. I make the plan and I try to stick to it but for some reason by the end of the week it just falls apart. I am going to start planning breakfast, lunch, dinner, morning snack, afternoon snack, and something for Piggy to bring for lunch. Good luck to me!!! :)

CVS 8/5

I went to CVS today to use up some ECBs that were expiring today.. Here's what I got:
1 package Pampers $8.88
1 20 oz Coke $ 1.39

I used a Pampers coupon for -$1.50 and used the ECBs.
I had to pay .93 OOP.

I didn't make anymore ECBS but I got diapers, something that I really needed!!!!
I also got 3 CRTs..:
Free CVS mouthwash
Save $4 on any Playskool purchase of $20 or more and
Save $1.50 on new Softsoap SPA body wash

Spent in August: $1.24

Grocery Goal for August

This month my goal is to spend less than $150 on groceries and household items. I will be taking a coupon class in September hosted by Carlie over at Why Ask Why. She has asked everyone to keep their receipts for the month of August. Here is what I have gotten so far:

1 loaf Evangeline Maid Bread = $2.69

2 Daily Advertisers = $1.25/each

Total including Tax = $5.31

I used a $5 RR that expired today and paid .31 OOP.

I wanted to get my newspaper at Wal-Mart where they are .99/each but by the time I made it to town there were no more.

Oh, and when I paid at Walgreens I also got a CRT for $3.00 of any 45ct Zyrtec... I think it may have been for the lady before me but printed after she left.

Wow.. I didn't realize I spent that much!

Just a quick rundown of the money I spent this week. I calculated it and was amazed.. I kind of let my budget slip this week and it's really showing!! I must mention this before I show the numbers.. All of our bills are paid this month except cell phone and cable/internet which total about $220.00. (<--- I need to do something about that amount!) So overall I guess it's okay, I would have liked to have done better though!

Total Spent in May: $1251.99
Total Remaining to Spend: $748.01

I didn't include the mother's day gift that I bought for myself either. I FINALLY broke down and bought a new digital camera. I have an older model but I lost the memory stick for it. To replace the memory stick is about $100.00. I figured if I was going to spend that much money I might as well get up to date and get a new camera! Piggy is still offshore so he hasn't seen it yet! :) Total I spent about $300.00 but I fell it is well worth it. If you include that I only have $448.01 left to spend. If it comes down to it I'll just say I used our tax rebate for the camera so it doesn't count!!!

I plan on starting a home organization project this weekend. I will try and post before and after pictures *if I'm not too embarassed*. Hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Update on Budget!

This will be a quick post........ Well, I spent some money today. More than I would have liked to but hey, it had to be done! I had to pay for Kadyn's earplugs from the ENT, groceries, water bill, and gas. *Did you notice how expensive gas is!??!?!?!?!?! LoL Yes, I'm being sarcastic!*

Total Spent for May: 747.21
Remaining to Spend: 1252.79

Post-Op Visit With the ENT

We went for KK's post-op visit at the ENT today. The doctor said that his ears look great and there is no fluid build up! YaY!!!! He had T-Tubes put in on April 24th and I have already seen an improvement in his speech!! I'm so excited!!!

Before starting this post I got out my calculator to figure out how much money I had left to spend this month but then I realized.. I haven't spent anything since last Thursday!! I'm sure tomorrow will be different though. I NEED TO put gas and go pick up a few things in town.

But as of right now the totals are:
Total Spent for May: $608.61
Remaining to Spend: $1391.39

TGIF!!!

I don't know how some Moms manage to get it all done! I am at home with both kids today and it seems like the work is just piling up! I'm on my last load of laundry *for now, these kids dirty way too much clothes!* and now I'm staring at the pile of dishes in the sink. Oh how I wish we had a dishwasher!
We went to McDonald's for lunch today, I didn't have the energy to cook lunch :( I will start meal planning next week so I can be fully prepared!!
The kids are almost finished taking their naps so I wanted to post while I had a chance.
I worked on my price book today. Well, I don't know if I could actually call it a 'book'. I used index cards, and index card box, and A-Z dividers. I thought about using a notebook but I wasn't sure how I would be able to find what I was looking for.
I also started making my shopping list for next week. There is not much that I need, I try to stay well stocked with all of the basic necessities. So far I need bread, ham, liquid fabric softener, and milk. I hope they have some good sales this weekend so I can stock up on other things that we use often!

Total Spent for May: $608.61
Remaining to Spend: $1391.39

Today is Piggy and I's 4 year anniversary... I'm sad that he can't be here for it. I wonder if he even remembers?? Hahaha I doubt it!

It is also the first day of our new budget. So far I paid the rent, electric bill and admission into the zoo. (My daughther had a field trip so KK and I went meet her after his therapy.)

KK had speech therapy this morning at Women's and Children's. He did very well! He is getting much better at imitating words and he is attempting to imitate sounds. I was hoping he would show at least some improvement since getting his third set of tubes last week. We are working on getting him to go in the back by himself. When I am in the room with him he tends to cling to me. I'm sure he would be much more cooperative if I weren't there! After S/T we had a P/T evaluation. I noticed recently that sometimes he feet turns in when he walks. Sometimes it's the right foot, sometimes the left, and sometimes it's both. We went to the pediatrician a few weeks ago and he said that KK's feet seem to be formed normally so his concern is that it might be neurological. The physical therapist agreed to see him to work on his balance and just to keep an eye on his foot. She also measured his legs and it seems that his left leg is 1/2 cm longer than his right. We have an appointment with Dr. Dersam, a pediatric orthopedist, later on this month. We will be able to set better goals once he evaluates the condition.

Total spent this month: $600.59
Remaining to spend: $1399.41

Our "New" Budget

For the next few months I plan on trying to keep my family on a budget of approximately $2000 a month. Some people may look at this and say "It's not possible" or maybe they are on the other end of the spectrum saying "You should already be doing this". I have two reasons for trying this: 1) pay down debt and 2) start a savings account.

Piggy and I have been together for almost 2 years... We have yet to start and keep a savings account. We had to close our last one when complications arose in my last pregnancy and I was forced to be on strict bedrest for 10 weeks. I was planning on working at least through my 36th week to help build the account for emergencies.

This is how I hope things will work out:
$500 - rent
$500 - debt
$250 - utilities (water, electricity, cable, phone, internet)
$120 - cell phone
$300 - groceries
$300 - gas and Piggys cigarettes (YUCK!)
$2000 TOTAL

Right now our take home income is well above this amount. Whatever extra we have will go directly into a savings account. I am also looking into ways to lower our costs. I have managed to get my electric bill down to $81 (I know this will go up once summer hits). I will be calling the cell phone company soon to lower our bill. We recently got a home phone so I think I can cut down drastically on our minutes.

Piggy doesn't know about this budget yet because he has been at work for the last week. Wish me luck!! ;)