Budgeting: An Everyday Adventure (really!)

Last year, my husband decided to go back to school for a second Bachelor’s degree in nutrition.  We knew that this would require him to quit working if he wanted to get through school in a timely manner.  As we carefully calculated the budget, we knew things would be tight, but manageable.  Fast forward 10 months past the financial frustration, anxiety, and borderline hysteria and we have arrived at a decision that living as a married couple on a single income (a teacher’s salary, no less) has made life different.  I say “different” because I have decided that it has merely been a time of changing our priorities, close budget monitoring, and getting a bit creative.  I have come to find my new-found lifestyle to be actually quite fun, although at times challenging. 

I decided to write about the many different budget “savvy” tips that I have discovered along the way.  Not that these ways haven’t been discovered before and different methods fit different people, but it is something that actually brings me a lot of enjoyment and I wanted to pass that same pleasure on to others.  Take them for what they are, just ideas (you just might want to pace yourself, as I am never short of words and I have lots of things to share).

Groceries

This is a huge area of our monthly budget and has taken very careful calculations to figure out how much we can afford to spend in this area each month.  I have recently started becoming an avid “couponer.”  Nowhere near the coupon marathoners you see on shows like Extreme Couponing, but I try to find as many that fit in with our weekly menus as I can in newspapers, coupons.com, and at our grocery store of choice online, fredmeyer.com.  We make the coupons fit our nutritional needs (obviously this is an area of importance to my husband), not the other way around as many of the extreme couponers do.  If we were to do this, we may see an increase in our medical bills and our weight, as often the best deals are not the healthiest of food choices.  One more thing that we have discovered is that the saying, “I wish I could eat healthy, but I just can’t afford it,” is completely a myth.  Finding decently priced produce in most grocery stores is not a chore and in fact that seems to be where we save most money rather than buying frozen or processed meals. 

Laundry

Recently I ran out of dryer sheets.  This was a very upsetting discovery after quite a long shopping trip that day and in no mood to run back to the store.  I decided to get “crafty” and look up homemade dryer sheet options (who would think such a thing exists?  It does.).  The internet has been my very close acquaintance through the last few months in assisting me in finding ways to use household products to conserve on spending.  Back to the dryer sheet, I found a suggestion of taking a wet washcloth, saturating it with 1 teaspoon of hair conditioner, toss it into the dryer with the wet laundry and you will open your dryer to nice, soft clothes with no static!  I was quite impressed.  Bye, bye dryer sheets!  I will be using the internet for more “homemade” recipes and remedies in the future.

Clothes Shopping

I love shopping for clothes and accessories!  It is not only a joy, but an obsession.  However, this was one of the first things to go when my husband said goodbye to his job.  On the rare occasions that I do shop, I have found it to be quite an intriguing “game” to shop at places like Ross (yes, I said Ross.  I hate to admit it, but when I am feeling like braving the crowds and the screaming children, I will man-up and take a stroll through Ross) and TJ Maxx.  I am now what I have coined “a bargain only shopper.”  I never buy clothes unless they are on sale or reduced.  Clothes are already completely overpriced in the first place.  Places like Ross and TJ Maxx are the places where the less desirable or damaged clothing trickles down to, but let me tell you I have found some pretty affordable and cute outfits from these places.  So much so, that when I did my annual back-to-school shopping that I did (yes, this is a childhood tradition that has carried on……hey, I’m a teacher.  I have to!)  I found better deals and cuter clothes than at Kohls, which is now “top of the line” for me.  My end count was 6 different outfits for around $100 (not bad when you think about spending $40-$50 on most pairs of decent brand name jeans in many retail stores).  I don’t even step foot in places like Macy’s.  That is just opening a floodgate that my wallet just can’t handle right now.  It’s easier to stay away, and I am none the wiser!

Sales

Whenever I see the words “Clearance” or “Sale” on a rack or table, I am there scoping it out.  I don’t ever buy something just for the sake of the deal, but if it is something that my husband or I need, or that I can give as a birthday or Christmas gift, I am all over it!  I’m always thinking ahead for gifts.

Christmas planning

My husband and I have been known to start Christmas shopping in September or October most years.  We also have many family birthdays at the end of the year to think about as well.  We start planning early because it helps us spread the cost of Christmas gifts out over several months, rather than hitting us hard all at once.  In past years, we have calculated how much we wanted to spend on each person and that established our budget.  This year, we have decided to take an alternative route, as our budget is tighter and I must say that I am really excited about it.  Our goal this year is to make as many “homemade” gifts as possible.  Not only is this a major money saver (if done carefully), but it has a lot of heart and meaning, in my opinion.  Plus, it gives me something to do over the next several months while my husband does homework every evening and I get a lot of alone time.  Martha Stewart (for as cranky as I believe she is) really has some great ideas and I have been researching other “crafty” gifts.

Make and take simple lunches

My husband and I never buy lunch at work or school; mostly for nutritional reasons, but also to help save money.  We have discovered that by taking the same things in our lunches we only have to buy one set of items and share it (such as lunchmeat, bread, carrots, fruit snacks, etc.) versus what we used to do in that I had my own specific tastes and my husband had his.  This caused us to buy two different sets of items and doubled our lunch menu costs.  Sure, I had to get over some of my finicky, high demand tastes, but we make it work.

Meal planning

I plan our meals out for each month, by the week.  Since there are only two of us in our house, it is rather easy to cook for a whole week and in the winter months the crockpot is like air to me.  I use it because I can cook large quantities of food in the pot.  I always make enough on Sundays to make sure that we have enough food to get us to at least Friday.  That way, we can just walk through the door in the evenings and reheat our meal.  Plus, we don’t have to buy groceries for a different meal each night. 

Spa Day

Okay, let’s face it.  Just because I’m poor doesn’t mean that I don’t like to treat myself with a little “spa day” treat.  But the question is, how do you do this when there is NO flexibility in the budget for such things.  Well, hello internet!  There is a world unknown out there from generous women who have posted their homemade recipes for such things.  One I discovered was how to make a homemade facial scrub:

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon sugar

And scrub like any face scrub.

Easy, right?  I also discovered how to make homemade bath salts out of some Epsom salt and essential oils.  Want a facial mask that is naturally healing for your skin and good for your pores?  Try some grated potato, turmeric, and lemon juice.  Or maybe some oatmeal, lemon juice, honey, and sea salt.  Paint your own nails, and if you are really lucky you can make a deal with your husband to rub his feet if he rubs yours!  And there you have an entire day of relaxation for practically no cost!

Coffee
Yep, I have a problem.  I am addicted to coffee.  It stems back to my time working at Starbucks.  To save on the cost of supporting Starbucks' completely overinflated prices, we just opt to make it ourselves.  It does help that we have an espresso machine from our wedding that is still in commission.  Not that we don't treat ourselves once in a while, but it is actually fun to assemble our own coffee beverage to our own taste.

Well, that was probably WAY more information than anyone needs to know about my budget-friendly discoveries, but I find it pretty exhilarating when I feel like I am beating the economy!  There is a sense of pride and accomplishment when I find the next best thing for a great value. 

So there you have it.  The joy of the budgeting adventure!  It’s the simple things in life.