Spend Spend Spend

There are times when I think it is ok to spend money without thinking. Yesterday was one of those days.   My daughters' school was having their annual school fair.   There were games, food and a circus performance.   We bought our tickets in advance with the amount we wanted to spend .  When they ran out we ought more😊  The kids had a blast playing with their friends.   My husband and I had time to chat with our friends while the kids played.   And the best part all the money went to their school for playground equipment and resources to help their education.   A day without thinking about spending was a ok.    An extra bonus Boston Pizza gave out free kid meal vouchers and we went out for supper last night and the kids ate free. Their meals are big for me and I brought half home and have lunch for today.  

Birthday Party Gifts

I have two daughters that are both in elementary school....are you like me wondering where the party is????
I can bet that at lease every other weekend there is a birthday party for one of my girls to attend. Don't get me wrong, I would rather them be invited then left out,but it gets costly! Not only that, but waiting until the last minute to buy the gift can lead to a frantic Mama.
In our house, I shop the sales all year long.  I pick up gifts at the most random times of year, and random items.  I have a milk crate that I put items in if they aren't pieced together as one gift.   And yes, this may be extreme, but I put gifts into a gift bag for the birthday parties as soon as I can.
 I have two very large bags of gift bags, one is a birthday theme and the other is a Christmas theme. I keep every gift bag we receive. I even have my parents doing it now. The past 4 Christmas' the girls have gotten the same large penguin gift bag from their grandfather, who takes it with him when he leave that morning. Their grandmother also takes hers too.  Gosh it being Earth Day and all, we are saving the planet and money!
Before the kids go to a party they get to look in the gift bags and determine what gift they think would be the best pick for their friend.  Then, when it is picked, the final step is to add the tissue paper from the small container by the gift bags, and Voila Let's Get This Party Started!

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Treat on a budget...

Today's blog may upset a few people...keep in mind this was a treat, not a necessary item, and my kids do get treats, they are great kids.

We have had a flu here since Thursday and today was the first day we are feeling well.  The sun is shining and I wanted some outside time, those that know me means... GREEN BAY BEACH!!!

We first went to the Dollarama and bought buckets and pails for the sand.  They didn't get new ones last year, and they are cracked oops.  If the Easter Bunny was thinking she may have looked into the condition of the beach toys. We will have a chat.

After that we went to an icecream store.  The girls were going to each get a small soft serve icecream and the cashier told me it was $6.42  I said oh no I just want two, I'm not getting one.  She said with a smile, I know. I looked at the kids and said ok ladies, you wanted the icecream and cookie treat in the car, I said no, let's get one and share and talked them into 2 small cones. I had no idea the price and thought I was smart, alas nope I wasn't.
They were over the moon, I ordered a small Oreo cookie icecream treat with two spoons. Cost $5.12 and much more tastier and more smiles:) The lady was so nice, I apologized and said sorry but I am cheap, just wanted a little after school snack. She said oh gosh you are fine, and being nice about it, I understand. She ended up giving us an extra cup. My girls shared it, no issues and I had a quiet drive half way to the beach while they had a treat. Win Win. 
And, well Mama needed a bite from each one just to make sure they were equal, no flies on me.  I of course drank my coffee that I brewed at home before we left.


* I had a picture but you could see the store logo...I didn't want that on the blog so no pic today

The 4 C's

A reminder on my pantry door....


I have been asked how I stay on track with my budget.  I daily listen to Dave Ramsey and I can't wait to do Our Debt Free Scream.  He asks everyone that tells their debt free story what is their secret? I think about it a lot, what will we say and I think I've got our secret. It takes a lot of work, and I have narrowed it down to the 4 C's-Coupons, Contentment, Consistent, and Commitment. 
COUPONS- I use coupons any chance that I get.  Using coupons enables us to build up a stockpile of items we use regularly. Coupons range from fifty cents off, to a product being free.  Combine coupons with items when they are on sale, and with a points card and voila, the coupon face value has increased. We have used coupons regularly for the past 8 years, since my first maternity leave.  (view my other blogs on coupon usage)
CONTENTMENT- This is the hardest one for me.  I can't lie, I get envious when people go on vacations, drive nice cars and have nice cars. I am only human. However, at the end of the moment I am truly content with our life.  This C could get mushy and messy, I will keep it short. Honestly every day Morgan and I say how happy we are with each other, our 2 girls and our home.  I feel being content with what we have keeps us on track. We don't run out on the whim and book vacations or get a new car on lease, even though all that know me know just how much I hate my car!   I will also add, that we have a list of things that we want to do as soon as we are debt free.  This also helps us remain content, knowing this isn't forever.
CONSISTENT-Our budget and monthly plan is consistent. We re-visit it often, and are creatures of habit. We phone in for our credit card balance every Friday and pay it off for the week. On the last day of every month we put every penny over our emergency fund on our mortgage as extra payment.  It didn't take long of doing this to see that consistency pays off, and each month a few extra dollars is added to our principal. Also by doing this for us on the last day of the month allows a fresh slate for the next monthly budget.
COMMITMENT- Being Frugal is a huge commitment.  There are little jokes from those around us about how cheap we are but we are focused on the big picture.  We have a goal together, that we have written down and talk about together.  Knowing that we are on the same page with our goals, enables us to remain committed. When we have a few slip ups, we know that we have to do a bit more then next month to stay on track.  February was frivolous for me, a bit of extra shopping, oops. Keeping our eye on the prize helps us stay focused, and Our 4 C's help maintain that. 
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Bottle Exchange

We don't buy beverages in a bottle regularly.  It took us a year to save up all these refundables. Yesterday my oldest and I were looking for a few things to do while her sister was selling Girl Guide Cookies and this seemed like a good chore.
We got a whopping $12, but hey, its something. Slow and steady wins the race.  I am always surprised on garbage days when I see people have bottles in their blue bags at the trash.  Each one is a nickel, I know, not much, but throwing them in our utility room for a year and getting $12 back is worth holding on to them to us.
I had a large bag from when Toyota changed my tires and used that, it was huge. I also re-used two blue bags from large items I picked up at a yard sale in the summer.
I have decided though that we will take them back more often now as it was the whole trunk space.  I have a laundry basket that has a small crack on it, this will now be for bottles. It is easy to put in the trunk and I think will hold a few months worth.
My husband makes our beer and wine. We buy juice in concentrate in the can, and for the kids' lunch boxes we use water bottles.
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Birthday Party on a Budget

Our daughter had her 8^th birthday on the weekend.  It was a huge success, 11 of her friends came for the celebrations. 5 spent the night. We pulled it off on a pretty good budget, and even had lots left over.

We have a birthday box of supplies in the basement. When there are sales on streamers, paper plates and napkins I pick them up.  I was at Giant Tiger one day and saw cases and cases of these supplies for a quarter a piece. I know that we will always decorate the house with streamers and stocked up.  Also when we don’t blow up all the balloons in a pack, I throw them in a ziplock bag.  The balloons don’t need to match.  I have also seen bags of party supplies on Facebook groups and yardsales, although I haven’t purchased supplies these routes. 

I do “splurge” on the theme plastic table clothes and napkins right now. For $4 it is worth it for me as I feel the themes won’t last long. I have shared last year’s Ninja Turtle’s theme with my friend, and from another friend have borrowed banners.  It really takes a village on this frugal path.

We ordered two large pizzas, and two large garlic fingers.  We paid for it using our PC Points, but it would have cost us $39. 74 with the donair sauce.  I am always afraid that I will run out of food. We had one garlic fingers untouched, which are thrown in the freezer for our Friday night Pizza Nights. Also, we had one whole pizza left over.  When two friends picked up their boys, they had teenagers in the car that got pizza!  I bought 6 bags of chips, and 2 were left over. (don’t ask where they are, they were yummy!)  I popped lots of popcorn, cheap and healthier and was the biggest hit.  I made Shirley Temples in a big punch bowl at my daughter’s request. I think they all felt grown up.  A bottle of grenadine lasts FOREVER.

I have also bought 4 years ago 20 plastic reusable cups. I use those with juice instead of juice packs, and write the kids names in wipe off markers.  

Treat bags for the boys cost around $3 each with a reusable cup and a full size chocolate bar and mini ones suckers and caramels.  This year I am not doing all the trinket treat bags, they are a expensive and the stuff falls apart fast. The girls spent the night.  We had gift bags that were 6 for $2.  I had bought electric toothbrushes that can be decorated with stickers using coupons and they were on clearance, they cost me under $1 each. PLUS it gave them 20 minutes of entertainment and giggles.  There was also a bottle of nailpolish in each bag that I bought after Christmas sales for $5 for 10 bottles.  I have the left overs to donate to the school fair nail booth.  I had picked up after Valentine’s Day a box set of hand lotion, bubble bath and bath salts for $7 that was adorable with owls.  For $23 there were 6 treat bags, not too shabby.  Always look for things that can be used for treat bags, and think outside the box.  I have never pulled off treat bags this cheap, and better then trinket stuff.  When I used to do that style of treat bags, I bought after season. I bought a ton of bracelets of Christmas colours, and tops, rings etc. Guess what? Kids like red and green even at a birthday party! After the summer was over I bought a lot of bubbles, which still work the following season and will be for my youngest daughter’s friends at her party.  

 We have two kids and keep all left over supplies.

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Grocery Budget

I saw a post on a friend's Facebook Wall today asking how much people have in the budget for food.  This is a tough question for people to answer, and to compare from family to family. Some people buy all organic (we do not), have food allergies, fussy eaters etc. We are definitely guilty of processed food, and I don't feel guilty about it at all.   In my food budget, I do not count toiletries, cosmetics (who am I kidding, I don't use these!) or cleaning supplies.  Some people do. If you count those things in your food budget that is going to add quickly to your weekly budget. 
I have a family of 4, 2 girls a hubby and myself.  We allot on average $125 in the budget for food.  We don't always spend this much, but there are some weeks with amazing deals and then we stockpile! 
We have a deep freezer that we have full most of the time.  Currently we are in the middle of an "eat the freezer" time.  A few times a year we try to eat everything in the deep freezer to circulate the food, and also it really helps the budget. 
Our freezer usually has frozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts from Costco, ground beef I buy on sale just before it expires, bread, pizzas, cheese, garlic bread, ravioli, tortellini, peppers and frozen fruit.  These are items we stockpile and of course there are other types of items.
Blocks of cheese freeze well.  When cheese comes on sale I buy lots and freeze quite a few bars that I plan to use for shredded cheese on items.   
Our pantry is also bursting at the seams with canned goods, baking supplies, dry pasta, treats, and a few bags of potatoes. See my pantry blog for more information. 
My hubby has a whole bin of items he uses just for his breakfast. He goes to the Bulk Barn and Walmart for this, as there are so many things in it that he blends together instead of using cereal. I have no clue what's in that bin, but I know its within the budget:) He has added he has just cut out the almonds and is trying a combo of peanuts and sunflower seeds as they are cheaper. Way to go...he is paying attention to the budget!
To save money at the grocery store I try to get most of my items at No Frills or the Super Store. I look in the flyers on Wednesday nights for items with bonus PC points (Superstore only) and this will help me determine if I go to the SS for the item, or just price match at No Frills.  I am working on using food in the item to meal plan.  I attempt to decide what we will eat at least 3 nights a week, this area also needs to be improved.  First thing on Thursday morning I also load my PC Points offers on my phone.  See my PC Plus blog for more information. I find that using this program earns us on average $20 a month to use as cash for groceries.  Also, because Loblaws has purchased Shoppers Drug Mart I got an email that I could trade my Optimum points to PC plus points, giving us $170 towards groceries.
I always search Superstore, No Frills and Sobeys for the magical pink clearance stickers. I buy bread, meat and produce close to expiration date to freeze.  I chop the peppers up for the freezer, and old bananas take them out of the peeling to freeze for smoothies. 
I get my milk each week at Shoppers Drug Mart, cheapest place in town and its not advertised in the flyers to price match. I have a friend that sells ground beef and I have ordered a lot for the freezer. It is  a bit more expensive then the store, but we know where it was raised and this makes us feel better.
I coupon!  I buy whatever I can using a coupon, and find this also helps keep food prices lower. I know that I need to start cooking more meals from scratch, and start using the bread maker.  I feel that if I start cooking these items I may see the weekly food budget go down $10 to $15 a week. 
Please comment below any tips you use to keep your food budget down, and also perhaps leave your food budget amount and how many people.  Share this blog and join Guess Who's Cheap on Facebook.