January Budget Roundup

Wasn't January a really loooong month!  Budget-wise it sure was.

Groceries
Budget for two adults $425 Canadian.
This budget includes all over the counter medications, personal care products, and groceries.

Actual $440.22. Over  by $15.22 which shall come off February Budget (only 28 days - this should be manageable)

Coupons used $13.00.

This month I managed to stock up on meat and both my mini-chest freezer and small freezer attached to the fridge are full.  I took full advantage of specials and now have lots of chicken and ham.  There are also some porkchops, shrimp, and canned Tuna in the Pantry,   In an effort to continue to reduce my grocery spend I bought dried black beans versus canned.  Next week I will make some chili.  There was a great post by Elaine over at Sunny Simple Life on how to prepare dried  beans for recipes so I am going to follow that.  This month I will be on the lookout for some fish sales as we have been eating more of it lately.

I also separated Food and Non-Food items this month.
Food  $288.67  plus Non-food $138.55 = Total  $440.22

Our non-food items are high mainly due to over the counter medications (two non-life threatening diseases reside at our home -  IBS and Fibromyalgia both of which we currently only take over the counter medications). I did manage to do a large stock-up on tin-foil this month, at least a two year supply when it went on sale in early January.

We are trying to eat healthier so in February I will  be buying lots of fruit and veggies to round out our supplies.

Clothing
Clothing budget for the year is $200.  This budget is only for myself.  Hubby spends what he needs as he wears suits a lot and is the face of our company so we consider that business related.  Please note that I set the budget for myself for clothing.  If hubby had it his way I would spend a lot more but he is continually amazed at my finds and has not told me I look like a bag lady (yet) so I must be doing something right.

This month I bought brand new shoes for $3.25 and a pink sweater for $5.25, both at Salvation Army (see post here).  Balance remaining for the rest of the year is $191.50.

Hair
Budget for the year is $250, much lower than last year.  Nothing spent in January.

I need a haircut and to find a sale on hair dye so there will be some money spent in February.   I use First Choice Haircutters in case anyone is wondering.  The ladies who work there are just as adept at cutting my hair as the high priced salons, and I find out what day my hairdresser is working and wait for her (they don't make appointments, wish they did).  Hubby now goes there too.  In Alberta my last hairdresser whom I was very loyal too started out at a First Choice Haircutters and then bought her own salon (therefore my costs went up but she was really good!).  I always tip them as well somewhere from $3-5.  Usually I get out of there for around $20.  They occasionally mail out coupons too!

No Spend Days
I tracked no spend days in January for the first time ever.  I do not intend on tracking these every month as expect it is similar from month to month.  Seventeen no spend days out of thirty one days.  If nothing else I paid more attention to grouping errands so probably saved some gas.  I use very little gas each month ($60 this month) due to working from home.  It takes about $20 in gas to go see my Mom (two hours each direction) and we did that for her Birthday mid-month as she was just here at New Years.  Hubby uses my car a fair amount too - he has a sportscar (that I found at a garage sale and that we paid cash for - one day I will do a post on that) so doesn't like to take it out in bad weather.

For anyone interested in how I track things - the low tech method.  Dollar store notebook.  Put receipts in there and tally up every few days to keep on budget track.  Separate columns for  groceries, then food, nonfood, and coupons.  You really can't get any easier than that!

What A Difference A Year Makes

One year ago:

We put the Alberta house on the market.  We were sure we could sell it ourselves.  We probably could have sold it but not for the price we wanted so we took it off the market in June and moved to BC to occupy our small Island pad.  My stepson, who is attending college,  is now occupying that home until we sell it.  It goes back on the market shortly using a Realtor this time who just today told us that last year at this time there were twice as many homes on the market - things are moving again!  He also told us the market value on our home has increased 3 percent this year,and large homes (ours is five bedrooms on the top floor and is a two story walkout finished on all three levels - nearly 3500 sq foot of total living space) are in demand!  We are trying to time the market and we hope to have it listed in March.  Hubby will meet with the Realtor next week when he is in Alberta on Business.  Crossing all fingers and toes!!

One year ago:

Hubby quit his job January 30th and started his own company, after wanting to do so his entire life.  He had been a General Sales Manager of a very large media company. He left a large paycheck and a big title at the top of his game - his co-workers thought he was crazy!   I  also had a very good job as a senior underwriter for a large insurance company.  I was able to quit in June and miss my co-workers but  the job itself was really  very stressful and extremely easy to quit when we moved.   If hubby had not gone into self-employment we would have had to stay many more years in Alberta before moving to Vancouver Island.  Hubby started with just one major client, and by fall had so many signed contracts that he needed my help.  I am now officially his sidekick in administration.  I am very thankful that hubby is so talented and hard working that the company has enough business so that we can support four kids (three on child support and one living in our Alberta home), and pay the bills on both homes.   Yes, we have assets that could be tapped into if necessary, plus lines of credit but we have not had to do that yet.  Due to our equity in our Alberta Home when it sells we will be mortgage free again - this time for life!  We downsized our living space, downsized our vehicles and now live a richer life.  The kids were extremely supportive as although they knew we were moving away understood that we had long wanted to live on the Island.  We actually have much better quality time with them through visits,  Facetime, and Skype, and communicate with them more than when they lived with us part-time.

One year ago:

We were shoveling snow, braving minus 25 degrees celcius temperatures, and dreaming of life on Vancouver Island

Today:

Comox Valley 

Dreams can come true with saving, planning, and figuring out what you really want out of life!

Letting the Warehouse Membership Go

I, as Master Grocery Buyer in our home (hubby only buys them when I am on my deathbed etc as he has a tendency to come home with unnecessary items plus doesn't look at prices) have decided to let the C*stco membership go.  For the past few years I avoided it as really don't like shopping there.  Always busy, always the lineups.  This year I went twice.  Once to buy pork-chops and once to buy some flowers.  Hubby went a couple times to buy vitamins.  A big waste of our money!  I don't want to buy 18 green peppers because that is the size of bag they come in.  They used to be such a great deal but slowly over time their prices have been creeping up and up.

Through careful shopping and using the occasional coupon I have found much better deals to be had in our regular grocery stores, primarily by scouring the flyers each week and stocking up on loss leaders.  I also don't have to  buy an eight year supply of something I only want a one year supply of.

This decision is not as easy for every family but for the $61.60 it costs us to keep the basic membership ($55 plus 12% tax in British Columbia) per year I can stock up on lots of groceries elsewhere.  So goodbye C*stco, its been nice knowing you but I have moved on to greener pastures.

Do you still maintain your wholesale club membership? If so do you use it enough to warrant it?

Frugal Dippity Doo Meals

The other day I bought 4.2 KG Mitchells boneless ham at Superstore for $16.75.  Cut it into 6 ham roasts and four packets of ham slices for breakfasts.  We had one of the hams last night for dinner and will have the leftovers tonight (egg, ham and cheese toasted sandwiches) for a quick and easy meal.

Savings?  About 60% off buying the smaller hams that I have purchased in the past.  Now I have ham for a couple of months.  We are trying to eat less bacon due to fat content and cost so ham is an easy alternative having fewer calories.  It has high sodium but I am cutting salt out of a lot of other things in our diet so it evens out.

I was making a tuna casserole the other night and it struck me that everything in it was bought on sale, in bulk or reduced.

Ingredients
Two cups dry macaroni   - no name macaroni bought in bulk
Bread Crumbs                 - used bread ends and made crumbs in my mini food processor (love it)
Cheese                            - found two large blocks of cheese this week in the 50% off bin at Superstore, cut into small packs and froze much of it for later use
Celery                              - $1.29/head
Onion                               - bought 3lb bag of onions for $1 a few weeks ago
mushroom soup                - bought a case of Campbells soup a few weeks ago for $5.60
handful of frozen corn        - bought 3kg no name brand bag two months ago - this was the last
Tuna                                  -tuna 1 can bought on sale for .77 (sorry I forgot to list this in the original post - thanks Wean!)

Dinner and lunch the next day for less than $2.  It was yummy.

It pays to constantly scour the ads for deals and only try to buy when things are on sale.  Today I am off to get my 30 rolls of toilet paper on bargain and .25 cent mustard after coupon.  Cheers!

A Winter Walk and Favorite Things

Yesterday we accomplished one of things on our "Have more fun in 2013" list.  We took a walk in a newly discovered park.  This is what Vancouver Island looks like in winter.  It has not rained in a few days and was 3 degrees celcius so a perfect day for a bundled up walk.

The Path

Northern Flicker Woodpecker

Ivy overtaking a stump

Holly bush found in the middle of the forest

The Estuary at the end of the path

The one legged seagull (not really, he was just warming his other foot)

We burned a few calories keeping warm and walking.  We saw lots of birds and were amazed at how loud the birdsong was in the forest.  

I thought I would share with you what a minimalist asked for this Christmas:

A double-decker bird feeder (with attached suet). We are still in the process of attracting birds as there are few large trees right around the house but a quarter of a mile away there is a thick woods where they hang out. A few finches have found us, they are very shy so no photos yet.  I took this photo this morning, as you can tell there is thick fog about today. This feeder is five feet from our patio so we can sit at the dining room table and watch them.   Hubby also got me some smelly candles from Bath and Body works, my favorite.   The kids got me a gift certificate to Canadian Tire where I can buy seeds, plants and flowers to my hearts content (I asked for it).  Mom bought me a beautiful faux fur blanket to go on the bottom of our bed and some warm socks. She also found me a couple of antique/vintage bottles for my collection.

Happy Sunday!  Linking up with Claudia at Mockingbird Hill Cottage for Favorite Things.

Cheapchick's Week

The Comox Valley

Mallards huddling in the wind

We took a very quick walk in the sunshine Saturday in part due to the extremely cold wind.  Yes, it's true.  We have officially turned into pansies.  Just last winter we withstood minus 35 degrees celcius temperatures in Alberta on a daily basis.   Here a blast of wind off the ocean on a zero degree day and we race back to the car :)

Sunday was Mom's 70th Birthday so we drove to take her to Brunch, a two hour drive each direction.  One day she will sell her little mobile and move to our town, hopefully in the next year or two depending on the realestate situation.  She is in good health and cheer and loved getting the gift-cards we gave her, perfect for someone who wants or needs little.  I made a blackberry pie and brought her ice-cream to enjoy from the stash of berries I picked in the summer.  It turned out really tasty.  We managed to stop off at our favorite farm market in her town and stock up on veggies, some of which will be used for tonight's stir-fry.

Today I made applesauce muffins for snacks and to use up some of the large frozen supply made from free apples in the summer.  I also picked up the painting(previously purchased for $20 for our home but it didn't turn out to be one that we wanted to keep) and hourglasses that I had with a consignment store as only one of the three hourglasses sold.  I will try and sell the others this spring at a local sale.  The hourglasses cost .99 cents each last year at Goodwill in Alberta and they paid me $6 so I am up $5.01!  Whoo hoo! Yes, this is the first real money I have made in my reselling venture.  Next plan is to open the ETSY store of which I am hoping for a nice sunny non-windy day so I can take some outdoor pictures of the items and get the store open.

I did make one stop at a thrift store this week, but found nothing for resale (I am trying to be very picky) or that I had to have so I walked out empty handed.  It is okay to do that, most people feel guilty leaving a charitable thrift store empty handed.  They make plenty off me  in both purchases and donations.

My fibromyalgia has been acting up this week, so feeling way less than 100%.  It comes and it goes and I self medicate which is much better than being on constant medication for the rest of your life.  I only take pain relievers when I must - on the rare occasions.  It comes with grouchiness, chronic fatigue and insomnia so needless to say I will be happy when the latest bout passes and I feel like getting out of the house again.  I tend to cocoon at home when I feel this way.

Have a great week!

Life Things

1.  The credit union where our line of credit (lower interest than regular mortgage secured seven years ago) is  deposited $180 into our bank account as dividends. Instead of taking it out of the bank I immediately applied it against our principal - that felt good.

2.  My four year old laptop started acting up with the screen going dark while the computer was working fine  - thanks to google I figured out a quick fix.  Take the battery out and hold the on button for a minute.  No issues since.  Others have purchased a new laptop over this same issue relating to static electricity.  A new laptop is in my future as we use it for business but I would rather buy one later in the year than right now.

Cheers and have a nice weekend!

Cheap Thrills - Bird Watching and Thrift Store Finds

Saturday was a shopping day filled with trips to the grocery store and a stop at Salvation Army.  I found a brand new never been worn pair of shoes for $3.25.  Score!  I also bought a pink turtleneck for $5.25 not shown as it is in the laundry.

Salvation Army find $3.25

A solution to the 8kg of rice I bought last month.  This cookie jar fits perfectly on one of the shelves in our pantry and holds about 3kg of rice at a time.  I will store the rest of the rice elsewhere.  Great price at $2.25.

Salvation Army Find $2.25

When Mom was here for New Years we did a little bird watching finding two eagles sitting by the Ocean right over the main road.  It was a grey day but there were lots of birds about.  These are immature Bald Eagles and they will change colour shortly getting their white heads soon.  They are extremely large as each one is about a foot and a half high.

Immature Bald Eagles

This little bird was trying his best to ignore me.  I took about ten pictures of him and in all he was pointing his butt at me....maybe sending a message?

Leave me alone!

And that, my friends, is how I get my cheap thrills.

Zero Spend Days

For the first time ever I have decided to start recording ZERO SPEND days. Here are my personal guidelines (yours may be different).

• Allowed to pay monthly household bills online or by mail.
• Allowed to use gas in vehicle as long as it does not require going to the gas station. 
• No spending online, in a store, or at a garage sale (no money leaves the purse today)
• If forced to purchase supplies for business as long as no non-business items are bought it still counts as a no spend day. 

So after three days in 2013 two were ZERO SPEND days. I am allowing gas on these days so we can picnic at the beach or go on a photography walk or  hike as 2013 is also the year of FUN!

My  day so far:

I had leftover home-made pizza for breakfast (it was yummy). Had a look at this weeks grocery flyers, cut out a few coupons, am going to dust (breaking out the housework in bits makes it easier), do some business work, and then get ready for a wine and cheese reception we have been invited to this evening. Another ZERO SPEND day!

Top Ways I Saved Money in 2012 & December Budget Results

1. Prevented Food Waste creating ways to use leftovers within a day or freeze them for use later. There has been a conscious effort to reduce food waste here - and it definitely improved in 2012.

2. Used only vinegar as a rinse aid in the dishwasher. I have been doing this for six months now and will never go back to store bought rinse aid. Better for the environment too!

3. Bought in bulk - two weeks ago I bought 8 kg of white rice for $10. Way cheaper than buying small individual bags and now I just have to find a better storage solution for bulk buying.

4. Cherry picked the loss leaders every week from the flyers, stockpiling those items and meal planning around only what was on sale.

5. Maximizing use of frequent flyer and air mile programs. We had nine free flights between Alberta and BC this year - only paying taxes.

6. Continuing to buy used. Clothing, furniture, vehicles. Anything that is required try to find used first. This strategy pays off year after year with someone else paying for all the depreciation. It helps that I love garage saling and thrifting.

7. I finally color my own hair and have found much cheaper options for haircuts. This was the largest breakthrough and my hair care budget in 2013 will be much lower than 2012 as a result.

8. Continued with my paid out phone contract on a month to month basis when it expired in September at a lower rate. I have no need to upgrade my cell phone currently, although in 2013 I may take the plunge and get a smartphone.

9. Cooking from scratch. I now can make homemade pizza crust and pie crust. Hubby has suggested that my cooking has gotten better this year (his has too). In 2013 I would like to dust off that bread-making machine or make dough from scratch. In the past I didn't like the hole the bread-maker makes in the middle of the loaf (does your breadmaker do that?) but there may be a way around that - make the dough in the machine and transfer to oven for baking perhaps.

10. Found free entertainment options and limited eating out to once per month. Eating out is the number one budget buster and I mean anything from grabbing a coffee and doughnut to a lavish dinner. Think of all the groceries you could buy instead! I try and keep our diet varied and interesting otherwise hubby is tempted into eating out more. We occupied ourselves at the beach a lot this past summer and that certainly qualifies as free entertainment. This year hiking and biking is on the agenda.

11. Moved ourselves versus hiring a mover and purged a huge amount before the move. This saved us at least $7000 - it was tough but totally worth it. Only move items that are difficult to replace or mean something to you. Buy furniture when you get there. We filled one cube van and two cars worth - that was all that was moved. We downsized from over 3600 sq ft to 1700 sq foot and love our new home. Now just to get rid of the gigantic home back in Alberta! It goes back on the market in March.


The No More Christmas Cr**p Campaign

If you missed the original post see here. Well, other than the few vintage ornaments I found in November there was one other Christmas Crap purchase this year. One that went over the allotted budget! Hubby insisted we get two more light strands for the exterior of our home as due to the style of our new home we didn't have enough lights. I searched and searched the thrift stores but could find only the older style energy busting lights. After being called Scrooge I caved and we spent $24 at Canadian Tire on LED lights. It was not worth an argument and they look pretty nice. Hopefully they will last forever and we don't need to buy anything new at all next year. I collect vintage glass ornaments so will keep looking at garage sales and thrift stores to find them at the absolute lowest prices.

December's Grocery Budget $425

If you are a new follower the grocery budget includes all over counter medications, grooming and cleaning products.

Actual $667.31. Way Over!
Coupons used $12.65

$200 of this amount was spent on Christmas food/snacks in Alberta, much of it left behind for my stepson to finish. I continued to stock up on items and my stockpile keeps growing. Hopefully 2013 will be easier on the grocery budget as it took a bruising this year due to depleting the stockpile before the move and then starting over once we got here.

Grocery overage for 2012 = $664.57 less money transferred in from hair ($104.01) and clothing ($90.01)budgets throughout the year = $471.55 OVERALL BUDGET OVERAGE. A few months ago the grocery budget increased from $400 per month to $425 so there it shall stay in 2012. Grocery prices have increased and I had to be realistic with the budget since we rarely eat out now.


Annual Clothing Budget $200
I bought an Eddie Bauer Spring shirt for $3 at the Thrift Store this month.
Total Spent on Clothing, shoes and accessories this year was $109.99.
Throughout the year $90.01 of clothing budget was transferred out to reduce the grocery budget overage.

Of the $109.99:
used:
7 shirts
3 pants (2 jeans, 1 capri)
2 belts
boots
new:
bra, socks, nylons

In 2013 the clothing budget will remain at $200 as I need to do an undergarment shop and only purchase those new so need extra funds for that. As well, I will be looking for a good rain jacket. So far I have not found one at the thrift stores so again, may have to purchase it new. We intend on travelling to Washington for a cross border weekend away/business supplies shop so probably will spend some money on clothing there as prices are 40% to 60% cheaper than in Canada.



Annual Hair Budget $400
I had a cut this month for $20.12 which included a $5 tip. Yes, you can get a good haircut for cheap. My hair looks little different than when I used to spend $140 for a cut and color.

Actual spent in 2012 $295.99. $104.01 was transferred out to Grocery Budget overage. The Annual Hair Budget in 2013 is being reduced to $250.

I look forward to a new 2013 budget year with a clean slate! There will be no transferring of budgets to other categories in and I shall stay ON TARGET!!