Family Budget Challenge – Day 1

Yesterday we launched our “Mom’s Family Budget Challenge” to see if we could spend less & save more. I am happy to say that I felt particularly vindicated yesterday, as we only spent $10 on groceries – and because I was paying by cash I made sure to check my receipts. Sure enough, I discovered on my way out of the store (from now on I will check while I am still in the store) that the apple I bought was rung up as an “organic ugly tomato” – at 3.99, so I promptly got my refund and left with three more bucks in my pocket.   Yes, it pays to pay attention & to pay by cash. Another bonus that netted me 5 cents (as I said we are counting pennies) is the fact that I brought my cloth bag with me to the store and I made sure that I brought it to the attention of the attendant. Many stores now pay you to bring your own bag. 

I understand this is only going to get harder, not easier as time goes by, especially when the novelty of all of this wears off and the family wants pizza or I want to sit outside a nice cafe and there is no money left in the $20 budget – but so far so good. Family budget update – 10 bucks out, 10 bucks to the “piggy box” – thirty dollars now available.

Mom’s Family Budget Challenge

This month our family decided to see whether or not we could scale back drastically from our spending. After tallying all of our expenses and seeing what is leftover we were shocked at how much we spend at the grocery store and on other “incidentals.” Given the state of the economy and the price of gas, we have set ourselves quite a challenge this month – to live on $20 dollars a day. I will be chronicling our progress and sharing cost cutting tips with you as well. Hopefully we (and maybe you) can learn ways to recoup money and put more into savings, and less into other people’s pockets. So here are the details of our challenge:

1. We are paying as many bills as possible at the beginning of the month. That doesn’t leave much left, which is the point really. When we were spreading the payment of our bills over the entire month we noticed we weren’t capturing the “left-overs” as we should be. So now we hope to put the money from the middle of the month in our savings account.

2. If we know we have a monthly expense, such as gas, or church offering, we now consider this a bill that we have to budget in. This way we have a more realistic idea of how much money we really are spending. 

3. We now are going to earmark any amount that we have left after paying bills as “family savings” so that we start to see any excess in the month grow – not be spent.

4. Once we pay our bills – we are going to use cash. Why? Because we realized that debit and credit cards were divorcing us from the value of money. If we were using a plastic card to pay for expenses, we were hardly noticing where the money went, and we were always shocked to see the end of month statement (how many times have we said – “did we really spend that much?”). Another reason to use cash is because if you pay cash for something you are more willing to scrutinize your bill, use coupons, and want to hold on to as many bills and coins as possible.

5. We set ourselves the average of $20 a day to live on. That figure needs to include groceries, going out, hair cuts, toys, books, and dry cleaning.  If we have money left over that day it goes into a “piggy box” that we can borrow from another day. If we run out of money for that day – too bad (unless of course we deem something as an emergency). That means we need to use a bit of fore planning – do we need to do the dry cleaning? If yes, then we know that day the money will go to the dry cleaners and not the grocery store.

6. We are going to start paying attention to where our money goes. If you only have $20 a day and you realize you are spending $5 on gas just running everyone around, then you might think about walking, biking, or limiting trips (which is exactly what we have done).

7. We are going to save our pennies (yes, and count them too). Honestly, my husband is going to pick up coin wrappers from the bank today. I remember as a kid it was a special treat to wrap up pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters – all the excess change – and deposit them in the bank.

8. We are taking the time to comparison shop, examine receipts, collect coupons, take back cans – i.e. make sure our $20 goes as far as possible.

9. We are cutting back on what we now see as “luxury items” – that means “non-essentials” – including (sniff sniff) chocolate, any bottled drink, gum, condiments, magazines, lattes, etc., etc., etc.

10. We are changing our psychology about money and hoping it makes a difference! Every time we buy a latte that costs $3.50 that is actually $5 we had to earn in our paycheck before tax to pay for that latte. Does that mean we can’t have a latte? Of course not – but it means we will make it a treat not a norm.

We realize that some families don’t have the luxury of $20 a day nor the time to make sure that it is well spent – but for our family we knew that we needed this sort of challenge because with two full time professionals in the house we should have more to show for all of our work. We want our children to realize that money spent comes from money earned – and if we can’t do this, how will they ever be able to? So here goes Mom’s Family Budget Challenge. Wish us luck, and share your cost saving ideas with us, as we will share ours with you – because honestly every penny counts!

Another One of Mom’s Favorite Crazy Toys

We keep getting unique and slightly strange gifts from the Manhattan Toy Company but every single one is a hit in this family. One of these is a “flying saucer” toy, which although I am really not sure the purpose of, still keeps entertaining our toddler. It is either the color, texture, or shape, but this is a great toy to pull out of your purse or diaper bag when you just need to “borrow” a bit more time (and possibly quiet) from your child. Anything that stands the test of time, rough handling, and grubby hands, is a winner & favorite in this family!

“Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”

I have to admit, sometimes Mister Rogers scared me. I dont’ know why – maybe it was his seriousness, or maybe it was the puppets in the “make-believe” section. But I did love the catchy “Won’t you be my neighbor” song.  At any rate this mom believes that we need more of that philosophy in this day in age. Do you know your neighbor?  When we build fences & gated communities around us, it sometimes is difficult to get to know your neighbor. I recently read an article in the NY Times, entitled “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” which was about an author getting to know his neighbors and actually asking to stay over at their house for a night to do so. Though slightly unconventional in this day in age, this mom thinks that “getting to know” your neighbors is an important lesson to instill in children. I hope to teach my family to keep building bridges between our neighbors and not walls, because there are enough of those around us already.

Waste Not Want Not

Today, I caught a segment on NBC that was a great reminder for our family which was about not wasting food. This mom knows there is nothing worse then throwing away food that was carefully picked out, prepared, and bought for the family. This clip offered some good advice for families -which was if possible, shop less, buy less, and throw less. Is this common sense? Yes? Is this always possible? No. But when you see all the food that the average family throws away in a week it might be that extra little reminder you need to go ahead and warm up the left-overs instead of heading to the trash.

Drum Baby Drum

Yesterday we spent some time at a friend’s house. We always love visiting their house because they have three kids, so everything is very “kid friendly.” I am always amazed at the wonderful toys they have and last night by far the favorite for both babies, children, and adults was the LeapFrog Learning Drum which they just received. It is a “counting drum” which lights up, speaks, and plays music. It is always difficult to get the family to leave after a full day of play. But last night was especially difficult, as all of us wanted to take this toy with us!

Saving Strategies

Sunday grocery shopping is not our favorite event. As discussed in the Healthy Lifestyle section we try not to shop at busy times. However, what we do try to do on a Sunday (besides going to church) is collect coupons. A lot of us out there are trying to pinch pennies where we can, but sometimes this takes work. Recently, I caught a feature on ABC from the “Coupon Mom” reminding us all how to save money when grocery shopping. In a nutshell, she reminded shoppers to buy generic items, plan your shopping (and eating) around what is on sale at stores, check receipts, and use coupons (which she has available online).

This mom has a few other favorite ways to save money at the grocery store, and some might seem a bit counter-intuitive:

Let things run out. We found that if we have a lot of something we use more of it and usually gratuitously. Think of how you get when your toothpaste is finished but you just need a teeny bit more. Well you get it by rolling over the tube 4-5 times, cutting off the end, or pushing hard at the top because you need that little bit to get your teeth clean. Whereas, if you have 2-3 in the closet you might just throw out the toothpaste when the cap gets too messy or it is almost gone. So as the saying goes “waste not, want not.”

Keep your cans. At our grocery store we get charged a deposit just for the possibility that we might bring our cans back. On a 12 pack that is 60 cents. If we don’t take the cans back we loose 60 cents. So keep them, collect them, and get your money back.

Drink water from the tap. Call me crazy, but we have a good friend that works for a public water company and he can’t believe people drink bottled water due to rigorous State and Federal water testing. If you just can’t stomach that buy a filter that attaches to the faucet.

Yes, I admit it, I am an Old-Fashioned Mom

Over the last month, something keeps niggling at me – and I think I might have been too ashamed to admit it – but I am becoming an “old-fashioned” mom. I do think of myself as a “modern woman.” I am a full-time professional and a full-time mom. Like most parents in this day and age, I juggle too many balls and I acknowledge that I drop quite a few. But the more I reflect on motherhood, the more I see myself in my true colors – I am at heart an old-fashioned person, who is desperately trying to raise her family in an old-fashioned way. Maybe a few years ago I would have cringed as such a thought, but the more I look around me, the more I think this is a good thing. Why? Because we keep seeing the need for community, for manners, for niceties, for patience, for calm. I think back to my childhood, and I try to replicate some of the ways I was raised:

DO: smile at those that pass, say please and thank you, read books, play with the neighborhood kids, plant seeds and watch them grow, reuse what is the house, make crafts, jump rope, play jacks, play outside, clean your room, grow vegetables, eat  vegetables, honor mom and dad, respect adults, sit at the table until you are excused, walk with the family, start a piggy bank, make cards, say prayers, go to church.

DON’T: sass mouth, beg for new toys, watch too much television, waste food, play too many video games, eat too many sweets, litter, swear, chew with your mouth open, put your elbows on the table, stay out after dark, stay up too late, get up too late, whine, stare, point, punch, pinch, fidget, or smirk.

I never thought of any of these things as old-fashioned, but increasingly I see that they are. Even more increasingly I find myself drawn to the merits of these activities. So yes, I realize I am old-fashioned, and yes, I aspire to instilling these things in my family (even as a modern woman). And no, I am now not ashamed of it.