Tracking Every Penny

   Yay, another budget post! One of my favorite topics after talking about losing weight. I'm not worrying about that right now, although I have been eating too much ice cream lately. Since following Mary's Cup of Tea on Instagram, a self-love coach, I am trying to be more accepting of myself and letting go of the need to always get back down to my wedding weight (104 pounds). I do look pretty good at 118 pounds, especially when I've been exercising.
   Anyway, over the past few days I have been working on our budget since we have been needing to take money out of savings to cover our bills since February. Yes, some of the things were necessary like a new mattress. Michael and I have been together for 10 years and he's had that mattress since before I met him! We did go on a week-long cabin trip two months ago, but that was also pretty necessary (and fun! as well as a great, positive experience for Emma) as Michael had not left Orlando since Emma had come home from the NICU 11 months prior! We got a new vacuum cleaner recently, since ours was eight years old -it was the main gift we bought as our wedding present using gift cards we were given- and I read that eight years is usually the max life for a vacuum. It has stopped cleaning the carpets, so we got a new one. In February, Michael and his friend, Brian, were working hard on their Star Wars costumes for MegaCon, which is going on this weekend. He asked to get a 3D printer because a lot of the stuff they needed for the costumes were intricate pieces and it would be far more expensive to buy all of them from someone else with a 3D printed. And then of course, after getting that, Michael found out that the design program used to create everything in the 3D printer could not be used without Wifi, so after 16 months without it, we signed up for Internet (and Netflix) again. However, they didn't even end up going to MegaCon because of financial reasons (each day is $75 per person) plus they have barely worked on their costumes since February, so they were nowhere near being completed, and they are both very meticulous about their work.
   It's times like these, when I see how much money we have spent on non-essentials, even me with buying my walnut body scrub (hot body related), bamboo toothbrushes that I don't like (because I was convinced that I should help save the planet), the charity rice purse that I haven't used (because I do like donating to charity), and loading up on iTunes music (because Ashley Tisdale, the Jonas Brothers, and Taylor Swift all have new songs out), that I feel like I should never complain that "we don't have enough money". That's exactly how I feel when I hear other people complain about how we don't make enough money at work (although, I'm pretty sure 90% of the population feels like they don't make enough money for their job and some do not), but they constantly come in to work with Starbucks and Chick-Fil-A. We are all hypocrites! If we literally did not have enough money, we wouldn't even be able to think about getting fast food or not cutting coupons to save money on the necessary items. PS- Dollar Tree is a great place to get toothpaste and tooth brushes!

   Our AC went out the other day again (reminder: we live in Florida), so it got up to 83 inside by 4pm, even though it was a few degrees less than that outside. Luckily, we were able to get it fixed the next morning, on a Saturday. I always keep the blinds closed so it stays a little cooler in the house.
    & That coin jar had $32 in it! :)

 At work I have been talking complaining about our budget recently, and my co-workers have been nice to offer me some of their food, which I always gladly accept- part of their big veggie omelets when they order breakfast from a nearby restaurant, two pickle spears, Zaxby's bread that they didn't want so they could save carbs. Carbs are my favorite! I've been taking older food to work lately- not expired stuff, since I worry about getting sick- but frozen meals that have been in the freezer for a long time, or things like peanut butter crackers and granola bars, that have a long shelf life. I'll probably need to mix up some rice and beans (from last year's hurricane prep) for lunch tomorrow. One thing I think that helps us, is getting cash out for grocery money instead of using our debit cards. I don't like spending my crispy $20 bills, so it helps me prioritize what I have on my shopping list, or look in the pantry to see if I really need to go to the store at all. We are lucky to have received so many gift cards over the years- to fast food places as well as actual sit down restaurants. That always makes me feel rich, even if we're on a budget. :)

   I made a list of a bunch of ways we can save money/ not spend as much:
>> Make a Goal chart (done!)
>> Always request overtime hours in money instead of accruing vacation time
>> Lower Verizon to 6G per month instead of 8G since we have Wifi at home again (but I would need to do the math to see how many gigs I actually use per month when I'm not around Wifi)
>> Michael should try to sell Star Wars decals and costume fans again, although now that today is the last day of the Cosplay convention, I don't know if anyone will need one for a while. I really wish I had thought of this idea a couple months ago!
>> Shop at Aldi, Save A Lot, and Walmart way more and stay away from Target and Publix (unless there are BOGOs- then Publix is a good deal)
>> Don't let food get expired. I'm bad about that- buying food and then not being in the mood for that item and wanting something else instead so I don't eat what I want.. ugh. And that is even with trying to be conscious and only buying enough food for the next few days. This happens more when I bring my food to work, but then the supervisor gets pizza for everyone so I eat that instead.
>> Sign up for a Target debit card to always save the 5% for when we "have to" go there.

>> Sleep more, when possible with Emma

>> Don't eat when bored (that has been harder for me lately since I'm back in my pizza and ice cream mode and tend to eat a lot when I'm a little bit hungry, rather than waiting until I'm actually hungry then eating a regular portion size- of "real food")

>> Drink more water and brush my teeth after each meal. Less eating = less grocery money being spent, and will also possibly circle back around to losing weight! Win/Win/Win!!

>> Watch The Pursuit of Happyness (Will Smith movie from 2007). It always makes me calm down when I'm really stressed about money because we have it 500x better than he did, and it's a true story about that character!

    And here, in this sub-category, are ways to distract myself so I don't feel bored, like the only thing to do is to eat:
    >> Work with Emma more with therapy stuff and reading books to her

    >> Exercise videos! Michael and I were both doing the 30 Day Shred in April

    >> Make a rule of not eating when we're watching TV (so common for us!)

    >> Make scrapbook cards or at least use an old one to write someone a letter

    >> Photoshoots of/with Emma (while she still doesn't have a choice, haha)

    >> Go for a walk (when Michael is home to watch Emma) or walk in place while watching TV

    >> Dollar Tree spa time, they have great $1 products! (when Emma is napping)

    >> Write out all of our budget spending again/ any other new planning charts

    >> Vacuum, clean up the house/ do dishes, laundry is always needing to be done

    >> Look through the Publix app for BOGOs, make a list of what we can buy

   I would love to work on another "Healthy on a Budget" post. That will be my June goal once I finish all the pizza and ice cream. At least when I buy frozen pizza it has veggies on top! ;)
   Edit: It should be mentioned that when going over our budget the other day with Michael, and I mentioned financial advisors, he said, "Who is Dave Ramsey?" Oh goodness.. Ha!
   I also forgot to mention the cheap day food challenges I have been reading about recently. I am really into stuff like that. I found the websites, but my laptop is old and couldn't open the page in order to link it in here. But Google "Elon Musk Challenge" (it's living off of $2 per day/$60 month for food) or the also popular, yet more difficult, "Food Stamps Challenge", which is only $1.48 for food per day, but I wonder if people who actually are on Food Stamps thinks this one is offensive because they are always doing that as a way of life, unlike other people who try it as a challenge for a week or two. However, the point of it was simply to bring awareness to how much of the world has to live off of. It's very important for us to remember that and be grateful for everything we have!

  ^^ This is the "rice purse" I bought as I mentioned towards the top. It's not made out of rice, but each item purchased goes towards donating a big 55-pound bag of rice to a family. It said that each bag of rice is usually paid for between 25 purchases. And I love that it gives you a code to see the family that you helped! I always like stuff like that, but our main donations go towards helping our three sponsored friends through Unbound. That is usually the first thing Michael talks about cutting out when I mention budget stuff, but I always say no, because those families need the money way more than we do and, even when we're on a budget, I still believe God wants us to tithe and that it's the right thing to do, even if we can't do the whole 10%. (We're doing about 4% I think, but that's also because our mortgage payment each month is a lot more than 25% of my monthly income. When I look up budget charts it says 25% is the average amount that goes towards mortgage or rent. Right now ours is about 50%!)