Day 175 - Grocery Shopping

Total BUST!!!

I shop once a week on Sundays.  I make one trip and stop at 4 stores - Albertson's, Rite Aid, Walgreens and Safeway.  I try to spend no more than $50 a week.

This week was a different story - I spent over $100 and that was with coupons!!!

I never spend this much money on food/household in one trip.  It does not look like I will not be doing a shopping trip next Sunday unless I see great deals. 

Safeway and Albertsons Shopping = $99.74

Albertsons
Total Spent - $27.96
Total Saved - $37.69
$27.96 shopping trip 57% savings

Safeway
Total Spent - $71.78
Total Saved - $58.28
$71.78 shopping trip with 45% savings

I got all of this for $.96!!!

Rite Aid

Total Spent - $2.99

Total Saved - $34.46

Will Receive $3.00 Rebate for the Listerine

FREE shopping trip

Walgreens

Total Spent - $1.96

Total Saved - $18.59

Received a RR for the Electosol

$.96 shopping Trip

 

Day 175 - Weekly Menu

The hubby and I have done a 180 when it comes to eating out, we use to eat out at least twice a week - now eating out is a special treat.  Every Saturday night we sit down and create the menu - our menu runs from Sunday through Saturday.  I do all my shopping every Sunday.  I purchased a few cookbooks and try to cook at least one meal a week from the cookbooks.   It is always exciting to try something new.


Here is the menu for the week:

Sunday:
Smoked Chicken Breast & Salad

Monday:
Slow-Baked Macaroni & Cheese (Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two, page 82)

Tuesday:
Sauteéd Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos w/Mango and Pineapple Salsa and Spicy Black Means (Cook Yourself Thin, page 140)

Wednesday:
Chicken & Sugar Snap Peas Stir Fry

Thursday:
Spinach & feta Chicken Breast & Salad (Pick up the recipe card at Safeway a few months ago)

Friday:
Chicken Fettuccini

Saturday:
Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry

I will admit this was not easy for us to get use to, but we have been doing this since September. 

Do any of you plan weekly menus?  How often to you go shopping for food?  What is a reasonable budget for 2 people? 

Day 174 - Is it possible??

When the hubby and I started this blog we said that we wanted to pay off our debt in 730 days. By looking at the numbers we need to do find a way to bring a lot more money to accomplish this. Is this why we constantly fail?  Is it because we always set unrealistic goals?


Being that today is Day 174; we only have 556 days to go. That means that we need $.20 a second, $12.14 an hour, $291.34 a day or a little over $9,000 a month for debt repayment only. I am starting to become a little discouraged.


For the month of January I have budgeted $1,089.01 for debt repayment, far from the $9,000 we need. It is time to re-evaluate the budget and our goals.

Day 173 - January Goals

Goals for the month of January:

1. Pay off Macy's, Dell and New York and Company Card.
2. Generate $300 of extra income.
3. Apply for community college teaching positions.
4. Study at least 10 hours a week for certification exam.
5. Run at least 3 times a week and select 1st half-marathon date.
6. Clean out pantry and start "shopping" for canning jars and items for the garden.
7. Post at least once a week.
8. Stick to the budget.

Day 173 - January Budget

January Budget

Total Income: I have built in $300 of other income for my Flex spending account for medical expenses.

Vehicles: Includes 3 payments, insurance, fuel and service. (I think I know where I need to cut expense at).

Personal: Life and disability insurance, medical expenses and personal care.

Home: All utilities, rent, and a cord of wood. (I will expand on a later post on our rent).

Credit Card: This only include minimum payments.

Student Loans: Again only minimum payments.

Savings: From experience every time we go on a budget we tend to budget for "big expenses" as they come up. This is where we become discourage and begin to live off the budget. Not this year - every month I will send these funds to ING and we will only use them for our "big expenses". Included in the section are: emergency fund, Christmas and birthday gifts, Halloween party, annual vacation, home insurance and taxes.

Day 173 - 2010 Goals

Financials Goals:

1. Establish a $1,200 Emergency Fund.
2. Eliminate all credit card and vehicle debt by December 31, 2010.
3. Generate $5,000 of extra income ("sell stuff", teach a college course, surveys, online offers)
4. Eat out no more than 12 times this year. (Got this great idea from SS4BC).
5. No clothes or shoe shopping for the whole year!!

Personal Goals:

1. Pass certification exam by August 31, 2010.
2. Run at least 2 half-marathons.
3. Grow a garden.
4. Bake at least once a month.
5. Become a better blogger. (Post at least once a week).

Day 173 - 2009 Re-cap

I have not been the blogger I had hoped to be. Hopefully this year will be different.


2009 Re-cap:

• The hubby has a full-time job. We should see about $1,900 a month - this will go all to debt. With a full-time job he will receive benefits (i.e. - Health insurance), which means that we will not longer pay $96 a month for his health benefits!!


• I managed to re-consolidate my student loans from $260 to $160 - the difference will go to debt.


• I calculated what our taxes will be for next year and have maximized our take home pay.
  

How we ended the year = unfortunately not great!

Here is the breakdown as of 12/31/2009:

Assets
Cash: $94.25
Retirement/Investments: $4,981.67
Total Assets: $5,075.92

Liabilities:
Credit Cards: $22,858.29
Vehicles: $20,649.06
Student Loans: $118,479.82
Total Liabilities: $161,987.17

Net Worth ($156,911.25)