As I mentioned yesterday and Sunday, I had the privilege of co-teaching a seminar on budgeting and creative money saving tips as part of the Tools for the Journey workshop at my church. They recorded most of the seminars, so you can look for those here sometime this week.
These are the resources that we came up with that we personally use to help us save money and get good deals on all kinds of things from groceries to eating out to entertainment and so much more. Crown Money Management is a great place to start. Really helps set your mind and your heart on what God has to say about money. Please ask if you have *any* questions! (And yes, I do get referral credit on several of these sites, so if you’re already thinking about signing up for one of these, I would greatly appreciate you doing so through these links)
More Resources for Using Creativity to Budget and Save Money
Money Back for shopping (use these if you were already going to do some online shopping, don’t use them as an excuse to go shopping!)
And I can’t forget to add SwagBucks! It’s a search engine that you can earn points to, you then use the points to get things like Amazon.com gift cards.
Alright, folks, that’s all she wrote! (for now anyway) Now go make a plan (a budget, a meal plan, a grocery list, SOMETHING) and stick to it!
As I mentioned yesterday, I had the privilege of co-teaching a seminar on budgeting and creative money saving tips as part of the Tools for the Journey workshop at my church. They recorded most of the seminars, so you can look for those here sometime this week.
This is the bulk of the information that we presented during our seminar (this was the handout). Please ask if you have *any* questions!
Using Creativity to Budget and Save Money
by Sela Young, Karen Carr, Trisha Swift
1. Look at the Big Picture
How can your shopping (for necessities or otherwise) glorify God? How can you glorify God with saving money?
Try to find the balance between legalistic and hedonistic.
Try not to look at certain purchases as “sinful.”
Try not to only follow your desires and expensive tastes.
Watch your health (and your family’s)—physical, emotional and spiritual. Avoid saving money in the short run that will hurt you in the long run. e.g. don’t skip out on dentist/doctor visits. Don’t skip going out for coffee with a friend. Those are way more important in the long run than saving a few bucks!
2. Start with Your Budget
Take a financial class offered through church (Crown, Dave Ramsey).
Tweak budget to work for you. Experiment to figure out what works best for you and your family.
Make a budget and stick to it!
If you’re married, budgeting needs to be a joint decision.
See yesterday’s post for the forms, etc, that I’m using right now
3. When You are Shopping
Decide on non-negotiables for health reasons before you go shopping. e.g. organic milk and veggies.
Don’t window shop or look at ads if you don’t specifically need something; limit TV time (for self and kids). If I don’t know it exists, I won’t want it.
Make a list and stick to it.
Use coupons! Organize them before you shop.
Don’t shop when hungry.
Stock up when things are on sale and/or you have coupons. Grocery stores usually run on a 12 week sale cycle, so if it’s a great deal, buy enough to last 12 weeks.
Educate yourself on prices and comparison shop. Just because something is on sale or is sold in bulk (like at Sam’s Club), does not necessarily mean it is cheaper!
4. Creative Ideas to Save Money
These are ideas to jumpstart your creativity! You need to decide what works best for you, your family and your schedule.
Use the Internet (be on the lookout for scams, of course!). (Tomorrow I will post a list of useful internet resources)
Do online shopping through a site that gives you money back.
Belong to facebook or blogs to help you find deals.
Get coupons online.
Sign up for free samples.
Find things cheap or free.
Find deals with Groupon, Seize the Deal (but compare to make sure it’s a real deal and don’t be tempted to spend more than your budget).
Think about where you shop.
Thrift stores—find the ones that work best for you, and pay attention to sale days! Don’t discount thrift stores because you went to one and didn’t like it. There are so many and they all have a different niche.
Habitat Building Supply store
Yard sales—get cheap stuff and spend time with a sister or use as an outreach opportunity AND you’ll have someone along so you can keep each other in check.
Check out the Amazon Mom program with Subscribe & Save for good deals on diapers and other baby items.
Big Lots, Esh’s Discount Grocery, etc. Again, compare to make sure you’re getting a real deal.
5. Other Tips and Ideas:
Pray the Lord’s Prayer when shopping.
Pray to want what you already have; be content!
Plan out your shopping trip: maximize your time.
Only go shopping on certain days (once a week, once a month)—plan ahead!
Christmas shop all year ‘round! It spreads out the cost AND you can shop sales (yard sales too!) and make the most of your money!
Plan ahead and shop for all occasions.
Don’t eat out if alone. Save money, be others-focused.
Smash the toilet paper roll before hanging it; it doesn’t roll as easily and so kids don’t yank off as much and waste it.
Pay bills online to save stamps.
Swap babysitting with another couple.
Hang clothes to dry: they last longer and it saves on the energy bill.
Cut pizza, muffins, meat in smaller sections; it will stretch it and limit waste.
Office supply stores have great weekly sales for about a month before school starts.
Some stores (Target for sure) will let you bring your receipt in if an item you bought goes on sale within two weeks of your buying it, and give you the difference.
Tomorrow I will post some of the resources, mostly blogs and websites, that I use to get information on sales and good deals.
Yesterday I had the privilege of co-teaching a seminar on budgeting and creative money saving tips as part of the Tools for the Journey workshop at my church. They recorded most of the seminars, so you can look for those here sometime this week.
The main way that we budget right now has evolved from using the Crown Financial Ministries method for many years. This is what we’ve come up with to personalize their great system. If you have never taken a money bible study like Crown or Dave Ramsey, I would strongly recommend it!
Here’s my budget board that hangs very visibly by our coat closet (ignore the fly swatter :))
First, the color-coded main budget page on the bottom right. This helps keep track of all the categories that need to be paid every month, whether I’ve paid them, and if we were over or under budget. Monthly Expenses
Next is the tracking sheet for all debit card purchases. I pull out about half of our monthly general fund in cash, and when I do, it goes on this tracking sheet as well. We have found that a combination of cash and debit card without a lot of categories (like groceries, personal care, diapers, etc, etc) works best for us. Monthly Cash
Then I have a separate sheet to keep track of spending out of savings. This includes things like getting the furnace fixed or other things that were intentional expenditures out of savings. I also have our date night on there, but I usually pull this out in cash as well. This just helps if we go out before I have a chance to do that. Savings
I also made a “Hey Dude, Pay Up!” sheet. This is just for when either I buy something for someone (like at CostCo) or they do the same for me. It’s come about because otherwise *I* would forget. Not at all a reflection on my friends/family who end up on there :-) Pay Up
Other features of my budget board:
All of the papers are in sheet protectors so that I can write on and erase them every month.
There are two wet erase markers, a calculator, and a pen velcroed to the board. This way I have *no* excuse not to write down expenditures.
I also have a few categories that I pull out in cash every month, like car license. These envelopes are all clipped together and hang on the upper left. The front envelope is for if I have cash that needs to be redeposited (like when I pay the car license) or any random checks that need to be taken to the bank. I try to only go to the bank once or maybe twice a month.
Tomorrow I’ll post the rest of our handout/notes from the seminar!
~S
Y’all know by now that organizing things makes me happy, right? And if I can make it cute in the process, all the better! Here’s my new solution for toy organization:
I had all these bins left over from our previous attempt to organize our downstairs closet. Now that I have an Elfa, I don’t need them down there anymore. Enter toy storage/organization. The kids weren’t playing with all their toys, they couldn’t see them all, AND they were constantly getting dumped out in the middle of the floor and left there.
I’m seriously hoping that this works. I just got it all set up tonight. I’ve informed Kahlen that it will be this way, so we’ll see what she thinks tomorrow.
There’s one small bin with toys that will stay out and a bin of stuffed animals that will live in her room. Also staying out are the small kitchen and cash register that I got them for Christmas, but they’ll probably make their way upstairs as well.
You can’t really tell in the picture, but I laminated all the daily signs. I stuck one to the top of each bin and one to the front with velcro. I decided to put the number and the word so that maybe Kahlen will be able to tell easier which one is for today. Hey, maybe she’ll be able to sight read the days of the week soon because of this too!
I got my new brain book all done last Friday, hooray! I can’t tell you how many things I wanted to write down in a safe place last week and had nowhere to do so. Several people have expressed interest in my files, etc, so here goes. What is a brain book?
My brain book is all the daily/weekly/monthly information that I would otherwise either attempt to store in my head or write down on a scrap of paper and then proceed to lose the paper. They’re called many things by many people: household notebook, daily planner, etc. I call it my brain because that’s what I think of it as. With this bad boy, I don’t have to remember all that stuff, I have a safe place to keep it all. I use it to “brain dump” before I go to bed, too, so that all that stuff I’m supposed to do tomorrow doesn’t keep me from sleeping (as it has in the past) That’s great, but what kind of things are actually in your brain book??
Of course, mine is tailored exactly to me. This is the second one that I’ve put together in this format, and I *love* it! I got this idea from Life As Mom about 6 months ago, so I used quite a bit from her site. I even purchased her Organizing Life As MOM e-book so that I wouldn’t have to recreate everything she’s already done. She also has some other great free printables that I’ve used here and here. I did create several sheets that are exactly what I wanted, but you don’t have to if that’s what’s stopping you from having some type of book. Part of the reason I ended up doing that is because I wanted mine to be 5 1/2” by 8 1/2” (which is 1/2 a sheet of paper, not a whole one) so that it would fit in my purse instead of always getting left behind. Also, this one that I just made covers 6 months because more than that is too much and less than that is too much work to make a new one. Okay, the nitty-gritty Here’s the sections I have in my current brain book:
To Do:
This is my daily to do list. I printed enough to use about one every other or every 3rd day. I really only need one on a day that’s not the normal routine of things, like when I have errands to run or other things going on. You could also just laminate one and wipe it off every day, which I might try in July. Bubble Planner Back to the list Calendar:
The calendar section actually has the most parts to it. First, I have a weekly calendar on the left side and a household chores/weekly to do on the right side. After the weeklies, I have monthly calendars because sometimes it’s nice to have it all laid out like that. I don’t have much on there, but you could put in birthdays, holidays, etc. I put all that stuff on my weekly calendar since I’m going to be looking at the weekly a lot more often. At the end of this section, I also have a year-at-a-glance, mostly for things that occur after June that I don’t have a calendar for in this book.
I got the monthly calendars from Organizing Life As MOM e-book. She already had them set up as two pages per month, and in the e-book, they’re fill-ins, so I *could* put info in them if I wanted to before printing. 2011 Weekly Calendar Part 1 2011 Calendar Back to the list Errands:
My friend and I came up with this one. It’s just a basic list for when you know you will be going to a store, but not necessarily right away. Simply has the date you think you’ll be going (or are planning to go) and the name of the store, then a place for your list. I hate getting to a store and forgetting half my list because I didn’t write it down or because it was two weeks ago when I thought of something I needed to get there. Errands Back to the list $$$:
I’m not always good at writing down my spending when I get home. We have a big white board on the wall in the stairwell for our expenses, but after I go to the store, I usually forget. So, since this will be going everywhere with me, maybe this will work! Again, we went for simplicity. Date, name of store, description of purchase, and amount. Monthly Expenses Back to the list Shopping:
Obviously, mystery shopping is something that is specific to a very few people. BUT it’s something that I must keep track of, so I put it in here. I also took a manila envelope and cut it down to size to keep my receipts in it. If you want my tracking sheets for some reason, let me know and I’ll send them to you. Back to the list SVCC Preschool:
Another section very specific to me. I coordinate the preschool room at our church for Sunday school, so I needed a small place to keep track of my volunteers and any action items I have for the classroom. Back to the list Blog:
I like to have a plan. I don’t always follow the plan, but if I didn’t have one, then I wouldn’t do anything at all! Besides “the plan” I also have a few to do lists and a few pieces of lined paper (they’re at the end of this post). Blog Schedule Back to the list Food:
Another section with several parts. I started out with a weekly menu plan as I’ve been doing for Menu Plan Monday. On the back of that, I have meal ideas that fit within each of my categories. Then I have two pages for recipes to try. I like finding new recipes, but I hate it when I lose them or forget all about them. Next, I have a grocery list that I’ve broken into 9 categories that relate to how my grocery store is organized. Last I have my master Costco list. We go to Costco about every 6 weeks because the closest one is an hour away, so when I run out of something or know I need to get it next time, I’ll just add it to the list. What's for Dinner Meal Ideas Grocery List Back to the list Paper:
The last section just has lined paper and blank to do lists. You never know when you might just need a piece of paper :) Lined Paper To Do List Back to the list
So that’s it! I printed it all out (which takes some thinking to get it all double sided the way I want) and took it to OfficeMax to have them bind it. I had them put a clear cover on it too, but I made the *fancy* cover with a few pieces of scrapbook paper :) The binding was only $3.50, and the paper was free for me since I have a ton and I have a laser printer now too. Pretty neat, eh??
If you really want one, but putting together your own seems terribly overwhelming, I would be happy to help! I can put together a custom one for you for $15. Also, I’m happy to share my publisher files (that’s how I do most of them), just email me at theyoungns at gmail.com.
Off to make some more to do lists! ;-)
~S
A couple months ago, Tim told me he was going to build me a huge built-in shelf for all my craft stuff. I got excited, but as time went by, I let it slip from my mind. I didn't want to nag him about it or be disappointed if they didn't get built.
I had resigned myself to my stuff always being all over and looking more like this: (This is just part of my junk, mind you)
Well, they're built and they're awesome! The unit takes up the entire west wall of the main room in the basement. They hold all my stuff plus two bookcases worth of books plus all the office supplies and games.
Bookcase is on the far right. Each shelf is reinforced for extra strength. Next is adjustable shelves that hold games and office supplies.
Far left is all my crafting bins for scrapbooking, jewelry making, crosstitch and more. Middle is storage for my Cricut and 16 paper shelves for my scrapbooking paper and project boxes.
I also want to say thanks to Greg for helping, he's the one with all the tools
Hey, I even got my husband to use power tools :)
Thanks, hubby, you rock! Now to find the time to use all my well organized stuff...
So, for those of you who have been to my house, you know that there's a funky counter area in the bathroom on the main level. I try to keep my cookbooks there, but it just looks messy and there's not really enough room for them all. (The picture shows about 1/4 of my cookbooks)
My wonderful hubby got the idea to build me shelves there as a better use of the space. Of course, the project turned out to be much more complicated (and therefore expensive and time-consuming) to complete. BUT in the end, the shelves are super sturdy and look very professional.
I wanted to have a hand in the project too, of course. So, my contribution was to make the shelves pretty. I've been reading a lot about and seeing some of my friends use Mod Podge to decoupage, so I thought I'd give it a go.
I think they turned out pretty good! :)
So, there we have it, pretty and functional shelves for my bathroom. Thanks Hubby!
Now, about my full-wall built-in downstairs...
%5B5%5D.jpg "2011-01-24 Toy Bins (1)")
%5B2%5D.jpg "2011-01-24 Toy Bins (2)")
