The Plan!

Hello friends!! So in the last post I  briefly talked about living on just my husband's (Eric) income. I have devised a plan to help us do just that. Let me say this, I do not make a lot of money at my job, I work part time. So it won't be a terrible adjustment, living on half our income (which we have not figured out how to do yet )will be harder. This is just our first baby step in that direction.

We have cut down a couple categories in our budget.

The first one being our pool. We have a 16x48 intex pool that we have used the past couple summers, we love it. It's expensive though.

Xander playing in the pool last year

At the end of last year the liner got a significant un-repairable rip. The new liner would cost us 200 dollars plus shipping. We started saving for it, but quickly realized there just wasn't enough room in the budget to save up for it by summer. We also realized the pool costs us an extra 50 dollars a month in chemicals, water, and electricity. If we didn't replace the liner and didn't put it up this year we could save ourselves about 400 dollars. So although we will be missing our pool very much this year, we will be closer to our goals. We will continue to save a little bit each month towards a new pool but it is probably 2 years away.

We are ditching Amazon Prime. We have loved this service a lot, but it just doesn't make financial sense to pay to have free shipping. I will just wait until my amazon purchase equals 35 and buy it then and get free shipping. I have heard people say they save money using their bulk purchasing options but I myself haven't been able to find anything with significant savings.I know there are other benefits like the prime video but honestly, it's almost exactly the same as Netflix with maybe a few more titles in it's library. I happen to like Netflix's selection a lot better. Then there is the kindle lending library which is great if you have a kindle, but we don't. That's fine by me I have a free lending library (the actual library) a couple blocks away and they have a lot more titles :)

 All in all I don't feel it's worth it to pay 99 dollars a year for prime. We also decided to get rid of Hulu plus. We just don't use it anymore. Together that saves us 17 dollars a month.

We cut our spending money a little. Not a lot. Five dollars each per week. No biggie to us but it adds up to 40 dollars a month.

We cut down the amount in our clothing category. We have 100 dollars in there right now and no one is using it. We are cutting it in half saving us 40 dollars a month.

We turned our date night envelope into a day trip envelope. We just haven't been using our date money. Though we love spending time just the two of us it's very easy to do for free. We have our daughter Hannah who loves her brother and offers to watch him a lot. She is 15 and a very good, sweet, patient sister. Yup, we know how blessed we are :)

So we opt for free date nights so we can put that money in the family fund to do some fun stuff with our kids over the summer. Thus eliminating the camping/day trip fund saving us 20 a month AND we still get to have a good time!

We will be doing a spending freeze in May when it comes to food. We will only be buying fresh produce, dairy and eggs (with the exception of Eric's Veggie sausage for breakfast). This will continue until we have used up all the stuff in our freezer because it is SO FULL. This won't be a reoccurring monthly decrease in spending however, it will give us an extra savings boost for our poor drained emergency fund and save for yet another car repair.

So that's that for now as we do more or think of more I will let you know!! Thanks for reading guys and thanks for being awesome.

6 Ways to Have Fun On a Small Budget

Hello friends!!!I know a lot of you out there are in the same boat as us so, I thought I would share some of our very, very favorite activities we do on our super low budget.

1. Board games. Seriously guys we love 'em. It's a great way to have fun and bond. We have bought games new once in a blue moon after saving up holiday or family money we have budgeted BUT a great free  way to get games is to borrow them from friends or family. You can also find very cheap board games at the thrift store or yard sales. Along these same lines are doing a puzzle together, or play cards.

2. Spending time outdoors. Take advantage of your local parks, you help pay for them with your taxes so don't forget to use them :) We do all kinds of different outdoor activities. Take a hike, if you have small children try to make them a scavenger hunt sheet to take on the hike. Include things that are easy to find for littles like leaves, a bird, a squirrel, a flower. For older children you can make it more difficult looking for specific animals and plants. This is great for learning, exercise and fun!

Don't underestimate the simple joy of just taking a walk and talking.

You could try geocashing  read  all bout it here- https://www.geocaching.com/play.

Have a picnic. Food tastes so much better on a park bench, just trust me ;)

Don't forget to bring a ball and Frisbee to the park or your backyard and play some catch!!

Get out those bikes and go for a ride.

3. The library. Friends, I love the library. SO much. There are a ton of things to do there and they are all free! Eric and I even had a date at the library a couple weeks ago and I can't wait to do it again. Check and see what is going on at your local library. Ours have family movie nights, indoor play areas for kids, story time for kids, workshops and fun activities for teens and adults. Not to mention all those books, movies and music there!

4. Check out what your town or city has to offer. Become a tourist in your own town. Check out some historical sites, or a beach or river or pond, take a walk on another side of town you don't go to often. Find your city's website and see what free activities or festivals are going on, you might be surprised.Or check out the next town over :)

5. Dollar menu date, we do this more in winter. Make sure to give your family a big breakfast at home first. Make it a fun one have pancakes or waffles or whatever your family loves. Find a fast food place that has a indoor playground for the kids and get yourselves a cup of coffee. (I pack a few snacks for the kids shhhh don't tell!) let the kids play and enjoy your coffee.


6. Make a time capsule. We did this last year and it was a lot of fun. Find things that represent you and your family at this point in time. Take a picture of yourselves that day and include it in there. Make it as fun  or silly as you want. I buried a Twinkie.  Here is a video of us doing ours.

Remember money doesn't buy happiness or quality family time! You can make your own fun for free

or very cheap. What do you guys like to do for fun on a budget?

Debt Free Journey- Our Debts and Our Hopes

It's been FOREVER since I've had a quiet minute to write something on here. You will have to forgive my absence I have been loving my sweet baby boy all day long :) He's growing so fast I can't even believe it!

                             


But I digress. This post is about debt. I don't think I have ever shared the actual number anywhere so I am going to do it here. 153,525.54. Does that seem crazy to anyone else? It's crazy to us. I would like to point out the majority of that is our house and medical debt. Even so as Mr. Ramsey says debt is debt. While this number seems like a mountain we will never be able to climb sometimes, I KNOW we will get there. All it takes is hard work and determination and we have both of those in spades.

When I am not watching our little dude grow or helping our daughter through the hard times and good times of her teenage years and laughing at her jokes (she is hilarious folks!)  I am working. I have a part-time job I have had for 7 years but now work from home doing the same thing. I do surveys, amazon turk, swagbucks, I am selling stuff left and right. My husband, god bless that man, he's incredible has been working 55-60 hours a week. Though he does not get overtime (he's salary) it was that hard work that earned him a 16,000 raise last year and a promotion. He is my hero.

The other thing we do is save money anywhere we can, and BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET. I can't even tell you how important it is to tell your money where to go before it disappears.
Don't forget to budget some fun things in there, without the fun. life while getting out of debt will be miserable. Remember though fun doesn't have to cost a lot. An ice cream cone and a walk in the park is 1.00. Get a new board game at the thrift store for a dollar and have a fun family game night. Check out a movie at the library. I could go on and on but that's for another day.

So we know we will make it we just have to keep the faith and the determination. If you are ever feeling discouraged in your debt free journey watch this Dave Ramsey speech on getting out of debt. It still gives me chills.

OK guys, thanks for listening :)

Cheesy Zucchini Thingies

Hey you! How are you? You are looking stunning as usual, thanks for dropping by! I thought I would share with you guys the easiest, yummiest, laziest way to make zucchini I have come across yet. Try it, trust me you won't regret it.
P.S. I take really crappy pictures of food. It's good I promise. I don't think I have a future in food styling though :)

2 Medium zucchini
about a 1/4 cup of cheese (I used Provolone and Parmesan)
1 t dried oregano
1/2 t garlic powder
olive oil spray or enough to brush onto the zucchini
1 Roma tomato sliced thin
salt and pepper to taste
splash of balsamic vinegar (optional but tasty)


Preheat oven to 425

Cut zucchinis in half length wise then in half crosswise and then in half lengthwise again. I am sure there is a way easier and more understandable way to put that but the little dude still isn't sleeping through the night and my brain is well...mushy.

Brush or spray zucchini with olive oil

Sprinkle on salt, pepper, oregano and garlic powder.

Put on cheese.

Bake on a cookie sheet for 12 minutes, add tomato slices and cook for 5 more minutes

Finish with a splash of balsamic.

Eat it, it's so good.

10.68 Target Haul

Hi guys! You know how much I love Target. Here is yet another Target Haul. If you don't have the Target Cartwheel app, get it silly! Also, you can text offers to 827438 and get mobile coupons you can use with cartwheel offers AND target coupons AND manufactures coupons. I mean, really. C'mon now, ridiculous savings! Watch the video to see how I did it. OK love you, bye.

Disappointing Aldi trip

Hellllo blogosphere! I decided to check out Aldi after hearing so many people say positive things about the prices and the products. I have to say, I didn't see the appeal. Nothing really struck me as a great price. As a couponer a lot of my buy prices are under 1.00 so that could have tainted my view.

There sale produce is a great price but it was either not there or what was left was rotten. I will try a different one in my town before I say no thanks to Aldi's forever. I will however keep taking their ad to Walmart and price matching it for produce that isn't rotten or gone.

What do you guys think of Aldi? Did I just go to the worst one ever? 

Groceries for 4/18-4/25

This is what our 20.00 budget allowed for this week. We shopped on two different days so there are two different pictures..I know what you are saying, that is not much! Where is the meat? It's in my stockpile freezer silly! Where's the milk? We don't drink much and we using a lot of the coconut milk in our stockpile for cereal. The cool whip, mayo, half the grapes and two bananas are for an apple salad I am bringing to my parents house for Easter. The recipe will be in the post right after this one. I take no credit it for it's my Aunt Linda's recipe.  The sweet potatoes and left over bananas are for making baby food the the little dude. Want to see how we eat on a budget? Check out our youtube channel.

OK the breakdown:

Pick n Save:

1 Cool Whip on sale for .88
2 Ranch Dressing on sale buy 1 get 1 free for 3.59 used a 1.00 off 2 coupon from last Sunday's paper 2.59 for two

.51 lbs Romaine lettuce 1.29 a lb .66

1 bunch cilantro .79

Piggly Wiggly:

2 sweet potatoes 1.21

4 bananas .86

2.49lbs broccoli crowns 1.97

Helmmans 30 oz jar mayo on sale for 2.99 used a 1.00 of 1 coupon from last Sunday's paper 1.99

1 lb Food club unsalted butter on sale for  1.99

.47lbs Red Seedless Grapes 1.64

1 green pepper .88

1 Dannon Oikos- Friday freebie from saving star- FREE

1.40lbs romanine lettuce 1.81

2 roma tomatoes .37

1 bunch green onions .59

1 loaf Food Club wheat bread 1.49

Total- 19.72! Yay! I made up for the deficit from last week. We were able to put 65.00 in our emergency fund because of the grocery savings. That brings us to 681.00 we are getting closer to our 1,000 fund faster than I thought we would. Go us!

Black Bean Dip Heaven

Heeeellllooo delicious bean dip! Have you ever had bean dip for dinner? You should! Seriously, no I'm being for reals. Do it. My family affectionately calls this nacho pile. It may not be beautiful but it is so tasty you don't even care. The recipe to make the beans is here. The changes I made are  I add a half a packet of taco seasoning to them, used black beans in place of pinto beans and a can of green chilies in place of the hot pepper. I love the spice, DD can't handle the spice.

Here's the rest of the recipe:

8-10 oz salsa
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3 green onions chopped
1 bunch cilantro chopped
sour cream (optional)
lime wedges (optional)
chips (mandatory)

Preheat oven to 400
Mix chopped cilantro into the beans, saving some for garnish
Spread beans in a 8x10 or so casserole
Pour on salsa and spread over beans evenly
Sprinkle on chopped green onions
Cover with shredded cheese
Bake for about 15-20 minutes until cheese is bubbly
Serve with sour cream, chips and garnish with cilantro and lime juice.

OK gotta go, love you, BYE!

It's Pizza Night!

Oh the joys of homemade pizza!! So tasty so much cheaper than take out or delivery. I use our bread maker to make the crust, I used Great Value pizza sauce, it's only a buck and it's really tasty! Here is our recipe for the crust and pizza, just follow your bread makers directions for the order of putting stuff in the machine.

8 oz water
1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil
3 c all purpose flour
2 T Italian Seasoning (optional)
1 1/2 t yeast


Set your machine to dough cycle
Once dough is done roll out and place on your pizza pan.
Preheat your oven to 425. Poke holes in the dough with a fork to prevent bubbles. Brush on a small amount olive oil and sprinkle on some Parmesan cheese and garlic powder. Bake for 8 minutes, add whatever topping you like and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes. YAY PIZZA!

We added a nice big salad to our dinner.You should too, eat your greens, I love you.

10 lbs of Chicken!

Our awesome neighbor gave us 10 lbs of chicken leg quarters!! We put them into 2 crock pots one with oregano, salt, pepper, basil and herbs de provence. The other crock we used salt, lemon pepper and oregano. YUM! We shredded it all up and had lemon pepper chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans for dinner that night.Then we froze about 2 cups. We saved 4 cups to use throughout the week. We took one of those four cups and mixed with some BBQ and finely diced red onion, stuck it on some hamburger buns leftover from our BBQ and sent them over to our neighbor to say thank you. We love our neighbor! So much chicken!

Why are you so cheap?

So I realized we have never been formally introduced. How rude! Hi, I'm Courtny I have a wonderful husband, an amazing teenage daughter and a bouncing 9 month old baby boy and we are on a tight budget.



It all started a while ago. I  realized a while ago that a lot of our bills were out of our control. You can turn off the lights and hang your laundry you can turn down that thermostat but if the energy prices rise like crazy you can't control that. You have no say. So I started cutting in areas I could. We said goodbye to cable, expensive cell phone plans and regular home phones. We switched to netflix, magic jack and tracfone (just for emergencies on the road). It was still not enough.

Then a light bulb went off. We were spending a TON on food. For a family of 3 and a half we were spending close to 800 a month. That is crazy high! How did we even have that much money? We didn't. That's when glorious coupons entered my life and saved it. OK maybe that's dramatic but it felt that way. We started saving 600 dollars a month and it didn't even change the way we ate!

Now we are trying to build up or emergency fund so things have gotten even tighter. I am no longer afraid of that, I welcome the challenge. Join us on our adventure to save money and have fun doing it.

Alright love you, bye!

Walmart haul 3/2/14

Hey bloggernites! So here are the latest deals I got at Walmart this week. There weren't that many deals I wanted to jump on so this list will be short or rather shortish for my couponaholic butt anyways ;)

5 pack of Mac and cheese (Walmart reg price of 4.28 used 1.00 off 1-5pk printable at coupons.com) .66 a box

4 cups yocrunch yogurt (Walmart reg price .60 each used 1.00 off 4 coupon from newspaper) .35 a cup

2 bags of hashbrowns (Walmart reg price 1.84 used .75 off 1 printable at coupons.com) 1.08 each

4 boxes rosemary Triscuits (price match pick n save 2.00 each and used 1.00 off 1 coupon I found this on hip2save website) 1.00 each

16 cups yoplait yogurt (price match .49 each piggly wiggly used .50 off 8 coupon from newspaper) .43 each

Sweet baby rays BBQ sauce 18 oz (price match walgreen for 1.50 and used 2.00 off 2 coupon I found the link for it on krazycouponlady) .50 each

1 pack Strawberries 16 oz (price match Aldi's .99) .99 ea

1 bunch Asparagus (price match piggly wiggly 1.49 a lb) I had a little less than a lb 1.40

1- 3 lb bag gala apples (price match Aldi's 1.99) 1.99 each

8- 64 oz old orchard juice (price match pick n save 1.50 and used 1.00 off 2 coupon from old orchard.com) 1.00 each

2 Jennie-o Lean ground turkey (Walmart 2.98 a lb regular price (used 1.00 off 2 coupon) 2.48 a lb

4 Snickers peanut butter squared candy bar (price match walgreens .49 and used 2 .75 off 2 coupons from coupons.com) .12 each- nice Easter basket stuffer!

1- shelf stable so delicious coconut milk (2.28 Walmart regular price used 1.00 off 1 printable coupon and 1.00 Ibotta rebate) .28 each

So a few stock up items especially the juice and the Triscuits. In my next post I'm going to explain all the tips and tricks to be able to have a week like this shopping wise and not having to eat triscuits dipped in juice and yogurt for every meal. I mean if that is your thing, go for it. I won't judge you.

Fresh Express Salad Swap

Warning, this post has many exclamation points. I may be a little excited about this.

So a lot of people think that coupons are only available for unhealthy food. Well that is just not the case. Check out fresh express salad swap. Fresh express is offering a rewards program! You can sign up online or download their free app. Once you sign up they will email you a 1.00 off 2 coupon, then for every two bags you buy and log you get another 1.00 off two coupon! To make it even super sweeter if you enter 15 bags in 30 days you get 50 coupons!!!!You read that right, 50 to use for a whole year! Pick n Save and Piggly Wiggly have the Fresh Express bags of salad on sale right now 2 for 4.00. 

What are you waiting for? Sign up silly!