7 Money Makeover Commitments

I've decided it is time to make my Total Money Makeover a total commitment!  If I want to move myself toward debt-free living I need to make some changes and some new commitments!

  Recently I was catching up on The BudgetingDiaries series over at Our Life On A Budget (one of my favorite blogs)… I am enjoying these series because it not only shows the deals, or the frugal life-hacks, it also allows me to meet people and learn their stories and their lifestyles.   Learning about the "who" behind the "what" and "why" has been a great help in the motivation department! 

7 Ways I Am Committing To My Total Money Makeover!

(1)    Not Sacrificing My Mental Health for My Financial Health
This one has been (and likely will continue to be) a struggle for me.  As I mentioned in my last post, I have been struggling with some issues relating to depression and anxiety.  I have determined that my second job is no longer a good fit for me, and I have taken an indefinite leave of absence.  In the short term this means some back-stepping financially, but I am committed to looking at the big picture, and not allowing myself to feel guilty about what I know was a necessary decision.  I am also committed to not allowing myself to allow the price-tag to keep me away from proper mental health treatment.  

(2)    Simple Christmas
I am committed to not spending money I can’t afford on Christmas.

(3)    Homecooking
I am committed to cooking at home.  To making packed lunches for work.  To skipping the fast-food and the coffee stops.

(4)    Charity

I am committed to supporting charities in accordance with my values and my budget.

(5)    Lilla Rose Business

I am committed to my Lilla Rose business.  I am committed to working this business to extent allowed by my career and to growing it into a valuable income.

(6)    Order and Organization 

I am committed to growing in order and organization. Neither of these virtues come naturally to me.  I am committed to learning to better order my time and space to best use these resources for my overall financial good. 

(7)    Purging

I am committed to sorting and purging excess goods in a way which will benefit me financially (and help with #6).   This may include bringing books to a used bookstore, donating items to charity, consigning clothing, or selling things online.

This post is linked up at some cool web-places, including:
This Ain't The Lyceum, Time Warp Wife, The Modest Mom Blog,

What Is Your Rice and Beans?

If you are a fan of Dave Ramsey, and know what it means to "live like no one else so later you can live like no one else," I am certain you know the significance of rice and beans!

Dave talks about being in gazelle mode, cutting all expenses to the minimum.  Cutting your grocery budget down to rice and beans, beans and rice, rice and beans.

I am trying to get there.  I quickly realized that a $50/month grocery budget was very unrealistic.  I created a meal plan which could feed me for around that much money (I believe it consisted of pasta, canned tomatoes and eggs). But I was hungry, cranky, and craving other foods.

But it is time to cut back and so I needed to find a few "rice and beans" meals.  What are things I can eat cheap, cheap, cheap so that some of my grocery money can become debt busting money instead!  What can I eat beyond just rice and beans without breaking the bank.

Rice-And-Beans Budget Meal Ideas:

(1) Rice and beans

Can't overlook the classic!

(2) Pasta with tomatoes

I just use canned tomatoes in place of sauce.

(3) Leftover Soup

Make a soup using all the leftover veggies, scraps etc. you have from past meals.

(4) Canned Soup

Sometimes even canned soup can get pricey, watch for sales!  I was able to get 12 cans of the Campbell's Homestyle soups for $11 this week at Stop and Shop.  Perfect for work lunches.

(4) Eggs

So many quick, easy and inexpensive ways to eat eggs.  Scrambled, French toast, omelet, frittata, fried egg, egg sandwich....  Scrambled eggs with veggies is a very satisfying meal.

This Post Is Part of My Frugal Food Series, Be Sure To Check Out:
Lasagna For One  - How one simple hack makes lasagna the perfect meal for the solo kitchen
Frugal, Hungry And Single - My intro to the challenges of cooking for one on a budget
More Meals For One - Four simple and versatile ideas for single cooking

Linked Up At:
The Modest Mom Blog, Mingle Monday @ Life of Meg,  WFMW @ Giving Up On Perfect



Work, Prayer and FPU...

As is usually the case work has been a big part of my life of late.. but its not the only thing I have been up to.

 

 

Prayer Life

 

Over the last several years prayer and faith have definitely been an up and down road for me.  I am fortunate to have found a few great resources to my faith life lately!

XLT at St. Mary's Church - Westfield MA
I have attended this monthly event twice (despite being listed under Youth Ministry my friends and I were far from the only adults there, and certainly not the oldest by far).  The first time I attended, the speaker really said the words my heart needed to hear!

Modesty for the Modern Mom - FB Group
I have been a long (albeit inconsistent) reader of Caroline Allen's The Modest Mom Blog, recently I decided - despite not being a mom - to join her new private group on Facebook.  I expected the group would be a fun way to see outfit ideas, but it has also been a huge encouragement to me from a faith perspective!

Bible Study - Any Ideas?

I am entertaining the idea of beginning a young adult women's Bible Study at my house?  Does anyone have any suggestions for a good Bible study for young-adult women (loosely defined as post college age around mid-20s to early 30s).  My group of girl friends are currently all unmarried and none have children, though it could expand to include married women as we enter those stages of our lives and/or invite others.  I am thinking it might be interesting to focus on Christian role models, both Biblical women and saints.  The study does not need to be distinctly Catholic, but we would like one that is in line with Catholic teaching, if anyone has any resources please let me know!

Budget Life

I am definitely still not in gazelle mode, but I have been trying to be conscious of my budget.  I posted the figures of my total debt paid off since July 2014 as well as my current remaining debt on my fridge for motivation, and today I am FINALLY starting Financial Peace University at a local church.  I signed up last year but it was cancelled by the church that was supposed to host it last time.  I am hoping this will help me be a lot more intentional with my spending. 

Have you participated in FPU?  Do you have any suggestions to help me in my debt-free journey?  I am totally understanding what Dave Ramsey says when he talks about becoming debt free as being about behavior not knowledge.  I know how to coupon, budget, save money etc.  but it is in the DOING where I sometimes have trouble.  What suggestions do you have for maintaining motivation? 

A TMMO Update

So I have discussed a bit about my goal of a Total Money Makeover and the ultimate goal of becoming debt free before - so I thought it was time for a little update for anyone who might be interested! 
Status: The ultimate status is that I am not doing so hot, definitely haven't been in gazelle mode.

 

 

The Bad:

* On a plateau - definitely not in gazelle mode
*  Struggling with a food budget - my grocery budget is in check, my penchant for getting fast food on my lunch break or the break between my two jobs is not.
* I quit my second job - not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely affects my abilities to take on the baby steps.

* No snowballing or extra payments

 

 

The Good:* I have been cash flowing everything, no additional debts

* I became a consultant with Lilla Rose - hoping to use this to generate some side income which I can apply toward my debt free goal!

*Received a promotion (and pay raise) at work

 

 

Goals:

* Use the time previously spent at my second job to support long-term financial goals.

*Generate side/secondary income.

*Pay off my federal student loans before Thanksgiving 2015

 

 

 



Couponing and CVS

It is of little surprise to folks who know me in real life that I like to coupon.  I like saving money, watching others save money on Extreme Couponers.  Mostly I like the puzzle of seeing how I can use these coupons to get the best deal possible on my stuff. I am far from being an extreme coupon-er or joining the ranks of folks who write books and blogs like the Coupon Mom dedicated entirely to coupons, but I like to think I know a thing or two!

 

The main secret to my couponing success comes in three little letters - CVS.  While I do clip and use coupons at other stores, I always seem to get the best deals at CVS!

Here is last week's CVS "haul" which I brought home for a total $20.17
 

My "haul" included 2 All brand laundry detergents, 2 Cover Girl Mascaras, 6 bottles of Pantene shampoo and conditioner, 5 different hair styling products from Garnier & Pantene, hand lotion, and some feminine products.

 

My Tips for Couponing at CVS:

(1) Register your ExtraCare card.

Register your ExtraCare card online at CVS' website and receive coupons by email.  My $10 off $40 or more coupon was a big help in last week's deal.  Remember that if you have other coupons, the CVS money-off coupon can be applied before those other coupons.  (For example, my total came to about $42 before coupons, they took of the $10 off $40 coupon and I was still able to use other coupons).

(2) Print Coupons In Store

Make sure that your first stop every time you visit CVS is at the price-scanner and coupon printer where you can print additional coupons with your card.  These CVS store coupons can be combined with manufacturer's coupons and offer great additional deals.  Recently I have gotten 10% off Kotex products, 30% off hand lotion, and my favorite a $3 off $10 Garnier coupon which I combined with several other Garnier manufacturer's coupons for better savings.

(3) Multiple Transactions

While you should certainly be courteous of people behind you in line, don't be afraid to do multiple transactions, they are the key to great savings at CVS. Multiple transactions will allow you to best use those ExtraCare bucks that you earn when shopping sales.  Part of my success last week came from breaking up my transactions to that the $10 in ECB I received could be used toward other items I was buying.  I bought enough in one transaction to generate the ECBs and then did a second transaction in order to use those ExtraCare bucks immediately.  After all, who wants to lose free money?

(4) CVS Deal Blogs

Another great resource when coupon shopping at CVS is the blogs dedicated to doing exactly that!  They will tell you great deal scenarios and often have pictures of the next week's ad up well before you receive your Sunday paper. I <3 CVS is a blog dedicated exclusively to CVS but simply google "CVS coupon matchups" and you will find many other blogs discussing CVS deals!
 

Happy Couponing!

 

And I am curious readers - Do you coupon?  Want to try your hand at couponing at CVS?  I am giving away a $5 CVS gift card to one of my readers!  To enter please leave a comment answering one of these questions:

What is your favorite store to coupon at?  What are your best coupon tips?

This is not a sponsored post, all opinions are my own, as is the cost of the giveaway.  I will choose the winner at random on Sunday April 12th, I reserve the right to cancel the giveaway if there are insufficient entries. 





Catching Up and My TMMO

Once again I am here "catching up," I guess the question is how many times can I start a post with "so long, no blog" or something similar.  Anyways, hopefully I am back here for more frequent blogging but given my track record I make no promises!

 

My life has been heading all sorts of directions lately, and unfortunately many of those directions have led me away from God.  Yes I still believe life is a journey.  Yes the goals I have set for my Journey are still important.  But I was ignoring them for awhile, and even now my approach to them is a bit different.  I am back to praying regularly, but I can't say the same for regular Church attendance.  I cannot say I have been doing much to model Christ-like living for others so I suppose both goals 1 and 2 need some major work.  Goal 3, being able to see Christ in others and treat them accordingly, is almost second-nature to me though I suppose lately I have been treating people well more from a humanistic approach than a truly Christ-centered one.  Goals 4 and 5 are both much less religious in nature, and I suppose I can say I have been doing very well at 4, making a positive difference in the lives of others, and not quite as well on 5, which is to work everyday at being the best version of myself.  I definitely want to be the best me possible, but lately there has been a lot of room for more work!  So friends, whether I continue with more frequent blogging or not, I would love to be in your prayers!

 

As you may have seen in the pages I am now working on a Total Money Makeover to help me with the big goal of becoming debt free!  This is a major focus of my journey right now, one I am very excited about and plan to blog more about!  The other big change in my journey is that I am preparing to move into my own apartment.  After living back home with my folks for almost five years after college/graduate school I am excited to leave the nest again.  That means you can also expect some fun posts about setting up house and all things domestic.  While I did live in the dorms and an apartment in college, and in a rental house with roommates during my graduate program this is my first time really being "out on my own" and I am both excited and nervous about the prospect!  Pretty grateful to all the family members offering me extra dishes, lamps, tag sale items etc. to help me move on a budget.

 I am curious if any other bloggers/readers are working on or have completed a TMMO of their own?  Did you make any big changes like a move or have a big change in expenses during your Makeover? Do you have any tips to share!