That "B" Word

No, not a blog post about swearing - although, I confess to swearing far too much and quite often in front of the kids.
Anyways, I meant that other B-word.

Budget.

We've been trying with massive successes in the failure department of trying to save money.
Something always comes up and in retrospect - not many of these things were urgent or necessary.

Not having anything in our savings account actually screwed us over while the Hubster was in the USA attending a conference and he wasn't able to cover his hotel room (which he thought was already paid by the university).  I even made a video about it.

So this was a real eye opener and a quick reminder that we really should start making the savings account grow instead of shrink.

Here's a break down of what we agreed to - of course the numbers are flexible for everyone based on your own income and I'm not going to give you our exact income amounts - it's rather personal and I don't even remember anyway.

We agreed to 150€ a week for groceries.
That means I withdraw 150€ at the beginning of the week and then I leave my bank card at home.

So this is almost the end of week 1 and how do I feel?
Surprisingly I'm not crying or freaking out because I've learned to use this amount for only groceries and so far it's been actually EASY!

So what's the difference between mentally shopping for 150€/ week (which we tried before) and physically shopping with 150€ a week?

• I am shopping first thing in the morning after I drop A-Man off at day-care and as soon as the shop opens.
• This means:
• the shelves are typically well stocked
• there's not many long lines
• I am able to snatch up several good deals on meat that might be expiring in a day or two (typically in Finland it's -30%) and can meal plan in my head with it for that night or the next couple of days.  Or freeze it if I have space.
• I'm kid-free 
• Why does "kid-free" make a difference?  I am not tempted to spend more and no, I don't give in to my kids' demands every time.  There are times that my kids are generally really well behaved and deserve a little treat.
• A-Man makes me hate grocery shopping with his whining, crying for toys and so on.
• Occasionally we have an ice-cream...it's usually under 2€ for the two of us but if I go kid-free - I save 2€.
• V-Man is constantly hungry and he knows the direct route to Subway or Koti Pizza or whatever fast food joint is there.  That costs minimum 10€.
• M-Girl is seriously the easy kid and doesn't demand anything but apples and maybe bananas - which are things we need weekly if not 2-3x a week anyway.
• I meal plan in advance because I'm on this "real" budget.
• Because the Hubster has Crohn's - and we have picky-ass children when it comes to eating - I gave my cookbooks to the Hubster and a pile of post-it sticky note strips and he went through it and left tabs where he found things that I could make that he would be willing to try to eat.
• Actually that was part of my New Year's resolution - try a new recipe every week.  And yes, I've stuck to it in some shape or form! :)
• But I found this an easy way to plan meals and if I am stuck - I have my ever-so-faithful Pinterest to refer to.
• I actually love meal planning but because the V-Man has music therapy twice a week in the evenings - I resort to quick meals that even the Hubster can cook so in case I'm not able to do it - he can.  And seeing as he's not a fan of slow cooked EVERYTHING - having him make fried rice or pasta or Korean spiced beef is just easier.
• I'm not impulsively buying crap.  
• By "crap" I mean junk food, toys, extra baking stuff and the list goes on.
• I'm mentally reminding myself this way that some things that should be treats ARE treats if I only buy them every now and again.
• I'm saying "no" more.  
• "No" to my kids for what they want.
• "No" to outings with friends that may cost me a bit more than I really want to spend.
• "No" to myself - ensuring I stick to our family's budget, get the most for my buck (euro) and that I really need it.
• Don't be too hard on yourself but do try saying "no" every now and again!  Makes a difference! :)

I realize you've probably read several of these "OMG I got to be a stay-at-home mom by doing these things!" and while this is now the beginning of week 2 (I'm a slow blogger - sorry) - I have to say I'm doing well and pleased about it!  And it does work if you shop smart.

How can you shop smart?

• Never go grocery shopping hungry - if you can help it.  I don't know about you - but I instantly become little miss impulsive shopper with a bottomless pit stomach.  Pregnant ladies - I feel your pain of constantly being starving (or on the verge of barfing) and trying to stick to your grocery list.
• Price compare!  Does your grocery store have a coupon system or points system that make it worth your while to shop at their store versus competitors?
• In Finland, there's mainly K or S-market chains.  K-Market give you points that they automatically redeem into coupons that give you 5 or 10€ off your next purchase and are valid for up to a year.
  S-Bonus from the S-shop chains are, I feel - more beneficial as they give you up to a full 5% back every month - depending on how much you spend.  It's an initial 100€ sign up (or you can pay it back as you use it) and I feel I definitely get more than 10€/month back - compared to the K-Market chain coupons.
• Make a list and check it twice!  What's your budget? What are your regular staples that are low the most often?  What are you going to splurge on? What do you need?  What can you go without for the week/month/forever?  What are you meal-planning this week?  Stick to it.
• Inventory - I try to make a mental note of everything I have in my cupboard pantry and the fridge/freezer.  I have a set amount of staples I have to have on hand at all times (i.e. rice, cereal, pasta and sauce etc.) and I try to load up twice a month on those staples.
• Use a shopping basket - this limits how much you can buy space wise and reduces buying wholesale on something you might need!
• Pay in cash.  This sounds cheesy but it works.  Leave the bank cards and credit cards home and pay in cash so you can stick to your budget!

December is a tough month for anyone because yearly bills come in (i.e. insurance) and I owe some taxes this year (because I wasn't deducted enough during my maternity leave), the holiday seasons and the boys birthday party was a couple few weeks ago - the list goes on.

I'll be spending the rest of my December cleaning and piling stuff up to sell soon - not just to make money but just so we have physical space in here!  So that should help - because honestly, if I haven't seen it in 6+ months, haven't used X item(s) at all and don't remember having it - I probably don't need it.

That's the plan anyway.
BIMU

Our Money Talk

The hubby and I sat down a few nights ago and took a look at our internet banking and were both shocked at the amount of money we (I) were spending.
I do majority of the grocery shopping - I'd say about 99% because I'm the one that does the cooking (98%) - SH helps out when needed but for the most part - I do it.  Also, I'm currently a stay-at-home mother - so I should be able to fit in grocery shopping into my schedule.
Not that we're stuck in the old times but to be honest, I love cooking and baking and it gives me a slight break from the kids and therefor gives him time to bond and play with them.

So we discovered that we could be saving nearly half my husband's paycheck (my maternity leave pays most of our bills) if we cut back on our grocery store visits.
I was going to the grocery store nearly everyday and spending anywhere from 10€ (a very "light" day of milk and bread, juice and perhaps some eggs) to 50€ a trip!
And if there were holidays coming up (aka store closures) or visitors - well, then some trips were much more than that!

Alright, so we decided to set a goal for ourselves (me) - no more than 150€ per week for groceries.  And to top that - only one - maximum two - trips to the grocery store.
We started this last week and I've been to the grocery store for a large amount of food (about 60€ worth) once.  The other two trips were for small things like milk and bread and some bananas.
So I am definitely keeping it under 100€ for last week and this week - I don't think I will even have to go do a "large" trip with my huge back pack!!
Just got some toilet paper and laundry soap before sitting down to try and finish this - definitely won't need a big trip this week at all!

Now, know that we're a family of 4.5.  Technically 5, yes, but M-Girl has 2 bottom teeth and doesn't eat a full sized portion and can't eat some foods yet either (i.e. dairy, salad, nuts, honey etc.) at the age of 8 months-ish.
We were spending on average over 600€ a month on groceries - EEK!  (And 600€ is a rough guess-timate!)
And when you consider the Duggar family - 19 kids + 2 parents + 1 fiancée (22 people and not including visiting family members or friends for dinner!) spend about 2000-3000€ a month and we were nearing 1/3 of that...it really put things into perspective for me that we need to cut back and do it now.

So after our little chit-chat I decided to write a list of things that I could make for dinner that were both easy, fairly quick to make in advance or prepare fresh and financially friendly for us to stick to that 100€/week.
Here's some ideas I wrote down.  These are meals that guaranteed three of us will eat and the boys are a bit fussier...:

• Roast chicken dinner
• Left over chicken can go into fried rice! (Eggs, bacon, chicken, Chinese sausage, frozen peas is what I usually put in there.)
• Roast beef (when on sale) dinner
• Roast pork dinner (not a huge fan of pork but anyways!)
• Turkey breast - one huge one is enough to feed all of us and that's assuming the boys even eat it.
• Fajitas/tortillas
• Tortilla lasagna (excellent for using up those leftover tortillas!) 
• Meatloaf
• Singapore vermicelli (rice noodles are super fast to cook - pretty much soak in hot water and ta-da!)
• Stir-fry
• Thai curry stir-fry
• Sausages (we ordered about 4kg from Craig Beckley's Sausages in Vantaa area - I soo recommend them and will write a separate review soon!).  So the sausages are purchased per kilo and they're 13€/kg.  So with about 10 sausages in 1 kilogram it's 1,30€ a sausage per person.  REALLY can't beat that!
• Home-made pizza
• Spaghetti
• Fried chicken
• Home-made hamburgers with potato wedges (yep - even the buns were home-made!  Here's the recipe for those!)
• Porkchops with bbq sauce - hubby's preference...not mine.
• Ribs are super cheap here - and while they're time consuming to cook (3 hours on low in the oven) - they're worth it.
• Beef stew in the slow cooker.
• Indian-style curry - yep - in the slow cooker.

SO!  Lots of meals for dinner and for weekends when I'm whipping up breakfast for everyone:

• Yoghurt and granola with honey (mostly for me - nobody seems to enjoy that...)
• Bacon and eggs
• Sausage and eggs
• French Toast
• Slow-cooker oatmeal with apple slices
• Hashbrown mix (usually contains meat) and I mix in a few eggs and scramble it up.

Lunch is fairly laid back too...or we have a late breakfast and call it brunch.

So far, we've done great with the no more than 2 big trips a week...I went last week for 1 big trip and 1 little trip to the grocery store.
This week I went to the grocery store I think 3 times but it was all for little things, so 20€ or less per trip.
With the exception of today...I bought some Christmas gifts for the V-Man (Finnish band dvds for him).
So thinking tonight I'll make stir-fry, tomorrow I have a roast chicken already marinating in the freezer in a ziploc bag...Saturday could be spaghetti and Sunday we're going to a friend's home for dinner and I have the ingredients already for dessert I'm bringing!
Wahoo!

I'm trying to cook up most of the meat from the freezer (mostly sausages since I last ordered 4kg worth!) and limit myself to once a week for buying all of the meat we need for the week.

Other ways we're trying to save money is by not eating out as much.  Sure it's usually something fast-food related because taking V-Man into a fancier restaurant is usually a recipe for disaster.  He's impatient and expects food right away and when he's done, he also wants to leave the same way too.
I also don't bring the boys with me grocery shopping anymore.
They're tempted to go for the burger restaurant that's nearby and they know the routes in every shop - it's kind of creepy.

Also, I definitely need to do more baking at home!  Muffins, cookies and so on can go a long way for mere pennies!
And finally?  I'm allowing myself to go to the second-hand store only once every two weeks. 
I plan to go this weekend - hopefully alone...with the strict intention of getting some winter boots for the V-Man.

So let's see how this goes! :)
BIMU