Mom's Plans

Wealth Watchers by Alice Wood – A Review and Givaway

2012-05-17T02:01:35Z

I recently had the pleasure of reading Alice Wood’s new finance book, Wealth Watchers, and I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to anyone trying to get a better handle on their finances.

Alice Wood was a successful estate planning attorney before suffering a debilitating brain injury on a plane. Her father was the president of a bank, so she had a strong financial background and was successful financially–until her brain injury. After the injury, her life, finances and weight spiraled out of control as she repeatedly made bad financial decisions including writing a $20,000 credit card convenience check and not remembering when the bill came a few weeks later.

To lose weight, she joined Weight Watchers. She loved the Weight Watchers point system, which allotted her a certain number of points she could use for her food daily. One day she decided the same system would help people gain control of their finances, and Wealth Watchers was born.

At the heart of Wealth Watchers is the idea that you only have so much discretionary income to spend per day; go over that amount, and you will likely end up in financial trouble. Wood does an excellent job sharing ways you can cut your costs on just about everything. She also doesn’t tell readers they have to live a spartan, frugal existence. Instead, she says that you have to decide what it is most important to spend your money on. For instance, her family loved the Saturday ritual of going to Dunkin’ Donuts, so they kept that splurge, but they reduced their budget in many other ways.

Wealth Watchers is an easily accessible book for anyone looking to improve their finances and become more disciplined in their spending.

My only critique of the book is that over 100 pages in the back are blank journal pages. For some, this may be very helpful, but I have always hated writing in books, so I probably would create my own journal pages. I would have preferred to see the book and the journal worksheets sold separately.

The Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a copy of Alice Wood’s book, Wealth Watchers. To enter, simply visit the Wealth Watchers’ site and come back here and leave a comment about one thing you learned.

Additional Methods of Entry

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Facebook

-Follow Wealth Watchers on Facebook

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Twitter

-Blog about this giveaway or write about it on Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment here that you did so.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents and will end on Tuesday, May 29th at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

I received one copy of this book for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own.

Our Meat CSA – What Came in Delivery 1

2012-05-16T02:52:03Z

We got our first meat CSA delivery yesterday. We paid $785 for 6 months, so each delivery will have approximately $130 of organic meat. This is what we got in this month’s delivery:

Chuck Roast – 3.64 lbs @ $7.99/lb = $29.08

Smoked Pork Hocks – 2.05 lbs @ $3.99/lb = $8.18

3/4 inch Pork Loin Chops – 1.16 lbs @ $6.99/lb = $8.11

Pork Loin – .91 lbs @ $9.99/lb = $9.09

Sirloin tip roast – 3.23 lbs @ $9.00/lb = $29.07

These other cuts were included but weren’t clearly marked by weight or per pound cost:

2 packages ground beef (I am assuming 1 or 1.25 lbs each)

2 lamb leg steaks

Pork shoulder roast – 3 lbs.

We are excited to see how the meat tastes and to eat other varieties of meat. (We typically only eat the beef we buy from my cousin’s farm, ground turkey and organic chicken, so it has been a LONG time since we have had other cuts of meat.)

I am hoping that I will be able to stretch our 6 month CSA into a year’s supply of meat for us (along with the usual 1/2 of a side of cow that we buy), but I am not sure. We will have to see how quickly we go through this.

I haven’t bought meat at the grocery store for so long, I don’t know if these are reasonable prices. Keep in mind all of the meat is organic.

How do these prices compare to supermarket prices?

My Husband Thinks I Am Crazy, but I Am Going to Start Canning

2012-05-15T01:49:11Z

When I casually mentioned canning to my husband, he was completely against it. Years ago, when we were first married and flat out broke, inspired by Amy Dacyczyn, we tried canning. It was a miserable experience, especially since the tomatoes we spent all day canning didn’t turn out. We gave up rather quickly.

Now, we have three kids, and groceries are regularly running us about $500 to $600 a month because of our numerous food intolerances, our desire to avoid food dyes, and our desire to eat mostly organic produce.

Honestly, I hate going to the grocery store, which is one of the reasons I have organic produce delivered to our home, which isn’t cheap. Thankfully, our CSA will begin soon. I relish the idea of having most of my food preserved in the freezer and in canning jars so I don’t have to go to the grocery store that often.

More and more, I have a desire to know exactly what is going into my food. Canning and freezing food lets me control what I feed my family.

I experimented yesterday with this yummy Strawberry Jam without sugar or pectin and it was delicious. That will be the first item I can this season.

When I told my husband I found a great deal on canning supplies, he was not pleased. He begrudgingly went with me to pick up the supplies.

He is sure this will be a disaster.

I, on the other hand, think if it doesn’t work out, I can just sell it all on Craigslist for the same price I bought it for.

So, here it is. I got all of this–48 quart jars, 108 pint jars, and 16 quilted 6 oz. and 12 oz. jelly jars in addition to the water bath canning pot–for $100. It works out to about .50 a jar. If I enjoy canning, the price for these items will decrease each year that I use them, making my investment a better one.

Now, let’s hope I do enjoy canning, so my husband doesn’t get to gloat. :)

If you can, what are your favorite foods to preserve?

Homemade Enchiladas – Dairy, Soy and Gluten Free

2012-05-14T18:23:45Z

A search for store bought enchilada sauce left me empty handed; they all contained soy. Out of desperation, I turned to my favorite site, food.com, and found the recipe, Homemade Enchilada Sauce. (I raved about this on Facebook a few weeks ago.) Since discovering this sauce, enchiladas have become a weekly staple in our meal rotation. I can’t get enough of these, and neither can my son.

We have tried several different fillings including:

browned ground beef mixed with salsa until wet,
shredded, cooked chicken mixed with salsa,
refried beans, and
refried beans and the beef or chicken and salsa mixture.

All were delicious.

To prepare, simply

make the enchilada sauce,
spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan,
put some of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan,
warm your corn tortillas by wrapping in a wet paper towel and microwaving for 45 seconds,
fill the tortillas with your filling of choice and
pour the remaining sauce over the top.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

(Excellent sides are lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade Simple Island Guacamole.)

Expense Tracking Challenge, May 2012 – Week Two

2012-05-14T11:49:34Z

May has been a very busy and costly month with my son’s First Communion, my daughter’s two year old pictures and Mother’s Day. In addition, I found a great deal on canning supplies and decided to snatch it up even though it wasn’t in the budget. (I’ll share a post about that later in the week.) Here are the damages:

Monday, May 7th:

$15 son’s school expenses
$19 Jewel ($11 thank you and Mother’s Day cards, $8 groceries)
$14.95 Mother’s Day gift

Tuesday, May 8th:

$9 Whole Foods ($5 dessert for son for school event, $3 groceries)
$2.50 post office
$41 organic delivery

Wednesday, May 9th:

$4 flowers for son’s teacher
$30 babysitter
$13 Target (toiletries)

Thursday, May 10th:

$4 Jewel
$7 prescription
$31 plants for the garden
$7 Whole Foods

Friday, May 11th:

$17 Jewel
$7 husband out for lunch with coworkers
$22 daughter’s 2 year old portraits

Saturday, May 12th:

$7 Whole Foods

Sunday, May 13th:

$100 canning supplies (13 dozen jars in various sizes & a canning pot)
$72 dinner out
$24 Japanese grocery store
$5 son’s allowance

Total for the week – $449.45

Total for the month – $1,001.65

By category, our spending broke down like this:

Groceries–$111 this week/289 for the month

Gas—$0 for the week/112.20 for the month

Toiletries/Diapers–$13 for the week/52 for the month

Husband’s spending–$7 for the week/$16 for the month

My spending–$0 for the week/$10 for the month

Clothing account–$0 for the week/$47 for the month

Son’s allowance–$5 for the week/$15 for the month

Babysitter–$30 for the week/$140 for the month

Miscellaneous–$284.45 this week/$321.45 for the month

What did I learn so far?

I am finding it tedious to track our every expense, but I find that it is keeping me aware of our financial situation. I am actually going over the budget in the middle of the month to see where we stand rather than waiting to calculate the damages at the end of the month.

While the last two weeks have been pricy, and we are wildly over in the miscellaneous category, we are under in several other categories, so if I can curb our expenses for the remainder of May, we should be right on track.

How are you doing? Feel free to link up your weekly expense report or to leave a comment.

Debt Snowflake Challenge #19 – Surround Yourself with Those Who Support You

2012-05-11T03:07:51Z

Does this sound familiar?

“You have to live a little. Life is meant to be enjoyed!”

“You can’t live like this forever. You have to treat yourself.”

“Debt is just a way of life. With this economy and the cost of living, it is impossible to be debt free.”

Yeah, I thought you might have heard something like that. I have too, and these comments often come from those who love me most and think they are being helpful.

When you hear comments like this, even if you don’t give in, you may begin to doubt yourself and your drive to pay off debt. You may begin to feel the weight of your journey to be debt free.

These comments are akin to you carrying something very heavy and having those you care about and love add more weight to your load. They can make your journey feel impossible.

And they only think they are helping and looking out for your best interest.

To really succeed, surrounding yourself with those who support you and your debt free journey is essential. Perhaps you get your support here. Maybe you have a good friend at work who encourages you.

Finding people who support you in your debt free journey and encourage you every step of the way can make the heavy burden of debt feel lighter. They can give you energy to continue your fight.

The journey to be debt free is a difficult one; you don’t need people who make it more difficult.

Find a someone who will support you. You’ll be glad you did.

Our Progress

I made an extra $105 this week in unexpected work, so I put 70% of that toward debt and 30% of that toward our emergency fund. It is a balance I am happy with as we work to get our emergency fund up to $5,000.

70% of Extra Freelance Work: $70.35

Writing/V.A. Job: $117

In February I earmarked one of my weekly jobs strictly for debt repayment, and like last week, I was once again able to use the money for that purpose.

We were able to snowflake $187.35 this week. In the last 28 weeks since we have gotten gazelle intense, we have “found” $6,355.83 to snowflake!

How did you do this week? Feel free to link up and share your progress.

A Review of Daily Worth Website

2012-05-10T01:44:14Z

I have been a subscriber to Daily Worth for over a year now. Daily Worth is “a community of women who talk money. We deliver practical tips, empowering ideas, and the occasional kick in the pants. . .daily to your inbox.”

I signed up for free, and every day, I get an e-mail from them, an e-mail that inevitably provides topics I can think about and discuss with others on the site. In fact, it was a post on Daily Worth that inspired me to write the post, A Date with Finances.

Daily Worth has three primary sections–Daily Worth, Create Worth, and More Worth. They also have an active forum.

Daily Worth

The Daily Worth section is comprised of the categories earn, save, and spend and has posts about more ways to make money, but that is only part of what they offer. This section is targeting “women who talk money.” I wish I would have read the post, Stop Wasting Your Time on Things That Will Never Make You Money, long before I opened my eBay business that turned out to be nothing but a time and money drain.

Another popular feature in Daily Worth is Money Fix. In Money Fix, an expert is paired up with a reader who explains her financial problems. The expert helps provide guidance to improve the reader’s situation, and then the reader blogs about her progress. I appreciate the honesty of this section; some women do a fabulous job revamping their finances and others, well, not so much.

There are also inspirational guest posts, such as Jenny who sold all of her extra “stuff” and made $15k to pay off her student loans!

Create Worth

Create Worth includes the categories build, sell and inspire. This section is a “community of entrepreneurs who talk revenue, profit and scale,” and has topics for the small business owner, as well as ways to grow your wealth. One of my favorite sections here includes profiles where they interview successful small business owners. These are inspiring and also a good way to find new potential business ideas.

More Worth

The last section, More Worth, is designed for “women living life on all cylinders,” and includes the categories get, grow and live. This section is more of a lifestyle section and includes topics such as retiring and donating. There is also a sizeable section on investing.

If you are on a mission to learn more about finances or you just want to read other women’s stories, Daily Worth is well worth signing up for. It is free, and I enjoy reading the topics daily.

This post contains affiliate links which help support Mom’s Plans.

Peter Rabbit Organics Baby Food – Review and Giveaway

2012-05-09T19:07:58Z

I am a bit wistful when I say that we are passed the baby age. My youngest just turned two, so I wasn’t sure how my kids would react to the recent Peter Rabbit Organic baby food pouches that we received.

However, while this food most frequently serves as baby food, it is also great on the go food for bigger kids. My kids loved the pouches and begged for them in their lunches and for snacks in the car.

I, myself, tried the flavors and they were delicious. In fact, on our next road trip, these would make a tasty snack. The best part is that even my fussy eater who doesn’t generally like vegetables ate these right up.

Peter Rabbit Organics only includes fresh pureed fruits and vegetables in their pouches; there are no artificial flavors or colors or preservatives or sugar. Each pouch provides one serving of fruits and vegetables.

The Peter Rabbit Organics line now includes the following flavors:

· Peach and Apple – New!

· Banana and Apple – New!

· Pear and Apple – New!

· Pear and Pea – New!

· Pumpkin, Carrot and Apple – New!

· Apple and Grape

· Mango, Banana and Orange

· Strawberry and Banana

· Pea, Spinach and Apple

· Sweet Potato, Corn and Apple

· Carrot, Squash and Apple

The Giveaway

One lucky Mom’s Plans reader will receive all 11 of the flavors listed above. To enter, simple visit Peter Rabbit Organic’s website and leave a comment about something you learned on the site.

Additional Methods of Entry

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Facebook

-Follow Peter Rabbit Organics on Facebook

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Twitter

-Follow Peter Rabbit Organics on Twitter.

-Blog about this giveaway or write about it on Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment that you did so.

This giveaway will end on Friday, May 18th at 11:59 p.m. CST. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

I received 5 free pouches for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own.

Thank You to Our Sponsor

2012-05-09T17:45:04Z

Mom’s Plans has recently begun offering advertising space to sponsors. This month, I would like to highlight a new sponsor.

Go Max Go Foods offer delicious vegan candy bars, which have been a wonderful option for our family where 3 out of 5 of us are on a dairy free diets. These candy bars have been in my children’s Easter baskets, and when there is going to be a treat at school that my son can’t eat, packing one of these bars is a tasty alternative.

Go Max Go Foods offers 6 different flavors of bars. They have Jokerz, Buccaneer, Twilight and Mahalo. In addition, they recently debuted 2 new flavors, Cleo’s and SNAP! (You can read my full review of these candy bars here.) If you are looking for a tasty, vegan snack, it doesn’t get much better than these bars!

If you are interested in becoming a Mom’s Plans sponsor, feel free to e-mail me at momsplans (at) yahoo {dot} com and we can discuss rates.

A Mother’s Day Tribute – Guest Post by Mr. Mom’s Plans

2012-05-08T12:23:33Z

My husband is guest posting today. This is a tribute to his mother, who did so many things for him when he was young that he did not truly appreciate until we had our kids. My husband grew up in Japan, and his mother worked full-time but also had a traditional role in the home, doing all of the cooking and household chores.

Am I becoming like my mom?

Maybe now I can better appreciate what she did for me.

People sometime say you would appreciate what your parents do when you become a parent. Besides giving me opportunities to study in college, I did not appreciate what my parents did for me for a long time. In fact, I was annoyed with them all the time. I decided to move as far as I could from them.

Growing up in a traditional household in Japan, I saw my mom take care of me, my sister, and my grandpa, when my dad was gone for work all day, from 8:00 in the morning to 9:00 or 10:00 in the night, seven days a week.

My mom worked from 8:30 to 5:30, but often came home often after 6:00. She used to get up by 6:00 and made our breakfast, packed our lunch, did the dishes, and did laundry before she went to work. After she came home, she prepared the dinner, did the dishes, put away laundry, and then did her work she brought home to do. She always believed if we ate a lot of vegetables and fruits, we would stay very healthy, so she cooked many dishes with vegetables and fruits, which took her for a long time to prepare for each meal (she still tells me to eat vegetables and fruits, when she calls me from Japan). She finally relaxed around 9:00 p.m.. She worked 6 days a week, so Sundays were her time to catch up with house chores.

Right after graduating from high school, I moved to Tokyo, about 7 hours away from home. About five years later, I moved to the U.S. to study.

Now, across the Pacific Ocean and over 20 years later, after I have three kids of my own to take care of, I began to realize that I am becoming like my mom.

My Daily Schedule

I get up around 6:00 a.m. I prepare breakfast, pack the kids’ and my lunch, and clean up the kitchen as much as I can before I leave for work around 8:30. Melissa and I agree to feed kids very healthy, so I prepare fruits for breakfast and lunch. I usually come home around 6:00 p.m. We eat dinner as a family, and afterward, I help the kids get ready for bed. After they go to bed, I clean kitchen, do laundry, and do my work that I bring home. I can finally relax around 10:00. In the weekend, I try to catch up with household chores as well as my work, while I try to spend some time with kids.

We live in a society where ideally both men and women have equal responsibility at work or home. Melissa and I share household responsibilities, and morning routines and cleaning and doing laundry in the night are my responsibilities.

While I am at work, Melissa takes care of kids, goes grocery shopping, prepares the dinner, makes homemade bread, does dishes (we have to do dishes all the time and sometime we run dishwasher twice a week because we cook a lot) and does other household chores, and she does her blogging, virtual assistant and freelance work early in the morning, during kid’s nap, and at night after kids go to bed.

Gender Roles in Japan

On the other hand, when I grew up in Japan, it was a time of social cultural transition from traditional to more modern lifestyle. Women began to work outside of home, yet they had a traditional female role at home, so my mom did the household chores that Melissa and I split.

Although Japanese culture changed and fewer people follow traditional gender roles now, that was a part of Japanese culture that I did not like growing up, so I am glad to help out around the home even though I am very tired every day. I enjoy watching kids growing up healthy, learning to read, learning something new, and having fun.