Our Food Fight – Month 2 – Two Week Update is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

Mr. BFS and I are trying to cut back our expenses where it won’t hurt much to build up some padding once we close on our new house. That said, we decided to cancel our big summer vacation to Las Vegas AND started attacking our food expenses.

We were spending way too much on food.  The $727 bill from March 13 – April 12, 2012 scared us.  So we were aiming for $600 or less total for April 13 – May 12, 2012…which we achieved!  We spent about $558 total.  Yay!

That said, for May 13 – June 12, 2012, we are aiming for $550 or less.

In order to track our spending without logging into our credit card account every day, we keep a running tally on . . . → Read More: Our Food Fight – Month 2 – Two Week Update]]> Our Food Fight – Month 2 – Two Week Update is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

Mr. BFS and I are trying to cut back our expenses where it won’t hurt much to build up some padding once we close on our new house. That said, we decided to cancel our big summer vacation to Las Vegas AND started attacking our food expenses.

Background of Our Challenge

We were spending way too much on food.  The $727 bill from March 13 – April 12, 2012 scared us.  So we were aiming for $600 or less total for April 13 – May 12, 2012…which we achieved!  We spent about $558 total.  Yay!

That said, for May 13 – June 12, 2012, we are aiming for $550 or less.

In order to track our spending without logging into our credit card account every day, we keep a running tally on a sheet of paper stuck to our refrigerator.  Between the two of us (and by double checking ourselves by logging in to our credit cards), we write down every food expense diligently throughout the month.  It’s not the prettiest method ever, but it works great to keep our eyes on the prize.

Let’s see how we are doing for the first 2 weeks of our second month of the challenge…

Food Expenditures from May 13 – May 27, 2012

It was a pretty laid back two weeks.  We splurged for our 7 year anniversary by going to Salt Grass Steak House but used a gift card.  I also attended Comicpalooza this past weekend, but we saved a bunch by packing sandwiches, snacks, and water bottles instead of eating there.  I was so happy that they allowed outside food and drink!

Eating Out – $137.31

Groceries – $75.58

That comes to $212.89 total.  So far, so good!!!  We are on the right track!

What We’ve Been Eating

Mr. BFS and I haven’t technically been on Weight Watchers for a few months now, but we rather not gain back all of the weight we lost last year.  So, we’ve been eating pretty healthy for us.  I understand that overall, we eat like crap.  But we ate even worse 2 years ago, so we are taking steps in the right direction.  I wanted to make sure that our new food budget didn’t throw our health to the wolves, so we’ve been eating:

• Chicken breasts
• Bananas and apples
• Squash and other weird stuff like it that we didn’t eat before but it is on sale right now…
• Steak – yeah, we have always loved steak.
• Potatos.  We have cut them into cubes and wedges and baked them a few times as sides.  Mr. BFS also has made his own potato chips a few times…maybe not very healthy, but it was yummy…
• Soft tacos.  We used ground beef once and ground turkey once.  Both yummy.
• Strawberry and banana smoothies here at home.  I use a packet or two of Splenda now instead of sugar.
• Chinese.  Our local restaurant offers some healthy options at less than $5 for a huge portion.
• Moscato wines.  We’ve been trying cheaper and cheaper varieties with friends.  So, still unhealthy, but cheaper. 
• Value menu fast food or we split the fries of a combo and order a second separate entree.  This is a huge improvement over our normal – 2 large meals.
• Sandwiches…when in doubt for a meal, we will have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or deli ham sandwiches.
• Cereal.  Total Raisin Bran is my thing right now.
• Eggs and potatos.
• Chocolate chip cookies and brownies made at home.  I bought the mixes so it forces me to actually cook something if I want a really naughty sweet, lol.
• Orange Leaf Frozen Yogurt.  Frozen yogurt is still crack.  We just cut back to once or twice a week at the most.

Did you hit any specific goals lately?  How is your food budget coming along?

Comicpalooza 2012 was Geek-a-licious!!! is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

So, you know the title of this blog, right?  “Budgeting in the Fun Stuff”…and what’s more fun than geeking out for 3 days?!  That’s how I am justifying spending about $100 this year on a 3 day outing to Comicpalooza…

I don’t read comic books.  Sorry, they just don’t interest me.  So when my friends, Ivy and Isabelle, suggested we go to Comicpalooza in downtown Houston this year, I agreed just to spend time with them.  I had no idea that you could have a fantastic time even if you never read a comic in your life!

Seriously, it was geek nirvana.  I can only imagine how Comic-Con International is now that I’ve attended a watered down version.  I will start saving for that right now so I can get to San . . . → Read More: Comicpalooza 2012 was Geek-a-licious!!!]]> Comicpalooza 2012 was Geek-a-licious!!! is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

So, you know the title of this blog, right?  “Budgeting in the Fun Stuff”…and what’s more fun than geeking out for 3 days?!  That’s how I am justifying spending about $100 this year on a 3 day outing to Comicpalooza…

They Talked Me Into It

I don’t read comic books.  Sorry, they just don’t interest me.  So when my friends, Ivy and Isabelle, suggested we go to Comicpalooza in downtown Houston this year, I agreed just to spend time with them.  I had no idea that you could have a fantastic time even if you never read a comic in your life!

Seriously, it was geek nirvana.  I can only imagine how Comic-Con International is now that I’ve attended a watered down version.  I will start saving for that right now so I can get to San Diego in the next 5 years with my friends.  Anyway here’s what to do at a comic convention if you are anything like me…

Celebrities

Okay, so I knew George Takei was going to be there (Sulu in the original Star Trek), but I was more of a Chekov fan myself.  Since I didn’t research any further than that, I did not know that Kevin Sorbo (tv’s Hercules), Christopher Judge (Teal’c on SG1), Ernie Hudson (Winston in Ghost Busters), and Britt Griffith (Ghost Hunters on tv) would be there too!

Let’s me explain my excitement a little more - Kevin Sorbo was my main crush for 4-5 years in my teens.  I always loved a guy with a nice butt and a great sense of humor.  And I can vouch that he still has both.  I also thought that Hercules was one of the few feel good shows that made life more fun.  When you are a teenager, angsty shows are just not good for you.  Hercules was all about the good guy winning, a great sense of humor, and hormones.  That’s just good tv.

Christopher Judge is absolutely hilarious and I LOVE STARGATE.  My husband and I have watched every single episode of SG1 and SG Atlantis.

Ghost Busters has always been one of my favorite movies ever, so meeting Ernie Hudson was cool!

I only met Britt Griffith at Comicpalooza but he is really a funny, down-to-earth guy!  I have actually started watching Ghost Hunters now just because I met him.  He even promised that what happens on the show is never faked, but he is a skeptical believer none-the-less.  He definitely knows that something is happening, but he doesn’t know if it’s ghosts, aliens, an alternate dimension that is just on a different wave length than us, etc.  I thought that was a very good point…even if something is happening right in front of you, it may not be attributable to the source you think.

All of that said, here are my celebrity photos. 

Art

There are dozens of fantastic artists at these events!  I should have known since obviously comic books have artists, but there were just tables and tables of great artists.  If you’ve ever wanted that perfect picture of The Enterprise or a super hero or villain, these sorts of events are made for you.

Given that I am not really into that, I was surprised how excited I was to have my friends and I turned into Care Bears!

Without further ado, may I introduce from left to right, Blogger Bear (me), Hippie MacGyver Bear (Ivy), and Ninja Bear (Isabelle)!!!  And yes, Ninja Bear is attacking us with what we’ve decided is a garden spade, hahaha!

People Watching

If all else fails, there is always people watching.  The panels and stuff were drowned out by events like roller derby, wrestling, laser tag, and Quidditch tournaments.  SO, instead of getting way too frustrated at not being able to hear all of the Stargate Q&A that I wanted to hear, I started really getting into people watching.

I also started planning my own costume for next year.  Here are the two I loved the most.  I am leaning towards the Jawa and figuring out how to make a brown cloak that may be a little more flattering to me…

Budget Breakdown

I attended Comicpalooza all 3 days and bought my ticket a couple of weeks in advance.  Here were the final numbers:

• 3 Day Event Pass – $38
• Downtown Event Parking (one day, each of us covered one day and carpooled together) – $12
• A slice of pizza and a water on Friday (before I knew we could bring outside food and drink) – $8
• Picture with Kevin Sorbo – $20
• Picture split with Isabelle with Britt Griffith – $10
• Care Bear Souvenir (we split the cost) – $5
• Sandwich makings and snacks for Saturday and Sunday – $5
• Grand Total = $98

Overall, I think it was completely worth the cost and will totally be attending next year!  To be completely honest, I am just so happy it was so cheap for me with all the cost splitting with friends!  Thank you Ivy and Isabelle for talking me into this!!!

Have you ever attended something like this or Comic-Con?  Worth it to you?

Now Is the Time To Prepare is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a guest post from William at Drop Dead Money.  He is new to the online personal finance blog world, but has been reading BFS for a little while now, and is wise in the ways of personal finance thanks to his own experiences.  He is also thinking about starting an actual blog, so please leave comments below to help push his butt into gear! 

Did you, or anyone you know, suffer in the last recession? You’re not alone. We’ve all seen the headlines and statistics about foreclosures and bankruptcy.

Fortunately, the worst is over and the country is in a recovery now. Some people disagree, but there are just too many indicators to ignore. More people have jobs and airline seating, miles flown, and hotel bookings are up.  So are nonresidential construction, corporate revenues, . . . → Read More: Now Is the Time To Prepare]]> Now Is the Time To Prepare is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a guest post from William at Drop Dead Money.  He is new to the online personal finance blog world, but has been reading BFS for a little while now, and is wise in the ways of personal finance thanks to his own experiences.  He is also thinking about starting an actual blog, so please leave comments below to help push his butt into gear! 

Did you, or anyone you know, suffer in the last recession? You’re not alone. We’ve all seen the headlines and statistics about foreclosures and bankruptcy.

Fortunately, the worst is over and the country is in a recovery now. Some people disagree, but there are just too many indicators to ignore. More people have jobs and airline seating, miles flown, and hotel bookings are up.  So are nonresidential construction, corporate revenues, and manufacturing indices.

That’s nice. So why talk about recession again?

Because Recessions are Inevitable

Just take a look at this chart (the dates show the bottom of each recession):

http://dropdeadmoney.com/join/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/US-Economy-1948-2012-b.jpg

The conclusion is inescapable: we have a recession every 7-10 years. Recessions are not only inevitable, they’re to some degree predictable. The last recession bottomed out in 2009, almost three years ago now.

Do the math, we’re not that far from the next one any more.

What causes people to get caught in a recession?

In one word: unpreparedness. When a hurricane hits, you have no time to prepare. If you know a month in advance, you have enough time to prepare. You can’t stop it, but you can limit the damage.

Same with recession: you can’t stop it from coming, but you can prepare. Forewarned is forearmed.

How do you prepare?

1. Get Out of Debt

Think about it, what is the number one cause of bankruptcy? Debt.  If you have no debt, you can’t go bankrupt. Same with foreclosure.

So the number 1 thing to do to prepare for the recession is get out of debt.

2. Pay Attention to Timing

Buying a house is a good decision, right? Buying a house at the top of the market, though… well, that’s not so good. When you buy can make or break your decision.

So how do you know when to buy or not to buy? See the economic cycle in the chart above? Each cycle has four phases. These phases closely correspond to the seasons of a year.

A farmer plants in spring, but not in fall. In the economic cycle, the best time to buy is in the spring/early summer phase. Once we’re in the full swing of summer, prices have begun climbing, and it becomes less and less prudent to buy.

Every economic cycle has a fall season that follows summer. The talking heads on television say “the economy is overheating.”  The number one characteristic of the fall is rising prices. That’s when “bubbles” appear. (Remember the housing bubble a few years ago?)

Bubbles mean high prices. As in, “sell, don’t buy.” This is the time to sell anything and everything you have. Rental houses, stocks, anything you own that you don’t eat, wear or drive. In a few years, you can buy these things back at a serious discount, because the fall (bubble season) is always followed by a recession.

Always.

And recession season is shopping season. After you sold everything in the fall, you put it all into an old fashioned savings account. That’s right, the kind that pays no interest. Because you know, when the recession rolls around, cash is king.

Recession (and I’m sure you remember this) is when prices are at their lowest. Warren Buffett says the key to getting rich is buy low, sell high. Recession is “buy low” time.  And the key to buying low is to enter the recession with cash in the bank, as much as you can lay your hands on.

3. Pick Your Job With Care

We’re in mid-2012, and the U.S.economy is in the late spring/early summer phase of the economic cycle. It’s a good time to ask the question: just how recession proof is my employer? Or business? It’s no secret that construction is pretty vulnerable to recession. Don’t look for a job with a construction company.

If you’re looking for a job with a big company, take a look at their balance sheet. How much debt do they have? Google Finance is an easy and good source of information. The key number you look for is the debt/equity ratio. That’s like your house: you add up the debt and divide it by your equity. A ratio of 1 means the company has just as much debt as equity. Lower is better and 1 is a rule of thumb maximum. I’d personally feel nervous if my employer had a debt/equity ratio of more than 0.5, but there are no hard and fast rules.

The point is to pay attention to more than how much they will pay you. Also look at their layoff history in the past.

And time the job change right. The earlier in the economic cycle you make the change, the more seniority you have by the time the next (inevitable) recession arrives.

Do It Now!

If you’re like most people, your first reaction is: c’mon, the next recession is still years away! That’s right. But… you never know when it will come, and preparation is not an overnight thing. And when the recession comes, it’s too late.

Now is the time to start preparing.

There is a recession in your future, guaranteed. That’s the bad news. The good news is with preparation, you can not only avoid the carnage, you can turn the recession into a terrific shopping opportunity, to help you build what many call Drop Dead Money. (See the Urban Dictionary explanation for Drop Dead Money here.)

We all want Drop Dead Money, don’t we? We’ve just never called it that. Some people call it their freedom fund. Whatever you call it, recessions offer you some of the best opportunities to boost your net worth, freedom fund, drop dead money, whatever you want to call it.

There is a lot more to preparing for the next recession, but the three suggestions above are good places to start. Have fun!

Crystal’s Comments:  I think this advice is spot on.  I think it truly pays off to be prepared.  It also pays off to sell while you are up and buy when things cost the least.  No one can perfectly time the market, but it is obvious that things are on sale right now.  When things start being priced at way more than you bought them for, that is probably a great time to sell.  Just do what feels comfortable and avoid being hit so hard during the next recession.

Happy Memorial Day!!! is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

BFS Reader Profile – Our Second Anonymous Submission is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a new profile for the BFS Reader Profile series. Today we are getting to know another one of our anonymous friends. Thanks for participating!

Hello to the BFS readers!

I am a 28 year old woman living in Maryland.  I am single with no children.  I live in a 2600 square foot townhouse with two roommates. One of the roommates owns the house, and he rents out a large bedroom (10 x 20) upstairs to me and also rents out the entire enclosed basement level to another woman.  We all have our own bedrooms and bathrooms so it works out great.   I have plenty of space to call my own.  The best part is my rent is only $700 a month and all of the utilities are included . . . → Read More: BFS Reader Profile – Our Second Anonymous Submission]]> BFS Reader Profile – Our Second Anonymous Submission is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a new profile for the BFS Reader Profile series. Today we are getting to know another one of our anonymous friends. Thanks for participating!

Personal Background

Hello to the BFS readers!

I am a 28 year old woman living in Maryland.  I am single with no children.  I live in a 2600 square foot townhouse with two roommates. One of the roommates owns the house, and he rents out a large bedroom (10 x 20) upstairs to me and also rents out the entire enclosed basement level to another woman.  We all have our own bedrooms and bathrooms so it works out great.   I have plenty of space to call my own.  The best part is my rent is only $700 a month and all of the utilities are included in that price.

Financial Background

I was working as an Administrative Assistant and gross income was about $36,000 a year.  I contributed 20% of my salary to my 401k each year.  I figured if I started contributing that percentage now, I would not miss the money.  Last year, I contributed about $9,000 to my 401k account.

After six years with the same company, I was let go about a month ago.  Currently, I have no income besides $430 a week of unemployment benefits (before taxes).  I have been actively searching for a new job but all of my financial plans have been put on hold.  However, I feel comfortable because I was prepared for a situation like this.  I have managed to save an emergency fund of $40,000.  Financially I am prepared for being out of work for at least a year.  I also was prepared because I had secondary medical coverage in place.  The cost of COBRA would have been about $700 a month for me.

My general monthly expenses are low.  My only fixed expense is the $700 of rent per month.  As for variable expenses, I budget $500 a month to spend on gas, groceries, shopping, entertainment and eating out.  It does not really matter how I spend that money in each category, just that I do not go over the $500 limit I set for myself. I also withdraw $200 in cash at the beginning of each month and allow myself to use that on smaller purchases.  I automatically deposit $500 (or more) a month into my savings account.  I also donate $25 a month to a charity of my choice.

No Debt Helps

I am extremely proud to say I am debt free!  My parents were savers and paid my college tuition in full.  I am very thankful to them and grateful that I do not have the burden of student loan debt.  I pay off my credit card balance in full every month.  I bought a new car about three years ago and have paid that off completely.  I had a large down payment and only took out an $8,000 loan to build some credit and paid it off in two years.

I love using www.mint.com to keep track of all of my money and accounts.  Mint tracks my net worth and it is about $265,000.  This includes my savings account, 401k account, Roth IRA accounts and various investments.  I also keep a detailed spreadsheet of my checking account balance.  I love reading BFS because Crystal is as meticulous with her money and where it is going.   We are similar because she also sets very clear milestones for her website and her money (awww, thanks!).

My Goals

I need to reevaluate my financial goals based on a new income when I find another job.  My top priority right now is finding a job and earning a steady paycheck again.  I would like to find something that paid as much as my previous position so I can continue living my lifestyle and saving at the same pace.  Ideally, I would like not to tap into my emergency fund account if I do not have to.

I had planned to save enough money for a large down payment on a house.  Based on my previous income, I should have been able to save about $10,000 a year.  In about five or six years, I planned on buying a home of my own.  I know renting is much cheaper than buying but I wanted to at least get started on saving for that.  There is always potential that my life plans will change but at least I will be prepared financially for those changes.

Thanks for reading and for Crystal for giving me the opportunity to share my story.

Crystal’s Comments:  Miss X, how have you been faring over the last couple of months?  I know it’s taken almost 2-3 months to get this up!  Congrats on having an awesome budget and foundation.  And you have my very best wishes for your next career path!!!

What Will We Have Today? How About Rotten Chicken… is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

Mr. BFS and I bought a package of chicken breasts from Kroger on May 11th to eat that night, so we put it in the refrigerator.  But plans changed and we put it off.  I looked at the Sell By date of May 17 and decided it would be fine to use Monday or Tuesday, May 14-15, so we left it in the fridge.  Boy was I wrong.

On Tuesday, May 15, we opened up the package and were assaulted!  It was awful!  It smelled like a combo of rotten fish and stinky cheese.  The chicken itself looked fine, but one of the pieces had literally turned to mush!  Ewwwww!

I thought I must have read the Sell By date incorrectly, so I checked again.  But no, it said “May 17″ in big, . . . → Read More: What Will We Have Today? How About Rotten Chicken…]]> What Will We Have Today? How About Rotten Chicken… is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

Mr. BFS and I bought a package of chicken breasts from Kroger on May 11th to eat that night, so we put it in the refrigerator.  But plans changed and we put it off.  I looked at the Sell By date of May 17 and decided it would be fine to use Monday or Tuesday, May 14-15, so we left it in the fridge.  Boy was I wrong.

Yuck

On Tuesday, May 15, we opened up the package and were assaulted!  It was awful!  It smelled like a combo of rotten fish and stinky cheese.  The chicken itself looked fine, but one of the pieces had literally turned to mush!  Ewwwww!

I thought I must have read the Sell By date incorrectly, so I checked again.  But no, it said “May 17″ in big, bold letters.  The chicken was just bad.  And I was pissed.

As you may have read, Mr. BFS and I are tracking our food spending to the cent to try to stay below $550 this month ($600 last month).  So, this 3 pounds of rotten chicken amounted to $6.03 of pure waste.  I was pretty upset.  And I was more upset thinking I had to find some way to package this stuff up late at night and return it to the store.

Yay for Customer Service

Instead of messing with it, I took a couple of pictures, cut off the tag that showed the bar code, price, and Sell By Date, and wrote down the customer service phone number.  I then tossed the ickiness away and took it to the curb for next morning pick up (we got lucky).

I called the customer service number when I woke up.  The man on the other end of the line apologized for the chicken, took down the bar code info, and credited my Kroger card with $7 ($6.03 rounded up, yay!).  It took all of 5 minutes and I never had to enter a store!  I LOVE IT!

And the next time I shopped at Kroger over the weekend, the $7 credit popped up on the screen just like he said.  I love it when things work out.

So, if you ever are in a similar, yucky food situation, I highly suggest calling in your problem instead of wasting a drive to the store.  I can vouch for Kroger’s customer service at least. 

Have you ever called a customer service line and been impressed?  What company was it?

An Ode to My Miche is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

A few years ago, my husband and I saw a new kind of purse on tv.  Normally, we ignore tv ads, but I was looking for a purse with space that would look cute really easily with whatever outfit I felt like wearing that day.  So he ended up shopping for a Miche Bag the Christmas of 2007.  It really is an awesome purse.

If you haven’t seen a stylish Miche Bag before, it is a pretty nice-sized purse that has exchangeable “shells”, so you can easily change the outside of the purse without having to transfer everything into a new bag.  The shells are held on by magnets, and these magnets haven’t worn out on me in 5 years!

Also, I am not nice to my stuff, but my Miche still looks great.  This is . . . → Read More: An Ode to My Miche]]> An Ode to My Miche is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

A few years ago, my husband and I saw a new kind of purse on tv.  Normally, we ignore tv ads, but I was looking for a purse with space that would look cute really easily with whatever outfit I felt like wearing that day.  So he ended up shopping for a Miche Bag the Christmas of 2007.  It really is an awesome purse.

My Miche

If you haven’t seen a stylish Miche Bag before, it is a pretty nice-sized purse that has exchangeable “shells”, so you can easily change the outside of the purse without having to transfer everything into a new bag.  The shells are held on by magnets, and these magnets haven’t worn out on me in 5 years!

Also, I am not nice to my stuff, but my Miche still looks great.  This is after me throwing it around in the car, tossing it into and out of closets in my house, and carrying it around all of the time at grocery stores and family gatherings.

Overall, I have been impressed.

Staying Under Control

That said, I still only have the original Miche set we ordered for $120 in 2007-2008:

• One Miche Bag
• Loose leather handles instead of the knotted one that was standard
• 5 shells
• Shell holder that hangs up in the closet

So far, I have kept myself from ordering some new shells.  But that may be a battle I lose this year.  There are some really cute ones in my opinion. 

Budget

If I do decide to spend another $30-$60 on shells, I will want to budget for it.  This new house is really making me want to cut back everywhere else.  I may take on a petsitting gig or something to earn the little extra I want to use.  I am feeling more tight with my cash than I have in years.  My overall goal really seems to be to pay off the current mortgage and the new mortgage as quickly as humanly possible.  I really can’t stand the idea of having long-term mortgage debt.  Even 4.375% is more than I want to pay to borrow someone else’s money…

That said, my Miche cravings may have to wait until I put the specific money aside or find a great coupon.  I haven’t really looked for any deals yet, but that will be the first order of business if I do decide to splurge.

Do you own a splurge product that you like alot? 

Saving Our Health and Money is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a guest post from an awesome BFS reader, Kim.  She’s been reading for a while and is trying out her hand at blogging for the day. 

My name is Kim. I have been married almost 10 years, and we have a five year old daughter. My husband and I have a good income, but have racked up way too much debt over the years. In our journey to pay off about $30,000 in consumer debt, we have cut almost every expense imaginable, but really did not get serious with the groceries until about a year ago.

You see, we never really put much thought into meals. We both work, so who has time to cook? Grocery planning?  That’s something my mom did. Coupons? They make good fire starters.

Our . . . → Read More: Saving Our Health and Money]]> Saving Our Health and Money is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

The following is a guest post from an awesome BFS reader, Kim.  She’s been reading for a while and is trying out her hand at blogging for the day. 

My name is Kim. I have been married almost 10 years, and we have a five year old daughter. My husband and I have a good income, but have racked up way too much debt over the years. In our journey to pay off about $30,000 in consumer debt, we have cut almost every expense imaginable, but really did not get serious with the groceries until about a year ago.

You see, we never really put much thought into meals. We both work, so who has time to cook? Grocery planning?  That’s something my mom did. Coupons? They make good fire starters.

Saving Our Health

Our big push came when the husband got a borderline high cholesterol reading at a health fair. We started really looking at where we were and where we wanted to be down the road. It was time for some change. Healthy diets suggest you limit processed food and eat a variety of colors (fruity pebbles don’t count).

A bit of history…My husband is the pickiest person on the planet. If you look at the things he really likes to eat, they are all brown and white; potatoes, chips, peanut butter, meat, and pizza (if you want to count that as colorful).  I eat more things, but never took time to really plan or cook.

The other problem we had was that I would go to the grocery store with all these wonderful ideas, buy lots of vegetables and fruits, and they would sit in the refrigerator until we noticed a funny smell and had to throw everything out. We often ended up eating out or going to the store after work to pick up something for that evening’s meal. Not healthy or frugal.

So the high cholesterol was a wake up, and we agreed to try a new approach. Our goals were to eat five servings of fruits and vegetables each day, shop only once a week, and save money. So how did we do it?

Attacking the Problem

We have a smoothie every morning, which consists of frozen fruit, almond or soy milk (did I mention my husband is lactose intolerant?), and light vanilla yogurt that comes in the big tub. I buy salad veggies and cut those up into bags to throw together a salad at dinner (hubby will eat most salad stuff except tomatoes).

Whatever is left on Thursday gets thrown into a stir fry and frozen for later. Older fruit gets frozen for the smoothies. I also started cooking extra on the weekends and saving leftovers in the freezer for lunches. We each take an apple or banana with lunch. We also found V8 Splash or VFusion Light juices, which have a serving of fruits and veggies without much sugar. Most days we are pretty close to five servings, and hubby’s cholesterol is back down to 180!

Saving Our Money

We have found that shopping once a week costs much less. I pay enough attention now that I know when a deal is good, and I stock up. I buy meat and produce that is on sale. I also cut the coupons from the Sunday paper that might be useful. I spend about 10 minutes max on this, and while I will never get $900 worth of groceries for $2.99, I save about $20 per month with coupons. We’ve shaved about $200 per month off our grocery bill.  We only go out to eat about once a month. Sometimes we do go to Subway or Arby’s, but not nearly as often as before, and usually with a (drum roll please) coupon.

Are we perfect? Absolutely not, but we have come a long way, and should be free of our consumer debt by mid 2013, possibly at the end of the year if we buckle down.

I would love to hear more ideas on how you have saved money while eating healthy.

Crystal’s Comments:  Wow, congrats on a healthy and frugal change!  Good luck on getting that debt paid off ASAP.  Your husband’s eating habits sound a lot like Mr. BFS, so I was giggling at that part.  You also use coupons the way we do – I don’t save hundreds, but I more than cover the cost of our $39 a year subscription to the Sunday paper.  That is helping with our own food fight.  Thanks so much for being a blogger for the day Kim!

My House Poor Scale is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

Mr. BFS and I were watching an HGTV show earlier this week, “My First Place”, that brought up the words “house poor” a million times.  I thought that meant not having any home equity or being upside down right after buying a home, but Mr. BFS was actually correct.  According to Investopedia.com, being house poor means:

A situation that describes a person who spends a large proportion  of his or her total income on home ownership, including mortgage  payments, property taxes, maintenance and  utilities.

That definition didn’t really explain what a “large proportion” means, so here is my personal take.

House Poor, BFS-Style

BFS Looking for Guest Posts and Reader Profiles is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

It has come to my attention that I have no more guest posts lined up for Tuesdays and only 3 more Reader Profiles for Fridays.  Oops. 

So if you have ever wanted to chime in on BFS but just assumed I was swamped with requests, now is your time.  Swamp me.  It may take a while to get everyone’s posts and profiles live since I try to stick with just one of each a week, but I do eventually seem to get through all submissions. 

For guest posts, I have found that personal stories are the most interesting for everyone to read – they get the best feedback.  Please feel free to write about anything personal finance related that catches your fancy – this site covers everything as you . . . → Read More: BFS Looking for Guest Posts and Reader Profiles]]> BFS Looking for Guest Posts and Reader Profiles is a post from: Budgeting In the Fun Stuff

It has come to my attention that I have no more guest posts lined up for Tuesdays and only 3 more Reader Profiles for Fridays.  Oops. 

So if you have ever wanted to chime in on BFS but just assumed I was swamped with requests, now is your time.  Swamp me.  It may take a while to get everyone’s posts and profiles live since I try to stick with just one of each a week, but I do eventually seem to get through all submissions. 

Guest Posts

For guest posts, I have found that personal stories are the most interesting for everyone to read – they get the best feedback.  Please feel free to write about anything personal finance related that catches your fancy – this site covers everything as you know.

If you have your own blog, please remember you will have a link to your blog in the intro, so limit incontent links to 2 or less and make sure they are relevant.  If you don’t have a blog, you are also more than welcome if you just wanted to be a blogger for a day. 

Reader Profiles

If you’d like to submit a reader profile, please look through some of the ones that have been posted before.  They are in a story or post format, not just bullet lists.    But here are some ideas on what to include:

• How old are you?  Or what age range are you in?
• What is your living situation?  How many family members?  What type of home?  What state or country?
• What would you like us to really remember about you?
• What is your household’s annual gross income? Or what income range is it in?
• How much are your general monthly expenses?
• What debts are you working off?
• Optional – What is your Net Worth?
• What are your top financial goals?
• How are you attempting to reach those goals?
• Optional – Why do you blog or why do you read blogs?
• Do you have any questions for the readers?

I can either post your profile with your name and/or blog URL or it can be anonymous. Your choice. 

How to Submit

Just email your guest post and/or profile to budgetingfunstuff *at* gmail *dot* com and please use the subject “Guest Post for BFS” or “Reader Profile”.  I really appreciate Word documents or html attachments for the ease of cut-and-paste.

I will attempt to publish a guest post every Tuesday and a reader profile every Friday. 

Thank you all in advance!  I really enjoy getting to know you through these posts and emails.  BFS is better because of all of your involvement.