HisHersMoney

Last month we moved from our apartment in a high rise into a townhouse that we are renting. Overall the new place is larger and includes a third bedroom which allows both both of us to have our own home office space but the storage in the kitchen is definitely much smaller, especially the pantry. As a result we definitely need to reduce our pantry size. My plan is just to skip the grocery shopping trip and work through the fridge, freezer and pantry. This week’s grocery trip will cover just some basics, bread, creamer and a couple other perishables.

So, how does this relate to personal finance and living frugally? By skipping the grocery trip pretty much all together you actually free up some immediate cash. We usually spend about $75-$100 a week at the food store which covers three meals a day for two people combined with eating out usually for one lunch and one dinner a week.

Last week’s grocery food budget was around $15 and this week caps out at $50 while I work though what we already have. Though out the week I will post about what we come up with for meals to give you some ideas for your own money saving pantry clean out.  

For those of you who use coupons you can imagine how nice it would be if your grocery store tripled them. Well that’s exactly what our store did this past weekend. Every once in awhile, maybe every two months or so, our grocery store will offer triple coupons for all coupons under $1.00. They limit each customer to 20 coupons so sometimes Him and I have to each go through the line separately. This was the case this past weekend.

Every week when I go through the coupons I cut out those coupons that are for things that we buy all the time but I also snag the ones that are for things that I would buy during triple coupon weekend because I can get the items dirt cheap. The best deal is when we find the $.75 coupons on things like granola bars, salad dressings and condiments, etc.

Things we got:

Chex Granola Bars, on sale 2/$5 with $.75 off coupons on each of them so they were $0.25 each.

Regular mustard and honey mustards for about $0.09 each. We don’t need more than one of these items so we will drop the extras in the next food donation bin that we are asked to donate to.

Barilla pasta and sauce, the pasta was about $0.10 each and the sauce was about $0.75 each and we got three of each.

We also got a couple things of cat litter, dishwasher detergent, Zip Stream Bags, Mayo, salad dressing, Pepperidge Farms snack crackers, deli cheese, snacks, rolls, coffee creamer, beer, four different kinds of rice mixes, and the list goes on. Our pantry is definitely stocked now!

We ended up with receipts that exceeded two and a half feet long! Here’s the break down:

Receipt #1 Total owed: $46.74, coupons savings of $41.94 and sales savings of $16.55

Receipt #2 Total owed: $32.59, coupon savings of $46.18 and sales savings of $22.64

That’s a savings of $127.31!!!

I don’t work at home full time but I do get to at least once a week. It’s great because I literally roll out of bed, grab a cup of coffee and boot up my computer and instantly I’m “At Work”. The hour it normally takes to get ready and go to the office is totally negated. Since I’m able to start work an hour earlier I get to quit for the day a hour earlier.   

Every day I work from home I always tune into Oprah at 4pm. I really enjoy watching the show and for some reason I’ve lucked into seeing almost all of the episodes with Suze Orman. Today’s episode showed a number of individuals and families who want to spend some amount of money on something they want. Suze summed up all the figures and showed them whether they could afford it or not. The audience also had the opportunity to chime in with their vote.

It was amazing that even faced with the figures, everyone’s opinion and Suze’s expert opinion some people just didn’t get it.

I personally am kinda wanting a wii. I’m thinking that my husband and I can play some of the interactive games and the wii fit and do something together other than sit and watch tv. I know we can afford it and if we went on the show Suze would definitely say “Approved” but I’m having a hard time justifying it to myself.   

We are currently trying a cash only system in order to help save us money. Whether it works or not we’ll see over the next two months. Our plan is to take a certain amount of money out in cash every two weeks and then have to live on it.

We started out with $200 last Sunday and currently have $35 left. I don’t have the exact amounts of what everything cost but here’s pretty decent estimates of where it went so far:

Rx and vitamins $16

Sunday morning breakfast $15

Tip for valet $5

groceries $50

eyebrow wax $12

Dry cleaning (we had a lot this week) $35

Sushi take out $32

So far I think we are doing ok but I’m not sure how the $35 is going to last us all week but I’m sure we’ll survive. I think our long term plan will be to go with $150 a week which needs to include food, misc expenses and entertainment but this week we had an expensive meal out for Valentines day which we used the debit card for so we left more in the account.

I will leave HIS to post about the valentines dinner and other valentines related info.

So you want to get in shape but also don’t want to kill your budget? Well you have options. There are many different gyms out there, with some much more affordable than others. You also have home gym equipment, your standard plyometrics and running, and home workout videos. What works best for you may not work best for someone else either. It all depends on how you can best stay motivated.

I’ve had gym memberships in the past and never fully utilized them. I hated having to drive to the gym and I never took advantage of the classes offered. So for me it was not worth it. However, if you need that motivation of getting out of the house and being around others while working out, then go for it!

Home gym equipment comes in all shapes and sizes from your boxflexes and treadmills at the high end (ie. expensive) to your pushup bars and workout bands (ie. inexpensive). Again, it depends on your level of motivation and what types of exercises work best for you. If cold/wet weather doesn’t bother you, then why would you spend money on a treadmill when you can run outside for free?

A good compromise can be found by combining some of the cheaper/simpler home gym equipment with a few workout videos. I’ve found that they at least motivate me enough that once I start the workout I tend to complete it. I don’t have to travel to the gym. And it’s reasonably priced compared to a lot of the other options. You can get an entire library of videos and equipment for the same amount of money for a single year membership in most gyms. This is the path that we’re currently taking. I’ve just started the P90X program and HERS is doing the BodyJam program. We’ll let you know the results.

Today is Black Friday which should mean some of the greatest retail deals of the year. I have to say I’m not overly impressed. I did find a great deal at my favorite clothing store Martin & Osa. An additional 30% off even on top of sale and clearance prices. I picked up a great cashmere and soy sweater. I have a blue one already and wear it both to work and out and about casually. It is so comfortable and fits great. Normally $70 and I got it today for $21. I also picked up a tee and two tanks to wear under my sweaters. Shipping was free so my total cost was about $35.

I looked around both online and in the flyers and really didn’t see anything else we needed or that was on the Christmas list that was a great deal. Him found a computer game that he wanted that was on sale for $10 with free shipping from Best Buy so we picked that up as a stocking stuffer.

I was surprised to see that a ski jacket that I bought from Sports Authority a couple of weeks ago was actually more expensive today even though it was on the cover of there Black Friday ad. Just goes to show that you really need to know your prices before shopping.

I saw on the tv this morning that they were giving a few holiday tips. Some of which were basic: wear comfortable shoes, duh. But a couple were good tips: If you find what you want buy it now and keep all of your reciepts so if the price comes down you can get a price adjustment.

I am basically done all of my xmas shopping and stayed pretty close to budget. Him and I budgeted $225 each for each other and I came within 10% so that works for me. We ordered some photo albums from MyPublisher online with some pictures of us to give to family which included engagement and wedding pictures so those will be going out to the parents and grandparents. We shopped ahead of time with them and got 50% off.

Other than that there are just a few small things I might need to pick up such as office gifts but nothing that will break the budget. We put away $25 every two weeks into our INGDirect savings account so the money was ready and waiting for us when it came time to shop!

I am not a fan of Whole Foods, I just don’t find what I’m looking for and personally won’t pay their prices. In the Northern Virginia area we have many food stores to choose from, my favorite being Harris Teeter. It can be pricey but I just shop the sales and they have great sales. This week I just stopped in for s few things that we needed that were the best deals. We had already picked up most of food items in another trip so this was a special trip just for some sales items.

The store is only a mile from the house so I don’t have to spend a ton of gas to go over there to take advantage of the sales. This weeks items:

2 – 409 Granite Cleaner Reg Price $3.39 Sale Price 2.00 $1 off two Coupon = $1.50 each ($3.00)

2 – 409 Multi-Surface Granite Cleaner Reg Price $3.39 Sale Price 2.00 $1 off two Coupon = $1.50 each ($3.00)

2 – Green Giant Box Veggies Reg Price $1.99 Sale Price 1.00 ($2.00)

2 – Electrosol 20 pack Dishwasher Tablets Reg Price $5.49 Sale Price 2.50 $2.25 off each Coupon = $0.25 each ($.50)

4 – Goldfish Bags Reg Price $2.19 Buy 1 Get 1 Free = $1.09 / $1.10 each ($4.38)

Total Bill = $15.73 Savings $16.94

Obviously the Dishwasher Tablets were the biggest deal this week, $0.25 a package! We we’re currently running low but I couldn’t pass them up. I was in need of the 409 cleaner and will use the extra ones in the future.

Wow, I can’t believe I think that $3.78 for a gallon of gas is cheap. I guess it’s all relative. We were driving back across the State of Virginia yesterday and stopped about half way and filled up. I did notice that it’s still about $4.19 per gallon for premium here in Northern Virginia.

When we go grocery shopping we don’t go empty handed. We have a list, our coupons and a plan. This weekend’s grocery shopping trip is an excellent example of what our bill looks like. This is for two people and we are not starting from scratch as we have things in the freezer / pantry / fridge at home already that we are augmenting. I look at what’s on sale, what coupons I have and what we need.

This week’s trip was to Safeway but we don’t always shop there. It all depends on who has the rights things on sale that week.

• Ketchup $.99
• Cheez-Its $1.47
• Cranergy Juice $2.50
• Canned Cat Food 6 – $.33 each
• Kraft Cheese Singles – 2 – $1.50 each
• FF Half & Half $4.49
• Yummy mini ice creams 2 – $1.00 each
• Limeade $1.25
• Duracell 8pk AA $2.49
• Men’s Shave Gel $1.50
• OM Hotdog – 3pks for $1 total
• Lean Hamburger $6.11 for 4.8lbs
• Jumbo Raw Shrimp $5.39 for 0.9lbs
• Green Onion $0.99
• Ginger Root $0.25
• Cinlantro $0.99
• Beer 24pk $12.99 (July 4th parties)

Our total was $50.24 and obviously the beer at $13 was the biggest item but with July 4th parties coming up next weekend we grabbed it at a good price to bring to a big party we are attending. The shrimp was a treat for us which we will grill up for dinner and the hamburger has already been mixed up and made into hamburger patties and in the freezer for later use.

Our receipt claims that we saved $61.34 (56%) off of our bill which in fact we did but we wouldn’t have bought some of the items if they weren’t on sale and had coupons to go along with them. The hot dogs for example we couldn’t pass up at 3 Oscar Myer packs for $1, I just threw them in the freezer for later use. The same thing with the cheese slices, I’m not a huge fan of that kind of cheese but at that price I’ll make so for a couple weeks!

So in our lovely new apartment I finally have a room to myself to call an office. It’s actually our second bedroom which is quite spacious. We also have an office area which is a smaller alcove which HIS uses an office. I decided I would like a tv for my office space in hopes that I would spend a bit more time getting stuff done in there if I had a tv.

Now, there’s many options available to me to procure said tv. I could go to the mega mart and by a shiny new flat panel tv which would cost a fortune but that’s really not in my budget nor is there really any reason to go that route. We do have a nice new flat panel tv in our living room and that’s really all if not more than we need.

So I went onto craigslist today and simply searched for a tv for sale. Let me tell you, there were a ton of them! With everyone getting their new mega mart slat panels it seems there are a ton of those old fashioned tube tvs out there for just pennies on the dollar. I got a 27″ name brand tv with a dvd player, a stand and all the necessary cords for $75. I am more than pleased. The guy even carried it from his apartment to the elevator and then out to the car for us. This tv will more than fill my need and I paid about 10% of the cost of a new one.

I really do like craigslist and have gotten a number of things off of it. Most notably my KitchenAid stand mixer which was always a dream of mine. I was so happy the day it became a reality for me especially since I got it for only $100. I have also sold a couple tickets on there that we were unable to use as well as a spare dining table and chairs. I also got my wedding dress on craigslist for only $260! Brand new, never worn and it fit nearly perfect requiring only $75 in alterations (I found the women who did my alterations on craigslist as well). We also have gotten a bike rack for the car and sold a nearly new cell phone.

No matter what I am looking for I always turn to craigslist first! If you can find what you want it’s almost always worth it.