Celebrating a Birthday on the Cheap

I think that having a budget is important for everyone, no matter how much they make. Budgeting is especially important in our house right now, however, as we live off one income in an attempt to accomplish some life goals. Hence celebrating my birthday on the cheap. Yes, we could have set aside more money for celebrating, but I enjoy the thrill of chasing down a deal, so that's what I did. Here are tips if you want to do what I did:

1) Make time for things you love. One of those things for me is running. It doesn't cost anything, but I do need time for it. Cost of carving out that time: $0 

2) Sign up for loyalty rewards. Yes, the e-mails are pesky, but you get free stuff. For me, this was a small pillar candle. Value: $13. Cost to me: $0

3) Take advantage of free birthday meals. Yes, you might have to pay for your spouse and/or children, but you still save money. Value of hamburger: $5.84. Cost to me: $0. Cost of spouse's meal: $8.09

4) Add your birthday to earn points. Crumbl cookies is one business that gives you a freebie for doing so. Value of cookie: $5.30. Cost to me: $0. Cost of spouse's cookie: $5.30

5) Order yourself things you need, and save them to open on your birthday. I needed running shoes, which were not cheap, but a "gift," that is special. Cost of running shoes to the celebration budget: $0. Joy of opening: immense. Cost to my running budget: we won't talk about it (but I had enough in the fund to cover it).

6) Look for local free events. We are fortunate enough to have a university by us that frequently hosts events. This one was not spectacular, but it got us outside for an enjoyable evening.

Total spent on my birthday: $13.39 (plus gas)

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I think I accomplished my goal, and I enjoyed doing it! If you are a fellow cheap-ster, please share free or low cost ways you celebrate below. If you are looking for more resources about birthday freebies, I suggest the website Hey, It's Free!

What Do I Want More?

There are a lot of things in life that I want. Those things take resources: time, money, relationship investment, etc. Conversely, there are a lot of things that I don't want to do, but that lead to something I do want. In both scenarios, I have to ask, "What do I want more?"

When it comes to limited resources, I have to prioritize. There is enough time...for everything that is priority. I can do anything, but not everything. So sometimes I have to choose if I want to go for that run, or sleep. Sometimes I have to choose if I want to make a fancy dinner, or just eat simply so I can do something else. I have to decide if I want down time, or people time. With the time I have, what do I want most?

Money does not grow on trees, I mean the paper does, but the money doesn't. I can't just reach out and pick it. This is why we budget. We try to direct our money, first toward what we need (housing, food, utilities, etc.), and then toward what we want. We even have budget categories for our own wants, one for each of us individually, a vacation fun, and a date night fund. When times are scarce, those categories get less (or no) money, but when we can, we contribute. Even then, we have to decided what we want to do more with the money, because it is not endless.

There are lots of lovely people in the world, but not time to be close to them all. I also have a spouse. When it comes down to limited time and energy, what do I want more? A close marriage? Close friends? A lot of friends? Sometimes with people, the answer is not clear cut. Still, I have to ask, "What do I want more?"

Some things in life take work, too. I don't often want to clean the house, but I want the house to be tidy. I don't want to cook a ton of food on Friday for meal prep, but I want to eat during the week. I don't want to get up early to fuel before I run, but I'll feel better if I do. For that matter, I don't always want to work hard in training for my races, but I benefit if I do. In those hard moments, I have to ask myself what I really want more.

Asking, "What do I want more?" pertains to faith, too. Following God is rarely easy. Do I want my will, or his will? In my marriage, do I want my way, or God's way? When it comes to my work, do I want to do what I think, or what the Spirit tells me? Do I want disobedience or obedience more? Maybe a better question is, "What does God want more?"

I can't have it all. What do I want more? What more is right in this season might not be right in the next. I need wisdom. I need God's wisdom. Ultimately, I want His more for my life, and that requires continually asking for and seeking it.

Five Tips for Saving Money on Groceries

Groceries make up a significant part of a family's budget. As the manager of our family's budget and the chief "shopper," I am always looking for ways to save. Here a few tips that I have learned:

1. The more stores you go to, the more you spend (generally). Yes, shopping at multiple stores allows you to find multiple sales, but it also means multiplied time, and time is a form of currency. Shopping at multiple stores increases opportunity to make impulse buys, and as time goes by, decision fatigue creeps in, making it more likely to make unwise decisions at the last stores.

Tip: If you must shop multiple stores, try to shop on different days, or even different times of the month based on a rotating schedule.

2. Grocery pickup saves you money, until it doesn’t. Most pickup services require a a minimum purchase. If you need groceries that total that amount, great! If you only need a few items, you guessed it, it’s cheaper to grab them yourself. I’ve found I can actually run in for a few sundries and get out again in the time it would take me to wait for pickup delivery.

Tip: Whether you do pickup or not, still use the store app as a grocery list, as it allows you to see a running total of what you need in order to determine if pickup is beneficial and if not, how you might include the total of what you need into your weekly grocery budget.

3. Budget for the cost of warehouse store membership (e.g. Costco, Sam's Club) from the house fund, not the grocery fund (Don't Waste the Crumbs, 2021). Trying to scrimp enough from the grocery budget to afford the yearly subscription isn’t worth it!) Having those funds set aside elsewhere is such a relief.

Tip: If you buy groceries via subscription, eg Hello Fresh, etc. (not really budget friendly anyway, consider a special or different budget fund. This avoids the grocery fund getting “eaten” by other expense categories.

4. Shop and stock the sales. I have found that most stores rotate sales on basic items like cheese, eggs, and meat. I try to shop the sales and buy the most items I can afford (and fit in my freezer, fridge and pantry) so that I only have to buy items when they are on sale. It is not a fool-proof plan, but it helps.

5. Use the freezer! Going off the above, store bread, cheese, meat, and other stocked, but perishable items in the freezer. This allows you to take advantage of sales without having to hurry through what you do buy.

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I am by no means an expert, but I try to make the most of the resources God has given me. May He continue to give wisdom and may He get the glory!

Reference:

Don't Waste the Crumbs. (2021, March 26). How to budget for bulk purchases. https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/how-to-budget-for-bulk-purchases/

Practical Tips for Sharing Money

My husband and I share our money. Like we have joint accounts. Like we don't have our own accounts. Period. What's ours is ours. But how, as two separate people, do we practically make living as one with our budget work? Here's how:

1) We have roles. Currently, I have the roles of paying the bills and managing the budget. This does not mean my husband is subservient to me or that I decide how to spend our money. It just means that I keep track of things. This role differentiation prevents conflict about whose job it is to balance the budget day by day. It is my responsibility, so receipts for spending go to me and I take care of them.

2) We have periodic budget meetings. This wise idea came from my mom. We should have these monthly, but do not always. The premise of the budget meeting is to take stock of our finances each month so that both of us know where we stand. We both have access to our bank account balance, but I keep the books, and while my husband can look at them any time, he chooses to trust me and get updated at our budget meetings. It frees up brain space for him to do other things, to carry out other roles that are currently assigned to him.

3) We have an allowance that is part of our budget. Communicating about money is good. Communicating about every last cent spent can get tedious. Sometimes we do not want to communicate about what we spend money on, so as to surprise the other one. Enter marriage protection insurance. We got this idea from first year marriage books and liked it, so we instituted it for ourselves (Devries & Wolgemuth, 2012). The allowance is a category of our budget for discretionary spending for each of us. Each of us gets a set amount of money to spend every month, no questions asked. We can choose to take the money in case, or use the cards and then share the receipts. 

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Do these practices prevent all money stress? No. We still have plenty of it. These tips do help us be more unified with spending, though. They keep us honest. They keep the one budget system working, and that's what we want, to be one, in money, and in marriage.

Reference:

Devries, S., & Wolgemuth, B. (2012). What every bride needs to know: The most importance year in a woman's life. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Sharing Money

I was very adamant that my husband not know much about my money before we got married. After we got married, however, I insisted that I share all my accounts and even my credit cards with him. The bank demanded a marriage license for me to do this. The credit card agency warned me that adding my husband to the account that was previously mine did not give him any accountability, at least with the credit bureaus. I did not care. We were married, and we now shared everything.

Couples differ in the ways that they handle money. I am not here to say there is necessarily always one right way. Situations differ. I am here to make a strong argument for the importance of sharing money, however, and to encourage couples to consider it if they have not yet done so.

Sharing money cements a marriage. It puts some skin in the game. If we share money, we share ownership. If we share ownership, we share responsibility. It is not one person's job to manage the money, but both a responsibility for both spouses, and if marriage is two becoming one, this makes sense.

When we share money, we share accountability. Both of our expenses affect, well, both of us. We cannot spend in isolation and therefore impoverish the other. We also cannot spend in anonymity. The bank shows what and where we spend, preventing us from spending on things we shouldn't, and forcing communication when we do spend. We know from experience that increased communication benefits our marriage.

Sharing money not only promotes positive marriage habits, but promotes a positive marriage environment overall. How? Writer Shaunti Feldhan suggests that having separate accounts and having to negotiate money results in a 50% deduction in marital happiness (Fuller, Smalley, & Smalley, 2021). That's huge, and not something I want!

Does sharing money fix everything in our marriage? No, it makes some things hard, like buying each other gifts, like spending on things we want. Is it worth it overall, though? Yes. The unity, communication, and happiness it promotes are worth it. I would not have it any other way.

References:

Fuller, J., Smalley, G., and Smalley, E. (Hosts). (2021, June 24). Working through different financial priorities. [Audio podcast episode]. In Focus on the Family Marriage Podcast. 

https://www.focusonthefamily.com/episodes/focus-on-marriage-podcast/working-through-different-financial-priorities/

Bare Bones Recipes

The COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 brought with it many lessons. One of these is how privileged I am in terms of food. Pre-pandemic, I could look up menus and make shopping lists without a second though. I could go to the store and find most supplies. Not so early-mid pandemic. I didn't want to risk going to the store. When I did go, shelves were empty. Although everyone advocates a well-stocked pantry, I didn't have one. So I had to make do with what I had, and what I could eventually find at the store, or via grocery pickup. After the initial shock, I found that having "less" what surprisingly enough. Less led me back to the basics, as well as some enjoyable new recipes.

Basics:

-Eggs (yes, we still had these)-scrambled, fried, hard boiled, poached; in casseroles, for French toast, etc.

Have you hear of oven-poaching eggs? I haven't perfected the art of properly oiling the muffin tins, but this might be my new favorite.

-Potatoes: hard to find at first, but then good for straight-up baked (with toppings), breakfast potatoes, potato fries, mashed potatoes, and a new favorite, potato pancakes

-Salad: lettuce (well-rinsed, but always the case as lettuce can have dirt, if not other germs) + whatever you have on hand (vegetables, leftovers, sandwich meat, stale bread, etc.) + oil and vinegar

-Sandwiches (put in the toaster oven or George Foreman grill, aka panini press for melty cheese)

New recipes:

-Breakfast:

Egg and banana pancake (Fannetastic Food) 
[My version of pandemic banana bread, and much easier]

Flourless pumpkin pancake (Kim's Cravings)

-Mains:

Big batch Instant Pot white beans (Epicurious)

Okay, not new, but used during this time. People didn't buy out the lima bean supply like they did the other beans.

Instant Pot black bean soup (Food Network)

-Dessert:

Chocolate depression cake (Budget Bytes)

Just a few staples, and voila, dessert!

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We've come up with a few more recipes since flour became more available, but overall, we're sticking to simple. It saves money, time, and hassle, and being creative is enjoyable in it's own way? My favorite recipe made during pandemic time? Probably the flourless pumpkin pancake (pictured here). But I'm a sucker for pumpkin.

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What about you? Any favorite recipes from the (ongoing) pandemic times? Please share in the comments section.

God Gives "Two Cents!"

It had been a long, hard week. I had just picked up my groceries at Wal-Mart and still needed to grab a few items at Safeway. I felt defeated. I really didn't want to spend any more money! I'd already spent enough. And I just wanted to go home. But we needed the items at Safeway, so I went.

Dragging myself into the store, I picked up the items on the list. In my head, I debated over each one. Should I buy it? Should I not? Did we really need it? Or could we do without? Should I buy bread, or make it? In the end, I decided to forgo the bread, but buy everything else.

I sometimes add up my expected grocery bill in my head as I shop, but not this time. Waiting in line at the self-check, I was just too tired to do it. I just wanted to buy the groceries and go home. I got to the kiosk soon enough and started scanning. Beep! Beep! Beep! My total just kept increasing. I didn't watch too closely. just wanted to get it over with and go home. But then the "magic" happened. I put in my savings card and the total started decreasing. Down, down, down to exactly two cents. I kid you not! I got the biggest smile on my face as I shoved my card into the chip reader. No one could see my face since I was wearing a mask, but if they had, I am sure the relief and joy I felt was evident! I was so happy I even talked to the clerk on the way out! Once home, I just had to take a picture of the receipt and send it to my mom. She is the one who taught me my super scrappy saver skills anyway (though I don't do her "education" justice).

Mom's reply?

And Mom's wisdom comes through again. I hadn't thought about the significance of the two cents until she said something. We use "two cents" to say our opinion isn't that valuable, or isn't worth much. This, on the other hand, was worth so much as a sign of God's care! In the exhaustion, depression, and despair of these current times, I confess that I've often forgotten to look for God's fingerprints, yet God came through on this date in time. He knew the week I had. He knew my stress over the grocery budget. He knew the exact weight of all that produce I would buy. His Holy Spirit prompted me to buy what I did, nothing more or less. God provided the coupons and made the total what it was, and then brought along my mom to help me see the significance. Providence. 

I simply don't believe in coincidence. This experience was a spiritual one, a sign that God has two cents (and so much more!) about our lives. He sees. He cares, even about the little things, especially about the little things, even if those things are only worth two cents in the world's eyes.

Three Budgeting Hacks to Save You Money

We're still over here trying to work on our budget. We know that money can be an issue in marriage, and we are trying to manage it together, before it becomes an issue. Here are a few recent budget hacks from our adventures in life together:

1) Track your spending. It's annoying, but seriously, just do it. Start small, maybe just a category or two, and see what you spend, no judgement. We let our Costco membership expire a few months ago, but when we did, I committed to tracking potential savings. We didn't save the first month or so, but guess what? In the last few weeks, gas prices have skyrocketed. With Costco membership, I could have saved $3.00 a week on gas alone. And now we have two cars. So we renewed our membership and now know that we'll at least break even.

2) Look for discounts. We recently discovered that Verizon gives my employer a discount on cell phone plans. We save almost $20 a month by activating that offer. Now we are looking for other places our various affiliations might save us money.

3) Use grocery pickup. This might sound strange, but hear me out. I use the Wal-Mart grocery pickup app to order groceries each week. I use the app as a working grocery list throughout the week. I preload everything I want to buy, and then I look at the total. If I'm over the budget, I see what I can remove. This process has helped me realize how many times I overstock, or buy things when I really don't need them. Shopping via the app also helps reduce splurge buys.

Easy peasy? No. All these budget hacks take time, but they also save money. And time is money, so there's a trade off. Are these hacks right for you? I don't know. Maybe try them and see.

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Do you have any budget hacks to share? Please comment below.

We Let Our Costco Membership Expire.

Our Costco membership expired. We let it. That might surprise people, given that we are a couple focused on keeping a budget, and Costco is a budget friendly store. We actually let our membership expire because of the budget, however. Let me explain.

I started calculating the savings we gain using our Costco membership. Gas is the largest category for savings. We save an average of 10 cents per gallon of gas we buy. Multiplied by the approximate six gallons of gas I use to commute to work each month, that is 60 cents of savings, or $2.40. We save some money on products we buy, but we don't shop regularly enough for me to calculate them monthly. We also have another bulk store right next to Costco and shop there more often. We could save on eyeglasses and prescriptions at Costco, but for various reasons, we don't use Costco for those services. With Costco membership costing a minimum of $60 a year, we need to save an additional $2.60 a month to make the membership cost a wash. I'm not sure we're doing that.

Then there are the time and convenience factors. I learned about grocery pickup when COVID-19 hit, and have stuck with it since then. Costco doesn't have this service. Costco is also more difficult to enter and exit due to lines and extra precautions. Honestly, going to Costco lately has become more of a stressor that a stress reliever. I really like Costco products (think cheese, peanut butter, cocoa, cinnamon, etc.), but I wonder if my preference is really worth the costs to both our budget and our time. So we're letting our membership expire to see.

Will we likely renew our Costco membership at some point? I believe we will. Maybe in a few months. Maybe in a few years. Maybe never. If/when we go back, I want to make sure have a good rationale for doing so. I want to make sure it's worth it, and not just for budget reasons.

Reframing Our View of Money

I've always been frugal, maybe not as frugal as I could be, but frugal. My mom is a missionary kid who had to learn to make do on very little. My family lived on one income growing up. I was taught well. I started a budget around seventh grade and haven't really looked back. We even started marriage on a budget. But recently, our budget has changed.

When COVID hit, our budget categories kind of went out the window. I spent whatever money it took to buy whatever food I could whenever I could find it. We didn't really eat at restaurants before the pandemic, so we didn't do takeout. Even with increasing the amount I spent on food, I figured I could always buy more at the store than at a restaurant. But then restaurants starting going down. In the downtown area where we live, restaurant after restaurant started closing and saying, "Watch for re-opening" or "We'll be back soon." But would they? My husband and I started growing concerned. So we made a shift. We re-adjusted our grocery budget and decided to eat more basically in order to have more money to eat out. Sound crazy? It kind of is, but not to us.

We realized that our money is not just about the amount of product we buy, but about people. When we buy food at the store, we buy product. When we eat at a restaurant, we invest in people: in the people that serve us, in the chefs that make our food, and in ourselves and our enjoyment. We have now stretched our budget to do takeout at least every other week. Does that cost equal approximately a week's worth of groceries? Yes, it does. But it may also contribute to putting groceries on someone else's table. We're okay with that, more than okay. We're happy about it.

Am I advocating for people to go blow money they don't have on takeout just to contribute to the good of the economy? Well, no. I am challenging myself and others to reframe their view of money, especially money spent on entertainment and "luxury" items. If nothing else, this pandemic has showed me just how many people's livelihoods depend on "non-essential" services. And essential or not, those industries are good, good for consumers, and good for the jobs they provide.

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Have "extra" money? Have corners you could cut? Well maybe now is the time to reframe your view of money and budget for some "extras." Decide to get coffee once a week. Order out. Save some extra money for tips. There are lots of "non-essential" workers whose lives have been devastated by this pandemic and its ensuing shutdown. Those workers are people, and those people are essential. They are our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers and friends and comrades, and they need income. If you can support their livelihoods, please do.