Yes, they’ve been my smallest three balances…but it’s still rather motivating!

Ok, have a great Monday (riiiight) and I’m off to battle the snow that fell yesterday. Brr!

Do you send holiday cards?  If so, do you do photo cards or regular boxed cards?  Hallmark cards?  How do you decide who gets a holiday card?

Did we need ‘em? No.  But books make us happy. And they’re hardcover!

Hubby put up the plastic in 2 of the 3 rooms with windows so far (the home office and our bedroom) and I can already tell a HUGE difference.  I used to sit at my computer and freeze because my desk is right up against the window…but now there is NO draft.  And our bedroom used to be the coldest room in the apartment but now it’s decently warm (although the sheets are still cold when we crawl into bed at night!).

We still have to hang the plastic in the living room, but that won’t take long and I’m sure that will help even more to keep our apartment nice and warm without having to crank the heat up so high.

Definitely a good investment.  Let’s just hope the cats don’t blast through the plastic trying to get up in the windowsills to lounge!  Or chew on the plastic, as I just saw my kitten doing… *rolls eyes*

I almost felt guilty!  Even though I knew when I went shopping that that’s what it was there for.  I am just not in the mindset of blowing $150 on myself like I used to be in the past.  Before, it wouldn’t have made me blink twice. Now I mulled over each purchase before deciding to buy it.

Definitely a change of pace for my self-proclaimed shopping addicted personality.

Anyway, other than that, we spent over $120 on groceries the other night.  Yeah, you read that right. But I bought a lot of natural, organic and whole foods.  I’m trying new stuff.  You see, I’m recently addicted to foodie blogs and found SO MANY recipes I want to try and foods I want to incorporate into my diet to feel better and be healthier.  So I bought a TON of fresh produce (including spaghetti squash and a big bag of baby spinach) and things such as almond milk, almond butter, tofu, and jasmine rice.

I’m really excited about these purchases. I have NEVER had tofu before and even the word used to turn me off, but I found a recipe for a BBQ Tofu Stirfry that looks and sounds delicious…so I figured “What the heck!?”.  I may very well not like it, but then again…I may find it tastes alright.

So yes.  I don’t feel bad about spending so much on groceries because it allows me to feel good about what’s going into my body, which in turn allows my BODY to feel better.

When something like that happens (to the tune of losing $34,000+ annually), you definitely have to get creative.  That’s when I started blogging, figuring out the drugstore “games”, couponing, reading PF blogs, menu planning, and the list goes on and on.  I had applied for unemployment which gave me about 1/3 of my old income, but it was better than nothing. And in the meantime, I submitted job apps like a mad woman.

Now, over 7 and a half months since losing my job, I am working part time for minimum wage.  But it’s a job. It helps to pay the bills.  And with all the frugal life changes we’ve made, we learn to live with what we have.  I am still on unemployment (I was granted the 13 week extension for high unemployment states, such as Michigan, which is where I live) — which may confuse some.  I have a job but still get unemployment?  It’s technically UNDERemployment.  They pay some of the difference of what I was making while on unemployment since I’m only working a part time job. And all that’s done towards the end of the year (or first week of the 2009, not exactly sure).

The time I had off from not working was a learning experience.  It was a mental health break (and physical health break, as I was going through a lot of health issues since being newly diagnosed with an incurable autoimmune disorder just weeks before being fired).  The time off gave me the opportunity to get in touch with what we really needed to survive, and not just what we THOUGHT we needed.

Granted, if it weren’t for the fact that my husband makes darn good money for our area, we would’ve been in a sea of trouble.  We had no emergency fund (now built up to just over $2,000 and still growing) and nothing to fall back on.  So there was that, at least.

I’m still learning. I’m still trying to follow a budget without going over each month.  I’m still trying to put money into savings and pay down debt.  It’s all a process that will keep evolving.  But I never once gave up hope.

Some of my favorite stores offer these online coupon codes (like Aeropostale, Old Navy, and Best Buy) and I always forget to look for them when checking out.  I don’t know why, either.  I’m quite the coupon addict, so you’d think I’d be all over it.  I guess when I’m shopping online, I just forget that option is available to us as the consumer a lot of the time.

With the holidays around the corner, have you contemplated doing some of your Christmas/gift shopping online?  If so, have you figured in the savings that online coupons could offer?  Sites like FindSavings.com offer a great variety of discounts and coupon codes that could probably come in handy if you like to do your shopping online.  Don’t be like me and forget about the savings that these online coupons offer! I usually remember after I’ve already made the purchase and feel like a moron for forgetting.  Definitely a “hit head on desk” moment!

Anyway, happy shopping!  Christmas is right around the corner, don’t let it sneak up on you!

Second of all, I made a purchase today that I am proud of myself for.  I’m almost out of face lotion and the stuff I usually buy from Sephora is $38.  Instead of ordering some online (with a coupon code that gives me 15 free samples with a $25 purchase), I went to Meijer and bought a bottle of Garnier Nutritioniste facial lotion for $12.99.  Totally saved myself $25.

Now here’s hoping I like this lotion as much as my usual stuff.  *crosses fingers*

Ingredients:

• 1- 20oz can of cherry pie filling (I used a “no sugar added” kind which cut calories in half)
• 1 cup of old fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 2 T. sugar
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1/2 cup fat free milk
• 1/4 t. vanilla extract

All you do is pour the cherry filling into a greased 8×8 baking pan.  Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl and scoop over the top of the cherries.  Bake in a 350* oven for 30 minutes.  Super easy!  I served with a scoop of Edy’s Light Slow Churned Vanilla ice cream and it was a delicious dessert.

• $30 per week on groceries ($120 for the month) - Not even close.  We spent over $100 per week on groceries this month due to my new “healthy lifestyle” and change in what I’ve been cooking (like incorporating seafood once per week, and eating fresh salads and fruit at least once per day).  Our total was $374.11 for the month.  That’s $254.11 OVER budget.

• $40 monthly Sam’s Club budget - We did this one!  Only spent $31.20 at Sam’s this month, which was basically just tortillas, mozzarella cheese, and pepperoni.  We came in $8.80 UNDER budget.

• $15 out of pocket on drug store items - Used my Walgreens gift cards for anything I purchased there, so there was no OOP expense and after rebates through Rite Aid, I will have only spent $10.08 OOP there.  We came in $4.92 UNDER budget in this category.

• Put at least $100 into the emergency fund - We weren’t able to put anything into our emergency fund this month.  :(  The I had already planned for a higher payment to a credit card, which  meant the money I would normally send to savings was used for that instead.  Which I’m ok with.

• Pay cash to renew auto insurance for 6 months - Yes!  $1,220.79 was sent to our insurance company…in cash!  (Well…with our debit card, actually, but you get the idea.  We didn’t have to pull from savings or use a credit card or anything.)

• Dining out budget down to $20 for the month - With me eating at school in the evenings, which I hadn’t really planned on, this is about $10 per week alone.  Plus there was a lunch out with the hubby and a few fast food stops here and there (for Dave, not me…I haven’t had fast food in about a month).  So we spent $104.72 on dining out…or, $84.72 OVER budget. I’ve never come in under in this category since I’ve started this site…ugh.

• Menu planning - Yes ma’am! I do this every Saturday and go grocery shopping every Sunday and it works out well.  Now I just need to pull in the reigns on groceries a bit more while still sticking to a healthy meal plan.