Spring into Savings - April Frugal Chatter

[jasperandchar]

dreamcatcher1962,

What sort of items did you include in last years baskets it might lend us a hand in providing suggestions? Was it household items or mismatched items or themed items?

I would say look for glade or airwick starter kits on clearance great coupons out there or the glade candles. If you have the crest/scope $1.00 mouthwash coupons you can purchase the trial size at WM for $1.00 = free

Also maybe making homemade soap, purchase some loafpans from a yard sale it's supposed to be super easy it's on my to do list for Christmas this year.

I came in $40 under budget for groceries for April
Meal planning definitely helped.

Things that have thrown the budget were car repairs
Too many of those lately, between new tires, regular maintenance, check engine light (that darn thing is on again for the 3rd time and that's after having it check 2 weeks ago !)

Our budget is pretty much the same all the time, I just try to cut back where I can.
Things like hanging out laundry instead of using the dryer, aiming to get groceries under budget (doesn't often happen, lol)

My goals for May are still much the same as April , just keeping groceries under budget.
Make a prepayment on the mortgage. (may only be $100 but if I can do that I will be happy)

One ongoing goal I have is in relation to Christmas.
Every year at Christmas dh gives his staff gift baskets - 24 of them in all.
This used to cost us a lot of money, but last year he suggested that I use things I can get from couponing to fill the baskets.
This way it cuts down on our cost (it comes out of our pocket, he is an employee not an owner) and we are giving people things they will use rather than something that will sit on a shelf.

The baskets went over really well last year and I am hoping to find more items to add to them in May.
So, needless to say, this year in addition to the 2 bottles of wine they always get, they will contain Toothpaste & Toothbrushes, lol.

If anyone has any suggestions as to what else I can add, please feel free to make your suggestions.

[jasperandchar]

A little goes a long ways sometimes, congrats. on the pay increase, the garden will definately pay for itself in the long run, plus can't beat going in your back yard for fresh veggies.

I went a little over budget, with getting the backyard set up to how I want it, but will be able to save more in May as my freezer is pretty stocked. Just need to get a tank for the bbq so I can start grilling! I have a bunch of frozen meats I want to cook up.

My budget is the same pretty much every month and two weeks, some bills are paid monthly, and I get paid every two weeks so I budget groceries, pet stuff, gas for the car and things like that in biweekly cycles. Sounds complicated but it's not really. I use a running Excel spreadsheet to keep me on track. I sometimes make mistakes though, like I forgot to put a car payment in for my last pay and so we ran short as I had less money than I expected. But we make it work.

I am looking forward to later in May though, I get an increment mid-May so a little raise, which will be nice for the summer! We'll be going to my parent's for the May long weekend, which double the gas budget for that week, but I've got that worked out too. And I had the extra expense in April of getting my little kitty fixed, which was also in the budget but I got him microchipped (the vet recommended it as he's quite handsome, very friendly, and everyone who meets him wants him), that was not in the budget so was more expense.

I have a cold starting and cannot seem to think in a straight line. All over the place!

[jasperandchar]

Sounds like your implementations are in place and will pay off, congrats on what you have achieved in April especially creating a budget, it will take a few months to fine tune it to be realistic is what I find.

In April we implemented a budget for the first time ever. We had a lot of bills, taxes, and debt to get caught up on so this helped A LOT.

We finished half our basement and created a bedroom downstairs including framing, insulating, drywalling, mudding and painting for under $500. The best part is we saved the $500 for the basement by selling items we no longer used on kijiji so really spent $0 out of pocket. Will be doing the other half next month when DH gets his bonus.

We also were pretty good with sticking to a meal plan every week.

We did go over budget on certain things this month.

We went $200 over our renovations budget since we only budgeted the $500 cash we had for the basement, but ended up finding a really nice half-glass front door for the house on clearance so we bought it to put on when it's a bit nicer out. Couldn't pass up a good deal like that!

I also went on a small girls weekend trip at the beginning of the month and ate out for lunch twice so that blew our take out budget.

Grocery budget was also way over, but I did stock up on a lot of things and will hopefully be able to cut back a bit on groceries this month. I also thing I under budgeted and the budget wasn't realistic so I adjusted it from $200 to $250 for groceries mid-way through the month.

We were under budget on a few things like gas for our cars. The actual expense was pretty much bang on, but I subtracted my expenses check from work from our gas budget and we were $150 under budget!

I also had a budget of $50 for household items like TP, etc which we way over budgeted for, so I reduced this to $20.

Our clothing budget for May is increased from April, since I need to be some more summer maternity clothing and we just went through ds' clothes and weeded out over half his wardrobe that was too small. When we find out the sex of the baby in a few days I might be able to list these clothes on kijiji to help with the budget though

Our main goal for May is to decrease our food budget, try and make as many meals as possible with findings from our freezer and only by necessities and sale items.

[jasperandchar]

Good luck on selling your house

Well my budget is a bit shot for the past month, and likely for the upcoming month as well. My fiance and I are living separately at the moment because I moved to a city four hours away to start a new job - he is trying to sell our home and tie up loose ends. Sooooo, unfortunately halving the grocery budget etc doesn't work so easily. And we now have rent, as well as house upkeep (mortgage, property taxes, utilities, insurance - ahhh, it hurts my head to think of the numbers associated with that!). We are going to try to be as frugal as possible to not completely break the bank, but my goodness, it will be nice when the house sells, and when we are in one location, not spread out/thin.

I don't know if that answers the question, but our goal is to basically try to spend as little money as possible!

[jasperandchar]

Question of the Day - many parts

What goals did you achieve during the month of April? (could be making your own baked goods, to cutting/purchasing prepackaged food by 1/2, implementing a meal plan) ANYTHING GOES that you are proud of or have implemented?

No more store bought baked goods here again this month, with the exception of 1 box of chicken fingers for the kids no other prepackaged frozen foods, meal plan is a saviour (lol). Put another $100.00 in vehicle maintenance account and started $100.00 in family vacation (short trip 3-4 hours or so and only 2 days or so), put $100.00 in House Renovation account.

Have you been successful in staying on budget? If not, What through your budget if anything?

For the most part yes, however, it's the unexpected expenses such as $300.00 of vet bills last week for Charlotte's ear infection and Chester's 2nd shots and dh's knocker sensor breaking on his truck another $695.00 that threw us off, overall still pretty pleased with the other budgets and such which I did have control over.

Is your May budget completed or in the works?

May's budget is done for the whole month, I have even forecasted the $ for Chester's 3rd shots in 2 weeks and Charlotte's follow-up next week, I budget another $100.00 each pet for this.

Mother's Day budget is in their also and dh's birthday.

Have you made adjustments for May's budget?

Yes, with the added $100.00 each in Vehicle maintenance account, family vacation and Renovation accounts.

Do you have any set goals for May? (do you wish to share)

May's goals are to hopefully stock up on meats (sales willing), to put as much as I can on LOC at the end of May, when cottage season starts end of May to have salads prepped and ready to take to the cottage, baked goods, it's like having 2 houses and pack the truck on Thursday nights so once the boys get off the school bus off we go.

Also want to step up my savings by sending dh to get more of the items at stores that are near his work and too far for me to drive to or just not worth the extra trip into town.

Also hope to have the garden planted (end of May) lots and lots of veggies to plant with a plan in mind:
tomatoes = canned whole
green tomato = green tomato pickles
dandelion jelly
tomato, jalapeno = salsa
green/yellow beans = canned
cucumbers for salads

[Frugalbigmama]

My budget will be the same but have spent a little money since I have been saving and have a tax refund coming. Purchased a much wanted BBQ but will make us eat at home for sure all the time since it's so nice and fancy lol. Have a bunch of house projects but have mostly everything needed (new ceramic tile for bathroom, entrance and kitchen. Bought on super clearance last August.) Borrowing the tile cutter and doing the work ourselves so can't wait to get going on that.

[Frugalbigmama]

Also will be cleaning out the freezer tonight (have lots of meat I just purchased that I need to wrap for the freezer) so will be planning our meals and using up bits that have been there for awhile. Including ribs and a turkey being stored in Grandma's freezer!! Can't wait to have it organized and rid of stuff that has been kicking around. I have year old ground pork. Should I toss it or is it ok?

[gwennad]

A little goes a long ways sometimes, congrats. on the pay increase, the garden will definately pay for itself in the long run, plus can't beat going in your back yard for fresh veggies.

I am looking forward to garden fresh veggies! And teaching my son about growing plants and all that lifecycle stuff.

I was very glad this morning that I started really using coupons last year, my shampoo bottle was empty, my deoderant was all gone... but there in my stockpile was more! I don't have to stress over finding the money to get more shampoo or something. And I think I have enough to last me the year lol. So until there is a great deal, I'm all set. I brought my lunch today, and yesterday, and have 3 more frozen for this week, if there aren't enough leftovers from dinners. Phew! I did buy a sprite today because of my cold though, water is just disgusting!! And I'm filled up with tea so I'm floating away

My goal for May is to stick to the budget. I bought all of my kids summer clothes except for a swimsuit, as well as my own (provided the stuff I have from last summer still fits...) so no clothes to buy. I got dog food at Costco, so I'm stocked up on that. Provided there are no extra expenses, which of course there will be lol, I'll have a good month. Which will lead to a great summer.

[jasperandchar]

I personally would not eat the pork but if you have animals that eat table craps I would feel confident feeding it to the fur babies, just me.

Also will be cleaning out the freezer tonight (have lots of meat I just purchased that I need to wrap for the freezer) so will be planning our meals and using up bits that have been there for awhile. Including ribs and a turkey being stored in Grandma's freezer!! Can't wait to have it organized and rid of stuff that has been kicking around. I have year old ground pork. Should I toss it or is it ok?

[MaddensMomma]

Also will be cleaning out the freezer tonight (have lots of meat I just purchased that I need to wrap for the freezer) so will be planning our meals and using up bits that have been there for awhile. Including ribs and a turkey being stored in Grandma's freezer!! Can't wait to have it organized and rid of stuff that has been kicking around. I have year old ground pork. Should I toss it or is it ok?

The pork should be okay for up to a year, I would use it soon.
Try browning it for a spaghetti sauce or something and see how it tastes before mixing it in, and make sure you have a back up plan or freezer meal for that night just in case

I wouldn't throw it out without trying it unless it looks really freezer burnt?

[MrsSunshine]

Maddens'Momma, congratulations!

im really hoping to reign in on the expenses this month coming as well. minus putting in for a gift for my mom with my sisters I don't have any expenses now for quite some time. and with putting a garden in too at my parents that should def. help keep the bill down at the grocery store in a few weeks... to a month. besides i think i'll be so busy getting the house cleaned up for the summer guests i won't have time to do anything else.

[Frugalbigmama]

Thank for the advice on the pork. I don't feed my dog table scraps so I may just toss it. Will decide tonight when cleaning out the freezer.

[Frugalbigmama]

So anyone else getting their fill on Green beans this week? (FB $1 LB) Just bought another LB so will prep them tonight for tomorrow nights dinner. Will go Thursday the last day of the sale to get some for the weekend. Something both kids like so a win win!

[Angela273]

I am waiting for my large tax return. It is going to pay for a new tin roof on the house, $1,500 in maintenance repairs on my truck, and a good chunk to put onto my student loan...then it will be all gone. This is my biggest tax return, it is so easy to spend on large but necessary expenses.

[MrsSunshine]

what? i didn't see that advertised. and i think all my flyers are gone to recycle.