Money, food, Betty Crocker.....

We, like most people, have credit card debt.  Honestly we don't know how it got so big, but it did.  Over the past 3 years with me not working, and buying a money pit of a house we have still managed to chip away at our debt and doing an awesome job most of the time.  I just read an article on MSN written by a lady who sounded just like me.  Her article, tips, ideas, etc. were pretty much all of the steps we as a family have taken in order to pay off our debt.   I could have written that article..... why haven't I written an article?  I totally could, however this lady just did a good one so why bother.  The main point, SACRIFICE and DISCIPLINE.  In the end, when the debt is gone, it isn't that there is more money in your bank account that matters, it's the quality of life you gain.   In our journey we have done both, and learned these lessons, and are thankful that we have had to learn to be so "tight" with our money.  A lesson that will help carry us into a sound financial future.  

We have been on a money diet since we got married, I'd have to say though as the children get older, me in school, and things needing replaced in the house that we are currently in our tightest time.  That said, Jon's deployment could not come at a better time for us financially.   Not only do we save on car insurance, his cell phone, etc, but he makes a pretty penny more while deployed in Bahrain.  Enough to wipe our slate clean and give us the freedom we have been working so hard toward.  We are the lucky ones in that we are getting a magic bullet to free us of debt.  Certainly with a huge sacrifice of Jon leaving his family for 6 months, but at the same time he doesn't really have a whole lot of say.   Our life when he returns will be of a better quality, less financial stresses!  I feel guilty saying that as we certainly are not poor, needy etc.  We will gain back some of the things that we have sacrificed along out journey.   We want to continue living meagerly, so that our money can grow, and so that we can use it to live a full life of great experiences for our family, not full of "things" for each other.  (although, I am excited to buy a nice new outfit for myself every so often and not feel guilty about it)  

The lessons we are learning about ourselves on our money diet are interesting.  We have learned to really examine the amount of money we spend in small places.  One of our "small" places being eating out, and unnecessary grocieries......  Bringing me to my new project...... Our second largest bill each month, second to our house payment, is FOOD!   Two things that have brought me to this project is a reality show I saw about a family of 15 living on a $500 a month food budget!  Yeah, um that is at least what we spend per month on food for 4!  The second is the $1 a day diet project blog a hippie couple in CA did just as an experiment for 30 days.   We obviously can not and will not feed our children on $1 per person per day, however, it is making me examine much closer how I shop for food and what we eat.  

I remember as a teenager eating Salmon for the first time, I think I was 15!  Maybe never having fresh fish, nice cheeses, etc was because I grew up in a corn field, in a small rural world. Or, perhaps it was because my mom was a teacher, dad a farmer, and they made sure we had everything we wanted and needed, along with the ability to take advantages of the experiences that would expand our little rural world, thus  cutting expenses where they could.  Ah.... likely the later.  Mom made everything from scratch.  Something I try to do for the health of our family but still grab the canned beans, frozen lean quisines and bags of salad.  She also canned our vegetables that we grew in our garden, dried our clothes on the line out side, used rags instead of paper towels, and returned the glass soda bottles to the grocery store (the old IGA on Ellsworth ..... ahh the memories) As we all got older and somehow money became more plentiful and the luxury items became available at the IGA, our lifestyle slowly changed.  Becoming accustomed to these things, it has been a lesson to remember the old ways.  My resolution for the new year is to cut our food bill and still eat healthy.   My ideas (so far) to do this are:

1. Meal plan weekly and stick to the plan!

2. include in our meal plan regular staple meals that the kids like including items such as beans, lean ground beef, and pounded chicken (pounding it makes it look bigger and seems like you are eating more and thus goes further)

3.  Prepare extra and freeze the leftovers for nights when I don't feel like cooking and can avoid the temptation to eat out.  

4. stop buying bags of lettuce and chop up my own!

5. Cautiously buy and use the vegetables before they rot in the fridge.

6. Clip coupons!!!

7. Plan special nights to eat out as a family (we ate out every Sunday at Ponderosa before visiting Uncle Paul at the nursing home, and ate lunch at McDonald's on Saturday before the grocery store this was also when a cheese burger was $0.35, but what great memories!) 

That said.... I am going to do my Thursday task of menu planning as not only am I resolving to cut back our food bill and waste, but also organize our life before Jon leaves.  Check out this home organization plan.  It has literally changed our life in our home!