Easy fill-in-the-blank budget!

Happy Monday!  Has everyone been busy?  I sure have!  I adopted 3 darling chickens yesterday who were too noisy for a little down-town neighborhood.  They are extremely sweet hens, I can't wait to share pictures!

Im going to share my #1 recommended budget sheet...  we have been using this for years and years.  It is easy and will keep your life straight.  Print it out and try it.  While I love our Budgeting app i find this sheet nice when making changes...  currently we are working on our property and i am seeing just how much we have to spend on a big repair project!

Monthly Cash Flow Plan

There it is guys, print it out and take a look at it.

Lesson 1: Create a successful environment

Its easy to not blow your grocery budget when you are home sitting on your couch.  Its easy to not buy a splurge fancy sweater if you are not at the mall...

Todays task is to remove those temptations.  

We wouldn't ask an alcoholic to get healthy with a house full of vodka would we?  So it is not fair to expect you to restrain yourself with an inbox full of emails from your favorite stores with promises of happiness and bargains.

1) emails: unsubscribe from all shopping possibilities

2) regular mail...  a few stores still do this, Bath & Body Works, etc.  If these coupons are a temptation remove yourself

3) shopping for fun...  just stop.  at this point you do not *need* new underwear or kitchen items.  Use what you have and make do.  Broken can opener?  ask around for a free one.  What are the chances you go to buy a replacement and end up with something else too?  $20 that could have gone to debt.

4) grocery shopping:  when you do go you will have a hand-written list AND a snack before you do to stop hunger-induced splurges. 

5) social media:  this one is HUGE and we do not even realize it.  Constant ads quietly encouraging us to spend money.  Limiting is best, followed by purposefully filling it with emotionally beneficial content.  Follow every Dave Ramsey page you can find..  and for fun add in some minimalism or workout topics, healthy eating or easy recipes, crafts or cute animal pages.

Lesson 1B, Step 1; Emergency Fund

Welcome to Lesson 1 Part B!  You now have your reasons why you want to be free from those crippling debt hand-cuffs.  Paying off debt can feel really good, it can even be fun at times.  Imagine paying off a $4,000.00 credit card and being done with it forever!  What relief!

We need to be smart and to be prepared to be successful...  what if something happens...  you blow a tire and need a new one at $250....  Credit Card to the rescue, right?  NO.  

Getting out of Debt: Lesson 1

Getting out of debt.  Sounds like a dream, right?  It seems like everyone has debt, a LOT of debt.  It is the only way to live, the only way to drive a reliable car, the only way to treat your family to a nice dinner, buy the expensive sports equipment, pay the car repair bills.  You know what I am talking about...  until you realize you are living your life trying to play catch-up in a loosing game.  One emergency sets you back years of payments....  if you lost your job could you pay the lenders?  A downward spiral for us while the banks rake in profits.

We got ourselves out of over 300K of debt using Dave Ramseys plan.  It took us 5 years.  It was hard, very hard.  VERY FREAKING HARD.  But now we can do whatever we want.  Two days ago hubby just paid cash for a lovely, gently used Audi.  Last month we paid cash to have our driveway paved...  watching our girls play basketball on it every day is priceless.  As soon as it is safe to travel again

What do i do with 30lbs of meat...

Had a small grocery list so i headed to our local Military Commissary, because I am trying to keep under budget this month.  What do I spy but the BEST deal i have ever seen on chicken breast...  only 93 cents a pound!  This generally goes for $4-6 a pound at our local grocery stores.  Nearby the ground lean sausage was only $1/lb.  I really felt like i had hit the jackpot, bought a total of 30lbs...

On my way home I considered going back for more, but didn't ;)

Some quick googling at the grocery store and I decided to try a few 'junk' type recipes..  you know, the ones with 'can creamed soup' or those 'spice packets' and convenient 'meal helpers' because I knew realistically right now, as I am also juggling the family, farm AND working nearly full time, I just can't prep all this alone without a few 'helpers'.

Fingers crossed they turn out!

First up I did a big batch of Chicken Pot Pie using BOTH premade dough and can of generic mushroom soup.  It was pretty quick, I did the prep while the chicken baked.  I am SO in love with our 'new to us' garage fridge, it is the perfect place to freeze my meals flat then transfer to our big freezer.  I did end up with a little extra Pot Pie sauce to turned that into a soup!  4 meals down.

Next up some quick BBQ chicken bags using a 'healthy' low sugar BBQ sauce and some diced onion,  4 made, no recipe needed here, just a bottle of bbq sauce, some diced onion, fresh garlic and olive oil!

Then Balsamic Peach chicken, using this recipe, 3 of those...  wondering if it will work well in the crock pot?  hmmmm....

I bought some 'butter chicken' seasoning packets and whipped that up.  Trying to think back, i think this may be the only time i have EVER purchased a seasoning packet, LOL!  Lets hope it turns out ;)

For a fun Italian dish I made Sun Dried Tomato Chicken, I will serve this with pasta and veggies of course! Another 3 dinners down!

Who doesn't love Eggroll in a Bowl?  I believe a friend shared this recipe with me about a year ago... its a family favorite!  I don't even have a particular recipe I use, just a quick google or pinterest search and I get the basic ingredients, be sure to use plenty fresh ginger and sesame oil, those make the dish :)  4 packs ready to go, must add fresh cabbage...  on busy nights simply use cole-slaw mix!

...and more!  I was so busy finishing these meals I never finished this post. I saved SO much money doing this, most meals were only a few dollars.  Commitment and organization...

IF I made 30 dinners for 4 people at only $4 each...  normally a dinner for 4 made at home is closer to $14 and up...  meaning I saved $10 per meal, times 30...

a savings of $300!  WOW!

Reduce Ocean Pollution with Hippo Sak

We got the opportunity to try Hippo Sak earth friendly trash bags and boy they are amazing!  This company employs struggling families in Haiti and Mexico by paying them for cleaning plastic out of our ocean!  This plastic is then used to produce trash bags, which we buy and use.

These are super strong bags and come in a variety of sizes.  A wonderful solution to waste that anybody can get on board with.

Check them out on Amazon HERE!

Safeway bargains are a lifesaver!

Ahhh, back from a lovely family vacation and time to jump into savings mode again.  Our brief pause from paying off debt was very much needed after working extremely hard on our goal for SOO many years.