Everyone once in awhile...

Bare Escentuals has their out-of-this-world sale on some select items for one day only (don't bother clicking that after 9PM Pacific Time). You may remember my escapades last fall, stocking up on some goodies.

Today wasn't too different...

With a total savings of $83.50!

Couponing = Not as Important as Haiti

But, I'm sure you've all been wondering how this month of couponing has gone so far.

So, I'm going to tell you. And I'm not saying this to boast in any special powers I've been granted as a human being. Most of this stuff I have figured out and come up with as a result of pulling inspiration from a lot of different places online and from people I know and really thinking long and hard about where I'd rather have our monthly grocery money going if it's possible to actually save... and it is.

Here's the scoop.

As I mentioned, I've got a little strategy going that includes the following steps:

1. Shop only at Publix every Sunday this entire month (I do this simply because it's a mile down the street and incredibly convenient and I LIKE the experience there.)
2. Shop (mostly) the BOGO, Advantage, and weekly sales. (There are also the occasional exceptions for recipes, cravings, etc. Man can not live by coupon alone.)
3. Purchase one newspaper per person in our home = 2. (I have heard people say "one per person over the age of 10" and I think that means that kids over the age of 10 consume more? I don't know, regardless there's just two of us. I usually pick mine up at Walgreen's on our way home from church for $3.50 total. There are usually other good coupons from restaurants/stores as well as the articles and the rest can be used for wrapping paper, crafts, the firepit, etc.)
4. Write, in Sharpie, the date on the coupon inserts and stick them in a folder. (I find this saves from clipping every coupon unnecessarily... I'm not always going to use them all.)
5. Look through the weekly Publix Ad for deals. (Who knows, your favorite fruit, toilet paper, sub from the deli, or spaghetti sauce might be on sale. It's always good to stock up on items.)
6. Compare the weekly Publix Ad with I Heart Publix's weekly round-up of the ad + corresponding coupons available in previous (or current) Sunday coupon inserts.
7. Pull inserts or print those listed on IHP's website and cut only as needed.

The first two Sundays this month I only half-heartedly did any of this. I was definitely hitting the first point at full-speed but lagging in the others. I bought my first papers on 1/17 if that tells you anything.

Okay, so here are the results...

1/03 - saved 22%
1/10 - saved 21%
1/17 - saved 50%
1/24 - saved 68%
1/31 - saved 69%

Total $ Savings = $213.93

And just think if I'd done a full month at that rate!

Whew. Get's me all excited.

It's like a game for me, appealing to the mathematical, competitive, frugal, and domestic parts of my little brain. Plus, it's a learning thing and I always enjoy that.

Take for instance, these things I've learned in the last month:

1. You can use a coupon PER item at the grocery store, even when it's BOGO. Who knew?!
2. You can stack a manufacturer coupon (like the ones you get in the paper) with one Publix store coupon (also found in the paper or online/in flyers/magazines) and one competitor store coupon if you have any.
3. Yeah! Publix takes competitor store coupons (as long as they are manufacturer ones). Up until today, this meant Food Lion, Kroger, and Target coupons published by the manufacturer would work. Unfortunately, the local Food Lion is closing and is therefore no longer a competitor, but oh well.
4. Of course, Publix doubles all coupons up to $.50 a piece.
5. Buying multiples of an item doesn't make you crazy, it makes you smart. I seriously don't have to go shopping for salad dressing (which is a staple), cereal, tuna fish, or pasta for awhile if I don't want to. Instead of getting stuff when you need it, you have it in advance and at a much lower cost.
6. It doesn't take as much time as you'd think. Once you do it once or twice, it strangely becomes a lot easier and more natural. And for me, I've found it makes me less worried or bothered when it's "necessary" to get stuff that isn't on sale.

So my approach now, is stocking up on all the things we actually like/want/use/etc. that run the sale/coupon circuit and using even just a portion of the extra money saved to purchase stuff at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's that we like/want/use/etc. that don't run the sale/coupon circuit.

For us, it's all trade off and yet, our grocery budget is smaller than ever before.

And I have to say, I like grocery shopping more than ever before, as well!

Mochas At Home

I love that Dave, in the Financial Peace University curriculum, calls buying a home a forced savings plan. Because really, in so many ways it is true. But even more than a forced savings plan, its like this giant magnifying glass that really calls into question, at least for us, the heart behind the money. The reason we spend and on what and for whom.

I mean sure, we've been pretty diligent to do the right things. We made sure we continued to give. We got on a budget. We started an emergency fund. We cut up our credit cards. We paid off my grad school loans. We finished our emergency fund. We opened up HSAs and IRAs and 401Ks. We started on a steady track of significant savings for our first home.

But as much as in life, with money, your actions can be right while your heart and mind are all over the map. You can feel like because you're doing the right things in every other area, you can kind of fudge around in the places no one really keeps track of. That it's okay to sort of "live it up" because we deserve it for working so hard.

I hate that spending money a little recklessly is a reward for living by the book most of the time. And I'll admit, I don't want to live in either world entirely. I don't want to be so bound up in formulas and systems that I lose sight of the fact that ultimately, none of this matters, we're only doing what we can with what we have and one day all of it will be gone. On the other hand, I don't want the other type of bondage that comes with not taking responsibility and living far beyond your means.

So where does that leave us?


Well, I'm trying to figure it out.

I'm trying to figure out how to change a pattern that has sort of sneaked into my life and spoken untruths to me. Has told me that "purchasing things is more valuable than making them", "getting something quickly is more rewarding than making it", and "so what if you spend all your blow money on yourself, it's yours isn't it?"

Well yes, but how can even the money that is dispensable become something that matters - something that can always be used for something more important than funding my self-satisfaction.

One small, and maybe silly way has been making my most favorite coffee drinks at home. Sure, I've done it plenty of times since we were fortunate enough to receive a double espresso/coffee maker as a shower gift. But almost sort of as a novelty, like "oh, isn't this fun, I can make a latte if I really want to!" meanwhile preferring the convenience of a quick pull-in at Starbucks or a run-over to Bongo on my way into work for my coveted once-a-week espresso kick (the rest of the week it's office coffee).

And I mean, what's so wrong with that? I'm only making (usually) one stop at Starbucks or Bongo in one week spending $4 on a really great Grande Nonfat Iced Caramel Macchiato or a Tall Nonfat Vanilla Latte when there are people who spend the majority of their weekly income on it. Aren't I so good?

But even that has been called into question. Because the issue is at the heart of my deeming my behavior good and others' bad, meanwhile denying myself the opportunity to do what I love to do which is to create. To spend all of the five (or 8, if I'm steaming milk) minutes it takes to grind the coffee beans, brew the espresso, and make the final product, meanwhile freeing up money to have a meal with friends or purchase a card for my boss or leave a better tip for someone not expecting it.

I'm not making a values judgment on anyone but myself here, so please hear me clearly.

I want our money to go further than the boundaries of our own pleasure and comfort and this whole house process has been the catalyst for this feeling.

And it seems, these days, my iced mochas at home are a start.

House Fund: First Anniversary

The journey officially started this day last year.

Looking back on that entry, I can't help but linger over the part that reads:

But we hope our friends and family will be rooting for us and helping keep us accountable to dreaming big. We can't do this on our own, and to that same degree, are hoping to rely fully on the wisdom and provisions of God who has been so gracious to lead us this far.

And you have. And we have. And more than both of those combined, He has.

I am so very thankful for that and excited about what lies ahead. We are more than halfway to our year-end goal and hope to remain faithful in giving and free to enjoy what a little extra savings beyond the house affords us in the way of trips to visit family and the requisite get-aways we so enjoy.

Let us always be mindful of how much we are blessed, in whatever way God chooses to do so, and of what, then, is required of us because of that.

House Goals Revisited

Okay, so sometimes I feel like this is all I talk about.

But then... then I realize it's actually only (almost) all I think about and aside from updating the chart and posting about reaching our goal last year, it's really not an overdone subject.

So on that note, I thought I'd let you all know we made some changes to the goals we set last year for this year for the house. Seeing as we hit an unexpected jump ahead towards the end of the year and ended up saving 153% of our goal of $8,000, we've rethought what our stretch might be for this year. You know, the thing that makes you - when you're standing on your tippy toes - have to jump just a little bit to get it?

Here's what our goals were (for a recap):

End of 2008 = $8,000
End of 2009 = $43,000 (having saved $35,000 in the 2009 fiscal year)
End of 2010 = $93,000 (having saved $50,000 in the 2010 fiscal year)
End of 2011 = $160,000 (having saved $67,000 in the 2011 fiscal year)

Here's what they are now:

End of 2008 = $12,212
End of 2009 = $50,000 (having saved $37,788 in the 2009 fiscal year)
End of 2010 = $100,000 (having saved $50,000 in the 2010 fiscal year)
End of 2011 = $160,000 (having saved $60,000 in the 2011 fiscal year)

So, that little $7,000 difference might not seem like a big deal but it's enough that we're super-charged about doing what it takes to get there. Going into this year knowing we were already $4,000 closer to where we need to be kind of made me a little too comfortable. You might think, "Well, what's wrong with that?" or "Why don't you just go ahead an buy a house already while the markets are down?"

But comfortable isn't the point of all of this. I mean, eventually it will be. But this is supposed to be hard. This is supposed to not make sense to everyone and this is supposed to be something that, for the time being, we work our butts off to achieve.

And like we've said before, just because we have goals and plans doesn't mean we don't know that just about anything can happen - for the good or for the detriment of what we believe is our mission, financially speaking, for right now. But while we've got the opportunity and the determination to do this, I think we'll just keep moving right along...