No More Trash Bill!

Deciding to eliminate our trash bill is one of the weirdest things we have done to try and save money, but two years ago we finally made the leap to no longer having a trash bill! I know it sounds a little bit strange, but this is something that my husband and I had been trying to do for several months. I first got the idea after reading Tammy's blog and how she did not have a trash bill. At first I thought she was crazy, but after I thought about it for awhile I realized that it was actually a really smart idea.

Here is what we did...

-We realized that we had mandatory recycling in our city and we pay for it every month so we might as well use it.

-We made our goal to only have 1 bag of trash per week.

- I set up a recycling bin in the garage right off the kitchen.

- We recycled everything we could...paper, junk mail, glass, tin cans, and aluminum.

-My husband made a compost pile on the side of our house for the garden.

We decided to see how things went for 2 months and then make our decision. Since we try to buy as few prepacked foods as possible and reuse as much as possible we quickly realized that we would probably be able to easily meet out goal. The result-2 months later we had managed to consistently have 1 bag of trash per week.

What did we decide to do with it? Well, we would prefer to burn it and not have to deal with it at all, but in our small suburb that did not seem like a good option. So instead we have been taking the 1 bag to my mother's house and adding it to her trash cart.

We did not see a reason to pay a trash company to pick up 1 bag a week. That is a savings of $35-$40 a month or $480 per year. This may not seem like a lot, but it is little things like this that add up to big savings. Especially if you are trying to save money. Not to mention the way it helps our environment that God gave us to take care of.

For More Frugal Friday ideas head on over to Life As Mom

More Real Food Budgets

To go along with Mondays post about real food budgets I thought I would link back to a couple of other budgets I have found after doing some looking around. I am hoping that it will be helpful for you to see how others break down their budgets and that everyone has different ideas as to what is important to budget for.

Passionate Homemaking - Real Food Budget
Heavenly Homemakers - Getting Real With Food: Breaking Down The Budget
Keeper Of The Home - How My Grocery Budget Works

Great Post On Lowering Your Grocery Budget

Catherine at A Spirited Mind wrote an excellent article on how you can buy natural foods and still stay on a budget. Since that is the topic of this blog and I have been so swamped the last several months I thought you might be interested in reading it. It is always nice to see someone elses's perspective on a subject.

Dave Ramsey Books and CDs $10 Today

My husband and I have been using Dave Ramsey's plan to get out of debt for about a year now and I can not say enough good things about it. For example after putting his plan into action we were able to pay our Saturn Vue down from about $12,500 to $0 in 8 months! This was on just my husband's salary. Things have slowed down a bit on our debt snowball due to some pay cuts, but we are able to still put some money away. Before starting the Dave Ramsey plan we would have been in trouble with our pay cuts, but praise the Lord we know that this in only temporary and we will be able to raise our income again.

If you could use some encouragement or would like to look into buying some of Dave's products today is the day to do it. 46 of his most popular products are only $10 or less today. Go here to take a look. You will not be sorry.

This Week's Grocery Totals

I did not have to spend too much on groceries this week since I made a large bulk food run last week as well as stocked up on meat the last week of October. I think I spent less then $50 for the month on good quality local beef and chicken (Smart Chicken). One of these days I will remember to get a photo of my groceries before I put them away so you can get a better feel for what I am able to get on a tight budget.

I will admit that am not completely happy with some of the purchases I made. They were not all the best choice health wise, but I am still learning how to balance everything as well. Especially when it comes to wanting all organic, whole foods and staying within budget. Hopefully we can all learn together.

Next week I will be restarting my series on transitioning to real foods and where to find them.

Aldi's (Not organic, but at least real foods)
9 pounds of tangerines - $2.97 (for making juice)
Broccoli $.99
Pasta Sauce 1.59
Apple juice $1.19 (Not good for us, but it gets the elderberry juice down my 4 yr old)
Carrots $.99
2 Grapefruits $.80
Garlic bulbs $.89
Bananas $1.17
Frozen Peas $.95
Frozen Corn $.95 (Usually I agree that if you can not buy organic corn it is not worth buying, but the budget is very tight this month and I had to compromise. I think I may have a good deal for next week on organic corn.)
Cream of mushroom soup $.59 (I finally found a recipe to make my own, yeah!)
Can green beans $.49
Total $14.40

Dillons
6 cups of yogurt (My kids will not eat homemade for some reason. I will share how sometime.)
-$1 coupon
Total $1.70

Dillons again
Cheese ravioli $3.00 (For making pumpkin ravioli)
4 Pie crusts $4.00
Parmesan cheese $.99 marked down
Freezer bags $.83
Something for $2.19 (I can't understand the receipt)
Total $11.70

Emergency Essentials (online)
1 pound cinnamon -$10 gift card
Total $1.50

Totals for the weeks $29.30

More Bulk Food Fun

I wish I would have taken a picture of my bulk food purchase yesterday. There was enough to fill up the back of my small SUV! My husband and I decided to make a quick run to Yoder Saturday morning to restock on some staple items. We had so much fun shopping and spending some time together without the kids.

Here is a breakdown of what I came home with....

Carriage Crossing- 2 HUGE cinnamon rolls. We are talking dinner plate size. Total these were less then $3! (definitely an item we "needed")

Yoder Meat Market-I already stocked up on meat from Satchel Creek so we just poked around and bought 2 things of raw milk cheese on sale BOGO, hydroponic, organic tomatoes, and a little cheese snack. I think we spent around $7-8

Yoder Bulk Foods-Our main reason for going........

25 lbs oats

10 pounds black beans

10 pounds pinto beans

10 pounds red beans

5 pounds split peas

50 pounds of flour (No grain mill yet, sigh. I store this in my big freezer)

5 pounds of cornmeal

10 pounds of rice

5 pounds of lentils

6 pounds sugar (Yes, the processed bad stuff. The holidays are coming and my extended family does not care for the natural sweeteners)

Lots of different spices

About 1 lb sea salt

I think that is it unless I left something out. Total for the bulk food store $105! Not too bad. This should be enough to last us 4-5 months. With the meat I bought earlier in the week I am hoping to only have to buy produce and eggs the rest of the month. We will see how it goes. Yes buying natural food is a little more expensive, but when you consider how many things you are not buying it almost evens out.

Budget Cut Backs For A Healthier LifeStyle

This is an old post that had quite a few comments from on my other blog. I thought it was worth posting again. We are all looking for ways to cut back. Hopefully this will help. Although this post is about trying to save money to be a stay at home mom I felt it might be helpful for cutting back on some other areas. By doing so we are able to put more money towards eating more nutritious food.

I had a reader mention recently that she was about $500 short per month from being able to balance the budget and stay home. I hope that this post will somehow help others see that you can make this work.

How much are you willing to sacrifice to stay home with your children? This is a question that I often have to ask woman when they ask me how I manage to be a SAHM on my husband's teaching salary. The other statement that I often get from people is "Oh, you are so lucky to be able to stay home with your children. Your husband must have a good job." I have to make sure that I am polite and say thank you I know I am lucky, but what I want to say to them is luck has nothing to do with it. I stay home by choice and I make choices daily that keep me there.

What are some of the luxuries or so called "needs" that you may have to sacrifice to stay home? I have decided to put together a list of things that my family felt we did not need and truly have not really missed. I realize that some of these things we may be able to have again in the future, but for this season of our lives they are not necessities.

I am going to put an approximate dollar amount to the things on this list so you can see how quickly you can "find" that extra $500 in the budget. It may not seem that you will have any material comforts left at first, but I think you will soon realize, just how little you really need to be happy. The Lord said that he will make sure that we have food to eat, clothes on our back, and a roof over our head. This is the ultimate picture of true contentment. To be happy with the simple things in life. I will not say that I am not still struggling daily with contentment, but I am trying.

• Cable tv Total we saved $100/month going with minimal cable, phone and internet.
• High speed internet (We do have DSL, but a slower version)
• Call waiting
• Caller ID (Ok this one I miss)
• Long distance telephone service
• Cut Blow money $50/month
• NO eating out except special occasions $50-$100/month
• Gym membership $50/month
• OnStar $15/month
• Budget groceries Depending on your family $100-$200/month
• Try to get your electric and gas on an average payment plan For us this saved about $50/ month
• Use less water, shower every other day. $5-10/month
• Eliminate trash bill (A little radical, but it can be done.) $30/month
• Cut back on your driving to save on gas (If you don't work this should be easier)$50-$100
• Cut family clothing budget. Try garage sales and thrift stores. $25-50/month
• Coupon shop or make your own cleaning supplies $10-15/month
• Put a $5 limit on gifts. This can force you to be creative. With coupons I still am able to come up with some nice gifts. $25-$50/month
• Cancel magazine subscriptions. $10/month
• Come up with free or cheap entertainment. Keep an eye out for coupons or free events, or try having a family night at home. $25/month
• Possibly sell one car $300/month
• Before quitting your job eliminate debt. $100-$300/month

As you can see these numbers can very quickly add up.

Realize that some of these changes will not be permanent. They are just some things you may have to sacrifice for a season to make your dreams come true. You can eventually start adding some small things back in. See Crystal's post here about living on a very bare bones budget of $1000 a month. It is amazing.

Think of saving money as your new "job." You are not technically being paid for it, but you are sort of making money. Remember all the expenses you will no longer have by not working out of the home. The average mom only makes a couple of dollars an hour after all the expense are paid so she can work, unless you have a very high paying job. That hardly seems worth it to me.

• Work Clothes $25-50/month
• Dry Cleaning $25/month
• Work Lunches $50/month
• Daycare! $400-500 per child per month
• Gas $100/month

Things you will gain as a SAHM...

• Seeing all your child's firsts and not hearing about it from the sitter
• Being able to go to all school events and field trips
• Showing your children by example how to live a Godly life
• Seeing those beautiful smiles first thing in the morning and knowing you will not have to leave them with someone else.
• Being able to stay home with a sick child and not miss work
• Home cooked meals
• A happier family because mom is not stressed out
• Time to plan a menu, shop, and save money
• Quality time with your husband
• This list could go on forever. You can add some of your own perks.