We are buying my ils' house and, though I feel like we are financially "ok" now, I almost feel we are going backwards, as this will cost us more. I'm freaking out a bit about the finances and really want to have a good plan before we even move.

I'm a pretty thrifty person by nature, but I know I could be better. I can't really do much about utility bills, insurance premiums, school tuition, etc. but I'd like to cut costs wherever possible. I sat down and did a budget and we will only have about $700 per month to buy gas, groceries and anything extra. That scares me a bit.

Fortunately, at our new home, we will have a bigger yard for a bigger garden. We will have 3 apple trees. I will have a root cellar (my fil built the house 19 years ago with a really nice area for my mil to put her canning stuff--I'm SO excited about that!).

First, I need to learn to can. LOL--I've never done it before.

Anyhoo...I just need to start hanging out in this forum a lot more...I want to challenge myself to living way more frugally. There are some things we are unwilling to give up right now, like high speed internet (I need it for my business) and satellite tv (we don't go to movies or out anywhere in general, so this is our "luxury").

I know I need to force us to live more frugaly ... with this job we had a huge bump up in pay and we SHOULD have had a nice savings by now, but we dont we barely have a weeks worth in the checking acct most times, many times just a few hundred, no back up no emergency fund nothing.

Id love to learn to can! and what a great thing to have the right storage area for it!!

I know I need to cut way down on grocery spending and limit thrift store shopping to maybe 1x a month lol

I need to spend more time in this area of the boards as well ....

got so many smart mamas that I need to really clue in now, since we will most likely be up for relocation next June and our pay could go down significantly depending on where they send us.

time to strap in! lol

Welcome! :heart: Right now I am canning applesauce and getting ready to prep peaches and just got done with green beans and blueberries (froze those)... :D

Canning is easy. I would choose what you will EAT first, dont just start canning everything at the farmers market that is cheap (I did this one year... and have thrown away more than I care to admit of canned carrots cuz we don't use them). Do this same thing on your garden... it seems like 4 cuc plants are a small amount in April, but when you have 35 cucumbers staring at you in July and you have eaten your fill, you may regret your choice to grow so many. YK? So it takes some planning... and it takes some knowledge of how your family eats and what they are willing to try... but it is a LOT of fun, and I get much pleasure out of it every day.

One thing I have done that I really will always remember is, when you move, get rid of everything you don't love. I am not talking big things like couches... those take some planning, some money and some time to replace, but the little things, the picture that you put up becuase you 'needed something there' and the second tea pot you never use. Get rid of all that stuff while you are moving. Unpacking is so much easier when you do, and so much more fun!

I have LOTS of this to do before we have this baby in Jan... but that is on the back burner (well actually it is off the stove... all four burners are taken up with pots of apples at the moment, :lol: ) until canning season is done in a month or so. So I will be needing your fresh ideas on saving space and relocating things to more efficient areas of the house etc before very long. Please please, stick around and put your $.02 in. :D

Val

Thanks mamas!

I'm very good at decluttering. I've gotten rid of most everything I don't want to part with, believe it or not. I'll probably go through it again as I'm packing and get rid of more. But it's amazing how much less stuff we have now than just a few months ago. And when we moved here--holy cow, we had a lot of crap! :lol:

We are moving to a bigger home with more storage, too, so stuff isn't an issue. Finances are my main worry right now. I know in my heart of hearts that this is a good move for us. I'm just nervous.

There are tons of great recipes and articles on frugal groceries at www.hillbillyhousewife.com that I suggest everyone read when they first start out on their thrifty journey. LOL. Alot of her stuff isn't so healthy, but it's a good starting place.

Kerri

Thanks Kerri! I actually did read the hillbillyhousewife site the night I posted this. I'm so excited to challenge myself to spend as little as possible on feeding my family. In fact, I'm doing well so far.

Last night, I made a soup. It's not the most healthy thing I've ever made, but it's ok. I used 2 chicken breasts I had cooked and frozen a couple months ago. (I'm estimating them at about $1 spent on these) Cut them up into bite sized pieces. Used 5 packages of ramen noodles (I bought them at 7/$1, so 71 cents for 5 of them). I bag of frozen mixed veggies ($3) and some extra chicken boullion (sp?) I'm estimating to be about 75 cents worth. So the whole thing was just under $5.50 I ended up with so much soup that I was able to divide it (and freeze into) 4 meal-sized portions (for the 4 of us). So...$1.38 per meal for 4 people (1.5 bowls of soup for me, dh and Jacob and 1/2 bowl for Owen) or approx. 34 cents per person per meal. Yay me! :D

2 nights ago, we had vegetarian night. My grandpa brought us 12 ears of sweet corn from his garden and 4 large cukes. (all free) I made 10 of those ears of corn and 2 cukes. I also cut up some tomatoes from our garden (free) and made 3 sweet potatoes ($1.25 or so) and cut up a couple nectarines that were past their peak ($1.50 or so). $2.75 for a family of 4 for supper and we were FULL. :D

I'm on a roll! I'd love to keep posting my "cheap" meals to keep me motivated. :)

you ARE on a roll. keep going...good for you! you'd have to really spell out what you have to use the $700 a month for for me to know for sure. but i *think* you could do it well if you budget that slightly and are totally aware of what you're spending and keep your frugal mindset.

Well...the $700 is for gas for our vehicles (fortunately, we only use about $40/week at the most between the 2 of us) and groceries for a family of 4 *and* extras.

So I would say, cut back on the grocery bill and the "extras". lol...

Sweetie.. you gotta give us more to work with here. ;) Seems like you are doing great from here. :)

Val

Sweetie.. you gotta give us more to work with here.

What do you need from me? lol

"Extras" meaning anything that may come up that isn't normally budgeted...car repairs, home improvement, entertainment, etc.

Ok...

What do you believe you spend your extra money on?

Have you ever done a spending diary, where you take each recipt and think about what you spent that on and why?

What does your grocery bill look like? Is there a place that you can see buying less or driving to another store to pay less for food items?

Do you buy in bulk?

Hmm... those are all I can think of for the moment. These are things I do to save money in the grocery area. :D

wow...that's a lot less gas than i use. good for you! so...gas and groceries and crazy stuff that goes wrong? depends on how big the repair...but i do $60 a week for groceries for 2 adults and a baby that eats like a 10 year old. so let's say you needed more like $300 a month for groceries because of the extra people/person....and then $160 a month for gas? that would leave plenty left to put away for the problems.

not to overwhelm you, but my monthly budget (less than yours, but i don't have to include gas) includes gifts, clothes, dry cleaning, stamps,hair cuts, toiletries, ummmm....anything else i spend money on. i usually have very little left, but then again, i don't have to use that $$ for the repair stuff. that unfortunately often gets put on a credit card for now and paid off as quickly as possible. i hate that, but it's true. i try to keep my spending down to as little as possible so that i can contribute anything i have left over back to the regular household stuff and bills and all of that, which dh takes care of (it's all money he makes, but you know what i mean, i think).

btw (couldn't edit), only listed what i do with less than $700 to help you to think about other things that may need to be bought with your $700, but you may already have a plan for that other stuff...or you may not need that stuff.

if it does include groceries, gas, repairs and things, and other stuff that you're not thinking of, you might have some thrifting to do, but you can still do it!!!

oh yeah, I'm sure there is plenty of stuff I'm forgetting. I was pretty generous in my budgeting estimate, though, so I may have just a smidge more than I'm allowing (I don't want any surprises). It all depends on what the true utility costs will be at the new house.

You're moving to Shakopee right? Wouldn't that mean cheaper groceries unless you already shop at Cub or Rainbow. A little more competition than in Jordan, I would think.

yep...moving to Shakopee. And absolutely cheaper than here in Jordan. I don't normally shop anywhere but here because it's so much easier to stay in town, so I definitely will save money there. :)

yep...moving to Shakopee. And absolutely cheaper than here in Jordan. I don't normally shop anywhere but here because it's so much easier to stay in town, so I definitely will save money there. :)

it'll be cheaper for gas when you go to the clinic. plus, you won't have to drive far if you needed something. so really you will probably be saving gas as shakopee has everything you need.