The working poor. You'd think we'd at least get like, a ribbon or something.

Do you remember how I was mentioning that Matt and I had to sit down and come up with a monthly budget? Well, we did that. And it sucks hard because you can't really continue with your denial when you are looking at all of the numbers point blank. It's depressing and honestly, I feel a little overwhelmed by it all.

We also had to look at our budget and decide if I can go back to work. You're like, obviously! GO BACK TO WORK, Sara! And I want to. I really, do. The problem is child care.

The reason I took the job at the school my kids go to was so I would have all summer off and any day they don't have school, I don't work. It's easily the most ideal job ever if you have children. But I would have to put Penelope into daycare for about 17 hours a week figuring in drive time because I would only be working 15 hours a week. Of the places that actually had an opening for an infant, I'm looking at a minimum of $172.50 a week. I don't even make that in a week. That's a full time rate because I couldn't find anyone with a part time rate and an opening. The total cost of day care is almost $700. Again, I don't even make that in a month.

So, I could get a full time job so I could pay that and have some left over. Except what do I do when there is no school? I can't afford three kids in day care for those days.

After lots of math and different scenarios, it was kind of obvious that while losing my little bit of income sucks, it makes more sense for me to quit. Yes, I'd be getting out of the house and that's nice, but it's not worth going into the hole every month.

And that sucks. Because I'll be honest, staying at home is nice because I get to bond with Penelope unlike what I was able to do with my older two, but I feel myself getting dumb. Every day I feel a little dumber. I'm not being mentally challenged every day. My days consist of laundry, cooking, cleaning the house, and watching a baby. That's it. That's literally all I do. My house is clean, we have home cooked meals every night, but I am bored. I now live for Hot Bench and Dr. Phil in the afternoon. I find myself talking to my mailman for fun, through the mail slot. Yesterday he just put my mail on the step and kind of ran back to his truck. I feel like maybe our friendship is over now.

Matt said I should see if, in the meantime, we qualify for any kind of assistance. We of course, don't. For a family of 5, the government thinks we're rich. Which makes me want to give them my bills and tell them to figure out to pay all of them, save some, and have a slush fund. I love how everyone wants your income before taxes. If Matt actually brought that amount home, we'd be just fine. We'd be fixing things in our house that need repair, our roof wouldn't leak, Matt's truck would have the muffler it needs, the kids would have gotten new clothes versus yard sale clothes for school, and I wouldn't be worried about having to say no to sports when they come up over the year. But no, that's no reality. Reality is a LOT comes out of his check for taxes, then we pay our insurance, and then some goes to his retirement, which is a joke because at this rate he won't ever get to retire, and then we've got this measly pot I'm supposed to move mountains with.

I'm worried about kid activities. I'm worried about Christmas. I'm worried about winter utility bills. I'm worried about the hospital bill for me from having Penelope I still haven't gotten yet.

So the hope is that once school gets started, maybe I can get an evening job a couple nights a week. Weekends are out because he works 12 hours on Saturday so that means Sunday is the only day where we are all together for more than an hour. Especially once school starts up, it's the only day where we aren't running one kid to one thing, fighting over homework, etc and I get to hang out with my kids and hear about what's happening at school and with friends. Sunday is a very important day for our family and I'm not willing to sacrifice that for the sake of being able to buy myself a pair of pants that fit.

I feel like, if we can just hang on until after the holidays, things will ease up. A few things will be paid off by then and maybe that'll help. Every little bit helps, right?

How to save on your grocery bill AND meal planning for dummies

I know this is a day late, but it's such a good post and it's going to be super helpful for you so I wanted to make sure I had enough photos to show you the way I do it so you aren't confused at all.

Currently, I am not working. I haven't worked since the end of March so we have been relying on Matt's paycheck to get by. Matt's job pays him twice a month, he isn't bi-weekly, he is paid strictly on the 7th and the 21st of the month, no matter what. Which sounds super, to have a guaranteed pay day! But when you look at the calendar, some months this really sucks. Like July/August for example. Matt's pay periods run from the 1-15 of the month gets him paid on the 21st, and the the 16-last day of the month gets him paid on the 7th. Well he got paid July 21 and won't get a check until August 7, and when you look at that, it's a LONG haul.

Which makes meal planning crucial because it keeps our grocery bill down. Currently, I'm cooking meals for 4 people. Matt and I typically either have left overs or sandwiches for lunch, and the kids almost always have a sandwich. Right now we are taking advantage of free lunches and snack at the park, but that ends August 7. And really, that hasn't cut down on our grocery bill because I'm still buying sandwich things anyways, but it's a nice option to have if available to you.

I know I have had many people say to me, "I don't know what I'm going to want to eat on a particular day a week from now" when I mention meal planning as a great way to get your grocery bill down. To that I say- learn. Seriously. If you are in a position that you have to budget, learn. Secondly, you don't necessarily have to do that. Here's how I do it:

When you come to my house you will see a packet like this hanging on my fridge. It's my meal plan and any recipes I'll need (if it's a new recipe I'm trying or one I can't remember off the top of my head) all together on the side of the fridge.

Step One: When I plan my meals out, I write down every day I need to have a meal for between Matt's pay checks. You can see here that it's basically three weeks of meals. I only include dinners because for breakfast I always have cereal but also keep a hot option like waffles or pancakes in my freezer. I write down a meal idea for every single day. In the morning, I pick a meal off of the list for dinner, not necessarily the one "scheduled" for that day. Some times something comes up and I need a crock pot meal so I find one off the list I can quickly do and not worry about it during a busy day.

Other tricks I do? At least once in a cycle I do a spaghetti and use the left over sauce for meatball subs the next day. Sometimes I'll make chicken tacos and we'll have nachos the next night with my leftover chicken, and I'll add corn and beans to it. Be realistic, if you know there is going to be a day where you declare you absolutely are not cooking? Put "order out" on there, knowing you can only order out ONCE in that cycle. (You see that? I just saved you money.)

Step Two: As I add an item to my menu, I write down the ingredients I'll need to make it. Don't even THINK about what you have on hand already, we'll get to that. But for right now, write down every single thing you'll need.

Step Three: Once you have that completed, take your list and go through your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Cross off what you already have. This will save you money because you won't buy repeat things.

Step Four: Then I go through my ad. Usually I peek at the ad first primarily to check if there is any good deals in the meat department because that's often the most expensive area. Yes, those are ads from two different stores. Yes, I know it's a pain in the ass to go to two different stores, but if there is a really fantastic deal on a couple of things at one store, split your trip. Sometimes Cub Foods had a buy one/get one deal on chicken breasts and when that is happening I go and bring Matt and the kids with me. I'll make Olivia buy 4 packs of chicken (the limit), Matt buy 4 packs of chicken, and I'll buy 4 packs of chicken. I have a chest freezer and that's when I stock up.

Step Five: Once I get my coupons from the ad, I start looking online for coupons on the items I need. Truly, the only two sites I really use are Coupons.com and Krazycouponlady.com. Sometimes I find no coupons, sometimes I find a bunch I need. Don't forget to look at your ads at the things that are already on sale without a coupon. This week I was able to get mayonnaise (the large jar) for only $1.33 because it was on sale for $3.33, but I had a $2 coupon online.

Lucky for me this week Super One Foods had a lot of buy one get one deals so I did all of my shopping there. Things I picked up extra as buy one/get one deals that were not on my list were:

• Quilted Northern 6 packs of toilet paper
• Kielbasa
• Marinated pork roasts
• Packaged deli meat
• Soft taco shells
• Taco seasoning
• Purex laundry soap

I also picked up two packs of pork chops that were in the marked down area of the meat department. That will save me on my menu planning for next round. 

After purchasing everything on my list, plus my extras, my bill was $125.49. 

My absolute budget per month for groceries is $300 for a family of 4. I budget $150 per paycheck to groceries, so the extra $25 went into my savings for Olivia's braces. 

Every Sunday I'll be posting recipes that I've tried from cookbooks, Pinterest, etc that are inexpensive to make. If you missed my first post, Macaroni & Cheese, go back and check that out. Next Sunday I'll be sharing my Pot Roast recipe that is so easy and SO good. 

Budgeting and planning groups are out of control.

So this year I am really going to get back on track with planning things out and budgeting our expenses. It's kind of a necessity at this point so I shall do it. I thought a good way to motivate me and maybe keep me on track would be to join some Facebook groups that are all about that, maybe I would get some good tips and learn some new things to make it easier on me.

Unfortunately, it has done the exact opposite.

Mostly because people are really stupid. And I try really hard not to call someone stupid but these people.... I'm telling you. Here are a list of questions that have come up on the various groups I'm in, just in the last week:

I can't afford my car. What should I cut out of my budget so I can afford it? I really love it. Yes, that's a real question. There are still people out there driving cars they like, but cannot afford, and are willing to not eat so they can keep it another month. The suggestions on this post all ranged from "reduce how much you eat", "turn your heat off and just bundle up", "sell stuff out of your apartment", "try to go without insurance", etc. Not one of the 50+ comments said, "If you can't afford it, you need to sell it and buy something you can afford. Pay off your debt and you can afford a super fun car then." Not one.

We are over $20K in debt, just with credit cards. That doesn't include our mortgage, two car payments and our boat. I'm so mad my husband said we can't afford a vacation, I feel like we can. I also hate that my spending money is now only $200 a month. This feels like I'm living in a third world. It was ALL I COULD DO to not comment. Because judging by the responses that were given, I would have been burned alive. First off, if you have $20,000 on CREDIT CARDS, you are in serious trouble. I can't even fathom that. Just from the question alone I would assume they drive nice, expensive vehicles and have a swanky house. None of which they can afford, clearly. And then to "only" have $200 in spending money? Oh my god. I didn't know people had a budget line item for spending money. To me, that doesn't exist. At least it shouldn't when you're this far in debt. God damn. Learn some self restraint, people.

How much do you budget every month for planning stickers and supplies? Yes. This is in a group where people are learning how to SAVE money, pay off debt and be more frugal. Then the responses are anywhere between $20 and $100. ON STICKERS. Let me be clear, people are paying MONEY for STICKERS that go in planners that you eventually THROW OUT. This is a real thing.


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Now, I'll be honest. I've used Washi tape in my planner for re-occurring things and I needed to find them fast in my planner on a moments notice. To my credit, I'm a scrapbooker and card maker so I already had it on hand and made what I had work for me. There isn't a chance in hell I would actually buy something in the name of decorating my planner. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of. And then to spend that much on STICKERS. This isn't middle school where we decorate our book covers. Come on, now.

I'm absolutely astounded that people don't understand basic money management skills. There are a lot of people out there who have no idea how to make a budget, have no idea what you need to pay down first when trying to be debt free, have no ability to say no to themselves or to say, "You know what? I really want _____, but I'm also broke, so I'm just going to wait." None. Not able to do that at all. I can't even wrap my head around this. The only positive here is that at least I feel like a genius if I peruse through posts long enough.