Our Cell Phone Plan - An Update

It has been awhile since I've talked about our family's cell phone plan so I thought it might be time for an update.  What I love most about it is that it isn't anyone's plan but mine.  I'm not tied to anything and it doesn't cost me a fortune.

Now that we no longer have a land line I use my cell phone a lot more than I used to which means I've needed to spend more money on it than I did before.  Also, because the girls are now getting themselves to and from school on their own, it is important that they keep in contact with me and let me know they have arrived at their destination safely.

Since I am no longer the only one with a cell phone I needed a way to easily afford not one phone but three.  I stayed with Tracfone because I like their service and their prices.  And the longer you stay with them the lower the price is for service.  Love that!

At first I paid for my minutes and every once in awhile they'd give me a coupon or email a special offer.  Initially my first phone cost me $10 and the monthly cost for service $19.99 for 90 days or $6.66 a month.  Not bad at all.

After shutting off our landline last June that saved me $50 a month but it also meant I'd be using my cell phone more.  Now I spend $39.99 for 90 days of service, which gives me three times the minutes I used to have, or $13.33 a month.  My new phone cost $39.99 and the only reason I bought it was because the old one wore out.  This one allows me to text much better too because it has a key board.

The girls had to buy their own phones.  That was the deal because I figured if they had to buy them they'd be more careful with them and less likely to lose or damage them.  I pay for their service at $19.99 for 90 days or $6.66 each.

To recap, the total I spend on our cell phones averages $26.65 a month for three of us to have a phone, with internet and texting.  We don't use the internet, which saves us, but we definitely use the texting.  Especially the oldest.  If they want more minutes than what I am willing to provide then they have to pay for them.  So far neither one has been willing to fork over the extra dough and they are really good about rationing their time.

Once a month I update the service to one of our phones so I'm not paying for all of them at one time and we are always overlapping one another.  If you update your phone your service is completely transferrable at no cost and I love the fact that there are no hidden fees.  It is what it is.  XX of service and minutes for $XX.  Easy, peasy and if you no longer want to do it, you stop. 

Do you have a cell phone?  How affordable is your plan?

Linens

When I got ready to downsize it meant going through and purging a lot of linens.  Tons of extra towels, wash cloths, table cloths and place mats that never got used, a lot of bedding and a large collection of rags.  Don't ask me why I had so many because I honestly do not know.

This is what I decided to keep:

Bedding - we each have two sets of sheets, two pillows, two blankets, an afghan and a throw.  We also each have a couple decorative pillows.

Bathroom - five bath towels, five wash cloths, two hand towels.

Kitchen - five dish cloths, three dish towels (one is brand new with the tags on it and has never been used), two decorative hanging dish towels, one set of potholders, two dozen cloth napkins.

Other - a fleece throw across the back of the couch, a small assortment of rags and two throw rugs.

That's it.  Hard to believe that is all we have but it is also all we need.  Since I do a load of laundry nearly every day we don't run out of anything and while one set of sheet dries on the line we have a spare to put on the beds in the meantime. 

Do I miss having a closet full of linens to choose from?  Nope.  Not one bit.

Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

On Sunday we bottled our first batch of home brewed beer.

My oldest made a coffee cake for me to take to work on Monday for a potluck.  Their potlucks are an all day affair starting with breakfast.  It was a hit and she was very proud of herself.

I picked up milk and markdown bananas while I was at the store mailing off some eBay orders.

I used two very ripe bananas to make two loaves of banana bread, much to my girl's delight.

Using a toothpick I was able to finish up a tube of chapstick.  I know, chapstick is cheap and by that time one should just throw it away but I dug enough out to lube my lips for a whole week.  I'm just nutty that way.

While the oldest was at honor band practice Tuesday night the youngest and I used that time to do some grocery shopping at a nearby Winco.  I was thrilled to discover it had the exact same layout as our old one we used to shop at so I was easily able to find everything I needed.

I went to visit a friend's mom who is staying in a nursing home.  I stopped at Wendy's and picked her up a 99¢ Frosty along the way which thrilled her to pieces.  We had a very nice visit while she enjoyed her ice cream.

My oldest daughter found a couple potatoes in the pantry that were growing eyes and has decided to try her hand at growing potatoes.  I hope she does well.  Their flower seeds have sprouted and are doing wonderfully.

Petunias up top and marigolds

She also collected some seeds from a tomato and a strawberry.  That could prove to be interesting.

Instead of going out for hamburgers and fries on Friday night we stayed in and made our own.

Saturday we did some garden shopping.  We started at the dollar store and got some plastic bowls and buckets we thought would make great planters.  I bought us a box of three strawberry shortcake ice cream bars too as a delicious and affordable treat.

At Walmart I bought a large bag of potting soil, some more seeds and a seed starting greenhouse.  The greenhouse is plastic so we can use it again next year and we will also have plenty of seeds left for next year and the year after most likely.  We came home and got right to work getting our seeds planted so they'll be ready in time.

I listed and sold some more items on eBay.

I used water to rinse out the last of the soap left in an empty bottle of dish soap.  I was able to wash two more sinks full of dishes with that soapy water.

We watched a couple TV shows online.  We also watched a movie from our own home collection.

We watched a video on Youtube about container gardening and another one about replanting onions and lettuce from the leftover parts you would normally toss in the trash.  We've done the onions before but didn't know about lettuce so we've decided we want to give it a try. 

What did you do last week to save money?

Grocery Prices Are Heading Up

The other day I posted on my facebook page an article I had read on MSNBC.com about ten items, actually there were eleven, that were going to dramatically increase in price this year either due to weather or production constraints.  All of these items are ones I purchase on a regular basis so needless to say I was less than impressed.

So what am I going to do to combat this problem and still manage to stay on my meager grocery budget?  Well lets go through the list.

Pork - recently bacon has gone up considerably and now it looks like all the other pork products are due to follow suit.  I'll comb the sales ads and markdown bins and stock up when the prices are good.

Beef - as with pork I will plan to comb the sales ads and markdown bins to purchase beef as well and make my purchases at that time.  I had already planned to lower our meat consumption this year too and incorporate more meat less or meat free meals into our diet.

Salmon - when I find it on sale I'll buy it.  Healthy and nutritious but also very tasty.  I have no plans to give up salmon.  I find the individually packaged portions sold from the freezer section to be a good value as well as a good product.  There is also other tasty fish out there to enjoy as well.

Lettuce - this is the mainstay of my diet.  We eat a ton of salads.  I was planning to plant my own lettuce garden this year so I will definitely keep my plans to do this.  I am also researching how to grow indoors during the cold months. 

Tomatoes - this price increase will effect everything from ketchup and tomato sauce products all the way to every product that contains tomatoes.  I think this year I'll be planting some tomatoes to can as well as to eat fresh.

Grapes - grapes, raisins, juice and wine will feel the hit here.  I'll just purchase in moderation and when on sale.  I'm most concerned about the wine.  LOL

Peppers - again I was planning to plant peppers and although I've never been all that successful at it I'll just have to try harder this year.  Freezing and canning them will be a good thing to do with them I think.

Milk - fortunately we don't spend a ton of money here and since we drink our whole milk diluted with water we get far more mileage out of it than most as a result.  I'll continue to do this.

Cheese - this is another item that is a mainstay of our diet.  I buy a lot of cheese.  I'll continue to buy when it is on sale but more than likely we'll be cutting back on our consumption of cheese.

Bread - I'm not too terribly worried about this because I can bake my own.  However, I'm sure flour will increase in price too so I'll have to watch that.  Day old bread stores will also be a source for us to consider as well.

Nuts - Nuts!  That's all I can say about that.  I love them but they are already expensive and I don't buy a lot of them now.  Hopefully peanut butter won't be priced out of existence in my pantry.  We'll just have to wait and see.

So what will you do, or are already doing, to combat the rising price of groceries?

My Uber Thrifty Month - March In Review

It was a longer month and as a result I had five paychecks instead of four which helped me really stomp on my financial goals this month.  Right off the bat I managed to take care of Savings Goal #1 and pay our monthly bills with little difficulty.  Always grateful and relieved when that happens.  All of my Financial Goals were met this month as well.

We were able to significantly lower our power bill this month by turning our heat off completely during daylight hours and allowing the sunshine in.  Despite the enormous amount of rain we've had there were also enough sunny warmer days to really make a difference.  I was even able to start hanging laundry outside to dry.

Although I went over budget on the groceries I was very careful with what I spent and what I purchased in order to fill our new freezer and our pantry.  Having both of those full gives me the peace of mind of knowing I have plenty of items on hand to feed my family should our financial situation change again.

A friend gave me all the coupons out of her Sunday paper this month, as well as the ads, which helps me immensely in defraying the costs of our groceries and our nonfood items.  I used quite a few coupons, especially for cat food, litter and some toiletry items.  I also used the ads to determine what to buy and where.

I kept fairly close to our menu plan and we diligently used up our leftovers, mostly in our lunches, but also to create extra suppers.  Our kitchen scraps were fed to our neighbor's chickens.  We kept our food waste to a minimum.

We dined out at the beginning of the month and saved money by using a $10 gift card given to us at Christmas and drinking water instead of ordering milk or sodas.  Even after the tip I spent less than $15.  It allowed us to have enough money left in our entertainment budget to go out to lunch later over Spring Break as part of our Staycation.

I won $10 playing Bunco, I hadn't won in quite awhile, and I used my winnings to treat us to frozen yogurt one afternoon and go to the movies on $1 movie night over Spring Break.

I sold quite a few items on eBay and one on Etsy (thank you again to a fellow blogger for that purchase) which allowed me to not only hit my second savings goal but exceed it putting away four times the original amount I had planned.  I was thrilled beyond measure, let me tell you.

I have been doing the surveys at the end of my grocery receipts which gives me extra rewards points on my Fred Meyer rewards card every time I do.  I used those rewards points to save 10¢ a gallon both times I filled my gas tank this month.  I was also extra careful about my fuel usage to make those tanks of gas last as long as possible.  Most shopping and errands were done along my route to and from work with very few extra trips anywhere.

I was also excited that we managed to get an extra five days use out of our propane this month.  Again by being careful with our usage we were able to extend it a lot longer and with the price of gas and propane going up quite a bit last month it makes it all the more important to be conservative. 

At the end of the month I found myself with an extra $100 and no place it needed to be.  It has been a very long time since that has happened.  It was funny because with all our needs met I wasn't quite sure what to do with it.  I could have put it in savings, and seriously considered doing so, but instead I used part of it to treat myself to a few little luxury items in the form of a new top and some Merlot for me and ice cream for the girls.  I put $25 in the gas tank of my car, paid for my daughter's honor band fees and the rest was kept to use for whatever we need at the beginning of the month.  Not all that exciting, I know, but I like my new blouse and the wine is nice.

Our Spring Break Staycation

Having just started a new job there was no chance I'd be heading out of town over spring break last week.  So we made our own thrifty fun by enjoying an assortment of things all on a tight budget, of course, as I hadn't earmarked anything extra for this week.

We began immediately as I told the girls the official start to Spring Break was 4:00 pm on Friday afternoon.  They hurried and got their chores done after school so we could get started.  We made nachos for supper out of lean ground beef seasoned with a little taco seasoning and topped tortilla chips ($1 from Fred Meyer) with the meat, shredded cheese, salsa, sour cream and jalapeno slices.  I used lettuce instead of chips which basically made my nachos a taco salad.  It was a delicious way to start our break.

After supper we set up for Family Movie Nite and watched movies all for free online at Amazon and YouTube.  Just recently I discovered YouTube has full length movies.  We stayed up way too  late heading to bed at 2:00 in the morning!

Saturday we slept in (I was awake at 8:30) and started off our day by washing up the nacho dishes.  Yes, we didn't even clean up our dinner mess before we started watching movies.  The girls were shocked I allowed this to happen. J

Later that afternoon we walked up to the corner convenience store and got some frozen yogurt.  I paid for that using $5 from my Bunco winnings.  The weather was beautiful and we had fun walking home and eating our treat.

Tuesday the girls invited their grandparents and we went to the $1 movie to see Winter's Tale.  I paid for the movie with the last $5 from my Bunco winnings.  Their grandpa treated them to popcorn.

Wednesday and Thursday it rained quite a bit.  The girls spent the days inside.  After dinner on Thursday I hooked the laptop to the bigger monitor in my room.  The girls grabbed their pillows and we watched one of their favorite TV shows and another teen flick online for free.

Friday afternoon the girls spent the afternoon at a friend's house and I picked them up around six.  It must have been a fun time because they were so tired they asked to go to bed early.  It gave me a quiet evening to myself so I poured a glass of wine and watched FBI Files on my laptop for awhile.

Saturday was a rainy day so we enjoyed the better part of the day in our pajamas being completely lazy.  It had been a very long time since we'd had a day with nothing to do and it felt great.  My oldest made us some wonderful waffles for breakfast and then we broke out the board games. 

Not too terribly exciting but nice nonetheless.  Do you have any staycation's planned?

April Meal Plan

On Saturday morning I made my menu plan for the month of April.  Once again I had the girls help me this time with the brainstorming portion of the project.  I really appreciated their input.  They come up with things that we haven't had for awhile sometimes and I've forgotten.

We made our plan based off of things we already have on hand in the freezer and pantry.  I plan to purchase fresh produce and dairy purchases and a few pantry items as needed.

This is what we came up with: 

• Taco Soup & Cornbread
• Spanish Rice
• Mushroom Alfredo
• Hamburgers & French Fries
• Broccoli Lasagna
• Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwiches
• Pork Fried Rice & Stir Fried Veggies
• Waffles & Bacon
• Minestrone Soup
• Steak & Baked Potatoes
• Pizza
• Spaghetti & Meat Sauce
• Tacos
• Bean & Bacon Soup
• Taco Salad
• Cheese Omelets
• Fish & Chips
• Corned Beef
• Zesty Mac & Cheese
• Reuben Sandwiches
• Chef Salad
• Chicken & Black Bean Burritos
• Nachos
• Sopa Seca
• Chicken & Cabbage w/ Rice
• Grilled Tuna Sandwiches
• Vegetable Quesadillas 

If any of these things sound like repeats it is because I didn't make them on subsequent menus.  Or, as in the case of Mushroom Alfredo, we really like it. J 

What is on your meal plan this month?