Revisiting An Old Post - Vegetarian Black Bean Enchiladas

 

I found this old post and dusted it off because it is a really good recipe.  Even if you are not a vegetarian it is so good you'll still want to make it.   Use a vegan cheese and this would be completely dairy free.  I like to toss in meatless meals every once in a while to help extend our budget as well as add some variety to our culinary life.  If you are interested in this recipe click here.

 

Low & No Spending In 2021

2020 was a year spent paying off debt and saving as much money as I could in the process.  In 2021 my goal is to remain debt free and continue to save as much money as possible in order to increase my wealth in preparation of retirement.  In order to do this I plan to have a year of low spending as well as no spending in a variety of areas.

To begin with, I started the year knowing I needed to replace my work pants and add a new pair of work shoes.  My goal was to accomplish this by spending as little as possible and I was able to do that by shopping for items on sale as well as with a coupon.  I picked up two pair of black dress pants for $30.  I shopped for shoes at an outlet store and was able to find a pair on their clearance area for only $30.  Unbeknownst to me all of their clearance shoes were an additional 50% OFF so they only ended up costing $15.  Even better I used money I had earned by selling items I no longer needed to pay for these items so essentially my work wardrobe updates cost me nothing out of our regular household budget.

 

I decided to double our Christmas budget this year from $100 to $200, although I may not need that much for what I have already planned.  If that is the case I will either put any extra $$ into savings or use it for next year.  I have financed that budget the same way I did my work wardrobe by selling items on eBay that I no longer want or need.  In order to limit my Christmas spending I plan to make a lot of gifts using items I already have in my sewing and craft stash.  Food gifts from our kitchen using items we already have on hand will be another large part of our gift giving as it was last Christmas.

 

The pandemic was helpful in that it forced us to figure out ways to take care of things while we were in lockdown.  One of those things was hair care.  Instead of going to the salon for my semi-annual haircuts I figured out how to cut my hair on my own and it turned out pretty well too.  I have always cut the girl's hair and I will continue to cut my own hair this year as well.  I do not color treat my hair anymore and find that inexpensive shampoos and conditioners work just fine.  I buy my shampoo and conditioner at the dollar store or on sale with coupons so I rarely spend more than a dollar a bottle.  Making sure I don't overuse these products makes them last longer too so I don't have to purchase as often.

 

I plan to spend very little on household cleaning products and laundry supplies.  I am pretty well stocked with the basics so I won't need to spend much this year, if at all.  If I do decide to buy anything it will most likely be to stock up on laundry detergent.  I am hoping to find brand name detergent at the dollar store or get it on sale with coupons for the same price or lower.  If not, I probably will not purchase anything.  Toiletries is another area I do not have plans for any spending.  I have all that I need and then some so I will just use what I have for the time being.

 

Eating out and entertainment is going to be a pretty easy way for us to keep our spending minimal.  The continuing pandemic is seeing to that.  For now, that is quite fine.  We have plenty of no cost entertainment options as far as television, music and movies go.  Any dining out will be infrequently and done for minimal cost.  I have always enjoyed dining out and after a year of virtually no dining out I am actually looking forward to this indulgence on a small scale.  I think it is prudent to limit dining out not only as far as finances go but to minimize exposure to COVID.

 

I've already touched on the fact that we've cut back our grocery budget for 2021.  I plan to cook from items we already have on hand, replace what we use, make wise use of our leftovers and keep any food waste to a minimum.  I use washable containers for food storage and I try to wash and reuse plastic bags as much as possible so I don't have to buy them often.  I also like to be cognizant of what I am adding to the landfill and reuse or recycle as much as I can.  I'm not a huge fan of disposable items so I don’t buy napkins or paper towels.  I make my own cloth napkins and cleaning rags.

 

Do you have any low or no spend endeavors planned for this year?  Any big things you are saving for?  If so, what are some of ways you plan to keep from spending your hard earned cash?

 

Happy Valentine's Day

 

Prepare To Die

 

This post is not intended to be morbid in any way, but it is something I’ve thought about time and again.  In the past year I’ve been working on some things I hope will make it much easier on my children once I pass.  The last thing I wish to do is leave a big mess behind for my girls to deal with.  Whenever a loved one passes there are a lot of emotions and grief to deal with.  My goal is to do as much as humanly possible to lighten the load and make it easier for them when this eventually happens.

 

The first thing I did last year was to update my will and create a division of property list so that the items I feel are important, mainly heirlooms or items I know my children want, are sure to go to the right person.  If they change their minds or decide to trade stuff I am totally fine with that.  It isn’t like I’d have much of a say in the matter anyway once I’m dead, but if it helps them to not have to process too much on their own then that is my ultimate goal.

 

The next thing I worked on and will continue to work on is purging, organizing, cataloging and maintaining important papers and personal information.  We have a binder, and my girls are very aware of its existence, that holds this information so they can access what they will need to once I am gone.  It will also help them to know what to do at that time as well.

 

The biggest thing for me to do now is to keep my house in a manner that it does not become a burden for them to deal with.  I might be taking a page from Swedish Death Cleaning here, but to me it just makes a lot of sense.  As I get older I do find I need less and less stuff and once both girls are completely out of the house and on their own that will be even more obvious.  As I move on I will be really evaluating the items I own and any additional items I intend to bring into the house to see if it is really necessary for me to have.  I am going to organize and reorganize things too so that I don’t end up with closets and bins full of crap that no one really knows what to do with and have no value.

I want to minimize the amount of my personal belongings that end up in a landfill.  The thought of my children having to rent a giant dumpster and have it delivered to our driveway in order to empty out my house is very unsettling.  It makes me cringe actually.  I certainly don’t want to leave that as my legacy.  Not to mention, I really don’t want to contribute all that waste either.  So keeping things neat, tidy, organized, filtered and purged is not only practical, but in my opinion an act of love.

 

While I probably still have several years ahead for me to be left on this earth, at least I hope so, one never really knows for sure.  Things unfortunately do happen and we never really do know when our time is up.  I don’t ever think it is too early to prepare for our own eventuality.  The benefit of doing this not only helps the ones I leave behind, but quite honestly, it makes life nicer and easier for me in the meantime.

 

So when you are purging and decluttering this year, keep in mind a few things.  When I die, what am I willing to leave behind for my loved ones to have to deal with?  How much do I want them to have to send to the dump?  How much work do I want to burden them with at one of the worst times in their lives?  How many decisions do I want them to have to make?  What can I do right now to help make it easier for them when the time comes?  And if you don’t have a will, please consider doing one.  As hard as it is to think about sometimes we all have an end date at some point.

 

Extreme Grocery Budgets

 

I noticed on Youtube that extreme grocery budgets seemed to be all the rage this past year and still are.  With everything that took place in 2020 it doesn’t surprise me at all and I’m glad those resources are out there to help people figure out how to feed themselves and their families on a super tight budget.  My current grocery budget is considered extreme and was born out of sheer necessity, the same as what is currently happening with a lot of people.

In 1987, as a newly divorced single mom with a part time job and a lot of pride, I had to figure it out.  And I did.  Over the years, as our circumstances improved, I have been able to, thankfully, up our budget in order to keep pace with the rise in inflation.  However, our budget has still remained extreme.  In spite of that I have still managed to fill a pantry as well as two freezers, a small chest freezer in our garage as well as the one on our side by side refrigerator, to maximum capacity.  Because of that I decided it would be prudent for us to cut back our budget to where it was about ten years ago and see how we do this year.

 

If you are in need of ideas on how to accomplish your own extreme budget I do recommend that you check out some of the vloggers on Youtube.  I’ve shared a lot of what I do here on my blog, but even I find it helpful to get a fresh perspective from someone else.  I’m also very much interested in know if you want me to do more posts about my extreme grocery budgeting and to put out more details of what I do to not only feed my family well, but also amass a good supply of groceries in the process.  One thing I do know from my own personal experience is that we can do a lot more than we think we can.  Let me know in the comments if this is a topic I should delve into further.

 

A New Housekeeping Checklist

 

I created a housekeeping checklist near the end of last year to help me keep track of the tasks I need to do as well as the ones I had completed.  The way time flies and how sometimes things get really busy around here I was having a little trouble remembering if I had done something or how long it had actually been.  You know how that goes, right?  So I sat down one day and mapped out all the things I do around here to keep our home clean and tidy.  It ended up being a really big list.

 

The checklist has all of my cleaning tasks listed and organized by room and once I complete a task all I have to do is check it off and be on my way.  I tested it out in the month of December and I knew I was on to something that was going to be really helpful.  It is designed to support my weekly 15 Minute Housekeeping schedule rather than to add on to my chore list and so far it is working out quite nicely.

 

My plan with this checklist is to print out a new one every three months, or quarterly if you will, and try to complete all of the tasks on this list by the end of that time period.  If I don't complete every single item that is totally fine - NO GUILT!  I will simply print out a new one and begin again.

 

The best part of how I clean, and now have this checklist to help me keep it all straight, is that one I'm done the house is essentially quite clean.  I no longer have any need to devote hours to big cleaning sessions or do any type of spring cleaning.  I just work in a fifteen minute session in the room or area that is scheduled that day and I'm done.  Even after all these years I am still quite amazed at how much I can accomplish in just fifteen minutes and that my house is always neat and tidy.  Stress free housekeeping is a godsend, let me tell you!

 

If you could use a checklist to help you get track your tasks email me (thriftymom.boise@gmail.com) and I will send you my working copy I made in Excel.  Because it is a working copy and not a PDF that is the best way for me to get it to you.  A working copy allows you to customize it to your own homes and make it work best for you.  Plus!  I love hearing from you.

 

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

 

Sunday is my rest and reset day, however I think there was more resetting than resting.  Nonetheless, I began my week with a clean house and all of the laundry done plus leftovers in the fridge so I was pretty happy about that.  It was a great way to get my week started.

 

All of this junk for $1.40!

I picked up some loss leader items on sale at Albertson's for 99¢ each, cereal and granola bars.  I stacked paper coupons on top of digital coupons and ended up with three boxes of cereal, two boxes of granola bars and a package of cookies for $1.40!  Now is this stuff the healthiest?  Absolutely not, but as an occasional treat for my girls it will be fine.  They aren't super big on eating mountains of sugar laden food so I expect this crap will last a good long time.

 

Monday morning I actually woke up sad that January was over because it was such a great month for us.  But February is shaping up quite nicely too so I'm excited for what is in store for this month.  The remainder of the week went by very quickly and before I knew it, it was already the weekend.

 

Chocolate and kitty cat stamps from my friend ☺

Friday I got a big surprise in the mail from one of my readers which really made my day!  What a super thoughtful and wonderful thing she did for me!  How can I be so lucky?!

 

All ready to ship once they sell

Saturday I worked out in the garage for a bit doing some more purging and reorganizing.  Then I got busy photographing some more items I wanted to sell.  I sat down and got them all listed as well as packaged up and ready to ship once they do sell.  I think that was time well spent.

 

THINGS WE ATE LAST WEEK:  Salmon & salad; stuffed bell peppers, leftover chicken soup, bean soup, spaghetti & meat sauce.

 

THINGS I CLEANED IN 15 MINUTES OR LESS: 

Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors.  Daily swish & swipe. 

Kitchen & Dining Room - cleaned under fridge & stove, cleaned base cabinets & under kitchen sink, washed windows, vacuumed & mopped floors.  Daily swish & swipe. 

Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted.  Daily swish & swipe. 

Other - three loads of laundry.  Vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & both entryways, polished wood furniture, cleaned living room window & mirror.

 

THINGS I DID TO SAVE A SMALL BUNDLE OF $$:  I washed out some Ziploc bags to reuse.  Other than my $1.40 shopping spree on Sunday I didn't do any other shopping.  I printed some more coupons from coupons.com to have for future shopping trips.

 

THINGS I DID TO EARN EXTRA $$:  I listed five more things on eBay to sell.

 

How was your thrifty week?