To the Extreme

So...I have a tiny confession to make. I'm kind of an extreme couponer.

Let me give you a little background before you stamp me as a hoarder. Because I really am not. No, seriously. I am not.

It started in California, among the chaos of organizing a massive cross country move...etc. I saw the TLC show. I was intrigued. I'm good a math. I am good at shopping. And the impending price tags on the move and salary cuts we were about to make prompted me to really think this through. My husband was about to take a 60% pay cut and I was essentially doing the same. We were moving to an area where the cost of living is most certainly lower, but so are the salaries. I was saving money like a squirrel hiding acorns for winter.

I started buying the Sunday paper and printing coupons online. The first big trip I planned....I saved over 73%. In CALIFORNIA WITHOUT DOUBLE COUPONS. That was it for me. I was hooked. I had and have no intentions of having 30k stockpiles in my house, but I see no reason that I cannot get my groceries for rock bottom prices or for free. I free. If anyone says they won't take something that is for free, they are a LIAR.

After the move, our food budget was sliced in half. And then sliced again once we actually figured out how much (or how little) money we were going to bringing in for the first year of grad school after a 12k move (yes it was $12,000 by the time all was said and done, most of it paid in cash thank you very much!). I did a few smaller trips, saving about 45-55%. And then I really got into the swing of it.

I get the Sunday paper, and so does my grandma...and so does my mom. They save the coupons for me. And my once skeptical husband who watches me leave the house with $50 and come home with almost $300 in groceries saves inserts from his job for me (they are closed on Sunday but the paper is there on Monday morning when he comes into work).

You know what? It's not hard. Once you clip the coupons for stuff you use and have them saved, all you do is wait for it to go on sale. I am pretty sure (or at least I hope) everyone uses detergent and toilet paper and juice. And you know what? You can get those for free. WITHOUT STEALING.

Examples? 2 weeks ago, my grocery store was having a buy 10 for $10 and get an 11th item free sale. And it was mix and match. They also double coupons. One of the products was Angel Soft bathroom tissue. It was $1. I had a coupon for $0.50 of any size that the store doubles. Actually I had 4. I got 16 free rolls of toilet paper. Also included in the sale were those scalloped potatoes that Isaac loves. I had a coupon for 0.50 off 2, and a store coupon for the same. My coupon (I actually had 3) doubled. So I got 6. 6 boxes of potatoes that normally cost me about $2 a piece, I got for $2.50 total. And that was 10 items. So I got an 11th item for free. It got about 4 groups of products like this.

Another example: Isaac's shampoo was on sale for 3/$5. I had 2 Buy one get one free coupons. So I got 4. And then I had 2 0.50 coupons off 2 that doubled to $1 each. That ended up making 2 shampoos that normally cost $1.98 each about $0.34 each.

I haven't bought 300 candy bars or 600 gatorades. I buy stuff that we use, and the saving allow me to buy healthy things as well. I am able to stretch out our budget as much as possible. I am buy meat in bulk and freeze it in our deep freezer. I have built up a great stockpile that will get us through a few months without buying anything but milk and bread.

I don't just coupon with groceries. I just got a winter coat on sale, from $138.00 marked down to $78. With a 20% off coupon and $20 giftcard, I spent about $40 on the coat when all was said and shipped.

Sooooo...yeah. I'm a couponer. I'm good at it. I am going to keep doing it. Not to hoard, but to balance out our dip in income without sacrificing our eating habits.

(I realize that I have been MIA from the blogosphere for the past month....I am still trying to find my new balance. I am NOT spending every spare second couponing. I have a plan to get back to this space.)

First Time for Everything

For our Disneyland trip we did something we have never done before.

WE PAID FOR THE ENTIRE TRIP IN CASH!

We had decided to take this trip about May of last year. I started saving $25 a week. We originally planned to take this trip over Christmas as we were not able to go back to the Midwest. That fell through and Isaac got Disney money for Christmas. Our next timeframe was for his birthday, which also fell through. Next up was President's Day weekend, which I  nixed due to hotel costs. When we finally went this last weekend, we had 2 extra months of savings and gifts.

Our hotel and parkhopper tickets were prepaid before we left. I knew exactly how much cash we had to spend and loaded it onto a debit card, just for Disney.

My Disney freak and awesome friend D taught me how to share parkhopper tickets. We cut the cost of our tickets by $140.

When we got to Anaheim, my husband surprised me by pulling out a fat wad of cash that he had been saving as well. I almost cried. We took drinks into the park, so we avoided the $3+ sodas and bottled waters. We took fruit and snacks, again avoiding the great park surchages on food. We cut costs where we could, and it worked really well for us.



Because we planned and saved, we didn't worry about money ONCE the entire weekend. We paid for everything on the preloaded card and in cash. And we even came home with some!

This is the very first trip we have taken that didn't accrue credit card debt. :) I am so proud of us!

The Challenge Has Been Accepted

I have this almost OCD where I have to have full cupboards and a full freezer/fridge. I buy in bulk and when stuff is on sale. I got a vacuum packer for my bridal shower, and I love it. I can buy the value packs of meat and then put them in the deep freezer. I save money or so I think. The problem is I forget that I have it. Example: I buy spaghetti when it goes on sale for 75 cents a box. I put it in my cupboard. We don't use the spaghetti, and I go shopping the next week. Spaghetti is on sale again. I can't remember if I have any, so I buy more. I end up with 5 boxes of spaghetti in my cupboards. 5 boxes! That's 10 meals with that type of pasta! Another example: chicken goes on sale and I buy a value pack. I vacuum pack it into meal portions. I put some in my freezer and some in my deep freezer. I may or may not use some that was stored in my freezer. I go shopping again and this time the bags of chicken are on sale. I buy one, maybe two because 3 pounds of chicken for 2.99 is a good deal! The bags go into my deep freezer. You get the idea.

My current grocery budget is about $75-$100 a week, putting us between $300 and $400 per month. For a family of 3, that includes a toddler. Granted, my husband eats alot. And so does my toddler. And sometimes we are feeding my BIL and various other people, and we take leftovers for lunch so we don't waste a whole lot of food.

Or do we?

Here is my challenge. For the next 3 weeks, I am only alloted a grocery budget of $10 per week. This should buy fresh milk and produce and possibly bread for lunches if needed. For all other food, I have to use up what I have in the house. It's time to deplete the stash.

This should not be too hard, in all honesty. But I am really nervous about it. BECAUSE I AM A PACK RAT! I HAVE A DISEASE, PEOPLE!

This was sparked yesterday evening when I went to the store for crescent rolls and grapes and came out $50 later. Upon putting things away, I realized I already had most of the items I had just purchased or something very similar. The challenge starts today, and I don't get my $10 budget until Monday since I already went shopping. I should need milk by then, so that's my $ date. I have to get through until at least October 8th.

So here we go! On tonight's menu: Oven fried chicken, southwestern hashbrowns and leftover veggies.

A Not So Wordless Wednesday

I had a photograph from Isaac's 4th of July escapades all picked out and ready to go for today's Wordless Wednesday. But then something came up last night that needs to be discussed, bumping off the photograph.

My daycare lady, Miss K, gave me notice last night.

I had a feeling it was coming. The State cut the daycare subsidy from the budget and all the State funded kids lost their daycare. This cut off some of her kids. And it really makes no sense. Low income families NEED TO WORK, CALIFORNIA! Maybe we don't pass a bill giving first time home buyers a 10k tax credit over 3 years, and we actually let people keep their jobs. Just a thought.

And then one mom lost her job, so she is at home with her son, also one of Miss K's daycare kids. Another kid went to preschool in June. She has one drop in, who comes like once or twice a month. Her last kid with Isaac was baby J, whose parents are now involved in a child support legal dispute, forcing them to move and baby J to stay with his grandma while his parents work. That made Isaac her only daycare kid. And he only goes there 3 days a week. Miss K was making less than $4 an hour. That does not put food on the table.

So anyway, I got her phone call last night. I was expecting it but I was still blindsided. I hung up the phone and cried. (I also found a tick in Isaac's bed, which didn't help matters.) Isaac has 2 weeks left with Miss K.

And I don't know what to do.

I did the number crunching a while back to see where we stood financially. All that is keeping me at work is about $1300, $500 of that goes to daycare each month, give or take. $800 was what it worked out that I was working for. $800 is all we need to cut each month to keep me home with Isaac. That isn't my full salary, so anything more than that $800 in theory is extra considering we don't blow it or have more bills (which usually happens. Inevitably, the car breaks or life insurance premiums are due, or we need plane tickets, or my husband breaks his phone AGAIN). And believe it or not, it is pretty hard to cut $800 from a household. It doesn't seem like it would be, but it is. :(

Sooo...yeah. I could stay home with Isaac. We could figure out a way to make it work. But I don't know if that is what I really want. I have worked really, really hard to get to the position I am in now, and I really like my job (most days...I mean, who loves their job every single minute of every single day?). I am developing my position into exactly what I want it to be, meaning I am making my job. I never wanted to stay at home full time. Granted, I made this decision when Isaac was small, small, itty bitty 5 month old baby peanut. He's older now. Things would be different.

Plus, we have talked about having another child sometime in the next year or so. And then I don't know how I would feel about working while pregnant, working after another newborn with 2 kids in daycare.

Miss K gave me some other options. Isaac's alternate daycare provider said she would take him full time. This is a very appealing option, EXCEPT...she's pregnant, due in December. So come December, I am making this decision all over again. However, that gives me more time to pay down bills and SAVE like a madwoman. And we might be in a better position to really consider me staying home full time. But what if I don't want to? The daycare search begins again. And what if she has the baby early or complications (god forbid) with her pregnancy?

Miss K also gave me the number for one of her friends who does daycare. This daycare is literally right across the street. Literally, we can walk there. And Isaac has met this lady, because she has come to Miss K's before. However, she has 14 kids at her daycare right now. I am sure that number will go down in once school starts up, and she has an assistant. And Isaac is a social little boy. He adapts easily, and quickly. He makes friends. The transition to a larger daycare means alot of different things, include more sickness. Less one on one time. We have an interview there on Friday afternoon.

I can start the daycare search all over again. ALL. OVER. Alot of places have closed, again, THANKS CALIFORNIA! YOU ROCK! And other places, will be CROWDED.

If I stay home, am I ready to do that? To walk away from the job I have worked so hard to have? That I am working so hard at? Would we be ok financially? Would I be able to hold onto my sanity?

I NEED HELP! I NEED ADVICE! I NEED A DRINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have alot of thinking, and number crunching and soul searching to do.

Adult decisions kind of suck. Like, big time. And adult decisions that have to be made as a mother are not easier, by any means. I am makign decisions that affect my child's life, his well being. This is my heart, outside my body, that I am entrusting with another person.

Where's that drink? :(

Why you make me hate you?!

I am referring to various financial and credit corporations that have severely irritated me. I will list them in order that I am annoyed with them.

1. California State Disability Insurance. Remember the conversation I had with the oh-so-clever employees of SDI? Well, I finally convinced them that I did NOT, in fact, return to work the day after my baby was born, and my disability benefits needed to begin on the day right after that last Friday I was at work. However, SDI benefits have a mandatory 7 day waiting period. Most people use vacation pay to cover this unpaid time, which is what I fully intended to do, had my baby come closer to his due date or later. For a vaginal delivery, you get 6 weeks of SDI pay. This comes from the doctor's certification stating you were disabled. So, my claim date was essentially 3 days before my child's birthday. SDI will only pay you benefits until the Dr. certifies you are able to return to work, 6 weeks after the baby is born. See where I am going with this? Basically, I am losing 4 days of paid maternity. In the grand scheme of things, it is not such a big deal. The important thing is that I spent the time with my baby and had any pay at all. It just irks me that I am entitled to 42 days, but because he came earlier than expected, I will only get 38 and I have only been paid for 23. And I am back at work!. Seriously, this has to happen to more people than just me. How many babies come on their due date? Like 1%? GET IT TOGETHER PEOPLE! I have done everything you told me to do and then some! Pay me!

2. Citibank. Bastards on their own. We got a loan from them to cover business expenses. We signed up for this loan with our "personal banker" who has helped us with many things before this. There are numerous things that she did not disclose to us when we signed that should have been brought to our attention. First, the loan payment will automatically be deducted from the checking account that we have to open when we get the loan. All we were told was that we had to have a particular account linked to the loan, and it had to be opened the same time. I guess if I had really thought about it, I would have thought dig deeper into it. However, I was like 10million weeks preggo and on a break from work where things were busy. And no one told us that we had to have the autodeduct option in order to secure our not great interest rate. Apparently this option made it not so great rather than definately not so great. And did she tell us that the account she set up had a minimum balance requirement of 10,000 in combined accounts? Um, no. Seriously, wtf? If we had that kind of money, would we be borrowing it? Needless to say, we have closed all our Citibank accounts and have moved to WaMu. Tomorrow I am going to set up Isaac's account again. And let me tell you, he loves to sit still at the bank for long periods of time (sense my sarcasm?).

3. Citibank credit cards. Like most people in this rough economy, my husband and I are constantly looking to reduce debt and save money at every turn. We recently received an offer from one of his credit cards that had what seemed like a great offer. For however much we paid over the minimum amount due, Citibank would reduce our debt by 5% of that amount up to $550 over the next 4 billing cycles. Good deal right? I was all for having my husband call and sign up for this offer. On the last night for him to possibly do so, he was looking for any reason not to call. He hates calling about things like that. So he turned over the sheet and read the ittty-bitty, light gray fine print on the back. Good thing he did! By enrolling in this offer we were agreeing to allow Citibank to reduce our credit by the amount we over paid. So if we paid the maximum amount and had our debt reduced by the max $550, our limit would then be reduced almost $3500! That would definately cause a credit hit! Lesson learned bastards....always read the fine print.

4. New York Life Insurance. Yes, my husband and I understand the need to have life insurance now that we are caring for a child. However, I do not understand the need to carry a term policy for 1.2 million dollars. We do not own a home. We do not own a business. I am pretty sure that our assigned guardians would take our child even though he was not rich. We simply need enough money to cover childcare expenses and the other spouses yearly salary for a few years, as well as funeral expenses. We are pretty sure that our child does not require a 50k policy either. He generates no income at the present time. Please quit trying to pressure me into a policy that we don't need, or we will take our business elsewhere. Do not waste my time until you have written the policy to the specifications we asked for.

My husband and I have come up with specific financial goals. These goals are tailored to help us meet our long term goals of buying a house and moving closer to family. People like the above mentioned do not help us meet our goals.

Evolutions

While we were in Ohio, my husband and I did alot of soul-searching and discussing of what we want for our future as a family. As I have talked about before, we don't want to be in California forever for three reasons that we agree upon: 1. It's too expensive to buy a gallon of milk, let alone a home. 2. We don't want our kids (yes, plural...we do eventually plan to have more) to go to school out here. Private school is way, way, WAY too much and the state schools are not so hot anymore with all the education budget cuts and increased class sizes. 3. It's just too darn far from our families.

Because of this, we were trying to figure out our "gameplan." It made me take a hard look at my life, and where I want it to go. Everything truly changes when you have a baby, and my dreams now include a wonderful life for Isaac. I spent alot of time thinking about how I can give that to him and still balance in my own life and my husband's.

I started this blog to track my pregnancy and give updates to those far away (who, by the way, do not COMMENT!). Now that I have a beautiful baby boy, it seems fitting that it has just kind of evolved into one that tells my stories of motherhood. Being so far away from most of my friends and all of my family, I don't have alot of people to talk to, or alot of time to really talk to them with time differences and busy schedules. It just kind of comes out here. I have tried to keep my posts focused on all things baby, and my motherhood updates, but I realized that at this point, those two aspects are truly defining in who I am becoming and my/our goals. Herego, I am going to branch out a bit and talk more about a few things, including work, finances (moolah) and preparing to buy a house and for the future, my volunteer work, my hobbies (or lack there of), and of course...I will still primarily focus on my beautiful Isaac and how I am dealing with being a mother.

Ok...with that all said, there are a few more changes in me and Isaac that I have noticed. :) Prepare for an all things baby update:

Isaac does not like to burp anymore. He is so hungry, I think, that he does not want to burp in between sides. We try so hard, but nothing. Because of this, he gorges himself and then usually spits up about half of what he ate from the second side. Yes, all my clothes are starting to smell of spit-up. He even got some in my bed the other night! We aren't talking a little drool of milk here. I mean about a full ounce come flying out of his mouth in projectile format. Because of this bad eating habit, my milk supply is increasing AGAIN. Since he is feeding more often now, it is starting to wear on me again. I think I may have to pump more, just so he doesn't overeat if he isn't burping between breasts. Maybe 1 ounce since that seems to be what is coming up. I still am trying to work on the burping, but seriously....I can't beat on the kid's back for 20 minutes. Even after he is done, we have hard time getting the burpies up.

In another aspect, we are hard-core preparing to buy a house and move. That means serious saving and debt reduction. I revamped my spreadsheet of debts and interest rates and payments, and am going to take a hard look how to throw more that way. Our tax returns are really helping. We agreed to use half to pay off debt and half to save to create a cushion. That way, we can push more toward debt reduction from our weekly paychecks. (NOTE: when I talk about debt reduction and saving money, I don't intend to ever use real figures as this not a finance blog, just what we are doing to decrease debt and spending, and increase saving.) I am returning to work with 4 9-hour days rather than 5 8-hours. It's only a 4 hour a week income loss, and I think we will be fine, even with the added daycare expense. I am looking into some supplemental income options, and will post more on that soon when I am further into it.

Ok...my tummy is rumbling and I am starving! Time to eat breakfast before baby boy wakes up from the morning nap. :) We are going to meet with our lamaze class friends today for a walk around the nearby lake.