Grocery Haul

So even though I am no longer doing a no spend month, I am still working on cleaning out all of the food reserves that I had in my freezer. Because of this, I have really only been going grocery shopping every two weeks for the essentials and maybe here and there to fill in any gaps. I wanted to share with you what my grocery haul looks like this week for the meals that I have planned.

Grocery Haul: $23

1 lb pre-cut Kale	$1.99
1 lb organic Baby Spinach	$4.49
2 dozen Eggs	$4.59
1 gallon Almond Milk	$3.99
1/2 lb hard Genoa Salami	$2.64
1/2 lb Light Cheddar	$2.75
12 Bananas	$2.53

I am very lucky to have a family shared membership to BJ's Wholesale here in Jersey City; I previously mentioned my membership in 10 Things I've Bought That Save Me Money. As you can see from the prices I've paid for groceries, I literally get twice as much food as I would at the regular supermarket for the same price. There are certain things that I won't buy there because they do end up being more expensive, and other that I buy even though they are the same price just because of the convenience of already being there (case and point, the deli items). The bananas were actually purchased at my local ShopRite which is right next door because I don't particularly like BJ's bananas.

Buying produce in such large quantities means that you really need to know how to store it to make it last. Without proper prep, you will have tons of spoiled greens, fruits, and veggies by the end of the week. Since the kale comes in a large non-resealable bag, I pack it into two separate ziplocks. I line each bag with paper towels and squeeze out the excess air to keep the kale dry and crisp for two weeks. The spinach comes in a resealable container so I dump it out into a big bowl and line the container with a paper towel. I dump half of the spinach back in, fold the towel over it and then dump the other half on top. I then place another paper towel on top of the top half and make sure to store it upside down in the fridge. You would be surprised how properly prepping and storing your produce will extend their life.

Meal planning is also essential when you're living on a budget. Not only does it help to save money because no food goes wasted, but it also saves a lot of time and effort during the week since your meals are already planned out. I am lucky in that my job provides us with fresh fruit daily and also free lunch on Thursdays; this really helps with my planning for the week. My mom also leaves me dinner every night, a very big perk of my semi living-at-home situation. With all of the above, and my freezer and pantry reserves, I will be able to make my breakfast green smoothie and hard boiled eggs (breakfast every day), four sandwiches (two a week), and four salads (two a week), plus all of my meals on the weekends for the next two weeks.

Not bad for $23, if I do say so myself.

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins

Now that the weather has cooled down, I'm so happy I can resume my normal Sunday afternoon baking. While I've always loved to cook, baking is definitely my strong suit; I think it has something to do with the very precise measurements. If you've ever tried to fudge a recipe without knowing the proper substitutes, you will know exactly what I mean.

This Sunday, I was looking through my freezer that I've been trying to clean out slowly and found some frozen pumpkin puree. Whoopee! Fall is my favorite season not only because of the crisp cool weather, sweaters, and scarves, but also because of pumpkin everything!!! Pumpkin everything also usually means stopping by the Starbucks several times a week to indulge my sweet tooth. As you can imagine, this is not very budget friendly, so I decided to take to Google and find a recipe for muffins that I could take with me to work for that afternoon fix.

Pumpkin Walnut Muffins
Serves 12

This recipe was adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction.

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cup all- purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven rack to the lower third position and preheat to 350 degrees F. Spray your muffin tin with non -stick spray and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, the whisk together. In a medium bowl, which the eggs and sugar until combined. Whisk in the pumpkin and oil. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix together. Gently fold in the walnuts.
3. Pour the batter evenly into each muffin cup filling each one almost to the top. Bake for 25 minutes. The muffins are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. 
4. Place the muffins on a cooling rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

These muffins were definitely a hit in my house; there were only six left by the time I got around to snapping a picture. If using chocolate chips like the original recipe calls for, I would probably cut down the sugar because the muffins were pretty sweet as is. If I decide to make this recipe into a bread, I will definitely cut down the sugar to 1/2 cup of each. I'm also thinking of incorporating some zucchini next time I make them. 

Hope you enjoy. Let me know what you think once you've given them a try.

My Budgeting Process

The foundation of any financial plan should always be a budget, and yet so many people don't actually sit down every month to make one. I was definitely one of those people before beginning my Total Money Makeover. Each pay period, I would sit down, pay all of the bills that were due until my next pay check, and whatever I had left over was what I had to spend on groceries, personal care, etc. until the next pay check. I found myself in an endless cycle of too much month at the end of my money.

Did you know that 70% of American households live paycheck to paycheck? Did you also know that 50% of American households also make $50k or more (40% of these folks making over $100k) each year? This means that there are people that you walk by on a regular basis that you think are well off and put together that are walking around with the same money troubles as you and me.

In this post, I'm going to walk you through how I budget. This budget is not original by any means and it was actually developed from a template provided by GazelleInTents. They are YouTube vloggers that I follow on a regular basis and really offer a lot of inspiration and motivation, so check them out when you have a moment. I will begin by saying that I have hidden a few rows such as the breakdown of my income (I have a few different income sources), tithes/offerings, and a few personal items that are included in my budget. For the most part, however, what you see below is pretty much the bulk of it.

Every month I begin with the same basic template and add in all of the special items that are going on that month. For bills like my gas and electric, I look back at the previous year's bill to estimate and others are just set expenses that I previously determined a budget I want to stay within range of. Some months I have to adjust my budget in certain areas to have leeway in others, but ultimately, at the end of the month, I will have "zero" dollars left over.

Next all of my debt is lined up and are sorted by due dates. I keep a small grid with my debt snowball next to the debt section of my budget to always have for reference. As you can see from the picture above, I have crossed out the student loan that I was able to pay off previously. This month I am forecasted to pay off two of my smaller debts which you can see are highlighted by the red text. I'm so excited that as of last month I am under six figures in debt!

Finally is the section with the month's miscellaneous expenses and the sinking funds that I will begin to fund in the future. For those of you who don't know what a sinking fund is, essentially it's just a savings account for expenses that you know are going to come up such as holidays, birthdays, car maintenance, etc. Currently I don't have anything in any of my funds, but one which was a leftover balance that I had prior to beginning my makeover and decided to keep there.

For me, the most exciting part of my budget is those last two boxes where I have listed the total debt paid off since I began the program. It's been growing a little every month and I just feel so proud of myself when I see that figure month over month.

Tune in at the end of the month where I will let you know how I have done.

New Beginnings

Another blog where I give thanks...

As I begin the second week at my new job, I couldn't be more thankful for this new opportunity God has afforded me. Whenever you begin a new job, it's always easy to be thankful for the new, but often times it's hard to be thankful for the old, especially if the old wasn't the best of situations.

The view from my old office.

As I moved through my first week at work, I became more and more thankful for my previous position. While I definitely still believe that my current manager hiring me was a bit of a stretch, and I am very grateful to him for seeing the potential within me, it is becoming more apparent how much the knowledge I have previously gained is going to and has already benefited me. Not only the knowledge needed for my profession and what I will be doing on a day to day basis, but things as simple as carrying oneself professionally, writing clear and concise emails that anticipate the person's next question, and actually being able to interpret emails. I don't know if it's just me, but I have always been shocked when a manager applauds me for doing my work and doing it thoroughly. Is this something that is truly lacking in today's work force?

I am thankful for my former manager for allowing me to jump in on anything and everything that came across my desk, guiding me where necessary, but allowing me to take the lead on so many different project. I am thankful for the opportunity to partner closely with the HR Department in such a way that allowed me to make an seamless transition into the Corporate HR space. I am thankful for my friends, to whom I will be forever indebted to for making my job situation tolerable enough to allow me to make it through for the period of time necessary to gain all of the experience I was able to. I am just plain thankful.

I walk past this lovely lady everyday on my way to work. 

As I go into my new role, I am thankful for my coworkers who are eager to teach me the ropes and are also willing to let me jump in where I can. I am thankful that they appreciate my contributions and recognize where my previous experience can lend a helping hand on a current situation. I am thankful for a manager that does not micromanage my day and instead allows me to work through the things that are coming across my desk and touches base with me every so often. I am thankful for a manager that is truly interested in what I can bring to the team and how I can grow my career in my current situation, not only because it is what the business needs, but because he genuinely cares about his team and the dynamic of the group as a whole.

I am thankful for the small things, like the fact that I am working for a company that truly values its employees and shows the appreciation in hard concrete ways. You don't always take a job for what is available to you, but it definitely goes a long way when a company goes above and beyond with its employee incentives. I am thankful that although I am now facing an hour long commute in each direction each day, it is an easy one and it affords me the time to pray and listen to my personal growth podcasts every day.

But most importantly, I am thankful for the opportunity to be able to continue my personal growth and take the next steps on the path that was predestined for me and my ultimate goals.

No Spend-tember Review

Now that September has come to a close and we are deep into Pumpkin Spice Latte season, I wanted to provide you all with an update on my "No Spend-tember." While I did slip up a few times, I was able to keep to my commitment for the most part, which allowed me to finish Baby Step 1 and begin Baby Step 2 all in the same week!

So first, let's talk about how I kept myself accountable. Before the month began, and throughout the month, I made sure that I told everyone I knew and came into regular contact with that I was on a no spend month. Having the support of my family and friends, even though some of them thought I was crazy, went a really long way. My sister has now even taken to asking me "Is this going to mess up your Dave Ramsey plan?" before we do something.

Letting everyone know what I was doing not only helped keep me accountable, but my friends and family all came up with ways we could spend time together that did not involve spending money. I went on a lot of walking dates with my friend Sera, enjoying the unseasonably warm weather we were having. I went on a few study dates with my sister. I took advantage of two outdoor movies with friends. All in all, I think that I actually spent more time socializing in September than I have in the past few months, and all of it was free!

Of course, there were also a few free things I did or coupons that I took advantage of during the month.

1. Two Starbucks coffees
2. Starbucks breakfast sandwich
3. Au Bon Pain chocolate croissant
4. Dunkin Donuts "Coffee Day" coffee
5. Movies in the park
6. Victoria's Secret underwear

After my first few slip-ups during the beginning of the month which I previously wrote about, two more situations arose where I needed to spend money. These situations, however, were somewhat pre-planned and I made sure to not exceed the budget. The first was that a pair of boots that I was previously budgeting for and had a sinking fund in place for went on sale for over 65% off. I could not pass up the sale and purchased the shoes using my saved funds, The second situation that arose came out of my getting a new job! Knowing that I was going to be starting in a new place and not knowing what the normal lunch process was at the new place, I budgeted for a small lunch and "getting to know you" coffee break on my first day. Both times, I came in under budget.

I'm very excited by all of the progress that I was able to make by performing this small reset exercise and will definitely be doing it again in the future. I cannot say enough how much the support of my family and friends kept me moving along, and for that I am thankful.

Stay tuned for the next post where I will be talking about my new beginnings.