Budget Ketchup

We've been pretty busy with life lately, though I've been managing to keep Harper's blog pretty current. She's really the only interesting one anyway.

We've been doing really well with our budget, faithfully sitting down every 2 weeks to map out where every penny goes. We've wound up with a surplus every single time, which we then apply to our next account in our debt snowball.

Amount paid off in 2009 to date (roughly).... drumroll please.....

$11,000!!!!!!!

We can hardly believe it and we feel tremendously blessed to be able to look back and see such significant progress being made. Though admittedly, it's a little frustrating knowing what other uses that money could have been put towards had we not been living our lives so stupidly the past 13 years or so each. We've been prayerfully seeking God's guidance as we continue to chip away at our stupid debt and we really feel His hand leading us through every step of the way.

We're also very humbled to have never missed a tithe and even felt God leading us to tithe our tax return. We've still got a ways to go, but we're well on our way to making our goal of having all consumer accounts paid off in 2009. It feels nice to have 5 accounts paid off and closed, out of our lives for good. We've got our 3 biggest balances still to go, though we're already halfway through the third biggest - my last credit card.

Grocery savings are going well. Not much exciting and different to report, though I've managed to stick with my $75/week budget every week very successfully. Remember, I include all personal items such as shampoo, soap, & lotion and household items such as paper towels & cleaning products in my weekly budget - it's not easy! I average 50% savings on my receipts every week which is very encouraging and reminds me why I work so hard to clip coupons, keep everything organized and plan meals out. It's like a second job most times and there are many, many times I don't feel like clipping out all the coupons or schlepping the baby in and out of the car and cart - though she's always an angel and a joy to have out and about.

One small (big) success I must post about is Harper's 1st birthday party. I now know it is possible to do a child's birthday party on $100 or less. A few examples of how I saved money.

- Designed a theme around clearance items. Her party had a heart theme, which I planned because of the Valentine's Day sales. Every single thing I got for at least 50% off including the invitations which I made myself from do-it-yourself valentine's cards. I purchased her balloons, paper plates, napkins, and sweets and treats the week following Valentine's Day and in total spent $12. Yes, I said $12. And I like to think I mixed enough other types of decorations in and around to avoid it looking completely like a big giant Valentine's Day party. Next year might be bunnies. :)

- Planned the menu ahead of time and bought accordingly. We kept the menu simple and planned on doing a laid-back bbq fare with hamburgers and hotdogs. I bought several packs of hotdogs on sale weeks beforehand and froze them, along with the hamburger meat. I'd been picking up cans of baked beans on sale with coupons as well and boxes of cake mix and frosting, from which I made my own cupcakes and avoided a store bought cake. I bought a couple boxes of Rice Krispies and bags of marshmallows for a fraction of the cost, and even stored butter for a few weeks when I found 4 sticks on sale for $0.79 - and voila! Rice Krispies Treats! A couple weeks prior to the party there were 2-liter bottles of soda on sale for $1 so I stocked up with a few of those. The things I did not find on sale, such as chips and buns, I bought generic. No one knew the difference since I set everything out in decorative bowls and I even heard several comments on how good the chips were. The day of the party I found strawberries on sale for a great deal so I "splurged" and am so glad I did because they were a hit and so so yummy.

- I found a coupon online for $5 off a purchase of $25 or more at Party City which I had planned to use on the day of the party to blow up the balloons I had purchased and buy a couple of mylars and anything else I thought I could use. Traffic was so backed up, it caused a change in plans which ended up being a good thing. I found mylar balloons at the Dollar Tree and just blew up the balloons at the grocery store when I was there buying strawberries. Even the last-minute changes don't have to be expensive.

- Speaking of the Dollar Tree, I picked up a few last minute items such as little toys for the older kids to play with. We didn't have a big guest list and I wasn't doing goody bags but I wanted something for them to do while they were here. They were a hit and I was so glad fun doesn't have to be pricey!

I realize that not every birthday is going to be done so successfully on such a small budget, but I feel pretty good about what we were able to do this year. We were reminded it's all about the celebration and not the fanfare. In total, we had 10 adults and 4 kids here celebrating. And yes, we did it on less than $100.

Well, there's my 1st Quarter update. Here's to a successful next 3 quarters this year...