February's Cash Only Experiment Report

I have to say that I loved doing this cash-only experiment this month. I'm going to continue on in March, but I wanted to mark down the results from February:

I was under my grocery budget by $13, under my clothing budget by $15, and under my household budget by $38 for a total savings of $86! I decided to add some of this overage to next month (especially since March is a long month for me as a tax widow!) and I took out $20 to put toward our San Diego vacation. This $20 will show up in my savings for next month.

I was able to "cash out" three giftcards this month. When I used a gift card, I took the cash out of my envelope for that category and put it in my savings jar. This allowed me to add $50 to our San Diego trip.

Every time I got change back from a purchase, I put the coins in my savings jar. This past Saturday I took one of my daughters with me to cash in the coins at a Coinstar machine. If you choose to receive a giftcard instead of cash, there is no counting fee. I chose an Amazon gift card and ended up getting $12.35 from my spare change! I took $13 out of my grocery budget to put in our savings jar and used the gift card to buy wipes on Amazon. With the gift card, my out of pocket expense was only $0.02!

We got our "big fat check" from Ebates this month: $40.05. That money went into the savings jar. We also got our rebate check from our American Express card (that we have through Costco). I was shocked to see our rebate was $263.00! That money also went right into the savings jar.

The only downside was that I did use my credit card for some things (like Costco) and just took the cash out of my envelope and set it aside. We decided not to redeposit this extra cash at the end of the month only to have to turn around and withdraw cash at the beginning of the month, so all the cash I saved will be redistributed into our envelopes for March and we will see the savings from February at the end of March. (We use Microsoft Money to keep track of our budgeting.) Not a big deal in the long run, but it did make us a little cash poor this first month.

So in summary, here is what I was able to save in my first month at this cash-only experiment:

• $50 from "cashing out" gift cards
• $13 from saving spare change
• $263 from credit card rebate
• $40.05 from Ebates

...for a grand total of: $366.05!

The total cost for our hotel stay in San Diego is $610. So with the savings from this month's experiment, I have already covered more than 1/2 the cost! I am so excited to start saving in March!

Cash-only experiment begins!

Remember when I tried to do my version of the cash-only experiment? It worked "okay" but then the holidays started sneaking up on me and I totally cast aside my coupons and deals and forgot about the importance of budgets.

Then, one of my New Year's Resolutions was to eat better: healthier, purer, happier food. (Well, stuff that makes me all those things.) And that kind of food is expensive, especially when you don't try to plan your shopping...at all.

So, here we are at the beginning of February and I've decided to take the plunge into the Cash Only pool. Here's how it's going to work:

*One envelope of cash for groceries for the 1st through the 15th of the month.

*A second envelope of cash for groceries for the 16th through the end of the month.

*An envelope of cash for what we call "household" items: books, ink, stamps, and pillows are just a few examples of things that fall into this category.

*Finally, an envelope of cash for clothing purchases.

I chose not to have a grocery money envelope for each week because I don't like trying to figure out how much money to put in each week, especially when it's a week with fewer than 7 days. This way, I just take my monthly budget and divide it in half. Done.

We are taking a trip to San Diego in April to visit my husband's family for Easter. So I've decided that any extra money that I get (through savings, rebates, etc.) will go into a little fund for that trip, to help defray the costs.

In the spirit of full disclosure, here are the amounts for each envelope:

*Grocery #1: $240

*Grocery #2: $240

*Household: $100

*Clothing: $100

I'll be posting updates with my progress to let you know what type of things I can get on this budget and how much I can save toward our San Diego trip!

***

For those of you wondering if we are still going on our European Tour...well, plans have changed a bit. Two of the friends are now pregnant and won't be able to take their babes out of their respective countries until later in the summer, when one friend will be returning to the States. It looks like there will be a scheduling conflict for all four of us to be together at one time. However, we are still trying to make a trip to Europe to visit those friends who will still be there this summer. I'll keep you posted.

Here and there

It seems that I feel blogging has to be an "all or nothing" deal. Either I'm fully into posting my thoughts or I'm fully into mommy-hood...and of course being a mommy trumps all other endeavors.

But I've decided that I'm not going to beat myself up about some breaks in between posts. I'm still trying to find the balance that comes with three small children! I hope you will still come and visit from time to time.

Groupon Deal: The Produce Spot

Have you used Groupon yet? Lately, these group deal sites have been popping up everywhere, although Groupon is the first one that I have heard of. I've bought a few restaurant deals, a 50% off Gap gift certificate, and a $20 Soap.com gift certificate for $10.

I get a daily email with the Groupon for the day (there is one email for San Francisco and one for San Jose; I subscribe to both).

Today's Groupon for San Jose is a $20 gift certificate to The Produce Spot on Berryessa Road in San Jose for $10. The limit is one per person, but you can buy 2 additional ones as gifts. The Produce Spot carries organic and conventional produce, some baked goods, and dairy products. I have not been to the Produce Spot, but I have been to a similar store in South San Jose.

So if you are ever in the area of East San Jose and would like to stretch your grocery budget a little further, maybe it's a good idea to pick up this Groupon today!

***You have until Midnight Tuesday night (tonight!) to purchase this particular Groupon, but you have until March 29th, 2011 to use it.***

Super Savings Saturday

Boy, I haven't done one of these in awhile. But I got to thinking that seeing others get deals like this inspires me, so why not return the favor?

I went in to Rite Aid this week and picked up:

2 Huggies Jumbo Pack diapers, $8.99 each

1 Huggies Pull-Ups, $8.99

2 Kotex pads, $3.50 each

Oh, and a bag of Cheetos because my girls were being so good. Add in another 89 cents because I get 10% off non-sale merchandise with my wellness+ card. I love that little perk.

Total before coupons: $34.86 plus tax

I was rushing to find coupons because my coupon stash is a bit disorganized at the moment. I tried to print a coupon for the Pull-Ups ($1 or $2) but I couldn't get it to work. I also forgot to get a coupon for the Kotex, which I'm sure I had. But the time wasn't worth the extra $2 or $3 bucks I would have saved since my kids were going crazy while I looked for coupons!

I did have a coupon for a free Jumbo pack of Huggies diapers from their Enjoy the Ride Rewards. Subtract $8.99 for that. Then I had a $5 off a Jumbo pack of Huggies diapers from Recycle Bank.

-$13.99 for the above coupons

-$1 video values Huggies coupon

-$2 video values Huggies coupon

-$5/25 coupon

Total: $15.10

I paid with $15 in giftcards I received from the skincare rebate at Rite Aid this summer, so I spent 10 cents out of pocket.

And I got $9 in +Up Rewards (3 $2 from Huggies and 1 $3 from Kotex).

Plus, I will get a $10 giftcard for the Kimberly-Clark rebate since I spent more than $25 on K-C products.

Even with the Cheetos, it's a $4.10 moneymaker!

Whole Foods' Chicken Sale Friday

This Friday only, my local Whole Foods is having their Rocky fryer chickens on sale for only 99 cents/pound. This is a great price for good quality chicken. I think I'll stop in and pick up a couple of chickens for my freezer.

Check with your local store to see what they've got on sale this week.

The Hunger Challenge Debate

I read a post on BlogHer about the SF Food Bank's Hunger Challenge last week. Several different bloggers participated in the challenge, which was to eat on $4 per person/day. Apparently that is about what people who are receiving food stamps have to spend on groceries.

After reading some of the posts about getting by on bean and cheese burritos with not enough money for fruits and vegetables, I started to wonder if I could feed my family on the Hunger Challenge amount. Let's see: $4 per person (we have 5)/day works out to $20/day...or $560 per month! In 2008, the maximum a family of 5 could receive in food stamps was $698!

I was shocked because my food budget is less than that...by more than $100/month. So while it is difficult to hand someone a $5 bill and say "This is all the money you have to buy food with today", if you look at the bigger picture, it's not that hard to eat (and actually eat well) on such a "small" amount.

One blogger who got it right is Kimberly from PoorGirlEatsWell. I like the way that she makes her food as appealing as possible, because that always makes it taste better. She also uses what she has on hand instead of running to the store for an ounce of some obscure spice that you'll never use again. I'm definitely going to check out her blog for some inspiration as I prepare my weekly meal plans.

The main point of the Hunger Challenge was made clear: there are people who are on food stamps who don't have the luxury of eating whatever they want. They long to be able to buy a cupcake at the corner bakery or even something from a drive-thru. With every bite they take, they are keenly aware that their bounty is steadily dwindling and the cupboard may be completely bare before they are able to get more assistance or find another job. Those of us who are blessed with full cupboards should be moved to share with those whose pantries are empty.