Check out My New Ride

One step closer to my dream of being a 1 car family

Weekly Spending Report 1.31.14, January Spending Wrap Up, Goals For Next Month

Here's the Stats for Week 4:

24.00- Pizza Night
(1 regular pizza for me and kid 1, 1 gluten free for Mike)
21.00 - Bota Box Wine
I decided to try this, since it is equivalent to 4 bottles of wine and said it is good for a month. It isn't bad! (I only drink wine a glass or two at a time, so I like that it lasts long)
35.00- Church Stuff
32.00 - Fruit basket gift for my aunt and uncle
92.72- Groceries
53.00- Gas (oh! that darn car!)
20.00 - Sushi take out ( I had an attack of laziness and didn't make dinner)

Total For Week:
$277.72

The month of January has come to a close. Here is my total spending for the month:
$2158.34

That is pretty low for a family of 4! Can I get it lower? This month I am going to try to focus lowering our take-out food bill- as that eats up a lot of our money (just last week alone we spent $44.00.) My challenge to myself is to spend no more than $25.00 next month. Challenge accepted!


 I want to add that my family has no debt. We have been blessed by generous family members, and smart parents who taught me how to be a good steward of our money. My husband received a small inheritance from his grandparents, which we used to pay off his student loan. My husband and I have budget meetings, we have one shared checking account and we make our financial decisions together. When we spend more than about $20 on something, we consult the other to get the "okay" on purchasing. This means there are no surprises on the bank statement at the end of the month (and unhappy spouses).

Have a great weekend!
(What will the groundhog say?? (for my US friends))

Katie

Do What You Can at Any Given Moment

A ways back I was really into yoga, and that was one of the mantras I learned from one of my instructors. I still like yoga, although my aspiration of being a yoga instructor have taken a backseat to these things called my kids (ha ha). It is hard to find your "zen" when your family room is full of trains/Lego's/diapers/etc. Stepping on Lego's during your practice? Not so relaxing.

But that's not the point, the point is that "do what you can at any given moment" has stuck with me. And although I am in a survival mode right now ( I have not had more than 2 hour blocks of sleep in over 2 weeks! I might be certifiable) and am making concessions on many things, I still try to do what I can at any given moment.

It is slightly ironic I just had a post on homemade cleaners, and right now my bathroom is decked out with anything but. I have outsourced that job to The Honest Company, a natural company that delivers right to your door. Ahem, exactly what I need.

But one thing I am still doing (because I do what I can at any given moment) is making my own laundry detergent, even if it is just to send it with my husband/mother to actually do the laundry with (outsourcing, my friends). Making laundry detergent is just something I find really easy to do. That, and forgoing paper products- (except for cleaning the toilet ( and toilet paper). I do that with recycled toilet paper. What does everyone else clean  their toilet with?) Oh yeah, and I haven't started cloth diapering yet- but after going through 7 diapers in one night, I am holding off for now.

What's in my laundry detergent you might ask? Well it's simple. Borax, washing soda, and grated soap. That's it. I don't even really measure it any more, I just dump it in a container. But, if you want a more solid recipe, I started out with this one. And, for when I am feeling especially lazy, I just order soap flakes and then I don't even have to grate the soap. I just use about a tablespoon per load so it lasts a long while too :)

Low Waste Goals for July 2013

I think it is very important when you take on something in your life, to set a goal to reach. We are trying to lower our waste. It is also important to have a goal that is attainable, so that you can reach it and not give up out of frustration. That is one of the reasons I am embarking on "low waste living" as opposed to "zero waste living". It is not that I do not want to be zero waste (or aspire to get there eventually), but I need a starting block to get there.

I have had many conversations with my husband about lowering our waste, and I am lucky as he wants to be a team player in this. When you have a family member/friend/loved one who supports you, it always makes reaching your goals easier!

So what goals am I setting today? My goal for the month of July is to only fill 1 kitchen size trash bag per week. Now, if we don't fill it, great! But that is what I am aiming to reduce our waste to this month.

This week I am also collecting all my plastic trash (just mine, not my husband or child's) and at the end I will post it here (and on "MyPlasticFreeLife.com" under the "show your plastic" tally. Just so I can get an idea of what I am producing.

I would also love to get a composting system going. We currently do not compost. Composting would cut down a great amount of our outgoing trash (obviously). I have to say I do not know anyone personally who composts. ( I live in the North Eastern part of the United States. We seem to be behind the West Coast on this).

So there are my goals for July. I will update my progress on here!

Katie