Not your average blogger

Wow, I must say, after looking at some of the uber-thrifty blogs out there I am definitely not your "average" thrifty blogger!

I hope my readers don't expect to come here and see all of the best deals and greatest match-ups out there, because I just don't have the energy {or drive} to do that.  So if that's what you guys look for, so very sorry, but you won't find that here.  That's why I have all the great linkies on the right ----->
I'll leave it to the pros!

Here, you'll just find our journey to saving money, being thrifty, and making it by with a little more money in the bank day by day.  Tho, I'm feeling like the whole saving is a little rough right now.

Speaking of which, when will this whole "recession" thing turn around {????}, I wonder.  I just think back....{time warp}  I made it thru a year of lay-offs - then my number was drawn {in a figurative sense}, hubby's clientel has definitely decreased, I sometimes I feel like we need to sell everything in the house to make-do, I feel guilty of buying a Caribou once in a while (man, I'm glad I don't get one everyday like I used to!  Then we'd really be on the street, haha!), and I haven't bought any "new" clothes in I can't remember how long - garage sales and thrift shops are my friends.  I have gift cards to clothing stores, but feel guilty using them on clothes.  Why?  I have no idea, it's not like I can get toilet paper or food at those stores, right?

But then I think about my life, and think "we're not that bad off."  We own our house, we don't have car payments, our house is completely furnished, we have food on the table.  It's just that feeling of living paycheck-to-paycheck, like I'm not able to make enough to contribute, that little twinge of pain when I look at the bank accounts {to see the amounts haven't really increased}.

Okay, not sure where all of that came from!  Guess I've had a bit on my mind lately...  Just a little food for thought I suppose.

And now I must really get to bed after a day & night of reading articles, writing papers, taking quizzes and doing finances, blah. 

Always,

Where has time gone....

So it's been sooooo long since I posted I figured I best come back and update you guys a bit!

First off, the recipe for the Rotha's Buns that I talked about in my last post has been requested by many.  I will say, these buns are Heaven on Earth!  They are a family recipe, but Mom said I could share :o)

Rotha's Buns
Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. dry yeast (soften in 1/4 cup warm water)
• Add together: 1/2 cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt
• 1 egg, beaten
• 4 tbsp. melted shortening (or butter)
• 2 cups warm water

 Mix yeast with above mixture and then add 7 cups flour, knead, let rise once.  Form into rolls and let rise again until double in size.  Bake at 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes (outside should be light golden brown).

And there you have it!  Easy enough, right??  We usually make at least 2 or 3 batches at a time, they don't ever seem to last long at our house.  They are easy to freeze, and taste best right out of the oven with a little butter!  Delicious!  We've also done some variations using part bread flour rather than full white flour, wheat flour, adding a little cinnamon or nutmeg.  You do what you want!

I've also been thinking of doing Recipe Wednesday's or something....We have a lot of great recipes that we've found around, and I know we all love to try new things!!  So if you have a great recipe that you really like and would like me to feature it here on Recipe Wednesdays, send it on over!

Other than that, I'm back at school now, so the whole "being thrifty" has really taken effect!  We save for what we need, don't buy what we don't need, and have an allotted amount each month for a couple date activities.  We also look for free/really cheap things to do on our date nights each week, often it is finding a new recipe in one of our recipe books, then a movie night on the couch.  We're still couponing, earning points online, and cashing in rewards with our debit cards (awesome!).

What have you been doing lately that had been uber thrifty??  We're always looking for more ways to save money!

Always,

Why buy it,...when I can make it!!

Now that I'm all married off and Hubby and I are trying to save money wherever we can after the lay-off...mom has starting giving me cooking lessons!

I was never really one to cook when I was younger, mom tried numerous times to get me interested, but I just never got into it.  I was more of a baker.  Well, now that Hubby and I are on our own, making house, I figured it was time I really learned.  Yes, I'm a little nervous about it, the confidence isn't all there, but here I go!

So to start off, Lesson One: Rotha's Buns.  Some absolutely delicious buns that my mom has always made and a recipe from my Grandpa's cousin (Rotha) that has always been in the family!  Now these are some pretty intense buns, never had anything like 'em, and you can't make just one batch...mom always makes at least 3 at a time!  And I'm talking time-taking baking buns here...mix ingredients, knead dough, let dough rise, make buns, let buns rise, bake, and eat!  But they are like Heaven after you put a little butter on them (or without if you're Hubby)!

Now I just need to keep making them to get the recipe down!  Hubby was so excited that I'm learning to make them!  They are definitely a staple in our family...

We use them for everything; breakfast, lunch, dinner, garlic bread, hamburger buns, sandwiches, etc.  Now we just need to make quite a few and won't have to buy bread for a while!  They even freeze great!  Thrifty much?? Absolutely, and love it!!

Always, 

Well....

It looks like things will be getting a lot thriftier around here sooner than planned...  There was another lay-off at work yesterday and I just happened to be one of them.  So now it is off to the whole "putting the thrifty plan in action" thing going on in this house.  Thinking, planning, and acting...

Any tips out there to make this a bit of a smoother transition would be greatly appreciated by one and by all!

Always,

Something big to think about...

Lately, Hubby and I have been looking at finances {as I know many people have in this tough economic time}, but for possibly a little bit of a different reason. We have been together for quite some time now, married for over a year, and we've been looking to the future. Where do we want to be? What do we want to be doing? When do we want to start a family?

And we've really began throwing around and thinking about what could be one of the biggest decisions for us, whether or not I stay at home when we start our little family (other than our adorable little kitty, of course!). It is something that has been in the back of our mind for about a year now, really something that kind of came up during the beginning of our marriage. It has just jumped a little more forward into the front of our minds. We both don't feel quite ready to have kids just yet, but it became apparent to us that we really need to start thinking and preparing if this is something we really want, and to see if it is even possible for us financially.

We already keep a budget and revamp it every month for whatever events we may have coming up in the near future, but we really needed to sit down and take a serious look at that budget. It became obvious that with the way the economy and our jobs are right now we aren't able to live on one income (Hubby's pay is all based on commission-a personal trainer-and is in a profession where people don't want to pay for those services like they used to, and my company has put forth mandatory time off-80-90% depending on how busy each group is-and since I don't have any PTO left, it is all time without pay).

So we've been doing some re-evaluating, looking to see what we can really live without for a while to save money, pay off debt, and prepare for what may come. Since we got married, we've done a few things to try and help things along, we've:

• Gotten rid of our landline and just use cell phones
• Blocked text messaging from our cell phones {we never used it enough to make it worth it anyways}
• Began collecting and bringing aluminum cans in for money
• Been sell books on Amazon
• I have become a mystery shopper
• We use cash-back services and point rewards systems to get gift cards and cash back
• I have become a coupon and sales-shopping machine
• We have just cancelled our cable

With all of this that has been put in place, we still feel like our goal is so far away. I’ve been reading blogs and articles I’ve found online that stay-at-home-moms have posted for other tips and ideas, but we feel like we’ve slightly come to a wall.

So I throw this out to you all:  

Are there any tips that you would have for a young couple preparing to live on one income one a family is started?   

Is there something in particular you wish you had known, or done, when you were getting ready for the big change?

Anything would be extremely helpful and I appreciate all of you out there in blogland that have already posted information for all of us “SAHM” hopefuls!

Thank you all in advance!!

A day home sick means...

A day of clipping and organizing coupons and trying to get organized.  I finally sat down with all of the Sunday ads & coupons and made our plan of attack for the week.  There are so many great sites and blogs out there that give coupon and sale match-ups, I don't feel like I would do the match-up's justice, so be sure to check out the blogs in my bloglist to check them out!

Here's to a great week of savings!

Always

2009 Wrap-Up

With welcoming a new year brings looking back at the past year and acknowledging accomplishments and seeing what changes need to be made.  So here we go...

• Took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University course and got a good handle on where our finances were, where we want them to be, and what we need to do to get there.
• Set a budget and worked our best to stick to it!
• Paid off all credit card debt and now pay the balance off each month to bring it back to $0.  Also-closed many credit cards that we didn't need any longer (all "store" credit cards).
• Began funding our Emergency Fund, and contribute a bit to it each month.
• Eventually saved up enough money to go on our much-awaited week-long honeymoon!
• Opened a Roth IRA for Hubby.
• Worked on couponing and searching out the lowest priced items that are bought regularly.
• Paid extra towards student loans and our mortgage each month to live a debt free sooner!
• I became a direct sales consultant to bring in a bit of extra income.

I am sure there are many more things that we had done along the way; these are just what stick out in my mind right at the moment. 

And of course, our goals for 2010:

• Become a One Income Family (living on one income, and saving the other for future)
• Live BELOW our means
• Give 75% handmade gifts
• 100% cash Christmas shopping for Christmas 2010 (for gifts that are not handmade)
• Develop a good price book method
• Purchase online thru only cash-back websites
• Use a coupon everytime we gas a car  

Here is to a much better and more prosperous 2010!