The Sweet Life On A Budget

  14 Days of Valentine’s  Each year I try to do something nice for each member of my family for the 2 weeks leading up to Valentine's Day.  With the inflation, health issues and the age of my son, it has become harder to surprise him and my husband with treats.    My goal this year is to spend less than $15.00 for the entire 2 weeks for both of them.        I try to pick up special candies when they go on sale for 60%-70% off after Christmas, but this year I didn’t find any.    So this year, I am going with mom jokes and simple touches each day.   This may look like: making a special meal, unusual lunch items, baking a treat for the week or just writing a note.    For my son, I will pick up special energy bars and make a batch of energy balls for him to get each day.   As a competitive swimmer, he will enjoy this treat.  My husband is a little harder to surprise.   SInce he can no lo...

  The USDA food plans represent a healthy diet at four different cost levels. (thrifty, low-cost, moderate-cost and liberal-cost)  The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) utilizes the thrifty level of the USDA food plans.   Each food plan specifies quantities of food and beverage categories that can be purchased and prepared to make healthy meals and snacks at home.   This year, we decided to use the Official USDA Plans: Cost of Food Reports to guide our food budget this year at the thrifty level.    December 2022 Report Per Week  Male (14-18) = $68.90 Male (51-70) = $64.20 Female (51-70) = $57.70 Total = $190.80/Week or $954.00 Week 1:  Aldi: $51.74 Meijer: $0.49 Kroger: $81.48 Week 2:  Kroger: $212.76 Week 3: Aldi: $38.96 Kroger: $79.92 Week 4:  Kroger: $141.90 Aldi: $62.75 Week 5 Aldi: $32.25 Kroger: $138.53 Meijer: $0.00 IBOTTA: $47.52 Total: $835.48 - $47.52 = $787.96 NOTE-  1- Clic...

  The Frugal Five: #38 With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     With the New Year upon us, it is time to set goals for how we will be spending our money.    This can look like shopping carefully, DIY projects, wasting less or just doing without.     Let’s see how we can save our pennies this year.    1-  Use Free Tickets We received free tickets to a home expo in our local area.   Since our son was off to a swim meet, we took advantage of this opportunity.   A home expo has a variety of different companies who do home improvement work such as general contractors, basement repair, painting, and gutter work.   Since we purchased our home this year and knew it needed some work, we too...

  The USDA food plans represent a healthy diet at four different cost levels. (thrifty, low-cost, moderate-cost and liberal-cost)  The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) utilizes the thrifty level of the USDA food plans.   Each food plan specifies quantities of food and beverage categories that can be purchased and prepared to make healthy meals and snacks at home.   This year, we decided to use the Official USDA Plans: Cost of Food Reports to guide our food budget this year at the thrifty level.    December 2022 Report Per Week  Male (14-18) = $68.90 Male (51-70) = $64.20 Female (51-70) = $57.70 Total = $190.80/Week or $954.00 Week 1:  Aldi: $51.74 Meijer: $0.49 Kroger: $81.48 Week 2:  Kroger: $212.76 Week 3: Aldi: $38.96 Kroger: $79.92 Week 4:  Kroger: $141.90 Aldi: $62.75 Total: $664.70 NOTE-  1- Click on the picture and get a link to a post sharing the recipe.  2- Although all prices...

  The Frugal Five: #37 With inflation on the rise and our salaries not being able to keep up, it seems like we have taken a pay cut and must be more careful with our money.   Ohio has inflation being around 7% but nationally it is around 13%.   The Frugal Five is a series where we celebrate our daily or weekly activities that help us live a frugal life.     This year I am investing a little more time each week to trim a little money off of the items I purchase.   In addition, we are looking at DIY projects to improve our home at rock bottom prices.    Finally, we are looking at waste and putting habits in place to help eliminate this.  This series will celebrate all the ways we find to save money each week.    Let’s see how we can save our pennies this year.    1-  Rooting a Cutting  This week my husband’s work was trimming their plants in the lobby.    He carefully selected a plant ...