Tag: budgeting

My Life Intentional

My Life Intentional

by kwoodfamily ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

As of the time I am writing this, I have three and a half years left in the active duty military. That will put me at 20 years of service. It is hard to believe that it has come this far. All that I have seen, learned, experienced. It is has all shaped who I am today. I have grown into the person I am because of this service and I do not regret it.

With all of that being said, I have been thinking really hard about what I want to be when I grow up. The second go around.

Here’s a few things about me. When I was college age, I always said I wanted to be a stay at home wife and mother. It was something about being there for my family and maintaining my home that intrigued me. Flash forward to now, I still have that desire. The change is, I also have an identity outside of being a wife and mother. In 16 years, I have learned I love to help and coach, volunteer, serve, and so many other things.

I will often joke that I am not going to work once I retire, because I will become that SAHW/M that college me wanted. However in the past five years or so, my husband and I embarked on a financial independence, retire early journey. I am so thankful and grateful that we were able to pay off our debts and save towards our future. We did this very aggressively for a few years. Of course as time went on, how I viewed our future changed as well. I do not want to to be confined to a hustle and not enjoy the fruits now. I want my children to understand delayed gratification, but not forget to enjoy the present.

I have a few ideas, but I want to focus on giving back and growing. Helping people just like us achieve their goals and live life on their terms. I am a strong believer that God places people in our paths for reasons. Sometimes we ignore or do not catch on. I will say in the past year, God has put the vision in front of me so clearly.

Faith without work is dead. I have three years to do the work and walk the path laid out before me. I have no idea of what that entails completely, but I am excited to learn. I am excited to share my experiences with you via my YouTube channel and other platforms. I am excited to provide tips and be a sounding board.

It is hard to believe I started this blog in 2020 with the intent of documenting our journey to financial freedom. Here I am three years later with three years until the real fun begins. Join me as we continue to be intentional and thank God for the blessings bestowed upon us!

Ways To Save On Your Grocery Bill

Ways To Save On Your Grocery Bill

by kwoodfamily ♥ 1 Comment
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I think it comes as no surprise that the cost of groceries is increasing, as with everything else. No matter how you look at it, we need food to eat. However, if you are on a tight budget, you may be interested in ways to decrease costs at the register. If you are, then follow along.

Today I will share some ways to decrease your grocery bill. Some ways will work better than others. It really depends on your lifestyle, how much time you want to dedicate, and your willingness to try something you may not have tried before. Let’s get right to it.

Meal Planning

I personally think this is the easiest and most convenient way to cut back cost. This involves planning your meals for the week or month, depending on how adventurous you are. When planning your meals you include Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Snacks.

How Do I meal Plan?

  1. Shop my pantry- I look through the pantry and fridge to see what I already have on hand.
  2. I consider what I can make with what I have on hand.
  3. I plan my meals for the week, this is pretty easy because we mostly have theme days.
    • Leftover Monday
    • Taco Tuesday
    • Wing Wednesday or Thursday
    • Leftover Wednesday or Thursday
    • Pizza or fast food Friday
    • Fend for yourself Saturday
    • Nice meal Sunday
  4. I make my grocery list based off the meal plan, to include ingredients we need.
  5. I go grocery shopping and I do not deter from my list unless I get a call from home or there is something good in the clearance section.

Shop Store Brands

Did you know that sometime store brands are made by the same big brands we know? In my experience there are some store brands that are better than brand names. Let me mention though, this may come with some trial and error. Meaning, all products are not created equally. I will explain in a bit.

Shopping store brands also includes shopping at discount stores. My recent discovery and love is Aldi. Where has this store been my entire life?!? So far my only disappointment is with their coffee creamer. Remember I said trial and error. Well yeah, the coffee creamer is a no for me.

But I digress…

Compare the price and quality of some of your favorite products. You may find you can get a cheaper version with the same quality.

Photo by Anna Tarazevich on Pexels.com

Buy Bulk

Depending on how many you are shopping for and your needs, buying in bulk may be a good option for you. Why… Because you can vacuum seal smaller portions, store, and use later. This decreases how often you go to the grocery store and ensures you have food on hand. I like to buy in bulk because I do not like going out too often, especially for things we use on a regular basis. Rice, beans, and meats for example.

Let me tell you though, buying in bulk can be a bit of an upfront cost. Also, if you do not use the item on a regular basis, buying it in bulk probably is not worth it. And of course if you buy in bulk, you will need somewhere to store all of the goodness. I would consider those things before buying in bulk.

I do not recommend buying perishable items in bulk…

I once bought five dozen eggs from Costco. Do you have any idea how many eggs we ate? How many goodies I baked? I will never do that again!

Shop Sales and Coupons

I want to focus on sales really. Shop what your local grocer has on sale for the week. If it is a good sale, buy plenty for later. Have a coupon for something you need, use it. Before I go grocery shopping I always look at the ads for a deal. I have even planned my meals around what is on sale.

Most grocers have apps now which make it easier to see what is available an on sale. If you shop at a store on a regular basis, sign up for their rewards program. Sometimes this results in an added discount, gas bucks, or special deals.

Finally, check out the clearance rack. I have found items I can use within a few days or some items I can even freeze. There is nothing wrong with checking out the clearance section of a grocery store. I have not been harmed by it yet.

Order Online

Want to make sure you only get what you need? Order online, simple as that. Choose curbside pickup so you do not have to go in, wait for the clerk to bring it out, and go on your merry way. I love curbside pickup. Not just for groceries, but everyday shopping.

What if they do not shop like me? Look at your purchase, tell them what you do not like, return it.

I know this is hit or miss for some, but I have not been disappointed yet.

Photo by Kampus Production on Pexels.com

I hope you found these tips useful and give some of them a try. If you have any suggestions or ideas that have worked for you, please let me know in the comments!

Frugal Finds at Goodwill

Frugal Finds at Goodwill

by kwoodfamily ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I’m Going Shopping- Even Though I’m Moving| Let’s Get Ready for School

Have you ever wanted to just shop? Some call it mindless shopping, emotional shopping, careless shopping. Well, I felt like buying me something. Because, WHY NOT.

I will say, I started with thrifting instead of going knee deep in to my aimless shopping.

I’m always amazed at what I can find in the thrift shop. Great brands and quality for the most part. And they have an endless supply of housewares. If you’re not checking the thrift shop every so often, what are you doing?!?

What Do You Need To Budget?

What Do You Need To Budget?

by kwoodfamily ♥ 0 Leave a Comment
My Simple Setup

Let’s be honest… I do not know of many people that like the word budget. Over time we have come to associate the word with being restrictive, bad, and associated with being broke. The thing is, none of that is true.

Simply put, a budget allows you to give your money something to do. You know, having awareness of where every dollar is going. It also provides you the flexibility to adjust as needed.

So, what do you need to budget? The answer is quite simple.
  • Your outgoing expenses: bills, food, gas, savings, etc…
    • You may want to start with a bank statement 🤷🏾‍♀️
  • Your total income: from all resources
  • Check this out: a notebook and something to write with

If that is it, then why is budgeting hard? I counter that with, is it hard or is that what we’ve been conditioned to think?

There’s Levels To This

Honestly, some of my best budgets have been done in a notebook or planner. However, society will have you thinking you need fancy apps, complicated Excel sheets, graphing calculators and your first born child.

No, no, no… just stop.

As mentioned above, you need to know what’s coming in (income) and what’s going out (expenses). There’s not any complicated math, addition and subtraction at most. See below for an example Simple budget.

Discipline

This is probably the hardest part of budgeting. Finding the discipline to do the budget and follow through with it. It’s hard because it requires a mindset shift. It requires you to say no to instant gratification, no to keeping up with the Jones, no to what you are used to.

It allows you to say yes to your freedom, yes to your future, yes to a better tomorrow.

Personal Experience

I have used:

  • The Happy Planner Budget Planner
  • The Budget Mom Planner
  • An over complicated excel
  • A Notebook (my fave)
  • You Need a Budget App (another favorite)
  • Every Dollar app (I like it)

To this day though, my go to is a notebook. Sometimes I use my iPad, but a simple notebook does it for me.

So…

I suggest you start simple using pen and paper to avoid getting overwhelmed. Feel free to try out the download below.

budget-sample.pdfDownload
Why Do You Need To Save In 2022

Why Do You Need To Save In 2022

by kwoodfamily ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Y’all, you not only need to save in 2022. We should have been saving in 2021, 2020, so on and so forth…

There are many reasons people do not save. Not enough room between paycheck and bills to save, never thought about saving, saving is a weird concept that only old people do… Whatever the case is, there is nothing wrong with saving. In fact, you need to save. 

Why 2022 specifically? Because we are still in a pandemic, the employment market is volatile, the stock market (side eye, retirement plans) is volatile. It is still crazy out here in these financial streets. 

I have talked about this before, but there are many reasons and ways to save. Let’s get to it…

Reasons:

Emergency– Just like it sounds like, when something unexpected comes up it is always nice to have money to keep from going into debt or into more into debt.

  • I am thinking car issues, medical bills, blown appliance. I am not thinking Bath and Body Works sales, brunch dates, or random shopping.

How much money should be in your Emergency Savings? This is not a one size fit all answer. I personally do 6-9 months of expenses. Some will recommend 3-6, 10-12, or even 2 years plus. You know your situation. What is important is to start saving.

Retirement- Do you plan on working for the rest of your life? if not, you may want to save something toward the moment you decide to walk away from traditional work.

There are many tools to save for retirement. Your employer may offer a 401k with or without a match. You can open an IRA with a brokerage account. The 401k and IRA can be Traditional or Roth. You can have a normal brokerage account that you buy and hold assets in.

  • Traditional- Before Taxes
  • Roth- After Taxes

*** I will do another post that goes into detail about Retirement accounts***

Life and Upcoming Events

Do you plan on taking a vacation this summer? Are you saving for it? What about new, to you, car? Are you saving towards that? There are so many events that we can plan for with a little intentionality. Below are a few:

  • College Savings
  • House Down Payment
  • Birthdays and Holidays
  • Large purchases

These are just a few reasons why you should save. Whatever reason you have, just start. Easier said than done right? If you need help, check out my coaching and planning services.