A Few Minutes To Myself

The husband is bowling, son is at school and the baby is napping - so I have a few minutes to myself. I know there's things I should be doing, like another load of laundry or cleaning up the bedroom, but I just feel like sitting here for a few minutes.
I'm working on a stock-up list in Excel. We used to use something like it when I worked at the restaurant to ensure we did not run out of product before the truck came again. So, I have made a list of all the products we use that are non-food. I labeled each category at the top - for example: Baby, Bathroom, Cleaning, etc.. My goal in doing this is to only shop once a month for these products. I figure the less time I spend in Walmart (or wherever) the less chance I will buy extra stuff. For the first few months it may be a little hard to figure out how much we use in a month, but after a while I'll know how much we use. I plan on buying extra then we need for the first few months. I will start this next week after the husband gets paid and will post how it is going.
Here's a tip for saving a little toilet paper. You know how kids (and some adults) use way too much toilet paper? Well, all you have to do is when you put a new roll on squish it. This will make it harder to pull and your kid won't be taking using half the roll....

Now a Stay-At-Home Mom

I am now a stay-at-home mom, though it really doesn't feel that different yet. Feels like I'm on vacation from work or something. One would think that I would find so much extra time, but with a 4 month old around I don't seem to be getting anymore done now then when I was working. .
My husband and I took the baby to do errands today. She's always really good when we go places. We went to the grocery store and I saved quite a bit of money. I had quite a few coupons.. 4.50 off enfamil, buy one get one for enfamil, $.35 off gallon of milk which they doubled, $1.50 off of Huggies which were already on sale, Buy one get one for Kraft singles, and I bought 3 cans of diced tomatoes at 89 cents each (the ones on sale were $1 Hunts). Goes to show that just because something is on sale doesn't always mean that it's the best deal. I ended up saving $23.85 all together!!!

Online Bill Pay

Paying online through my bank is one of the best things I have ever found. My bills always go out on time so I need not worry about forgetting to mail them and end up with late fees. I also save money on stamps. I figure we send out at least 20-25 bills a month (we have 3 hospital bills that we pay on weeekly). It's also nice because you can pay your bills weekly and it feels like it's not such a big thing as when you take out one lump sum. I also have it set up to pay credit cards and loans 2 times a month; half at the beginning and half at the end. I'm thinking that this will reduce the amount I pay in interest, though I am not 100% sure because I just started doing this. We shall see.

Taking classes

I shall be taking a few classes at the local community college beginning January 16. They had the books online today through the college's website. Wow. I'd forgotten how expensive they can be. Even if I buy them used at the bookstore the one is $58 and the other is $104. But, I looked on Half.com and Amazon to see what I could do about getting a better price. Unfortunately, my economics book is still really expensive even if bought through one of these sites, probably because it is a newer book. The computer book is from 2004 so I was able to snag that up for $20 including shipping and handling. I saved $38.. not too bad. Textbooks really are pricey and you never get back very much for them. I used to sell mine online because our university bookstore didn't give back much at all for them. I like to get a head start on getting organized so I will be going up to the bookstore tomorrow to get the other book I need. Any jump start is probably good, with having a 4 month old around....

SAVE MONEY ON GROCERIES

GROCERY SHOPPING

1.) I try to plan my meals for the next two weeks. I write down at least 10 days' worth, figuring that there will probably be some leftovers from the day before. I've also discovered that I need to either warm the leftovers up for dinner the next night to use them up or stick them in freezer. If I do not, it will get lost in there and I will find it later all nasty. I then take my list and write down all the ingredients that I might not have in my home. You can also use Kraft's site. www.kraftfoods.com You can add your recipe in there to keep track of them and then you can even print of your shopping list, subtracting the ingredients you already have.
2.) I try to get only the stuff on my list, unless something is such a great deal I can't pass it up. I use my pricebook to see which stores are cheapest and what brands are the cheapest. I use the calculator on my cell phone to see what the price is per individual item / pound / ounce. I also budget out $50 a week for groceries and I go to the ATM at my bank (do not use other banks - why give them your money?) and get exactly that amount.

Hello to Everyone

Hello. This is my first blog and I will be using it to explore all the glories and all the turbulations of becoming a stay-at-home mom. I will be exploring different ways to save money and live on only one income. I will post the ideas I already use, the ideas that I gather and am trying, and will take any and all suggestions from people who read this. So, if you have anything to add please feel free to do so.
I thought that maybe you should know a little bit about me. I am 30 years old and live in upstate NY. I'm married and have two wonderful kids; Devon (8) and Kiersten (4 months). I received my degree in history in 2005 and found that I really can't get much with it! I have been working for an energy provider for the last year and a half, and will be leaving this job next Friday in order to stay at home with the kids and take a few classes at the local college. I plan on getting a 2year degree in computers. I should have went to school for computers to begin with, but as they say - hindsight is 20/20.
That's all I'll write for now. Thank you for reading my blog and please feel free to comment at any time on anything I write.