Creating a Legal Will

Saturday, January 29, 2011

This beautiful Saturday morning Aaron and I are just lounging around. Well, he is in the living room playing Rock Band and I am curled up in my bed with some chocolate milk, my laptop, a couple of books from the library, my list of baby needs, and the Today show playing in the background. I love mornings like this. The past couple of days have been simply beautiful here in Asheville and it is getting me excited for spring!

Yesterday morning we had an appointment with our financial advisor and an attorney to talk about and build a legal will. Before we went to the meeting we had to fill out an extensive questionnaire asking us about children, guardianship, health care decisions, assets, etc. Aaron and I had talked about these things in the past when we first met with our financial advisor so we were already on the same page on just about everything. The main reason we are putting together a will this early in life (we keep hearing that we are very young to be putting something like this in place, but think it is a smart decision no matter where you are in life) is because of the little boy that is on his way. We wanted to make sure that a will was in place should something happen to both Aaron and I and so he wouldn't be  completely subjected to a judge to make the decision for us as to who would be his guardian. We also wanted to have a trust in place so our money would go to him and our future children. Even though this is not a cheap document to have, the peace of mind it gives us it worth the money.

The will is a part of our financial foundation we are working to build with our financial advisor. This foundation includes things like:

• Emergency Fund*
• At least 2 months worth of expenses* (we have our two months in place and are working towards building up to four months and eventually six months)
• Life Insurance*
• Disability Insurance*
• Health Insurance*
• Debt reduction (We are diligently working our monthly budget to save as much money as possible to pay off our student loans even faster.)
• Will

*Already in place.

Right before the new year I felt it placed on my heart that we needed to really dig in and know where our money was going each month. Sure, we had a budget in place and knew we were living within our means, but we weren't really watching where we spent the money. So we signed up for Mint.com and I have totally loved using this program. You set budgets, it records your transactions and lets you know if you have gone over budget in a certain area. I LOVE IT! It is a great source of accountability. In a couple of days I will be looking at the amount of money left over for the month of January and we will be sending that money to the student loan we are currently working down. And because it is almost the end of January I will do an update on how we did with our budget this month and how some of our other goals are working out. I feel pretty good about the habits we are building and cannot wait to share some of our successes!

Relish: Another Meal Planning Option

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

As you well know by this point, I have been using a meal planning service to help me plan my dinners and control my spending at the grocery store. Currently I am using E-Mealz and I have found the structure to be very helpful and easy to use. However, one thing I have noticed with the plan is that it uses a lot more processed foods than I feel comfortable using. I feel like when I was not using the plan I would buy much more produce than I am now. Aaron noticed this as well so what we have decided to do is to take out any meals we feel do not meet our standards and I will find another recipe that better suits our desires. Since we have already paid for the service for three months, this is the best compromise for us right now. 

Having said all this I wanted to let you know about another meal planning service I recently came across that looks to be geared more towards healthy eating and even gives you 15 recipes from which you can choose for the 5-7 meals for the week. The service is called Relish and costs $35.70 for a six month subscription which is only $5.70 more total than E-Mealz for six months. The website for Relish is http://www.relishrelish.com/. There you can look at a sample shopping list to give you an idea of the type of food the plan uses. 

I have found that meal planning has kept us on track with our grocery bill and helps beat the temptation to eat out often. I also feel that we do not throw away as much food because we only buy what we need for a week at a time. If yo haven't tried meal planning, I would highly recommend you do. 

Grocery Shopping Victory!

Friday, January 7, 2011

With the hubby at work and a pending "you're going to get it Asheville" snow storm on the way in a few days I decided I needed to head to the store to grab this week's menu items. I am using www.e-mealz.com for my weekly dinners. It is a service that costs $15 for three months and I receive a weekly menu with five dinners, a pre-made shopping list of all the ingredients and directions for all the meals. There are many different plans from which to choose and we use the Wal-Mart plan for 2. The list of ingredients is broken down by category such as dairy, produce, boxed, etc which makes shopping that much easier.

I decided that I would take my list and go to Aldi's to get what I could there first and then get the remaining food at Wal-Mart.

Here is what I bought at Aldi:

Pkg of 3 tomatoes: $1.69

Bag of frozen peas: $0.88

Broccoli: $1.49

Refrig. Pie Crust: $1.89

Kielbasa Sausage: $2.49

Pasta Sauce: $1.79

Bag of Kettle Chips: $1.99

A dozen eggs: $1.29

Gallon of Milk: $2.39

Honey Wheat Bread: $1.19

Hoagie Rolls: $1.69

Total with tax: $19.17

My purchases at Wal-Mart:

Box of fruit popsicles: $1.25

Box of chocolate popsicles: $1.25

Box of Triscuits: $1.98

Bag of frozen okra: $1.50

Bag of shredded cheddar cheese: $1.86

Cornbread mix: $0.54

Can of chicken broth: $0.72

4 cups of Yoplait yogurt: $0.50 each

3 cups of Bryers yogurt: $0.54 each

Container of shredded parmesan cheese: $2.18

Can of diced tomatoes: $0.63

Can of crab meat: $1.63

Chicken gravy: $0.72

Whipping Cream: $1.68

1 Granny Smith Apple: $0.96

1 Yellow Onion: $0.76

2 Navel Oranges: $0.66

Total with tax: $22.38

Total of both purchases: $41.55 Yea!

Here is a photo of all the food:

This is for all dinners for the next week, lunches and snacks. Before I went to the store I checked the list and crossed off all the items we already had on hand or left over from last week. I also took inventory of all the lunch items we had and planned my purchases accordingly.

As for breakfast, I usually make chocolate milk and eat a piece of fruit. I also have oats to make oatmeal, grits and bread to make toast. If we have cereal I eat that instead of the milk and fruit, but without a coupon cereal is pretty expensive so I skipped it this week.

I am so very pleased with today's purchases. I think I will continue this system for my future shopping adventures.

Have you had any financial wins lately? I would live to hear!

Clearance at Walgreens

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

I happened to stop into Walgreens tonight. I forgot to pick up a Sunday paper and thought maybe they would have some left over. They didn't, but I decided to walk around the store anyway. I found that there were several items on clearance in the personal care aisles. (Look for the orange tags.) I decided to write down what I found and go home to make a list of the necessities we need this month and then see what items on sale met our needs. I also tried to find some coupons for additional savings, but didn't have much luck. I will share that we have budgeted $30 for all "necessities" which include toiletries, cleaners, paper products, etc. This budget overwhelmed me because, for instance, I usually purchase Pantene shampoo & conditioner. The conditioner can be up to $5.00 per bottle. And it would happen that this month is the month when a lot of these necessities are needing to be replaced.

So...here is what I purchased:

1. Frizzease Shampoo 10oz: $1.79
2. Tresemme Natural Conditioner 32oz: $1.39
3. Tresemme Root Boost Mousse 8oz: $1.29
4. St. Ives Body Wash 13.5oz: $1.69

Total with tax: $6.64

At the bottom of my receipt it said I saved $14.10. I consider this a win. We still have $23.36 in our budget this month for our other needs and I feel like this will be plenty and the shampoo and conditioner I bought tonight will get me through next month as well.

It is a small victory overall, but HUGE for me. I just took the time to walk around the store, make a list of what we actually NEED and go back with the list in hand and make my purchases. I will definitely do this again!

Financial Goals for 2011

Monday, January 3, 2011

I cannot believe the holidays are already over and we have entered 2011. But I truly love the way the new year makes me feel, especially this year. Being pregnant is playing a role in my organization, clean freak, money saving self this January I am sure, but I plan to use this motivation to our advantage and get some things in order. With a baby due in May, and medical expenses already being paid monthly, Aaron and I decided to take a critical look at our finances.

I just recently read Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and it really added to my motivation to save more money and focus on our debt even more. All of our debt is in student loans. We don't have credit cards and our cars are paid for. With that said, we cannot be as radical as most people with debt since to make a difference in our financial situation, we will have to make changes in the everyday way we live and thus our debt reduction will be a bit slower paced than others. 

A lot of the blogs I read are written by those who are/were working towards getting out of debt and blogged about their process and progress. Aaron mentioned I should try doing the same. I think one of the ways we are going to me most successful with the changes we are going to make will be for me to write it all down, document our progress (to keep me motivated), and to create a place where I can receive and share tips on saving money and keeping ourselves entertained on a budget. (That's going to be the hard part!)

So here is the plan we have put together:

1. Eat at home/take lunch to work. Period. Aaron and I did include a set amount in our budget for eating out, but just because we have it budgeted doesn't mean we have to spend it all. The overall goal is to come in under budget in as many areas as possible. We actually signed up for the E-Mealz weekly plan (www.e-mealz.com) and started using it this week. We are still unsure if this is going to work for us since we ended up spending much more than we usually do, but I think we just need to give it some time to figure out what works for us.

2. Use coupons for everyday necessities. We all need shampoo, laundry detergent, and cleaning supplies. I feel like this is one area where we can save the most money. It will take some time and dedication to search out deals and coupons, but I think it will be worth it. 

3. Planning activities at home. One way we plan on curbing the desire to go out all the time when we get bored is to be very deliberate about planning special activities at home. We already have a budget for "date night" which is on Friday nights. We will also be including at lest one, possibly two, movie nights per week. This will be a great way to utilize out Netflix account. Aaron and I will also be including game nights. We have a couple of two player games and just purchased Monopoly for $10 with some Christmas money. Having these activities pre-planned with hopefully help us resist the urge to go out and spend an extra $20-$30 every time we get restless. 

4. Search out free events in the city. There is always something happening in Asheville and there are several free publications that advertise monthly events. In addition to the movie and game nights at home, we will be searching out free events happening around the area so we get out of the house regularly. 

These are the main areas we plan to save some money, pay down some debt, and get ready for the little one on the way. Just so it is said, we realize we could have additional savings per month if we lowered our rent cost. Currently it is still under what Dave Ramsey suggests to pay per month, but we know we could find something cheaper and are locked into a contract through May. Since the baby is due in May, if we do decide to move we will probably go month to month until July and move then to give us some time to adjust to having a baby in the house. It will be a tough decision to make since we absolutely love living here, but we have to do what is best for us overall. 

I am in the process of looking for tips that work for others as far as saving money, cheap dinners, activities to do at home, etc. So, what works for your family? What are your financial plans for 2011? I would greatly appreciate you sharing how your family works with a budget and tips on staying within those boundaries.