Reducing the grocery bill

As I mentioned in my previous post, I've been thinking of ways we will save money when I go on mat leave as I will be making 60% less a month. One of the largest variable expenses that I think will be affected will be our food budget. Currently I allow for $550 in our budget for groceries and restaurants, although I just added up what we spent last month and it came to $760 so apparently I've been a little to flexible in following my budget.

Also the majority of that is because we've been eating out too much. One of the main reasons has been my husband does not cook (he'll vacuum, clean toilets, litter boxes, laundry, etc but the kitchen duties scare him) and during my first trimester the idea of preparing food was enough to make me nauseous. I only just started cooking again last week.

I want to reduce our budget to $350/month while on mat leave. Do you think this is realistic for 2 adults? I'm also basing the budget on the assumption that I'll be breastfeeding for the first year, obviously if I have to supplement with formula this amount will have to increase or I will have to starve!

My steps to reducing our food budget are:

1. Reducing 'eating out' to once a month if we have a social event to attend, otherwise $0
2. Meal Planning and bulk cooking/freezer cooking
1. Many of my grocery trips are last minute grabs because I could decide what to eat and then I purchasing things based on convenience, regards cost
2. A lot of our groceries spoil and go to waste because I don't get around to making what I thought I would that week.
3. Cooking in bulk and freezing the extras help with the nights that I don't want to cook and allows me to take advantage of the bulk savings.
3. Grocery Shopping with a list and cross referencing sales flyers before going so that I don't subcome to impulse buys and take advantage of the best prices
4. Actively using couponing and point collection programs. I don't think I'll every be an 'extreme' couponer with a stock pile in my basement but using coupons on my regular purchases only make sense
1. We have a PC Mastercard that we collect points that can be redeemed at Superstore for cash to pay for groceries. 20,000 points equals $20 as the minimum redemption and every 10,000 points more that we have at the time relates to $10. PC points don't offer 'better deals' as your points balance increase so it doesn't really matter when we redeem although Superstore isn't our primary grocery store so I would like to plan when we shop, like once a month when the points are added after a statement is issued.
2. I finally signed up for a Sobey's club card. There are rumors that the construction site a block from our house will be a Sobey's which will make it our closest grocery store so I'd be ridiculous not to have a card. Sobey's club points DO offer 'better deals' as yours points balance increases so when the teller tells you, "you have $5 would you like to redeem?" say No Thank You!
• Basically 725 points will get you $5.00 BUT 12,500 points will get you $100. If you were to redeem at $5.00 every time the teller told you that's how much you had, you would have had to have collected 14,500 points to reach the $100 of savings. That's an extra 2,000 points ($15) that you wasted!
• Sobey's offers Bonus Points coupons which help get to your points goal faster.
3. We also have a Shopper's Drug Mart Optimum card that I rarely use but their points system is much like Sobeys and their sales flyers tend to have some great sales so I plan to pay more attention there. Shopper's also sells grocery items so I can redeem the points once I hit the max to help reduce my budget line
• Along with bonus points, Shopper's also has events where point redemption actually are valued higher, watching for these will maximize the grocery budget that month!

Another point that I'm considering is the Making at Home versus the Buying option. I've read articles where making bread is better then buying because bought bread is $4+ a loaf versus the $1 a loaf to make it but I usually get my bread around the $2 range. There are other items that are suggested as being cheaper, not to mention healthier as you know whats going in them, to make at home rather then purchasing premade. Frosting, guacamole, hummus, pasta sauce, etc.

Is there anything you make from scratch because its cheaper?

Planning to live on less

With my approaching mat leave the idea of reducing of my salary to less then 50% of what I'm currently receiving is enough to give anyone pause. In Canada we have the opportunity to draw maternity (15 weeks) and parental (35 weeks) leave from employment insurance, which is wonderful, but the max benefit is 55% of $45,000 annual salary and as the Director of Finance for my company my compensation surpasses that by a good percentage. Working well on mat leave isn't worth it as your benefit is clawed back by the amount you are compensated so you don't come out ahead and you have less time to spend with your baby. There are companies that offer a 'Top Up' to the employment insurance benefits but there are usually strings attached to these benefits. My company hasn't confirmed if they will be providing any form of top up during my leave and currently I'm budgeting with the assumption that I will get nothing, this way if they chose to do anything it will be a bonus.

Luckily, we are in the financial position to live on 'less' for a year and not have to take out loans or feel a huge impact to our daily spending. Mainly my RRSPs are what are going to take a huge hit but with that said I really don't want to dip into my savings to cover my social life so I need to start doing some rethinking to my monthly spending.

Not quite sure how women that make less then the max benefit manage to live on 55% of that for a year! I am definitely happy that I don't have to worry about going back to work before my 50 weeks are up. With that said I don't think I could do this with out a budget because it will definitely be a huge change for us.

Things I will miss....

1. My morning Starbuck or Tim's 'coffee' run
2. Lunch at the mall food court or other take out restaurants around my office
3. My MANY Kobo purchases a month...the library will become my new best friend
4. Adding seasonally to my wardrobe
5. Not having to think before I whip out my VISA card

Actually that isn't really a lot and I probably shouldn't be wasting my money right now on these things.

Things I plan to do...

1. Monthly meal plan - this is necessary if I want us eating on a strict monthly budget - lots of home cooked meals and probably a lot of premade and frozen ones at that to make it more convenient. My husband is a vegetarian which means for convenience sake I don't eat a lot of meat at home either...why prepare two different meals every time?...which also helps cut costs on the grocery budget. Consider going meatless a few times a week to save. (Great blog for family meal planning inspiration is Good Cheap Eats)
2. Cloth diapers - my sister has already purchased the gDiapers so I don't have too much more to invest in now except adding a few based on wear and tear. Did you know that it takes 30 months on average before your baby is potty trained and during that time you will have approximately 7354 diapers to change? This can cost around $1912.04 ($0.26/diaper) if you are using disposables (not including the cost of garbage removal if your municipality charges for extra bags) where as Cloth diapers will cost you around $774.75 (diapers and laundry...assuming this is the first time you are using cloth and have to purchase them, splitting the cost with a friend or using them for multiple babies with increase savings. Not to mention that you can sell your used cloth diapers on eBay or a local Buy&Sell, which is where my sister picked up the majority of hers, and make almost 50% of your investment back). (To read a great article on the costs of disposables verses cloth diapers, as well as others on building a cloth diaper stash, read SquawkFox)
3. Breast Feeding - I say this is my 'plan' but having so many friends and family that have recent had babies I am completely aware of all of the issues that can arise to prevent breast feeding from happening. I will make every effort to do this until my baby moves to solids but I realize that it might be out of my control. Apparently formula can cost $100-$150/month depending on the brand, to feed your baby so I will attempt to go as long as possible on the breast.

If I manage to organize my time while I'm on maternity leave, I also hope to finally plant my vegetable garden and use coupons while grocery shopping but those are two things I've been saying I want to do for a few years now so we'll see if I'm adventurous come spring!

Am I forgetting any major cost savings I should take into consideration?

What I didn't expect

Yesterday I went to my doctor appointment and received that go ahead to tell the 'world' that we are expecting again. Even at 11 weeks she was able to find the heart beat which I got to hear and record for D to listen to (thanks to my sister for mentioning she had done that at her appointment 6 months ago...in fact my Dr. was nice enough to do it a second time just so I could record it as I didn't turn my phone on the first time because I wasn't sure if she would find it yet.)

After hearing the heart beat yesterday I definitely was breathing easier as I now know its alive in there and so far so good but I'm still hesitant to tell the 'world'. I've chosen to spread the news to our close friends and family, and now I'm telling you but I think I'll hold off for a few more weeks before I start wearing obvious maternity cloths to work and stick to my camouflaging outfits for now that just make me look like I'm fat.

When I started the process of trying to conceive over a year ago I definitely didn't expect things to be the way they are. For one I look with envy to the women that blissfully go through pregnancy never letting the thought of miscarriage enter their minds as something that will happen to them, where as every cramp or pain I experience is over thought. I continuous am reassuring myself that they are just indigestion or growing pains due to the expanding of the uterus. Nor did I think I would check for spotting/bleeding everytime I went to the bathroom. I started to stress before my appointment that I wouldn't hear a heart beat because nothing was there and refused to go to a private clinic for a 'sneak peek' ultra sound as I didn't want to be shown an empty uterus. Now that I have heard the heart beat you would think that I would stop stressing but knowing the possibilities of things going wrong for women I'm still not able to let go and just enjoy, and I miss not having the innocence.

That being said I'm still very happy that I AM pregnant.

I also was completely unprepared for "morning sickness". Regardless of everything I read I naively assumed that morning sickness meant vomiting. I didn't realize that you could actually be nauseous for 12+ weeks ALL day long and NOT throw up. That's me, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I honestly feel like Elizabeth Banks character in What to Expect When Expecting, she took awhile to conceive, researched everything, was 'prepared' and REALLY wanted a baby but when she finally got pregnant it wasn't the happy glowing experience she had expected and everyone talks about. She was miserable.

I feel guilty that I don't enjoy being pregnant because I so very much want a baby and went threw so much to get here. I feel like I should be walking on clouds and bubbling over with happiness but instead I'm exhausted, my back hurts, I have NO motivation to do anything and I'm constantly battling the urge to vomit. I'm crossing my fingers that I'll be finished with this after 16 weeks and can proceed to the happy part but I'm not holding my breath.

Regardless I am still thrilled that I'm having a baby and will love it regardless of how my hormones make me feel at the moment. I just might not rush out to have my second any time soon.

If you've been pregnant was it what you expected?

Homemade Baby Gifts

I think I am very lucky to be surrounded by creative people, one of those people is my mother in law, who is a very talented seamstress. Her specialty is bedding and drapery...specifically nurseries. I take full advantage of this and have had her make me blanket sets for my cousins' and friends' babies.

She will usually make two fitted crib sheets, four blankets and a pillow.



 I'll then wrap it up with a toy or set of onesies in a nice basket/box and we are good to go!

I wanted to do a little more for my sister's nursery so I had her pick out the materials she wanted (we found an amazing fabric store in Minneapolis - Crafty Planet that had gorgeous material to select from) and then my mother in law made the crib skirt, bumper pads, fitted sheets, cover for the change pad, curtains & topper, as well as a quilt, blankets, and pillows. I think they turned out amazing.

But as talented as my mother-in-law is, I also wanted to add something I made as well this time so my friend and I decided to make a felt mobile for my sister's nursery. After some trial and error with creating an appropriate sized pattern that looked the way we wanted, we settled on four owls, in varying blue and grey felts with leaves falling above them. I also wanted to incorporate the birch that was in her nursery so I had my mother send me a white birch branch.

We straight stitched the felt and stuffed the bodies of the owls. I used fishing line to hang the leaves and owls from the birch branch dowels (the fishing line was too difficult to thread through my needle but it was stiff enough to go through the felt with out it). I tied knots under each leaf so that they stayed at the heights I wanted. And to secure the branches in place I first wrapped the cross in floral wiring then covered it in twine for a more natural look.

It was a pretty inexpensive project and probably took me less then 8 hours to make.

Now I'm trying to think of gifts that would be appropriate for a second time mother. I have a bib sewing kit that I purchased from Purl Bee awhile ago that I want to attempt. Anyone have suggestions?

Its not so bad...

So apparently talking about things really does make it better. I'm still not ready to twirl around on a mountain top singing "...the hills are alive with music..." but I don't feel so...stuck.

After writing my previous post I had gotten together with my friend for our Tuesday evening craft session but since we are not a 'handy' household the only saw I could find was one for metal tubing which surprisingly does not hold up when trying to cut wood...go figure...so we were at a stand still in our current project and decided drinking tea and talking was a better use of our time. She jokingly said that it was 'deep thought Tuesday' because she wanted to reflect on some life decisions, not realizing that I actually was completely ready to go deep.

Once I had talked through my situation and how I'm currently torn as to the why, she suggested that I should just take one day at a time and not beat myself up about being in said rut. So that's what I'm doing right now. Rather then be ashamed of my procrastination and getting mad at myself for not accomplishing everything that I want to do, I am making a daily list of tasks that needs to be done and doing things one at a time. Simple I know.

We also discussed good habits and will power, or more so how people like me continuously fall off the wagon. They say it takes 20 days to form a habit but they don't mention how easy it is for some people to 'forget' that habit with only ONE bad day. My husband is the complete opposite of me, when he decides to do something he does it. It becomes part of his routine and he won't waiver...technically I think he's slightly OCD so waivering from said routine would probably cause him to have a stroke, so no one is perfect.

But regardless of the fact that 'good' habits don't come easy to me I still recognize that I should be doing them. One of those is healthy eating. I want to create and follow a weekly meal plan for health, convenience and frugality but currently cooking dinner is a chore for me, mainly because my husband decided that it WAS my household chore where as he looks after the cat litter, vacuuming and bathrooms. He will not step into the kitchen without making a huge fuss regardless of the fact that I have mentioned countless times that I never agreed to this delegation of 'chores' and that although I love cooking and entertaining I would like to do it WITH him to make it fun on a day to day basis. He doesn't get it.

I think if I could have a partner in crime to get together with once a week to plan out a weekly menu, go grocery shopping and prep some of the meals it would motivate me and well...make it fun. Ideally I would want that person to be my spouse and I am trying to pull him in (I've requested that he come up with food that he would like to eat this month) but I don't think I'm going to get the ideal. This is where I miss my best friend who use to do things like this with me but since we are no longer talking I need to step up and be independent.

Any ideas on how to make weekly meal planning fun, to help me stick to it?

Stuck in a rut

Have you ever felt like your life is pretty awesome, everything is lining up the way you want it. In fact you might actually run outside the next time it rains and pull a Gene Kelly...

Nothing can get in your way, life is AWESOME!

Or so it seems on the surface.

In fact you actually feel pretty blah when you start to think about it. You think maybe its depression but then quickly push that aside because what do you have to be upset about? So on top of not feeling productive and motivated you feel guilty that you feel this way. You have wonderful pep talks with yourself where you remind yourself that you are IN CONTROL and if you don't like being the way you are then change. You don't really want to bring it up to anyone because you are ashamed that you can't pull yourself out of it. You think it will sound like you are having a pity party, because that's what it sounds like to yourself. Not to mention you know all of the pep talks already. You KNOW what you SHOULD be doing. Procrastination and complete avoidance become a daily habit and when ever anyone points it out you laugh and make a joke about it but really you hate that you are doing it.

Once in a while you will feel a burst of renewed energy and you think you are finally back to 'normal' but then you get pulled back in. You remember that you DID pull yourself out before but you can't really remember what the trigger was. And you are mad at yourself for forgetting.


That's me right now. Welcome to the inner turmoil of my mind.

I know that I should be able to shake this feeling. Some days I think I have but recently motivation hasn't been able to stick. I have escaped into 40+ novels in the last two months to avoid reality and am quite content to continue on this path. I hate that I am 40 lbs over weight right now, I've always fluctuated 15-20lbs from my ideal weight but never this much, and yet following a (doctor ordered) healthy meal plan has yet to happen. I work out but constantly skip because I'm 'tired' or don't push myself when I'm there. I have countless organizational projects on my to-do list with no really reason for them not to be completed. Not to mention the fact that I'm over a month behind on a major project at work which I have no real excuse for other then my lack of drive. And every time I remind myself of all this I get frustrated.

I feel like I'm missing something. That if I could just find the main problem everything else will fall into place. Previous mood swings like this resulted from problems that no longer exist for me; drowning in debt and being perpetually single and alone.

I am starting to think that perhaps it stems from the fact that I am currently not satisfied with my career choice but I don't know what to do. I love the company I work for and I have invested a lot of energy into completing my accounting designation. If this is the reason I'm not happy I don't know if I am prepared to make a change. I don't want to be the person that moves from job to job every 5 years nor do I want to quit my schooling when the finish line is with in sight but I also don't want to become my father, who thought the grass was always greener on the other side and yet stayed in a career that he was not passionate about for too many years. I also think maybe the dissatisfaction stems from burning out. I was juggling another desk back in February and March, and once that was over I haven't seemed to get back 'in the game'. It was like I had a chance to finally breath and my mind isn't ready to start up again. I've taken a vacation since then but the work load that never seems to end was there waiting for me. If I did change I don't know what would be 'better' and am afraid that it would just be a bandage.

Basically I'm stuck in a rut and I'm not sure how or when I'll be pulling myself out.

Organizing my life on project at a time

For anyone that thinks that I'm a structured and organized person, let me set the record straight right now...I AM NOT....far from it. Clutter seems to follow me and every time I attempt to clean and sort things out another pile of paper appears behind me. But I day dream of being a super organized person. Organization blogs like IHeart Organizing and stores like the Container store are drool worth for me, but in actuality this is what my life normally looks like (my office at work):

So rather then set a goal like "be more organized" I am going to tackle one project at a time.

First up, you guessed it, my office. I need to setup a filing system that is easy, looks clean and works. I also need to manage the clutter that has accumulated on my desk.

Other projects I want to tackle in the next two months are:

• my vehicle
• my purse - technically this project involves cleaning out the 5+ purses I currently have stuff in. My usual practice is when I grow tired of carting around a particular purse or it gets to cluttered I grab my wallet and throw it into a new one figuring I'll get around to sorting out the crap that is in the other one(s) later....I'm pretty sure my marriage license is still in one of my discarded purses.
• my paperwork for Sparks as well as planning and preparing for next year
• my kitchen pantry (I'm making a trip to Minneaoplis at the end of June, so I'll be stopping at Ikea and the Container Store to pick up some organization solutions for this pantry. Specifically a few can racks  as the cans are taking up way to much room in the pantry right now, not to mention weighing the shelf down.) Something like this transformation.

I'll update you as I go.