So, you raised all the money you needed for the trip. You are walking off the plane into a whole new country. Congratulations! But now you have to figure out how to not burn through your entire bank account while you are in the country. I can help! While I was in South Africa, I spent a little more than I had expected to, but I also had the trip of a lifetime. These are the 5 tips that I figured out while I was there! Continue reading
This summer has been absolutely crazy. After getting back from South Africa I have been trying to focus on getting moved into our new apartment and making it a home. Then I had 2 weeks of military training out in Fort Carson. (Great Time) But I feel like yet another summer has slipped away from me.
I am just getting Thank You’s done from my South African Donors, 2 months after getting home.. Even though they have been on my list of things to do… since I got home. Slowly but surly this summer is coming to an end.
All of that being said, I am finally starting to get some of my study abroad posts up onto my blog! Woo!
Studying abroad is well worth the money. I don’t regret a single penny that I spent on the trip, but I do wish I would have watched my finances a little more closely. Here are 5 Tips for raising money for your trip, because it is no secret that it costs an arm and a leg sometimes. It is hard to pay for an entire trip straight out of pocket so follow these:
Hey Readers! I am so glad to finally be back and writing! The last 2 weeks I was at some military training and I just didn’t get all of my blogs written that I had wanted to, but now I am going to be back to writing a post every day, Monday- Friday! At least until I get a job or start college back up! I am back now and ready to share some more great things with you!
I have done a couple other money saving posts like these two:
Money Saving Tips #1
Money Saving Tips #2
But here are just a few more tips that I have found really helpful! Continue reading
Meal planning is a great way to save some money, feed the family, and stay organized in the house. I have worked hard on mastering this skill and overtime I have gotten a lot better at it. It doesn’t have to be as complicated as I make it. It can honestly be as simple as writing down ideas for food. Or writing out 6 meals and going to get them from the store.
5. Grocery List
After I have all of the meals planned out, I write a VERY detailed list of EVERYTHING that these recipes call for. Down to the spices.
After I have the list, I do a walk through of my pantry and do a check in the fridge and freezer. I cross off any items from the list that I already have. This eliminates thinking you had something and realizing that you used it a few weeks ago.
All of this is done. You have the list of all the things you need from the store as well as the sales for the week in front of you. For simplicity, I put it into an excel sheet. I list all of the items that I am buying in one column, the sales price, store, and sizes of sale in the others. This way I can see what I have pricematches for. Then it is time to go to the store!
To keep everything organized at the store, I bring a highlighter with me and highlight the things that I am actually pricematching after I get them. Sometimes Wal-mart really does have lower prices. I have found that this helps tremendously.
Meal planning has actually become fun for me because I really like to see how low I can get our grocery bill for two weeks. (almost a competition with myself!) I hope this helped you out or inspired you to start planning out meals.
Like I said, meal planning doesn’t have to be this complicated either. You can cut out the entire pricematching step if you don’t have time for that. Planning out everything for even a week is going to save you time and money in the long run. Good Luck!
I know there is a lot out there on the benefits to planning out meals at least a week in advance, so I thought I would add my two cents into it. I love meal planning, but I don’t necessarily do it the way that everyone else does. When I meal plan, I just list enough meals for 2 weeks and then we kinda go by week. I normally figure out what we are having the for supper the night before so I know if I need to prep anything or make sure something is ready to go.
My meal plan for two weeks consists of:
A few new recipes
A few “convenience meals” (Hamburger helper, frozen pizzas)
A few traditional favorites (Spaghetti, burgers)
Two leftovers nights
One night out
I have struggled with what this blog is about most of the time that I have had the blog. I have spent hours searching other blog sites and reading all about what they do for their blog to make it work.
I am going to try something new and I hope to keep with it throughout the school year. I may have a few weeks were I struggle to keep up, but I will make sure to at least post every once in a while. I am really excited to start this!
My plan is to have a different theme for every day Monday-Friday. Each day will have a theme but it will be broad enough that I can write about a lot of things that are under that category. Every week will have a different blog post for that day of the week.
Monday’s theme is Money Saving Mondays. There will be different things like saving money on a certain project, idea, or bill. Depending on the week, it may be something kind of off the wall, or something that Matt and I have really applied in the house.
Tuesday’s are Tasty Tuesdays. This includes recipes, kitchen tips that I have found helpful and other kitchen oriented posts. This may get pretty narrow depending on the week, but I am going to work on trying a ton of new recipes soon!
Wednesdays are Weigh In Wednesdays. This may be misleading because it sounds like I am 100% focused on weight, but it will actually be about overall health. It will be for mental, physical, and emotional health benefits. Sometimes it will be about my physical process of getting to my initial goal weight (Seems like I was at the same place last year) Sometimes it will be health tips that I have put together or learned along the way!
Thursdays are Try It Out Thursdays. This will be college tips, new craft projects, decorating tips, or just a new place that I visited in Omaha. It will be recommendations for things that I think everyone should try at least once.
Fridays are Freestyle Fridays. This is really broad because I wanted to have a day where I could write about something not in one of the previous categories. It may include a variety of many things. Some of the posts may fall into some of the categories above, but they also may not. This may include traveling or fun things that Matt and I do. This is just kind of a fun day for me to play around with my blog.
I hope to you check out my blog posts for the weeks to follow. I know that I am going to aim to continue this plan for the rest of the summer at least, but I hope to continue it into the school year as much as I possibly can!
This doesn’t apply to a ton of my typical readers, but it is something that I have been working on learning and wanted to share with the rest of you. If you do stumble upon this from a shared link of pinterest pin, please share with me the tips that you have found to work the best!
Rules for Shopping at the Commissary: Continue reading
As most people know from reading this blog, I am all about saving money. I am trying to come up with more creative ways to push that penny a little farther. Just in case you missed the first Money saving post. Here is the link to it. I have continued to find ideas and slowly add to them. I am hoping that this list gives you some more great ideas for saving money. Whether that money goes toward a new house, vacation, to pay off debt or whatever else it could possibly be. This is my combination of other things I have found and other peoples comments. Continue reading
How many of you don’t have cable or use DVR when you do watch TV? Personally, I don’t have cable. In our house, we have Hulu and Netflix.
Many advertisers are concerned that with the increase in DVR use, commercials will become a thing of the past. I would have to agree.
My little brother is five years old. He is very easily persuaded into wanting something that he sees on TV. One morning, I was sitting in the living room with him before school. A commercial came on for some sort of Lego set. It showed the Legos moving, flying, and attacking other Legos. While that is great for the Lego company, my little brother actually thought they if he got them, they would move, fly, and attack on their own. Since then, my little brother has stopped watching TV as much and started watching Netflix more. It used to be that every time I saw him, he would tell me about a new toy that he wanted or had to have for his birthday. Now, it has decrease quite a bit since he started watching Netflix.
I believe that the biggest lost in advertising revenue will be from young children. They are the easiest to persuade and I believe that children under the age of 10 are the most affected by the commercials on TV.
Even in the picture to the right, both children are actively engaged in the commercial. Right after this commercial is completed, I bet one of them run to ask their parents for Trix. It is almost inevitable for children to want an item they see other kids playing with on TV.
With all of that being said, it is destined for the TV advertising revenue to decrease due to all of the technology and new ways of watching TV. It’s not just commercials anymore. Everything is changing, but I believe that advertisers will come up with a way to be one step ahead of the game and end up coming out on top once again.
Many people struggle with the idea of saving money because when they sit down to make a list, they don’t know what to put on it. They aren’t sure what to make or what they need to get to make it. Then, when they do go to the grocery store, they get snacking foods. When time comes to make a meal, they don’t have complete meals in the house and end up getting take out anyway..
Wings
Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti
Now, when you have a master list you can sit down and figure out what each recipe takes and how much you need of it. Then you can effectively look for price matches or coupons.
Do you do something similar at home home and know something that worked better? Let me know what you are doing at home!!
The Tragic, but Beautiful Things Called Life 
