New Year, New Blog

Last year I contemplated starting a blog detailing ways to save money while working full time.  I recently quit my full time work from home job to pursue a job outside the home (called "brick and mortar" by the wahm community).

In two weeks I will be starting a job with a great company.  Our family needs the benefits and I need the challenge.  My work from home job did offer a good wage, benefits from working from home and I was very good at what I did.  What I lacked was a challenge. In other words I got really bored!  Now that I will be working outside the home my life will be far from boring.  I can look forward to a four day work week after I complete training and that is a big plus, but I still have to manage to strike a balance with my home life and managing a budget.

We are currently enrolled in Financial Peace University at our church.  This class involves paying off debt, building an emergency fund, saving for retirement and saving for other things like kids' college funds.  This class teaches members to stop using credit to pay for purchases but instead to pay cash for all purchases, including vehicles and eventually homes!  We are starting with paying cash for weekly purchases like groceries, fuel, school expenses and entertainment and are already seeing a huge cut in our spending.  This blog may touch on the class, so be informed.

Some ideas you will see in this blog are:

• Saving money on groceries (using coupons with sales, etc)
• Cheap meals to take to work, including snacks and drinks
• Freezer meals for quick, healthy weeknight meals
• Money saving vacation ideas
• Saving money on major purchases (cars, appliances, electronics, etc)
• General money saving ideas

Last of all, I am not a very organized person.  So have faith and be inspired if you also forget to remember things and misplace items (I currently cannot find my digital camera, so pics of my freezer meals will be delayed). (Update: just found digital camera on shelf under my desk. Will update with pics later)  This blog is yet another challenge for me to become more organized.  But, I do not expect perfection from myself.  A person who thinks they are perfect is actually quite proud and a touch delusional.  I won't stand for that here!  I strive to accept my own and others' imperfections, love myself and others as God created us and not use my imperfections as an excuse for making mistakes.  I am always working towards improving myself and I respect anyone else who joins me on this journey.

General Disclaimer: If you don't have a healthy sense of humor or you have a critical, negative point of view you may not enjoy this blog.