Sensible Living

Ushering in the New Year can be a wonderful but overwhelming feeling. It is a chance for a clean slate, a refresh, a time to start out with new goals and resolutions or revise existing goals to make sure they’re inline with longterm ones.  All of these things are great but they can lead to a feeling of despair when everything does not go perfectly according to plan.  As most of us probably already know, life rarely goes according to plan. Instead of setting individual goals and resolutions this year, try setting up one of these healthy New Year resolutions for busy families. You will have an entire support system and working together as a family to achieve your resolutions or goals and that can teach you more about each other than you might think! Here are some ideas for healthy New Year resolutions for busy families that are simple for you, and your busy family to get started with this year!   

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It’s official! Today marks American Thanksgiving, tomorrow is Black Friday. This means that the holidays are approaching quickly. Do your palms start to sweat a little as you  consider how you will purchase all of the gifts, plan the holiday meal and give to charity on your budget?

Here are 7 tips to help you save BIG this holiday season and eliminate financial stress.

1. Set a Budget & Stick to Cash

Set a budget and stick to it! It’s so easy to spend more than you can afford once the holiday sales and shopping events begin for the year. If you know what you can afford to spend, and you exercise willpower to stick to your budget, you can eliminate a lot of financial strain. Take out the amount of cash you can afford to spend and once that is done, so is your shopping. It does not get any easier than that!

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So, it’s happening..

All the leaves are finally gone and winter is coming quickly. The temperatures are dropping and those frosty, dark, and cold winter mornings are here to stay.  There is nothing worse than heading outside in the early morning and its freezing cold!  There are a lot of things that you can do to make those freezing winter mornings a bit more bearable. I’m not talking taking off to the Caribbean, although, if you did I wouldn’t blame you one bit. That would certainly make our cold Canadian winters much more bearable to me!

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Let’s address your burning question: What is a Zero based budget?

You may have heard the Zero Based Budget term floating around lately.  It seems to be the new financial buzz word. Budget minded people often hear that they should have a zero based budget, but if you’re new to budgeting and trying to live frugally, it can be hard to figure out exactly what that means. Fortunately, it’s very easy to figure out and even easier to put into practice once you get the basics down.

To start, let’s talk about what a zero based budget is.  A zero based budget is almost exactly like the budget you currently have, or not, but with one big difference. You need to spend every, single, penny.   I know what you are thinking.. sounds like fun right?   Well you’d be right if you know that every single penny must be used and accounted for wisely.  With this type of budget, you will take any money that is left over after you’ve budgeted your expenses and assign it to either savings, debt or investments that’s it.

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One of the hardest things about feeding a family is actually being able to afford to shop. Some families are able to shop frequently, as needed, but for many other families grocery shopping is a once in a while event. If your family is like that, or, if you need to budget your grocery bill, you can help yourself by keeping a few simple staples on hand.

It is really easy to stretch your food supplies when things get tight.  The 10 frugal grocery items you should always have on hand, are cheap, filling and will help you build nutritious meals to feed your entire family.  Some of these items can be bought in bulk which will further any savings but, sometimes you can’t afford to and that’s okay.  These grocery staples will get you through.

Rice – Rice is very affordable and the amount of recipes that you can make with it is endless. You can use it for everything from a side to part of a main dish, so making sure you always have at least one pound on hand (preferably more) If stored properly, rice will last a long time. I like to cook a pot of rice and use it as a side dish one day. The next day I’ll take any left over meat or a can of tuna and what ever vegetables I have on hand and do a fried rice main dish. If there are any left overs, we take the fried rice for lunch the next day. Or, sometimes we have to save it for dinner the next night.  In a bind, you can get 3 days out of one pot of rice and will help you make sure you can feed your family on a budget.

Pasta – Pasta is another frugal way to feed your family when money is tight. You can use pasta the same ways you would use rice in a plethora of dishes. At around $1.00 per pound without coupons, you can easily stock up as pasta can be stored for a long time.  Pasta is mainly used in lunch and dinner dishes.  Add a pound of ground beef and some pasta sauce and you’ve got a filling, hearty meal for your family.  Adding some finely chopped seasonal or inexpensive vegetables and seasoning like carrots, celery, mushrooms, onion and garlic and you’ve got dinner for the family for under $7. Double batching can allow for left overs to be used for lunch or dinner the next day.

Flour – Flour can be used to make crusts, thicken soups, stews, or sauces, make bread and more. Since it’s so cheap to pick up a 5 lb bag, make sure you always have it on hand.  In my families favorite home made stew (if I don’t have many, or any potatoes on hand) I can add some dumpling balls that not only help thicken up the stew, but help make it a more hearty stew and fill everyone’s belly!  Making your own bread isn’t as hard as it seems. There are many beginner tutorials out there that will have you making fresh bread for the family with minimal time and effort. Much less cheaper than the grocery stores!

Sugar – While sugar isn’t a main recipe ingredient, and you really don’t even need it, it is used in an awful lot of foods and drinks. Whether you use a sugar substitute or just plain old white sugar, it’s cheap enough to have on hand at all times.  It also gives flavour and caloric energy when things are tight.  It can even make cheap foods more palatable.

Pasta Sauce – Pasta sauce, especially canned pasta sauce can usually be found for under $1.00. Make sure you keep plenty of it on hand! Buy it on sale and use coupons if you can, because with the right seasonings, you can make it taste just like homemade! Pasta sauce can be used not only in pasta dishes, but it also makes a frugal tomato soup in a pinch.  You can make chili, and vegetarian dishes, stretch other stews, soups and sauces.