My Frugal Accomplishments

Back in October I started my debt diet. I have managed to pay down quite a bit of our debt since then. But to keep myself motivated and focused I have decided to start keeping track of how I have saved money each week. So here are my frugal accomplishments for the week of:
April 8- April 15, 2013

Wednesday I made a trip to the Salvation Army to see what I could find for BB. Wednesday's are 1/2 price day at my local store. I found a bread machine for $7.50 and a lovely candle stick, that actually holds our thick rolled beeswax candle, for our mealtime blessing for $0.75.  I also bought a light windbreaker, 2 t-shirts and a pair of shorts for BB for a total of $5.00.

Friday I bought a $50.00 Whole Foods gift card from a friend for $40.00.

Saturday I searched the yard and basement for scrap metal. After a trip to the scrap yard I came home with $16.00 in my pocket.

Sunday was 1/2 off day at a biannual consignment sale in my area. I found some great deals. I got 3 short and t-shirt sets for BB (1 still had the tags on), 3 t-shirts and 1 pair of shorts for $21.00. I also found a washable car seat cover that I got for $6.00.

Last month I bought boots at K-mart that were marked $14.99 but rang up $19.99. Sunday I found the receipt and went to get the price adjusted. That's 5 more dollars in my pocket.

Monday I spoke to the manager at our local Gymboree about a Groupon that had expired while we were in Turkey last year. She worked with me and agreed to 3 classes for free and unlimited free play for 1 month. We went to our first class today and BB loved it!

I did do quite a bit of spending this week, but BB really needs some clothes for the warmer weather and if I were to have bought everything at retail value I would have definitely spent triple if not more.

I am inspired from TenThingsFarm's frugal accomplishments posts to create a snack basket for when we are on the go. What a great idea! I will try to get that done this week and let you all know how it goes.

This week I am linking up to:

Goals for 2013

With a new year comes new dreams. I started this year with a new appreciation for life and a strong drive to make this year the year I finally accomplish my goals so I can live the life I have always dreamed of living.
1) My biggest and probably most difficult goal for this year is to take control of my health and lose around 50 lbs. I have struggled with my weight my whole life but am determined to get to a healthy weight. I have been eating clean for the past 3 weeks. It has been wonderful. Not only am I eating better... I am saving time by prepping ahead and saving a bundle of money since I am not eating out anymore. The biggest change has been giving up soda. I never realized how addicting that stuff really is. The first week or 2 I kept craving it but now I have no desire for it.
2) Produce more of my own food.  With me transitioning to a clean real food diet I am thinking more and more about where our food comes from. The food industry is so corrupt that the only way to guarantee what you are actually eating is safe you must grow or raise it yourself.  I am going to try my hands at some meat birds this year Inshallah.
3) Get out of debt for good.  This has been an on going process.  I have paid $600 towards one debt this month and cut up my only credit card. I sold my old car so will be getting another $1000 to pay down our debt.
4) Spend more time together as a family. This is more my husbands goal but I have always wanted to become closer. We decided we will start praying together. This will be a great tool to help teach BB more about our faith.  It will strengthen our iman and our love for Allah (swt). Bonus, praying in congregation increases its reward too!

I have declared this year as my year of change! I am so excited to share my journey this year with all of you. Happy New Year!

October Debt Diet Overview

After one month on my debt diet I was able to pay off one debt in full.  I owed $278 for my root canal from last year and now owe nothing. Yay! I didn't get as much of my debt paid down as I would have liked but, because of all the money that I did save I am going to be able to pay down more this month.
As far as my goal of not spending any money I did alright.  The first two weeks I didn't do any shopping. Towards the end of the month with Eid and everything I slacked a bit :( 
I did manage to only make two shopping trips to the grocery store and only spent around $200 for a months worth of food! We usually spend that much in a week.
And last but not least... I could probably count on one hand how often I went out for lunch. 

Debt Diet

Unfortunately over the years we have gotten into debt. Since we are a one income family it has been tough paying down what we owe. We are not very extravagant but still need to find more ways to cut back on spending so we can eventually be debt free Inshallah.
The game plan is to make October a no spend month. We like to eat out about 2 times a week and I probably get lunch out more than that. If I start eating at home I could probably save about $100 a week. That is $400 a month! That is my car payment!
Yesterday I took an inventory of what is already in the freezer and am trying to make meals out of what's already there. I will be doing my grocery shopping this week, which will include what I need for the whole month. But after that no more spending for the rest of October. I do have some exceptions though. I can buy milk, eggs, oil, flour, sugar and bread if we need it. Things can be purchased with coupons and gift cards. I hope to save about $150. All money saved this month will be applied towards our debt.
I have always heard that the first step in taking control of your finances is to actually see what you owe.  Well this morning I checked both mine and my husbands accounts and added everything up.  I was shocked at how deep we are in debt.  I honestly didn't think it was this bad.  OK so between credit cards and hospital bills we owe $10,966.13.  The car we still owe $17,976.97.  I owe my mom $3,270 and I think my student loans are about $7,000.  I am not even going to bother adding our mortgage.
Fortunately we are refinancing our mortgage this month and will be saving another $300 a month YAY! I already stopped going to the chiropractor and getting electrolysis which is saving me $250 a month.
Wow! I am overwhelmed, but I am excited to see how much I can get these totals down!

In Tirmidhi a hadith is narrated that:

"Whoever dies free from three things arrogance, cheating and debt will enter Paradise."