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Back To Basics

November 16, 2022 Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season.  One of the focus areas that we have been working towards is reducing the frequency we dine out, often out of convenience. Robin has been diligently working on meal prep to help us avoid the temptation. On a weekly basis she is planning for our family’s meals, taking into account the frequency of meals needed for that week (i.e., if one of us is traveling for work it may mean less meals needed for that week). This is helpful when it comes time to “allocate” the food. I say allocate, since we have been mindful of using the food, we currently have in our freezer and pantry to minimize any waste. Armed with our list and any coupons we received from being members of our grocery’s rewards program, the remaining items we get at the grocery store – again, sticking to our meal plan and list. With anything we’ve had good weeks and weeks where we have fell of the wagon a bit, but overall, we have made positive strides in reducing our dining out expenses. Another that we have been working on is tightening up our entertainment expenses. When meeting up with friends or scheduling a play date for the kids, we have been scheduling those at each other’s houses rather than going to an event of some sort. Outside of the obvious savings of whatever the event cost would have been, we found that there was some additional savings from some of the ancillary costs associated with the event that we may not have initially anticipated (i.e., paying for parking or a quick coffee or snack bought on the way to for from the event). As we had mentioned in a few of our previous posts, we hadn’t really had a household budget in a traditional sense prior to becoming part of Project Money. This journey has served as the catalyst for us invest our time into reflecting on our purchases, understanding what was typical for our family, and then using that information to develop a plan of action that we are able to work towards. It has also been a helpful reminder for us to take a more critical look at our purchases, to help reduce those made solely out of convenience. Going into the holidays with a better understanding of our expenses so we can budget in advance is something we are looking forward to – knowing what our target expenses should be so we can manage the process, rather than the process managing us. You might also be interested in As the year comes to a close, so does Season 14 of Project Money. In preparation for writing our final blog post we reflected over what has occurred over the last 6 months and the strides our family has made. Below, in no particular order, are a few of the highlights from our journey: In the last week we had to take Robin’s car, a 2019 VW Atlas, in for a couple of recall notices we had received. Nothing completely out of the ordinary and wouldn’t have any out-of-pocket costs – so it wasn’t something that we had put much thought or effort into – outside of scheduling the appointment. Unfortunately, what we anticipated being a ~1 hour visit ended up being 5+ hours and spurred a larger discussion. One of the topics we had mentioned in our posts from earlier this year was an employee stock purchase plan offered by Robin’s employer. We have never participated in any stock purchase plans before through our employers but being a bit more vigilant as part of Project Money, we decided to give the program further consideration. Being part of Project Money has pushed our family to take a more active role in managing our finances, necessitating weekly conversations that have spurred growth from both educational and fiscal perspectives. One of the topics we had discussed was micro investing, investing small sums of money in fractional shares of stock or ETFs. With Thanksgiving behind us, the countdown to Christmas has “officially” begin. This year, as part of our Project Money journey, we have been planning to approach things a bit differently when it comes to our holiday budgeting. I had been putting this off for a few weeks/months now, optimistic that Fall might stretch on a little bit longer – but this past week’s winter weather brought with it a reality check, it’s time to replace the tires on my vehicle. I’ve just started to research pricing at local tire shops and trying to narrow down which tire choices will be the best value – both in related to cost and performance in wet/winter weather. I’ve also been checking some of the retail stores, Costco in particular. Over the last few weeks, we have been working to refocus, and get back to some of the basics as we start to head into the end of year holiday season. Over the past few weeks and months, I had seen several news reports about I Bonds, usually with a corresponding endorsement of their attractiveness as an investment in today’s market. I’ll be honest, my only experience with bonds was a savings bond that I received as a child – and I can remember waiting for what seemed like an eternity until I (and the bond) were old enough to cash in. After that I haven’t given them much thought until the past couple weeks. We have reached the point of the year where we have one foot firmly planted into heating season and thought we would reflect on what energy saving tips we have used previously and are currently using to help reduce our bills. 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