Money Makeover Series (1): My Background

I want to continue a series of a money makeover for all you 20-somethings!

Chances are that if you are in your mid to late twenties, you have your first big girl (or boy) job, you don't have kids, you are possibly getting married and you are needing to save for your house, wedding, cars or other big expenses.  

My Background:

- I am 26, living in one of the most expensive places in the US...The Bay Area in California. 

- Living out here has made it difficult to save for things like an overpriced house and a car.  

- I have a full time job that pays decent

- We are lucky enough to live with our parents.  We pay them some rent, but that is a HUGE savings

- We are also getting married next year so that makes for another big expense

- Friends are getting married/having kids which means increased travel & gift expenses

- My fiancé is in school so that means one income for right now

- We want to save for a house & build our emergency savings

- We want to have some fun!  We live in a beautiful state that we want to enjoy!

- The way we have our budget set up means we have saved, we have spent and we feel like its a good balance for us.

Making over your budget isn't hard, but it does take some discipline, practicing the difference between "needs" and "wants", and learning to say no sometimes.  With a little time and practice, you will be saving money, paying down debt and still living a full and satisfying lifestyle.

Meal Planning Made Easy

My weekly grocery shopping trips have usually meant a disorganized list followed by a shopping trip that was way more expensive than I had planned.  Then for the next week I always ask myself every single day..."what should I make for dinner".

This never-ending cycle went on and on until I discovered this little gem at Target for $7.  

It's my all-in-one grocery list/meal planner notepad.  It's by the brand "Organizer".  I just plan out our dinners for the week, check the circles of the things we need and take the whole notepad with me to the grocery store.  Then when I return, the notepad goes up on the fridge for the week so the rest of the fam can see what's for dinner so they don't ask me 1,000 times.  ;)  At the end of the week (usually on Sundays), I just rip off the page I used and start planning the meals for the next week.

On the right is your grocery list.  They organize it by category like "frozen", "canned goods", etc.  I like how they also have a little section at the bottom entitled "remember to get.."  Here you can add in things like q-tips, cleaning products and things that don't fall under the grocery category.

On the left hand side is a column for you to plan out your daily meals.  The boxes aren't very big so if you are someone who likes to plan out every single meal, this notepad may not be useful to you.  I just like to plan out dinners so this works perfectly for our family.

I love this product.  I've found that I have saved money by only sticking to things on my list, we eat healthier because we plan out what we are going to eat and not just snack at dinner time.  Plus I'm one of those people that likes checking things off lists.  It makes me feel like I've had a productive day!

Again, I picked this up at Target where their office supplies are.  

Happy shopping! :)

Laura

Hello!

I'm not even entirely sure why I think it would be a good idea to start a blog now.  It's nearing the holiday season, I just started a new job and we just adopted a new dog.  Oh yeah, and finals are coming up for a couple of my classes....  I guess I'm just thinking....why not add in a blog too?  When it rains it pours.

I used to have a makeup/beauty youtube channel and blog.  I did enjoy working on it from time to time.  I just found it to be very time (and money) consuming to ALWAYS be talking about makeup and hair products and always buying the latest and greatest to review.  I've come to a place in my life now where I'm getting to be more satisfied with the products I purchase.  I don't overspend...or at least try not to...and I want things that just 'effin do what they're advertised to do!  So I've turned over the beauty "testing" reigns to the youtube gurus on YouTube and let them waste their money so I don't have to.  That sounded kind of mean, but you know what I'm trying to say... ;)

So that brings me to why I wanted to start a new blog.  I work crazy long hours.  Now granted, I work 12 hour shifts only 3 days a week, but that doesn't mean that the other 4 days are all margaritas on the beach.  I'm busy.  Sometimes I pick up extra shifts, I grocery shop, meal plan, take care of a dog, a man and an apartment.  I'm also going to school part time.  I wanted to make a blog to share tips and tricks I've found along the way to help keep my life and family organized and my head semi-sane.

This blog is dedicated to the working mom, the busy students and to people who live a hectic life.  Hopefully you will find some useful things here to help keep you from pulling your hair out...or at least for just another 5 minutes.

Enjoy.
Laura