Weekly Meal Plan

I absolutely despise grocery shopping. 

If I could figure out a way to have EVERYTHING delivered to my door I would do it.  But some stuff just has to be fresh.  So....to the store I go.  Today's shopping consisted of my local ValuMarket, Kroger, and Aldi.  Aldi is really far from me (about 25 miles) so altogether it took me about 2.5 hours to visit all three stores.

I spent about $116.00 this week but I got a ton of snacks.  I was surprised to find that for the third week in a row, I pretty much spent the exact same amount at Aldi, despite getting different items.  This week they had white fudge pretzels.  White chocolate is my weakness....and I LOVE white chocolate covered pretzels.  So I had to buy them.  I am still in awe of the prices when I shop at Aldi.  My biggest money saver this week was shredded parmesan cheese.  My local grocery charges anywhere from 4.99 to 6.99 depending on the brand.  I purchase it at Aldi for 1.99 for the same size container.  I was SHOCKED!  I use the shredded parmesan to make my own alfredo sauce.  I haven't made any in awhile because cheese is so expensive and it was cheaper to buy the sauce in the jar.  My homemade version is better anyway because I make it with skim milk so it's reduced in fat.

I didn't have to purchase any chicken this week (and won't have to for awhile) because my chicken breast order from Zaycon Foods came in and I picked it up Thursday.  I have never purchased from them before but I was super impressed by what I received.  Forty pounds of chicken for $1.69 per pound....$67.60 total.   The chicken breasts were enormous....seriously.  I was completely blown away by the quality and value.  Prior to ordering, I read a lot of reviews and got opinions from various facebook groups.  The feedback was very positive.  In fact I probably need to do a whole separate post in just by Zaycon experience.  But in the meantime, you can view their website here: ZayconFresh.

Now onto the menu....for the items I got from online recipes, they will be linked.

• Tacos
• Tortellini with Chicken
• Sweet and Spicy Bacon Chicken
• Shells with Cheese and Steamed Veggies
• Chili
• Grilled Brown Sugar Pork
• Balsamic Chicken

Since a lot of these recipes are ones I have not made before, I will try to remember to update on how they are.

Also, I got a little brave today and recorded my grocery trip.  I apologize that my voice is a bit low and the kids are yelling in the background (they were playing).  Hopefully I'll get better at this.

Enjoy your week!  And thanks for reading.

My Monthy Budget Spreadsheet

Hi All...

If anyone loves math and money and number and spreadsheets like I do, then this is for you.  I figure that putting my budget out onto the internet might give me a reason to stick to it, even though I admittedly make it just because I love playing in Microsoft Excel.

So to hop right in...Here's what it looks like:

Now I do realize it's a bit hard to see and I will post some up close shots of it too but I wanted to be able to show what the whole spreadsheet looks like.

Here is the income section:

	SOURCE	BUDGET	ACTUAL		2/12/2016	2/26/2016
Income	DFAS	$   2,504.00	$   2,981.00		$   1,728.07	$   1,252.93	$      477.00
	MWFPD	$   1,620.00	$   1,711.04		$   1,043.42	$      667.62	$        91.04
	State Incentive	$      211.00	$      211.70			$      211.70	$          0.70
	PSS, LLC		$   1,720.00		$   1,720.00	$      600.00	$   2,320.00
	Other		$      300.00		$      300.00		$      300.00
	Carryover	$      417.87	$      792.92		$      792.92		$      375.05
	TOTAL	$   4,752.87	$   7,716.66		$   5,584.41	$   2,732.25

The next section on my spreadsheet is for my regular monthly expenses:

								DATE DUE
Regular Expenses	Mortgage	$   1,358.15					$ (1,358.15)	3/1/2016
	Electric	$        81.18	$        81.18		$        81.18		$             -	2/10/2016
	Gas	$      109.00	$      209.93		$      209.93		$      100.93	2/2/2016
	Water	$        40.00	$        67.03		$        67.03		$        27.03	2/10/2016
	Cable/Internet	$        88.47	$        88.47		$        88.47		$             -	2/12/2016
	Cell Phone	$      212.00	$      212.61		$      212.61		$          0.61	2/12/2016
	Car Insurance	$      142.14	$      142.14		$      142.14		$             -	2/22/2016
	Parking	$        80.00					$      (80.00)	3/5/2016
	TeenSafe	$        14.95	$        14.95		$        14.95		$             -	2/12/2016
	Music & Arts	$        22.07					$      (22.07)	2/22/2016
	Kennedy Violins	$        25.25					$      (25.25)	3/8/2016
	YMCA	$      240.00	$      172.00		$      172.00		$      (68.00)
	Buffer for Mortgage	$             -	$             -				$             -
	Trash	$             -	$             -				$             -	-
	TOTAL	$   2,413.21	$      988.31		$      988.31	$             -

After that is my cash envelopes:

Cash/ Envelopes	Food	$      650.00	$      836.64		$      593.50	$      243.14	$      186.64
	Fuel	$      220.00	$      182.77		$      108.18	$        74.59	$      (37.23)
	Dining Out	$      200.00	$      427.75		$      262.59	$      165.16	$      227.75
	Kids	$      150.00	$      269.96		$      187.07	$        82.89	$      119.96
	Hygiene/Cleaning Supplies	$        50.00	$        50.00	|	$        50.00		$             -
	TOTAL	$   1,270.00	$   1,767.12		$   1,201.34	$      565.78

Then we have the debt section......the dreaded debt section....

								DATE DUE	BALANCE	INTEREST	PERCENT
Debt	IHG Card	$             -			$             -		$             -	-	$                     -		#DIV/0!
	Target Red Card	$        25.00					$      (25.00)	3/6/2016	$             191.94		0.00%
	Kohl's Card	$        25.00	$        25.00		$        25.00		$             -	2/18/2016	$             284.93	$                 5.68	1.99%
	JcPenney Card	$        25.00	$        35.00		$        35.00		$        10.00	2/23/2016	$             306.41		0.00%
	EF Tours	$      162.00	$        81.00		$        81.00		$      (81.00)	2/15/2016	$             729.00		0.00%
	Park FCU Loan	$      144.00	$      818.26		$      144.00	$      674.26	$      674.26	2/17/2016	$             802.83	$               15.43	1.92%
	BarclayCard	$        33.00	$        32.03		$        32.03		$        (0.97)	2/9/2016	$          1,081.08	$               29.70	2.75%
	Discover 4th	$        40.00					$      (40.00)	3/4/2016	$          1,136.50		0.00%
	Capital One Card	$        70.00	$        70.00		$        70.00		$             -	2/25/2016	$          1,766.67		0.00%
	Amazon Store Card	$        70.00	$        41.00			$        41.00	$      (29.00)	3/5/2016	$          2,115.57		0.00%
	KHESL	$        51.00	$        51.00		$        51.00		$             -	2/15/2016	$          2,244.12	$                 5.38	0.24%
	Discover 2nd	$        75.00					$      (75.00)	3/2/2016	$          2,474.53		0.00%
	Chase Card	$        75.00					$      (75.00)	3/6/2016	$          2,892.20		0.00%
	GatewayOne Lending	$      229.25					$    (229.25)	2/29/2016	$          8,949.80		0.00%
	OneMain Financial	$      245.68	$      245.68		$      245.68		$             -	2/10/2016	$        10,072.88		0.00%
	AllyAuto	$      311.96	$      311.96		$      311.96		$             -	2/10/2016	$        11,140.29	$               69.37	0.62%
	Nelnet	$      249.63	$      249.63		$      249.63		$             -	2/16/2016	$        31,597.31		0.00%
	Navient	$      223.25					$    (223.25)	3/3/2016	$        45,289.63	$               55.65	0.12%
	TOTAL	$   2,054.77	$   1,960.56		$   1,245.30	$      715.26			$      123,075.69	$             181.21

Finally I have a section for my sinking funds and then totals:

								BALANCE
Sinking Funds	Emergency Fund	$        15.00	$        30.00		$        15.00	$        15.00	$        15.00	$             143.94
	Clothing	$        15.00	$        30.00		$        15.00	$        15.00	$        15.00	$               41.83
	Medical		$        93.39		$        93.39		$        93.39
	Home/Car Maintenance		$        11.00		$        11.00		$        11.00
	Other/Spending Money		$      268.37		$      138.67	$      129.70	$      268.37
	Christmas	$        15.00	$        30.00		$        15.00	$        15.00	$        15.00	$             103.61
	TOTAL	$        45.00	$      462.76		$      288.06	$      174.70		$             289.38
	TOTAL EXPENSES	$   5,782.98	$   5,178.75		$   3,723.01	$   1,455.74
	INCOME REMAINING	$ (1,030.11)	$   2,537.91		$   1,861.40	$   1,276.51

As you may or may not be able to tell, I have a column that has conditional formatting so I can easily see if I was over or under....red bad, green good.

The spreadsheet I made is based on instructions from GazelleInTents.  You can view their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDc2GSW7mqC652FZ2GQDXfw/featured

This channel has been a great source of inspiration for me.  It has encouraged me to develop a budget spreadsheet and start making choices that will get me to my financial goals.  I HIGHLY recommend this channel.  Check them out.

So that's the basics of my budget spreadsheet.  I plan on doing some detailed posts about each section and what my actual numbers look like.  I don't know if it will show up or not but I have over $120,000 in debt.  This will be a long process.  Until next time.....good night all.