The Ninth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $82.13

Food: $57.00

Entertainment: $20.41

Clothes/Gifts: $46.15

Everything else: $87.00

This week is going to fly by.  That will be good since that means we won’t have any time to be spending money.  At the beginning of next month we have a bit of a road trip ahead of us to attend the funeral of friend’s father.  It will be much better if we can spend as little money between then and now.  Hopefully, we will buy our tickets to California this week, or the beginning of next and that will be the biggest expense overcome.  Time is already running out on us for preparing for this trip but we’ll get it all done and paid for before we go.

End of Week 8

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $30.13

Food: $2.00

Entertainment: $0.41

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

We really are living close to the edge with our food budget lately.  This past week we spent most of the budget on day one.  But because we were wise with what we purchased we didn’t need to really do any more shopping for the rest of the week.  We even had enough money to do a beer and pizza night when it was too hot and I didn’t feel up to cooking.  Overall it feels like a fairly successful week.

The Eighth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $87.08

Food: $58.37

Entertainment: $28.47

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

This week should be a pretty dull week spending wise since we don’t have anything planned.  Not going anywhere and if we have anyone come over it will be simple and relaxed.  There are plenty of meals that are great to serve to company that don’t cost much.  Maybe next time I’ll do sliders.  Why do little burgers just taste so much better than the full sized ones?  Then we can have a huge assortment of toppings to make them amazing! 

End of Week 7

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $35.08

Food: $3.37

Entertainment: $8.47

Clothes/Gifts: $26.15

Everything else: $41.00

This week we kinda tapped all the jars except the “Everything else” one to put together a really nice dinner party.  It was worth it.  We still ended the week with money in all the jars and were able to entertain some friends.  Not being the type to do the dishes by hand (or even do them at all some days, domestic goddess I am not) we also had to lay out a big chunk of change for dishwasher pellets.  Having bought cheap detergent before I know that it is just another example of false economy since you end up having to wash them twice to get them looking half decent.  

The Seventh Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $129.08

Food: $55.43

Entertainment: $30.27

Clothes/Gifts: $52.38

Everything else: $41.00

Deciding to live on the jars is probably the best financial decision we have ever made.  If only we had done this years ago!  But now when we look back ten years from now we’ll be so grateful that we started now.  You can’t change the past but you can definitely learn from it.  Love the jars!

End of Week 6

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $77.08

Food: $0.43

Entertainment: $10.27

Clothes/Gifts: $42.38

Everything else: $18.00

It has been so revealing to see how we really spend our money.  Before we lived on cash we spent so much more but even though we are spending so much less we aren’t deprived of anything.  There is always food in the fridge, we have money to eat out whenever we want and we have more than enough for transportation.  Little by little we are saving up some gift money so that when we have a baby or wedding gift to buy we’ll already have the money set aside.

Fast Food Lunch – Black Bean Salad

I love this lunch.  In less than 10 minutes you have a yummy satisfying meal that is easy to take along.  Especially good for people like me who hate sandwiches and don’t love eating meat.

Toss a couple good handfuls of spring mix salad or baby spinach in your lunch container.

Crack open a can of black beans and rinse them really well in a colander.

Grate up a tablespoon or so worth of whatever cheese you have on hand.

Top salad with about ¼ cup black beans, a tablespoon or so of cheese, and a sprinkle of taco seasoning.

You can add whatever other veggies you have on hand if you have the time or feel so inclined.  Diced red onions are nice if you feel up to slicing them in the morning.

Pop the lid on and remember to give it a good shake to mix it up before you eat.

Variations:

Keep the beans, use feta cheese, sliced kalamata olives (you can buy a little jar of these), omit that taco seasoning, and mix up a quick dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil to take along in a separate container.

Be creative.  Check out your pantry items and the condiments in your fridge.  Banana pepper rings, sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts and so on can make the salad much more interesting and tasty without increasing the prep time.

The Sixth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $77.08

Food: $55.04

Entertainment: $38.68

Clothes/Gifts: $42.38

Everything else: $93.00

This budget is pretty comfortable.  We are beginning to wonder if we even need to expand it at all once we’ve finished saving for our trips this summer.  Maybe we will just keep saving the same as we are now.  Although it would be nice if we each had an allowance that we could spend without having to answer for it at all…

End of Week 5

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $25.08

Food: $0.04

Entertainment: $18.68

Clothes/Gifts: $32.38

Everything else: $70.00

This gets easier each week.  When faced with making a cash purchase you ask yourself; “Would I rather have the cash or this item?”  Many times the answer is the cash.  When we were spending on debit it felt like we never walked out of Walmart without spending about $100.  Last night we spent just $2 there.  Also going to the dollar store usually cost us around $20, nowadays we spend a dollar or two to buy whatever we went in to get.  This saves more than just money, we spend way less time wandering around the stores looking at all the other pretty stuff to buy.

Side note: There is more in the Clothes/Gifts jar than the start of the week because I returned something and replaced the money.  

What's wrong with debit cards?

What is wrong with debit cards? Especially if you have no overdraft it's not like you are spending money you don't have. They should make life simple. Not having the hassle of carrying cash all the time. But maybe the problem for us is they oversimplify money.

When you are shopping are you carrying a calculator to keep an exact figure? Are you doing a rough running total in your head? Or are you just tossing stuff in your basket knowing that you have your card so you will be able to pay for it? When you hand your card over to the teller and punching in your PIN do you know even know how much you are paying?

Frankly, there are plenty of times I've walked out of the store having no clue how much I paid for my groceries. The clerks don't bother to tell you how much it is half the time. I used to think they were rude, poorly trained, or just slightly incompetent, but now I am wondering if part of the problem is they see we aren't listening anyways.

When you pay with a debit card all you have to ask yourself is "Do I have enough to cover this purchase?" You do not need to consider whether or not you should be spending that much or if part of that money would be better spent elsewhere. You don't need to do the math to see if that will cut into the funds you had set aside for transportation or gifts or catching a movie. There are plenty of times I've bought something I didn't especially want just because it seemed a waste to use my card for such a small amount.

At least for us putting away the debit cards means we are more responsible in our purchases. You cannot spend more than you intended when you only have cash. Put down the cookies/pop/chips/whatever junk food you really don't need and really don't want to put in your body anyways. You will make more room in both your budget and your jeans.

The Fifth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $91.08

Food: $61.86

Entertainment: $32.37

Clothes/Gifts: $15.14

Everything else: $70.00

We threw an extra dollar into the Everything else jar so that it would be an even $70, mostly because we couldn’t make change to have it at $69.  There shouldn’t be anything too crazy this week.  Spending should be back to normal for the time being.  Still saving away for California but getting closer each cheque.  Hopefully we will buy our tickets in the next couple weeks.

End of Week 4

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $39.08

Food: $6.86

Entertainment: $12.37

Clothes/Gifts: $5.14

Everything else: $46.00

Entertainment is getting better and better.  Soon we’ll be saving enough money to actually go to a nice restaurant or do something fun.  We drove a lot over the weekend.  Bought some ready made food at the grocery store since it was such a go go go weekend.  Less time = more money

The Fourth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $142.50

Food: $92.83

Entertainment: $28.36

Clothes/Gifts: $40.00

Everything else: $46.00

We’ll probably be spending more out of the Transportation jar this week since we’ll be doing a lot of driving this weekend.  Also having company in means we’ll be spending more out the Food jar.  Since we’ll be doing some cake decorating I’m not sure where I should take the cash for the fondant and gum paste.  It could be food, or entertainment, or gift since I’ll be doing it as a gift for some friends.  Instead of looking at it as a riddle I should look at it as a benefit to have such flexibility.

End of Week 3

Having been relying completely on cash for 3 weeks now I can honestly say it isn’t that difficult.  The benefits far outweigh the challenges.

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $88.49

Food: $37.83

Entertainment: $8.36

Clothes/Gifts: $30.00

Everything else: $23.00

Still having cash in all the jars is such a victory.  I love that we have more left in the Entertainment jar than we did last week.  It is like we are really getting this and might be able to wean ourselves completely off the fast food lunches.  Before I could be lazy about making lunch in the morning thinking; “We don’t have the time, we’ll just have to grab something”.  Now thinking; “I don’t want to waste the budget on fast food, I’ll make a quick lunch”.

I have to say yesterday going to Starbucks for a $0.25 tall brewed coffee helped with saving money in the entertainment and eating out sector.  Somehow it tasted oh so much better than a coffee that costs full price.  As a general rule we don’t bother with Starbucks, too easy to walk out of there having spent $6 with not much to show for it, but who could resist a deal like that?

The Third Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week we are looking at:

Transportation: $128.50

Food: $63.52

Entertainment: $23.65

Clothes/Gifts: $30.00

Everything else: $23.00

This budget really seems to be working out well so far.  Although, as shown by our fumble last week, it doesn't give a lot of room for unexpected expenses.  Which is why it is not a long term solution for us.  Just a Spartan budget to get us to our convention in California.  After that we will give ourselves more spending money.  Unless we decided to save for a trip back to Asia...

End of Week 2

Two weeks in and we are still doing great... mostly.  We might have kinda sorta completely blew our budget this past week...

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $76.50

Food: $8.52

Entertainment: $3.65

Clothes/Gifts: $20.00

Everything else: $0.00

Again we have money left in all the jars save one; the Everything else jar.  This was because we had to buy dog food for Danger, which cost $46.00 and some cents which was chipped in by the Food jar.  Considering we bought the last bag of food back in March it really doesn't cost that much per month.  But Danger wasn't done spending after getting his dog food.  The weather is gorgeous and warm and it feels so good to walk in the park and the park is so pretty and so completely full of fleas.  Although we didn't see any fleas on Danger and we could have waited 3 weeks until we had enough money in the jar for his treatments chances are not only the dog but also the house would be infested by fleas at that point.  Not worth it when we have money in the bank to cover this.

Because we are only 2 weeks into living on the jars and the money that goes in them needs to accumulate in order to pay for bigger ticket items I'm not going to worry too much about this little hiccup.  It is also a very rare occurrence for us to buy both dog food and flea treatments in the same week.  We have plenty of time to stagger them.  I thought of dragging money out of the other jars to cover it, but then thought this would probably end up with us in the same situation with a different jar a few weeks down the road.

Once Danger was done spending the car decided to take it's turn.  It demanded new brakes and a bearing.  Since we need to keep our car happy and healthy we stole from our California fund and had the necessary repairs done on our little car.  Could be worse, we could have had to put the repairs on credit.

Side note:  Our Transportation jar balance has increased since we put money in it at the start of last week.  This is due to someone chipping in for gas money.  Thought we might need it in transportation for an oil change or car wash.

Get Outta Dodge Fund

Everyone should have one really.  It is our emergency/moving overseas/unknown factor fund.  Money that goes in there isn’t being pulled out without a can opener.  Something that is not likely to happen without us getting really desperate.  So far we haven’t been pushed to that extremity. 

This is outside the budget.  When we receive a gift of money we don’t have immediate use for or we get unexpected cash it ends up in the can.  Out of sight means out of mind and we forget the money as soon as we tuck it in there.  We haven’t much of a clue as to how much/little money sits in that mysterious bank.  As a result we can’t calculate what it could buy and aren’t so motivated to spend it on some whim of a want.

Where did we find such a clever little can?  Dollarama, naturally.  This is one of those items you don’t need to dish a lot of money out on.  We paid $1.25 since we wanted to put more money in it than on it.  As you can see it didn’t start out so pretty…

Not that there is anything wrong with the Maple Leafs (or perhaps there is a lot wrong with them), but they just don’t match our décor.  Five minutes with some lovely wrapping paper given to us by an incredibly thoughtful friend who went way out of his way to find us the perfect present and then went beyond to wrap it so charmingly (perhaps I do expect he’ll read this and recognize the paper) and a splash of paint later we have our much more attractive can.  Cheap and easily customizable.  Love it.  

The Second Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the surplus from last week we are looking at:

Transportation: $71.50

Food: $71.45

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $20.00

Everything else: $46.00

As you can see my need for nice, neat, round numbers has led me to up our spending on food so we could withdraw $160.00.  My other option was reducing the budget by $11/week to make it an even $140 but I couldn’t see where we could reduce it further without being unreasonable.  We had money left in the food jar this week because all we bought was food, when you need to buy laundry detergent/toilet paper/other household items that money can disappear real quick.

End of Week One

After a week of living on the jars we are completely hooked.  It does take some thinking before you leave the house in the morning.  “Am I going to be spending money today?  On what?  How much?”  You really become responsible for where your money goes, and there is less chance of frittering away all your hard earned cash on senseless things.  Living on a cash budget doesn’t completely kill impulse buying but it does put it into a pretty deep coma. 

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $19.50

Food: $16.45

Entertainment: $0.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

You may notice the only empty jar is the one for Entertainment (there may have been some change left that we misplaced), this includes eating out.  This is one area of budgeting we have always had trouble with, usually we overspend.  But running out of money this time means we had to stop spending.  Hello victory!  Since the majority of it goes to fast food we don’t feel all that great about it, bad for the budget and the belly.  The expression “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail” pretty much sums up why we end up spending so much money eating on the go.  Packing a lunch and snacks means you get to eat healthier and cheaper too.  I have been trying to build a repertoire of homemade “fast food” lunches to make this simpler.  In a future post I’ll list a few of the ideas I’ve come up with.

Beware of False Economy – The Can Opener

According to Wikipedia the definition of false economy is:

"...an action that saves money at the beginning but which, over a longer period of time, results in more money being wasted than being saved."

I want to be clear.  I love getting stuff on the cheap, but I hate cheap stuff.  That is not an oxymoron.  You can get excellent quality products for a really, really great deal.  That is what makes me do a little dance of joy with sparkling eyes.  The great finds.  Buying a brand new $300 dress for just $11 (it’s pink and so soo pretty), or a cozy wool wrap that was $150 but ended up in the clearance bin for $1.

That being said, cheap poorly made merchandise makes me twitchy with irritation.  There are times when good quality is not needed.  Items that you only intend to use once or twice or items that will do just as good a job but cost considerably less.  Then there are items you use everyday and the quality has a definite impact on the job they do.  For example my folly with the can openers:

One of the many items we needed to buy after our recent move was a can opener.  Getting impatient with spending so much money on setting up our new place I opted to buy a dollar store can opener.  This was a mistake.  We used it for about a year and then one day as I was opening a can the twisty bit just twisted clean off.  Chagrined I stood there looking at a half open can before I remembered we had a spare one in our emergency preparedness kit.  Grabbing that one I finished opening the can.  As I started on a second can the handle of my second can opener snapped clean off.  I would like to attribute this to my having freakishly powerful hands, but I don’t.  Both can openers came from the dollar store and we got exactly what we paid for.  Paying $2 for a can opener that only lasts for 1 can is false economy.  You have to add up the cost of replacing the short lived can openers verses how long a more expensive one of superior quality would cost. 

Having learned my lesson I went out to buy a decent quality can opener.  This does not mean that I ran out to a nice kitchen supply store and but the most expensive can opener I could find.  Rather, I went to Winners.  It is my go to place for good prices on good quality kitchen supplies.  I walked out of there with my sturdy KitchenAid can opener having paid $12.  Although I have to add in the cost of my 2 cheap ones so it actually cost $16, beware of false economy.  Considering the same item on Amazon costs $35.99 I think I still got a decent deal, but it would have been better if I had just bought it from the start.

Side note:  Our emergency preparedness kit is still without a can opener.  I do plan to fix this deficit, but in the event that an earthquake/tornado/fire/terrorist attack/other terrible disaster strikes before I do we will still be able to open our canned goods without resorting to bashing them about with large rocks thanks to D’s somewhat worrisome penchant for pocket knives.  (Wow, can you say run-on sentence?)

Cheap Does Not Mean Compromise

Meet Danger Dog.  He is our 7 year old Chinese Crested.  The Chinese Crested dog is one of my all time favourite dog breeds.  Lively, intelligent, and sociable they are very easy to love.  Not to mention they look like ponies.  Who can resist a pony dog?

Once upon a time we would buy a dog for $1200.  I kid you not, twelve hundred dollars!  (Is it just me or does “I kid you not” have so much more weight than “I’m not kidding”?)  But when we went out shopping to buy Danger we set a much more modest budget of $100.  Not only that but this dog would already be fixed, have all shots, and come with a health guarantee.  A pretty tall order considering our previous history in dog buying.

Enlisting the assistance of my sister we searched online for weeks.  My sister found him, a retired show dog that the breeder was looking to find a home for.  At the breeder’s we learned that he had a list of health testing done that was as long as my arm, he had already been neutered, and his vaccinations were all up to date.  Above and beyond that he was already trained and very well socialized.  What more could one ask for in a dog?  Except that he be utterly adorable, play fetch like a pro, and steal your heart at first sight.  Danger did all of this.  Once the breeder was satisfied we would provide a good home for him she sent him home with us for the small fee of $100, which would go towards changing his CKC registration into my name.

We have had him for a year and a half now and can’t imagine life without him.  He makes us laugh everyday and is our little Velcro dog that just loves to be near us.  Even while I type he is sucked up beside me dozing.  How does our cheap dog compare to our expensive ones?  He has less issues and better health.  We did not have him during the puppy stage, but that counts as a benefit for me since it takes a lot of time and energy to house train a puppy.  Even though he was 6 years old when we bought him we still gave him a name of our choosing and he responds to it as if he had it since birth.

For those who want a dog adopting a retired show dog is a great option.  There are also all sorts of rescues out there that have adult dogs to check out too.  However, you want to be sure you can handle any issues the dog may come with.  For those who need it to be a puppy they might want to ask themselves what they will do when that puppy becomes a dog.

The first week.

Into the jars went the cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $46.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

A grand total of $151.00.  Right now we are saving for a trip to see family on the other end of the country followed by a trip to California for an annual convention.  After both of us having been unemployed for 4-5 months this winter our savings are nonexistent. (But still we remain debt free)  This means we have just 3 months to save up a big chunk of change to make these dreams a reality.  In view of that we have made a Spartan budget, but one that we are confident is practicable for us.  After we have saved enough for these trips we will adjust our budget to give us a bit more freedom.  But I have to say… I’m pretty excited about the challenge of living this simple!

Side note: Our amounts are even because I fiddled with the monthly budget on Gail’s worksheet until my weekly amounts came out as even numbers.  So while we have budgeted $225.33 a month for transportation it works out to an even $52/week.  It seemed simpler than trying to make all that exact change every week.  I am a bit irritated that I didn’t think to up the total weekly variable spending to an even $160 until after we made all the labels and put it into our budget notebook.  Much simpler to withdraw $160 from a bank machine than $151.  Maybe I will adjust it next week when I’ve stopped simpering over how neat and pretty it all looks.

Side side note: We will be cracking out a debit card once a week to withdraw our weekly jar money from an ATM because we bank with PC Financial which has no physical tellers but also no bank fees.  A fair trade in our minds since who has time to waste waiting in line for a bank teller and who wants to waste money by giving it to a bank in the form of ridiculous fees?

Living on the jars.

Aren’t they beautiful!  I’m not talking about the physical jars, although I do think they are pretty (especially since they only cost $2 for a pack of 3 at Dollarama), but it is what they represent that makes them so appealing to me.  They are a solid manifestation of our taking control of our finances.

Considering we have zero debt it may seem strange to talk about taking control of finances.  But this plastic society we live in makes it easy for your money to run wild and leave you wondering how it all got away from you.  A former employer had a framed quotation from Charles Dickens’ “David Copperfield” hanging on his office wall: “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery”.  It was especially appropriate since he was an accountant who often had to educate his clients on the folly of spending more than they made.  At that time I was more familiar with the “misery” side of the equation since we were wallowing in debt.  Now we are debt free the “happiness” part rings very true.

Although I read that quote many times and have revelled in the joy of having no debt for quite a few years now it never occurred to me to wonder how we went so far off the rails.  I just thought we were “bad with money” and now we were learning to be “good with money”.  Since we started happily saving money and living within our means I felt it didn’t matter.  But about a month ago we started watching Gail Vaz Oxlade on “‘Til Debt Do Us Part” and “Princess”…

That was an eye opener.  Having the mistakes these people made spelled out for them was like watching a show about who we used to be.  We had no idea what our income was and we paid even less attention to what we spent back in those debt filled days.  If we were depressed about being in debt we would go to the mall and buy something nice for ourselves to make us feel better.  Our overdraft, credit line, and multiple credit cards were seen as buoys of extra income to float us up, instead of the heavy anchors of debt that they really were dragging us down.

This realization made us take a step back and really look at ourselves and how we view money now.  Although we had learned caution from our early experiences and now kept track of our spending we still didn’t have the respect for money we should.  For one thing, although having a budget, we are generally spending over budget.  This has not hurt us yet since we have budgeted lower than we make.  But it has meant we have saved less than we could have.  We have lost track of cheques and even had them bounce on us while we had more than enough money sitting in the savings account to cover them.

We decided to follow Gail’s advice and live on cash.  After using her brilliant budget worksheet we filled our little jars with our week’s worth of money and then made our budget notebook.  Then came the scary part: taking the debit and credit cards out of the wallet and putting them aside.  We are now operating without a net.  This means we will have to actually think about spending money instead of just handing the cashier a piece of plastic.  Eleanor Roosevelt is quoted as saying “Do one thing everyday that scares you”.  Well this terrifies both myself and D.  But I am already looking ahead to the confidence of knowing we can live on cash and that we control our money instead of our money controlling us.