Very brief (and maybe irrelevant) background -
I am a single mama who's ds's father contributes $50/paycheque for him, which I put into an RESP (education savings plan). I am a full-time shiftworker (70 hours bi-weekly), who makes a very good wage, grossing a little under $45k a year. (Last year was around $39k and the previous four years were part-time and probably closer to $29k). This past year, prior to a cumulative retroactive raise of roughly 6% as well as reaching the next level in my hours and getting the resulting raise for becoming a 4th year clerk, I put nearly $8000 free and clear into a savings acount towards a house, which I hope to buy this spring/early summer (I am tired of renting and want to do this for my son and myself). I have started a registered retirement savings plan as well into which I transferred $7800 of my house fund. As a first-time homebuyer I can borrow up to $20k (provided I have it in there for at least 90 days) tax free from my RRSP and pay it back at a low rate over a long period of time. First-time homebuyers also don't need a downpayment but obviously have to be able to show that they have money.
The questions are buried in here:
So. In an effort to hurry my savings and promote a healthier financial/personal style (I like to spend money if I have it) I've decided to attempt to eat out of my pantry buying only produce, milk, eggs (which I don't eat many of), and other things only as needed. In the health area, I've started forcing myself to eat three meals a day and two snacks (previously, I often only ate supper since I was making it for my toddler and no snacks - weekdays he eats lunch at daycare). I recently purchased a small (less than 5 cubic feet) deep freezer since my fridge freezer, which is self-defrost, wasn't doing it's job to my standards. I understand the concept of getting several meals from one meal but does anyone have any recommendations for really good (ie: quick, simple ingredients, homestyle food, easy-to-cook) cookbooks that don't make enough for an family of 10? I know recipes can be cut down but I find it discouraging to have to adapt so much and want something to adapt to me!
Any good crockpot recipes/books that fit the same bill? I'd guess that an original recipe calling for 5 chicken breasts is going to cook slower than one using only 2 breasts and if my pot is cooking while I'm at work...
I've paid off the credit card again, which feels very good. I only have the one card. It was never a huge amount and I try to pay it each month but it sometimes creeps up and takes a couple months to pay off. All I have left on it is $160, which is part of my next bill statement. I use cc to fill the car up with gas, pay for groceries, and for household stock-ups since I only get a limited number of transactions with my debit card before paying $1.25 for each additional swipe. I don't use much cold cash since the bank is so difficult to get to for me.
I realize that this is a very broad question and that I've been rambling without any totally clear point
but do you have any tips for me in general? I need to go through my closet and weed out clothes and consign them (picked up $175 in the summer from clothes, which I put into the house fund). My son is fine for clothes at the moment though he will need a few pants in the coming months; I can make him t-shirts from my fabric stash though it is so much easier to just buy them. Expenses for him are really only diapers. I cloth-diapered part-time but I would need to start making him a stash of size large now as he outgrows the mediums and I'm not sure it's cost-effective to do that (I'd have to stock up on a few diaper-sewing supplies since my stash is depleted nearly and I also don't have much time to sew them). I've made him some pull-up waterproof trainers, which daycare uses in the mornings; I told them I wasn't buying commerical pull-ups ($$$) and they'd have to use mama-sewn ones.
I have very limited space to store bulk items (food or otherwise) and am concerned about using it before it goes bad. I already have a large bag of brown rice that I find tastes a little old however is fine if I make a risotto-type dish with a cream soup and veggies (quick and cheap too).
And I'll stop now.
: Basically I'm wondering what un-extreme measures I can take to make meals easier and quicker, not have to see the same meal as leftovers for a week straight, chop a couple of dollars here and there, etc. I've opened an ING Direct account that I plan to put a couple dollars in per month as a forced savings and forget about; on $6700 at my regular bank I got literally only a couple cents interest on my house fund account. I'd do a coin jar (every little bit helps right, and we have $1 and $2 coins up here) but I so rarely have cash that when I DO, I like to keep it in my wallet for those tiny purchases.
Okay. I'm done. If you've read this far through my rambling, just toss whatever thoughts you have at me. Cost-saving, dollar-stretching, meal-planning, neat ideas, etc.
I am a single mama who's ds's father contributes $50/paycheque for him, which I put into an RESP (education savings plan). I am a full-time shiftworker (70 hours bi-weekly), who makes a very good wage, grossing a little under $45k a year. (Last year was around $39k and the previous four years were part-time and probably closer to $29k). This past year, prior to a cumulative retroactive raise of roughly 6% as well as reaching the next level in my hours and getting the resulting raise for becoming a 4th year clerk, I put nearly $8000 free and clear into a savings acount towards a house, which I hope to buy this spring/early summer (I am tired of renting and want to do this for my son and myself). I have started a registered retirement savings plan as well into which I transferred $7800 of my house fund. As a first-time homebuyer I can borrow up to $20k (provided I have it in there for at least 90 days) tax free from my RRSP and pay it back at a low rate over a long period of time. First-time homebuyers also don't need a downpayment but obviously have to be able to show that they have money.
The questions are buried in here:
So. In an effort to hurry my savings and promote a healthier financial/personal style (I like to spend money if I have it) I've decided to attempt to eat out of my pantry buying only produce, milk, eggs (which I don't eat many of), and other things only as needed. In the health area, I've started forcing myself to eat three meals a day and two snacks (previously, I often only ate supper since I was making it for my toddler and no snacks - weekdays he eats lunch at daycare). I recently purchased a small (less than 5 cubic feet) deep freezer since my fridge freezer, which is self-defrost, wasn't doing it's job to my standards. I understand the concept of getting several meals from one meal but does anyone have any recommendations for really good (ie: quick, simple ingredients, homestyle food, easy-to-cook) cookbooks that don't make enough for an family of 10? I know recipes can be cut down but I find it discouraging to have to adapt so much and want something to adapt to me!
Any good crockpot recipes/books that fit the same bill? I'd guess that an original recipe calling for 5 chicken breasts is going to cook slower than one using only 2 breasts and if my pot is cooking while I'm at work...I've paid off the credit card again, which feels very good. I only have the one card. It was never a huge amount and I try to pay it each month but it sometimes creeps up and takes a couple months to pay off. All I have left on it is $160, which is part of my next bill statement. I use cc to fill the car up with gas, pay for groceries, and for household stock-ups since I only get a limited number of transactions with my debit card before paying $1.25 for each additional swipe. I don't use much cold cash since the bank is so difficult to get to for me.
I realize that this is a very broad question and that I've been rambling without any totally clear point
but do you have any tips for me in general? I need to go through my closet and weed out clothes and consign them (picked up $175 in the summer from clothes, which I put into the house fund). My son is fine for clothes at the moment though he will need a few pants in the coming months; I can make him t-shirts from my fabric stash though it is so much easier to just buy them. Expenses for him are really only diapers. I cloth-diapered part-time but I would need to start making him a stash of size large now as he outgrows the mediums and I'm not sure it's cost-effective to do that (I'd have to stock up on a few diaper-sewing supplies since my stash is depleted nearly and I also don't have much time to sew them). I've made him some pull-up waterproof trainers, which daycare uses in the mornings; I told them I wasn't buying commerical pull-ups ($$$) and they'd have to use mama-sewn ones.I have very limited space to store bulk items (food or otherwise) and am concerned about using it before it goes bad. I already have a large bag of brown rice that I find tastes a little old however is fine if I make a risotto-type dish with a cream soup and veggies (quick and cheap too).
And I'll stop now.
: Basically I'm wondering what un-extreme measures I can take to make meals easier and quicker, not have to see the same meal as leftovers for a week straight, chop a couple of dollars here and there, etc. I've opened an ING Direct account that I plan to put a couple dollars in per month as a forced savings and forget about; on $6700 at my regular bank I got literally only a couple cents interest on my house fund account. I'd do a coin jar (every little bit helps right, and we have $1 and $2 coins up here) but I so rarely have cash that when I DO, I like to keep it in my wallet for those tiny purchases.Okay. I'm done. If you've read this far through my rambling, just toss whatever thoughts you have at me. Cost-saving, dollar-stretching, meal-planning, neat ideas, etc.
