Saving Money: Menu Planning 101

Since JC and I are on a mission to get out of debt ASAP, we’ve been on a pretty strict budget since getting married.  We’ve managed to reduce spending in a lot of areas and finally got our $1000 emergency fund all completed last month!  Now we get to put any and all extra money against our debts and knock them out one by one.  It feels soooo good to have some control over our finances and begin to see that light at the end of the debt tunnel! 

One of the key areas where we discovered we had to cut was our grocery budget.  We simply spent way too much on food!  So we cut it down to what we thought was a pretty fair amount, and lo and behold, we discovered another problem: our first couple months being married resulted in huge grocery bills at the beginning of the month and next to nothing left by the last week of the month.  Hello Kraft Dinner 7 nights in a row!   We knew we had to something. 

I realized that a lot of the things I bought just sat on the pantry shelf without being used, or sat in the fridge until they started to grow little green furry friends and had to be thrown out.  I had to be smarter with our money and avoid all this wasted food… because wasted food meant wasted $.  I needed a plan. 

So began my menu planning.  I made up a simple two-week menu of what I wanted to make for suppers each night, wrote down all the ingredients I needed into a shopping list.  I made sure most suppers were big enough so there were leftovers for lunches for the next day or two.  We both eat pretty basic, routine breakfasts, so I added those couple of items, along with some extra fruit and veggies, some basic sandwich makings for lunches, and voila! I had my shopping list.  I remember I did my 2-week shopping and ended cutting somewhere around $40 off what I had spent previously for the same time period.  Wow!  For us, that’s a big deal!  Now, I didn’t make every supper KD and hot dogs and ramen noodles to save bucks… I still planned food that we enjoyed, like spaghetti, tacos, chicken and potatoes, stir fry, etc. 

I realized that this was our answer to saving money – meal planning!!!  Since my first 2-week plan worked so well, I decided to go big and make the next one up for an entire month.  I used my totally amazing Microsoft Word formatting skills and made up a mind-blowing super awesome calendar that I could edit each month with whatever I wanted to make for meals, including a complete grocery list and recipes.  (Yes, I am that awesome!)    :P   I ended up making four grocery lists for that entire month.  The first one was a big list where I buy all of the non-perishable or “slowly-perishable” (like cheese, bags of carrots, etc) stuff for the month.  I divided up the rest of the perishable foods into weekly shopping lists. 

It took me about 5 hours that first month to get all the meals in the calendar and figure out grocery lists and recipes, which was a long time and a lot of work!  But it paid off.  Once again we saved lots of $, managed to eat yummy food, stayed on budget and avoided wasting food.

Each month I get a bit faster and a bit more creative with my menu plan.  Last month it only took me about 3 hours from start to finish, and that included pouring through my cook books searching for new ideas.  This month it was about 2.5 hours.  And the cool part is that I enjoy it!  I find cooking to be therapeutic and relaxing, and that includes looking through cookbooks and doing my menu-plan. 

Another great side-effect of doing a meal plan is that all I have to do is glance at my calendar that’s stuck to the side of the fridge and I know exactly what to cook for supper.   No more “honey, what do you want for supper?” “I don’t know… whatever you want” “Well, I don’t know what I’m hungry for.  What are you hungry for?” “Whatever you want is fine with me” and on and on.  It makes things a lot more streamlined in the evening, because I hated getting home from work at 5:45 and then having to figure out what to make and hope we had all of the ingredients so I didn’t have to run to Sobeys yet…   I’ve also tried to plan several Crock Pot meals every month, just because it’s such a time saver to just throw a bunch of stuff in the Crock Pot, turn it on low, and know that when I come home supper will be done!

Since this saved us a lot of money and frustration, I thought some of you out there in blog-reader land might benefit from it too!  I love the organization this provides.  I never have to guess about groceries or meals or what I have or need.  It’s all done and ready when I need it. 

This is what February’s Calendar looks like:   

Thoughts on Tithing....

My hubby is in the process of writing another blog entry over at “The Christian Dollar” where he is now a regular contributor. (I’m very proud of him!!!) He’s writing an article on “Tithe, Give, Save, Live” at the moment, which is a phrase we hear our Pastor use on a regular basis from the pulpit… As I read through his draft of the article, we started to discuss tithing and how/why we are supposed to do it, and how could he fit all that info in his 800 word article. This inspired me to come up with a post here on our blog about tithing and what we as a couple, believe in regards to it.

We know that tithing was originally set up as a part of the Old Covenant, under Mosaic Law. The Israelite people were commanded by God to give a “tithe” (literally, a tenth) of all their income back to God. There were many laws and rules regarding every little detail of the tithe, and if that interests you a great amount, go and read through the books of the Law – Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and Numbers. Have fun! ;)

However we are no longer under the Law……

Way before the Law was ever instituted though, if you look in Genesis 14, it talks about Abraham giving a tithe of his goods to Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, after receiving those material blessings from God and a spoken blessing from Melchizedek. Also, in Genesis 18, Jacob promises God that he would give Him a tenth of all that he has for the rest of his life, if God will indeed bless him as He had promised to. These tithes were before the law, and were not done out of compulsion or in response to a commandment, but out of thanksgiving for blessings received or promises of blessings to come. These men walked with God and their tithing was an act of love for their God. They realized that walking with God faithfully yielded blessings in their lives, and they were thankful and never forgot the source of those blessings. Tithing and thanksgiving to the Source of their blessings and provision went hand in hand. (Deuteronomy 8:18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”)

I think that the example laid down by these men is a great foundation from which to look at tithing/giving in the New Covenant. Now, there is no specific “command” in the New Testament regarding tithing. Nowhere does it say, “Give God a tithe!” However, cheerfully giving financially and materially is mentioned throughout the New Testament. A good way to look at it would be to say that we as believers are “Blessed to be a Blessing”. We give to bless God and show thanksgiving to Him and also to be a blessing to those around us. We love God and we love others, and giving is just an expression of that.

We do give to our churches, both to provide income for our Pastors, which is biblical (see 1 Timothy 5:17-18, 1 Corinthians 9:14, and Galatians 6:6), and also to pay for the facilities that we use for church and various programs/outreaches we do. This is definitely the more practical side of giving. This is where most people will give their tithe - to their home church.

Beyond the tithe, we as believers are to give freely into other things as well. If we look in Acts at how the early church lived, we can see that they gave of their money and possessions freely to those believers who were in need. They took care of widows and orphans and made sure that none were in lack. They gave out of love, with a cheerful heart. I think 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 is another great example of how and why we give…. 

⁶ But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ⁷ So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. ⁹ As it is written:

“He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”

¹⁰ Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, ¹¹ while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. ¹² For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, ¹³ while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, ¹⁴ and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. ¹⁵ Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! 

God is the source of our money, plain and simple. He asks us to give out of a cheerful heart to every good work. And as we are faithful with what He has given us and we sow bountifully, He is faithful to increase us so that we can in turn bless more people. I believe this is the heart and soul of giving under the New Covenant. We are the hands and feet of Jesus… we are His body here on the earth. If He wants to bless someone, how does He do it? Sure, He can and does, give favor to His people in the form of job promotions, unexpected checks in the mail, etc. But more often than not, He uses His people. He asks us to give of our money, and our time and effort as well, to others around us. His love pours through us to those around us and as they are blessed by our obedience to God, we are blessed more, because He sees we are faithful with little, so He pours out even more.

So why do we as Christians give: Firstly, we give to God (through our tithes in church) as an act of Thanksgiving for we know that all good things come from Him and He is the source of our finances and possessions. He has given us such amazing gifts and wonderful provision, so we give back a portion as an act of love. (This money takes care of our Pastors and churches.) Secondly, we give to those around us in order to be the hands and feet of Jesus and meet their needs and show them love. We give finances to missionaries, to outreach groups, to the family whose car just broke down and they can’t afford to fix it… We give to bring a smile to someone’s face after a terrible day… We give just to allow someone else feel what it’s like to be blessed by God. 

What about you? Does your family tithe or give on a regular basis? If so, why? If not, why? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments!

The Love and Respect Experience - Review

After talking about books, I now offer you a review of a book.  The Love & Respect Experience: A Husband-Friendly Devotional that Wives Truly Love by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs. 

This is a devotional, divided into 52 small chapters, with each chapter ending with a Prayer topic and an Action to do with your spouse.  Each chapter deals with a topic common to marriage. I wanted to sit down and read the whole thing through, but since it is a devotional, that didn't seem right to me.  What I did then was to read the introduction and then bounced around the different chapters.

Dr. Eggerichs is know for talking about how men need Respect and how women need Love.  Men and women are made different, looking at the world through different eyes, but if we can learn how to meet each other's needs, our marriages will work better.

A few things popped out at me in my reading:

• Goodwill.  Our marriages need to be based on goodwill.  We need to have the intention, the purpose in our marriage to do good to our spouse.  If a disagreement happens, don't immediately think that they intended that purposefully or maliciously - give them the goodwill benefit of the doubt.  
• Money problems can dig deep and reveal our faults - how mature or immature we are.  We need to deal with the problems together, putting aside frustrations and anger; instead communicate and work through the issue together.  Show love and respect in how we handle money.
• The title of chapter 24 is "It's Hard to be Negative While Being Thankful."  He goes on to describe a tough time in their lives dealing with a son's broken leg and dream and how his wife learned to be thankful even during that hard time.  Developing a habit of thanksgiving drives the negative out - you see others in a more positive light.

All in all, I think this has potential to be a really good devotional.  It's definitely made me want to read the book these concepts come from (Love and Respect by the same author). I look forward to exploring this devotional with my wife.

The Reagan's and Their First Budget

Budget.  What is a budget?  I think the simplest way to describe it is that it's a way to designate where your money goes.  Think of it as a group of buckets, each one with a bright label on it.  Tithe, Rent, Food, and various other categories are lined up on the porch.  It's our decision now how much of our bag of loot goes into each bucket.  Then, that bucket get taken to the landlord, the grocery store, the cell phone, and spent. No more than what is in that particular bucket gets spent.

Brianna and I had the privilege of sitting down last week with our particular bag of loot (last month's income) and divide it up into the different buckets.  Surprisingly it was actually fun to talk about our money and what we wanted to do with it.  We had been discussing, for some time, about getting out of debt and that we needed to have a budget to be able to do this.  We were prepared to sit down and divide out our categories, our buckets.

We set out the tithe first, then the necessary bills and the food.  Then we were able to work on the misc. categories.  Amazing how powerful giving each dollar a purpose made us feel!  Especially when we did it together.  We then withdrew what cash we needed for the envelope system, and made our envelopes. 

Already this week it's become evident that we think more about our money when we have to go to the envelope and make the withdrawal.  I am a big fan of cash now!!

One of the subjects we discussed, was that the categories can be fluid.  We don't have to put the same amount in clothes every month, or even contribute to that category every month.  That gives us a better flexibility to use our money.

One of the most important things we are doing is that we are recognizing that this is not our money.  This money is God's and we are stewards.  We need to be smart with what we have, and He will reward us.  We are blessed in order to be a blessing!

What sort of things do you do to keep on a budget?  Do you have a frivolous category? Where do you save money?