Do I need to join a gym?

I used to belong to a gym. In fact, it was in a gym that I met my husband. He struck up a conversation with me one evening during my after work workout. So, you could say that we became workout buddies. But really, I liked to workout and he liked to talk. Anyone who knows my husband knows that this is true. The second or third night that we worked out/talked together we walked the track for what seemed like hours. I remember that I couldn't get a word in edgewise to mention that maybe we should change activities or at the very least, change direction and I went home with blisters on my feet. Well, eventually we fell in love, not on adjacent Stair Master machines but perhaps over pizza and beer after the workout. We're still married, but we no longer belong to that, or any health club.

     That's not to say we don't work out, at least sporadically, but the cost of a gym membership is just no longer in the budget. Especially for two of us. What's a (poor) girl to do? We have lots of unused equipment in the basement. Over the years we have acquired a Nordic Track ski machine, Body by Jake thigh machine, Ab roller, aerobic step/videos, the Perfect Pull-up and some sort of all in one weight machine that I no longer remember the name of. (We had to get rid of it when we moved into this house and the ceiling height in the basement was too low for it to fit.)

     Now, I have a couple of problems with working out at home. Number 1: I get bored easily. Number 2: during the winter it's too cold in this house when I get home from work to even think about changing into workout clothes. Number 3: Now that my husband is unemployed he is often taking up space in my office, which is where I currently like to workout. Blah blah blah. I know. These are just excuses. But they are my excuses and I'm sticking to them.

     Ok, but despite that, I do try to work out and I have found a few things that work for me for very little money. You can buy hand weights, a mat, exercise ball, and exercise band in stores such as Walmart, Ocean State Job Lot, or Target for very little money. Since I like the feel of taking a class at the gym, I'm not much for those exercise pull-outs in health magazines. I have found that by Googling "free online yoga", "free online workout", or "free online exercises" I can find more than enough to suit my every workout need and mood. There are workouts ranging from a few minutes preview to full hour workouts of every type. I'll share with you a few of my favorites:

Spark People A whole variety of videos ranging from 10 to 20 minutes.

Yoga Yak Offers many yoga classes, all filmed in beautiful outdoor settings.

Warrior X Fit This is a new one for me, but it promises to be interesting and challenging. Each day you are offered 6 exercises to complete in 20 minutes. The more you exercise the farther you move up in the martial arts fitness platform.

     With these and so many other free offerings on the web it's hard to get bored. Now if I could just find a way to warm up the house in the winter. But that's for another entry.

NOTE: Consult your doctor or other medical provider before beginning any exercise program. Discontinue any exercise that causes you discomfort or pain. This blog is not meant to endorse any particular exercise program, but merely to inform you of the choices available. Use your own judgement please.



The Price is Right...Or is it?

Price Book

As I mentioned before, this is not the first time that my husband has been laid off. Combine that with the weakening economy and I have felt "the pinch" for a while now. I remember when I was first married discussing, with my husband, his mother's practice of shopping at 2 to 3 or maybe even more grocery stores each week, aiming to get the best prices for her food. Well, in my mind, my time was worth more than that. I've always been a relentless coupon clipper and a store flier fanatic, so off I would go every Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to the local grocery store (note the singular). Never mind that this local grocer is, in my opinion, more expensive than other retailers in the area, but the others were not quite as close by. In fact, this chain has another store 2 towns away which I have always heard is cheaper than the one in my town, because it has more competition. But it is 12 minutes away rather than 6, so it was always a no-go. Fast forward 12 years and I'm feeling like getting a full grocery cart for $20 less if I shop around or go a little farther is now a good deal.
So I began juggling 3 different grocery store fliers and travelling 20 minutes to access both Super Walmart and BJ's. I thought I was doing well until I bought 4 bricks of Cracker Barrel Cheddar Cheese at a BOGO sale. Now buy one/get one is almost always a better deal than you will get anywhere else. I mean, it is essentially a 50% off sale, right? Right. Doesn't get much better than that.... Until I really looked at my receipt and realized that this particular store had marked the price up so much that I paid a few cents more for those 4 bricks than I would have if I'd bought them at BJ's for their regular price. Bummer!
My mind is not a steele trap by any means. At this point it's much more like an aluminum sieve; room for the big stuff, but the details fall right through the holes. How am I supposed to remember what I paid for a 3 pound container of ricotta at one store when it goes on sale at another. It's not like I buy ricotta every week.
Solution: The Price Book
How to:  For a few weeks or a month save your grocery receipts. Your "book" can be whatever works for you. I use a small 3"x5" spiral bound index card book because I like that it fits into my purse. You could use a regular size notebook of you prefer and I would imagine you could do something similar with your smart phone, though I don't own one so you have to figure that out for yourself.
Anyway, divide your book into grocery sections such as produce, dairy, meats, bakery, toiletries, etc. Take your saved receipts and use them to write the name of the item, what size it is, how much it is and where you bought it. Write down only regular prices, not sale prices. This way when a store runs a sale you can open your price book, find how much it usually is, say at BJ's, and whether or not the sale price at Stop and Shop beats that.  Periodically, update your price book and make a note of any new products you are buying or whether the price has gone up or down on anything.

No more getting taken for a ride at the grocery store.


Include the name, size and price of your item. Include where you purchased the item.



Unexpected Shortfall?

Every week my husband's unemployment check arrives (direct deposit) on Tuesday morning. Every other week my paycheck arrives on Saturday. Except... when it doesn't. This past Monday, being Memorial Day, slowed things down and so the check did not arrive in the account until Wednesday morning. Not a big deal except when the bills need to go out Tuesday night.
We have several items that come due yearly; others need to be paid quarterly; still others bi-weekly or weekly. In all honesty, it's tough to keep straight. If the money coming in greatly exceeds the finances being paid out it may not be such a big deal. In our case it's pretty much 50/50 on a good day. When only 1 of us is gainfully employed the ratio sways in an unfortunate direction.  Throw in a late pay check or unemployment check and if it doesn't spell disaster, it spells "serious meltdown" on my part (since I am the one sitting down to pay the bills). That's where serious budgeting comes in. Every long term bill or significant bill gets budgeted every time I get a paycheck. Long term bills are any bills that get paid quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly. Significant bills are anything big (such as the phone) or potentially (relatively) unpredictable such as the credit card.
Budgeting is easy. For each bill, figure out how much the bill will be when it is due; divide by the number of weeks or paychecks until the bill is due and place that much into the designated account each time you get paid. We have a dedicated savings account just for these bills. In addition, I keep a notebook with a breakdown of how much money is currently allocated to each bill. We also have a section titled "undesignated". It would be fun if this section could be available as extra money for an upcoming vacation. Instead, for us, it is extra money in case one of the car breaks down or the well pump dies. In this way, even though we know we have X amount of dollars in the account, we also know how much of that is available to each bill. Here is a link to my sample budgeting form. https://www.dropbox.com/s/owzsq6izpl8zlaz/Sample%20budgeting%20book.xlsx
Knowing how much money we have; saving all year long for those long term bills; takes much of the pressure and anxiety off when one of the checks is delayed. It doesn't solve all our money woes, but it's easier for me to see in black and white, and it also keeps us in the black more than the red.
I hope this is helpful for you.

The lockdown begins

So my husband was laid off back in March. A good time to learn how to "tighten the purse strings", "button down the hatches", "eliminate the fluff in the budget", "reassess priorities". Maybe so, if we hadn't already done that two and a half years ago. This is the second time he's been laid off since the beginning of the "great recession". People say the economy is turning around. I don't believe it. But...that's another blog. Back to the point.
What was the first thing I did (after having myself a good cry)? I made a list. Several lists, in fact. Lists of what non-essentials could be cut from the budget (what's your definition of "non-essential"?), what kinds of free things could we do to keep ourselves sane, what foods were already near composting in the freezer/ pantry/refrigerator., what menus incorporated those same foods so that I don't have to shop for as much food, how to avoid the high cost of coffee (coffee is, after all, an essential in my life), etc.
Eliminating the "non-essentials" is no easy task after I believed that we had already done that with the first lay off. Since my husband had only been re-employed for a year and a half, after being unemployed for a year and a half, we had not yet reinstituted many of those eliminated items.
Lockdown mode is an interesting place to find myself in. I waver in my opinion of its healthiness. It may be healthy for the budget, but maybe not so much for the relationship. Upon entering serious financial lockdown you have to be very careful that your emotions don't follow and get locked away as well.
But if I can keep it all in perspective I know that on one level I feel better knowing that I have a plan. A plan that I can follow strictly or flexibly depending on my needs and moods.
So what does my lockdown list look like?

1. Investigate alternatives to cable.
2. Costly massage, hair cut, chiropractor visits- eliminate or extend time in between.
3. Look for a different job for myself (one that includes medical benefits)
4. Cancel online movie and music services.
5. Find a cheaper coffee alternative.
6. Drive as little as possible around town.
7. Ask for camperships.
8. Make menus with cheap meals using food already in the house.
9. Know what's in the house to avoid throwing food away.

So- that's food for thought. It's a start on making it work. Time to make Spaghetti Pie for dinner- an inexpensive meal made from the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.