Mom’s Plans

Wealth Watchers by Alice Wood – A Review and Givaway

by Melissa on May 17, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of reading Alice Wood’s new finance book, Wealth Watchers, and I enjoyed it thoroughly and would recommend it to anyone trying to get a better handle on their finances.

Alice Wood was a successful estate planning attorney before suffering a debilitating brain injury on a plane. Her father was the president of a bank, so she had a strong financial background and was successful financially–until her brain injury. After the injury, her life, finances and weight spiraled out of control as she repeatedly made bad financial decisions including writing a $20,000 credit card convenience check and not remembering when the bill came a few weeks later.

To lose weight, she joined Weight Watchers. She loved the Weight Watchers point system, which allotted her a certain number of points she could use for her food daily. One day she decided the same system would help people gain control of their finances, and Wealth Watchers was born.

At the heart of Wealth Watchers is the idea that you only have so much discretionary income to spend per day; go over that amount, and you will likely end up in financial trouble. Wood does an excellent job sharing ways you can cut your costs on just about everything. She also doesn’t tell readers they have to live a spartan, frugal existence. Instead, she says that you have to decide what it is most important to spend your money on. For instance, her family loved the Saturday ritual of going to Dunkin’ Donuts, so they kept that splurge, but they reduced their budget in many other ways.

Wealth Watchers is an easily accessible book for anyone looking to improve their finances and become more disciplined in their spending.

My only critique of the book is that over 100 pages in the back are blank journal pages. For some, this may be very helpful, but I have always hated writing in books, so I probably would create my own journal pages. I would have preferred to see the book and the journal worksheets sold separately.

The Giveaway

One lucky winner will receive a copy of Alice Wood’s book, Wealth Watchers. To enter, simply visit the Wealth Watchers’ site and come back here and leave a comment about one thing you learned.

Additional Methods of Entry

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Facebook

-Follow Wealth Watchers on Facebook

-Follow Mom’s Plans on Twitter

-Blog about this giveaway or write about it on Facebook or Twitter and leave a comment here that you did so.

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents and will end on Tuesday, May 29th at 11:59 p.m. The winner will be chosen via random.org.

I received one copy of this book for review purposes. No other compensation was given. All opinions are my own.

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Our Meat CSA – What Came in Delivery 1

by Melissa on May 16, 2012

We got our first meat CSA delivery yesterday. We paid $785 for 6 months, so each delivery will have approximately $130 of organic meat. This is what we got in this month’s delivery:

Chuck Roast – 3.64 lbs @ $7.99/lb = $29.08

Smoked Pork Hocks – 2.05 lbs @ $3.99/lb = $8.18

3/4 inch Pork Loin Chops – 1.16 lbs @ $6.99/lb = $8.11

Pork Loin – .91 lbs @ $9.99/lb = $9.09

Sirloin tip roast – 3.23 lbs @ $9.00/lb = $29.07

These other cuts were included but weren’t clearly marked by weight or per pound cost:

2 packages ground beef (I am assuming 1 or 1.25 lbs each)

2 lamb leg steaks

Pork shoulder roast – 3 lbs.

We are excited to see how the meat tastes and to eat other varieties of meat. (We typically only eat the beef we buy from my cousin’s farm, ground turkey and organic chicken, so it has been a LONG time since we have had other cuts of meat.)

I am hoping that I will be able to stretch our 6 month CSA into a year’s supply of meat for us (along with the usual 1/2 of a side of cow that we buy), but I am not sure. We will have to see how quickly we go through this.

I haven’t bought meat at the grocery store for so long, I don’t know if these are reasonable prices. Keep in mind all of the meat is organic.

How do these prices compare to supermarket prices?

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My Husband Thinks I Am Crazy, but I Am Going to Start Canning

by Melissa on May 15, 2012

When I casually mentioned canning to my husband, he was completely against it. Years ago, when we were first married and flat out broke, inspired by Amy Dacyczyn, we tried canning. It was a miserable experience, especially since the tomatoes we spent all day canning didn’t turn out. We gave up rather quickly.

Now, we have three kids, and groceries are regularly running us about $500 to $600 a month because of our numerous food intolerances, our desire to avoid food dyes, and our desire to eat mostly organic produce.

Honestly, I hate going to the grocery store, which is one of the reasons I have organic produce delivered to our home, which isn’t cheap. Thankfully, our CSA will begin soon. I relish the idea of having most of my food preserved in the freezer and in canning jars so I don’t have to go to the grocery store that often.

More and more, I have a desire to know exactly what is going into my food. Canning and freezing food lets me control what I feed my family.

I experimented yesterday with this yummy Strawberry Jam without sugar or pectin and it was delicious. That will be the first item I can this season.

When I told my husband I found a great deal on canning supplies, he was not pleased. He begrudgingly went with me to pick up the supplies.

He is sure this will be a disaster.

I, on the other hand, think if it doesn’t work out, I can just sell it all on Craigslist for the same price I bought it for.

So, here it is. I got all of this–48 quart jars, 108 pint jars, and 16 quilted 6 oz. and 12 oz. jelly jars in addition to the water bath canning pot–for $100. It works out to about .50 a jar. If I enjoy canning, the price for these items will decrease each year that I use them, making my investment a better one.

Now, let’s hope I do enjoy canning, so my husband doesn’t get to gloat. :)

If you can, what are your favorite foods to preserve?

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Homemade Enchiladas – Dairy, Soy and Gluten Free

by Melissa on May 14, 2012

A search for store bought enchilada sauce left me empty handed; they all contained soy. Out of desperation, I turned to my favorite site, food.com, and found the recipe, Homemade Enchilada Sauce. (I raved about this on Facebook a few weeks ago.) Since discovering this sauce, enchiladas have become a weekly staple in our meal rotation. I can’t get enough of these, and neither can my son.

We have tried several different fillings including:

browned ground beef mixed with salsa until wet,
shredded, cooked chicken mixed with salsa,
refried beans, and
refried beans and the beef or chicken and salsa mixture.

All were delicious.

To prepare, simply

make the enchilada sauce,
spray the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan,
put some of the enchilada sauce on the bottom of the pan,
warm your corn tortillas by wrapping in a wet paper towel and microwaving for 45 seconds,
fill the tortillas with your filling of choice and
pour the remaining sauce over the top.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

(Excellent sides are lettuce, tomatoes, and homemade Simple Island Guacamole.)

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Expense Tracking Challenge, May 2012 – Week Two

by Melissa on May 13, 2012

May has been a very busy and costly month with my son’s First Communion, my daughter’s two year old pictures and Mother’s Day. In addition, I found a great deal on canning supplies and decided to snatch it up even though it wasn’t in the budget. (I’ll share a post about that later in the week.) Here are the damages:

Monday, May 7th:

$15 son’s school expenses
$19 Jewel ($11 thank you and Mother’s Day cards, $8 groceries)
$14.95 Mother’s Day gift

Tuesday, May 8th:

$9 Whole Foods ($5 dessert for son for school event, $3 groceries)
$2.50 post office
$41 organic delivery

Wednesday, May 9th:

$4 flowers for son’s teacher
$30 babysitter
$13 Target (toiletries)

Thursday, May 10th:

$4 Jewel
$7 prescription
$31 plants for the garden
$7 Whole Foods

Friday, May 11th:

$17 Jewel
$7 husband out for lunch with coworkers
$22 daughter’s 2 year old portraits

Saturday, May 12th:

$7 Whole Foods

Sunday, May 13th:

$100 canning supplies (13 dozen jars in various sizes & a canning pot)
$72 dinner out
$24 Japanese grocery store
$5 son’s allowance

Total for the week – $449.45

Total for the month – $1,001.65

By category, our spending broke down like this:

Groceries–$111 this week/289 for the month

Gas—$0 for the week/112.20 for the month

Toiletries/Diapers–$13 for the week/52 for the month

Husband’s spending–$7 for the week/$16 for the month

My spending–$0 for the week/$10 for the month

Clothing account–$0 for the week/$47 for the month

Son’s allowance–$5 for the week/$15 for the month

Babysitter–$30 for the week/$140 for the month

Miscellaneous–$284.45 this week/$321.45 for the month

What did I learn so far?

I am finding it tedious to track our every expense, but I find that it is keeping me aware of our financial situation. I am actually going over the budget in the middle of the month to see where we stand rather than waiting to calculate the damages at the end of the month.

While the last two weeks have been pricy, and we are wildly over in the miscellaneous category, we are under in several other categories, so if I can curb our expenses for the remainder of May, we should be right on track.

How are you doing? Feel free to link up your weekly expense report or to leave a comment.

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Debt Snowflake Challenge #19 – Surround Yourself with Those Who Support You

by Melissa on May 10, 2012

Does this sound familiar?

“You have to live a little. Life is meant to be enjoyed!”

“You can’t live like this forever. You have to treat yourself.”

“Debt is just a way of life. With this economy and the cost of living, it is impossible to be debt free.”

Yeah, I thought you might have heard something like that. I have too, and these comments often come from those who love me most and think they are being helpful.

When you hear comments like this, even if you don’t give in, you may begin to doubt yourself and your drive to pay off debt. You may begin to feel the weight of your journey to be debt free.

These comments are akin to you carrying something very heavy and having those you care about and love add more weight to your load. They can make your journey feel impossible.

And they only think they are helping and looking out for your best interest.

To really succeed, surrounding yourself with those who support you and your debt free journey is essential. Perhaps you get your support here. Maybe you have a good friend at work who encourages you.

Finding people who support you in your debt free journey and encourage you every step of the way can make the heavy burden of debt feel lighter. They can give you energy to continue your fight.

The journey to be debt free is a difficult one; you don’t need people who make it more difficult.

Find a someone who will support you. You’ll be glad you did.

Our Progress

I made an extra $105 this week in unexpected work, so I put 70% of that toward debt and 30% of that toward our emergency fund. It is a balance I am happy with as we work to get our emergency fund up to $5,000.

70% of Extra Freelance Work: $70.35

Writing/V.A. Job: $117

In February I earmarked one of my weekly jobs strictly for debt repayment, and like last week, I was once again able to use the money for that purpose.

We were able to snowflake $187.35 this week. In the last 28 weeks since we have gotten gazelle intense, we have “found” $6,355.83 to snowflake!

How did you do this week? Feel free to link up and share your progress.

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A Review of Daily Worth Website

May 10, 2012

I have been a subscriber to Daily Worth for over a year now. Daily Worth is “a community of women who talk money. We deliver practical tips, empowering ideas, and the occasional kick in the pants. . .daily to your inbox.” I signed up for free, and every day, I get an e-mail from them, [...]

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Peter Rabbit Organics Baby Food – Review and Giveaway

May 9, 2012

I am a bit wistful when I say that we are passed the baby age. My youngest just turned two, so I wasn’t sure how my kids would react to the recent Peter Rabbit Organic baby food pouches that we received. However, while this food most frequently serves as baby food, it is also great [...]

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Thank You to Our Sponsor

May 9, 2012

Mom’s Plans has recently begun offering advertising space to sponsors. This month, I would like to highlight a new sponsor. Go Max Go Foods offer delicious vegan candy bars, which have been a wonderful option for our family where 3 out of 5 of us are on a dairy free diets. These candy bars have [...]

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A Mother’s Day Tribute – Guest Post by Mr. Mom’s Plans

May 8, 2012

My husband is guest posting today. This is a tribute to his mother, who did so many things for him when he was young that he did not truly appreciate until we had our kids. My husband grew up in Japan, and his mother worked full-time but also had a traditional role in the home, [...]