Cash vs. Credit Cards

In January, David and I decided to go on a budget. 

We set up a simple spreadsheet and allocated numbers to different categories.  It's super novice, but it was a start.

For the first three months of the year, I've been paying with cash.  Grocery store?  Cash.  Target?  Cash.  Out to dinner?  Cash.  My wallet made room for wrinkled envelopes as I pulled a 30-something Michelle Dong (my beloved mama) and paid in cash.  She taught me well.  It's true-- it's certainly hard to part with cash!



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David was supportive, although after two weeks he said it felt like we'd been on a budget all year.  "We have," I said.  "2011 just started!"  He didn't think that was very funny. 

He's been on board with me paying with paper rather than pulling out plastic, but he kept saying how we miss out on all these great rebates by not using credit cards.  For example, he uses credit cards for all his work travel, hotels and meals when he's on the road.  We get a rebate on that card-- and I get free starbucks because of it!  He'd have to spend that money anyway (or at least his company would), so we might as well get a rebate on it, right?  There's a point to his logic I guess.

Everyone says paying with cash is mentally more "intentional" and painful (yikes!).  No one likes to pull out three twenties to buy a pair of shoes-- they litterally watch the money leave their pockets!  But plastic- credit cards- painless.  Swipe, sign, smile.  Much easier to swipe a card then to count a bunch of ones to see if you have enough.  At least you know if you have enough.



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We decided for the next three months we'd go back to credit cards and see how we do.  We've always paid off our credit cards in full every month, but will it be easier or harder to track if we're on budget?  Will saving receipts work?  Will we spend more?  Less?  The same?  We were under budget every month while using cash.  Can we do it with credit cards too?

I guess we'll see.

Goals for 2011!

I know I'm late to the whole new year's resolution/goal setting party for 2011.  I'm sure some people know exactly what they're going to resolve to do come January 1st, and others don't care, and still others (like me) ponder and marinade in the process of thinking about the year ahead.  What is it that I want to accomplish, experience, share and be this year?  Where will God lead me?  Will I be still enough to hear his voice?  What does 2011 hold?  What do I want it to hold?

These are all the questions that tend to overwhelm me.  Then I avoid making commitments and another year passes me by.  Not this year.  This year I am making a few decisions.  And yes, I know it's already begun.  That's just me, a little late but right on time. :)

I've broken up my goals into four different categories just to help me along.  Whenever it's goal season at work, I get stressed and anxious, but I wanted this process to be fun since this is simply for my own personal enjoyment.  It should be fun!  I love planning things so what's better to plan than goals for myself in 2011?!  It's all God's anyway, so I'm welcoming him to trump anything I've written down here.  I pray that if it's not God's way, then he'd change my heart to seek more of him and less of my way.  Oh that he would have his way in me!


Accomplish.  These are the goals I have regarding what I want to do this year. 

• Make our bed.  Every day.  Am I the only 28 year old who doesn't make the bed?!
• Write on this blog twice a week.  It's therapy for me!
• Complete the certification requirements to teach CPR and become a part of an organization where I can teach.
• Reach out to local community colleges and schedule informational meetings with the A.D.'s so I can learn what I need to do to teach there (one down, 2 to go!)
• Come in or under our new Lillard budget-- every month. 
• Finish the cabinets and floors in our kitchen (more painting, argh!)

Experience. Things I will do to make the experiences I want actually happen.

• Plan a date for David and me once a month.  He always plans, so it's time for me to step up and be intentional about planning something special for us.
•  Seek new friendships.  Reach outside of our circle.
• Less is More Lifestyle.  I know this is vague.  If I was at work my boss would want a metric with a timeframe and and a clear objective.  Thank goodness this isn't work! :) I want this to be my mantra for 2011- Less is More.  If I'm ever going to be a stay at home mom one day, I'm going to need to learn this lifestyle of living on less and making more of what I have.  Being creative and resourceful.  Less really can be more fulfilling.
• Eliminate most convenience foods from my grocery list and eat most meals from whole foods in their natural state.  I put this under Experience rather than Accomplishments because I truly believe this is a lifestyle experience, not just a task to complete.  Notice the word most.  David loves bagged lettuce because it's easy so I know we'll probably buy it every once in a while.  And while I love to bake bread, realistically I'm going to buy it, not make it every week.  However, I know that it's healthy and less expensive to eat whole foods that require preparation and don't come from a package or are packed into a 'protein bar'.  I'll finish whatever convenience foods are in my cupboard (hello Zone bars and microwave popcorn) and then that's it. 

Share.  What I want to contribute to or be a part of.

• Find an area at WCC that I want to serve in, and do it.
• Give more of our resources than we did in 2011.  I'm not sure what percentage or increase that should be, but I know it should be more!

Be.  The character attributes I'd like to focus on.  It's the woman I want to be more like- as a daughter of the King.

• Spend time in God's word- every day.
• Allow my husband to lead me- without questioning his every move or being unsupportive.  Let him have the role God's given him as the leader in our marriage.
• Look for true joy in something- every day.

There are a million other things I want to do, go to, be a part of, and transform myself to be like, but these are the things that have been tugging at my heart in this season of my life.  Like I said previously, if any of this isn't in God's timing or God's best then I pray that he will change my heart to mirror his (now that's a lifelong goal!).  I know his best truly is the best.  You have my heart Lord Jesus.  Be my source and sustainer, my all and everything, my guide and direction, my love and my passion.  Your way above my way, it's all yours anyway!  Make me more like you, and may these 'goals' I have be only a tool to grow more into the gal you've created me to be as your daughter.  What a joy, blessing and gift it is to be a daughter of the king!

Finished with my Cupboard!



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Last week I decided to do a cupboard challenge.  Basically what this meant was I would only eat what I had in my cupboards, freezer or refrigerator.  No grocery shopping.  If I didn't have it, I wouldn't eat it.

So, how'd I do?

I started last Friday, and David joined me in the challenge while he was home over the weekend.  He made protein shakes, I made oatmeal.  We made some beef and broccoli.  Tuna and canned grean beans.  Rice.  Friday and Saturday were easy and I was really motivated.  Then Sunday rolled around, and it was just more of canned grean beans, canned black beans and taco bell sauce with rice, cereal for breakfast.  Both David and I were getting bored of the cupboard.

Monday night was the college football championship game, and David was gone travelling but only an hour and a half away.  He invited me to stay with him for the night so we could watch the game together.  I pondered the drive, but it was well worth a fun evening with my hubby so I drove down to Eugene.  I didn't bring food from my cupboard, he took me out to dinner!!! :)  That was cheat #1.

Cheat #2:  last night was one of my very best friend's birthdays.  You can read about her here!  Her awesome hubby organized a super fun surprise party for her with close friends and family, and I wanted to bring the cake-- a cheesecake!  I didn't exactly have all the ingredients though.  I had cream cheese, but not marscapone which the recipe I was using called for.  I also didn't have enough eggs or any graham crackers.  And I really wanted to make a yummy cake for her birthday, no improvising (David was telling me just to use oats instead of graham crackers.  My usual self would probably go with that, but not for Krista's birthday!  No shortcuts and definitely no experimenting for her birthday cake!).  I cheated and did go to the grocery store to buy the cheese, eggs and graham crackers.  The cheesecake turned out (gotta love Giada) and Krista liked it, and her party was a great time with some awesome people and best of all we celebrated one amazing chica!  Well worth cheating on my cupboard. :)

What did I learn?

Eating out of my cupboard and fridge was really healthy.  I ate lots of the veggies that I might have let go bad if I had otherwise gone to the store and purchased other things.  I ate a ton of oatmeal which is a superfood with whole grains and tastes awesome with frozen berries mixed in.  Swirl in a little agave syrup and it's definitely a treat.  Canned grean beans aren't that tasty on their own, but add in black beans and rice and some taco seasoning and it's not that bad.  It's definitely healthy!  I ate some of the frozen soup I'd made a few weeks ago, and made tuna sandwiches for lunch.  I still haven't eaten through my entire cupboard yet, but no, I'm not signing myself up for week two!  I'm tired of tuna and grean beans and rice, but I sure did eat healthy this past week.!

It was a cheap way to eat, obviously, and things didn't go to waste.  I only bough cream cheese, graham crackers and eggs, so my budget for the week is certainly still in tact.  The food in my fridge which I am notorious for throwing away because it's gone bad was eaten.  Nothing went rotten.  I used up the fresh veggies and lots of canned goods.  I really didn't need to go grocery shopping, even though I totally would have if I hadn't challenged myself to do this.  Now for some people, this is normal, not grocery shopping every week.  Probably for most people!  But for me, well, it's not and because of that, I end up wasting stuff and spending more.  This past week I spent very little (even though I cheated!) and didn't have to throw anything away.  That feels good.

Limiting my choices of where to eat (I had three choices- the cupboard, fridge or freezer) made things simple.  I made my lunch because I knew I wouldn't have to figure out where to go and buy it, and it was easy to decide what to cook for dinner since I didn't have all that much to choose from.  It wasn't easy eating the same things a few days in a row, but it sure was simple!

What now?

I haven't committed myself to grocery shopping every couple weeks or once a month or something restricting on myself but I do think I will try to plan out a few meals a week.  Since I knew ahead of time that for the whole week I was going to eat what I already had on hand, I knew what I was going to prepare for meals and it made things so simple and faster than normal.  Since I'm a "single lady" during the week, I won't be cooking elaborate meals but I do want to continue the streak of eating healthy and preparing food.  Less buying my cup of fat laden soup at Safeway for lunch and more sandwiches!  In order to do this I need to plan what I'm going to eat so I can buy the appropriate items ahead of time.  I sound like my mom right now, oh how I love her!

Winco is probably the cheapest grocery store around but going there is like a field trip in and of itself.  If I go there once a month to pickup some of the bulk items (like oats, flour, dried fruits) it will help me stay on my new budget and I'll only have to deal with the crowds once a month.

All in all, this was a fun experiment and now I feel like I need a new challenge, which will be writing out my goals for 2011.  I know, I'm late to the whole new years resolution party, but now that I've had a few weeks to let it all marinade upstairs I think I'm ready to start the task of writing out my personal goals for this upcoming year.  I've never done it before.  Stay posted, it will be interesting I'm sure...

Cupboard Challenge



thank you frugalvillage.com!

 So week one is up on the Lillard family budget, and so far it's been interesting.  We had an unexpected expense come up for one of our rental properties.  David had his suit pants hemmed (so he could actually wear those nice suits we bought a few months ago).  One of the stones in my wedding ring was loose so I had to get that fixed.  All of these were expenses we don't usually have every month, but we budgeted for this kind of thing so it was okay. I kept having to remind myself that's what that money is for!  It's made me aware (in just a week-- I can hardly imagine what it will be like in a month!) of how much of what goes where.  It's weird being on a budget, but a challenge no less and being the competitive person that I am, I'm always up for a challenge and I'd like to do well.

With week one now being over (David and I decided to start our fiscal week (fiscal, haha!) on Fridays), I looked in the cupboards and the fridge to see what we might need for this next week.  That's when I began to get real with myself and realized that in actuality- we needed nothing.  We had plenty of rice, pasta, beans, frozen veggies, frozen chicken breast, beef jerky, a few fresh veggies and some apples and oranges.  Not a ton of variety (that's what gets me into grocery trouble- thinking I need more walnuts or feta cheese or maybe another bag of lemons or dried cranberries blah blah blah) but we had absolutely enough.  My thoughts went back to Joel's sermons about the orphans our church visited in Africa and how they lived on flat bread, rice and beans and here I was wondering what I needed at the grocery store.  We had plenty of food without visiting any store.  I could litterally shop in my own pantry.  Okay.  I thought.  Let's up my game here.  I decided right then and there to do a cupboard challenge.

Starting today, Friday, until next Thursday- basically one whole week, I (or we, if David is home... He just counted himself in on this challenge when he's home this weekend!) will eat what we have on hand.  If we don't have it, we won't be eating it. 

This means beans and rice, frozen veggies, defrosted chicken breast, that weird looking beef jerky in the cupboard...  I will tell you right now I can't wait to start and I can't wait for it to be over.  I think it will be fun and boring all in one challenge.  It's going to be like an episode of "Chopped".  Oh boy.

It's time to get cooking from the cupboard....

Single Lady?! and Budgets...

The other night I was on the phone with one of my oldest and best friends when we started talking about careers. This gal is awesome in that she has always pursued what she wants to do and really seeks out something that she's passionate about. Currently she's a head coach at one of the community college's swim programs down in California, and I've always talked the talk about teaching at the JC level one day but never followed through with pursuing it.

Somewhere after college life starts happening and that newly graduated feeling of "I can do anything I want if I just put my mind to it" starts slipping away. All you college students out there (sis- I'm talking to you!)-- don't forget what it feels like to know you have the world at your finger tips and really can do anything you want.

"Why don't you call one of the AD's at a local JC and just see if they'll talk to you about what you can do to be a successful candidate for something in the future?" she asked me. "It can't hurt and they are always looking for qualified people. You have nothing to lose!". While I really love my job now and have no plans on leaving, one day if I'm (Lord willing!!!) a stay at home mom I know I won't be in the corporate environment any more. My job will be COO Lillard. Operating officer of our home and family! I will have other little people to be responsible for and that will be my full time job. It's funny, because that time of life is still a couple years away but I need to mentally prepare for it now LOL. I'm somewhat of a planner, and somewhat not, but for major life things I like to think them through in my mind and plan for the ideal scenario. Some people would call that dangerous, putting all these expectations into something unknown... I just call it fun. I know my heavenly father ultimately is CEO LilLORD (haha!!!) and he will direct and lead us as long as we are seeking him and including him in our decisions; putting him first. I just like to plan so I'm ready for the future. So her advice got me thinking. I have nothing to lose, start looking into what it takes to teach at a JC- I have my master's degree so at least that part is covered!

"You're right," I told her. "I am at a point in my life where it's the perfect time. I already have work that I enjoy, and I have very little responsibilities at home. I might as well start looking into what it would take now, while I'm young and single."

Young and SINGLE?!

David was making jello and he promptly turned around with a huge grin on his face and mouthed the words "single?" while his brow raised and his smile grew even bigger.  My mouth dropped way open and I said "did I just say single?!  I meant young and... Young and... I don't know!  You know what I mean!"  Michelle laughed and said she did know but it was funny and I should just talk to someone at a local community college to get the ball moving and get things started.  We laughed and chatted a bit more and then hung up.

"So you're a single lady now," David said as he came up to me and drew me into an embrace.  I laughed and told him I didn't know why I said that.  I was so embarrassed!  "It's okay, now I know how you feel," he joked, "I am away a lot!" 

This has now been the running joke in the Lillard house for the past few days.  David thinks it's hilarious, and I am like, well, trying to rummage through my subconcious as to why that would have come out of my mouth.  The only thing I can come up with is the fact that I'm a field traveler's wife. =)  Cheers to all my other "single lady" field traveler wives out there!

That very same night David and I were snuggled on the couch watching Criminal Minds, my very favorite show (other than The Biggest Loser!).  On this particular occasion David pulled out the laptop and during commercials began clicking away.

 "What are you doing?" I asked him, half asleep with blankets all around me.

"Creating a budget," he replied.  Tick tick click tick click.

I was suddenly awake.  "A budget?!"  We'd talked about creating a budget last year, and did one and then deleted it. :)  David's CFO Lillard, and does all of our banking and bills.  He's always been extremely savvy when it comes to finances and he keeps all these numbers in his head regarding our financial situation, and knows what's coming in and out like you wouldn't believe.  But we've never actually had a real life budget where we allocate money to certain categories or anything.  I perked up and looked at the screen.

Click clack tick tick click.  "I think this shows us where we spend our money," David said to me.  "And if we stick to this, we can put more money towards one of our mortgages.  That would help for when we have kids one day."  I couldn't believe my ears.  David was thinking about when we would have kids one day?!  Has he lost his mind?  He gets nauseated whenever I bring it up!  I looked at him and smiled.  "Okay!  I'm in!  What's it gonna take?!"

He proceeded to plug in numbers, and at the end of his analysis we now have a Lillard family budget.  This is totally new to us, and I'm so excited!  It feels like a challenge.  I won't bore you with the details, but one thing I will share is our grocery budget.  We decided to allocate $250/month on groceries.  I feel like this should be WAY doable since I am a "single lady", right?! :)  I am going to do the same thing my mom did when I was a kid, put that $250 in cash form into an envelope, and use it when I go to the store.  When it's gone it's gone.

We're probably the last family to get on board with a budget but I'm glad and excited we're taking on this challenge.  If you have any suggestions or tips, I welcome any and all advice!