MelissaB, Author at Beating Broke

Our Two Large Financial Goals for 2023

December 12, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

I’m a goal-setter. If I don’t set goals, I meander through life, often wasting time and money. Goal setting gives me direction and purpose. I have an objective to work toward, and since I dislike not achieving my goals, I work hard. My husband and I recently sat down to discuss our plans for next year, and we settled on two large financial goals for 2023.

We’re in a Good Financial Place Going Into 2023

Thankfully, we’re in a good financial place going into 2023. We have paid off all our debts in the last few years, except for my husband’s student loans and our house. We’re not paying anything on the student loans until the pandemic pause ends.

Since we’re not focused on getting out of debt, we can focus on enjoying life and strengthening our financial position.

Our Two Large Financial Goals for 2023

This year’s goals are ones we’ve never tackled throughout our 20-plus-year marriage.

Save/Plan for Domestic and International Travel

My husband and I love to travel, but we’ve struggled with low-paying jobs and raising kids while paying off debt for most of our marriage. Now, we’re more secure financially, the kids are older, and the debts paid off. So we’ve decided to prioritize travel while we’re still young enough to enjoy it.

Take a Trip to Maine

I have wanted to go to Maine since I was a teenager. The closest I got was Vermont. However, since our recent move to New York, we’re only eight hours away. Our goal this year is to travel to Maine for a vacation.

Save for a Trip to a European Country

We would also like to travel internationally. I have had the privilege of traveling to Canada, Ireland, China, Japan, and Switzerland. However, we haven’t traveled internationally for 20 years! So, it’s time to get back at it.

While we do plan to save for travel, we also plan to research travel hacking so we can go sooner than if we relied on savings alone.

Buy a New Car for (Mostly) Cash

We bought our Toyota Sienna 18 years ago. We financed almost the entire thing and paid it off in 4.5 years. We’re still driving that car, though, as you can imagine, we should replace it soon. (It currently has 238,000 miles on it.)

We bought my husband’s 2013 Subaru Outback used and again financed almost the entire thing. We paid it off in five years. It currently has 113,000 miles on it.

For the last few years, we’ve been saving to pay cash for a replacement for the Toyota Sienna. We currently have $20,000 saved. The goal is to buy the car with cash and, if necessary, a loan for no more than $10,000. If we can achieve this, it will be a huge financial victory because we’ve never been able to mostly pay for our vehicle in cash. Now, we need to decide what car we want.

Final Thoughts

Having financial goals, especially large financial goals for 2023 motivates us to stay on track financially. We tend to want to fund the goals instead of wasting money on small, unimportant items.

What are your financial goals for 2023?

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MelissaB

Melissa is a writer and virtual assistant. She earned her Master’s from Southern Illinois University, and her Bachelor’s in English from the University of Michigan. When she’s not working, you can find her homeschooling her kids, reading a good book, or cooking. She resides in New York, where she loves the natural beauty of the area.

www.momsplans.com/

How to Decorate for the Holidays on a Budget

November 28, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

My husband and I were married at the beginning of December. Unfortunately, we were broke college students. He was in graduate school full-time, and I had just started my first full-time job as a teacher. As you would expect for a novice teacher, the pay was low, and we were living in a high-cost-of-living area. Despite this, I wanted to make our new (apartment) home cozy, so I quickly learned how to decorate for the holidays on a budget.

Get Married During the Holidays

Okay, not everyone will do this, but because our wedding was so close to Christmas, many guests bought us holiday décor. We got a snowman Christmas cookie jar, some keepsake ornaments, and holiday plates and towels. Those items weren’t on our registry, but we loved them because they gave us things to decorate the apartment.

Shop Garage Sales

Shopping garage sales is the best way to decorate for the holidays on a budget. People are ALWAYS selling their used holiday items. I bought many of my Halloween and Christmas decorations this way, each costing me less than $1.

Shop Black Friday Sales

For big-ticket items like holiday comforters, Christmas trees, and outdoor lights, research the list price. Then, wait for Black Friday sales, and you may find items up to 50 percent off or more. These items usually sell out, so if you get them at 40 or 50 percent off, you’re getting a good deal.

Shop Clearance AFTER the Holidays

This tip won’t help you with decorating this year, but if you have patience, you can get holiday decorations for 70 to 80 percent off if you shop AFTER the holidays. You will see the steepest discounts the first five days after Christmas. Then, next year, you’ll have decorations for your home, and you’ll know that you got them at rock-bottom prices.

Shop Michael’s

If you sign up for Michael’s email list, the company will regularly send you coupons, often for 40 percent off the price of one full-price item or 20 percent off all items, including items on sale. You can use these coupons to buy holiday decorations or supplies needed to make your holiday decorations, which is what I did.

Make Your Own Holiday Decorations

I made some of my holiday decorations using the supplies I bought at Michael’s for a discount. For instance, I made a garland wreath to hang on our front door at a fraction of the price of a pre-made wreath.

Final Thoughts

With patience, you can easily decorate for the holidays on a budget. Finding all the decorations you want, whether large or small, may take you a few years. However, waiting is worthwhile, especially when your budget is tight and you need to save money. My husband and I have accumulated our decorations through the years, and we’ve spent very little money doing so.

5 Reasons Why You Should Declutter Your Home Once a Year

Looking for More Ways to Save? Try Asking for Discounts

MelissaB

www.momsplans.com/

The Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

November 14, 2022 By MelissaB Leave a Comment

For the last few years, I have had a higher grocery budget, so I’ve stocked up on food. I do this for two reasons. First, we have food intolerances—specifically, we can’t eat gluten or dairy—so we need specific foods in the house. Second, I find having a stocked pantry makes mealtime easier. I never need to go out to eat because I have everything to make several meals, depending on what we’re hungry for. However, I recently watched a YouTube video that intrigued me. Based on this video, I’ve experimented with buying only necessary groceries each week for the last few weeks.

Steps I Took to Implement This Change

During the last few weeks, I’ve set a grocery budget of $140 per week for my family of four, which is much less than the $215 a week I typically spend.

I make a menu plan and grocery list the night before I go to the grocery store, so I know what meals I’ll cook during the week. I also try to choose recipes that will utilize ALL of an ingredient. For instance, I needed to buy green cabbage for a stir fry. But I only needed to use half the head of cabbage, so I picked another recipe that would use the other half of the cabbage later in the week, so I used ALL of the cabbage up that week.

Benefits of Buying Only Necessary Groceries Each Week

While I never thought I would enjoy shopping this way, I did realize several benefits of buying only necessary groceries each week.

I Saved Money

We saved a lot of money shopping this way. Over two weeks, we saved $150! This was in part because we were not stocking up on food. However, we also saved because I had limited food in the house, and we HAD to utilize the food we bought.

We Had Less Food Waste

We typically have very little food waste, but shopping this way eliminated food waste. As I mentioned, I was mindful of finding recipes that would use up ALL of an ingredient. Previously, that other half of the green cabbage might have lingered in the refrigerator for a while. We would use it. . .eventually, but when we did, we might have to cut out some bad spots because we let it sit too long before using it.

Final Thoughts

This way of shopping enhanced how I shop and menu plan. Even better, the benefits of only buying necessary groceries each week were that we saved money and reduced food waste.

However, even though this strategy worked for me, I like to have a stock of food at home in case we can’t shop due to bad weather or limited supplies. From now on, I plan to stock up occasionally to resupply my pantry. Still, for the foreseeable future, I plan to buy only what I need and continue with this experiment to see what other benefits I realize.

5 Tips to Save on Groceries This Year

Feed a Hungry Teenager without Breaking Your Grocery Budget

MelissaB