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You are here: Home / Fundamentals / This is How We Do It – Part Two

by Stacy  11 Comments

This is How We Do It – Part Two

Day two of our week-long series! If you missed Part One, make sure to check it out.

  • I just don’t know where to start? Soooo, where do I start? 🙂 Where did you start? Are you following any sort of program or did you develop you own thing. Yep, when I read your post I sang it–This is how we dooOOooo it…

You should start – at the beginning! 😀  Barry and I started on Day 1. We went on our honeymoon with our budget in hand….but we’re weird geeks like that. So, start with your next paycheck. Make a budget. See how much money you actually have to work with. That will let you know if you DO have enough money and you’re just not behaving – or it will let you know you have an income problem and you should try to find a better job/extra work.  We follow/followed Dave Ramsey’s 7 Baby Steps plan the entire time – we’re still following it. Check out the link to see all the steps. If you need help setting up a budget, just sign up to get Barry’s free budgeting eBook by signing up for the email on the right side of the screen.

  • I am REALLY interested in this series!! Thank you for doing this. I am mostly interested in your grocery budget, what you buy, where you shop and how you store bulk and your cooking routines since you follow a real food plan…Our groceries seem to be our most out of control expense and meal planning is where I need the most help. I love to cook, but I can never make a good plan and it seems like food is sooo expensive here in Southern California… Thank you again…

I hope you’ll still be interested at the end of the series. Ha! Well, I’ll just tell you that my grocery budget varies each month. It’s usually between $300-350 – and there are three of us currently in our household. The reason it varies is because some months I might need to stock up on meat (venison processing, organic chicken sale) or other bulk purchases. We just discuss it before the month begins and add that extra $50 if we need it. As for exactly what I buy in bulk, where I get it, and how much I pay you might want to check out this post I recently wrote for Modern Alternative Mama called Stacy’s Price List – I list all my major purchases there.  Every week I post our meal plan so you can get a general idea of how I cook  and I put those up on Monday. For an idea about how I meal plan, see my Meal Planning post. Bulk storage is a favorite topic of mine – so I won’t post too much here in order to avoid putting you into a coma and increasing your medical bills. Here I post about storing in bulk and you can see all my pretty containers….I like jars. No, I LOVE jars. Jars rock. Get jars. Lots of jars. Big jars and little jars. And in response to your comment about your out of control grocery bill, try getting your grocery money out in CASH each month – it’s hard to spend too much when you don’t have any money. Ha!  😆

  • What was your first step? How did you set your budget up and decide how much to pay to who? What did you find to be the hardest change you made financially? Any advice on how to deal with those changes for people starting a new budget/financial plan?
Image by Rareclass

Great, GREAT question! Our first step was to set up a budget immediately. If you need help with that, make sure to sign up for Barry’s free eBook and that will get you started. You’ll decide who gets what by writing all your bills down and seeing how far your paycheck will go towards paying those bills. If you have enough money, great. If you don’t, you need more money. That’s a given, right? How much do you pay to whom? You pay what you have to the people you owe – and if you don’t have enough, then you have to prioritize. Pay the most important bills first – housing, electricity, food, etc. If you’re low on money, then the credit card bills can wait. Yes, I said that. You should always EAT and you should always attempt to pay for your home – otherwise, you’re on the street.

Our hardest change wasn’t really hard….because we’re used to being weird. But, cutting your budget to the bare bones and doing without will make others look at you funny. Sometimes our family has a hard time understanding why Barry and I say no to extravagant vacations and fancy cars. They’re just not important to us – we’d rather be debt free and save up money for later. To avoid this problem, and to avoid spending like The Jones, you must make sure you are RESOVLED in this new life – so that mean and snide comments won’t bother you and deter you from your goal. You can do this….you’re on the right path. STAY STRONG! And please let me know if I can help.


For all the posts in this series, see links below:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

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About Stacy

Stacy is a Homemaking and Business Mom Mentor, the author of two cookbooks, creator of multiple e-courses, seasoned life coach, and comedian extraordinaire. Her first priority is her husband and her children - family first. She presses on each day because her calling is to teach, train, and mentor other ladies to have their dreams. She believes if it’s not easy, you won’t do it – because she’s lived it. She’ll bring YOU the awesome so that you can get your home back into control and watch your business soar. For tips and easy strategies, you can follow her on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the content above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase an item, I may receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Comment Policy: I love reading your thoughts and input on what you read here. I'm sure we'll disagree sometimes and that's okay! In those cases, do what's right for you and yours. As with any form of communication, only post comments that move the discussion in a positive direction.

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Comments

  1. Stacy says

    January 15, 2012 at 8:06 am

    Jar heads unite! 🙂

    Reply
  2. Leigh Ann @ Intentional By Grace says

    January 11, 2012 at 12:54 pm

    Gotta love the snide comments and funny looks, especially from family. Been there. Done that. Skipped on the t-shirt.

    Our family has no idea why we haven’t bought a house yet. Yeesh! Do you have anything to say about us paying off $20k+ in debt, buying 2 cars with cash, and having a baby whose bills were all paid in cash? No? Well, go pay your bills and leave me alone. 😉

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 11, 2012 at 2:31 pm

      We should have matching t-shirts MADE! 🙂

      Reply
  3. Anne @ Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy says

    January 11, 2012 at 7:36 am

    Are those pickle jars holding your grains? How do you get the pickle smell out? I can’t get the pickle smell out, which bugs me because then I can’t use those jars for anything else!

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 11, 2012 at 7:55 am

      Actually yes. I read once on Tammy’s Recipes that you could get the scent out by letting them sit outside in the sunshine for several days – and it works!

      Reply
      • Leigh Ann @ Intentional By Grace says

        January 11, 2012 at 12:52 pm

        Yea, buddy, it works!

        Reply
        • Stacy says

          January 11, 2012 at 2:32 pm

          Love testimonials!

          Reply
  4. Carol says

    January 10, 2012 at 12:51 pm

    Wow, this is a priceless give away!! thanks guys.

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 10, 2012 at 1:45 pm

      We hope it’s a blessing to you!

      Reply
  5. Amber K says

    January 10, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Thank you for answering my question! I appreciate your input. And I already saved Barry’s ebook to my computer and sent it to my husband 🙂

    Reply
    • Stacy says

      January 10, 2012 at 12:13 pm

      Thanks for asking Amber! I meant to send the link to you early this morning, but things have been a bit crazy here today. 🙂

      Reply


Hello! I’m Stacy!

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