Student Loan Groans

I was recently on the phone with my student loan lender getting my loans placed back into deferment.

After having children, my priorities changed, and I decided to stay at home with our children.

Unfortunately, the lovely debt I racked up while earning my degree didn't get the memo that I was now a stay-at-home Mom and not making an income.

My husband had heard about Income Based Repayment Plans and applied to see if he qualified. From my understanding, IBRP means you pay what you can on your loans and after 25 years (25 years!) the loans will be discharged.

My husband was very happy with the amount they told him to pay. It was very manageable with our income.

I tentatively asked about IBRP and was under the impression that my husband's income would be factored in. However, it is based on MY income, which I've mentioned before is $0.

My income based repayment amount is $0. I CAN stay home with my kids without the guilt of those loans.

I was shocked!

Then I wished I had heard about this 8 years ago!! I would have 17 years left until discharge.

How I Organize my Coupons

Last year with the gas prices soaring I began looking for ways to trim our budget.

I had always avoided clipping coupons because I felt like I could get better deals buying store brands.

It wasn't until I discovered Money Saving Mom that I began to tap into the power of using coupons and store discount programs.

After a bit of trial and error, I have tweaked my coupon organization system into something I am successful with.

I like to take Sunday afternoon and peruse the sale papers and clip coupons. Since I keep my coupons alphabatized I couldn't just clip them and throw them in a pile. I needed something that would expedite this process. I created the coupon mat:

The coupon mat is basically a large sheet of card paper sectioned alphabetically. For instance, when I clip a coupon for baby wipes, I just lay it on top of the section for "B." This way I don't have to stop what I am doing I can keep clipping.

When I'm done I just flip through my binder and load it up. Here is the coupon mat full and ready to stock my binder.

My binder is my money saving friend! The idea is not new with me, but it is one that I have had success with. Here is a video I created to illustrate my coupon binder:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

This really Works for Me.

Budget Stretcher: Eating from your Freezer

We planned a trip last week to The Creation Museum, and at the last moment our free room and board fell through.

After a quick regrouping, a check on our budget, and a google search for affordable hotels in the area we managed to make the trip.

As a consequence, our food budget is slim this week.

I decided to challenge myself to only get a few basics and see if I could feed us from our freezer pantry for the next ten days.

Surprisingly, I think it's doable.

Here's what I did:

1. Make a list of everything in your freezer and pantry. You can't cook it, if you don't know you have it.

2. Break this list down into categories like: Proteins (meats), sides, basics, breads, and pantry. You should start to see possible meal combinations come together.

3. If you have an ingredient and not sure how to use it check for recipes online. My favorite is Recipezaar.

4. Make up a menu, and note ingredients that you don't have on another sheet of paper (this becomes your shopping trip).

5. Plug your meals into your calendar. For example, Wednesday is very busy for us so I am not going to try to make something complicated or too time consuming that day.

6. See what you can make from scratch without buying. This week, I saw that I would need tortillas. I could purchase some, but I also found a recipe to make homemade ones. I'm going to try that.

7. Plan to repurpose leftovers, even if it's just for lunch the next day. If you make a roast chicken one evening, try making chicken enchiladas later in the week with the leftover meat.

These are the meals that I came up with to get us by until payday:

Dinners

*Fantastic Beef and Broccoli Lo Mein
*Ground Pork Tacos, Corn and Spanish Rice
*Carribean Chicken Breast, Quinoa, Normandy Blend Veggies
*Greek Style Roasted Chicken Legs, Potatoes and Capers, Crusty Bread, and Brussel Sprouts
*Sloppy Lentils, Homemade Hamburger Buns, Corn Coblets
*Chicken Pot Pie and Salad
*Brown Beans, Corn Bread, and Fried Potatoes
*Creole Kidney Beans, Rice
*Chicken Stir Fry, Rice
*Tuna Salad on Homemade Bread

This was my first time participating in I'm an Organizing Junkie Menu Plan Monday, peek into other menus on her site every Monday.

Old Fashioned Family Fun

Tonight we are going to go see Night at the Museum 2 at the Drive-In. Do these still exist in your area?

It's $12 per car load, which is about $2.50 for the 5 of us. I'm going to count Princess Pea even though she'll probably sleep.

To keep our costs down and to insure we are eating good-for-us ingredients, I'm going to be making Moist Fudgey Brownies from Scratch (super easy) and we will pop our own popcorn to take with us.

We have a blanket we keep with us in the van for us to sit on, and some citronella candles to keep away the bugs.

Cheap, good, classic American family fun on a budget!

What does your family do for family fun on a budget?