Month: February 2018

Staying Social while on a Budget

When working with people and their budgets, the first thing they notice is how much they spend eating out. “Oh my gosh,” they say, “I need to stop going out with my friends!”

Well yes. And no! In this post I will go over how to be social even when you are sticking to a budget!

First, I’ve said it before and I will say it again, setting a budget doesn’t mean you cut out a bunch of spending. Having a budget sets goals and boundaries, and gives you PERMISSION to spend on certain areas that YOU’VE already decided. Second, if you set unreasonable goals (like never eating out when you are accustomed to ALWAYS eating out) then you will mess up and likely mess up hard. Go ahead and eat out with friends, go see the newest Marvel Movie (seriously, do!), just make sure you keep control of the spending while you do.

Dinner Out

Handsome Man and I love to go out to new restaurants, it is silly, but it is one of my favorite things to do for a date night. I plan ahead and make sure to save money while we do. You can cut coupons, go during happy hours, drink water or soda instead of booze, join email lists to get deals, or grab a coupon off of Groupon! There are lots of ways to save while eating out. I also know that while I try to pack my own lunch for work, sometimes I am running late and don’t get to it. I give myself $45 a month in my budget for eating take out while working.

And speaking of eating when working…

Getting Food with Coworkers

This one is hard! Especially if, like me, you work right next to a bunch of great food places. You don’t want to always turn a coworkers invitation down, eventually they’ll stop asking! I’ll dig more into how to bow out gracefully later. I include anything I order with coworkers in my $45/month budgeting. Most days I bring my own lunch, but sometimes my buddy Kev is like “Want Noodles?” and the answer is Yes. I ALWAYS want Noodles (RIP, Bangkok Curry).

Friends with Expensive Tastes

Having a lot of friends is wonderful, it can also be expensive. Especially with all the burdens of Adult Life, and not being able to see them very much, when you DO get to see them you want to do something fun and special! This can mean movies (~$20/ ticket alone, ~$12 for popcorn and a small drink), dinners out (~$20/meal if you only have a soda), amusement parks (~$40/entrance fee, $10+ for parking), clubs (~$5 cover charge, plus any drinks), concerts (don’t even ask.). These times out on the town are so fun! And add up soooooo quickly! I would NEVER suggest that you stop doing them, or suggest you stay in like a hermit all the time. But definitely plan ahead, budget for these events, and when possible invite friends over instead! Cook a meal together, or spend the night with a Red box movie, I am sure there was one you meant to see in theaters and it got away from you.

Gifts

You’ve been invited out for a friend’s birthday, you planned ahead and budgeted for the meal and now you realize you should get them a gift! There are several ways you can take, first, the DIY route- coupons (“Dinner on Me”, “Night of Watching their Kids”, etc.), a painting or drawing if you are so artistically inclined, or a piece of jewelry if you are so talented enough to make something like that. Assuming you are less artistically inclined, a bottle of wine or whiskey could run you a $20 dollar bill maybe less if you are skilled at choosing a great beverage with a great price tag. OR! You could go in on a gift with someone else! I’ve also used this for bridal or baby showers, getting something larger for less money than if you’d bought it yourself is a great way to treat your friend without breaking your budget.

How to Say No

As I said earlier, you don’t want to constantly be turning your friends and family away. Not only could you offend them, or miss out on great bonding experiences, but they will also eventually stop asking. When I turn someone down if they ask if I want to grab a bite with them, or do something else that is out of my budget is this:

“I brought lunch today, but let me know next time you guys want to order in!”

“Aw thanks for asking, I can’t this time, but maybe later!”

“Dinner sounds great! Do you want to come over sometime? I’ll cook!”

or just be honest.

“I already used my budget for movies this month, but maybe next month we can see a different one?”

I always offer an alternative and make sure it’s clear that I am grateful for the invitation.

Going out and enjoying meals together are very important bonding occasions. There is no reason to cut them out of your life! Plan ahead, budget for the fun times, and then feel better when you get to enjoy them!

I hope this post helps you enjoy your next night out!

Until next time, wishing you all sugar and savings,

Taylor

 

Valentine’s Day on a Budget

Holidays are wonderful, fun and great excuses to spend a little extra time telling someone how much they mean to you. Particularly, Valentine’s Day! While Valentine’s day can be a lovely day for lovely love birds who are in love, it has come to be a biiittttt of a money suck. Here are some last minute ideas about how to spend your Valentine’s Day while sticking to your budget:

  • Handmade cards are way better than store bought. While those cards may be beautiful and do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to what to write inside, they are EXPENSIVE. $7.99 for a card? Nah, bra. I like to make all of my cards by hand, and they don’t have to be fancy! If you are stuck trying to think of what to write or draw Pinterest has a plethora of ideas and no one will know if you borrow one.
  • Cook something new! Cooking in may sound boring, especially if you do so most nights. Handsome Man and I eat our meals at home because we like to cook and it definitely saves money. But that doesn’t mean you have to cook the same old boring thing for Valentine’s! Spruce up the night by making a new or exotic recipe together!
  • Victoria’s Secret is that she is way overpriced. Kohl’s, JCPenny, and TJ Maxx are some of my favorite places to shop for cute… “adult time” wear. They have a limited selection but what they do have is still attractive and costs way less than over at Vicky’s.
  • Gifts. This part doesn’t have to hurt the wallet. I can think of a million gifts for under $15.00. Flowers, their favorite candy, homemade love coupons (again, Pinterest has you covered on ideas). Or you can even make the gift an experience instead! Go to a museum, an art gallery, watch a new comedy special on Netflix, or go to a book store to pick out a new read!
  • Groupon it! Groupon has amazing deals on classes; try your hand at something new, pottery, paint nights, a cooking class, the list is endless. Groupon also has great deals on restaurants, so if you aren’t much of a cook you could still save yourself some cash by looking up a coupon on here!
  • Kid’s class Valentine’s. Have a little one in school? I don’t know if it is still as popular as it was when I was little, but passing out Valentine’s was awesome! You can end up spending a pretty penny on those licensed character Valentine’s kits they sell at the grocery store. A large bag of candy, a funny pun written on construction paper, tape a piece of that candy on and you’re in business.

How will you and your loved one be spending the day?! Share in the comments below!

Until next time, wishing you all Sugar and Savings and a happy Valentine’s Day,

Taylor

Using My Bullet Journal for Time Management

Growing up, my poor mother tried every organization/trapper keeper/planner system to try to help me keep track of my life. Everything worked for a bit, maybe a couple of weeks at the most, but eventually I would lose motivation and stop using them. Fast forward to my college years, trying on my own (in vain, mostly), to find a system I could keep up with. Many, many, planners later and I still would double book myself and be scrambling at the end to make sure my assignments were being turning in.

However, it was after college when I was double booking myself between babysitting for friends and working and dates with Handsome Man that I finally said- ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! (Also, I’m very sorry Handsome Man, I know you had too many dates changed on you!)

Welcome to the Bullet Journal- a minimalist journaling system developed by Ryder Carroll, that has quickly swept the internet world and turned into it’s own art form. I was originally drawn to the idea of creating my own bullet journal because I could change up how I used it as I needed. I couldn’t get bored or demotivated, because I could just set it up a different way and start over. I use my bujo to track a billion things, my friend jokingly calls it “my diary” because I literally keep my life in it’s pages.  I’ll share some links to my favorite bullet journal supplies! Below is how I use it to manage my time, it has forever changed my life.

I change my weeks to track what I need to, recently I have needed to be able to see exactly what time I have appointments, so you can see how my spreads from August 2017 look significantly different from my current week set up.

This current set up allows me to also see where I may have down time to work on things off of my To Do list.

My To Do list is a continuous list that moves from week to week. These are things that I either have to do or eventually have to do, I keep them going so that they stay on my mind and items don’t get forgotten. Once I check it off, it stops moving ahead to the next week. But if I didn’t get to it, it moves on to the next week until I can.

Having it all in one place also helps me decide on things I can work on when I do have that down time. If I try to think of what I should be doing, I’ll never remember, but if it is in one place I can just look!

Technology is not my friend. One of the reasons I double booked myself was that I would put things on my phone calendar and then NEVER LOOK AT THEM AGAIN. I’m terrible. But I need everything in one place to make sure things don’t fall through the cracks.

Future planning. I have set my bullet journal up a number of ways for future planning, the first and foremost being a future log as shown below. I have also used a calendex when my schedule was particularly busy but a future log has served my current needs just fine. You can read about how Kara from BoHo Berry (my bujo inspiration!) here.

I use my bullet journal to keep track of pretty much everything- habits, goals, notes from courses, and much more. Comment below about what else you might like to see from my bujo!

As promised, here are some of my favorite supplies. * This post contains affiliate links. This just means that I may receive a small commission (at no cost to you) if you purchase something through the links below. You will never see me post a link to a product or service that I haven’t used myself and love! Thank you for supporting Sugar and Savings!

My Notebook– I LOVE my Leuchtturm1917 (A5 dot grid), this is the second one I have purchased and will for sure repurchase again. Leuchtturm1917 Medium Size Hardcover A5 Notebook – Dotted Pages – Black

My Pens– I am a weirdo and INSIST on my pens being Ultra Micro Fine point. I have to buy them special on Amazon. The same friend from before says it is like writing with a thumbtack, but the lines stay SO pretty and they make it easy to write in small spaces. Uni-Ball Signo 207 Retractable Gel Pen, 0.38mm Ultra-Micro Point, Black, Pack of 6

My Markers– My Tombows are so very dear to my heart that I literally will not let other people use them. I have bought them each one by one, hand picking the colors. I’m a weirdo. Each color is so beautiful. They all write so nice and don’t bleed through the pages. However, they do sell them in packs on Amazon! Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers, Bright, 10-Pack

Alright! That is it for this week, but like I said, comment below what else you’d like to see from my Bullet Journal!

Wishing you all success in time management, and of course,

Sugar and Savings,

Taylor