Meal Planning?

Does anyone consistently do meal planning? I'm planning to give it a try but first I have to get my thoughts on the matter together. To be honest, I'll probably have more luck meal planning for LUNCH and not dinner.
Dinner is a little easier as I usually have food in the deep freezer and a boat load of side items, or my husband deems it to hot to cook, but lunch? Lunch is an entirely different matter. Either I'm moving to slow in the morning to make a lunch, there's nothing that I "want" to take for lunch or some other lame excuse.  So I figure if I think about it, and plan out a weeks worth of lunches I will be better prepared to grab n go.
There are a plethora of websites that offer meal planning services - for a fee! What the Windy City?! Man, I tell you everything cost these days.  Bougie's on a budget so a sista will be partaking in the free sites and trial plans. Humph!  I did find that the Evernote application which is available for iOS and Adriod has a meal planning feature, so I am going to look further into that and give it try.  I will let you all know how that works out.
Another thing I'll have to work around is keeping variety in my lunches because I'm not a fan of frozen meals, or canned soup and damnit I can only eat so many turkey sandwiches.
Since this is a longer weekend I'll get my plan together, make a grocery list, grab my coupons:-) and hit the stores.  I'll let you guys know how I do.

Catch yall later,

Bougie

Credit

Hey y'all. 

I guess I'll just get right to it.  I pulled my credit report and yeah I have some work to do.  Its not horrible, I mean I've seen worse.  The few things that are on their are from lack of giving a damn, or forgetting.  Life really took its toll on me and I got caught up, caught up I tell you!  So Bougie on a Budget may become Bougie on a Budget: The Credit CleanUp! 

I do have a plan though.  There are some items that I need to dispute and others that I can't really worry about, like Student Loans.  If those ads I've been seeing about Obama forgiving Student Loan debt somehow by the grace of God come to light, looky here, I am all in.  I'm also going to step up my hustle game so I can have some funds dedicated strictly to debt reduction.  

Now I could readjust my budget and put a more towards debt and it may very well come to that- but its not here now.  I'm going to pick one and tackle it and move on to the next one.  "Experts", suggest focusing on paying down the smallest bill by paying the most you can afford monthly or what every frequency is agreed on.  Pay and move on to the next.  The key is to take the $25 you were paying towards Debt A and add that to the payment for Debt B.   That takes some discipline but its completely do-able.

My biggest caution is to not get so caught up in paying bills that I'm not enjoying living.  No m'am.  There will be none of that! Chances are I'll have some kind of debt when I depart this earth and my life insurance will take care of those so for right now, I'm going to work my budget, clean up these stray items on my credit report and live my life - at the same damn time!

Coupon WIN!

I spoke previously about my hesitancy to give couponing another try. I decided to take the go for it- after all what did I have to loose. So last week, Friday I believe I dusted off my coupon holder and headed Krazy Coupon Lady (http://thekrazycouponlady.com/) . I like this site because she/they do a good job organizing available deals! I'm not sure how often the site is updates, but, it seems like its pretty frequent.  They also have good tips on HOW to coupon. Definitely worth a look if you're interested in saving a buck or 2.
On to my WIN. This past weekend my mom and I went to Target - a.k.a TakeAllMyDamnMoneyVille.
Now before I get on to my cash register win, let me point out something that I noticed.  This may mean more to those that are local however something to look out for all the same.  We all know you can't walk into Target and not look at the CLEARANCE section right? I noticed that some of the clearance items were marked at a higher price at this particular Target than at a Target I was at earlier in the week! Saaayy What???!!!
I was only looking for household items so this should have been a relatively quick trip right? Factor in a coupon novice and a mother who likes to get lost in the store, two hours later (smh) I'm at the cash register and my total before coupons was $127 and after coupons? *Drumroll*  $95.27! POW!!! I may or may not have done a C (for coupons) Walk at the register.
Needless to say, I plan to continue using coupons, my next challenge is going to at the grocery store.
That should be interesting.

Hope you all are having an awesome week so far!

Savings, coupons, and deals OH MY!

I just signed up for Cartwheel by Target.  Its their savings program which you can use on top of manufacture's coupons, and your RedCard discount..Say Whhhhhaaattt??? This makes me happy, its like getting rewarded for shopping at one of your ok my fav stores. How cool is that!
There is a mobile app available for Android and Iphone. The only downside in my opinion is that you have to log in with your Facebook account.  One other possible fail is that it looks like theirs a limit
This will be good for me because its one less coupon to clip and as long as I have my phone I have my savings, BOOO-YYAAA.
And shut the front door their are coupons for food too - hits my Dougie.

Dont forget to check out the coupon section at target.com for additional savings!

http://cartwheel.target.com/?ref=tgt_soc_CW_%20dvmy13c0027v000141i002862_18Aug13

Random, but Relevant

One of the most important lessons I've learned over the past say 10 years is that, you cannot tell people (including friends)  all of your plans.  As soon as you do, they are plotting trying to figure out how to capitalize off of your thought/idea or you have the commentators, with their, " Uhn  unh gurl, if I was you I wouldn't do that" Or those with the fake cautionary tales of your pending doom, "Girl my cousin on my step-daddy side, baby momma's god sister's mechanic tried that and it didn't even work" ....My response? PHUCK OUTTA HERE WITH ALL THAT NOISE!
Those closest to me know that I tend to be very tight lipped about what I'm doing and what irons I have in the fire, not that I don't trust you all, in fact, I trust you all to do exactly what you do...let that settle, give it some time.
This is not to say that you can't or shouldn't share your good news with anyone just be careful who you share with. I mean if you have something going on and you need to tell somebody, tell God, shoot he knows about already! Everybody that's with you ain't for you

Peace
Lady Bougie (dont that just sound bougie)

Book recommentation

This is a oldie but goodie.  Years ago I was recommended a book on finances aimed at African American women, however, the principles apply to us all, so don't get your panties in a bunch if you're not an AA woman!
The book is titled "Girl Get Your Money Straight" by Glinda Bridgeforth and you can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0767904885/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1377190525&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX110_SY165
The book has some really easy to follow principles and sample budgets amd such. If you get the kindle version you can duplicate the charts with in a notebook or Excel.  Which ever floats your boat-just get 'er done!

Today's the day!

Hey Yall! Welp. Today's the day I fund my envelopes.  My plan is to go the bank and when I make my withdrawal, I'll ask for all small bills, $10's, $5's and $1's a.k.a a Mississippi Bankroll.  Because I'm so gangsta I might even wrap it in a rubber band.

Seriously, the purpose of the small bills is so that I don't have the issue of breaking and possibly spending it all on nonsense.  We all know how when you break a large bill (and by large I mean $20) before you know it, it's gone and you're somewhere looking dazed and confused because you have NO idea how it happened!

The other thing I have to remember is to get my receipts!  I need to get in the habit of reconciling my envelopes a couple of times of week.  I'm not even gonna lie and say every day because that's just ain't gonna happen.  This will also double as my method of tracking my spending, which is essential to the process.  I mean if I don't know where and how I'm spending my money its gonna be that much more difficult to get a handle on my bad spending habits. 

Again if anyone wants to take this journey with me hit me in the comments! 

Have a good one!

A Bougie Budget Breakfast

Morning loves!  Hope everyone is budget behaving:-).  While my actual budget bonanza doesn't officially kick off until Thursday, I'm trying to wrap my mind around identifying and closing cash leaks. One in particular stopping for coffee, usually at Starbucks, which leads to grabbing a pastry and a Cranberry Refresher since I'm there. $8 here one minute gone the next! Sadly, if I'm stopping for coffee that means I walked past the Keurig and the KCups sitting on my kitchen counter and bypassed the fridge to prepare a lunch so guess who's eating out at lunch too?  Noticing a evil pattern? Yeah, me too. 
So today's breakfast is coffee provide the job, an apple from the fridge and a protein bar.  We are having a team lunch sponsored by the company so guess who's WINNING today!

Until later!

Coupons...crazy or worth it

I'm debating on whether or not to add couponing to my list of money saving efforts.  Why the debate? Well for household items its all good, I mean a $1 of a Gain is alright in my book.  The issue comes into play with FOOD.  I don't eat a lot of boxed or processed foods and those are the items that seem to have the best coupons.  I have yet to see a $.50 off coupon for a bunch of Kale or better yet $1 off of chicken breast!  I've tried the whole coupon thing before and all I got out of it was a bunch of newspaper laying around! Alas, I think I'll give it one more shot. I'm going to check out Krazy Coupon Lady and see what tips I can get - its not like I'll be doing any shopping so hell, I have the time.

GOAL! And I ain't talkin bout soccer!

While I was busy getting my envelopes ready and figuring out my allotments, I decided I needed a goal or six so that I would feel like I was working towards something specific.  Now, I could go with a savings goal, say $500 by Christmas or, I could save for that new 15 inch MacBook Pro (its only $2199)  that waves at me every time I walk past the Apple Store.  The problem with "things" is that's what got me to this point in the first place! I'm gonna give this more thought as I want a realistic S.M.A.R.T goal - who remembers what that acronym stands for?
            S  - Specific
            M - Manageable/Measureable
            A - Attainable
            R - Realistic
            T - Tangible
         
Yep that was random, but it worked.
I also want to do some investing, so I guess a financial goal it is.  Let me get another envelope :-)

Love n Blessings, 

M

Welcome....Excuse me while I get my (financial) life

Hello all! Welcome to Bougie on a Budget! Here I'll chronicle my journey of getting my LIFE financially! Now mind you this is only my personal budget - not my household budget- that's straight. But my personal budgets? Chile hush! Somehow over the last few years, I've thrown caution to the wind and my spending has gotten out of control!  Time for momma to reel it back in. So to get started, I looked at my personal expenses and  reconstructed my budget and personal savings using a good old fashioned Excel spreadsheet. I went old school - The "envelope method".  For anyone not familiar with this, you take plain envelopes or you can get jiggy with it and get fancy envelopes if you like. Lable the envelopes with the names of your spending categories and put in the allotted amount of cash and once its gone its gone! I will be filling my envelopes bi-weekly according to my pay cycle. I have the following envelopes: Shopping, Entertainment, God/Tithes, Lunch Money, and Hustle Fund.  Whats a Hustle Fund? Glad you asked! The Hustle Funds is any extra money earned from any of my various side hustles...hence The Hustle Fund. What are my side hustles? Another great questions! I sell MaryKay (www.marykay.com/mscott0915), small business consultation (website is under construction but holla at me for details) and I make homemade preserves!  Whew, you would think I had to much going on to blow the budget huh? Nope- HA!  I'm also pondering a 2nd "job" but I don't think I'm built for that.
I'll also be posting any interesting/helpful information that I find.  And just to be forewarned, I'll be posting more than my budgeting experiences because I'm cool like that.
So again welcome and if anyone wants to join me to make it interesting hit me up in the comments and let's do this!