WeLiveFIT!Challenge 2010 Presented By Florida Commerce Credit Union

Meet the Wilmot Family

The financial strain of their daughter’s lengthy hospitalization was the last thing on Jennifer and Brian Wilmot’s minds when Josie was born 18 months ago. Their precious baby was born with a genetic disorder that required multiple surgeries and numerous stays at Shand’s hospital in Gainesville. Months of missed work left them with $12,000 of credit card debt and no savings.

Brian is self-employed in construction, a business that has been hard-hit by the economic downturn, and Jennifer is pregnant with their second child and no longer working. When the new baby is born, Jennifer plans to continue to stay home with both children, which will require them to live exclusively on Brian’s variable income. “Our energetic, sweet daughter will need her parents to have financial ground to stand on, especially since she is likely to be dependent on us to some degree as an adult,” says Jennifer. “If there’s ever been a family that needs a FIT personal trainer, it’s ours.”

Blog

transformation. or something like that.

09/07/2010 10:14 am

Brian's father passed incredibly suddenly and unexpectedly Thursday. Brian and his dad, Paul, we're extremely close. Paul was also Brian's business partner, so this has left a lot of loose ends to tie up in addition to the pain of his passing. We are essentially inheriting the business -- one which Brian is well qualified to operate and would have taken over eventually. Now we have so much more to think about.

We are all still in shock, so please pray for the Wilmot family. We really need the prayers right now. Thank you.

As for the competition, we need this more than ever; we need the votes and the support because we have got to get more organized now and it's crucial to get out of the debt even more than before. I begging for you to put us through to the next round.

Jeni

Work, Determination, and Support

09/01/2010 11:28 pm

Forgive me if this post sounds super upbeat and gushing with glee, but I am just really excited about the progress we've been making lately; it's not leaps and bounds, but it's steady and really happening!

Honestly, Brian is the hardest working person I have ever met, and I am so proud of him. While he was let go at one job, he looks at it as an opportunity to put more hours into his other work at Capital Aluminum. Construction is not a steady business but lately work has picked up some, and Brian's been out every day very early and coming home late trying to finish a big job for the past several weeks. Variable income is such a weird thing. Not getting a pay check for a month and then getting it all in a lump sum makes you want to spend that money when you finally get it -- but the WeLiveFit challenge is keeping us grounded this year. We had to dip into our savings with the new baby and the hospital stay, but I am happy to say it looks like we will be able to replenish what we had to take from our savings and even add to the balance. Actually without the challenge helping us build up the savings in the first place, we wouldn't have been able to dip into it, and we'd be even further in debt. I'm so happy we are really, actually headed in the right direction.

Being debt-free is gonna feel so good when we get there -- and we are definitely going to get there. No doubt whatsoever. It just takes some work, a whole lot of determination, and support.

Speaking of support, we had a great meeting with our coach this evening. Mark does an awesome job at building up our spirits and making sure we don't get too burnt out; he's been emphasizing how we can keep going for the long haul -- which is so particularly crucial for our family situation. If you need a financial pep talk he's your man.

What else... instead of getting out of town for Labor Day weekend (even though we want to so bad) we are opting to stay home; that way Brian can get in another project hopefully before round 2 of the elimination closes. Keeping our eyes on the prize! Just need your votes!

And hey --

let me know if anyone is looking for a pool enclosure, screen room, railing, car port, window room etc :) You'll get awesome results and proceeds go to a good cause ;)

www.capitalaluminum.com < Brian's business' link. Take a look!

thanks!

Jeni

Transition: job loss / good heart check up

08/31/2010 12:11 pm

I am so happy that August is almost over. What a month.

Right after we returned from our Disney weekend, Brian was told he'd be losing his job, the one that carries the family insurance. His boss is merging his 2 stores soon, sometime September. Now we are trying to find a good fit for health insurance for our family once again -- something very important to a family with a special needs / heart kid. Right now a lot of the feeding tube supplies and food for Josie is covered by insurance but won't be when we go to a cheaper insurance. It's a little stressful.

But thank God -- we just had a great cardiac check up at Shands yesterday; Josie's cath surgeon said her heart looks as good as it did last year just after her last surgery, and he said if her aorta narrows it'll be very gradual and a few valves they are watching look okay as of now -- so no expected intervention for a few years (and we pray she won't need any more surgery ever)! Josie's health puts everything in life in perspective.

Now we will have the added expense of insurance plus the lack of income though. At least I can say we never have a dull moment (especially not with a new baby and toddler lol). I'm always on my toes. When Mary is older and on solids and not so dependent on me for nursing, I will probably look into an evening job. It's hard for me not to contribute financially (besides couponing and bargain hunting); I've had a full-time job since I was 16 up until this past February (yes through high school and college and 2 pregnancies). Heck I had a regular part time afterschool baby siting job for two kids before that plus watching my sis. So it's hard to adjust.I am going stir crazy not working now. That's why earlier this month, I tried my hand at watching another little baby in addition to my 2. I only lasted 8 full-time days! Too many almost-eaten crayons, and my attention was spread out in too many directions. For the record, I tried lol -- but I'm just not that good.

Please wish us luck in the next elim -- we are gonna need it and the votes. The voting begins again soon! I need to check the dates but the 13th I think?? When is it??

I will let you know, no worries there!

God bless ---- thanks for following our progress,

Jeni

The Wilmots do Disney (Part 2)

08/25/2010 01:07 pm

So we finally can make a report on our recent Orlando trip; it was so nice to see family who came down from way up North and out West, and we had so much fun. And Josie has a new love for Nemo (the fish of Finding Nemo) from our visit to the aquariums in Epcot (she even got a Nemo sticker at her Shands appointment on our way back).

:)

I think we said as long as we stayed under $400 we'd be happy. Well here's the breakdown.

• Gas: Estimated - $160, Actual - $150

• Accommodations and Park Tickets: Estimated - $0, Actual - $0 But I wanted to go to Universal so bad.

• Misc: Estimated - $0, Actual $2.50 But in the future I think we will pay for parking at Epcot. We had to hop 2 monorails to get to where we parked for free. It took 2 hours to get home that night. Ugh. We had to pay tolls too -- forgot about those!

• IKEA (shopping): Estimated - $100, Actual - $160 (for a few reasons. The curtains I wanted were out of a neutral color so I had to get a more expensive pair and they ended up being $60 total rather than $40. Still very inexpensive. For $60, I am now in love with my living room. PLUS they are energy efficient blackout curtains, so maybe they will save us back the amount they cost by keeping the cool air in now and the heat in when Winter rolls around.

Also, I tossed 4 bags of bendy straws into the cart that I thought were 50 cents a bag. They were $2 a bag. Oops. Plus we found a french press that holds over 4 cups of coffee -- finally -- and I found a ton of cheap, fun things to use with Josie for sensory therapy. I think we did pretty good all in all.

• Food: Estimated - $100 (over 4 days), Actual - $122 I think we did pretty good, especially since we weren't trying hard. I just had an awesome supply of coupons.

If you want to get that detailed: First day, we skipped dinner since we got to the house late. Tuesday we skipped breakfast and ate at IKEA for lunch: kids eat free (Swedish meatballs yum) and the Caesar chicken salad was BOGO. Later, I had a $10 off coupon for my favorite restaurant (Bahama Breeze), so we split 2 (huge) appetizers and each got a drink. Josie ate french fries -- she has a steady supply of snacks and enteral Pediasure in case you were wondering. Then we had to take Josie to Rainforest Cafe (animatronic jungle animals, waterfall, huge aquarium tanks, thunderstorms -- very fun, but their food is expensive and not that good honestly. So we went and split a volcano 3 ways (HUGE brownie volcano with fudge sauce and ice cream etc). We got to enjoy dining-in for a fraction of what dinner would have cost (and man was dessert AWESOME). Wednesday we stopped by Publix on the way to Epcot for croissants and OJ. We ate back at the rental house for lunch then got a giant pretzel in Germany around 7pm. We didn't get back on the road to the house until nearly 11pm so we stopped to devour a pizza (we missed the Chick-fil-a by 1 minute, we pulled up to the speaker at 11:01). The next day we left for Gainesville but first ate at First Watch for breakfast. I had a BOGO entree coupon! Then an unbudgeted coffee stop while we waited forever for craniofacial clinic to end (Josie had her first appt at 11am and didn't finish the last appt until 4ish). Then we always get Texas Roadhouse in Gainesville and I had a free fried onion appetizer, so Brian, me, Josie and my sis-in-law (who rode back with us to Tallahassee) just split a few appetizers. All in all, I think food went well too -- considering you can spend $100 easy on dinner for 2 out at a nice restaurant on vacation!

And there you have it. Grand total?

Eh. Around $430. But considering that gas and food would have to come out of that (and we had to go to Gainesville anyway) and a good chunk was from shopping for things I've been wanting for over a year but waiting to get at IKEA, really pretty good. Most importantly we got to see family we rarely see bc they are from very far out of town -- and Josie had such a blast! No regrets here. . . except we are paying for parking next time lol.

The Wilmots Do Disney (Part 1)

08/10/2010 10:58 am

We are leaving for Disney today! As promised, here’s a glimpse of our budget for the 4 day trip to Orlando (and Gainesville for Josie’s Craniofacial Clinic).

The breakdown:

We’re hoping gas comes in under $160. We are going to try to do all our food for under $100 (though it will be close) – my favorite thing about vacation is eating out, so to offset the cost, I’ve been printing restaurant coupons; I found a few good ones too. We are staying with family in a rental house, so our accommodations are all set. Our tickets to Disney are free because Brian and I participated in the Give One Get One volunteer program earlier this year. The only kink in the plan is I really want to go to IKEA while we are nearby – I’ve been wanting to buy curtains for my living room for over a year now and IKEA has some awesomely cheap, great-looking curtains; I will have to really restrain myself there though – it’s easy to spend a ton of cash but still feel like you saved money! Sneaky. So I’m allowing for $100 play money for the trip. Should be a lot of fun.

Plus, Brian just sold his Telecaster and amp for $420, so as long as we stay below that, we haven’t hurt our budget with this trip anyway. When we get back I’ll let you know how we did on our vacation!

Progress

08/02/2010 12:22 pm

If you've noticed things have been a little quiet on the Wilmot blog, no worries; we're still here. I have been nagging Brian to write a post the past couple weeks but in the meantime, I am typing this post with one hand while feeding the baby and Josie is trickling her sippy cup contents onto my jeans. We're busy people these days. I have a feeling this post is gonna be short.

To be flat out honest, nothing has changed since we started the competition. Nada. We went into the challenge feeling stuck and stuck we remain, one income & bogged down by a hefty car payment and high interest credit card fees. We are in the same boat; no credit cards paid off, no consolidating, no extra couponing or bargain hunting, any reduction in spending or lifestyle adjustments (besides that we now not only have a sweet high-matenience toddler but also a sweet, easy-going infant).

Ever since we got our hands on a Dave Ramsey book, a year or so ago, we've cut out the above-our-income-living lifestyle and have been plowing away at debt (which has been awfully hard since I quit work to stay home with the girls).So when we entered the challenge there wasn't much to cut away.

Right now, work has been picking up some for Brian. He's still working 3 jobs and our insurance is still our biggest monthly payout -- thank God Brian's employer pays half, it's $1300 if he didn't. We toy around with the idea of a cheap policy, but with Josie's heart you never know and we feel the old adage "it's better to be safe than sorry" is true! We'd probably be bankrupt if we'd not been insured when Josie was born. She is doing so well these days which is why we play with the idea of a change -- heart checkup this next week.

I wish I could say more, but so far the WeLiveFit Challenge has served as a reminder to why we are trying to right ourselves financially: being independent and setting a good example. Mostly though, we love the mini challenges, meeting and FBing with the other families and FCCU members who are helping us on our way. They really are encouraging and some of the nicest people you'll meet.

Anyway, as it stands now, our competitors will be happy to hear that we've wiped out our savings thus far (as planned) and Brian's next two significant paychecks are probably going to come too late this month to count toward this round in the challenge. But that doesn't change that we keep plugging away! Getting that snowball rolling.

And we are SO definitely going to be debt-free... eventually. But DEFINITELY!!!!

Look for our next blog entry on doing Disney on a dime. We are headed down to Shands in Gainesville next week for cardiac and craniofacial clinic appointments so we are stopping by Orlando in between! Bet there's no way you could do it as cheap as we're gonna!! Details coming...

Jeni

I know why the drive-thru is so appealing

07/12/2010 04:45 pm

Today I had the best of intentions for a simple lunch; my menu was easy and quick -- marinaded chicken strips cooked on the stove top and pineapple slices on the side. Josie had never tried pineapple, and I figured lunch would be pretty nutritious and a breeze to make. However shortly after I started I found myself with a toddler clinging to my pant legs whining, a newborn wanting to be held, and my hands covered in raw chicken -- and somehow I knocked over the bag containing my leftover marinade, and it's contents went all down my cabinets and splattered at my feet. Yeh. I thought, I am so tired I don't even want to eat lunch let alone finish cooking it! I sighed and thought I could just be zipping through a drive-thu right now!

Fast food isn't known for being super nutritious, or really even that tasty. It's pretty much just incredibly convenient -- and even more importantly, mindless. Hand someone a credit card and get your food. The hardest thing you have to decide is what combo you want. Not much thinking involved. I could use a mental break.

But luckily Brian was home for lunch today and helped corral Josie and clean up my kitchen disaster of salmonella. But it's little times like that when I think, I have so much on my plate, I could really use some stress-free loop holes right now, but then when we sat down and ate our healthy, inexpensive, and yummy lunch I felt a whole lot better about having made the decision to cook.

However -- tomorrow we are having tuna fish. And from now on, if food involves more than heating up, I'm rethinking it as a lunch item!

Saving Money

07/05/2010 03:38 pm

Just a mini update for the week.

 

We're saving money by continuing to coupon groceries. Combining coupons (store coupons, manufacturer coupons, and sales: oh my!) is not only economical but pretty fun when you see how much cash you've saved.

 

Mary is 3 weeks old tomorrow. I like to visit baby websites that feature baby cost calculators. Luckily we get to pare it down significantly. No day care costs, no disposable diapers or wipes to purchase, no formula, no baby clothes or toys to buy (we have all of Josie's), medical co pays are only $15 per ped visit -- I think we're doing pretty well after I add it up.

 

We will hopefully have a great emergency savings built up and will be working on retirement savings after our debt is gone, and then we will be working on starting the college savings for the girls then.

 

The debt seriously needs to go -- we'd have so much extra money every month if it wasn't for all the revolving payments making us crazy (and broke).

 

What else?

 

Just finished up giving Brian a hair cut. I am not so brave as to let him do mine though.

 

And we've been enjoying the weather lately being under 90 degrees and the free local festivities for the 4th. We also always hit up fun promotions like TCBY's waffle cones for 99 cents this past weekend and will be partaking in the upcoming Cow Appreciation Day.

 

All in all, enjoying the summer! Hope you are too.

 

--Jeni Wilmot

Tomorrow's the big day

06/28/2010 07:00 pm

Tomorrow 3 of the 9 families are out of the running for 10 grand. Yikes. Already?

We want to sincerely thank everyone for logging in and voting for the Wilmots! You guys rock!

As a reminder of scoring, 25% is community vote, 25% debt elimination, 25% savings, 15% is credit score improvement, and 10% is discretionary based on participation in case of a tie.

Throughout the past several months we have had so much fun interacting with everyone including the other (really cool) families. We've been on the news, had our faces super-sized on billboards around town, printed up on fliers and the FCCU magazine. We did well in the challenges: coming in 1st out of the 9 families for most FB fan recruits and tied for 3rd for the most comments on the discussion page, and made $367 at the yard sale (definitely our personal best). Voting results should be revealed Tuesday.

Results of first round of eliminations can be seen on ABC 27 tomorrow at noon!

For a preview of how the families have done click here.

Again, thanks everyone so much for everything!

--Jeni and Brian (baby Mary and Josie too!) <3

Mary Therese Wilmot is here...

06/22/2010 05:55 pm

I cannot believe that Mary is going to be 1 week old tonight at 10:31 pm! How does time go by so quickly?

Mary Therese Wilmot was born June 15th at TMH, 8 lb 1 oz and 20.7 inches long! Beautiful little girl.

Here she is just minutes old:

And here 6 days!

We are so blessed to have our healthy little girl home. This week has been completely different than Josie's first week. With Josie at 7 days old, we were at Shands, still a week out from her open heart surgery, not sure if she was going to pull through, and Digeorge Syndrome was still a totally new term to us. Little Mary on the other hand was born pink and healthy and all ready to head home with us, praise God. Josie is of course more than worth every struggle but we are so thankful to experience the typical, simple route this time! We are getting so much more sleep among other things!

Everyone has been asking how Josie is adjusting to having a new baby sister -- well she loves it! She is going to be an AWESOME big sis.She loves her baby Mary and wants to hold and touch her all the time; it's very sweet. I know they are going to be inseparable :)

And for our hospital stay, luckily we were in and out about as quick as they will let you. A short delivery and easy recovery -- went in around 6pm Tuesday evening and got home around 6pm Thursday. Our hospital bill copays should be well under a grand (which we actually have in savings).

Well... even with all the new baby hoopla, the competition is underway and getting intense, and while I will be so excited to get to stay in it to win it, I am so grateful that we have been able to have the extra motivation to help us through this busy time in our lives when saving money isn't always the top focus. There are so many adorable baby splurges and distractions -- and so many ways to justify it all as necessity, but we are all set.

We've been running lots of extra diaper laundry with a newborn, but not having to go out and spend on disposables is excellent. Plus the Lil Joeys are so ridiculously cute on little Mary.

Today we even got to do a free photo shoot with Long's Photography since they were looking for newborn baby models. Can't wait to show off those pics!!!

Overdue in a Few Ways

06/11/2010 09:25 am

I can't believe we are halfway through June. Someone please tell my baby what a due date is (was) because we've passed it now -- I'm 10 days past-due! You can't imagine how incredibly anxious I am to have her here safely. But all I keep hearing is "any day now."

Halfway through June also means voting starts Monday. I can't believe the first elimination is almost here. Three families are out at the end of the month. I remember reading blogs of last year's challengers and reading about their progress; I would think to myself, either, surely they could be doing more -- or why on earth are they acting like this is stressful? Don't get me wrong -- I know finances are stressful -- but it seems like if you are in such a great opportunity for change, it'd be a lot easier to cut back and follow through.

Well, I had planned in June to cut out grocery shopping. Well, I learned that my pantry was not as well stocked as I assumed. On top of that, my freezer died. June 1st we woke up to a giant mess of popsicle puddles and meat juice dripping on my kitchen floor. Everything I had prepped and prepared and stored totally thawed. Nice. We had a big cooking day June 2nd to salvage some stuff -- Brian and I ate really well the next day or so. We were able to save some of the chicken that hadn't totally defrosted and I refroze some cooked stuff for later.

Well, over the next week the freezer kept going in and out, resulting in the loss of the rest of my freezer food, and so, completely fed up with it -- we have enough on our plate without needing to be worrying about food storage -- we just threw caution to the wind and had been eating out. I would be lying to say it wasn't a great stress-reliever and so so convenient. No dishes. It's like I have been on vacation! But I got an email from our curious fit coach about our visit to Village Inn and a few other ventures this last week. Oops.

Well, as of yesterday, we have a working freezer. The repairman charged $80 and replaced a teeny, tiny, little part and voila! Freezer that freezes! Back to the game. This week we will be having a lot of pancakes and breakfast items to try to offset our splurges. Reviewing my budget over the past couple months, we totally can be doing better at this. And at least with a baby past her due date, the hospital surely won't be billing us until after the first elimination!

Anyway, picking up where we left off. Chugging along. Thankfully Brian has had a few decent jobs come in. Now he just needs to find the time to devote to everything. He is so busy with both jobs and 3 classes, and we have this little one coming along not to mention a toddler with three (soon to be four) weekly therapy appointments. Life is stressful and I am ready to relax somehow. Luckily we have had so many offers for help: between setting up meals for us when the baby comes, lots of prayers and encouragement, friends and family who have offered to babysit, call to check-in on us, passing along a giftcard for a (hopefully) possibly labor-inducing pedicure. It definitely offsets a lot of the stress to know people out there are so generous with their time and resources. We deep-down really appreciate it.

Hopefully soon we will have a little something to stick into our nearly bare savings account. Our debt isn't going to have improved a lot (not because money doesn't go in, but because our interest rates are so high it doesn't make a dent. That's probably the most frustrating thing -- to sink $500 into all our credit card minimums and have the interest rate reset the balance to the exact same amount -- to the penny -- each month). You live, you learn. I will never use a credit card ever again as long as I live. We are still tackling the cards with a smaller balance a little more aggressively, but in full disclosure, after having no extra money through the winter months and then seeing a few good paying jobs come our way, it's hard to say no to a coupon toward strawberry crepes for Village Inn or an icee or two at the gas station. Let's not even mention pregnancy cavings. [That's not a typo.]

However, after our little mini food "vacation" -- we are resolved to continue our frugality. The freezer thing really frustrated and destroyed my determination, but anyway I'm only human and I realize that money is emotionally handled sometimes. Just gotta pick myself up and brush myself off.

So back on track again. Freezer fixed, baby due, jobs at hand, busy but enjoying life. Voting starts Monday. Yikes.

What We Eat to Save Cash

05/28/2010 02:47 pm

First of all, we've amended our June budget to save some extra money. Our self-imposed challenge for June? No grocery shopping for a month! We typically spend between $200-$250 a month on food, so I figure, each week in June instead of grocery shopping, we'll put about $60 into savings by living out of the pantry and freezer instead. I've never done this before, but sometimes when we are really pinched for cash we've gone 2 weeks. I figure with a little prep we can do it (stocking up on basics like flour, butter, eggs, potatoes, and a couple bags of frozen veggies and fruits so we stay healthy). I always buy meat in bulk when it's super cheap and Brian's parents gave us a ton of frozen chicken a while back -- so we literally have 20 lbs of meat in our little freezer. I also have shelf-stable milk on hand and a whole lot of oatmeal.

I fully expect that staying out of the grocery store is going to save our family money -- no impulse purchases allowed and no gas spent to get there. I do admit, it will be hard for me to ignore any good stock-up sales, so we will see how that goes. I will give you an honest report once we get going.
For anyone curious of what we do eat on our budget -- here are some of our favorite frugal meals that we usually eat every week:
Roast chicken: Take a whole (defrosted) chicken. Remove insides, pat dry, add seasonings of choice and place in roasting pan. I cut up potatoes or whatever vegetables I have on hand into quarter-sized chunks, add them to the pan with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. I bake my chicken at 425 for 30 mins and then 350 for a few hours depending on what my meat thermometer says. You can Google the time based on the weight of your chicken. So good. So easy. Total prep time 10 / 15 mins. And we usually have leftovers for sandwiches.
You can EASILY do the chicken in a slow cooker so you have more time. And in fact, that's the method I generally prefer because after we have a chicken dinner from the slow cooker, I will throw the bones back into the slow cooker with just enough water to cover them and add whatever veggies and herbs I have (or any peels and skins of veggies that I would otherwise discard, I try to freeze them to use later) for chicken stock. So economical and so easy -- just strain the broth from the bones and soggy veggies of course; then either freeze stock to use in another recipe like...

Pot pie: All you need is 1 recipe amazing puff pastry -- I make multiple batches of this and store them in my freezer to just thaw and top my pot pie -- so easy & SO good. To start my pot pie, I throw in half a stick of butter into a pan on medium high heat and let it melt a bit, then add flour (about 6 tbs) one tablespoon at a time, stirring 'til I get a thick roux. Then I add a couple cups of chicken stock a little at a time until I have a thick, yummy pot pie filling. Salt and pepper. Pour into casserole dish with frozen mixed veggies and a pouch of salmon (because I am a big fan of the good for you Omega3s of salmon) or you can easily add any leftover chicken from your baked chicken instead. Roll out the thawed puff pastry dough and top the casserole dish with it; bake until puff pastry gets all golden brown and flaky. Delicious. Simple.

I make this often. It's one of Brian's favorites, very filling and yields really awesome leftovers for lunch. Total prep time (not including puff pastry) about 15 mins.
Pizza dough is super easy to make. You just have to allow enough time for it to rise. But you can make a double batch of that and freeze it for later. So on a particularly busy day, I just pull out a bag of dough from the freezer in the morning and at the end of the day I roll it out and add toppings. It's one of our great Friday night meals -- especially good with a Netflix movie.

Plus with pizza dough you can do white pizza, veggie pizza, BBQ pizza, calzones, strombolis etc. Very versatile to have pizza dough on hand. And if you really aren't into making messes with flour, I know Publix sells pizza dough made-up for pretty cheap.

Then there's breakfast: Pancakes, waffles, egg casseroles and quiches, cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, french toast, oatmeal topped with fruit -- all goes a long way; we often have crepes topped with strawberries, whipped cream and a bit of Nutella for an awesome (and easy) dinner.

And of course ingredients like eggs, potatoes, and beans are excellent foods that are incredibly economical, nutritious and extremely versatile.
Don't forget pasta. There's a million ways to eat pasta. You can stuff shells with ricotta and herbs, make lasagna, red sauce, white sauce, butter sauce, pesto, whole grain pasta. I often make spaghetti carbonara (my fav). Butter some bread or have a salad.

We also have a lot of sandwiches, soups and salads. Cheap and quick and they double as comfort food.
Anyway, there's a few of our favorites! And that's how we keep our food budget low but eat pretty darn well.

Taking Baby Steps But Definitely Going Forward

05/24/2010 02:59 pm

We have been walking in drying cement to get going on this challenge. To be completely honest, not too much of our budget can be cut back much more. But here's our current progress: we are keeping track of money to the penny. We dropped from $60 / month to $8 / month for entertainment (our gym memberships will be missed though and goodbye Sirius radio). We don't go on joyrides on weekends anymore but instead walk a lot around Tom Brown Park and Lake Ella. My energy-saving clothesline is going up this weekend (Brian promised). I haven't used paper towels in over a month! For low-cost convenience, the freezer has been stocked full of make-ahead meals, homemade bread dough and discounted meats. Couponing is in full swing; the "frugal mom" blogs online are so helpful -- I have even gotten stuff for free or nearly free by combining store and manufacturer coupons and timing sales right.

While you may have seen us at Moe's or Brueggers this past week, we were being good -- just using up some awesome birthday coupons! Moe's gave me a totally free entree! Which I am so pleased to report, Josie, who doesn't quite eat by mouth yet, ate some of. It was a very big day for us -- she managed to eat two small pieces of chicken out of the burrito and some of the rice and beans. That was an awesome birthday gift!

Brian did well with some lovely frugal gifts that didn't break the bank: I got a hanging pot of impatients which I love, some bath salts, candy and a much needed nap. My fiesty 20-month-old barely whined all day and my family took me out to Carrabbas in the evening -- my mom made a to-die-for chocolate cake with strawberries and I got balloons and some awesome gift cards. I can't remember having a sweeter birthday in a long time.

As for income lately, the business has been doing ok this month, but I am dreading the copays for our new baby's birth: I figure that will run us around a grand which is a very hard hit on our budget. Plus Brian just shelled out $600 for tuition this month. We are still playing around with getting a student loan for summer session to pay down / off some of our credit cards with high APRs. We just need to check in with our fit coach still (tomorrow) to see what he thinks about that idea.

As for our overall plan, we stopped using credit cards around a year ago, and we pay down at least $700 toward debt (in addition to the mortgage and our car payment) each month and have been for a while. What's frustrating is knowing that a whole lot of what we pay is just going toward interest, but we chip away at the principal little by little. We will be out from under our car loan and credit cards by the time we're 30 (in the next 5 years). I'm not always sure how, but I'm sure we're gonna do it. We have already sold so much stuff just to get going. We have the determination for sure.

On a happy note, we officially just paid our last $100 to Shands Hospital and don't owe them a cent! Now I sleep better at night -- well I would if I wasn't 9 months pregnant. ;) Just a week til my due date, and I am ready to pop any second!

Two Cents

05/12/2010 12:08 pm

Two Cents Attitude
When I was in high school, I remember seeing a poster outside the cafeteria that said, "If your life story was a book, would anyone want to read it?" It was probably for the Army or something, but I remember it; I thought, of course. My life story is crazy. And I was only 15. Fast forward -- I am about to turn 25 in a week. Boy, did my life get plenty more insane. Two babies under two any day now, in debt out of my ears -- bills, diapers, dishes, laundry, messes all piling up! When did I get this in over my head!? I know I'm responsible for the choices I make in life -- but I've witnessed firsthand too, life throws you curve balls you couldn't possibly expect to see coming or have control over. And when you get hit with the unexpected, it's very easy to get discouraged. Sometimes it's like we have no control -- whether it's emotional or financial (or often both) -- it's our variable sometimes absent income, lack of work, crazy schedules, medical bills and Josie's special needs, us living life without a clear plan.
I admit too -- Brian and I have made some bad financial decisions. Mainly our car. We have an incredibly upside-down, couldn't-refinance-it-if-we-tried car with a high interest rate and a really high monthly payment that's crushing us + 5 more years to go on it. As soon as the credit card debt goes (goal 1), that's our baby to tackle next. The problem with that is, I just can't figure out when the credit cards are going to get paid down because we rarely have extra money. Usually we are just barely short each month to pay even minimum payments. But, isn't that everyone's story in this competition? All we gotta do is cut back? Well, in the words of my FIT coach, we're "already really frugal." And the usual suspects to cut back or any plan to refinance just isn't possible. Brian's already working 2 jobs and has started school again. I am about to have 2 babies under 2 any day now and hoping to hang onto some form of sanity.
Luckily, aside from the birth itself (best case scenario, it's gonna run us $750) and my check-ups which are $50 a visit (and I'm on weekly visits now), we're not counting on incurring too much expense with a new baby. Everyone always talks about how pricey babies are, but besides medical issues, Josie hasn't cost us much extra; we have awesome family and friends who showered us with the essentials; my baby cousin is just at the right size that when she outgrows her (really, really cute) girlie clothes, my wonderful aunt passes them to us and they fit Josie great. I have them packed away for Mary. Although we don't have a real second income, I stay home with Josie and that takes care of daycare costs. So we're not expecting the new baby to be a huge expense -- at least not in the short run. I know every other family is thinking about saving for college, but right now if we could just get out of debt that will be fine. When we pay off the car and student loans, the last of the hospital bills and our credit cards -- we will be putting so much away into savings. Right now we are stuck and treading water.
This past Winter killed us -- business is always slow around then, but this past year was our family's worst year so far. We went without any Christmas shopping; Brian's birthday came and went, our anniversary came and went -- seriously no gifts exchanged. Seriously depressing. The only gifts we gave were a few things Josie needed and my mom bought them so we could pay her back later. It was a discouraging Winter. Josie goes to therapy 3 times a week, and I am always asked if we have certain toys for her. Do you have a activity table, toy cars, chubby markers or crayons for her to hold? And what's awful is repeating, "No. I need to get those," when you know you hardly have enough cash for food or gas to make it through the week, and even for just a few dollars, you can't pick up a pack of markers yourself. I say this with a point.
It's incredibly easy to get disappointed and dwell on what you don't have and what you've done wrong financially; and when you do, you just feel stuck. When that happens, I am not a happy girl. Driving back home from occupational therapy one week I thought to myself, well we will work with what we've got. God will have to provide the rest. And the very next week at therapy, I finally came clean and mentioned our situation and that we were tight for cash; the therapist enthusiastically replied, "Oh have you gone by Children's Medical Services? They can lend you ALL SORTS OF STUFF!" So exactly one week from that, after feeling very sorry for myself but then choosing to look on the bright side with some faith -- Brian and I headed up the street to CMS and got all sorts of great, developmentally appropriate toys and even some baby food for free. Josie loved them. Moral of the story? If you can't control anything in your life, you can consciously adjust your outlook.
Right now, I sit here thinking, how in the world can I further cut back my food budget of $50 a week which includes toiletries and dog food and couponing? What else could I possibly pare down? Where is the mortgage going to come from this month? I really want to get Josie a few new things. I really am sick of not shopping ever for myself and Brian's jeans pretty much all have holes in them. I could go on for quite a while harping on the bad things rather than even realizing the very good things we do have. And while its super easy to get into a funk and feel sorry for yourself -- I remind myself this little revelation -- it isn't necessarily what life throws at you that makes your story a good read. It's who is writing your story and how its being told! I know who the author of our story is, and I totally trust Him 100% and I will continue to try to meet each obstacle with a positive attitude and some faith.
Sometimes when you feel like you can't do much, you can adjust your mood, look on the bright side of things, and that can be enough to make a big difference in the state of your family challenges. At least that's my two cents.

Off to a Good Start!

05/14/2010 06:10 pm

We hit the ground running with the yard sale. Well technically that's a lie. Really, we sluggishly dragged ourselves out of bed at 6am, and hauled large pieces of furniture and a bunch of really heavy boxes to the yard sale (ok I hauled a really heavy pregnant belly), but no running was involved what so ever. Despite getting rained on, our tent nearly blowing away throughout the competition (we were the only team without sandbags), and Josie taking a spill onto the parking lot asphalt from a push toy (she's ok; she's a tough one, just a couple tiny scrapes) -- we did great. Best yard sale we've ever had anyway: $367. When I heard the total, I turned to Brian with a smile -- enough copay for 1 day at TMH to birth the baby. Trust me, it's a relief to have something squirreled away for a change.
Saving has never been easy for our family. Brian owns his own construction company, Capital Aluminum Products, along with his Dad. They do custom railings, pool enclosures, screen rooms, car ports, window screen replacements, additions -- you name it. In the Winter, business is really slow. In the Summer, business is generally better. As of late, with the economy and construction as it is, business has been dead. So Brian took on a part-time job. This week in addition to both jobs, he's also starting Summer classes: Nursing school and we just paid for class fees -- there's always something popping up that needs money. We pray, a last minute project comes in, the mortgage gets paid. It works like that.
We've been fighting debt since just before Josie was born. Our financial history goes a little like this: our wedding was paid for by credit cards, and we had just barely gotten all of ours paid off when we learned Josie was on her way (back in 2008). Brian is one of the hardest working men I know, and to pull my weight, (because I have a degree in creative writing, enough said) I worked my normal 45 hour weeks at City Blue (print shop) and then got a part-time job at MWTux in the mall working evenings -- a total work week equaling 60 hours; I did that for the first 7 months of my pregnancy. I quit the tux shop shortly after prom and wedding season ended and continued to work at City Blue until my scheduled induction at 39 weeks. I then had a 3 day marathon labor and gave birth to Josephine Grace Wilmot, September 9, 2008. Then when Josie was 1 day old, she went into shock from an undiagnosed congenital heart defect. So we were rushed to Shands without delay and lived there, in Gainesville, nearly 2 months. For her full story, I'll post a separate entry -- she is a hardcore fighter and we are so proud of her and thankful to the doctors and nurses at Shands who repeatedly saved her life.
I tell you all of this to explain why I decided to try to rest the last trimester of this pregnancy; I quit my job at City Blue a few months ago. Baby Mary is on her way. Hopefully really soon. I'm 36 weeks pregnant. Honestly, I don't get too much rest keeping up with Josie, but it's nice to be home.
Anyway, to stay afloat, Brian accepted my former job which was graciously offered. We need it most of all for the insurance. To date Josie has racked up nearly $700,000 in hospital stays and surgery at Shands alone. Without health insurance we'd be more than broke -- we'd be bankrupt. Our credit cards are maxed out from lack of income and recently, despite always paying on time, the credit companies increased our interest rates to insane APRs. We watched one by one as our debt started to get harder and harder to pay down, but we managed -- but when Citi mailed us the notice that the APR on our largest credit card debt was shooting up to almost 30% I cried. I cried, and then I closed my Citi account; and we've been obsessed with using whatever we could eke out of our monthly "budget" to pay it all down. With a variable income though its hard to tell what we can afford to chuck at credit cards when we aren't entirely sure we have enough for the utilities or for food.
We talk about finances a lot in our home. It stays a hot, if not incredibly stressful, topic. And now, we are facing medical deductibles and co-pays again with the birth of our next daughter. We decided though that more than anything it was important for Josie to have a sibling and we are ready to give her one. Armed with a full supply of cloth diapers, lots of hand-me-downs, and ready to get a chance to breast-feed this time around -- we're hoping we won't incur any serious debt or heartache this time. We are so excited and busy getting ready. We suspect the Florida Commerce WeLiveFit competition will be good to keep us grounded at the very least.
Our grand financial goal (and a seemingly lofty goal with such slim income and those rising credit card payments) is to get totally free from debt. Debt-free. Such a nice ring to those two words stuck together. Please wish us luck and keep us in your prayers for a healthy baby and safe delivery too.
This year is going to be crazy.
-Jeni Wilmot

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