Being a One Car Family

One cost-cutting measure I've seen recommended numerous times is becoming a one car family. Ugh. Every time I saw someone make that suggestion, I cringed. I vowed that would never happen in our family. I'm sure part of my thinking came from my grandmother, who had her own car despite the fact that she almost never drove. Cutting back to one car just seemed too radical.

I started to think a little differently when we moved at the beginning of this year. Instead of being 20 miles away from work, my commute is about 0.4 miles. In other words, I can walk to work, home for lunch, back to work, and back home in less time than it took me to drive to work before. Do we really need another car when I'm that close? Even if the weather conditions make it unsafe for me to walk, it wouldn't be too inconvenient for a coworker to give me a ride. In fact, three people offered to take me home one day when it was snowing.

I still resisted the idea of going down to one car. I wanted to at least have the option to drive. But two weeks ago, Nathan's car died. Completely died. There's still a chance it could be fixed, even though we've been advised not to put another dime into it, but so far we haven't messed with it. Nathan has been driving my car to work, and I've walked every day, even in rain and snow. And guess what? It hasn't been that bad. Will we buy a replacement car? Maybe..maybe not. It will of course be necessary when we move or if I change jobs, but for now, one car is actually okay.

There are several advantages of not having a second car and walking to work...

• I'm forced to get some exercise.
• The walk to work makes me much more awake and ready to start my work day.
• I can't go buy fast food for lunch (at least not on my own).
• I sometimes see geese, ducks, and killdeer on my commute.  
• We save money on gas, even if not a lot. 
• If we do get rid of the second car, we'll save on insurance and maintenance. 

And the disadvantages?

• I don't feel like jogging when I get home. (I do walk another mile with Nenya though.)
• If Nathan has car trouble, I can't go pick him up.
• I can't run errands during lunch.
• It's not easy to go to doctor's appointments, although I found a dentist right by work.
• People think I'm weird. Walking commutes are rare in the suburbs I guess.
• I don't like inconveniencing people, so I hate asking for rides.

We aren't sure what to do about our car situation for the time being, but at least I know we can survive with one car.


Are you, or have you ever been, a one car family? If not, would you ever want to be one?


 

Once a Week Cooking in 2 Hours

If you read about my once a week cooking experiment last year and wondered if I've kept up with it, well, I haven't. I never tried it again after that one time. It would be rough for me to do that much cooking on a weekday (I work full time), and my weekends have been fairly busy with other things. But a couple weeks ago, I decided to try it again.

This was my dinner menu plan for the week:

Potato Bacon Corn Chowder

Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas

Chocolate pancakes with strawberry topping (for Valentine's Day)

Salmon patties, macaroni and cheese

Pizza casserole

Chicken Fried Rice

Dinner with friends

I didn't make every dinner ahead of time since the others were quick ones anyway, but I was able to get two main dishes ready to bake and two others ready to assemble. Before I started, I listed all the tasks I would need to complete and then ordered them in a way that would keep things moving. I forgot a few things initially, so this probably would have taken much less than 2 hours if I'd been more efficient. I also didn't menu plan based on the idea that I would be cooking ahead of time. Next time, I would choose more meals that are easy to prepare ahead of time and that share common ingredients (two dishes with pasta, two with beef, etc.).

12:50 - I start cooking the rice and heating up the skillet for the bacon.

12:58 - Cover rice to simmer; still cooking bacon

"Can I have some?"

I start putting together the enchiladas (with chicken I had cooked previously). Then I remember I need to be cooking hamburger and pasta for the pizza casserole and get that started.

1:44 - Enchiladas are ready, except for the sauce. The tortillas are falling apart (they were a little old), so I switch them to a smaller dish to keep them together a little better.

1:56 - I remember I have laundry that needs switched to the dryer.
Nathan steps in to work on browning the hamburger.

After the hamburger is done cooking, I make the sauce for the enchiladas.

2:22 - Enchiladas are done and I start assembling the pizza casserole.

2:33 - Pizza casserole is done!

2:34 - Oops! I forgot I needed to cook onion for the chowder.
I chop one up (sniff, sniff) and cook that.

2:49 - And we're done! Chicken enchiladas, pizza casserole,
rice for fried rice, and bacon and onion for chowder.

I try to pretend the kitchen doesn't exist for a while,
but Nenya is happy to begin cleanup for me.

Shared at Works for Me Wednesday.

Back to a Monthly Budget and Other Budget Changes

 
One of my most popular blog posts and the oldest one still currently in the top ten most read is No More Monthly Budget. I'm sure we scared a lot of people with that title. What? No budget? If you haven't read the post, what we did for 2011 was track our budget in periods based not on calendar months but on thirteen periods of four weeks. Since I'm paid weekly and Nathan is paid every two weeks, there can be quite a variation in income from month to month. With four week periods we would have consistent income (two of Nathan's paychecks, four of mine). It sounded good in theory, but it only took a few months to realize how inconsistent income really is. Although we kept with it for all of 2011, for 2012 we're going back to monthly budget periods. We've also made a few other changes to the way we budget that should work better for us.

A monthly allowance

A new budget category is an allowance for each of us. For the first year and a half of our marriage, we basically had to discuss every purchase with each other. And if one of us made a big purchase, that meant the other had to curb his/her spending for that budget period. To help eliminate some of this, we've now budgeted a small amount of money for each of us to spend each month however we choose. If Nathan wants to eat out for lunch, I can still buy shoes. We still have a "General Spending" category for purchases that we agree to make.

A dates category
Last year, we lumped all eating out (lunches during work and dates) into one category. We also had a separate entertainment category. We've now eliminated "Eating Out" as a separate budget category and made it a sub-category under our allowances and under a new "Dates" category. We've also made "Entertainment" a sub-category under "Dates."

Adding "rollover" money
What we did last year if we had money left over in different categories, was put the leftover money into paying off debt or our emergency fund. Now, if we have $7 left in the date category at the end of the month, for example, that's money we can still use for dates next month.

A new budget system
We track all of our spending, income, and bank accounts in an Excel program Nathan made. Last year we had a separate spreadsheet for each budget period, but this year Nathan made one Excel file that we can use for all our financial tracking for the entire year. If anyone would like to know more about our system and how Nathan programmed it, I'm sure he'd be happy to explain it.

Here's what the big picture looks like for February. That big chunk we're putting towards student loan payments still isn't enough to keep us on track with our goal of paying them off in two years, but it's close and there's not much else we can cut. I said it was an ambitous goal!

What changes have you made to your budget to make it work better for you?



My 10 Favorite Books Read in 2011

Looking for books to put on your reading list? These are my top picks out of the books I read last year. All of these titles are nonfiction, which is generally all I read, even though I'm reading The Hobbit right now. I've listed the books in the order in which I read them.

1. Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half with America's Cheapest Family, by Steve and Annette Economides
This is a great book on saving money since the entire book is dedicated to one category. Some books do not provide much detail because they try to cover too many different aspects, however this is a good, exhaustive resource on saving money on food. Read my full review here.

2. Unplanned, by Abby Johnson
Abby Johnson started working at Planned Parenthood as a volunteer in college and worked her way up in the organization to becoming the director of a clinic. This is the story of why she was passionate about Planned Parenthood and why she is now passionately pro life. While written with a pro life bias, this book gave me a better understanding of both sides.
 
3. Committed: A Love Story, by Elizabeth Gilbert
In this sequel of sorts to the popular Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Glibert tries to make peace with the idea of marriage after finding herself "sentenced to wed" after her Brazilian boyfriend gets in trouble with Homeland Security. Although this may seem like an odd choice for a happy newlywed, I enjoyed Gilbert's look at the idea of marriage throughout history and across cultures, even though sometimes I wanted to yell at her as I listened to the audiobook.
 
4. The Other 8 Hours, by Robert Pagliarini
If you work full time and need help managing your time, this is the book to read, whether you want to start a side business or just spend more time with your family. Read my full review here.

5. Organized Simplicity, by Tsh Oxenreider
Even though I'm not ranking this list, I can safely say this was the best book I read last year. I checked it out twice from the library, and when the Kindle version was free last month, I downloaded it on my phone and started reading it again. I was inspired to declutter and organize and think about what really matters.

6. Eat This, Not That! 2012
I had no idea how many unhealthy foods are masquerading as healthy ones, and vice versa. No one has time to read the labels on every box of crackers or the nutrition facts on every dish at every restaurant, but this book gives a good overview. Read more of what I learned here.

7. Evolving in Monkey Town, by Rachel Held Evans
Rachel Held Evans grew up thinking she had all the answers about her Christian faith, but than she began asking questions. I don't entirely agree that faith needs to evolve to fit the postmodern world, but I still appreciate how though-provoking this book is, which is why it's in my top ten. 

8. In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
This was another book that challenged my thinking, this time in the area of nutrition. How is it that with all of this nutrition "advice" of the last few decades we don't seem to be getting healthier? A lot of the information in this book seems like common sense, but clearly it's not so common anymore.

9. Calm My Anxious Heart: A Woman's Guide to Finding Contentment, by Linda Dillow
I was expecting this to be about dealing with anxiety (a struggle for me), but the broader "finding contentment" of the subtitle is really what it's about. The different chapters focus on finding contentment with your circumstances, yourself, your role, etc. Linda Dillow gives practical advice and encouragement, not just a "pray and get over it" kind of message.

10. The Money Saving Mom's Budget, by Crystal Paine
While I wouldn't call this book life changing for me, I learned a lot about saving money and goal setting, even after reading MoneySavingMom.com for quite a while. Read my full review here.

What are some of the best books you've ready lately? Any books you look forward to reading this year?


Shared at Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda.

12 to Tackle in 2012

For 2011, the goals I set were really habits that I wanted to develop and sustain. This year, my goals are much more measurable. They're "bucket list" type items that I can check off (although some I hope to do more than once).  I started making a list a couple months ago, and I've finally decided on the 12 things I most want to accomplish.

Financial Goal (a.k.a. the BHAG)

1. Pay off half the student loans

This is by far the most ambitious goal, but we're now at the point where this is our only focus financially. A financial adviser Nathan met with even said we shouldn't worry about investing now since we can pay off the loans so quickly.

Business/Career Goals

2. Update my physical portfolio (I haven't touched it since I started my job 2.5 years ago.)

3. Create an online portfolio

4. Decide on a freelance business name and create a business website

5. Complete at least one paid freelance job (That extra money has to come from somewhere!)

Homemaking Goals

6. Bake with yeast

7. Switch to using homemade or natural cleaning supplies

8. Decorate our bedroom (Mainly putting something above our headboard)

Personal Goals

9. Complete a 5K race

10. Figure out my blog purpose (I started this as a wedding blog. What is it now?)

11. Make something with a sewing machine (I haven't used one since 8th grade)

12. Visit a place I've never been before (if not a new state, at least a new part of a state)

What do you hope to achieve this year?