Rent Day – Without a Full Time Job

So today is February 1st and like most people my rent is due. How will I pay it?? Well let’s see…. I still get one last paycheque from my full time job and yes it was enough to cover my car payment that is due today and to cover my rent so I’m without worry for the month of February and it feels great…. Let me make it clear that I do have a part time job that I work in the evenings at for 4 hours. But I’m trying to use that money to get out of credit card debt. All about the dollar, dollar bills ya’ll hahahahaha. Oh, update on my savings plan if you haven’t read that post please do so: Here. I succeeded and I have that total in my savings account, now it’s a savings account for a reason hence don’t touch! But I will be doing it all over again this year so wish me luck!!!

So to clear that up, your last pay cheque should definitely be used to cover your bills that you need it to cover so you have a month to come up with the money to cover the following month’s bills. In the world we live in, working full time seems to be an automatic requirement, unless your a fabulous and famous blogger such as myself and your income is via your blogging hahahaha (that is a dream of mine, has yet to come true but a girl can still put it out there right? It will one day. I believe I am good at what I do or at least I hope so… According to my followers there are 69 people in the world that so far think so…) One day I hope that my post get through and not only can I do this everyday but I can do it and make an income for my family so I can finally be doing what I love and not what I hate and it will pay the bills!

Yes, I know I’m crazy who loves to write or read for that matter but that was me… I’ll tell you guys that story next week… The story of my upbringing so if you’re interested click that FOLLOW button!! Why not read about someone else’s life?? Get away from your own for a moment or two… you know? Anyhow just wanted to let you guys know my roof is secure for another month and so is my transportation.

God Willing!

The Saving Plan

So I know I should have probably started this when the year just started but May has brought about a lot of new “Plans” for me. So today I put 1 dollar into my savings account. I will move the money every Sunday into my savings account, the target is to follow this 52 week saving challenge. Yes it only gives you $1378 at the end of the year but for a female who has recently been struggling to even rub two pennies together this would be a great start! I will be doing this with my simplii account.

There is another plan that I’m going to try to do with my other bank account (tangerine) but I might not stick to it as the amount to save each week is higher but if you can do it, that would be great because at the end of the year you would have saved  5k.

So all deposits were made this week hopefully on Sunday I can make week 2 deposits. God has a plan for me, this I know.

God Willing

Why Isn’t My Budgeting Working?

I plan everything out, it seems perfectly on point! It makes me so optimistic for the following month feeling like I will be able to breathe and not stress however when I actually start the month, nothing works!

Has my good luck been thrown out the window? Will I never be able to not stress again!?! Stress can make me sick, I don’t want to get sick. So where am I going wrong? What can I do to make it better and how can I survive the following month?

I’m not going to make a budget for March because there is too much things going on for example: I have to renew the sticker for the car plates, I have to renew my license, I still haven’t registered my newborn so I need to get that done, I owe money on bills that need to be paid, I have the book release that I need to prepare for and of course whatever mystery bills that pop up.

I’m not being pessimistic.. Well maybe a little but the reality is the month of March (my birthday month) is not going to be a good month so I’m not going to bother with it. I will re-attempt again in April! Something has eventually got to give!!! I will definitely be working on my optimistism lol.

God Willing

A Co-author!

Book launch will be on March 24th, 2018. I’m so excited because publishing a book was a goal of mine for the last few years. There is my name Floetic Justice. Although this is not my own book, this is still a step in the right direction. It’s called, “The Struggle is Real: Confessions of a single mother too”. It’s a compilation of single mother authors that have come together to write this book. Each chapter is a true story from each author of what struggles and obstacles they endured during a time of their life as a single mom and how they overcame it.

The ladies are beautiful and strong and it’s amazing to read their stories and see how far they have come. I decided to share my story because I want to help others and let them know that whatever they may be going through, they can overcome and they are not alone.

It was a self-published book so we had to cover all costs for editing and the launch etc. So if anyone would like to help and support my movement please contact me for a copy of the book. The book is 30 dollars.

Thank you so much in Advance for your support!!

God Willing

Meal Plan for the 3rd Week of February

Okay so my plan for the 3rd week of February (11th – 17th) is really focused on fruits as I feel we’ve been lacking in our healthy food intake (next week I’ll focus on vegetables). I’ve spent 120 out of the 500 budget for the month on food. That leaves me with 380 for the month. I don’t think this is going to be possible. I actually spent an extra 50 bucks but since it was off of a gift card I had, I didn’t include that in the budget spending.

So my plan for February 11th to February 17th:
Breakfast –

Meal Plan
February 11th – French toast with syrup with orange juice and strawberries
February 12th – Cereal with milk, boiled egg and apple slices
February 13th – Pancakes with orange juice with kiwi slices
February 14th – scrambled eggs with bacon with fruitopia and watermelon chunks
February 15th – cheese omelet, sausages and canned pineapples
February 16th – Cereal with milk and blueberries
February 17th – Whatever leftovers we have

Midnight snack will always remain the same (warm cookies with hot chocolate before bed).

1st snack time
February 11th – banana slices
February 12th – yogurt
February 13th – box of raisins
February 14th – pudding
February 15th – fruit cup
February 16th – oranges
February 17th – whatever leftovers we have in the house

2nd snack time
February 11th – Crackers with melted cheese on top
February 12th – Bread with jam
February 13th – Bell pepper slices
February 14th – cucumbers with dip
February 15th – fruit cup
February 16th – popsicles
February 17th – whatever leftovers we have in the house

Lunch
February 11th – ravioli
February 12th – Mac and cheese
February 13th – chicken noodle soup
February 14th – Fish sticks and fries (fish and chips)
February 15th – chicken nuggets
February 16th – Jam sandwiches cut in little squares
February 17th – whatever leftovers we have in the house

Dinner
February 11th – Chicken wings, fish bites with rice and peas
February 12th – Chicken drumsticks with mashed potatoes and sweet peas
February 13th – Hamburger helper
February 14th – Spaghetti
February 15th – Pork chops, baked potatoes and brussel sprouts
February 16th – Slow cooker Bbq Apple bacon wrapped chicken drumsticks
February 17th – whatever leftovers we have in the house

Wish me luck! Do you have a meal plan or a budget spending list? If you do, please share.

God Willing

Meal Plan for the 2nd Week of February

I had promised to post a meal plan every Monday for February. Last Monday I did not post it and before you start thinking I’m a fraud, I want to let you know why. Unfortunately, I had no money. After my “non-speaking boyfriend” spent 120 dollars on the first week, we were left with no money for the 2nd week (February 4th – 10th) so that week’s meal plan was non-existent. Honestly, we had cereal for dinner some nights.

I LOVE my food, it’s hard to live like this. I’m hoping something changes soon! However from doing a meal plan the 1st week and not doing one the 2nd week, I can tell you… The meal plan takes the guesswork out of meal times and it makes my life less stressful. Even though my “boyfriend” didn’t follow my shopping list so I had to switch out some things, it still made my life so much more easier than not having a plan. So my verdict is a meal plan is SOOOOO worth it! Also it helps cut down the grocery bill if you go to the store with a list versus just doing a random shop.

I’m glad I did this! Now I just got to get my “boyfriend” on board so we can actually follow my meal plans exactly (he actually does the grocery run)! Next on the list will be to actually get a “sahm” schedule so I can function properly and get things done on time.

God Willing

The Bill Collector

Whose number is this? I didn’t answer the call but when it stopped, I looked it up on google and it’s a bill collector. They call several times a day! This is harassment is it not? I mean I understand you owe a bill or something but do they really believe people have the money and just choose not to pay? I guess some people might but why get bad credit if you can avoid it? I would avoid it!

I would love to have the money to pay off every bill and just live debt free but the reality of the situation is that right now I can’t so they must wait. I have them down as a payment needing to be made and I will make it ASAP but it’s not possible right now so it’s not being made. I can understand the method of the harassment because maybe if you bother the person enough they will just pay the bill to get you out of the way but if you’re someone like me who just doesn’t have it, harassing me is not going to change the outcome of the situation.

This type of hounding can drive a person crazy. I know we all need a job but I could never do this type of work. I don’t even answer my house phone at all anymore because 9 out of 10 times it’s a bill collector. These people are unreasonable, you can’t even have a civil conversation with them so whats the point of answering the call? There is none, it’ll be a waste of 25 minutes of my life where I could be utilizing my skills to actual make money.

Debt can really get people down, it takes a strong individual to confront the problem with realistic goals and expectations. Have you dealt with debt? If so, how did you manage to overcome it?

God Willing

Meal plan for the 1st week of February

Groceries are a must have but GOSH they are so expensive and in a family of 5, they don’t last very long. So I’m trying to keep my grocery shopping to a budget of 500 for the month (technically I can’t afford the 500 but food has to be bought.) So I’ll be going to the grocery store every Sunday starting on February 4th for the weekly meal plans, my hope is this helps me spend less money on groceries.

Grocery list for February 1st to February 3rd:
cereal (buy 2 boxes of cereal to give the kids an option)
box of eggs
bag of 2% milk
Bag of  3%milk
Box of pancake mix
orange juice
loaf of bread
Syrup
Frozen mangoes
Apples
Canned Pineapples
Big jug of water
bananas
yogurt
bag of box of raisins
2x box of Cookies
hot chocolate mix (already have)
crackers
cheese
Jam (already have)
Bell pepper slices
can of ravioli (already have)
box of Mac and cheese
chicken noodle soup
Frozen mixed veggies (already have)
White rice
chicken drumsticks (already have)
box of hamburger helper
ground beef (already have)
Tilapia fillets
potatoes (already have a 10lb bag)
asparagus
cheese whiz
5x box of juice
2x box of orange juice
3x 2L of pop (cranberry ginger ale, grape soda and watermelon)

So my plan for February 1st to February 3rd:
Breakfast –

Meal Plan
February 1st – Cereal with milk and apple slices
February 2nd – Pancakes with orange juice with pieces of mango on the side
February 3rd – French toast with syrup with orange juice and canned pineapples.

Next, I have to consider snack time for the kids…. There are 2 snack times, one after breakfast and another after lunch and I guess you can have a midnight snack but that will always remain the same (warm cookies with hot chocolate before bed).

1st snack time
February 1st – banana slices
February 2nd – yogurt
February 3rd – box of raisins

2nd snack time
February 1st – Crackers with melted cheese on top
February 2nd – Bread with jam
February 3rd – Bell pepper slices

Lunch
February 1st – ravioli
February 2nd – Mac and cheese
February 3rd – chicken noodle soup

Dinner
February 1st – Oven baked Chicken drumsticks with white rice and mixed veggies
February 2nd – Hamburger helper
February 3rd – tilapia fillets with mashed potatoes and asparagus with melted cheese whiz

So whatever I still have after February 3rd will help me organize the meal plans for February 4th to February 10th and then I’ll make the list for that week on what we need. This should eliminate unnecessary spending and keep the budget within means. There are still things I can eliminate such as cookies, I can bake our own instead of buying a pack or use my juicer for juice instead of buying juice but we’ll see how it goes. One step at a time. This list will be updated with the prices of each item after I do the grocery shop. The meal plans for the following week will be posted every monday for the month of February. I really hope this works.

Do you have a meal plan or a budget spending list? If you do, please share.

God Willing

Expense Overload

I’ve spent my last hour looking up ways to deal with my expenses overload. My expenses by far exceed my income since I’m on maternity leave and I need to figure it out or else my kids’ won’t get the best version of me for the next couple of months. So, here are some suggestions I found floating around the worldwide web:

1) Know what your income and bills are.

2) Get rid of all the unnecessary spending. Penny Pinching time

3) Prioritize. Pay the important bills first like rent, car payments, insurance – those must have.

4) When trying to get on top of expenses your credit may take a hit. If you can, pay the minimum payments on credit cards if not then maybe a debt consolidation program may help.

5) Get a second/part time job

Things may get hard but living to pay bills is not living at all. Spending a year or two struggling and penny-pinching beats spending a lifetime beyond your means with bill collectors hunting you down.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

God Willing

The Empty Christmas Tree

In my 11 years of being a mom, my kids have never had an empty Christmas tree, until now!

My bills this month are more than my income so I can’t afford to buy the kids’ gifts. My  heart breaks, as I know they’re all looking forward to Christmas. I’m still praying for a miracle but today is the 24th, I’m two days overdue for my 4th baby and yesterday was our parrot’s birthday plus my mom’s church Christmas party. I couldn’t participate in either. However my mom bought the kids’ gift for the church party so that will give the kids’ one gift each under the tree, still won’t be from me but better than nothing. My last daughter’s god mom put a gift under the tree for my 2 youngest and my dad sent gifts for each one of them. However it still comes down to “Mommy hasn’t given them anything“.

It’s stressful and heartbreaking but at least they have a mom who is alive, right? Doesn’t make me feel any better. I feel like a failure. This is not my portion! I don’t want my kids’ knowing this type of  life and only I can change my current circumstances. But How?

I still have no idea, especially with a new baby on the way. I definitely want 2017 to be put behind me asap! I will make sure I start Christmas shopping in September to avoid such an embarrassing and stressful Christmas.

I have cried all my tears over my lack of being a great mom and I’m praying and hoping for a better outcome going forward. I don’t know if anyone can relate to what I’m saying, hopefully not, to be honest (I wouldn’t wish this on my worse enemy) but regardless this is my current situation: An empty Christmas tree, I wish it weren’t true…

GOD WILLING