keep on tryin'

It seems that one is forever in the process of growing up. This is the difficult and the delightful thing about life.

I've been in a phase of restructuring since I moved in October. Suddenly my budget got a lot tighter, and the free-spirit financing I'd employed for -- well, ever -- failed. So I took stock. Budgeting has never been my strong suit; if a person wore budgeting like armor, mine would be constructed of paper. Not terribly sturdy. But I've found a few strategies which wiser people have been employing since their infancy that really work, and I feel a little less strapped as a result.

Here are a few of my methods:

1. (Okay, this is the most obvious one of all. Ever. The wiser people I mentioned will be rolling their eyes and groaning, Duh.) Record all transactions in my check book ledger. All checks, all debits, all credit charges, all online bill payments & purchases (it's only payments for me, these days), all automatic withdrawals get their own little line. I then subtract as I go so that I have an accurate accounting, and can keep track of how much money I actually have when checks that I've written clear. Oh yes, and because double-checking is always a must, I take a gander at my online banking account a few times a week in case any hidden charges crop up. Further, I'm beginning to build a teeny bit of a "cushion" by rounding my expenditures up by ten cents or so, or a dollar, so I have a little more than I think.

2. Every weekend I cook the week's big meal and eat the leftovers all week. This may sound horribly drab to some of my readers, but with the hours I work, and how tired my days render me, I find it nearly impossible to cook anything more demanding than biscuits or a batch of cornbread on a weeknight. Plus, the food I create in my little kitchen is the kind where the idea of leftovers leaves me with a little anticipatory thrill, because what comes out of my oven and off my stovetop is so freaking good.

Now here's where the money-saver comes in: When I cook that big meal, I freeze half of it right away. Boss-Lady bought me a vacuum sealer for Christmas last year, and I've found it to be a fabulous machine. (Vacuum sealed food lasts for two years in the freezer, and up to six months in the fridge; so even things like cheese, which only get used occasionally, can be stored without spoilage and waste.) The benefit of freezing half my gargantuan meal is that I have freshly frozen leftovers available for the weeks when money is especially tight, or I need to stock up on things that don't fit into my regular budget (such as cat litter, cat food, cat medicine, feminine products, a new rug to vamp up the horribly shabby rented carpets), or pay up unexpected doctor's bills. Plus, I like to hoard things, and this habit is in keeping with my pack-rat tendencies.

I've decided to designate one week per month as Freezer Week, and empty out what I've frozen. This will give my budget a little bit of leeway, which might even allow me to buy the very occasional book, movie or CD (hey, a spendthrift can only exert so much self-control), and help me save up a bit more of a cushion. Plus, since my ancient fridge doesn't have a self-defrosting freezer, keeping the stock to a minimum will help with the inevitable several-times-yearly thaw-out.

3. I make everything from scratch. Since I love cooking, this is the fun part of budgeting. This past weekend I settled on carnitas as my meal-of-the-week, and had just written "tortillas" on my grocery list when I thought, Wait a minute. I then fetched down my bread book and found a recipe for tortillas made from scratch. So I scratched tortillas off my list and put down "all-purpose flour" instead, which stretches a lot longer than store bought bread products and saves money in the end. (The tortillas were fabulous, by the way.)

I've also discovered a love for crumbled cornbread in milk as a breakfast food, and cornbread is both cheap and easy to make (and LOTS cheaper than cereal). When I tire of that, I whip up some pancake batter, which keeps in the fridge for a few days. (I'll post a recipe for baked pancakes in a minute.)

4. I've written down a general budget, but I find that it's necessary at the beginning of each month to sit down and plan out my bills and when to pay them, based on when I get paid (which is every other week -- twice-monthly). While bills are almost always due on a certain date, the same is not true of payday, and so a little strategizing is necessary to balance out bills with groceries and gas. Fortunately my bills are scattered all over the month, so the juggling isn't too taxing.

So those are my places of improvement thus far, and I have a few additional goals. But slow and steady wins the race, and lasting change seems to come from more gradual progress. I'm pretty happy with where I am right now; in some respects I'm rather squeaking by, but at least I'm always aware of what's in my account, and when I'm able to take care of my responsibilities. Now I just need to begin surfing for grocery sales, and buying the Sunday paper to hunt down coupons.

This is the stuff that always sounded so drearily dull when I was a kid. But the fun is in the challenge...it's like playing chess against money. And there's a satisfaction in winning.