Family Savings Journal

A testimony by Kate from San Diego Deals and Steals

In 2011, we completed our second adoption process – this time completely debt free! One of the ways we did this was by praying my husband’s 99 Camry (with over 250,000 miles and a cracked radiator) would last just a bit longer.

Since we were fundraising for our adoption, we didn’t want to spend any extra on anything unless we absolutely had to. However, as soon as we completed our adoption, our next financial move was to save for a slight upgrade to his car.

We put the money we had been putting in our “adoption fund” into the “newish car fund”. Here are some of the ways we saved:

• working odd jobs
• continuing to cut back our grocery budget and cooking at home from scratch
• enjoying free entertainment – playing at the park, renting free movies, street fairs, etc.
• the little bit of money I made from my blog
• random, unexpected commission checks (hubby is a freelance artist and writer – his commission check was more than we anticipated this year so we got to our goal six months early!)

It all added up and we saved just over $6,000 without touching our emergency fund!  

Our goal was to spend less than $6000 and not include the money we would make from our old car sale. We found a 2004 VW Passat with a little over 100,000 miles (that may seem like an old car to some – but it was dreamy for us!) and purchased it for just under $5,500.

Thank goodness he holds none of his self-worth in what he drives! We have lots of friends with much nicer cars, but he doesn’t care. He says, “Ours is paid for!” (Love him for that).

His new car also gets better gas mileage so he will save about $1 each day on his 40+ mile commute. That is going to help as we continue to work on our Baby Steps. We also sold our car (with full disclosure) for $1,700 the very low blue book value – but we wanted to be honest with our sale.

I know many people would have thought nothing of financing a $20,000 car with that $6,000 down. Instead, we just bought a less expensive car and put the money leftover (the extra $500 from our car savings and the $1,700 from the sale of his old car) into our Emergency Fund savings in the bank.

Kate lives in San Diego CA with her husband Harry, and kids, Josie (homemade), Silas (handpicked from Russia), and Charlotte (handpicked domestically). She is passionate about adoption and having fun in San Diego frugally. You can see more at San Diego Deals and Steals where she blogs about both.

Have you saved up and paid cash for something — large or small? Submit your story for possible publication here.

Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today!

Related Stories

• 4 Ways to Save Money on Moving
• 48-Hour Giveaway: $150 worth of cloth diapers from Sweet Little Blessings (2 Winners)
• 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Freezer-Friendly Pizza Dough (Day 13)

This pizza crust recipe has been my go-to recipe for years. It’s so easy to make — and it’s really hard to ruin. In fact, I’ve made it dozens upon dozens of times and I don’t think I’ve ever messed it up.

That’s saying a lot coming from someone like me, who can even ruin simple recipes like Reese’s Peanut Butter Bars.

Last year, I experimented with freezing the pizza dough — to make it even quicker to pull off Homemade Pizza for dinner. While I still think fresh is best, the frozen dough is almost as good — and it’s a whole lot less expensive than ordering pizza for dinner.

Freezer-Friendly Homemade Pizza Dough

• 2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees F.)
• 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 Tablespoons oil (vegetable, Canola, or olive oil)
• 5 cups flour (can use all whole-wheat, half white/half whole-wheat, or all white)

Pour the warm water into a bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Stir to dissolve.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix.

Dump onto a floured surface and knead dough for two to five minutes until smooth and no longer sticky.

To freeze: Cut lump of dough in half and place each half in an airtight freezer bag. Freeze for up to 4-6 weeks.

To bake: Place frozen dough in a greased bowl and thaw at room temperature for at least 3-4 hours. Roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan.

Add pizza toppings of your choice. Bake at 500 degrees for around 10 minutes (until the crust looks crispy and lightly browned).

If you don’t want to mess with freezing the dough, take the kneaded dough and roll out and shape onto a greased pizza pan. Add pizza toppings and bake as directed above.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today!

Related Stories

• 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Barbecued Meatballs (Day 11)
• Reader testimonial: We made 112 lunches in 7 hours!
• 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Lasagna Casserole (Day 12)

If you missed Parts 1-3, be sure to read them here.

6. Make Time For Things That Energize You

If you are feeling burned out, step back and evaluate your life. How much of the time are you spending doing things that drain you and how often are you doing things that energize you?

If your answer to this question is that you’re doing little that energizes you, you may have just found the solution to overcoming burnout.

Make a List of Things You Love to Do

Instead of thinking of all the things you have to do or the things you should do, clear your mind for 10 or 15 minutes and just make a list of things you love to do. What excites you, makes you feel alive, refreshes you, and recharges your batteries?

Maybe it’s gardening, having lunch with a friend, going to garage sales, painting, scrapbooking, swimming, writing, or browsing books at a bookstore. Whatever comes to your mind as something you love to do, write it down.

Be Intentional About Scheduling In Time for Things You Love

Take your list and schedule in at least one or two things every week that you love to do. Not only does this give you something to look forward to every week, but it prevents you from becoming too worn down. If every few days — or at least once a week — you’re doing something that recharges you, you’re going to be less apt to ever feel completely burnt out because you’re regularly replenishing your energy stores.

When I did this exercise, it was so helpful for me. I realized that, while I love spending time with other people, I’m most refreshed with quiet. Going and doing and being with people exhausts me after awhile.

So, in order to recharge my batteries, I need time away — going to a coffeeshop and writing for a few hours, curling up with a good book for an hour, or going grocery shopping by myself.

Because I know this about myself, I intentionally carve out at least an hour or two of quiet each week, if at all possible. The stillness — without people and projects and pressing to-do’s — re-energizes me and makes me much more productive and passionate about life.

What If You Can’t Think of Anything You Love To Do?

When I was deep in the midst of postpartum depression, someone encouraged me to try and do something fun every single day. The problem was, I couldn’t come up with a single thing I wanted to do. Nothing sounded fun, interesting, exciting, or even appealing to me. And that was a warning sign that I needed to get help — and to get it quickly.

If you’re feeling this way, please don’t take it lightly. Like me, you may be suffering from something more than just physical exhaustion or fatigue.

Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today!

Related Stories

• 4 Ways to Save Money on Moving
• We Paid Cash: A New-to-Us Car
• 48-Hour Giveaway: $150 worth of cloth diapers from Sweet Little Blessings (2 Winners)

As I’ve shared before, Lasagna Casserole is a staple recipe at our house. I love it because it is so versatile and because most of the ingredients go on great sales a few times per year.

I use whatever pasta, cheese, tomatoes, and pasta sauce I have gotten recently with coupons and sales, so it always turns out a little bit differently. But it’s always good!

I doubled the recipe and added in Parmesan cheese to the cottage cheese mixture this time since I had a little bit left in the freezer to use up from the Amazon deal last fall.

I left out the meat in the casseroles today because we’ve gotten so used to having this casserole without meat in it that no one notices it’s meatless.

I had both cheddar and mozzarella cheese on hand, so I just used both. If you use cheddar it gives it a bit of a different flair than traditional lasagna — and we think it’s yummy that way, too. {You may or may not agree. We can have weird and quirky tastes sometimes!}

See what I said about this recipe being versatile? You could probably sneak some extra steamed and chopped veggies into the pasta sauce, too, if you wanted to.

Freezer-Friendly Lasagna Casserole

1 pound ground beef or sausage
1 onion, chopped (optional)
8 ounces of uncooked noodles (we like spiral or rotini noodles best)
1/3 to 1/2 jar spaghetti sauce
1 15-oz. can diced tomatoes
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups cottage cheese or ricotta cheese (we prefer cottage cheese and it’s typically much cheaper — especially if you can find it marked down!)
8 oz. mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon parsley (chopped fresh or dried)
salt/pepper

Brown ground beef and onion until cooked. While the meat is cooking, boil the noodles according to package directions.

Mix spaghetti sauce with diced tomatoes and browned ground beef. Set 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese aside to sprinkle on the top. Combine the rest of the mozzarella cheese, cottage cheese, beaten eggs, parsley and salt and pepper.

Layer a third of the meat sauce, then the noodles and then the cheese mixture in a 9 x 13-inch pan. Repeat two more times. Sprinkle with cheese.

To freeze: Cover well with foil and freeze for up to a month.

To serve: Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes (until bubbly). Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6.

Did you do any freezer cooking today? If so, I’d love to see the results of your efforts! Link up your blog posts below or tell us about your success in the comments.

Learn how to go from financial mess to financial success. Order your copy of my brand-new book The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget today!

Related Stories

• A Beginner’s Guide to Freezer Cooking
• 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Barbecued Meatballs (Day 11)
• 4 Weeks to Fill Your Freezer: Southwest Roll-ups (Day 10)