Life Changing Custom Budgets

08/16/2024

IT'S ALMOST SCHOOL TIME!! I'm sure I don't have to remind you of this BUT are you ready! Everyone thinks about school supplies like backpacks and pencils but are you prepare food wise? No longer can you just grab whatever from the fridge for lunch.
This September I have 2 kids going to school and a husband that will also need to bring lunch to work!
Instead if doing the week before panic shopping I've already started. One morning I made a bunch of premade lunches and dinners that we can just grab on those busy nights. It was a lot of work but many of the ingredients I use in most of the dishes.

Ended up making:
34 sandwiches which makes 17 lunches for my husband (bought the big mag of rolls from Costco for $7....Each lunch only cost about $2.00
24 smaller sandwiches which makes 12 lunches for the kids school lunch
Meatloaf - bites for kids lunch, small ones for husbands lunch and one for a dinner
Chicken pot pie (filling done in the slow cooker) 1 big and a couple small
French meat pies - 6 small and one big plus we had one for dinner that night
Spaghetti sauce (done in the instapot on slow cooker setting) portioned into 6 dinners worth

I also have been buy one or two boxes of school snacks every week so that the grocery shop the week before school isn't blown up by snacks needed. These little things have made me more relaxed starting the school year.

07/16/2024

It’s Amazon Prime Days! Don’t forget to look ahead a couple of months for birthdays or holiday gifts! Even Christmas or stocking stuffers.

06/10/2024

Strawberries are on for $1.77 at Walmart!!!!

06/03/2024

This past weekend we had a blast with the girls taking them to a local farm that puts on a “Unicorn ball” a couple times a year! We surprised them with sparkling caps (in their favourite colour), tiaras and wands. They dressed as princesses and met Ariel and Rapunzel! We decided that this was going to be our daughter’s 5th birthday party which we celebrated as just our family unit of 5.

Here’s the thing two years ago or even one year ago I would have never thought to spend that amount of money on one kids birthday BUT there is a few factors in our decision.

1. We now have what I call a People/Holiday fund (we put money in every month so we already had the money for it and I wasn’t trying to fit it into our monthly budget!
2. All our girls are old enough to participate and enjoy the event
3. We don’t have our extended family out here to have a big family get together
4. We realize that this is our middle child’s last birthday where she won’t want to invite an entire class of friends! (She starts school in September)
5. We made it an experience birthday party verse one that’s overwhelming and easily forgotten
6. I didn’t have to buy decorations, set anything up or clean after! I will blow up a few ballons on her actually birthday in a couple of weeks and get a cake.
7. That event and the items she got for it are really her birthday gift. I did get a couple princess books for a dollar that she will open on the day of. Plus she has gifts from her grandparents, aunt and uncle.

The beauty of younger kids is they don’t really know if an event is for them or just something happening. Last year her birthday fell on Father’s Day and we went to the BC Forestry Centre to there Father’s Day event. She felt so special and walked around telling everyone it was her birthday so she got a bunch of birthday wishes hehe We also went to The hangout climbing gym for our youngest birthday this year. I will tell you even though we have done a few friends birthday parties here at the house the ones they remember and talk about are the ones I listed above.

So if you have younger kids think about doing family experiences vs a traditional parties

05/29/2024

05/28/2024

Don't put off creating a financial plan (a.k.a budget) any longer!! It is absolutely freeing getting your money organized! When you need something you know you have the money to get it. You aren't worried about not being able to buy groceries because life happens.

I want to help everyone I can create their own budget through my course "Mama Maria's Budgeting Class" https://www.shopmfinancial.com/booking-calendar/mama-maria-s-budgeting-course?referral=service_list_widget

This is great for that teen/young adult that is just starting out. We all know our kids tend to listen to others rather than what we say, even when we would tell them the same thing!

Please note that this is not only for those struggling financially but also those who need/want a better grasp of their financial picture!! There will be no investment guidance as this is not in my wheel house! It is to help you develop an easy to manage budget! I am not affiliated with any financial groups. This class has no gimmicks and I will not try to sell you anything.

If you are not able to attend this session would you comment that you would be interested in another date or location you would like to see it? Even liking this post would give me an idea of interest. Feel free to share this post EVERYWHERE!

05/24/2024

This is why you need a savings account for your vehicles. This is the result of a RACCOON! It jumped in front of my husband on the highway and because of how close the car behind him was and having a car beside him he had no option but to drive straight at it. Now many people would say ah it’s just a little damage that doesn’t NEED to be fix. What you don’t see in this picture is the clips inside that are broken of and other pieces my husband rambled off. For us it will cost about $300-$400 and a lot of my husband cursing. To people that would need to go to a shop I’m sure they would manage to get that price closer to $1000.

Could we go through insurance sure but the cost of the repair is less than our deductible. What we would end up with is still paying out of our pocket PLUS possibility of our rate going up!

Luckily for us we have saved enough that we can pay for the repairs without it affecting our budget and the expenses we have for this month!

Drive safe everyone and look out for those crazy raccoons!

Join my Mama Maria’s Budgeting Class June 8th at the Knights of Columbias Duncan. It runs from 10-1130

https://www.shopmfinancial.com/booking-calendar/mama-maria-s-budgeting-course?referral=service_details_widget&timezone=America%2FVancouver

05/21/2024

Good morning I have news that will bring sunshine to this rainy island day!!

First I want to thank you for those who came out to The Stop & Shop Market this weekend and especially for those who entered our draw at the market:

Rob T
Sarah from Tiny Tillies Tots
Ian T
Tex-Stephanie Taylor from Custom Rocco Threads
Jason S
Magen F

Watch the video to see who WON!! I will be getting in touch with the winner shortly so make sure you look at your Spam mail!

05/19/2024

Sneak peek of our course workbook!

There’s still room for you to register for our upcoming coming course
At the Knights of Columbus, Duncan on June 8th at 10am

If you can’t make it write in the comments where you would like to see the course available!

https://www.shopmfinancial.com/book-online

05/17/2024

Always make sure you check all the options for the items you want to purchase.

Last week we needed peanut butter and this is what I found (see picture)

At first glance getting two 1kg container of peanut butter for $12 looks like your saving $2 BUT a 2kg container of the same peanut butter was only $10.97 (not on sale!) So I would have paid $1 more then I needed to if I hadn't checked the 2kg price. (we go through A LOT of peanut butter in this house)