Double Your Donation: Track your donation spending

So, hopefully by now you have started your donation box for your local food bank. How are you doing? Are you buying BOGO deals to double your dollars? Are you couponing? How are you tracking your spending?
Because I like spreadsheets and I am a NERD, I made a couple of quick spreadsheets to help us see if we are truly doubling our donation. The first one is a simple chart, like a checkbook register (remember those?).

I printed out a copy and tossed it in my coupon binder so I could take basic notes while shopping. You can download the PDF version by clicking the link below.
Double Your Donation Tracker PDF
Because I don't love doing math long hand, and because excel exists to do it for me, I made a slightly more detailed excel version. Then I downloaded it to my iPad and opened it in Numbers (because numbers is cool like that) and entered the info once I got home.

It is calculating the totals for me, AND spitting out a report at the bottom to let me know just how I am doing...

A 50% increase represents a doubling of my donation dollars. So far, I am doing pretty good. This week I have to pick up a few fresh items for Thanksgiving and will be picking up a few stock up deals for the donation box as well. The super nerd in me is excited to see if I can push that total back up above 50% (I was at 55% last week!)

Download the excel tracker below, and use it on your PC in Excel or iOS device in Numbers.

Double Your Donation Tracker EXCEL

Let us know how you are doing in the comments! Is there anything we can do to help you meet your goal?
-Jen

Posted with Blogsy

Double Your Donation Challenge: Couponing Basics

So you've never couponed before, and here we are asking you to coupon and DOUBLE your donation. This is going to be really hard right? WRONG! This is a piece of cake. Follow me!

Double Your Donation Challenge.

It seems like tough times are going viral these days. The recovery never really happened, pay for the working and middle class has been stagnant, and the price of everything has gone up. At my house, (and we can't be alone) the usual money stress (let's be real, every house has money stress) has been increased by an onslaught of medical bills (we are on track to meet two individual deductibles this year) and some urgent household repairs (the pipes backed up, the washer broke and had to be replaced, and a gutter cracked and must be replaced before winter), we need to save for my upcoming, unpaid maternity leave, and the holidays are coming. But still, we are the lucky ones. We have more than most.

Free Money.

What if every week I handed you money to go shopping? You probably would use it right? You wouldn't say "oh thanks" and toss it in the trash would you? Nope, not a chance. What if I told you that every week you are doing just that?

My grocery bill this week should have been $39.67. Instead it was $20.32, here's how it happened.

How to organize your coupons, QUICKLY.

This is a picture of the 'before' mess. Maybe it doesn't look too bad, but that drawer is stuffed full of inserts that I didn't have time to deal with this summer because I was too busy being nauseated. It happens. BUT it only took about an hour to get everything organized and back on track.

I don't do it often enough, but I'm actually pretty great at organizing. Maybe it's my Type A side, maybe it's because, as I tell the Hubster often to tease him, I'm just spacialy gifted. Whatever it is, I feel comfortable telling you that this is the EASIEST, BEST, MOST EFFICIENT WAY to organize your coupon stash. I have tried many methods, this is by far the best.

Salsa (nearly) Verde

I love canning. Especially in the fall when it makes the house warm and cozy. I also love that it is a easy way to preserve and share the bounty from the garden, and homemade canned goods can make great Christmas presents-presents that you are done with in October. I had about 6 quarts of green and mostly green tomatoes that I decided needed to become salsa. I used a recipie from Ball as my guideline.

Menu Planning for Specialty Diets

This past year has seen a lot of health challenges for my family in Vermont, and they just seem to keep piling up. My Aunt is now taking care of three family members day to day, and the rest of the family is looking for ways to help without being in the way.

Two weeks ago my poor Aunt drove three people to 22 different doctor's appointments. Last week she had 4-5 appointments scheduled each day, plus the dog got sick. As you can imagine, this doesn't leave much time for menu planning or cooking. (And I thought I was busy.)My parents who live in New Hampshire are planning to visit once a month to help out until things settle down, and my Dad was brainstorming about how to prep food for my Grandparents for the days in between visits.I can't do too much to help from Pennsylvania, but I DO now how to menu plan and shop for extended periods of time!So here we go.

Once a month: May 2013

So for those of you who want meal ideas, and for my own future reference, I thought I would try to post my monthly meal plan and shopping list. I am not going to go all out like I did on the first once a month series because it's too draining. Groceries are not super exciting, and I am exhausted after a day spent shopping and prepping, but I am happy to report that dinner for the next five weeks is

D-O-N-E

done, done, done.

Serious Sides

 

 

 

 

 

We froze some entrees, yes. But that is not all we can do, oh no that is not all...

Prep your way to happiness, part deux.

As I write this, it has been a week since my grocery trip, and I finally have some room in the freezer to stash a lasagne. Since lasagne from scratch is time consuming, I made two. One for the meal of the day, and one for the freezer.

One thing that makes me happy, and makes my life easier, is this chalk board I painted on the door to our basement. I write the menu for the week so I know just what needs to happen each morning without having to think. Because, let's face it, thinking in the morning is HARD.

There is even room at the bottom for my personal assistant to make some notations about things and stuff. Keeps him busy occasionally.

Mystery Meal

Jen has her stuff together.  I mean it.  She can trim her budget, save time cooking, buy everything at once, and be set.

I used to be upset with myself because I would try to be that way and fail.  “Why can’t I be more organized?”  I’d lament.  I would try to plan ahead for meals only to chafe at the fact that, you know what, I really want meatloaf.  I do not care that it is July – do you hear me monthly menu? – I do not care!  January gazpacho?  Yes. 

Prep your way to happiness

My grandfather used to have us play this party game he called "Pop your way to happiness." You would pop a balloon to get a number, and the number determined the prize you got. It was great fun unless you were the girl with the balloons pinned to you. Once a month cooking is kinda like that. It's awesome when you get the prize (no cooking for the rest of the month!) but it's a little tricky when you have all those balloons pinned to you. Still, I much prefer it to cooking every night.

How to plan a once a month grocery trip.

As I promised, here is a step by step illustrated guide to my version of once a month shopping. Get ready to save some money!

A case for once a month shopping

A few months ago I took over the grocery shopping for my hubby. He'd been doing it for six years and was due for a break. It only took a few weeks to figure out why. It was awful! I hated it! I made a menu plan, went shopping, came home and put it all away, only to find I'd forgotten stuff. Then, when Saturday rolled around I was stuck doing it all over again. Ugh.