Tips and Tricks on Saving Money – Martha’s Personal Saving Story

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their Personal Savings Stories and photographs.  I hope by sharing other people’s money savings tips here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all find new ways to save rock our budgets.

~Mavis

One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Martha is back this year with an update…

Hello Mavis & Readers,

I’m not sure if you would still like to highlight these stories, but I have a follow-up for you. Almost exactly one year ago I shared with you how our family saved money and paid off debt while not sacrificing our quality of life. In the last twelve months I’ve had a lesson on why that’s important. Each person or family needs to decide on their “why” we save-maybe to move, maybe to go an amazing vacation, maybe for retirement. Our family learned while goals are good, being prepared is great, but getting to do both is amazing.

Let me fill you in….When I last left you we were saving up to replace our roof and my husband’s car. Neither happened in 2016. On March 21, 2016 our 15-year old dishwasher busted a hose behind the cabinets. That meant no one saw it until I came out of our home office to refill my coffee cup and noticed water spreading across the floor. I yelled to the kids to grab some rag towels while I turned off the water.

I may have mentioned in my last post we live in a bi-level house. Meaning our master bedroom is below our kitchen. So when the kids went to grab the rags they passed our bedroom. Let me tell you there is nothing worse than hearing your kids yell “Mom! Your Bed!” Waterfalls, people. There were waterfalls coming out of the ceiling vents and pouring onto my bed.

What followed was a complete gutting of our bedroom. The dishwasher and the ceiling, carpet and bed in the bedroom all had to be replaced. However, instead of viewing it as a disaster we took it as an opportunity. Since we had paid off our debt and built up our savings we were able to add to the insurance money and really renovate the bedroom.

In addition to replacing what the water destroyed we added new lighting and paint and, in a splurge move, went up to Holmes County Ohio, to order a bedroom furniture set from our Amish friends at Pleasant View Furniture  something that had been on our “dream” list. Mavis- you would love Holmes County-bakeries galore! There is this thing called a fry pie…heaven, but I digress.

Where savings came into play is that we didn’t fret about it. We were able to take our time and make choices that fit our family’s tastes. And we didn’t have to sacrifice other things, like vacation, in order to get the renovation completed. In fact we took a great family vacation this year spending two weeks in New England. A week camping in Acadia National Park and a week on Cape Cod for a family reunion.

So, my point to all your readers is to figure out why you want to save and know that you will have peace of mind when you do. Those insurance commercials where the guy plays “Misery” aren’t too far from the truth. In our messy life things happen, but like good girl & boy scouts I’m learning it’s best to be prepared.

Our family continues much of our savings practices that we have done in the past only because we still have big goals (like the roof and car which hopefully will be taken care of this year). One additional tip is “eat from your pantry.” Similar to your no spend week I like to extend my grocery shopping. I might plan 6-7 days worth of meals, but then not go shopping until day 8 or 9 and just eat from our fridge and pantry.

My kids think the word “smorgasbord” is just a fancy way of me saying “let’s eat up leftovers.” It might make for some pretty weird food combinations, but at least we’re not wasting as much food. I also love my juicer for using up fruits and veggies that might be past the point where I would eat them, but I can juice them just fine.

Finally, here’s a recipe for you to try-one of our vegetarian favorites.

Leek-Mushroom-Lemon Orzo
*Adapted from Vegetarian: The Best Ever Recipe Collection by Linda Fraser

2 C. orzo cooked according to package directions
2 leeks washed and sliced
8 oz mushrooms (I like to use baby bella)-chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves-minced
2 tbsp butter
1 onion-chopped
1 lemon-grate the zest for 1 tbsp and use the juice of it
2/3 C. parmesan cheese
¼ C. fresh parsley-chopped or 2 tbsp. dried
Salt & Pepper

In a big skillet combine the olive oil and butter and sauté the onion and leeks. Add the mushrooms and garlic. The onions should be translucent-maybe sauté for 10 minutes. Add in the cooked orzo, parmesan, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir to mix well, Salt and Pepper to taste and dish up into bowls. Just before serving place a fresh sprinkle of parsley, lemon zest and parmesan cheese on top.

Best wishes from Troy, Ohio
Martha

If you would like to have your Personal Savings Story featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I would love to feature it on the blog. Just answer 5-7 {or all if you really want to} of the questions listed in the original Personal Savings Story post and submit 3-5 QUALITY photos to go along with them.

Send submissions via email to onehundreddollarsamonth @ gmail.com {remove the spaces} and be sure and put Personal Saving Stories in the subject line.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com. It’s that easy.