the broke mommy's guide to: cheap exercising

This broke mummy took the plunge, and bought into the Beach Body Business. If you’ve ever wanted to try a Beach Body product after seeing one of their amazing infomercials, but quickly realized its way out of your budget, I’ve got the solution on how to do it on the cheap! Beach Body on demand is actually just a club membership for $2.99/ week that provides access to a lot of the popular Beach Body products. It’s all streamed via the internet, so it’s literally a mobile person’s dream come true. Beach Body bills quarterly, so you won’t see these charges on a weekly basis. Every quarter, you’ll be charged roughly $38, which isn’t too bad. If you have a gym membership, but never have time to go, cancel it! Avoid buying that expensive latte, or lunch once a week and you’ll more than have enough to make up the $38 quarterly cost!

I’m not one to buy into gimmicks. While I believe in the Beach Body brand and products, I don’t believe in the pricing. I always felt it was a little ridiculous to spend $100+ dollars on a product that comes with 15 different DVDs. I’m a busy mother. I don’t have time to sort through all of those DVDs to figure out what workout to do that day. On top of that, I most certainly cannot afford $100+ on a workout regime when I know what to do for free at home. I like a variety too. Spending that kind of money means I’m locked into that one product, but what if I want to try more? Using Beach Body on demand is giving me the ability to add variety into my nightly workouts. Now, I don’t need to plan what I’m doing that night with how many sets and reps. I can just pull up the website on my phone, click on any workout, and go! It’s so easy! P90x, T25, PiYo. The options are limitless. If I find that I don’t like a certain product, or routine, I can just select something else without absorbing another cost, or having to fish out another DVD. On top of that, with the beautiful weather, I could work out in my backyard if I wanted to. It doesn’t matter if I’m not at home. My workouts do not need to suffer. The flexibility is the biggest bonus of all.

I’m not here to sell you anything, or to encourage you to buy into something that will decrease your wallet. I’m simply here as a single mom on a budget who needed some workout options that wouldn’t break my bank, or take up too much of my time,  but wanted to share a great option. Let’s be real. I’m never going to have a sitter to go to the gym. Even though gym fees are relatively much cheaper than they used to be, it’s just a hassle. I’d rather ask someone to babysit when I have something important to do. I don’t view going to the gym as high on the priority list either. The gyms in my area do not offer childcare either, so that option is completely out the door. I don’t know about you, but after I work all day, the last thing I want is to have to put the baby back in the car to drive to the gym. Coming home after work, playing, having dinner, bath, then bed sounds a lot better. My spare time is after he’s shut his eyes for the night. Working out in my living room in sounds a hell of a lot better.

Hold yourself accountable to be healthy for your children. Plan to be around for the long run and avoiding health risks by being a little more active and eating a bit better throughout the day. I’m not saying you need to completely kill yourself, or change your life, but if you want a life changer , you can do it through a modified diet and using some of these kick ass exercises.  I know, you’re probably thinking “This skinny bitch doesn’t know what it’s like to be fat”, BUT YES I DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was there

11 Years ago, I changed for the better. I didn’t use a fancy workout system, pills, or shakes. I ate sensibly. I monitored my calorie intake and I walked every night. Eventually, I added in a more rigorous workout schedule, but that was my choice. I felt motivated and I wanted to get moving. I felt happy and I felt like I had my life back. When I got pregnant, I was afraid. I was afraid I’d lose all sense of control and the 86lbs I previously lost would find its way back to me. I was sensible while pregnant. I worked out moderately and I maintained a healthy diet, while still giving into my cravings. I didn’t gorge and overeat because I had an excuse of “eating for two”. I took care of myself and my baby. I knew it was important to maintain my health to ensure his.

My son is 15 months old now and I still maintain a healthy lifestyle. I look into his eyes every day and I know I want to be around forever. High cholesterol and blood pressure runs in my family. Why would I risk that? Why dance with the devil? Instead, I allow myself and my son those NO NO foods in moderation and I put health at the top of our list. We have dinner together every night. It all starts at the family dinner table. We need to get back to our roots and how things were “back in the day”.  Even if we’re having a quick meal, or we’re having a treat by having a NO NO  food item, we’re sitting down together and conversing. We’re talking and sharing. We’re making a bond.  Have these memories with your children and show them how to eat!  It starts with YOU!

My point of this blog is that you can do it on a fixed budget. You can have your health, you can have exercise and a healthy diet without killing your wallet. I’d absolutely love to buy organic, but I can’t afford to. Instead, I make healthy selections for my family by choosing a lot of fruits and veggies to pair with every single meal. Water is a staple in our household too. We do not drink soda, juice, or any other sugary beverages because we don’t NEED to! Why are you?! It’s a bad habit that you start for your child. You set them on the path of obesity. You set them on the path of body shaming and low self-esteem. Don’t do it! You’re making YOUR habit THEIR habit! How you feel about yourself is how your child is going to feel about themselves. If you couldn't ever imagine hurting your baby, then why are you?! I could preach on about this all day, but I’ll stop. I just want you to know that you don’t have to spend an ungodly amount of money to be healthy. My soul hurts when I see a child gnawing on a piece of candy, or pounding down a cup of soda.  There are so many more things you could give them. They can’t miss what they’ve never had.

If anyone is debating on spending massive amounts of cash on a set of workout DVDS that’ll just end up collecting dust on your TV stand, don’t! Buy Beach Body On Demand. There is a 30 day free trial and you can cancel your subscription at any time. This will alleviate any dust collecting, or a lot of money wasted if you don’t like the product. You’ll have variety and flexibility too. I’m constantly being asked for recipes and tips. This is probably the biggest tip I’ve given to date. I firmly believe anyone using this product will have results if they stick to it and stay dedicated and motivated. Let me know how it goes after you’ve signed up and what workouts you’re doing. I’d absolutely LOVE to have some support and to motivate others. Just a side bar, I am NOT  A Beach Body coach, or profiting at all if you decide to use this product. I am simply a consumer giving my honest opinion and review of this product, and I think it’s effin great, especially for a mom on a serious budget!!!!

The broke mommy's guide to meal planning

Meal planning has always been the first thing I do before attempting to make my grocery list. It makes it a lot easier to wrap my mind around what the heck we need for the next two weeks. I don't know where I'd even begin without completing this step first. Anyway, the last two weeks have been more of a free for all. We've been eating the most random meals. Mostly on the fly and quick, low maintenance recipes aka hot dogs and nuggets. We need to get back to some normalcy, so I took my meal planning more seriously this time around.

Because pasta is ridiculously cheap, yet filling, I made sure to incorporate that into a few meals. One box goes a long way and usually makes 2 meals in my house with leftovers for lunch. Rice is another staple-Cheap and filling. I'm telling you, it's limitless what you can do with rice and pasta!!!! Get some and experiment. You'll thank me later!! Whole wheat pasta and brown rice are healthier alternatives, which is what we buy!

So, what's on my meal plan the next two weeks? Read below!!

Tuna noodle casserole with garlic bread

A 1 pan casserole of green beans, chicken, and potatoes

Spaghetti with garlic bread

Chicken stuffing with potatoes and veggies

Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn 

taco casserole with rice

Hot dogs mac and cheese and baked beans

Chicken ranch pasta with garlic bread 

burgers, fries, and veggies

Broccoli, rice, and chicken 

Garlic bread is one of Emerson's favorite foods and a filling, cheap side to pair with pretty much any meal. 1 box goes a long way in my house!! I know I only listed 10 meals, but stated I was making 14 meals for $35. Some of these we will be able to have 2 times due to left overs. We wouldn't eat an entire pack of hot dogs in one night! Come on now!

The trick is to use like ingredients to make a variety of meals. I use the same ingredients, but I cook it a different way, or add a different sauce /topping to make it a new recipe. Everything is relatively healthy too. We use ground turkey, turkey dogs, and always grill our chicken. We use no butter over our veggies either. I always buy the lighter versions of dressings and condiments too. Additionally, we don't use buns for our dogs or burgers. I know that sounds crazy, but I don't have extra money to buy buns, so we usually use whole wheat bread for our burgers and go bunless for the dogs.

The list that corresponds to the above:

2 boxes of pasta:$2

1 can tuna:$2

Cream of mushroom soup-$1.50

Frozen peas-$1

Green beans-$1

1 bag frozen chicken breast-$7

1 bag potatoes-$3

Pasta sauce-$1

Garlic bread-$1.50

Ground turkey-$5

Stouffers stuffing-$1

Tortilla shells-$1.50

Rice-$1.50

Salsa-$1

Hot dogs-$1

Mac n cheese$.50

Baked beans-$1

Ranch dressing-$1

Fries-$2

Frozen broccoli-$1

Frozen veggies-$1

This list comes to $37.50, but I luckily already have rice and tuna in my cupboard!!!!

The Broke Mom's Guide to: Spring Cleaning

I’m back, broke bitches! I know I’ve been on a hiatus for quite some time, but having a crazy toddler will do that to you! We’ve been carrying along fine. Cutting corners where we can and just thinking outside of the box when it comes to budgeting. Throughout the winter, we’ve stayed cooped up inside so much. It’s been really easy to save money because we weren’t going out to do anything and hot chocolate is really cheap! Now that spring is finally rearing it’s gorgeous little head, I’ve started to tackle my list of fun things to do without spending much money. We aren’t quite ready to head to the park yet. The swings aren’t up and it’s a bottomless pit of mud. That doesn’t sound too appealing, so we’ll still be spending most of our time inside. We can at least open our front and back door though, which Emerson loves! He bangs on the door and screams at the dog through the glass. It’s a nice change and he ends up occupying himself forever. The best part is-it’s free! I save on the electric bill too. The sunlight doesn’t cost a penny to light the place and I can turn off all of our inside lamps. Literally looking on the bright side, right? So what is there to do now that we’ve sprung ahead and are on the tail-end of winter?


Clean and Organize: I know this doesn’t sound like much fun for the little one, so I tackled this one myself, while he was at daycare. I found so many toys and books that I forgot he had, so when he got home, it was like Christmas! My living room and Dining room are now freshly cleaned and organized, which makes me happy. It feels so much fresher at home, which is a nice change from the stuffiness of winter. I hoard a lot in the winter. It’s almost like I’m hibernating, so throwing all of that junk out was nice. I’m not entirely done yet. I need to tackle the basement, but that’ll be another day!


Go “Shopping”: I started to pull all of Emerson’s spring clothing out. He has tons of adorable, plaid shorts, shirts, and polos. Lots of bright colors too! I felt like I was going shopping, but without having to pull out my wallet. I even went through some of my clothes too, which was even more exciting. I forgot about all of the spring dresses I have. So many floral prints, which are huge this year! I cannot wait for that first warm day. It’s so on!


Visit the Car wash: For a couple of bucks, you can hit up a local car wash to rid all of the nasty salt and crud stuck to your car from winter. When I was a kid, I got such a kick out of going to the car wash. Whether we went to the automated one, or the manual (depending on the weather), it was so much fun! I thought it was so neat and always loved going there. If you’ve been stuck in the house all weekend, the kids are getting to you, and you need something quick and cheap to do, take them to the car wash. You aren’t paying costly admission for each kid either. One price, one car! If the weather is really nice, get them involved in washing. If anything, it might tire them out and push them into a late afternoon nap. You might get a little piece and quiet, while cooking dinner too. Even if you just go to the automated wash, it’s neat being in the car watching the soap, water, and brushes wash over the car. Turn the music up and just get silly with it. “At the car wash, car wash!”


And something for the kiddos:


Indoor Puddle Jumping: So, you just got back from rain boot shopping, it’s pouring outside, and you’re stuck inside with a bunch of wound up kids. Let them break those boots in, mama! Using construction paper, or cardstock (which I’d recommend because it’s heavy duty) have the kids (or you) cut out large blue puddles. Place them strategically all over the floor and let the kids jump from puddle to puddle. Make a fun game out of it. If you have rain jackets, let them wear those too! I’d stop short of umbrellas, but I’m very superstitious. If you’re secure in your luck, then add those into the mix. The kids will get an absolute kick out of this.


As you can see, I broke into spring cleaning fever over the weekend, but I’m so glad I did. I felt really motivated from the nice weather and ended up making some placemats for the dining room table too! My dining room looks so sunny and bright now. I had extra yellow chevron fabric leftover from last spring, so I decided to put it to good use. It makes my mood feel a little brighter too. Winter was extra hard on me this year. I felt the winter time blues more often than I’d like to admit! I’m so happy to be entering spring with a clean, organized home, and with some “new” clothes!

The Broke Mom's Guide To: Treating Yourself

How embarrassing. I was in a meeting this morning, raised my hand, and my co-worker shouted out "I think you need a new sweater!" I ended up having a hole in the arm of this one in multiple spots. Ugh. I had no idea. I'm lucky I even have clothes on. Taking the extra step to inspect for tears is time that I just don't have in the mornings. I was still a little embarrassed though. I know he didn't mention it in a malicious way either. We take jabs at each other all the time, but it did make me feel a bit sad. I don't have the luxury to go out and replace clothing when it becomes worn down. As sad as it is to admit this, I'll probably still continue to wear this sweater.

Anyway, I didn't start out writing this as a pity party blog. I do have some good news. I worked my budget out to have a little spare cash to buy myself a few articles of clothing from a second hand store: Plato's Closet. If you aren't familiar, it's a consignment shop that buys name brand clothing and sells them at a fraction of the price. I'm taking a half of day on October 3rd, sending the baby to daycare, and having a little ME time. I haven't had ME time since May when I took the day off of work, sent the baby to daycare, and laid out at the pool. It was my birthday gift to myself. After four months, I think I deserve a little ME time even if it's just to purchase a couple of items from a second hand store. It'll be nice to do this for myself. It's not often that I'm treated. The baby has a full closet of fall wear now, so I think it's my turn

Even though I'm usually scraping the bottom of the barrel, I try to set aside a few extra dollars for myself every pay period. Even if it's just to buy a latte, it's still something that's for ME. I work so hard and I'm not afraid to admit that, or give myself a pat on the back. A coffee here and there is the least I can do for myself. I hope all of you broke mommies out there are able to reward yourselves every once in a while even if it's on a very small scale. It makes me feel a little less broke when I'm able to do that.

Today, I treated myself to a pumpkin pie latte, which was on special for $1.99!

The broke mom's guide to: grocery shopping

It's that time of week again: Meal planning and grocery shopping. My budget is $37.39. I know, that seems awfully low for one adult and an 8 month old baby to eat for two weeks, but I assure you, it is doable. Being picky is not a characteristic that would warrant such a lifestyle. I usually end up eating the same thing daily, so if you are a person that needs variety, this probably wouldn't be suited for you. Below is my list and corresponding meal plan for the next two weeks.

CEREAL
2 BOXES OF CRACKERS
1 DOZEN EGGS
BREAD
MILK
FRENCH TOAST
PEANUT BUTTER
JELLY
Yogurt
4 CANS OF SOUP
CREAM OF MUSHROOM SOUP
FROZEN PEAS
Potatoes
Chicken
1 JAR SAUCE
BLACK BEANS
3 GERBER MEALS
6 JARS OF BABY FOOD

BREAKFAST OPTIONS
Eggs and toast
Cereal and Milk
French Toast

LUNCH OPTIONS
Soup and Crackers
Peanut Butter and Jelly

DINNER OPTIONS
Tuna Noodle Casserole
Spaghetti
Rice and Burritos
Mashed Potatoes and Chicken
Gerber Meals and Jarred BabyFood

SNACKS
Yogurt
Popcorn
Ice cream

I usually end up making everything in bulk, which is easier than preparing something nightly. I already have pasta and ground beef at home along with salsa, rice, and green peppers. This definitely aided in my dinner planning for the next two weeks too. Along with that, I do have some baby food at home too. In addition, I do have some microwave popcorn at home and a carton of ice cream just in case I feel like indulging one night! Every Saturday and Sunday, I make French toast for the baby. He loves it. We only eat dinner together during the week, so it's nice to be able to eat breakfast and lunch during weekends. The good thing is I don't need an abundance of breakfast and lunch options because he's in daycare during those meals during the week.

So, there you have it folks. My meal planning and grocery list for the next two weeks on a very tiny budget! Again, I realize there isn't a ton of variety, but I'm not a picky person. I don't typically eat for enjoyment either, so that makes it a bit easier!

The Broke Mom's Guide to: Photo Shoots

Isn't it amazing how expensive sitting fees are now just to have your child's photos taken? It sickens me when I see the cost! Not only are you paying the sitting fee, but to have prints of each pose are even more costly. I definitely can't afford that. It's so hard to pick just one picture out of dozens of your adorable little one. My sister and I recently started to experiment with our own photographs. We aren't quite up to par with a professional, but we're working on it. This past weekend, I decided to have an apple picking photo shoot with my son. I thought I'd share some of the photos  to inspire all of you to give it a whirl. Camera phones have come a long way and are up to par with having a digital camera, so don't worry about not having professional equipment. You can always go back and edit photos with any photo editor app. I do it all the time! Now let's hope the kids cooperate! I plan on using Walmart.com to have these printed out and blown up. My living room walls could use some cuteness!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The broke mommy's guide to being a Super Broke Mom!

 

I think when people read the words "Broke Mommy" they instantly have a negative connotation. I guess I would too, but being in this situation makes me view it much differently.  That doesn't mean I never feel down about my situation. I make the best out of what I have and I spend very wisely. I'm never spontaneous though and I think that's where the sadness comes from. On a typical Friday night, most families might say "Let's just do pizza for dinner". I don't have that luxury. If I think about it too much, it makes me sad and I cry over the jar of apple sauce I'm pulling out to have with my frozen dinner. I try to steer my mind away from these thoughts and to focus on the positive. I think it takes a different kind of mindset to be able to do this. I didn't develop it overnight either. I think that's what I'm most proud of. Not only being thrifty and spending wisely, but having a good attitude behind it. Sure, I make jokes, but laughter is free and it keeps me sane.  I don't really have a point to this blog today. I just want to encourage all of your broke mommies out there that there are worse things. Yes, it sucks to not be able to spend frivolously sometimes, or have a spur of the moment shopping spree, but you're instilling some very important values into your children. I'm glad that I'm teaching my son that material things aren't that important and that it's better to be appreciative of what you have than to focus on what you don't have. I'm also hoping that he grows up with a great perspective on how to handle money, which is something I was never taught. I had to learn from my mistakes and figure it out myself. I wish I had a lesson, or two on budgeting when I was younger!

 

When I think of myself as  Broke Mommy I feel almost like a super hero. I fight budgets and cut out all unnecessary evils to make ends meet for myself and my son. It's empowering when you view it that way. I like spinning a negative into a positive. Doesn't it make your situation seem a little better? I know it isn't putting dollars into your pocket, but it does make things seem sunnier. I never want to burden my son. Growing up, my parents constantly talked about money. It was always the root of every conversation. We couldn't go a day without hearing the words "I'm broke" or "maybe on payday". Payday would come and the promise would be broken. At the time, my sisters and I thought my parents were just being mean, but really, they were just trying to make ends meet. Obviously I don't want to build a façade that we are loaded, but I don't want my son to feel the stress that I do over money. I want him to be appreciative for what he has, not be greedy, but also not have to carry the burden of money troubles around. Seems easier said than done, right?