The Vicky Challenge.

My favorite time of year is the days between Christmas and New Years Day. I love those days. In this time I have a review of the year and write down all the major events and things we achieved. I am usually amazed when  I do that look back at the year. Then I start to think about what I want to do with the new year and what I could change and even what NEEDS changing. A fresh new year is so exciting to me. A brand new diary and I am set!

The photos in this post are Thanksgiving photos some of the ladies sent me!  This one is from Colette. She has her wedding photo on the table. I just love this! Also later her Mum arrived and added two more pies!

I already know that come January I will be straight into making Christmas and birthday presents and as so many of you said that this January you want to get started too I am making it a challenge that hopefully helps us all! So that is challenge number one.

The other day I was talking to Vicky. And as she often does she said something that stopped me in my tracks. Her Mother would say "it's a Vicky thing"! I LOVE a challenge and this is the best one ever I think!
We have often discussed the value of our work and savings. Mimi frequently talks about this too and she calls it "insourcing". The idea is you count your savings as earnings.  So if you wash the dog yourself instead of paying someone to do it then you just earned.... (whatever it costs to have a dog washed!)  That money you just saved you pay yourself or your emergency fund or where ever you would like to pay that money instead of the dog groomer.
I think about this all the time. Usually I try to know, roughly, what things are worth. So if I just made four dozen sausage rolls I will try to keep track of what it cost me. And I try to know about what they would cost to buy. I know these would cost about $170 from the local bakery. Then I subtract my expenses and am left with how much I saved/earned.
When you look at the value of things it's amazing!
You could stop buying work lunches and take your own. Or take on some task yourself of make your presents... but the idea is to have an estimate of the savings.

Now, I know the numbers add up. If I was doing The Vicky Challenge I would have kept track of our savings last week and that would have included the $800 we saved making our own range hood  and all the other savings from sending Andy's lunch each day, using freezer meals instead of take away and so on. Already I just saved more than I probably could have made elsewhere less tax, travel and so on.

The difference is Vicky writes it all down. Daily she does a rough calculation of her savings/earings.

(I always mention that savings equal more than earnings since you are not taxed on them. So $1 earned might be 75c. $1 saved is $1. So your savings stay intact!)

Then Vicky tallies up each week, then month... then finally the year. At the end of the year she knows how much she saved/earned. Last year she earned $15,000 this way.

While I think about my savings and even report them in my Feather your Nest Friday posts I have somehow never thought to do a weekly add up. Let alone an annual calculation that would mean I can say how much my job at home equals for our family. It makes no difference if you are working outside the home or not. When you are home the savings from your effort count just the same.

Colette's Thanksgiving table.

As I love a challenge I can see that keeping track would be very motivating. Exciting even. Plus you know what? It would do a lot to make you (and the family) aware  of the value of all you do towards the building up of your home.
Society can be  a bit "what do you do all day and why don't you get a real job?" (which I hate!) and this means you can think of the huge financial advantage that your works actually gives your family and what a massive lie it is that if you don't work outside the home you don't contribute financially! What a scam that one is!  I have great suspicions about the motives behind whoever perpetuates that belief.  And this is all apart from  the many other sides to homemaking me cannot have a dollar value placed on them!

After I asked Vicky about a hundred questions on this she wrote something up to help me explain it...

Now as for keeping track of your savings here is what I do:

Many people only see the value of a paycheck we earn and not our value at home. When I left the workforce I decided my full time job would be to save money. I wanted to see if instead spending a 40 hour work week check if I could save it since we would be essentially losing my income. So I thought if I do things to save and my husband's paycheck covers the bills and we could have a little surplus things wouldn't change much. It was the best decision I ever made. I also decided that since I am a visual person I need to see if my efforts are really saving us and what those dollars and cents amounts look like? Maybe it's a throwback from having a pay stub all those years? I do have to say not all the saving efforts are mine. When I showed my husband my "records" the first time he started and still does bring me receipts or give me a value to put running tally.

First let me point out it doesn't take a lot of time even though it may sound like it does. It's no different than entering totals in a checkbook. And you can use a notebook, a pretty journal, a folder or a binder whatever works for you.

Last year at the end of the year when I added up my totals we had saved over $15000.00 yes thousand dollars. Other years have been higher and when I was first learning lower. I devised a system to put most of that towards debt and we are now debt free even if it took a few years. I looked at those dollars and cents as money still in the bank that didn't have to be touched thus increasing the bank account instead of depleting it.

Everything counts each week! Small things add up at the end of the year!

Things that I include:

I cut my husband's hair = $10 we are not paying the barber

If I pay a bill online or over the phone = .47 per stamp not used+I am not using a check from the checkbook either

I add the difference in my savings from a sale price versus full price I pay for an item

I add the difference between full price and a clearance price

Any extra money made that was not from my husband's work check because the extra money is tax free!

See a penny pick it up! More tax free money!

Items we have bartered for.

If I buy things at thrift stores throughout the year I allot a lump some for buying used and not "new", but I keep the values realistic.

Money I have saved using coupons

Gift cards I have earned or are given, more tax free money

Things that are given to us. If they are new and never used I allot the full price if something is used I give it a yard sale value.

Any produce given to us fruits, vegetables, plants for the garden or flowers, canning jars, pantry food or food that can be given to the animals. Someone paid for these items before I was blessed with them so again I don't add in a used value versus new value.

If I get something like buckets I add a dollar in my book because I would pay at least that much at Dollar Tree.

Homemade birthday cakes or cupcakes or pies or rolls or anything like that I base on the price at the store minus the cost of my ingredients.

I put in a value for all of the foods I grow and can, dry or freeze and base it on how much I have added to the pantry so it varies.

If we recycled anything for money that is added.

If I got a free sample(these do save) I a lot at least .25, but if it's a travel sized one like they sell at the store I

give it the store value. Examples: laundry soap=the soap is free for 1 load, pet food samples, deodorant, toothpaste, etc.

Anything I get from online sampling programs and the value of them. Example: I get a free pizza coupon to try and the pizza is $4.99 I add that into my savings since I am not paying for pizza.

One of the biggest is if we do things ourselves that saves immensely so I add a value for the cost of labor we saved.

Gas savings, either from not having to drive much or fuel rewards like $1.60 off a gallon up to 30 gallons

Oh I could go on and on, but I think you get the gist of it. So if you keep track of just how money gets saved in your household you get a better idea of just how much it all adds up. Everything counts from hanging laundry on the line(no electric used there) to you gave the dog a bath yourself instead of a groomer, doing your own hair and nails how much do you save there?  Maybe you use the library instead of buying books your saving.

Here is a good example: The other day I had to take my Mom shopping. I had $5 and some change to spend. The 2 stores are across the street from each other. I had a coupon, a promotional gift card and store rewards between the 2 stores. I got: a girl's lip gloss set , 2 girls tops, 1 girls pants and 2 infant clothing. So with the coupon and gift card I saved $20. But wait most stuff I bought on clearance so let's factor that in as well which =$29.50+$20 and then the other store I got 3# lemons free store price $2.99 each, a loaf of bread free=.99 and 2 yogurts free=$1.29 so I spent $5, but saved $60.75 total. That will go in my savings book! It all adds up!

XOXO,

Vicky

So I am in! In January I will have a little book to write my savings/earnings in each day and tally them up. I am pretty sure that knowing myself I will then try to beat last week, beat the best week, make the next month better than the last and so on! Also I am pretty sure I will feel quite proud of the numbers. It will certainly be an interesting experiment. I remember Laine would show her husband her work. Imagine showing him these numbers!

We would all have to make decisions about what to count and how to do it. Personally I think I will count anything that if I was not home and able to do we would be paying for or paying more for. 

I can't wait to start. If anyone would like to join in on The Vicky Challenge this is advance warning that can be used to get yourself a note book and also learn and record the prices of things that you often make. That way you know what you saved and the value of the things you produce. This is very handy information.

Some gathering of this kind of info will be helpful. I do this along the way ie if a friend has their windows cleaned I ask how much it was. Then next time I clean the windows I have an idea of what I just saved. Also I try and know what people spend per day on bought lunchs, coffees, takeaways and so on.

In the shops I take notice of things like how much is a muffin (since I make a lot of those) and I take photos on my phone ie I took a photo of the whole bakery price list. 

Other times I don't have a clue like when we were given the barrels for water. I found out online that rain barrels at the hardware store are about $100. So I would record that amount in my book.

I know that for this to work it needs to be simple and fast. In most instances I will be fairly approximate in my guestimations, jot them down and add up the days and weeks as we go. If I try to go to the last dollar and cent it will be much too time consuming.

Mostly I think you would be amazed at how much your work both saves and benefits your family. It would be a mind boggling exercise for even a week, just to see the financial reality of it. I can't wait to see what the first week is like and look at each month until I can say how much my efforts equalled for 2016.

So that is The Vicky Challenge! If you would like to join we will be starting the first week of January so start observing prices and gathering information and a note book etc. 

Rosanne's Thanks giving pies!

Have a wonderful week! Tomorrow is the first of December! That is the first day of summer for us. And the day we put up our Christmas tree and decorations! Very exciting! I am baby sitting, posting parcels and shopping today... I better get going.....xxxx