What once used to be an inexpensive date has almost become a luxury.  Assuming two drinks and a shared popcorn your looking at atleast $30 plus dinner.

My husband and I really like to watch movies, either by going to the theater or staying at home, or buying dvds.  We're lucky enough to have moved into a neighborhood that has a dollar theater.  For $3.50 each we can go to the movies instead of $18 at regular movie theaters.  One drawback is that we have to wait for new releases to make it to the dollar theater. 

On nights we'd rather stay in, which happens more often than not, we turn to Netflix and Redbox.  Movie rental places, like Blockbuster, charge up to $4 per rental.  And you'd better hope you remember to return it on time.  Since I am lazy/forgetful Netflix is a much cheaper option for us.  We get one movie of our choice at a time for around $9 a month.  Another aspect of Netflix that is great is the ability to watch select movies direct from your computer.  Not all of the movie's are available to be watched over the computer which means the inability to decide what to watch on friday night if you hadn't planned ahead days in advance.  In the past we subscribed to the more expensive package, 3 movies at a time for $17 a month.  After a few months we realized that we were mostly just watching movies on the weekend and three movies at a time was too much for us.

To trade off the downgrade in Netflix we began using Redbox more.  This allowed us to chose movies more on the spot than Netflix.  Redbox stations are popping up everywhere, Wal-Mart, McDonalds, and grocery stores.  The great thing about Redbox is that it's only $1 per rental.  The movie does have to be returned the next day but if you forget its another $1.  Even the extra $1 is cheaper than your typical Blockbuster.  As an added bonus they send you codes for free rentals!  If getting a good deal everytime is really important to you check out www.retailmenot.com.  This site lists coupons and coupon codes for many companies.  Some families prefer to use Redbox only, rather than Netflix.  These two options also save us because we rarely buy dvd's any more.  We can watch a new release today for $1 or wait a few days as part of our Neftlix plan.  For us the selection at Neflix is great and we enjoy having two sources of inexpensive entertainment.  Plus homemade popcorn is delicious and much better for you than movie theater popcorn!!  See which plan is best for you and household.  A penny saved is a penny earned!

See below for cost breakdowns of several movie options:

Family One    $38/mo.
    Rents 2 movies-$8
    Go to the movie theater-$30

Family Two    $20/mo.
    Buys one dvd on sale-$12
    Rents 2 movies-$8

Family Four    $16
    Unlimited Netflix-$9
    One visit to the dollar theater-$7

Family Three    $11
    Unlimited Netflix-$9
    2 Redbox rentals-$2

Last week our local Sunflower Market had 10 lb bags of potatoes on sale for $1.27!  That was definetely a deal i couldn't pass up, but now what am I going to do with all these potatoes for just my husband and I.  So far what I've been able to come up with is:

• Twice baked potatoes for dinner-make a couple extra to freeze.  We like our potatoes southwest style, with black beans and salsa in addition to the regular ingredients.
• Baked french fries-spray sliced potatoes with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and lawrys.  Make a large batch and freeze the leftovers in dinner size bags.
• The obvious mashed potatoes-I'll use up all of the potatoes I have left, after french fries and twice baked potatoes, to freeze anything left after a few meals.

We should be able to make these potatoes last quite  awhile.  I don't really enjoy eating potatoes every meal for a week so the freezer side dishes make this a good deal for us.  What ideas do you have for using up leftovers?

Yesterday my husband came up with the idea to make his own homemade beef jerky.  Homemade jerky is much cheaper than those small bags you buy at the gas stations.  It also is much freshier and has less ingredients and preservatives in it.  As an added bonus it is a low carb snack, perfect us preparing for our January honeymoon!  We get most of our meat from family and from the manager special markdowns at the grocery store.  This 3lb roast was on manager special for $6.  One pound of jerky requires approximately 2.5-3lbs of meat .

1. Slice your meat agains the grain to about 1/8" thick.  We used an electric knife we received as a wedding present.  It is important to remove as much fat as possible before dehydrating to prevent it from becoming rancid. 
2. Marinate the slice meat in the fridge over night.  Our marinade was made up from a variety of spices in our house, worcheshire sauce, and some bbq sauce.
3. Our meat was dehydrated in the oven.  The temperature was preheated to the lowest setting on the oven, we used warm.  We wrapped the bottom rack in aluminum foil to prevent the marinade from dripping.  The the meat slices were laid out directly onto our top oven rack.  Most important is to leave the oven door open a crack to let moisture out.
4. The meat slices cooked/dried on the warm setting for 6-7 hours.  It is finished when it can bend and break but does not snap instantly.
5. To store your meat refridgerate or freeze it in airtight containers until ready to eat.

After some internet research it appears that 1lb. of beef jerky costs around $35 for quality meat with less preservatives.  Our $6 investment saved us $29!  I can't wait for Thanksgiving so we can try this with leftover turkey as well.

Setting up a budget takes alot of work but with all the online bill pay available it is becoming much easier.  To start our budget my husband and I set up multiple bank accounts.  Each account is listed below:

1. Bills-Our paychecks are sent to this account and then set amounts of money are automatically transferred to our other accounts.  This account is for paying bills only.
2. Entertainment-A set amount of money is transferred out of our bills account every week to pay for groceries, gas, and all entertainment.  That way we never have the possiblity of the not being able to pay a bill because we overspent on a night out or on groceries.  Once it's gone thats all we have until next friday.  We feel that every budget needs to allocate some funds for entertainment.  It is very difficult to stick to a budget and work on debt when you feel like you never have any fun.
3. Personal Accounts-It is very important to me that my husband and I each have a set amount of what I call 'nonjudgemental money'.  We each get so much every week to spend however we see fit.  I believe these accounts prevent couples from getting angry with one another over spending.  My husband tends to use his extra spending money on fancy microbrews.  I like to use mine for going out to lunch at work once a week.  If I wanted to save up all my extra money and put it towards a spa treatment I know that my husband would not be angry with me for spending our savings on such a luxury.  I hope that in the future we will be able to afford to each have a larger amount in our personal spending money but for now it is less than $10 a week.  The money in this account is also funneled out of the bills account on a weekly basis.
4. Savings-This is an obvious account for anyone wanting to get ahead.  A set amount of money is transferred automatically to this account every week.  This is a small dollar amount for us right now but anything you can set aside will add up overtime.  Do Not Touch This Money!  It is for emergencies only!

Getting the actual budget set up was another process.  The first thing I did was list the due dates and amounts of all our bills by weeks, week 1, week 2, ect.  Lucky for us my husband and I get paid on opposite weeks so a paycheck comes in every week for us.  I wanted the total amount of bills being paid each week to balance out from week to week.  It would put us in a crunch if Week 1 bills were twice that of Week 2 bills.  To make this work we contacted a few of the companies we owed money and ask them to switch our due dates.  Most companies are willing to change these dates for you.  Now each week is approximately the same in terms of total bill payout.  Setting up online-bill pay helps ensure that your bills will be paid on time!  I have a terrible time mailing bills out.  Even though we have money in our account I tend to still rush to the pay the bills on time.  All of our bills are automatic except for our monthly home owners fee (which luckily does not charge extra when late!).

One thing that quickly became apparent to us were the things we could live without.  An important step in the budgeting process to cut out unneccesary expenses.  These expenses are different for every family.  The first thing to go when we bought our house was the cable.  With the new digital boxes network channels now come in very clear.  Without cable we noticed that we spent more times outdoors and doing thing around the house.  Another thing that got the heave-ho was our grocery budget.  We had been averaging over $100 a week for 2 people!  Now I have that amount down to $40 a week with the help of coupons and several other blogging sites.  See what you could do without if it meant paying a little more on those credit cards!

For us having all these accounts give us the peace of mind that there is always enough money to pay our bills.  If you really like the separation of the money you could also set up accounts for travel, holiday gifts, and home remodeling.

At 26 years old some might say I'm living the American Dream.
...Assuming the American Dream is getting everything you want and then figuring out to pay for it, well I guess I'd have to agree.  The cost of my dream has gotten my husband and I into a large sum of debt.  Join me in this quest to fix the mess we've created and to learn to live on less.  At my house we are rewriting the definition of the American Dream!

My husband and I moved to Denver from Iowa and were just married in September of this year.  We planned a very budget-friendly wedding outside of Golden, Colorado; I can't wait to share the pictures and planning details with you!  We both work full-time 8-5 jobs, and hope to eventually get ahead.  We enjoy spending our time together doing outdoorsy activities and walking our two dogs. 

We have begun to stick to a budget and try to find sources of inexpensive entertainment.  I have found my love of coupons and the immense savings they can provide you if done right.  It's a slow process but we intend to grow our pennies!

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