My cash 'envelope'

Dh and I switched over to a cash budget January 1st. Its a work in progress and there have been a few kinks. One major kink was all the envelopes needed for the separate categories. They took up a bunch of space, we're messy and a bit embarrassing to pay out of! I casually looked for a wallet with a bunch of compartments but none seemed to work correctly. Dave Ramsey sells a wallet for $19. $19 is a HUGE chunk of our $70 spending budget. Sorry Dave but a $19 wallet is not my idea of frugal. Finally I remember my original coupon systems, a check file folder. It has 6 slots, comes with labels, light and pretty! PERFECT! Even better it cost $1, from Dollar tree!


Now I'm not going to kid you its still embaressing to pay with a plastic check folder but far less then an envelope labeled 'GROCERIES.' I dont mind being frugal but I dont like looking cheap. I'm going to continue to look for a wallet alternative, that doesn't cost a forture. It does make me chuckle to pull the money holder out of my Coach purse!

Groceries from the commissary

This is my commissary haul today. I did not bring coupons with me and I didn't look through the ads before going. *gasp* Why not? Simply because our car accident has greatly affected my back. I spend $23.80. The commissary posts coupons on the isles, I used .80 in commisary coupons.

Tomorrow we will have pizza for dinner. Normally I make the crust but with coupons the crust was .50 cents for 2.
Wensday we will have the steaks, Homemade mac & cheese, and peas
Thursday chicken soup with biscuits.
Friday- No dinner (hubby wont be here for dinner)
Saturday- who knows? lol

Revised weekly budget

Yesterday we smashed our budget a bit. We went to the mall and 'splurged' on a few items. I dont want to abandon the budget but I also dont want to not have any money available to spend. Our new budget for this week will be:

Gas $40
Food $35
Fast Food $0
Animal $15
Everything else $50

Thats $140 total.

Just to clarify we would NEVER let our animals go hungry. I think they will be fine for dry food all week. If for some reason I guessed wrong more food will be purchased for them. They do need more 'wet' food, hence the $15. When I was a single broke college student I always bought animal food before my food, there were ways to eat cheaper if I needed to. (which I probably should have done anyway) But i wouldn't let them go hungry!

Free download of Suze Orman's book

Oprah is giving away a free download of Suze Orman's book on her website! Offer good till Janurary 15th.

http://www.oprah.com/article/oprahshow/20081119_tows_bookdownload

Weeks worth of groceries $30

Since I've put a set amount of money to our grocery budget, I have to pay attention and get to best deal possible. Yesterday we spent $30.47. I had $25 from last week's grocery budget. I'm going to take $5 out of this week's budget leaving $35.

At Safeway we bought:
Corn flakes generic $1.88
Wheat things generic $2.79
Tostitos $1.88
String cheese $5.99
3 pounds apples $1.99
Total $14.53
Saved $9

Grocery outlet:
3 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts $4.99
Bag of grapefruit $2.99
Feta $3.39
2 pounds carrots $1.59
2 containers philly cream cheese $1.98
3 containers hummus $1! (Seriously! Because they expired that day. YUM)
Total $15.9
Saved $25


That is $64.47 worth of groceries for $30.47

Budget brings on lifestyle changes.

Our spending is out of control! Dh makes more then ever and instead of saving and investing the extra we're spending it. And i'm sick of it! We started an all cash spending budget. I've resisted for years. Its inconvenient to carry cash, I'm afraid it will get stolen, all I've ever used was a debit card etc. But no matter how many times I would say we only have X amount to spend we always managed to spend more. Normally I just give us X amount for 2 weeks. And because the dollars are not designated to specific areas we over spend. Thats in the past now! We just started this last week and are still working out the kinks but so far its great. I'm going to share our budget which may seem extravagant to some and small to others.

Every week we're budgeting $200 for spending.
$40/ a week for gas ($20 per car)
$40 groceries (think i MAY have to add to this)
$30 pet food ($60 dry food a month/ wet food/ treats/ bones)
$20 fast food.
Total $130

That leaves $70 for anything else. Clothing/ household needs/ toys/ entertainment etc

Typing it out makes my stomach curdle because it doesn't seem like much. But that is the point, we're used to spending money whenever we want. Its not healthy! Bad for the budget, bad for us. I find buying whatever I want whenever very unfulfilling. When we limit money our 'treats' seem way more special and wonderful! Hubby and I each get $40 a paycheck for ourselves. We can spend it, save it, blow it whatever we choose. It really helps us to not feel deprived.

We have a specific fast food budget because we we're buying it all the time. Gross. This is already changing the way we eat. Several times now when we would have grabbed food on the run, we ate at home. When we do eat out its off the dollar menu instead of more expensive 'value' meals.

Since theres less money for movies, entertainment shopping, even thrift store browsing we've been playing with the dogs more. Going to the park to run and play instead of blowing money on stupid things. What a change a 'small' budget brings to an over spending family!

Life has its own plans.

Its been a long time! Some very unexpected expenses have drained our savings account and left us in debt. Once again. Plus our paid for car was crashed into new years eve. It looks like the insurance company might total it for an amount that would be hard to find a comparable car for. Needless to say this is very frustrating for us! 2009 will be a year to buckle down and spend as little as possible to resolve both the car and savings issues.

still no babies!