Living Well Spending Less….It’s a nice idea isn’t it? While we can all say we live “well” are we willing to cut back to save money, give money & budget money? A friend of mine said she was going to do this challenge for the month of October. Back in August we decided to be more aggressive with paying off our home & student loans. I got a job…YES a job! I can talk about that later though 🙂 While we still had our regular budget for hobbies, food, eating out, clothing, home improvements & etc. I/We would consistently not follow it. So with anything additional I started to pay for that with “my” money. If I had already exhausted the food budget for the week & we wanted to eat out I would pay cash with the money I had earned vs. charging it to the credit card. This helped me be WAY more aware of what we were spending & did I really want to eat out bad enough to spend “my own” money? Anyways this helped us a great deal! We were able to save a lot of money by not spending money on a whim & paying extra on loans.
So, initially I thought do I really need to do this challenge? I have already cut back SOO much! But in the end I was spending that money I was earning, I wasn’t really saving it. I was using it to “treat” the family. Which I LOVED being able to do!!! However with more expenses with Birthday’s, Holiday’s and a wedding I thought in order to keep paying aggressively on these loans I need to save more.
I went through my pantry, refrigerator & freezer and took inventory! I am planning my meals based on what I have. For example I have quite a bit of cereal on hand but I also have a lot of oatmeal on hand. So we are going to start having more oatmeal & eggs for breakfast instead of cereal. I am excited to see space cleared out in not only my pantry but freezer also!!
I have budgeted things for parties, showers, birthday gifts & etc. And I am excited to save money! I love the idea of a challenge – go figure 🙂 I have also set rules for things I cannot buy – Clothing, Decor & Eating Out are my big ones! Because all of that was adding up quickly!!!
So if you notice me being a little cheap or saying hmm better not that is why. I will keep you posted on how I am doing either throughout the month or at the end!
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