Budget Check-Up? :) Thoughts, Please?

[shoiji]

It takes a while to get used to not eating out. If part of this is snacking start taking a water bottle with you when you go out. Pack lunches and snacks to help avoid purchasing something when you are out.

The tithe and offerings should really be lowered. There are other ways to help either with your time or foods purchased with coupons given to food pantries.

Stay out of stores where you might spend money this includes any websites. Start looking around in your closets and shopping there. You may find items you completely forgot about.

I have a bunch of food allergies and make my about 90% of my own food. Have a stockpile of foods I can eat that I purchased food for when on sale and/or coupons. It takes a while to get a good stockpile going but once you have one your food bill will go down. This past year I lowered my bill by $30. Easiest item to get rid of is paper towels. Using old towels or bar towels and throwing in washing machine will save you so much money. Take a look at the cleaning supplies you use. Could you save money by using a vinegar and water solution? It really is just as good as the products you find in the store. Plus it is probably healthier around the children.

There are lots of creative ways to cut down the food budget. Also, try lowering you electric bill.

Every little thing you do adds up.

Good luck.

[my4littlebuffaloes]

OK, first way to go on having no mortgage! Second, use your EF to pay off your truck loan and then rebuild. You have it sitting there, use it!

OK, as for a paper subscription. A couple of years ago we dropped our paper except for a Sunday only subscription. We now pay about $20 every 3 months for a Sunday only. Why don't you look into your options there and see what you can do to lower it.

Clothing - need a strict budget on this and even though you are spending online, you need to keep track of what you are spending.

School expenses - $28 for t-shirts? Crazy! I would be complaining to the school big time. $15 book fair - you didn't HAVE to do it. You don't have to send money in for everything they ask for. My kids know that if they want something from the book fair or a book order then they need to pay for it. Sometimes I will reward them with a book if they earned it by doing something (chores, or maybe staying in bed for a week). But this is about twice a year between 4 kids.

The first year my 4 kids were in school I was in shock! We had homeschooled, so yes they pretty much all started at once. I definitely felt nickle & dimed to death. Then I started setting aside $10 per paycheck (with 1 in school, you will likely need less) into a school envelope. Now when someone needs $5 for a field trip or $10 for a t-shirt I almost always have it in the envelope and it doesn't impact my budget at all. If I build up a good bit in there I will just leave it out of the budget for awhile. It has at the very least saved me a lot of frustration over the years.

Diapers - I would not switch to cloth at this point with a 2 year old. It will likely be more expensive than just continuing with disposables bought at a great price WHILE working on potty training.

Sticking to a budget - easier said than done most of the time - but try using the cash envelope system for as much as you can. This totally helps to control the outflow.

Good luck! YOu really are doing great.

[Greebo]

Reign in your "buying without thinking". If you can't curb that, a budget won't do anything. Take out the $250 in cash, and once it's gone, it's gone.

This - you MUST find a way to develop self discipline or no budget will do a thing.

[shoiji]

Something that helped me when first using a budget was to keep all the receipts for each month. The first month you will be surprised to see how much you spent and where you spent the money on.

Make a spreadsheet to keep track of all your monthly spending. This way any miscellaneous spending is automatically seen on the spreadsheet and will make you think twice knowing you only have x-amount until next month.

It is difficult to stop needless spending but once you get in the habit it becomes easy. Saving money many times means being creative at home. Want a chocolate flavored coffee. Just make the coffee at home and add either chocolate syrup or cocoa mix.

[mndtrp]

OK, first way to go on having no mortgage! Second, use your EF to pay off your truck loan and then rebuild. You have it sitting there, use it!

This is not the wisest idea. An emergency fund is for an emergency. Paying off a car loan is not an emergency.