When I want to be frugal becomes I must be frugal

**Cricketlegs** · 03-30-2009, 07:11 PM

Well I did a rough draft of Aprils budget---

Hmmmm.

While I have what I need to pay the bills, keep my snowball rolling, add to my stockpile and put some money up for savings, that is ALL I have.

I really don't like to cut it this close.

Now there is a possibility I may have an additional $300 to $500 to work with but if I do I want that to go into savings as if it never existed and not to plump up a budget that "works" even if I am just squeeking by.

I am hoping that-

A. I figured my utilities to high
B. to park my car and drive less thus eliminating that 3rd monthly fillerup.
C. I am actively looking for more holes to stop and more ways to trim my budget.
D. I don't want to cut any of my stockpile $150. I want to continue on at at least $150 for the next 2 months so I will be at 6 months and then if needed I can slow down some(don't want to but it is a option)
E. No additional spending on any crud or eating out or whatever.

I have a 4 day camping trip coming up and I need to learn to apply my grocery/stockpile skills to doing a better job on food while camping. I am overspending alot and considering I took a load off my stockpile to the lake it is even worse of a situation.

I think I will be going through a whole pad of paper this month to make it all work out to the best advantage I can.

Anyone else have months that while they "work" they are not what you are looking for?

Do you have holes in your budget?

Weaknesses?

**my4littlebuffaloes** · 03-30-2009, 08:58 PM

There have certainly been tight months, sometimes by choice to meet a savings goal. I love a good challenge and look at it like that. In fact I am trying to come up with an April challenge as we speak.
Jennifer
my blog

**mauimagic** · 03-30-2009, 11:25 PM

When funds are tight, my DH and I tighten our food budget. He is amazing at what he can do for few dollars. Actually I'm glad that you brought it up - we tend to get a little too loose with the cc when we travel and need to be more aware when we go to Oahu this week.

Sounds as if you are a good planner and have a realistic handle on your monthly spending - hope all the positive possibilities come true!!

**Kazoo** · 03-30-2009, 11:47 PM

Yup, there are definitely months when I feel like I've done everything humanly possible, but the numbers staring back at me are not pretty. I'll poke around to see if there are any quick fixes. But it's usually due to unplanned things that come up or to planned things that collide in the same month. I try not to dwell on it -- figure if I stick to frugal ways consistently, there should be some months when the budget comes out better than projected too.

**Siebrie** · 03-31-2009, 05:22 AM

I would like to keep our savings constant, but something always seems to come up. I think we have to take the decision to not visit our old friends as much as we do; a trip back home costs around € 100. We have space in our budget for 1 visit per month, usually to the grandparents with some extra visits to friends planned in the same weekend. I'm procrastinating on this decision, because I don't really want to take it and I am looking at ways to find the money to continue visiting old friends.

**NewLeaf** · 03-31-2009, 06:43 AM

For some reason March was tight for us. I think I could have watched my spending closer. I was sick and didn't take the time to menu plan and shop wisely. It made a big difference. I am hoping April will be better.

**phoeny_moonstar** · 03-31-2009, 07:04 AM

April is going to be the same for me. My paychecks while being the same seem like they are getting smaller and the bills more often and larger. Keep on trucking you'll get through this!!

**hotprincesscm** · 03-31-2009, 07:11 AM

I hear you on this! I'm on a very small income raising two kids...by myself...so..Every penny counts for something. And the very few occasions lately that I have "splurged"(ex:$20 for ice cream at friendly's), I felt so guilty, thinking about all I could do with the money I did spend. But we need a splurge every once in a while. But then after that splurge it's back to saving every penny, or putting it towards a bill. While things seem like they are going too slow, they are at least going, and I am thankful that I at least have a job, to bring in any income!

**MomToTwoBoys** · 03-31-2009, 11:30 AM

We've actually had it a lot better since we cut back on the extras. April is a three paycheck month for us, which means that we can get even more ahead than we are now.

Our plan for April is to restart the snowball (because we took off a month for paying off two cards AND throwing a huge chunk on the VISA). We're also looking at using the last paycheck in the month to pay off another large chunk on the VISA, but even that part of our plan needs some further examination before we dive head first into it.

DH says that he's starting to get busy at work, which will hopefully mean more money for us to tuck into our EF (which we've been needing to start back up for a few months now). We'll be heading up to my inlaws for Easter weekend, which means money for gas and a present for SIL and BIL's upcoming baby in September! (I probably won't be able to make it to Edmonton when it happens because both kids will be in school then.) Since we're going to Edmonton for a few days, we'll be able to trim the grocery budget a bit and use that amount for our stockpile. It's almost time to start stockpiling bbq sauce, pasta salad goodies, croutons, etc. We do a ton of BBQing in the spring and summer, which cuts back a ton on our electric bill.

April is generally the month that our budget transitions into another phase. The more money we get generally comes with more events (two birthdays in August/September, school fees, shopping for both kids, etc) so we actually break even. We're still able to tuck money into an EF pretty fast (last year, it took us two months I believe) and with the exclusion of my pension from the budget, that might happen even faster than last year.

**Debbie-cat** · 03-31-2009, 11:32 AM

The way the economy is going and hubby's business is in a slump we have had to become frugal. No extras at all right now..we are just trying to survive. For example, yesterday I cut my own hair!

**Thevail** · 03-31-2009, 03:35 PM

April will be better for us than March was...The short month in February always seems to collide with some sort of spring fever and DD's birthday. Then we end up playing catch up in March.

Also, I always find that spring is when you end up with odd expenses like fixing little things that went wrong in the winter. We have a cracked (not broken) window from a tree branch + wind storm in January. Patched it with tape and decided we'd fix it when the weather got better. (I wasn't that keen on someone taking out a whole 5 foot x 5 foot window for a day in the snow..brr)

Well, the weather's better now...so that's $300 bucks out the door, or in this case window.

**mommy4ever** · 03-31-2009, 05:27 PM

We are having a few of those months right now. Down to 24-32 hours a week! And know what? I'm still able to put something in the savings account!!

maybe not alot, but still. That cut back has hurt, this month our income is down nearly $1000! But we made it with on credit. Ok, false, had to use the CC once because I forgot to send ds with a check to ortho, but I transferred the money the same day, so that doesn't count.

You get creative when you have to.

**rowdy35** · 03-31-2009, 06:09 PM

I feel your pain Cricketlegs. My condo has been vacant for 6 + months and no bites for a buyer or renter yet. It is killing us as we are barely squeaking by. I don't do much of a stockpile because I would rather use the money for bills but if I see a good deal on stuff we do consume I will stock up. Also I'm getting creative on my cooking and we are not eating much meat right now. Last night's dinner was homemade chcken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches.

**Trishagirl** · 03-31-2009, 06:32 PM

We have not had tight months yet, but they will be coming soon in May my dh might get layed off so we're preparing ourselves for when that happens. We are ready to tighten our belt to survive in this economy while dh gets more training or whatever he has to do.

**LastDragonfly** · 03-31-2009, 06:56 PM

Our tight months are usually July/January-car insurance and renters insurance, car tags on top of our other bills

We are recovering from dh's layoff from Dec-Jan....

I could tighten up a lot more, but golly I just dont HAVE to...I know that sounds terrible, but it's true...I don't want to hang all my laundry outside etc. I'm sure there will be a time when the utilities go up so high that I will though..

I too am continuing with our stockpile because it was such a relief when dh was laid off to know that we could still continue to eat without worrying about food.