2012 frugal resolutions?

[MomToTwoBoys]

1) Leave the CC at home when I go to the mall to work out.
2) Continue to work out (I've lost fifteen pounds so far and I fit back into my pre-pregnancy jeans).
3) Keep on DH about not smoking.
4) Keep the grocery budget down to $200/biweekly.
5) Start the garden out back and grow our own vegetables and herbs (let's hope Mother Nature lets me do that, though... last Spring didn't start until June).
6) Pay down the CC (we took a massive hit when DH was out of work and taking time off for the physiotherapist).
7) Start saving up for DS8's post-secondary education (we were supposed to do this in September, but finances got the worst of us).
8) Set up DS13's disability tax credit and sign him up with a chequing account.
9) Tuck money into savings for two trips: mine in the Spring to see my mother and a trip for DH and I in October for our 10th wedding anniversary - somewheres cheap, warm and beachy.

[AspiringToBeFrugal]

I will be giving this a LOT of thought over the next several days, but for now my goals are:

1. To pay off CC (only $584 left!) and never again charge more than I can pay off each month.

2. Snowball the CC payment into what I'm sure will be a large hospital bill (due w/ Baby #2 via C-section in mid-January) that will likely show up in our mailbox in mid-February. Pay that off ASAP.

3. Snowball the CC payment into DH's student loan payment (as of 12/4/11 there's still $4770.84 remaining) and pay that off by the end of the year.

4. Keep our grocery budget to $300 each month.

5. Use Dave Ramsey's budget sheet and get on track with this each pay period.

6. Get and keep checkbook balanced and keep an eye (weekly if not daily) on our e-statements.

7. Get savings account up to $8,000 (incl. emergency fund)

8. Make 2 Christmas gifts per month so I'm not scrambling and spending so much in November and December.

9. Get our home organized: use a receipt book, keep my coupon organizer in check, have a touch-once policy for paper (touch once and then file or toss).

10. Achieve "give or get" goal of $1500 for the board I serve on by 9/30/12.

[Lady_V]

2012 Financial Resolutions

~ stick to the budget, don't touch the savings
~ go back to the modified envelope system
~ go back to meal planning and oamc
~ not buy another stich of clothing!!!
~ use up the yarn I have before I dare set foot in JoAnn's, or even think about it
~ get more organized around the house - being able to SEE if I have something will keep me from buying another one, which isn't in the budget - PERIOD!

[Libby]

Things I'd like to do next year - continue fixing up this house slowly and visit DH's family again down in the US. Both of those things require money so I guess my goal (not resolution) is to continue to save money to be able to afford these two things. I'd rather have the money saved up prior to spending.

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I'm thinking camping across the country might not be a bad idea. Except we'd need to fork over for a tent. But that's not a bad idea. It's a lot cheaper than hotels for four nights there and four nights back!

Have you scoped out smaller no name motels outside of towns/cities along your route? What about staying at travellers hostels, could be cheaper then big chain hotels and easier on the body then camping?

I wanna: find the right all-purpose cleaner to water down in a spray bottle to replace so many other cleaners.

Vinegar w/water? My personal fave is method's all purpose spray cleaner.

[greekislandgirl]

Hmm... I need to think about mine.

1) Don't add any more debt, and don't touch savings except pre-planned spending (like using the Car Sinking Fund to pay the annual car tax).

2) Stay on track with the budget without overages (we've been sticking to our budget like glue, for SEVENTY TWO WEEKS!! - that's since June 16, 2010), even though the budget will keep shrinking as our income keeps going down!

3) Lose 25 pounds and start exercising. So far I've lost the first 6.1 pounds. I need to start exercising PRONTO or else I'll just be losing muscle.

4) Put more money into savings funds that need it: Stockpile 2012 Fund, Car Sinking Fund, Medical Sinking Fund, Legal Sinking Fund, and Travel Fund.

5) Add a new language proficiency certification to my resume. (I've started learning Turkish.)

6) Stay on track with paying off the car loan. We still owe 48 payments, so another 12 next year will bring it to 36. I don't want to try to pay it off early in case our currency changes, but I want to keep paying it on time.

7) Another year of not using the credit cards at all!! (We did this in 2011.)

[racine coupon lady]

I got married about 2 months ago, and our goal is to be totally debt free by mid 2012. Once my husband's home sells, we will pay off the small loan on the one we just bought......as well as pay off my car....after that we will have no bills but our current monthly living expenses.

In order to stay debt free, I am going to work smarter from home and use the phone more to conduct my business instead of doing cold calls (I am in sales) in person. We will have stocked up our stockpile of groceries and will have a 50.00 a week budget for groceries. We have a lot of repairs and decorating to do with our new home, but we will search out the best price, learn to haggle as best as we can and think out of the box to realize savings....it will be a challenge but one we are up for.

[ladytoysdream]

I sat down yesterday for over a hour and trying to see where this year's budget money went, so I can plan better for next year.
I keep a handwritten notebook of monthly bills. From my other notebook, and my checkbook ledger, I added gas $ to the bottom of each month. I also added the irregular items, like maintenance/registrations/oil/parts/etc for our vehicles.
I now have a better idea, of what I want to do as sinking funds for 2012. Property and school tax totals divided by 12 and subtracted each month. Vehicle $$ will be money from the 2 extra paychecks each year, and that money could also be used as our emergency fund. He gets paid every 2 weeks, and I base our monthly budget on 2 paychecks. Two months a year, he gets that 3rd paycheck.
His truck will be paid off end of 2012, leaving only the home equity loan. Mortgage was paid off years ago. Truck payment will then go to HEL as extra payments.
He makes a few extra dollars in the summer working part time for a farmer as a sub when needed. That money is his extra and not part of our monthly budget. Yes, he has taxes took out of it. Any extra money I can make goes for grocery stockpiling.

We have low income and have to stick to a budget.
Hubby got spoiled this summer having extra money to buy lunch, etc, downtown instead of coming home. Now he wants that allowance again from our regular budget. So yesterday he got told, if I can't use money from our budget for groceries, then he can't have a allowance. It's not there for either one. If and when, there is some extra winter OT for him, then we will discuss it again. Meanwhile no. The property taxes WILL be paid on time in January. Raises have been non existant except for the small one of $ 10 a week, they got last year.

I will be putting more time into pushing the pencil again today for next year's budget. Now if I just could get hubby to read the condensed list I made from this year , then he would see what I am up against. I have be the mean person in this household. I am so tired It's wonderful to have a plan in place, but when one is tight with money, and the other one is not, unless made to be, then it is really stressfull at times.