hello

**brennan** · 12-03-2006, 01:17 PM

I love your site and have been using your great suggestions for some time now. I am a mother of 4 ( 3 boys and 1 girl), I work at a preschool while my older kids are at school and my mother watches my 4 month old. My dh has 2 jobs and we are trying to pay off credit cards. With our regular incomes we make ~3000 a month and have ~2000 in bills. He is making ~ 800 with his part time job, we are trying to use that to start snowballing and we have 700 in savings. I will list my bill and if you have any suggestions please help. It just seems like the money slips away even when budgeting.

house 740 month
car 280 month (2years left)
insurance 157
water 20
sewege 30
cox (phone, internet, cable) 65
electricity 125

loan #1 125 (8000) school
loan #2 65 (2000) A/c
loan #3 65 (1500) furniture
credit card #1 100 (3000)
credit card #2 200 (9000)
credit card #3 35 (650)

I try to spend 200 a week on groceries (100), gas (50), and lunches.

**thriftstorequeen** · 12-03-2006, 02:18 PM

WELCOME! These folks have alot of great ideas. You may want to use some of the ideas on cheap meals and use coupons to make your food money go farther. I stopped using my credit cards. I pay only cash now and have started an emergency fund and then on to a savings account. I wish I had done all these things earlier instead of waiting till I was 53. The good news is that I paid off my first credit card! Still have 3 to go plus a car pay-off and pay the house off. I started using less soap to wash the clothes and the dishes. I keep the gas heat off on chilly days and only use our woodstove to heat the house. I keep the lights off as much as possible and put a timer on our water heater. I cook almost everything from scratch and try not to eat out much. I hope this helps some. I almost forgot I send for almost every freebie that's posted.ENJOY!!! Tina

**bumplett** · 12-03-2006, 02:48 PM

The first thing that caught my eye was the $50 for lunches !?! Or maybe I am reading that wrong?

Are you packing a lunch for you & hubby & kids ? this could be a good spot to start saving in -

I think with the extra income from the 2nd job, you guys should be able to knock out the smallest cc debt quickly, then keep on snowballing from there!

good luck!

**FrugalMomof3** · 12-03-2006, 05:54 PM

Hiya and welcome to FV, there is a wealth of information to help you manage your finances and make a budget!

**brennan** · 12-03-2006, 06:49 PM

the other 50 is not just for lunch but for any and all extra expenses that come up during the week. example: doctor $15

**dmvezina** · 12-03-2006, 06:56 PM

Hi and welcome to the Village!!
You came to the right place!

**autumnlynn** · 12-03-2006, 07:18 PM

Hi and welcome to the Village!!

**Darlene** · 12-03-2006, 07:55 PM

So nice to have you here, Welcome to the Village! Looks to me as your doing really nicely and a little stockpiling when prices are good you will get ahead of the game. Only you know what non parishable things you use on a reg basis. Find these, stock up when prices are good and bonus if you can use some coupons on them & you'll be way ahead of the game.