Frugal Village Forums banner

Goal set now to cut back and save.

8K views 80 replies 10 participants last post by  Gav1985 
#1 ·
We set a pretty lofty goal by Feb to take the kids on a trip to the Caribbean. Rules are the $ has to come out of our current budget, my tips from my PT job and we can not reduce our already aggressive savings percentage. We run a fairly tight budget except for a few categories so I will just be documenting the little or big things we do to reach this goal. Goal is $5000. I am starting with $37 in the pot. I also could make extra income since I only work PT. Not sure where to fit that in with Moms daily therapy, my jobs and DS's schedule but I will keep my eyes open. I do have a few things I need to get rid of but that $ is marker for a new snow blower.

Today I used up veggies in the fridge to make a big pot of soup instead of letting my dogs have them. I will take the soup for lunches.

Moved a lamp over to the desk instead of turning on the 3 overhead lights on that switch.

Dried more produce.

Used up leftovers

only one trip today
 
#2 ·
Made some fire starters and called the ins co. Our chiro is now in network. There will be 10 visits this month by tomorrow. Looks like we can now get reimbursed :) up to $40 a visit and we pay $40 cash per visit :) YEAH!!!! I wont count it until the paperwork and $ comes back. Now that will help our savings out! Generally there are 2 visits a month so it will save $80. This was an odd month since dh hurt himself and needed more.

So glad I called as whom is in network for reimbursement changes often!!
 
#3 ·
Well we are now committed. We put $800 down and booked. They had a deal with smaller deposits with the current sale. We booked 2 suites. Total $3000 minus the $800 deposit. The rest due the first week of December.

We could just pay for vacation out of saving but this is not the deal we made with ourselves. We will be getting a bit over $400 reimbursed for our chiro bills this month so there is half of the deposit we just put down. My tips and budget cuts will make up the other $400 before the payment is due the end of next month. Plus extra I hope. Dh passes on overtime for the most part but said he will be happy to do a little. It is almost always available. I always budget for bare bones paychecks also so this leaves wiggle room. Since most of the time my $ from my pt job is not needed that will go in the vacation pot.

How odd am I that I am excited for the whole family too work together too squeeze $ out of the budget for this??? My young men had some great ideas!! I am so excited!

Everyone's food is packed for tomorrow so there are no excuses. Meat thawing for dinner. Again no excuses.
 
#4 · (Edited)
Ok my bad!!! The deposit we put down was $400 not $800. Gee nothing like doubling figures.

The good news is I have the $400 plus $14 extra! It is good to be reminded about our change jar fund. We had always dumped change in one account all our married lives. That paid for our 20 year trip. Duh!!! Hubby asked last night hadn't I deposited in there recently and a couple times since Feb. Why yes I had!!!! Was I sure I had not stashed any tip cash anywhere. Hmmmm. Go look!! Why yes there was some stashed in one of my two fav hiding places.

Add today's tips, the change jar account and my stashed tips , the $37 I had and we totalled $414. So deposit covered. Still will get insurance reimbursement in the next month or so . Cool!!

However we decided too raise the goal. Impossible is not in my vocabulary. Difficult is though. So shoot big and be happy with the original goal if that is the best we can do.

I decided I needed a desk lamp to avoid so many overhead bulbs going on. The lamp I put there was way too big for the tiny desk. Well it just so happens the survey company paid me recently in an online walmart gift card. I picked out an inexpensive one. $1.28 of it came out of my pocket. I figure it will pay for its self quickly :)

All meals from home.

I am doing lots of extra running for my mom daily with her being laid up. However I will gladly spend more on gas to help her.

We had previous plans with another couple too go out this weekend. I looked at our area events and found some fun free stuff going on. We will also be having lunch at a place near by having a 2 for 1 special. Since this was previously planned we don't want too back out. We are just making it more frugal. We plan for this too be our last time in a restaurant until Feb!!

It was really cool this morning and last night. Left the windows open. Closed them and all drapes before I left. Temp hit the 80's but it stayed 68 in the house.We have lots of floor to ceiling windows so pulling the curtains really helps. I opened them when we all got home to let the light in. I can't tell you how much I detest having a dark house. However it stopped the central air from being needed. Warm again tomorrow so I will do the same. I figure it all helps:)

After work I spent time in two different nursing homes. I bring my littlest dog. Wow he sure is a magnet and loves the attention! A really nice man asked if we could please come down too his wife's room. That poor woman had a broken back, neck and collar bone. She wanted the dog right up in the bed with her. Since he is 6 lbs and calm it seemed ok. I didn't think he wanted to go home. He snuggled right up too her after a few kisses. So cute! He is such a little ham.

Dishwasher on air dry as usual.

Dinner plan for tomorrow as Fri is my " I am tired after work. Let's go out to eat day".

Oldest son changed some lights around downstairs do there was more lighting where needed so they could avoid turning so many on.

The youngest got his shower down too about 20 min from his normal 30. Hey it is better than 30. His brother told him he timed him LOL! Got to live it when Mr energy waster is the energy police today :)

We have a dripping faucet on the too Do list.
 
#6 ·
Thanks SD! Yep lock-down :)

Now lets see if the kids forget about it in two weeks. They better not. We did tell them we will pay for the excursions but that they were responsible for their spending $. Not a problem at their ages. The younger one also has a rather expensive field trip coming up that we paid for already. When we paid for it we said we will send so much for meals and all his spending $ is again his responsibility. He said will be saving it for the cruise :)

Did a bunch of running for mom which cant be helped. I need to remember to add the receipts up for all the stuff I bought her the last two week and reimburse myself. She keeps reminding me and I told her I wont forget.

Meals at home again

did the same things as yesterday to keep the AC off.

Cutting up wood with hubby tomorrow for the woodstove.

Added a bit more to the pot today.
 
#7 ·
AH!!!! The challenge comes today. We usually have a bottle of wine Sat night. I said no extra spending and that means wine :( We have lots of liquor in the house but the point is not the booze but the fact I love wine. If they made it booze free I would drink it more than once a week. So no wine :)

I was going to hit the thrift stores and look for jeans so I dont look like a hobo tonight. I am down too two pair that sag in the butt terribly. I do have a mall gift-card but do not want to go to the mall unless it is an early morning weekday. I decided not to hit the thrift store either. I'll wear a pair of my work pants tonight since my jeans are awful! If I lose about 10-15 more lbs I will have 3 more pairs that fit. My jeans have been sagging for quite a while so what is a little longer matter???

I will go pick up my lamp that is in on the way to dinner tonight. We better enjoy this dinner since it was already planned. The plan is this is the last meal out we will pay for until Feb.
 
#9 ·
Thank you Tami. That is so nice of you. He has two unresolved issues but they are not horrifying. He has some more testing coming up soon and we are hoping for improvement and clear tests. They still don't know why for the blood in urine. He is not looking forward to a camera in his bladder or another stomach scope nor the frequent colonoscopy. The meds seem to help his stomach some since they did find ulcers. He is bit difficult on the GF diet and the ulcer diet but adjusting can suck.

Actually going through that was one of the things that made us decide we want to make these memories now. One never knows how many tomorrows we will get with those we love.

We quit on the wood for today. Whew!
 
#11 ·
Bumps in the road here! Took the boys for passports. Almost $300. How did i forget that one in the budget? Last year ds whom has never had a cavity needed a root canal. Why? The orthodontist moved his teeth too fast The dentist said at the time xrays looked like 4 bottom teeth were dying but we would hope for the best. Also not too be shocked if he the tooth darkened and he needed a crown. Well now he does! DS noticed sensitivity in the tooth next too it the other day and freaked out because when he looked the tooth with the root canal was turning grey. He has a cleaning today. I now that tooth will need a crown. Betting the bank that the sensitive one will need a root canal. Root canal 900 and crowns 1000 each . We pay half since we are out of network. I told ds if he needs a root canal we will do it right away but any crowns will wait until Jan so we can use flex spending. ASK me how mad I am too that $5500 at the ortho on decay free teeth and his rushing the job will potentially cost almost $8000!!! So that is our bump in the budget while saving for our goal.

I need to call AAA about a refund on the passport photos they took as the post office took them again. They were too light and DS1 had on his uniform since he had just come from work. The security uniform looked too close to military. The oldest had not slept yet since he had come from working 10 hours. They wanted too stop for food and mean mom said no.

Have appt to take mom too today and DS's dentist appt later. I plan to stop by the store again with the milk $1.48 and butter .98. Both limit one but we will be right by it. I will also go past it Thur after work. More appts with mom tomorrow but I dont believe that is on the way then.

All meals from home again.

I stopped by the Dollar Tree yesterday. Someone said their cleaners were an excellent price. They sure were. $1 for 65 and 68 ounce bottles.

I also have a $10 Walmart gift card to pick up at customer service when I get there next.
 
#13 ·
SD, I have never heard that saying before but I like it! Very true.

Dentist said no problem doing the crown in Jan since you can't see it anyways. She is not charging us for next week's root canal. I about fell over. She has been my dentist forever. I reminder her we do have insurance and can pay the bill. She reminded me that she personally recommended that orthodontist and I have referred a lot of clients and friends to her over the years.

I am still shaking my head in disbelief. Don't get me wrong DS will still potentially need 2 more root canals and 4 crowns down the line and yeah that bites but a no charge service is awesome.

I sold an unused deer stand today :)
 
#16 ·
Windows open to pull cool air in. Ok not cool down right cold! However temp rising this afternoon.
Dishwasher on air dry as usual.
All meals at home.
ran a pot of coffee with 1/2 grounds.
using that new little desk lamp.

Called and found out what week is bulk free pick up week. Better than paying to have the box spring hauled away :) Now what can I find for my other item?

Found a cheaper source of cat litter. It required a little extra to start but will save $10 a month.

I have to go get new tires but that is budgeted for already.
 
#17 ·
Found a cheaper source of cat litter. It required a little extra to start but will save $10 a month.
What kind of cat litter do you use. I remember you saying in a thread you were going to try horse bedding I think? I have 4 cats ( dangers of doing animal rescue ) and a husband with a ultra sensitive nose. Lucky I have a downstairs to keep the boxes that works good except when windows are open it seems to carry right through the house. He doesn't like the "perfume" smell of the litter but if it isn't perfumed it gets smelly fast. Just found out that was from the little clumps that fall through the scoop and stay behind. I am trying to change them to corn litter but have to do it very slowly cause one of them doesn't like it and actually peed on a few random things...I have never had that problem before:-( Now that I have it a good mix of old with a little new they are all fine with it but I am having to change it every couple days to keep the smell away. How often do you completely change the whole litter box? When I only had 2 cats it wasn't a problem....
 
#18 ·
I use scoopable clay and crystals currently in 3 huge tote boxes. My cats were not crazy about the horse bedding. Well I liked it. The others did not. Dame with pine pellets. I change litter completely weekly. My cats also like crystal litter. That has been expensive but works best. Amazon sells the scoopfree litter box, the forever tray and the crystal cheaper. I can make it 3 weeks with crystals. If you want a disposable tray it is $44 on auto delivery for 6 trays. The forever tray you just empty every few weeks and add new crystals. The forever test is 49.95 up front but cheaper in the long run.
 
#20 · (Edited)
Thanks so much :)

I tell you today was a horrible day and then boom there came some good news a little bit ago! I've had a headache for two days. Blah!

I have done so much running with what is going on with my mom that I am getting pooped. I am trying to keep up here at home but it is sliding some. I have not spent much time home during day hours between Mom, a volunteer commitments, my sick friend, kids running appts and my pt job. I need to get ready for the company I am getting next weekend. The chimney cleaner was a no show this morning. I went for the tires and oil change. Told them to change air filers etc if needed. My hour wait ended up being 3.5 hours. Then to top it off they come out after it is done and say I need an air filter. I reminded them I told them to do it if needed. There was a back up of cars and I was not waiting longer!!!!!!!!!! While waiting I walked over to GW and bought some .79 shirts for DS and one for 1.99 for DH and DS1. They needed some dressier short sleeves. I got a pair of cords for me for 2.99. Walked to another store and found some Christmas presents. Jewelry originally $59.99 marked down 90% off. I also found the types of refills cups we wanted for the cruise marked down to $3. They look like oversize pop cans.

I figured I had nothing better to do while waiting and told the to call me. By the time I got back I waited another 2 hours :( So I get in the car and they forgot to fill the windshield wash fluid but sure enough it is checked off their list. That will be my last oil change at Walmart. It makes me fear what else they might miss. The next one will be at the dealer.


I made it by the skin of my teeth to the meeting I had. The meeting was frustrating slightly. So I was back home trying to catch up. Pet mess, dishes, laundry, start dinner. Not feeling it with the headache!

Dh called and I almost didn't answer because I just need a bit of time to myself to get stuff done. I'm glad I did. Dh has been wanting to change positions but the expansion hasn't happened yet to move him into that slot. He doesn't want it because it is more money though it is. he wants it because it is much less strain and stress. He had to call his boss back right away and wanted to make sure I didn't mind his shift hours changing before he said yes. One of his coworkers got injured ( non work) and they wanted to know if dh wanted to swing into that slot temporarily until Jan. It gives him a chance to try it out for a while before the expansion so he can be sure it is a good fit for him. I'm happy for him because he has wanted to try this for quite a while. What better than trying it with no long term commitment. This will also really help with our vacation goal. It is a big weekly pay boost! I'll have to run a calc to see how much after the extra taxes and 401k.
 
#22 ·
Headache headache go away. Don't come back another day!!

All meals at home. I didn't like that today.

Friday is date night and we canned it while working on our goal. I must say the last few days I realized I am kind of spoiled. There are certain thing I am used to doing or buying that I am really having to rethink since we have a big goal. Things like date night, a weekly bottle of wine and fresh mozzarella have left me a wee bit cranky. We used too be very good about no extras but have gotten more lax as we got more comfy financially. So anyways my inner two year old has had a few tantrums. It has been a rough week and too busy.Maybe that has something to do with it?

I won't really see a lot of progress on this goal until closer to the end of the month as far as numbers go.
 
#23 ·
Meals from home.

I'm fighting not turning on the heat. I'm too lazy to go out in the rain for wood for a fire. Blankets it is!!

She got 2 redbox movies and a bargain bottle of wine. I'm not saying a word. I'll just enjoy it. I wouldn't have done it but it's ok.

Got some groceries after work. Burger was $4.89 and t bones $3.87. Crazy huh??? So we had a delicious steak and salad for dinner. Stocked up on cheese and salad dressing. Cheese was .98 for 8 oz if you bought 5. Wishbone dressing was 8 for $10.

Added a small amount to the fund.
 
#24 ·
Those sound like some pretty good prices!

We stocked up today for the next year on canned goods. Great prices for here, so we bought cases of stuff. Still trying to figure out where to put it all but that is NOT a complaint! It's good to have it all in the house and ready for winter.

We did turn on the heat. Just in the living room though. The kitties are thrilled.
 
#27 ·
Just started reading this thread and enjoying it. You're doing well on your challenge to yourself. I think we all have an "inner child" that throws tantrums once in a while. It's only human. Keep posting your ups and downs. Rooting for you!
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top