1st Quarter under budget!

**nuisance26** · 03-30-2008, 12:40 PM

~My plan for 2008 is to spend just 50% of our income on living expenses and use the rest for savings, paying off the rest of the car loan and home improvements. I came in almost $500 under budget for Jan-Mar! I'm shocked I did that well considering the increases in gas and food. I'm kinda embarrassed to brag but I'm also proud of the work I've been putting in to make this happen. We are a one income, middle class family of four so it can be done!~

**nodmicks** · 03-30-2008, 12:41 PM

Congrats! Don't be embarrassed at all! You did terrific and can help show others it can be done.

**C@rol** · 03-30-2008, 12:50 PM

Good for you!

Keep it going.

**FrugalMomof3** · 03-30-2008, 03:48 PM

That's Awesome! Keep up the great work! I am with you about being under budget but with Murphy's visit the savings went down but it's back up again! IT CAN BE DONE!

**bclements514** · 03-30-2008, 04:17 PM

WTG!!!!!! Great job, keep up the good work!

**mombottoo** · 03-30-2008, 05:00 PM

Congratulations on a job well done!!!

**Marie78** · 03-30-2008, 05:07 PM

Good for you, you should be proud. I'm proud of you and it is a lot of work, you should get credit for it

.

**forHISglory** · 03-30-2008, 06:00 PM

Congratulations! This is not bragging. This is simply stating truth. Now.... can you go even further and detail how you did this? This could be very inspiring to others who would like to do the same.

**Michelle68** · 03-30-2008, 09:16 PM

Good for you!

--Michelle

**SheKat** · 03-30-2008, 11:22 PM

Never be embarrassed to brag, it's success stories like these that get and keep people motivated.

**Laura2** · 03-30-2008, 11:59 PM

Great Job! Keep up the good work!

**nuisance26** · 04-03-2008, 01:13 PM

Originally Posted by forHISglory

Congratulations! This is not bragging. This is simply stating truth. Now.... can you go even further and detail how you did this? This could be very inspiring to others who would like to do the same.

~A few more details;
-Our 5 year car loan will be paid off in 2 years at the end of this month. That frees up $2400 in payments this year.
-We added $300 worth of insulation to our crawl space last year and we've almost re-couped the cost of it. It will begin to make money for us this summer.
-Buying my 14 cubic foot freezer last year has enabled me to average $225 a month on food. It runs on less than $50 of energy a year.
-Hubby got a 3.5% raise, which was depressing at the time, but a raise IS a raise. He works 8 hours of overtime a week.
-Shopping around again for car insurance last fall got us a yearly rate break of $800. I paid for a full year of insurance right then so that put the savings into this years surplus.
-We lowered our 401K contribution from 12.5% to 7%. The company matches half of what we put in up to that amount.
-I decided last year to move the kids annual check-ups from the usual January(near their b-days) to the middle of the summer. They're sick every year from something they pick up at the office running into several hundred $ of medical co-pays, prescriptions and deductibles. Guess what? They haven't been sick beside the sniffles this winter.
And just for furthur clarification, when I said 50% on living expenses I meant 50% of gross income. I hope this makes sense because I've got an allergy headache and I'm not thinking very coherently!~

**prairiewife** · 04-07-2008, 08:05 PM

You should be proud of yourself. Debt is so easy to get into and so hard to pay off. It sounds like you have a great plan in place. Keep up the good work.