Here is my list of November Goals:
- Continue to throw money at the truck. I'm so excited about this, we paid an extra $450 for November! Since gas prices are down, I saved all of our extra from that, DH's overtime, our snowball, and anything else I could find and mailed it all in. What a great feeling!
- Continue the grocery budget at $300. Did so, and actually for the month of November, even with added Thanksgiving costs, I came in under budget at $280! Oh yeah! Maybe the $250 isn't as far off as I thought.
- Ahem...try ebay. Well, I made a step in the right direction...I got a flat rate box. That's progress, right?! Haha.
- Get meaner/tighter on the envelope system. This one actually made me laugh when I came to it. My husband was probably wishing I wasn't so "freakish" about our budget this month! I did become more strict on the budget. DH ALWAYS runs out his "blow" money before it is time to replenish it. I've always kept a little bit back so I can just give him more, or I have given him the rest of mine. We both get the same amount, but he almost always ended up with the majority of mine....not this go around! He really started watching where his money was going when he knew he couldn't have more...he learned it the hard way first, though. He was dry and still had another week to go, and I made sure that all the other resources were hidden. I felt mean, but he survived, and so did I....barely! I think he realizes that I mean business! :)
Here is December:
- Of course continue to pay off the truck.
- Replenish the EF. This one gets me. I had JUST mailed the last extra payment (which was $300)to the truck, and the stupid wheel bearing decided to go out!!!!! Agh. $250 later it is fixed. See my frustration......
Really, that is all for this month. With Christmas break and all I don't think that it would be logical for me to slash the budget this month. I just don't think it is possible with the big kids being home for 2 weeks, we'll see though.
November proved to be a GREAT month for us. I'm pretty much done Christmas shopping, my personal propery/real estate taxes are out of the way, and I paid extra on the truck. My taxes have never been paid before Christmas, and my shopping has generally been finished the week of Christmas (with added debt!).
So, here's to a great December.
5 comments:
WTG Phoebe!!
Looks like you are doing GREAT, especially with your grocery budget. I am sitting down tonight to do our monthly budget, but I'm pretty sure I went over in groceries in November....Thanksgiving for 37 people didn't help. We paid off our van last month, which is a $250 payment towards our next debt! Woo-hoo! I've been meaning to ask how the chore chart (handipoints) is going??? I've signed up, but my kids haven't started doing it yet....not sure why! Wanna give me feedback on how that's going for you?? Thanks a bunch!!
Hayley-
Awesome, Awesome!! I love hearing about people paying off debt! :)
I cannot even imagine feeding 37 people and trying to keep a budget. Wow! :)
About Handipoints..well it's funny you ask. We were doing well for quite sometime, and then I guess we got too busy for it, so it kind of stopped. I FORCED them to start doing it again last week. We're going strong. Again. I think that with the holidays and just the craziness of this season that it may be kind of hard to stick to. But, Handipoints keeps rolling out new furniture, costumes, and parts of their "town" so that may work in my favor! :)
When you start it, you'll have to let me know if your kids like it or not.
Looks like you're doing a great job! And way to go for your hubby realizing that, too :P
This is awesome! Congrats, girl! My oldest asked today about when we were going to go on a vacation (clearly, he did not read my frugal living posts today, lol!), and I told him that we are hoping to cut down and spend less in order to save some money for it.
I am going to see if I can spend alot less on groceries, like you do. I am also going to try paying for groceries with cash again. We always do great when we do it that way.
Phoebe,
You are doing such a wonderful job!! Keep up the good work! Maybe I'll start posting my goals, so it will help me stick to them!
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