There were a lot of really great responses from the last challenge! I hope that everyone got around to making their Cash Flow Plan, because I'm dying to hear how it went, and to see different creative ways you came up with to cut those numbers.
How low did you go? Was your husband thinking he was next, or was that just my husband?! :) I think he questions my sanity more times than I care to count.
I tried to cut our numbers, so that I could show you...but my DH was just not having it this time. I would have to say though, that our biggest cut recently would be our satellite. We went from the middle pack, to the very minimun, not even advertised pack for $9.99. And, like Lisa mentioned in the comments, we really don't miss it, and we have found ourself doing other things instead. (Either family time, or much needed things around the house.) It was definitely a blessing. The only reason we have not completely gotten rid of it is because my oldest, whom is 8, is a huge history buff and loves to see how things are made. I want to fuel this as much as I can, so the History channel stays, for now! (I just noticed that I used massive amounts of commas in that last paragraph!)
Anyway, I would really love to hear how you did on your cash flow plan. When you made your bottom line zero, did you "find" any money?
Share away in the comment section. We all want see how low you went.
Do share, I need my "number fix" this week! I'm begging. :)
8 comments:
I am still working on this since my husband is the one that manages the bills. I only manage the grocery budget. So I need to get the numbers from him. I'll tell him you're waiting...hehehehehe!
I am in the process of getting this done. Hoping to have it all finished and the envelopes working for February. So far I am quite amazed at how much is spent on groceries. $30 here another $20 there then my big weekly purchases for $100+. Thanks for the post I stumbled upon your site on Friday and it got me motivated to do this and my hubby was on board since he had wanted me to try this before.
I have my guy writing down ALL expenses until his check is gone and I will do the same when I get paid next time. We are BOTH excited to see where we can trim money from! Right now it's looking like our bar tab is getting a BIG trim! It use to be $150 a week to nothing for the past 2 weeks. But we used that money to go out to dinner every night last week. Made a deal to stay home ALL week and I even posted a menu.
Can't wait to update you with how much we know we can save and pay down debt!
Right now we keep finances separate until we both pay off all debt (except my house). We figured out a number for him to pay me each payday to cover household bill and he helps with the grocery budget and meals out.
Hi! I've been silently following your blog for a month or so, even trying my hand at the envelope system! One recent cut my husband and I made a few weeks ago is to get rid of our traditional home phone and bought a "magic jack" (from the infomercial!) We went from $40 a month phone bill to one $19.95 payment a year! So far it's working great, only downfall is that you have to have your computer on during phone call hours...but ours is on almost all of the time anyway. Since we all have cell phones we hardly used the home phone anyway so this was an exciting place to "think out of the box" for a major savings every month. Thanks for all of your hard work on this wonderful blog!!!
I'm glad to have stumbled upon your blog; we are working hard in our home to reduce debt AND save up a down payment for a home this year (two adults, one teenager and 2 cats in a small apartment keeps me motivated!). Did you know that you can catch a lot of TV shows on the net for free? You might check to see if some of the history channel programs are on some of these free sites or not.
We do a monthly budget, but not quite like this. I like the way you have things set up in your "cash flow plan". We usually just try to have a little gap between income and expences so we can splurge some times. (However this happens to often). I decided since its almost feb to try your plan for a few months and see how it works for us. So far so good. Our snow ball is now smaller (by over 100/month! Ouch!), but that's because this helped us see some things we needed to budget for, that we hadn't.
PHEW! What a task! We just finished writing down our debts, income, and what can we cut out. We had a scary realization that we barely make enough on our 1 income to pay our debts, since that is what a majority of it is. We have cut our home phone, went on parents cell plan. This alone saved $60+ since we don't have to pay the cell bill every month. We are getting rid of our tv although it is a tough one. We realized that we can watch all the missed episodes on the internet. This was a $60 savings. We are selling our car and praying we are shown the right one to purchase, with cash. Another $250 cut when this happens. We are lowering our food and gas budget from what we initially wrote down, $150. What a great challenge. We have nothing left to cut. Thank you for you blog and for the encouragement to use Dave Ramsey. We are just part way through the book and ready to be gazelle's.
I showed you my numbers...I think we've got a good game "plan."
Do you budget date nights with your hubby and babysitting??
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