More Financial Planning

MORE FINANCIAL PLANNING

Who ever thought financial planning could be so flipping exciting?  Seriously, I get a major buzz every time I save $20 bucks at the grocery store and up until 6 weeks ago I was paying full price for everything!  So, here's what I've done to gain complete control of our finances:

CREATE A BUDGET:

Man, this is a lot harder than you would think but from what I have learned it's crucial to designate every dollar you earn.  If you don't pay attention to your money, those that are paying attention somehow manage to wiggle your money away.  So, for the month of April here's a small snippet of our budget:

• Groceries - $1050 - plus $180 for school lunches
• Vehicle expenses - $600 (maintenance, insurance, gas)
• House Maintenance - $100 (we painted in April)

The point is to take in your revenue and deduct your expenses so it equals zero so you know exactly where every dollar is going.

The hardest part for me -  I neglected to calculate (o.k. I forgot) how much money the kids would need for field trips, book orders, school potlucks, baseball, track etc.   But, I'm new to this so I hope to do some better planning for May. 

SPEND LESS:

Now this is the part I'm SUPER excited about.  For the month of April I set aside $1050 for groceries but ended the month spending half as much - just $575!!!!  I saved over $180 in grocery store coupons alone.  I'm not going to lie - it takes organization, time and zero ego but it's well worth it.   So, if you see me at the store avoid my line because I'm holding everyone up behind me!  And, just so you know - I'm still buying organic whole foods but for less money (another tip - I buy my organic apples, organic potatoes, and organic salad all at Aldi's for a fraction of the cost as many grocery stores).

I even managed to buy these super fun shoes (you won't believe this)..........................................for $4.00 at JCPenney.

Check out my hot new shoes - only 4 bucks!

I've been getting my coupons from 3 main apps:  coupon.com, retailmenot, and snipsnap. 

MAKING CUTS:

So in addition to shopping with coupons, I've given up many things over the past 6 weeks and I'm still fine.  It's not that I'm broke or in the poor house, but I have one goal and that's to GET COMPLETELY OUT OF ALL DEBT and to do that I need to make a few sacrifices!  I've had student loan payments for so long (my husbands too) that I feel like Sallie Mae is part of the family.  With my new focus on living debt-free I know I can kill off  my nemesis Sallie Mae and I'm VERY happy about it.  And guess what, by the time this is said and done I will have paid longer on my Sallie Mae loan than on my house - how messed up is that.

Here's my cuts to date:

• Backroads Coffee - When I step into Backroads in the morning it's like stepping into Cheers (hey, Norm I mean Kristin) only it's 5:45 in the morning.  But, guess what - I'm making coffee at home, I'm surviving and it's shaving 15 minutes from my day
• Kombucha - I developed a pretty expensive Kombucha daily habit but I ordered a mother mushroom online and I'm making it myself and saving TONS of money
• Eating out - I would eat lunch out one time per week (usually Thursdays) but I also eliminated that from my budget.  I would also take the kids out for a treat once per week (i.e. ice cream) and we've limited that to once per month.
• Paying retail - is something that no longer happens in my world
• Credit cards - I can not tell you the rush I felt from cutting up my Amazon, Younkers, Old Navy, Macy's and Scheel's credit cards.  It took me about 2 weeks to do it but once I did I felt a total sense of relief.  No more temptation! 

I have a lot more to share about my new found financial plan, but for fear that this will get too long I will save the rest for another day.

Guess what I did today?  I skied in the morning and laid out in the sun in the afternoon.  Only in Wisconsin.

Skiing with friends this morning (4/26)

Soaking up the rays this afternoon (4/26) - look at our snowy yard!




 

What tips do you have for staying on budget or saving money?  Have you ever skied and laid out on the same day?  C'mon - you have to admit that's pretty cool?!

Thanks for reading,

Kristin