This might help cut those costs -
http://www.coolsavings.com/Welcome.aspx?SessionID=3486f4d9-c6f8-433d-87c6-0205c940542a
Jeff
Establishing a household budget....anyone good at it?
by onlycurious 21 Replies latest jw friends
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jaguarbass
What I know about a budget: Make more than you spend. Then everything else falls into place.
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kerj2leev
Here is a book that FreeChick turned me onto, it definately has some great advise on smart ways to save money! In it he makes you aware of how much money we spend on things we really don't need, he calls it the "Latte Factor". Those little things add up over the course of a year!
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mia_b
We write a shopping list of what we need and stick to it. No use buying stuff just cos it's on offer if you don't usually have it! A sis in my old cong with 5 kids used to do bulk buys once a month and then perishables once a week.
And the thing that saved the most money? Cutting down on alcohol :(
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Paralipomenon
I am a large advocate of MS Money though I suppose any personal finance software would do. It can connect to your bank and download your account information.
What I initially did was just assign categories to common purchases. So if it saw "Exxon" it would automatically file it under "Automobile" for Gas. After a month it will provide you with a report saying exactly how much you spent and where you spent it.
This gave us a really realistic idea of our current budget and also made things glaringly obvious as to what we could adjust. We found that we were using our debit card alot and going over our monthly transaction limit. This amounted to alot of extra fees so we went to the bank and upgraded our account to accommodate.
After a few months we had created a budget but found that it was very hard to stick to. Small purchases seem to add up. The biggest one was our grocery budget. It was nothing to go out and spend $20-$40 to pick up some basics or a treat, but at the end of the month we found that alot of food was going bad from impulse desires. In order to stick to a budget we set our budget into set amounts and each payday I go to the bank and withdrawal our budget. I give my wife the grocery budget + personal spending money, and I get the gas budget + personal spending money. We take a 100 bill and put it in a lockbox as a reserve/vacation fund. The idea is, we'd be less likely to dip into the vacation fund if it meant breaking a 100 dollar bill.
So far this has worked amazingly well. It took about 6 months to figure out what worked for our budgets. We initially set our grocery budget too low and found we needed to supplement it each pay period. We just worked with it and adjusted it until it was comfortable. When you have a set amount of cash set aside for a two week period, you will adjust your shopping habits to suit. A year later it is still a work in progress, but we are wasting less.
We figured out exactly how much we continually average on eating out and have added that to our payday withdrawal. If we can curb our eating fast food, the deal is we'll use the money at the end of the month to go to a fancy restaurant without the kids.
I had tried numerous budgets over the years but this has been the only one that I have made work. Like diets, what works for one person may not work for another. The reason this worked for me was before I would try to set a savings goal first then try to adjust our spending around it. This was setting myself up to fail. There is always alot of little things you don't take into account. It would get frustrating that the budget wasn't working so I'd drop it. Once you have an idea of exactly how you spend your money, you can make a budget to work with it. Live your life comfortably first, whatever you can live without or save can go into your savings. -
jgnat
Here's another handy link. http://www.homeeconomiser.com/
MS Money is a good idea. I've used software like it a few times to keep track. My tip when using that software, keep the number of accounts small. For instance, create one account for "Utilities" rather than electricity, water, heat. Another could be "Transportation" rather than car, repairs, transit, etc. I had one account for "Groceries" that I also used for everything else I bought monthly, including toiletries. The fewer accounts you are managing, the easier it is to keep track and stick to the system.
A low-tech way of tracking spending is to go on a cash system, an envelope for each budget category. When the envelope is empty, stop spending in that account!
My banker helped me get a handle on my spending by splitting my account. One account receives a set amount every month, and all my automatic payments come out of THAT. The rest is my discretionary, and when it is gone, it's GONE.
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mrsjones5
Wow a grand a month on food? I think I spend about $300-$350 a month on food for my family of six. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. But I know if I get this job my food bill will go up, I won't be able to cook as much.
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UnConfused
Wow - having him give up beer, wine and steak!
Yeesh - that would have the side affect of losing weight too!
Perhaps you guys need to slow down and think this over. -
bebu
I lived hand-to-mouth in college, so I am very conscious of money that I spend on food. We spend around $600 a month and there are 6 people I'm buying for (3 adults, 2 teens, one child). To me, $600 is still an enormous amount of money!
First of all, I write out our MENU. If you plan a menu you can go to a store and get exactly what you need and nothing else. No fun, of course, but if you are tightening a budget that's important. Not only that, but if you always over-fill your cupboards and fridge there is the tendency to ignore good leftovers, and food eventually gets thrown out (wasted). I don't like buying food in order to compost it in my fridge until I finally decide (weeks later) it's beyond hope...
I get half of our stuff at Costco, and like mentioned, I am careful to not buy stuff that I won't use. I sometimes go halves with a friend on some produce items. I don't buy lots of snack foods, mostly what goes into the kids' lunches, and something a little different for fun.
Keep an eye out for good bargains, esp with meat in your case. Maybe turn your tastebuds onto pork--it's a lot cheaper than beef, and there are some good cuts out there.
BTW, we hardly go out to eat at restaurants. Maybe once a month, if that. We do get pizza once a week, though. I don't know if you included eating out in your numbers, though (I didn't).
bebu