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Expenses

September 4th, 2008 at 01:22 pm

First off let me say that in the recent months we (Hubby & I) have managed to avoid some rather high cost bills. In July I had my wisdom teeth removed, and Insurance paid 1450 of the 1500 bill. Also, Hubby is flying out next week and FIL gave him his flyer miles to use...so he got a $450 flight for free. For all this, I am grateful. Very grateful.

I'd really like to keep our savings going strong, but I'm rather concerned that when my job is finished up and were on one income again, that keeping savings going will be a rather difficult task. Difficult but not impossible! Even if we can only put 25 bucks a month into savings, its something, right? :-)

The first place I obviously can cut from is our grocery/household/entertainment budget. I budget 400 per month for groceries and household...about 100 for entertainment (we go out to each usually once a week). I don't go over budget, but I don't exactly stay under by a large margin either. I seem to come in at about 350-400 per month. Of course I have been trying the whole coupon thing...but I have a gripe about couponing.

I have Publix, Winn Dixie, Super Walmart, CVS, and Walgreens within 5 miles of the home. Great. Usually I'll shop the best deals at all of them. But here is my gripe. None of them double coupons, nor do the coupons hardly ever match up the sales. Even if they do match up with the sales, it's not things hubby and I generally eat. Our staples consist of baking supplies, meat (ground turkey and chicken), bread, and produce. Most coupons are for processed goods such as poptarts, chips, granola bars. I make our snacks from scratch...granola bars, muffins, fruit salad, etc.

Granted I do find some coupons to use, for some soups, cheese, etc. Generally I use about $5 per week in coupons for groceries (which in all honesty $5 savings per week does add up over a year, 260 bux!). My question to anyone who cares to put in their 2 cents is, if you're in this situation, how do you cut cost? Also, is 400 (all other bills are paid before this amount comes out of our monthly income) a reasonable budget for 2 adults (this does include household products which I tend to buy in bulk at Sam's if I don't have a coupon/sale for it I.E. toliet paper and kleenex)? I use coupons, shop sales and deals to stock up when I can, try to buy generic, and go to a farmers market for produce (I LOVE the farmers market!). Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks :-)

I must say though, I am rather envious of this lady(link). She has mastered couponing by all means.

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/


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On another note, if you haven't figured it out by now (hint: Winn Dixie) I live in the south and I'm rather concerned about the hurricanes coming our way. Hurricane Ike in particular. Cat 4 already! Over night! Ugh. My husband is going to be out of town next week when it possibly hits the US so I'm seriously concidering just putting up the shutters before he leaves and heading up to see family about 6 hours north for the week. I have the option of doing most of my work from home if I have to. The problem being that if I don't get called for anything, then I don't get paid. LoL. But I'm deathly afraid of storms (I grew up in Tornado country!) and my hubby wont be here, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Besides I could use some family time. Most of my family is still back in MO, and I miss them.

I must say that I really feel for the people in the Bahamas, they are getting slammed by every storm coming through! Seems like as soon as one storm leaves, a new one is literally right behind it. Ugh. Our enviroment is changing, slowly but surely. Very active hurricane season.



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I wanted to say Thank You for all the lovely "welcome" comments yesterday. I appreciate them! :-)

Have a good day everyone.

4 Responses to “Expenses”

  1. Ima saver Says:
    1220536040

    I save a lot of money on my electric bills by turning the hot water heater off and only back on when I need it for a shower or to run the dish washer.

  2. compulsive debtor Says:
    1220542350

    Do you have cable? If so, get rid of it or at least cut back to the bare minimum. Also, I don't think $400 for two people is a lot if you're including things like toiletries and cleaning supplies. I budget $600 a month for three people and even that's tight.

  3. Mary Beth Says:
    1220543776

    Do you have a much freezer space? If you are buying staples, you can take advantage of sales on things like cheese, bread, flour etc. and freeze them. This way, you have plenty to use at the sale price and don't have to pay full price. I do this with things like butter, flour etc. I buy enough to last several months, til the next big sale at least.

  4. Mrs. Matt Says:
    1220544008

    Thanks for the suggestions!

    We have Direct TV, which My hubby and I have def. talked about getting rid of it. When we first bought our house in MO, we didn't have cable for 3 months, and honestly we didn't miss it that much.

    I didn't realize you could freeze dairy?! I freeze our bread, flour, veggies and what not. But I had no idea about dairy. Any freezing/defrosting directions?

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