Budgets Are Neat

OK, that might be a bit forced, but I am quite proud of myself for staying on budget the last 2 weeks.

A little while back I posted about our new cash budgeting system. And I have to admit that so far I am thinking it is a really great system for us.

Last week was harder than this week I'm guessing because I had more expenses and it was the first week of getting used to a budget. I also didn't plan for a few things, like teacher's thank you gifts and an impromptu ice cream night because M placed in the top tenth percentile nationally on his standardized tests. I have to admit I knew we didn't have the money, but it is a rare day that R suggests something of that nature, and I did want M to know how proud I am, so I figured we make it up this week. And I grossly underestimated my hair appointment, by $22! I really need to keep track of this stuff I can plan ahead better. All in all I went over budget by almost $85! So I had to take it out of this week's allotment.

This week I only had $100 for groceries, clothes, entertainment, gas and all other incidentals. It is also the first week that the kids are out of school. I can see that having them home most of the time will help keep me out of the stores. I detest shopping with both of them. It is such a stressful thing that I avoid it at all costs. I do foresee, however, that I could spend quite a bit on outings. So to make up for it I did a ton of research on what is available and also found some great websites with calendars of kids activities. I then, ever so cheerfully, declared this THE SUMMER OF FREE FUN!

M had golf lessons Monday thru Friday of this week. I paid for them in May. Totally worth the $40 fee. I will probably sign him up for another round later this summer. He also had cub scout camp Friday and Saturday which was $42. I bit pricey I think, but considering the rest of the year is pretty much free, I guess it really isn't.

Monday it rained and we just couldn't quite get our act together so we hung out all day. I even let them watch DVDs from the library for WAY too long.

Tuesday, racked with guilt, I decided I better get on the summer schedule. After chores and brain time we decided to go see a guy that rescues reptiles give a demonstration at the library. Cost-FREE. It was only an hour, but the kids really enjoyed it. Then we walked to a nearby eatery and had a snack. My plan was to get a cookie or share a larger dessert. This is where my new frugal parenting habits didn't quite kick in. They both wanted their own piece of chocolate cake. I wanted a fruit struesel bar. I knew the cake was too rich for them to finish a whole piece on their own, but I didn't want a fight, so I gave in. I was right, they ate half and threw it away. I ate half of mine and saved it for later. Cost-$11.04. Lesson learned-I need to be willing to fight the battle now so it will continue to get easier instead of giving in out of weakness. I went to the library by myself that evening for a little alone time. I like to read all the magazines I used to buy. At $3+ a pop, reading them at the library saves me some serious dough. I found some good DVDs for the weekend. Hooray for free books, magazines and movies!!!

Wednesday it rained some more. M had a playdate with his buddy. My neices came over to play with Z. Free fun for all. I went grocery shopping that evening because we were out of pretty much everything. I bought a very few basics. Cost-$45.74. M also had karate. Karate is expensive, $190 each month. He does several extra classes and has tournament team training as well. He loves it and it is so great for him. It's the only thing he is willing to work his booty off for. I'm willing to eat beans and rice for him to do this.

Thursday it rained. Seeing a pattern here? What a crappy way to start summer vacay. Oh well. We did our chores and then my kiddos went over to the neighbor friend's house for the afternoon. We went to a BBQ at a friend's for dinner.

Friday M went to camp. Z and I went to get my car from my dad. It has been making a disturbing clunking noise for months now. Everytime someone would look at it they would say they couldn't find anything wrong. Finally I told my dad I was too worried to drive it to Bear Lake, so if we didn't figure it out, I wouldn't be driving the boys up on the weekends. I didn't want the steering to go out down the canyon or something! He finally figured out it is just a loose cap on the McPhereson strut. It isn't dangerous, just annoying. I can replace the entire strut, which is still fine, for $85, or live with the noise. Just gonna live with it for awhile. So I gave him back their Durango, thank goodness because gas for that baby is ridiculous. Then I dropped Z off at his Granny's for their weekly hang out sesh. Salami, cheese, sourdough bread with butter, strawberries, soda and ice cream, plus TV! So totally bad, but I love the me time and they love going to visit. I picked up my sis and headed over to my friend's. We drove out to IKEA for the afternoon. I did very well. I bought 2 pillows for the couch, a whisk, an under the bed storage box for Z's out of season clothing, lunch and some candybars. Cost-just under $25. Which I had in my own checking account, so it didn't come out of the family money. Later P. and I went to Rio for a split salad and some queso. Oh yum! I ate way too much. Then we went to see Star Trek. It's good, I liked it a lot. I was planning on letting my kids see it but I'm glad I saw it first. I'm a bit strict, I'll admit, but I really think it is PG-13. Not because it is gory violent, it isn't. It is pretty scary. Evil aliens from the future already occupy way too much of M thoughts. If that wasn't the underlying theme, and that wasn't M particular anxiety, I would probably think it would be OK. Maybe. There is only 1 scene that is sexually suggestive, but I'm really trying to limit their exposure to that as well. So, I know he's going to be ticked off, but I'm not going to let him see it. And it is waaaayyyy to scary for a 6 year old. I didn't get snacks because i was already so full from dinner. So $6 from the family fund and $8 from my checking. M slept over at a friend's house and Z hung with dad.

Today, Saturday, M again had camp. Z and I slept in until 9:30. So delightful!!! Then we bummed around at home until about 1pm. I had thought I'd take him to the farmer's market down town, but it was, you guessed it, raining. So we went to lunch at Shivers. I had a coupon from our Happenings book for Buy 1 Get 1 Free. We also got a small shake. Cost=just over $9. Then we went to the store to get a prescription and buns for the hot dogs we are having for dinner. To my delighted surprise, the pharmacist told me that the meds were free. I don't know why, but hey! I'll take it!!! Then we bought buns, cheetos (on sale), toilet paper (4 rolls of the cheap stuff to get us through until next week) and 1 lb. of spaghetti in the clearance basket. Cost-$4.08.

So it is Saturday night and we have $6 from our weekly allotment. And I would say we had a pretty fun filled week and we ate just fine as well. My car is almost on E. I need to do a pantry inventory so I can spend as little as possible for groceries next week. Tonight we just plan on eating at home and watching a DVD. Tomorrow we are having breakfast at a friend's cabin just up the canyon and a BBQ with some other friends in the evening. R has a bike ride planned in between. Maybe we'll hit the skate park if it isn't raining. Or visit Nana and Pops.

Monday we start fresh with $172.89. I'm going to sign Z up for a round of flag football which will be $40. And I will need to figure out Father's Day gifts. It may be a good week to stock up on some pantry items as well.

It feels good to be in control and to be thinking before spending and aware of what we are spending our money on. I like having to pick and choose what spending items respresent our values and goals. And so far, I don't feel deprived at all.

DIY & Me

I grew up in a very traditional household. Dad took care of the cars and big projects, Mom took care of the inside and kids. R and I are also a very traditional, however, he does not take care of the cars, and for the past 5 years, he also doesn't do much in the way of house projects. He just doesn't want to. I can respect that. But I also have to face the fact that we definitely bought an outdated, fixer-upper in need of updating, repairing and the usual maintenance. What is a girl to do when hubby has other interests that don't include putting up chair-rail in the bedrooms and switching out the fixtures in the bathroom to chrome? Well, she decides to DIY.

I fantasize about moving into a smaller, already fixed-up home where all I have to do is place furniture. But the reality of our situation is, we bought a fixer upper in a highly desirable area. Most of the value of our home is actually the land it sits on. We could probably knock the house down and sell the lot for almost as much as both of them together. Possibly more if I really think about it. Our home was built in 1970 and has that lovely 70s aura about it. I've painted, oh how I've painted, but the truth is, it needs more than that. It needs new bathrooms, a new kitchen, a basement reconfigure, decks redone, windows replaced, a roof. Can I tackle all that? Obviously, no. But there is quite a bit I could do with a little knowledge and a lot of sweat. And the rest I can outsource.

So I am going to tackle a project a month. Some are smaller than others, so I might get a few in each month, but if I aim for completing a project a month, in 12 months there will be 12 things in our home that I don't cringe at the sight of. And who knows, maybe it will be contagious.

Cutting Back

As much as I hate to say it, we have been living the very typical American life of living beyond our means. Faced with the state of the real estate market and our income level stagnating, it is time to make some much needed adjustments to our budgeting, spending, and thinking in general.

Yesterday I called our cable company and cut our services. About 6 months ago I bundled our services with Comcast. We received digital phone, high speed internet and cable for $99 a month. Of course after taxes it came to about $128 month. R really enjoys having cable. I quit watching TV for the most part around June, so it hasn't meant much to me. Yesterday I cut our cable to the basic limited service for $14.99. This gives us very few channels, but one of them is Discovery Channel, and accounts for the majority of our TV viewing. Keeping cable saves us $10/month on our internet. Why do we NEED high speed internet? I'll get to that in a minute. So total we will be paying more like $70 instead of $128/month. We both have cell phones, with long distance and voicemail, so we are planning on using those for our phone needs. Total savings = $58.

We then decided that I am going to work from home 2 days a week. Currently I am going into work every morning to do the administrative work for our real estate business. We let our assistant go in September, saving us approximately $1500/month. I have been paying $400 for daycare each month. By staying home 2 days we can cut that to $160. Total savings = $240. By working at home I will absolutely need high speed internet. I will also need a fax line which will cost me $11.00 a month. By switching back to Qwest I also get 3 free months. Total savings = $39.

I have also been having Winder Dairy deliver our milk each week. It's local, it's fresh and sooo convenient! I called yesterday to cut service. Turns out Z can't really drink milk so we only need 1 gallon of milk each week for M and R. I'm already drinking soy. So I've cut our milk bill from $11 each week to $2.50 a week. Soy bring that bill to $5.00 week. Total savings= $6 / wk.

I have decided to keep our Netflix subscription for now. It is $8.99/month. But it can always go to.

I've started keeping my price book again. I'm going to do my dangdest to buy things at rock bottom prices, effectively giving ourselves a raise. I've stocked up on canned goods, rice, potatoes, squash, onions and frozen vegetables. I'm trying to cook economical, healthy meals from home. My weakness is lunch. I hate making lunch so I end up eating out a few days a week. I am planning to cut out fast food for the next little while. This should save us around $15/wk, or $60/month.

We've gotten a home equity loan and put our high interest credit cards on it, lowering our interest rate and giving us a tax break.

And as a last resort we are talking about moving. We love our neighborhood and would really like to stay. We have one of the larger homes in the area with the most incredible view. We are looking into downsizing. The question will be what we can sell ours for and finding one that we are happy with. There would be some updating we would need to do to maximize our sale. It all sounds so tiring, however, I wouldn't mind the end result. I'd rather be totally out of debt and have a lower mortgage so we can save more and travel more. It's not worth it to me to pay for square footage that I don't need or use. Most houses in our area have a nice view, not quite as incredible as ours, but it isn't worth the money for me. It is for R though. So this remains to be seen. If we could sell for what we want, we could potentially reduce our mortgage by $400/month. We haven't been saving at all, including retirement. I'd like some extra money to give us some leverage. I'm nervous about the state of the economy and I'd like to put more distance between myself the financial edge.

So that's where we're at. Not fun, but that's life.