We spent some time this weekend setting up our second budget since we starting using them, and this one doesn't seem to add up as well! We seem to be about $200 short of what we would like to have to meet our needs for the next two weeks. This doesn't include any extras, just our mortgage, daycare, groceries, and gas. We are also trying to come up with enough for a nice birthday party for our daughter. We are committed to not using credit anymore, so we are looking for ways to make our income work. Here are some of the strategies we are trying:
Stretching our Grocery Dollars - We budgeted $120 for two weeks of groceries, because that number was perfect for the last two weeks. That is $60 per week - my wife went grocery shopping today armed with coupons and a store circular, and did very well. She spent $42, but used $38 of coupons and discounts. I was very surprised when she showed me the receipt. She got a lot of the buy one, get one free sales, so we actually have enough of some things for two weeks. We lowered our grocery budget by $20 afterwards, so that is a start.
Use Less Gas - Sounds easy, right? We budgeted $150, and have already used $120. Fortunately we live close enough to our jobs that we can sometimes go 2 weeks without filling up. Some days we will use one car, some days carpool, whatever it takes, but we will make what is in our tanks last (I hope). That helps us save another $30.
Well, we don't have much included in this budget, and we can't lower our daycare costs or our mortgage, so we can't decrease our spending any further. That still leaves us $150 behind, and we are desperate not to charge any more. The only logical solution is to come up with $150 more. The only thing I can think of is to turn to Ebay - I have some old stuff laying around that I don't use anymore - an IPOD (I replaced it a year ago), a mini-disc recorder/player, and some baby things we were looking to sell anyway. These things add up to right around $150, so I will list them tomorrow. I will post an update with the results, and I will look for some more things to sell... We haven't charged in two weeks, and we don't want to do it anymore!
I am pretty sure this will not be a regular problem - like I said last week, our first couple of paychecks of the school year are usually a little smaller.
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