Author: Cheryl
•12:23 PM

Its the beginning of the month, and that means financial update. Here are my goals from September.

Short Term Financial Goals for 2008

1.) Credit Cards - I have paid off two already since September, and just sent a payment to the third one yesterday. Also I won a Halloween costume contest at work, so that $50.00 will go right to the card. Every little bit helps.

2.) Going with goal #1. To not use any more credit cards. These were cut up back in September and I haven't touched the two we have left since.

3.) Christmas kept under control. My husband and I have bought each other one semi-big present already and then everything else for each other we have a small budget we have to stick to. So far we will have cut the budget over 50%. As for my other presents, I have spent a whopping $17.25 on 7 people's gifts. I have one family member left to get. This part has been cut at least 75%. I don't need any new Christmas decorations. I have tons of stuff stocked up to make cookies and goodies. And the pets don't need new toys, they have a basket full of toys and would rather have twist ties and caps off the milk to play with.

4.) Drastically cut eating out. We have done great with this. We only go out once every two weeks to Starbucks for a chai latte and a muffin. We call this our "date. Otherwise we are always eating at home.

Other changes I have made and updates on those:

1.) Grocery budget - I am sticking pretty well with my $50 a week budget. I did have to go over it a little bit this week because SuperFresh had triple coupons, but I didn't go over very much. My freezer is full of meats so I use the $50 to get some staples and stock up on the sales for the winter.

2.) Recipes using what we have on stock. This has been working out fantastically. Great sites like Pillsbury.com and Campbell's Kitchen have great dinner recipes that don't take long. We have made chicken fried steak, Mexican pizza squares, All Day chicken, etc. I think we are actually eating better now than we ate when we would let something defrost and just put it on the grill.

3.) Coffee - Last week I brought a thermos of coffee everyday and it was great. I like to drink it on my drive to work. Today I didn't have time to bring it, so I am just drinking water. But I do miss the coffee, so I will have to bring it again tomorrow.

4.) Pet food - Like I had said before instead of me running to the store every week getting just enough cans for 7 days and buying the small bags every now and then with coupons. I went last week bought a big 20 lb bag of dry food and enough cans to last me at least 2 weeks. I have been much nicer and I think much cheaper to get as much of this as I can in bulk instead of making many trips. Remember time is as valuable as money.

How did you do this past month?
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2 comments:

On November 14, 2008 at 2:44 AM , Jackie said...

my question...what did you buy for your christmas gifts?!?

 
On November 14, 2008 at 9:24 AM , Cheryl said...

Actually I got these really nice khaki and pink totes from a company called BCO Outlet. They had them on sale like 3 for $7.95 or something close to that. I found the deal on

www.sisterlysavings.com

I am going to fill them up with the free cosmetics and beauty items I get at CVS and give them the women in family and girlfriends.

And I got a $25.00 gift certificate to a restaurant for my husband's boss for only $5.00. I got that on a deal I saw on

www.imommies.com