Budget Building

With this looming economy not expected to improve until 2010, I realized that having a tight budget may be the best bet for us for a while. Now we are always smart with our money, but we have never really crunched numbers either to see how much is spent in a month's time. With Jason still unemployed and having an awful time finding ANY work at all, my wages possibly getting cut in half until business improves and numerous other factors, I have decided that we need to spend as little as possible and save as much as we can in case things get worse.

A few things I plan to do during this tough time:

1. My mother, sister in law and I are all planning on "sharing" meals so to speak. Every other day we will cook up one big crock pot of chicken, beef, pork, etc and then each family will take 1/3 of it home for meals. We will all chip in for the cost of groceries and figure it will save us all money and time.

2. Instead of buying all Christmas gifts this year, I decided to make some (notecards, wreath, etc.) which will save some money as well.

3. Buying clothes from ebay or garage sales instead of brand new from the stores. I have found a number of things that are like brand new or in some cases new for a fraction of the cost.

4. Buying generic brands instead of the name brand labels. They basically taste the same anyway.

5. Clipping coupons...they do help!

6. We hardly ever eat out, so that saves money as well.

7. We only make one trip to Madison a week at most...this saves on gas.

8. Keeping a strict record of all purchases...no matter how big or small.

9. Putting a chunk of weekly paycheck in savings for emergency funds.

10. Last resort option for saving....taking Lauren out of daycare if Jas doesn't find a job. That would save us nearly $800 a month. Although I love having her at this center for the social interaction and the learning she is doing...financially it may be neccessary.