One of my goals for 2010 was to better stick to a budget. Right before 2009 ended, I made up a monthly budget plan to stick to. I included all my bills and gave myself a certain monthly allowance for different categories. By writing things down, I instantly became more aware of how much money I was spending on things and what I could do to cut back. Setting limits every month and writing things down helped me tremendously and I would suggest this to anyone trying to stay on a strict budget.

Last month, I went over my budget in the three categories that I have a feeling will be a continuous struggle for me: gas, food and entertainment. At the end of December, I decided $100/month for gas would probably be a good amount, but then gas went up in price around $.25/gallon here. Although it is starting to go down in price slightly, I’m going to start budgeting $120/month now.

Entertainment was way over this month because I promised my friends son I would take him to the Monster Truck show that was last weekend. The look on his face was definitely worth spending the extra money.

Going over on the food budget was all my fault entirely. I got lazy the last week of the month and didn’t feel like going grocery shopping, so I went out for lunch instead of bringing it to work like I usually do. In just that one week, I went way over budget. It just goes to show you how much you can really save by bringing your lunch with you to work instead of going out to eat. This month, I am going to make sure that there is enough food in the house for the entire month so I always have something to bring with me.

I hope to stay better on track this month. We’ll see how it goes.

Tags: budget

Our vacation is FINALLY here! We are extremely excited to go to Vegas. The trip will be a much needed break for both of us. I’ve been spending a lot of the day packing and doing all of those last minute things you need to do before you go on vacation.

We’ve done a good amount of research and I feel like we are well prepared for this trip. Since we booked it a few months ago, I have been saving up my swagbucks and mypoints for various gift cards to restaurants in Vegas. I managed to get 4 gift cards! Most of the restaurants seem like places we wouldn’t go to normally, so it will be nice to try these places out without spending a fortune. My parents also gave me a few coupon books, so we’ll be able to save some money there. As far as gambling goes, both of us aren’t really into it, but my boss was telling me some blackjack rules yesterday and I might try it out. Of course, I will be sticking to a budget and don’t plan on going over. But hey, who knows, maybe I’ll hit big! HAHA. I had a special “vacation” fund that I was adding money to and don’t plan on spending more than what I had saved. I’d rather spend that money on shows and seeing different things, so gambling money isn’t a big part of the budget.

I more than likely won’t be updating the blog all week, but since I’m a twitter addict I’m sure I’ll be sending updates. I’ll be taking tons of pictures and will definitely have a super long trip recap post when I get back. Until then, see you next week blog!

Tags: budget, budgeting, coupons, fun, Las Vegas, money, saving, Vegas

One of my favorite budgeting blogs I read is Jane4Girls. Erin is incredibly thrifty, living on a grocery budget of only $800/year. She recently blogged about getting a new DSLR camera by cashing in her Swagbucks for a few Target gift cards. Erin’s blog is great if you are looking for good deals, reviews on products, a ways to earn points for free stuff!

After reading her post, I thought, “What a great idea!” There are a few electronic items that I’ve had my eye on for awhile, but can’t really justify spending money on at the moment. I’ve been using Swagbucks and mypoints for awhile and have gotten a bunch of gift cards to different restaurants and stores. These gift cards are going to be especially useful during our Vegas trip in 3 weeks. I have gotten 4 gift cards to restaurants that we probably wouldn’t have eaten at normally through these sites. If you haven’t heard of them, I highly recommend signing up. It only takes a minute and it’s fairly easy to earn points and bucks.

Swagbucks gives you points for searching using their website. There are other ways to win points, but that is the easiest. Instead of going to google, I search through Swagbucks. The amount you win varies, but in general I win 2-5 swagbucks everyday.

Mypoints offers a bunch of different ways to earn points. The easiest way to earn points quickly is to shop through their website. They are affiliated with a bunch of different stores (ebay, target, old navy, barnes & noble etc.) and give you a varying amount of points per dollar. They also send you emails that you can click through to get 5 points. Whenever I want to purchase anything online I always check to see if the store is affiliated with mypoints (most are), but even if you aren’t a big online shopper, you can build up enough points through the emails they send you in a few months to get a $25 giftcard somewhere.

I’ve had my eye on an iPod touch for awhile now. I have a regular iPod that works great, but I’m a sucker for gadgets and that thing is just so cool. I also would really like a nice DSLR camera as well. I’ve been cashing out mypoints and swagbucks to get gift cards for restaurants in Vegas, so I don’t have that many right now, but I’m definitely going to start saving up for these items.

Click below to sign up for swagbucks and mypoints.

Sign up for mypoints!

Tags: budgeting, mypoints, saving, swagbucks

Since my car has been giving me problems and I haven’t been tracking my spending as well as I should, my savings account balance has dipped down to a number I’m not very satisfied with. A year ago I was much worse off than I am today and didn’t have anything in savings, but now that I’ve gotten accustomed to having what I call my “emergency/new car fund”, I’d like to keep the numbers in that fund high. With that said, I’m starting my monthly budget again.

I attempted this a few months ago and didn’t have much luck…I have no will power sometimes. But this time I’m really going to try and stick to it. I gave myself $100/month, $25 more than my first attempt. My budget will include food, gas, and health and beauty items.

I think this time it will be easier to stick to my plan. I’ve done this before and know what NOT to do now. From now on I’ll be leaving my debit card at home. I’m more tempted to spend when I have it on me. And like usual, I’ll be cutting my coupons and tracking all my expenses.

Hopefully I’ll make it through a month this time! It’s day 2 of me starting this, and I still have $100!

Tags: budget, budgeting, saving

CVS had a great deal on Kellogg’s cereal this week for just $1.88 a box. I had a bunch of $1.00 off coupons that I cut from last weeks paper, making them only $.88! I went and bought 5 boxes for only $4.40. AWESOME!

Tags: budgeting, deals, savings, stockpile

With May being here, it means time to start paying back student loans. The extra $300 per month that I’m paying means a much tighter budget. I make enough money to pay all my bills, but since I’m trying to save for a new car, with the money I make now I won’t be able to save that much unless I stick to a budget. My budget will be $75 a month and will include gas, food, health and beauty items.

This shouldn’t be too hard for me to accomplish. I’m not the one that buys the groceries in house. I pay for the electric, water, internet, TV and garbage bill and Chrissy pays for the groceries. It usually comes pretty close to being even at the end since the bills aren’t usually that much and the two of us don’t eat a ton of food. Work is only a 2 minute drive from my house and the only real place I ever drive often is to Dave’s house. I only fill up my car about once every week and a half and it’s around $22. I use coupons whenever I buy anything and I almost always go home on my lunch breaks at work. The only real change in my lifestyle will be the money I spend on going out to dinner every now and then. Although Dave is usually the one who pays (he’s old fashioned) I don’t like him feeling like he has to. I’ve already told him that money is going to be tighter for me, but I haven’t told him yet about my $75/month budget goal. He understands that I’m trying to get a decent amount of savings. He’s been in my car and knows that it’s possessed and will eventually kick the bucket.

Starting tomorrow I’ll be keeping a very detailed list of how how much money I spend. I got paid today, so on lunch I deposited my check minus $75. That’s my money for the month. I’m even tempted to lock up my debit card so I can’t use it. I hope to be able to stick to my budget so I can save as much money as possible.

Tags: budget, budgeting, money, saving