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