Here’s our progress to date on getting our fixed household expenses to equal no more than 60 percent of our budget. Right now our committed monthly expenses — utilities, mortgage, taxes, gas etc. — stand at 73 percent. (I think this might be an accounting adjustment from the previously reported 79 percent. Cash Husband can correct me if that’s wrong.)

Cuts
What we’ve cut back on or targeted for cuts:

Babysitting.
Groceries.
Target trips/items purchased.
Housecleaning.

Ideally, by the end of next month, we’ll have gotten to 70 percent.

Come December, we make the last payment on our used Volkswagen, which will be some serious freed up cash we can plow into savings and paying off credit cards. ($13,000 on those. Ouch. I remember when we had these paid off!)

Potential Offsets to these Gains:

• Our health plan doesn’t cover as much as it did before, so we’re paying more in deductibles for routine dental exams and doctor visits.

• Also, our heating bill has increased significantly.

Pet Peeve:
Coupon clipping/comparison shopping of grocery store fliers. It’s somewhat helpful, but also very time-consuming. I’m going to check out The Grocery Game, an online coupon/comparison site, and report on that next week.

New Habits Gained:

• Returning and exchanging items that I once would be tempted just to give to charity.
• Checking gas prices at stations before buying.
• Resisting that little irrational voice that says, “Stock up on this so you don’t have to come back!” Coming back, unfortunately, is just a fact of life, and I’m discovering it’s cheaper to focus on this day’s or this week’s needs. (A habit I believe they call budgeting. Wow!)

No related posts.

Tags:   cuts · new habits · pet peeve · progress to 60 percentNo Comments