Ok, Who's going to try the Jane4girls $800 budget this year?!

[ELLE-TN]

If I told you, you wouldn't believe it so..........................
I will just say I did very very very very well

Oh yeah, I would definitely believe you. Remember I follow the blog. I've seen you work the magic.

[reincarnation]

Suprised to see this thread up again.

I know last year I did not do it in under $800, but am certain I did extremely well. I think being able to keep track of all the stores/reciepts was the hardest part for me.

How are you guys keeping track? or do you just have a monthly budget?

[VivaciousJewelz]

Suprised to see this thread up again.

I know last year I did not do it in under $800, but am certain I did extremely well. I think being able to keep track of all the stores/reciepts was the hardest part for me.

How are you guys keeping track? or do you just have a monthly budget?

I'm blogging about all my trips and I'm totally my money spent vs saved. I also have a notebook where I keep track of my rebates.

[nikarphar]

I am doing a $500 annual budget this year for our family of 3 after falling off the bandwagon last year.Anyone thinks this is possible or I'm nuts? Don't have much of a stockpile as I hardly couponed last year.

[VivaciousJewelz]

I am doing a $500 annual budget this year for our family of 3 after falling off the bandwagon last year.Anyone thinks this is possible or I'm nuts? Don't have much of a stockpile as I hardly couponed last year.

Just $500 for the year?? Wow! Are you tracking your progress by blog or anything? I'd love to hear about how you're doing with this!

[adkat]

I am doing a $500 annual budget this year for our family of 3 after falling off the bandwagon last year.Anyone thinks this is possible or I'm nuts? Don't have much of a stockpile as I hardly couponed last year.

I do think it is possible(with a hefty stockpile on hand when you start). However, I do not think it is sustainable. It would be very hard to do this year after year. Just look at the blogger's last comments on the blog. The concepts are very good and sound. I just think that for it to be realistic, at least for me, that the amount would have to be around $2400 a year(family of 4).
Life is short. At $800 a year you would never be allowed to buy that one splurge item(ice cream @ $6 for example). It would wreck your budget for weeks. I am not knocking anyone that does it at $800 a year. Quite the opposite, one that can do this has reached a Jedi Master level of extreme couponing and discipline. It's just not for me.

[VivaciousJewelz]

I do think it is possible(with a hefty stockpile on hand when you start). However, I do not think it is sustainable. It would be very hard to do this year after year. Just look at the blogger's last comments on the blog. The concepts are very good and sound. I just think that for it to be realistic, at least for me, that the amount would have to be around $2400 a year(family of 4).
Life is short. At $800 a year you would never be allowed to buy that one splurge item(ice cream @ $6 for example). It would wreck your budget for weeks. I am not knocking anyone that does it at $800 a year. Quite the opposite, one that can do this has reached a Jedi Master level of extreme couponing and discipline. It's just not for me.

I came in under $2500 for a family of 3 in 2010, and it actually gave me a lot of leeway, I toyed with lowering my budget this year, but decided to keep it the same. $800 would be awesome, but I'm just happy this isn't 2006 where I spent $8000 or more on food and stuff!

[adkat]

I came in under $2500 for a family of 3 in 2010, and it actually gave me a lot of leeway, I toyed with lowering my budget this year, but decided to keep it the same. $800 would be awesome, but I'm just happy this isn't 2006 where I spent $8000 or more on food and stuff!

Amen to that. We used to be right there around $8,000 a year. This will be my first year of actually keeping track of all store receipts. Last year we were around $3000.
We go through 2 gallons of milk per week. Let's assume an average price of $2.50 per gallon(probably more), that would be $2.50 x 2 x 52 weeks=
$260 a year.....just for milk
You can see why $800 a year is just not feasible for us.

[VivaciousJewelz]

$2.50??? Oh, that would be a dream come true... I routinely pay $3.50 or $3.99 for milk and we go thru just as much.