My Challenge for 2009.... Nervous -need budgeting help!

[evelester]

I am planning on starting this Jan 1st, if I tried right now I would just cry LOL Too much going on with holidays and such- so it is a PERFECT resolution!

Ok, so here is my background- I am a stay at home mom to a 3 month old, my hubby makes about 600 a week take home... on a GOOD week, it has gotten as low as 480 recently... holiday cuts overtime :-( We are lucky to have a cheap place, only 476 a month for 2 bedrooms in the country, it is a single wide and old, but I would rather rent here paying 476 and one day be able to buy a house, than to rent somewhere nicer for twice that and never get a house. Plus this place is not that bad, I have it decorated and such and inside is nice (needs painted badly) LOL ok, enough about the house.

We have no 'debt' thank goodness, I was married before and had a TON but we have worked those out, so the only bills we have are cable/phone/internet (all in one - 140 a month- need it for working at home online- I make about 30-75 a week most weeks blogging) and some other bills- I will lay hose out below if you wanted to see them

Our biggest expense is eating out and groceries... since we live in a small town there is really nothing to do, the 'mall' here is a collection of a few stores under one roof, there is a bowling alley but they are always closed for leauges only, etc. etc. So we eat out to get out of the house LOL Now we have a baby and going out is not as easy, so we have been doing MUCH better on not eating out, but still need to cut back some

Groceries I have never really kept track of, usually one BIG trip a week and I would spend about 120 FOR A WEEK.... I know, I was silly! Then through the week we would have to make SEVERAL little stops for stuff we forgot, always ending up getting more we dont need.

Ok, onto now---I am a couponer... I have a binder with labels and dividers and I spend my free time tracking down sales and coupons... I am able to get the same 120 worth of stuff and only spend 50, I am learning how to shop better and cook healthier, I am WOMAN! LOL Sorry, felt I had to add that....

So groceries I plan on limiting to 300 a month, I am hoping even lower but that sounds reasonable. that is to include stockpiling, baby items, food, cleaning, personal care, etc. So 75 a week, I can do that right? (I want to work on stockpiling since hubby's jub has been flaky lately, his boss is talking about closing at some point if things don't change- so I want to have plenty for that scary day (along with an emergency fund)

So here is my proposed budget... please take a look and give me input...

Income: about 2000... but the weeks vary so much it is hard to say....

Outgoing:
rent 476
elec - about 150
cable/tv/internet - 140
car insurance - 100
car payment - 250 (should be paid off my june)
grocries - 300
clothes for us and baby - 40
gas - 175
health insurance -100
hobbies- 15 (xbox live for hubby and a few stamps or a scrapbooking kit for me a month)
eating out- 160

that leaves us with about 94 a month... cutting it close, and I am sure I am forgetting a few things.

Anyway, if you have input feel free to share, I plan on working more on the budget after christmas to get it ironed out and keeping tabs on my shopping.

By May my goal is to have 1000 in the bank for an emergency fund (have 300 now) and anything over the 2000 budgeted amount every month I will put in there- as well as 50 a week direct deposited already)

By Feburary I want to Have mastered shopping to no more then 75 a week for everything!

and by March I want to have a solid budget based on Jan and feb that includes everything, plans for the holiday weeks where his checks will be short and helps us not be so tight.

Whew.... that was REALLLLY long, I am sorry! If you read this far thanks though! LOL I dont get out much so I end up being very chatty here!

[puakinikini]

Thanks for sharing - I am doing a similar resolution for 2009 - but I am not quite as far along as you are in thinking about it! Which is ridiculous given the date!!! ...but you have inspired me to get with it - thank you!

One thing I have done is tracked all my spending for the past couple months by saving all receipts and bills. I got a spreadsheet from another member and have been entering all my receipts so that I can create a budget. I figure I need to know what I REALLY spend in order to cut back. In order to stay within the budget I will tack all expenditures in 2009....it may kill me (as I really hate taking the time to do it - but I am going to force myself).

My goals will be to pay off debt - we got side ways when my DH was unemployed - and to create an emergency fund. I will be chekcing back to this thread with interest on the advice that others give you!

[cpaige]

Good luck to both of you! And remember to keep us updated!!!

[tdtowen]

Good for you for tackling this! You can do it!

One thing I noticed.... you said that you have $50 per week going into a savings account. Is that the "over $2,000" money? If it's not, you're going to fall short in another category, since you currently don't have $200 of leftover money in your budget.

[evelester]

thanks so much yall!! I appreciate the support- and having someone to report to LOL

no, the 50 a week is not included in the 2000, we have had it set up to go in there for a yer now, so I don't even count it in his paychecks, so the actual monthly would be 2200 if that was included, now we just have to stop transferring money OUT of savings and let it build up!

[cfranc]

I would suggest that you check out a book at the library called "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. We have been following his program since February of '08 and we have paid off all of our debts (except house), stopped the steady leak of money by getting on a budget that really worked for us. The book explains how to budget and save and the forms are in the back of the book. He also has a show on Fox Business Network that would be worth checking out. Good luck!

[evelester]

Oh, I am a huge Dave Ramsey fan! I have the book and love it! He is the main reason we have no debt!

I would suggest that you check out a book at the library called "Total Money Makeover" by Dave Ramsey. We have been following his program since February of '08 and we have paid off all of our debts (except house), stopped the steady leak of money by getting on a budget that really worked for us. The book explains how to budget and save and the forms are in the back of the book. He also has a show on Fox Business Network that would be worth checking out. Good luck!

[JANE4girls]

great goals! keep us updated

[VivaciousJewelz]

I have the hardest time staying on budget!

Have you tried switching to energy efficient light bulbs? I just switched, so I don't know the effect on my electricity bill yet, but hopefully it will lower it a little.

Also, for eating out, I used to see a lot of websites that would give you reduced price giftcards, like you could buy a $50 giftcard to Chili's for $40 or something like that. I wish I remembered the website, but you might want to check that out.

I think there are also gas reward things you can do. I know Safeway has a gas reward program on their club card, so you might want to check that out too.

Good luck and keep us posted!

[cooktre]

Congrats on killing your debt! Do you read any of the personal finance blogs? My favorite is The Simple Dollar, lots of good frugal tips there. Also, for the mom-based personal finance blog, try Simple Mom and Almost Frugal. Also, try the Complete Tightwad Gazette book if you haven't yet. I see you, like me, already drank the Dave kool-aid.

I think the most important thing to keep me on budget is to read and/or listen to personal finance info every day. It keeps my head in the game. It feels good to have/be a cheering section and to see other people stumble with their budgets and talk about our mess-ups because we all stumble!

To stay on budget, I do the PF thing every day and try out things that might seem extreme to see if they work for me. For example, we only rack and line dry our clothes now. With our mostly free CVS supported fabric softener, they really aren't stiff at all and it extends the life of our clothes to forego the dryer. It knocked our electric bill down about 30-35%.

Good luck with your emergency fund! It really will add a lot of piece of mind to your life.