Am I normal?

So today I was still under the weather, so not in the mood to do food prep.  Wanted a down day so worked on a couple craft projects.  Had to go to town, we had a kids game, stopped at the store, mistake!! Bought crap, then stopped for dinner after the game, what was I thinking...BUT todays mistakes were less than last weeks mistakes.  So hope I am normal in this money saving quest. I have just realized I hate to tell myself no and if I don't read the other blogs to stay focused I fall off the frugal wagon, and it hurts!!!!Thanks to all the personal finance blogs out there, you are life savers!!!!!!(as long as I stay reading, lol)

Positive Attitude!

So instead of beating myself up for my setback, I have decided to push forward!  Today I cooked dinner with the crockpot, checked my power meter to start trying to lower our usage, made a goodie for the kids snack and counted up my no spend days.  I have had 11 no spend days so far this month, I so need to do better.  Tomorrow we have a road trip, we are packing food so we don't feel the need to stop and eat.  The more personal finance blogs I read the more motivated I feel, I just need to keep up the momentum, already wrote out the checks for the bills for Fridays payday.  Paying what is due and cutting back on any extras it will be tight, but I am sure we can do it.  DH will have some overtime and this is his first paycheck with his raise, still trying to get caught up from the holidays.  This paycheck will have us almost there, next paycheck I should be able to put a bit in savings.  Is anyone else catching up from the holidays??

Bad Frugal Woman

So last weekend, had a set-back.  Realized we didn't need to spend money on some events we thought we would have to attend, so instead of paying bills with the extra money we had two meals out!

Not a huge set-back, but could have paid two small bills with they money, not gonna lie though, I love to eat out!!  That is my biggest hurdle, not clothes, shoes, jewelry, ok I do love house junk, but I really hate to shop, so eating out is still my biggest problem.  Need to work on this...

What is your biggest hurdle that you deal with on a daily basis to try to keep your budget intact??

Things looking up!

Even though the weather outside is frightful today, I got 2 checks in the mail today, woohoo!!
One for work billed last October, and a deposit for work this year, my budget is starting to look up, this will let me get my other two checking accounts a bit ahead, and today is a no spend day!  Life is good!
This is the universe rewarding me for reading all the personal finance blogs this morning, I am sure, hahaha!  Hope everyone else is having as good of a day!!!!

Budgets are hard!!

So when it came to my budget in the past this is how it went:  wrote bills down that were due that pay period and pay them, what was left we lived on, but that didn't quite work out. I would be short and would take the money out of my business account or my savings.  The other scenerio was get food and gas first then pay bills with what was left, that didn't work as I was usually short to pay the bills.

As you can see neither of these systems have been working for me, now I am trying to anticipate my two week life, that is how often we get paid.  Go thru the fridge, freezer and cabinets, see what I absolutely need, I used to try to buy ahead, not anymore.  Get my basic grocery list, check the sale ads, go where I need to go to get the best prices. Then get gas, anticipate how much gas we will need for the next 2 weeks, also look at what we are doing, do we have kids games, family functions, appts, anything that is going to cost us money, figure the least cost for all of it, that gets put aside, now take what is left and pay the bills, of course it is not covering all the bills, so I am trying to juggle and make things work.

My plan at this time is to take what we get from our tax return to catch us up, and go from there, we have definately come to the reality that we can't afford the life we were living, we have made some life changes, stopped doing things that cost money, got rid of a money drain.

Just saying, this is harder that I thought it would be, I have always tried to be money conscience, but in a head in the sand kind of way, not really realizing that we couldn't afford our life, hence the credit card debt.  I would be frugal, but only for easy things, when it came to the hard decisions, wasn't willing to make them.  Now that isn't an option, I am determined come what may, we will be debt free!!!!! The Frugal Queen is my inspiration!!!!

Still Behind!

So I was hoping that this paycheck tomorrow was going to catch me up on the bills.  No, still behind from the holidays and a family event.  It doesn't seem like because you put some bills off one payperiod that it should take you 4 payperiods to catch up!

Things are getting busier, we have kids in sports, I feel it is a necessary evil, if our kids have sports it keeps them in shape and busy so they don't even think of getting into trouble.  They have to keep their grades up to play and it builds character. But sports are spendy!!!!! Not so much the sport itself once you get shoes, and maybe a bit of gear, it is the travel as us parents go to every game!
We live in a rural area so we have to travel and of course we do not have economical cars, but they are paid for woo hoo.

So have to add game admission and extra fuel to the budget, I pack a picnic dinner for the road so no eating out, I have a crockpot of soup waiting for when we get home so that helps.

Really going over the budget, cutting where needed, was going to start putting some extra into savings this week but I feel I need to at least catch up with the bills so they are all current so then I can start saving for an emergency fund.

Will keep you posted...

Happy Day!

Day 3 was a no spend day except for DH getting 40. in gas.  Today is turning out to be a fabulous day!!
DH called this morning to say he had gotten a raise, woo hoo!! During these times, I am just happy he has a job! Not a huge raise but something extra that will go straight into savings.

I also have gotten rid of an item that has been a money drain for years.  Was happy to see it go. So extra money coming in with a raise and now extra money not being drained out every month.  So a very happy day indeed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh and it will hopefully stay a no spend day.

A New Year, A New Budget!!

I am FW, a wife and mom, who has debt that she needs to clear up and pay off by the time she is 50, I have a few years to go, so I am ready to kick it in the pants!!

I have been inspired by so many wonderful blogs, of course I am hiding behind letters, as I am not willing to put myself totally out there, maybe in time...

Goals this month, to catch up on the bills, got behind with Christmas, to live on my DH paycheck , and to get a total accounting of what we owe, I kinda have an idea, but I need to generate a plan to get it paid off!!  Going to try a low/no spend month if I can, but I do have 2 kids in sports, so we shall see.

I am hoping that this blog keeps me accountable and motivated, wish me luck!!