Happy Friday!
Every body is posting all about their resolutions this week. I am not a resolution type gal, mainly because I never follow through with them because I forget all about them by week 2 of the year. If I had to nail down a resolution for the year, though, I would have to say to it’s to get our spending habits under control. And by that I mean eat out less. We eat out entirely too often, and because we don’t live in a town with restaurants that means we drive at least 20 miles one way, 40 miles round trip in the least, so we are spending money on gas to get there which adds to the total of the bill. If we could just stop spending money on that and on needless things we buy when we go to town we’d be able to sock that money away and add to what we are already saving.
So, how am I going to accomplish this? By going back to making a weekly menu before I go to town to get groceries. Also, I am going to get a designated amount of cash out of our account every time Andy gets paid and that is all we get to use for eating out. The only bad thing about this is we won’t be putting our meals on our credit card which we use for the cash-back feature (and pay off every month). But in all honesty it can’t be that much we’re missing out on if we’re already going to be cutting back.
One more financial goal I am working towards is saving money throughout the year to pay for Christmas next December. And I will also start my Christmas shopping earlier this year, like now. Well, sort of. I’d like to give a few more homemade Christmas gifts this year so will need to get started on those asap so I don’t procrastinate and be struggling to get them finished next December when I should be enjoying time with my family. For this goal I am planning on taking out $25 from each of Andy’s paychecks to save for shopping. I’ll also save the money from our cash back rewards and any from Ebates as I get those throughout the year. No, this won’t be enough to pay for Christmas (I wish!) but it’ll definitely take some of the financial burden off our shoulders next December.
And now to end on a light note.
For real, don’t even TRY to squeeze in in front of me!
Have a great weekend!
Erin
This is a great resolution. Yesterday I went grocery shopping and took 200.00 cash. Left my debit card at home and added everything on my phone as I was shopping. I hardly did any impulse buys and stuck to my list. The only things I couldn't add in we're veggies and fruits because I didn't want to weigh them but I was 7 dollars under my budget. We were eating out entirely too much as well and are only going to once a month on date night and only get takeout one or two other times per month. It's crazy how much eating out can add up. Great idea for the Christmas saving! Now is the best time to buy! :)
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great resolution. Have you seen the savings plan floating around on fb where you deposit a set amount of money every week and it adds up to $1378? You deposit the amount of $ it is per week of the year. Week 1 = $1, Week 2 = $2, Week 35 = $35 etc...
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm write there with you on the spending resolution. And don't worry about the rewards... what you won't get back in those you'll already be saving since you're not going out to eat. You'd only get a portion of what you spent for the meal back in credit card rewards... this way you won't be spending that total at all to begin with! So you're definitely saving! You're not alone though... eating out is such a big expense and it makes me sick to think of how much I've wasted! Meal planning is definitely key!
ReplyDeleteI think the only reason we don't eat out a ton right now is cause of the kids age! Wait until the baby is hear, maybe you'll go out less!
ReplyDeleteAnd that driving one, is TOTALLY me!!
oohhhhh that's a good one! I definitely need to do the same!
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