So.... I have been thinking a lot lately...yup a lot. I have all these ideas and goals and thoughts and well, brain farts. For some reason lately I feel like I am at some sort of turning point in my life, I have no real idea why I feel that way I just do. Being that I am full of randomness lately, I thought that blogging about it would help me compose my thoughts. If accidentally I actually have some sort of epiphany then that is great too.
About three years ago we were BOTH laid off and things got soooo lean around my home. Fast forward to now and I feel like I have not really dug out of the hole we were in back then. It is not like we are drowning in debt or anything like that but we still have way more than I would like. I think I have lost my frugal mojo. I was focusing on being an avid coupon user for years and being diligent with that and thanks to that terrible show that was/is on TLC the deals have dried up a bit. I mean I can still get lots of free stuff but it is all junk. We have never been bad about processed food and have fairly recently decided to life more of a whole food lifestyle. In doing that I think I have derailed some of my frugality and I have been using the rationale that it is "healthy". I have even noticed that I spend more freely in other aspects of my life. So this is one of those moments. I have to decide what I am going to do about that.
I think to start with I need to set a budget for my grocery shopping, it is just the hubbie and I so what should my amount be? I am thinking I want to be a little tough on myself right now. Maybe $50 a week? I was even thinking that it would include a really strict week of $0 spend. I have a lot in my deep freezer and in my pantry and that would force me to use what I have on hand and probably challenge me to get rather creative too! If I did this for the next month then any money left over would be extra money to throw at a credit card. I think this would also free up an additional $100+ to toss at the same credit card. I have already decided to pay a little more aggressively (last couple of months) and think an extra $100 would really help pay that debt down.
So here would be the rules...
Week 1: $50
Week 2: $50
Week 3: $50
Week 4: Big Fat Nada
Weekly budget of $40 a week to eat out on.
Night out budget does not limit us with the number of times we can eat out just the amount we can spend...think cheap and think coupons here. Unfortunately we live chaotic lives both professionally and in our civic organizations so there are just going to be nights where we run out for dinner, we just have to keep the spend in check. If we don't use the "night out" money we can roll it to the next week until the end of the month and anything left over goes to credit card debt.
What do you think...pie in the sky? Too easy? Help!!! Please leave comments...I want your opinions and advice!
