cutting expenses in 2010

okay -- last weekend I was working on our 2010 budget and had a significant shortfall. I cut expenses in several places and here are some of the main places we're saving money this year.

Clothing - cut back by $100 per person, to save $400
Entertainment - cut back by $600/year
Restaurants - Cut this in half to save $900/year. Plan to spend $100/month and have 3 months where we have No-Restaurant Challenges
Haircair - Instead of going every 4 weeks, I'll go every 5 weeks, saving $310
Golf - Save $200 by cutting out 6 rounds of golf
Boys allowance - Save $440 by giving lowering allowance to $25/month
Boys birthdays - Cut by $100
Gifts - lowered by $305
Christmas - cut by $1150

This saves us $4505 and there were a few other places that we trimmed also saving a couple of hundred here or there.

One thing I'm thinking of is cutting back on my cell phone. I don't use it much and I'm paying about $54/month. I can go to a prepaid account and save about $200/year. I'm thinking about this and trying to decide which way to go.

another no spend day

Woo Hoo! My 3rd no-spend day of the year! It's hard to blog on the weekend, so I'll update more on Monday!

food for thought

It's been a while since I've planned my menu for the week in advance. Here's what's cookin' at our house over the next few days!

Last night - Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, rice, fruit and crescent rolls
Tonight - Pork chops, rice, peas and garlic toast
Thursday - Spaghetti with meat sauce and meatballs and garlic toast
Friday - Pulled pork tacos (for me and DH) and Sloppy Joes (for the kids)
Saturday - Cream of Poblano Chili Pepper Soup (for me and DH) and l/o Sloppy joes (kids)
Sunday - Ham, black eyed peas, potatoes, carrots, biscuits
Monday - Jambalaya w/beef
Tuesday - Beef tacos
Wednesday - Grilled chicken sandwiches and fruit
Thursday - Baked ziti and salad, bread
Friday - Beef and bean burritos

2010 financial goals

This weekend I've been trying to determine how to budget our 2010 income. It's quite disheartening to see that we've increased our life style quite substantially as our income has gone up. We've done a great job becoming debt free and also building our emergency fund. BUT...whew...we spend a lot of money.

My goal for this year is to begin saving 15% towards retirement. (While we were becoming debt free and building our EF we stopping retirement savings). I also was to make a fast-start to our children's college fund with a deposit of $12k and then save $100/month towards that. That brings my savings goal up to almost 22%. Oh, and I forgot that I want to top off our emergency fund. That brings the percentage to 27% of our gross income.

Well...I'm not sure how to get there. Or if we can. Budgeting, with just the 15% retirement savings and the $10,000 to go towards our EF, I have a shortfall in the budget of $5432.

Topping off the EF is a must. Also, DH's company matches his 401k at 6%, but he's only allowed to contribute 3%. So, the 3% going into his 401k is a keeper too. Today I'm crunching the numbers to see what we can do to cut back our lifestyle and to reach our savings goals.

what a productive day

Today was such a productive day! I finished getting our suitcases unpacked and everything put away. Laundry is caught up and put away. My bedroom is straightened and floor vacuumed. I CLEANED my oldest son's room and vacuumed. Made homemade cookies for an after school snack. Let the boys go back in the woods and didn't complain when the came in with mud COVERING their bodies, clothes and boots. (Who could complain when they were grinning from ear to ear -- they had a great time back there). What else? Got my youngest to basketball practice and was able to read part of my book (Picture Perfect). Dinner was a quick dinner - but made from home. And the greatest accomplishment of today - it was a NO SPEND DAY!!! Woo Hoo!!!

And something to add here that is on my 210 Things to Do in 2010...

What I'm greatful for today:
having a great yard and piece of land for exploring
making it thru my 2nd no spend day of the year

vacation spending

We took a reunion trip with some of our best friends to California's wine country. We rented a beautiful house in Calistoga (Bellisimo Vineyards) and spent 3 nights there. We spent 2 full days touring the wine country and eating quite well. We rented a limo bus one day and spent 6 1/2 hours on that -- so that was a bit pricey. We ate at Cindy's Backstreet Kitchen, Market and Taylor's Refresher. All terrific restaurants. We visited 8 wineries/vineyards. All were remarkable! After we left wine country, my husband and I spent the rest of the day and night in San Francisco. Great time there too! And a great Italian restaurant for dinner...E'Tutto Qua. I anticipated the entire trip costing us about $3500. All in all, we spent about $3200.

Here's a breakdown of how we spent our money:
Flight - $0...we used miles to fly first-class from the east coast to the west coast
House - $610
rental car & gas - $219
Limo Bus - $284
Food - $728
San Francisco hotel - $164
parking in SF - $50
wine - $1050
Misc - $100

It was a great trip and just the right amount of being gone from home. Two full days with friends was a nice balance to the 2 days we had just the 2 of us. Can't wait to go back.

Cheers!

happy new year!

Happy New Year to you! Today is mine and DH's New Year's Day. After a whirlwind holiday season followed by a wonderful long weekend with friends, today is the start of our year with our regular routines. My amazing MIL was here with our children and left the house nice and orderly, so I don't have too much to do today other than unpack and our laundry from the trip. We're ready to get back on the wagon of eating well, losing some weight and saving some extra money. Looking forward to 2010!

I'm still working on 2010 goals and 210 things to do list. Will finish them this week and post.

I made it to Publix today for my coupon/stockpiling day. I did really well. I got several snacks to stockpile along with some vegetables and chicken. I spent $28.23 and saved $33.77. Love it when I save more than I spend!

normalcy...take me away!

How I look forward to some normalcy. I know not to expect it until we get back from vacation next week, so I'm trying not to freak out about it too much and just go with the flow. We're getting ready to leave for a wonderful trip with some of our best friends. 4 days in wine country! Needless to say...I won't have any no-spend or no-drive days this week.

I play the Grocery Game and shop at Publix, Kroger and RiteAid with my coupons. Today was my Publix coupon day (tomorrow I hit Kroger). I did pretty good today! Saved about 48%. My bill was $59.18 and I saved $55.55 in coupons/promotions.

Today I also got back on the tennis courts after SIX WEEKS!!! It was a cold, cold day, but it was sunny and it was fun! Didn't win, but had a great time and played well.

Today's spending:
Publix $59.18

my FIRST no spend day!!!

Woo Hoo!!!! FINALLY...I had my first no-spend day of the year. I'm so excited. I think the key will definitely be to pair my no drive and no spend days together. Seems that everyday I'm in the car, I'm running errands and spending money. Today, the only place I had to drive was to my tennis lesson and I could've certainly taken the golf cart for that instead of the car

Not sure when my next no-spend day will be. Probably late next week. Tomorrow and Thursday I have to prep to leave for vacation and will be on vacation until Tuesday. Lots of spending will be going on...

tracking

The kids were out of school today because of the ice and snow. And I had a haircut -- so no no-spend day today.

Here goes...

$11 - lunch for me and the boys
$125 - haircut, color, tip

The kids had fun being out of school and I made some progress getting the Christmas decorations taken down and put away. Should be finished by the time they go back to school on Monday!

I got an iTunes gift card for Christmas and have had a great time spending it today. I wish I could say I was thinking ahead and saved some for later. It was for $25 and I have $7 left, but there are still songs left that i want to download. I think I'll have to ask for another card for my birthday. They're so much fun to use!

no spending days

My goal is to have a certain amount of NO SPENDING days during 2010. I haven't decided on a number yet, but I was originally thinking around 100. I'm realizing that NO SPENDING days are going to have to be carefully planned. Each day this week there has been something that I've needed to spend money for...groceries, groceries, haircut, sports photos, etc. I'm anxious to set this goal, because I think by making this commitment to NO SPENDING days, I'll see some of the "bleeding" decrease in our bank account.

I didn't make it as a No Spend Day today, but here is my tracking...

$24.59 - Rite Aid for OTC medicines ($7 should be coming back in rebates)
$40 - Kroger/CardSmart for birthday cards for 2010.

new favorite blog

I found a new blog (not NEW, but new to me) called Saving4Later and I just love it. I love the author's personal accountability and her no-spend days. Also she has so many to-do lists and goals. I'm incorporating her ideas into my everyday life. Staring today.