With our budget, if I could clear $1,000 per month, we would be golden. I can do that in various ways and have been getting creative in doing so. Let's be honest "bringing in" $1,000 per month, can mean many different things. For example, I have started clipping coupons religiously. {See my coupon clipping video from 5/5/13} and we plan trips to the "city" so that we are running errands in all one trip to save on gas. My just now 5 year old and I rarely drive anywhere during the week except to pick up the girls from school {they are too far to walk home and their school does not offer a bus}. We save a ton on gas by planning our trips accordingly and not spending time in stores window shopping. {Can you say IMPULSE BUYING!} So we pack a picnic and walk to the park instead. Just as fun, so much cheaper and gets some pent up energy out of the little guy. I calculate that this saves us at least $100 per month in gas alone.
$900 to go..........
I started an at home business via a direct sales company in February. This has helped some as well. I can work around my husband's work schedule doing home parties and don't have to pay for child care. When I do have to pay for child care, it is minimal. I am making about $30 per month right now. Not a ton, but at this point it is 3/4 tank of gas. Something is better nothing, right? Plus, as I go, I book more shows and the money will follow.
Back to the coupon clipping......... I didn't address how much this saves us per month but talked about it above. Honestly, it varies each month. And it's not just about clipping the coupons. I also have to plan out meals and plan our shopping trips more carefully. Not that I didn't do this when I was working, we owed less and were making more, but I was a bit more lax with the "rules". When I stayed home before, I would shop once every two weeks. I planned out meals and still used my crockpot as much as I could. But.....if my husband was craving steak one morning, I would accomodate this craving. Immediately. Now I am not trying to be dramatic. And I don't mean to say that my husband would say "jump" and I would say "how high?", but I was much more accomodating to his or my, for that matter, last minute grocery requests. Now, we do without until the next shopping trip. For example, if we run out of milk for cereal in the mornings before I go shopping on Friday, then we run out. It is not the end of the world. I no longer panic. It just is. So then we eat something else. Our cupboards are NEVER bare. In fact I often have a small stash of regular staples. But we are NOT good about running to the store and buying the one thing that we need. So now, we put it on the list and wait. We are fine. We are not starving. We do not eat black and white boxes of macaroni and cheese for weeks on end. And we are fine. But this planning and coupon clipping saves us easily, $200 per month. Again, some months are better than others. Some months, I cave. But mostly, this helps considerably.
$670 to go..........
Alright, now I am getting to the nitty gritty. We keep our house at 68 degrees in the winter and well over 75 degrees in the summer {no air conditioning}, so I don't feel as though we are wasting a bunch of money on utilities. Keep in mind, we do have my husband's grandmother living with us and she keeps her apartment in the basement at 75 year round. This does cause a rise in our utility bills, but it is what it is. She is 94 and has skin as thin as tissue paper. We have also gone around the house and changed out all of our lightbulbs to more efficient lightbulbs. We turn lights off when we leave the rooms {most of the time, we have three kids still at home} and don't leave things running that are not necessary. I don't feel as though we are wasteful, but always try to be as efficient as possible with our utilities.
Still $670 to go.......
Ok....Now for the wasteful utilities. We have decided that cable is in our budget to stay. We are a t.v. and movie watching family. While my husband and I disagree on whether or not cable is necessary, it is in our household expenses. This could save us some money. Around $100 per month, in fact. I am still working on that. For now, it stays. We also have a subscription to Netflix. Honestly, they should make us pay more. We use the heck out of Netflix. $7.99 per month stays too. The other thing we have is the internet. Since my husband has a second job teaching online, this to is a necessary wasteful expense. I always try to get the best deals with these types of things. For example, if I see that a particular company is offering new customers a certain deal, then I call and ask for a better deal too. This works more often than not. I may not get the deal that new customers will get, but often they will offer me $20-$50 off per month. This takes effort and you have to be on top of it, but it never hurts to ask. I do try to avoid resigning a contract to get the deal. I think this is just a money trap and if we ever have to move, or do finally agree that cable is not a "necessity", then I do not want to have to pay a huge fee to get out of it.
Still $670 to go..........
I have been able to get a part time gig teaching, which I enjoy. This isn't consistent however. It depends on enrollment of students and what is currently going on with college funding and the government. Which is a hot mess right now.........But I do get to teach some and I try to teach when my husband can be home so that I do not have to pay for child care. I am teaching a ways from home right now and so I am having to pay out for child care this coming term. I do make sure that I teach more than one class to make it financially feasible for our family. This brings in around $500 per month, but only when I am teaching.
Still $670 to go.........
I NEED TO START WORKING PEOPLE!!!! It will come. In God's timing.
Next time, I will post more about how I am working to bring in money by decreasing our outgoing debt each month. Thank you for reading!
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