Normally when the New Year approaches we all think of some thing's that we would like to change for ourselves for the New Year. Usually, I think of a few thing's to change and then never actually achieve them. This year I swore to myself and to my family that it would be different. I made 4 MAJOR resolutions that would affect both myself and the whole family.
1. Create a new family budget
Mark and I have never been great about keeping to a budget. Let's face it, we like to spend money. Too much money. We don't really think before we buy and that is where we were going to start. After moving to SC, I feel more independent. I don't have support here like I had in Ohio. So I printed out the past couple months of our bank statements, sat down and went through and categorized every single transaction. Turns out I was right, we spend WAY to much money. Mainly on eating out. Which bring's me to our next resolution which we'll get to in a second. Next I calculated up all of our monthly bills. Then I calculated up bills that have accumulate since we left Ohio. After subtracting the monthly bills and paying on a few extras, I set up a specific amount that we would need to stick to for groceries and gas for the next couple months to get everything caught up. By March everything should be back to normal, except we wouldn't be spending that extra money anymore.
2. Healthier meal planning
In December alone we spent almost $350 in eating out. That's not including what we spent on normal groceries either. That's just ridiculous. It needs to be changed. After we started talking about what we could do to change this, we decided that the problem usually starts when trying to decide what to make for dinner. It's either, "I don't feel like having that tonight", "I don't feel like cooking", or "we don't have this or that". So we decided to plan our meals in 2 week cycles and see how that went. The way we figure it, it will give us a set plan on what we are having that night. We were hoping to break up the monogamy of making the same thing's over and over again. I searched recipes online looking for anything new and "a little" healthier to make at home. We started out two week cycle exactly two weeks ago and I think we have done really great with it. We haven't spent any money on take out. We stuck to everything that we planned and I already have our next two week cycle planned out! I only bought what we need for those dinners, not including what was needed for lunch or snacks for the kids.
3. Saving money and smart spending
I have always used coupons but I haven't always been smart about it. I recently read an e-book How to Extreme Coupon Without Extreme Stress and I can honestly say that I feel like I can do way better with it now. I have started printing off as many coupons as I can off the internet and pair them with in-store coupons. The best store that I have seen in my area to have great coupons is Target. I plan on going on my next shopping trip tomorrow and I'll let you know how much I save. I also have set up spending plan with Wells Fargo. Every time we use our debit card as a credit card a $1 from our checking will be put into our savings account. I also set up a new goal for our savings. It is very important for us to plan outings for summer adventures with the kids. So that is what our goal is, to have a fun and exciting summer!
4. Healthy Exercising
We have yet to start this resolution but I assure you that this is a great work in process. We hope that with warmer weather coming soon it will allow us to get out of the house more and exercise. Taking more family walks, and going to the park and running off "sugar attacks".
We already have most of our resolutions underway. We are determined to not allow our resolutions from year's past to haunt us and ruin what we have created!
That's it for now,
Mel
No comments:
Post a Comment