November Budget Review- Great Month!

Here are the facts for this month for our family of 4:

As always, these amounts include groceries, toiletries, diapers etc., cleaning supplies and other small household needs.  This month’s even included some photo developing, a few small gifts and my 21 bags of coffee from World Market

If you remember last month, my budget was a little higher than normal.  This month, I didn’t shop for almost 3 weeks except for milk!  We were so busy and had plenty of food in our pantry.  I also used some gift cards to pay for some of my purchases.  We used the extra money to eat out a few extra times and to pay for a very small birthday party at Chuck E Cheese’s for our now 5 year old.  It worked out great and don’t worry, I used 2 coupons:)

Actual Out of Pocket: $138.09

Rebates and refunds coming: $0

Catalinas leftover: $6

Net Out of Pocket: $132.09

Total Saved: $373.94 or 73%

We are following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan and have our initial emergency fund set up to cover us in case of any emergency.  We no longer use credit cards and use a cash envelope system for our monthly expenses.  What about you?  How did your budget fare this month?

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October Budget Review

Here are the facts for this month for our family of 4:

As always, these amounts include groceries, toiletries, diapers etc., cleaning supplies and other small household needs. 

*This month was a little high as I stocked up on quite a few things including bulk baking goods and meat.  I also purchased things to donate and stocked the pantry of our friends who moved to our town.

Actual Out of Pocket: $375.15

Rebates and refunds coming: $6.00 Caregivers Marketplace

$10.00 Nabisco Rebate

Catalinas leftover: $40

Net Out of Pocket: $319.15

Total Saved: 916.27 saved or 71%

We are following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan and have our initial emergency fund set up to cover us in case of any emergency.  We no longer use credit cards and use a cash envelope system for our monthly expenses.  What about you?  How did your budget fare this month?

September Budget Review

Here are the facts for this month for our family of 4:

As always, these amounts include groceries, toiletries, diapers etc., cleaning supplies and other small household needs. 

Total Out of Pocket: $239.50

Rebates and refunds coming: $1.50 Caregivers Marketplace

Catalinas leftover: $31

Net Out of Pocket: $207.00

Total Saved: 681.88 saved or 74%

We are following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan and have our initial emergency fund set up to cover us in case of any emergency.  We no longer use credit cards and use a cash envelope system for our monthly expenses.  What about you?  How did your budget fare this month?

August Budget Review and New Goals!

I am going to add an item to my budget review each month from now on that includes our financial goals and how we are progressing on them each month.  I think having to report back to you guys every month will keep me more accountable and help me keep track of our progress.

Our first financial goal is to pay off our van.  For the past 2 1/2 years, we have only had one car and we would love to get another.  We do not however, want to incur any new debt until we pay this one off.  Every month, we will use whatever money is left over in our budget to make an extra car payment to the principal.  Each month I will tell you what percentage of our van we were able to pay off that month.

Here are the facts for this month for our family of 4:

As always, these amounts include groceries, toiletries, diapers etc., cleaning supplies, school supplies and other small household needs.  I spent a little more this month to rebuild my stockpile, buy supplies for my cake class and decorating, buy school supplies for our little Kindergartener and stock up on great deals for packing lunches!

Total Out of Pocket: $324.07

Rebates and refunds coming:$10 Fuel for School, $20 from Kraft Free Food Promo, $3.00 Caregivers Marketplace= $33

Catalinas leftover: $18

Net Out of Pocket: $273.07

Total Saved: $758.54 or 74%

Percentage of van paid off: 14.36%

We took some extra money we had in savings that I had socked away and sent it to the car payment to get us started.  It is better off paying down our interest than sitting in our savings account.

We are following Dave Ramsey’s financial plan and have our initial emergency fund set up to cover us in case of any emergency.  We no longer use credit cards and use a cash envelope system for our monthly expenses.  What about you?  How did your budget fair this month?

July Budget Review

Included in my breakdown is groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers etc and other small household needs.

Here is the breakdown for my family of 4:

Actual Total Spent: $219.31

- $.75 back from THE CAREGIVERS MARKETPLACE for Huggies

-$18.00 left in ECB’s and Catalinas

Net Total Spent: $200.56

Total Savings: $236.42 or 52%

Also for the first time ever! I should be getting a check from one of the companies I advertise for!  They only send you a check when you reach a certain threshold and believe me it is not much.  This is the first one since I started this blog if that tells you anything about how much I make off this:)

Not too bad considering all the factors that played into those numbers.  How did you do last month?  Comment below!

My June Savings Report- Better Late Than Never!

OK, so I know than June has been over for a long time now, but things have been very busy and I have just gotten around to adding up my receipts!  June was a little crazy with a lot of travelling which meant buying supplies, extra snack foods etc for our trips, so my spending is a little up from last month.  I also stocked up on diapers and a few other higher cost items and bought mostly fruit, milk and meat since my pantry is so well stocked.  Included in my breakdown is groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers etc and other small household needs.

Here is the breakdown for my family of 4:

Total Spent: $315.69

- $4.50 back from THE CAREGIVERS MARKETPLACE for Huggies

-$3.00 left in ECB’s for CVS

Actual Total Spent: $308.19

Total Savings: $272.98 or 47%

Again my savings is down due to the fact that I bought mostly fruit, milk and meat which are hard to get great savings on.

Not too bad considering all the factors that played into those numbers.  How did you do last month?  Comment below!

My May Spending Report

I had a few spare minutes to add up all my receipts so here it goes. Once again I don’t include clothing or larger household items. I DO include groceries, toiletries, medicines, baby supplies, cleaning supplies and other small household things.

Total Spent: $292.58

Total Saved: $479.35 or 62%

My spending was down from last month and my savings amount is down mainly because I bought more of what we needed at Winco and didn’t build too much onto my stockpile. I also just realized that this month I included 5 weeks instead of the usual 4! Hopefully there will be another good promo at Von’s soon to help with that.

If you don’t already, it is very good to keep up with your receipts for a few months at least, to track your spending and saving and make sure you are actually cutting your out of pocket and not just buying a bunch of stuff!

My April Spending Report!

I must say that I did spend more than I thought I did but I stocked up on baby shower gifts and other gifts, made Easter baskets and an Easter lunch and had company for a week! All that said, here are my stats:

This amount includes: food, toiletries, cleaning and household supplies and several baby shower, Easter and Mother’s Day gifts and probably 20 cases of water and 10 of soda!

This amount does not include any savings I received in lower prices by shopping at Winco and the .99 Store!

Total Out of Pocket=$420.60-I also have $17 in catalinas and $35.50 coming in rebates to make
Total Spent=$368.01

Total Savings=$948.91 or 72%

Not too bad at all! I am hoping next month will be even lower as we have decided to change our grocery budget to $50 every 2 weeks or $100 a month. I think we can do it, it will just take discipline to use what we have in the house but the Living Well promotion has set us up well for that. I have even been able to get a lot for my daughter’s first birthday party and hope to get the rest with my catalinas!

My March Savings Report

I started getting into the coupons full force in February. I had been doing it a little and once I realized how much I could save, I was hooked. When March started, my husband said that I should keep up with my spending for the month just to see how much I spent versus saved. I think he also wanted to see some concrete evidence of my craziness paying off:) So here are the numbers with a few explanations:

• We are a family of four
• I included groceries, toiletries, cleaning supplies, diapers,wipes and formula
• I stocked up a lot, since this was my first real month, I built up a great stockpile, including all the rest of the formula I would need and tons of diapers and wipes with the $3 and $5 Huggies coupons.
• I couldn’t calculate any savings I got from shopping at my local .99 cent store or our cheapest grocery store that doesn’t run sales.

So here goes………………….

Total Spent=406.90

Total Saved=732.85 (including sale prices, coupons and rebates!)

I am amazed! I really thought I had spent more than that and to see such a huge amount saved is unbelievable! I am more than happy and next month should be even better since my stockpile is up, I don’t need any more formula and my shopping skills are even better.

I also saved $10 a month on our Directv through their referral program, $200 a year on car and renters insurance by switching to Crosby and Crosby whose button in on the left sidebar, $30 a month on my cell phone by scaling back our plan and using a calling card instead, $100 off our rent by doing the landscaping ourselves and quite a bit on clothes by shopping the Kohls clearance rack, Target sales and getting a 30% Old Navy coupon! All in all, not a bad month!