I have hopefully figured it out....
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| Tue, 05-18-2010 - 10:21pm |
well after my post earlier today, I decided to go thru my most recent bank statement. Now this statement goes from 4/17/10 to 5/14/10. And I am sick over it.
For this statemtn this is where my money went!
Groceries $554.63 (for a family of 3)
Coffee/Breakfast in the AM: $153.21
Gas: $209.39
Dining OUt: $158.03
Health/Beauty/Prescriptions: $207.16 (now my husband is the only one with a prescription each month of $10)
Home Maintanence/Garden (this includes toiletries, paper towels, monthly plan for furnace, and sprucing up the house) $404.83
Pets: $114.15 (food if not included in groceries and vet bill for dog)
Unknown amounts (checks that were on the statement but did not look to see where they were to) $820.50
MMI (debt consolidation) $511.
Gifts, Clothes, Haircut for daughter: $362.22 and this is high only because of mothers day falling in this month.
Now this spending does not include any of my normal monthly payments except for debt consolidation. I still have 2 mortgages, 2 cars, 3 cc (not accepted on the bill consolidation), cable/internet, cell.
I am looking to get rid of my cell plan. We pay $140/month. It is a contract and if I disconnect service there is a termination of $400. Is it worth it to disconect if I will be saving money on a different phone/plan with another carrier? ANy suggestions?
Sorry this is so long, but if someone could please tell me where to start. I feel like I am just chasing my tail.




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good morning lulu-
Ok, this is actually GREAT NEWS. now you have places to cut back on, you now know where the money went, and moving forward -
http://www.TickerFactory.com/savings/
I'd start by actually breaking out your expenses much more narrowly. There's a BIG difference between "health & beauty" and "prescriptions" - you can limit what you spend on health & beauty but probably not what you spend on prescriptions. Ditto for "gifts/clothes/haircuts" - be very precise as to where you're spending your money. As for the $820 in "unknown," you need to know what that's for.
The only way to track your money is to TRACK it, every dime of it, whether it's on credit cards, check, or cash, by writing it down. Every bill, every check, every dollar.
The most glaring thing, of course, is that you're spending a total of $867 a MONTH on feeding three people. Do you have special needs that require that you buy specific kinds of expensive foods? Even if you do, I'll bet you can cut your monthly grocery budget down to $350 (especially since you're not even including the household items like paper products). Dinner out - if it's not a fine dinner, don't bother wasting money on it. And breakfast - if you're only buying it for the 22 days/month you work, you're spending almost $7/day! If you *must* have a coffee in order to feel like you're not penny-pinching and miserable, go ahead - but bring your cereal to work, hardboil eggs at home and bring them in, or just eat before you go to work. You're literally spending over $1800 a year on breakfast!
You're the only one who can decide what makes you feel virtuous because you cut back and what makes you feel deprived and rebellious. My DH feels prosperous if he can get a cup of coffee every day and deprived if he can't. For me, coffee is coffee, so I don't care about buying it, but I can't stand having my hair cut at a cheap salon. The key is to figure out what you believe is valuable and spend your money on that - then cut back on the things that are of no value at all.
And keep posting!
Kelly
Hi Lulu,
Facing the numbers isn't very fun, I can tell you that from experience!
Kate
Thank you for all of your suggestions.
I have been hit in the face with reality. Before I just didn't want to face it, now that I have those numbers, I have to face it!
I am a compulsive shopper and I need to fix this quickly!
As for the cell phone plan, I looked thru Walmart and they have a family plan with the same amount of minutes that I currently have for $89.99/month! That would save me $50/month if I switched to that plan.
I told my husband we are going to see if we can refinance his other property (that my fil lives in) and that would save us about $200/month.
I am going to start eating my breakfast at home, and making my ice coffee at home too. I have decided that at the beginning of the week both my husband and I will put $20 of gas into our tanks (that should last us a week) and then each have $20 for an allowance. I am giving my husband my debit card to hold onto because it is just so much easier to use that.
I really have to do this and I think seeing my numbers/useless spending has really given me that push.
href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/debt/wNS2tfv/">
href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/debt/wNS2tfv/">
Well like the PPs said, you have a LOT Of places to cut, so that is good news.
With a family of 4, you can easily get to less than $500 a month for food if you start to do some planning. You are working with a collection company and in debt, you honestly need to be sure you get real with this - you are living on money that could help provide a better future for you, is making coffee at home worth a better future?
1. Groceries - what do you need for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Write it down and shop for it.
I work full time, teach nights and have kids running everywhere, yet I get up at 6 AM, make coffee and 5 sandwiches every day before my shower. Kids get cereal, we get bagels for breakfast, yogurt or a granola bar. Kids lunches also have a fruit, drink, and snack so I know what they are eating. DH takes 2 sandwiches, fruit and salty snack each day. I usually grab leftovers or a sandwich.
Plan dinners - I do it on Sunday for the week and look at who is going where. Basically we are in debt so we DON'T go out to eat. When we are not paying interest, we feel then we can afford to go out. We make GREAT dinners at home, and some not so great dinners. Last night was a frozen pizza - $4.99. Two nights ago we had shrimp fettuccine with broccoli.
2. Stay out of the drug stores! They have high prices and sucker you in the way they are structured. We use bulk shampoo and get all our health and beauty items at Costco or the grocery store so we never have this expense. You can really cut big time here just by not going in.
3. Carry cash! Take all the credit and debit cards out of your wallet and just figure out how much cash you need to carry. You will start to feel the dollars go out and will be MUCH LESS likely to overspend. Studies show people spend 18% more when using a card than if they had used cash.
You can do this, there is a ton to cut here, so you can get back on track easily.
-Marie
Groceries $554.63 (for a family of 3)
I looked up the checks that I had listed that were unaccounted for.
Check 1: $70.41 groceries so that totals my groceries to $625.04
Check 2: $125.09 was for my daughters birthday gift
Check 3: $50 for a seminar I had to attend for work (reimbursed by company)
Check 4: $625 carpet reinstalled after flooding
This was an extremely high month of spending for me, because of mothers day and my daughters birthday...
For the groceries, the only thing I can think of tht is costing me so much is fresh fruit and veggies.
href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/debt/wNS2tfv/">
href="http://www.TickerFactory.com/debt/wNS2tfv/">
i shop for 3 people for groceries on $80/ week ($320/ mo). i have non-consumables in another category (paper goods, cleaners, etc) for $50/ month. (some people include those items together, some separately, just depends on what's easiest for you to keep track of. but if i add them together it's $370).
i have had to completely change the way that i grocery shop because i would, like you, spend $600/ month on groceries... i love to grocery shop and cook. i have not changed the way that i cook. i have changed to carefully planning my menu for the week, and looking at the pantry, freezer, and fridge to make sure that i am using what i already have first. it's a challenge and time consuming but i have seen the savings (hundreds of dollars a month). there are 2 tips i can share that are helping me-
1. i plan my menu on friday and saturday then shop on sunday. this gives me enough time with my busy schedule to make sure that i have time to look around the kitchen and see what i can make, and make sure that if i forget anything after making the initial list it gets on there before i shop. by letting my list sit for a day or so i have decreased the number of trips to the store "just to pick up milk" that always ended up being milk and ....
2. as i shop i carry the list with me and i write down the price of everything next to the item. i tally as i go so i always know how i am doing budget-wise. at first i felt very awkward doing this, but it's so helpful. if i have money left over after everything on the list is in the cart i stock up on things i use often/ sale items. this works for frozen lunches (lean cuisine, etc) or chicken stock, meat for the freezer, etc.
fresh fruit and veggies are important. so is good protein, etc. try changing the way that you shop to making the most out of the items that you buy and really planning to use everything you buy and see if it helps.
also- keep your receipts from grocery shopping for a while. it will help you to see trends if you find that groceries are still throwing you off, you'll be able to see what's happening.
wow- this got long, sorry for the novel. HTH!
As tough as it seems right now you have an excellent place to start!
1. Does your current
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