Budgeting

I had a few people ask me..."what exactly are you doing to cut your expenses?" We are trying to live within our means, with the cost of adoption, raising another child, loans getting harder and harder to get, credit cards companies stopping funding, lowering credit limits, spiking interest rate and no job security we are changing the way we spend. Every penny counts so if your curious or maybe wondering how you could cut a few things I hope you find this helpful. My friend thought it would be nice to share, she said some people aren't good about things like this so here it goes. Please keep in mind that this is what worked for our family, I'm in no way telling others what they should or shouldn't do. We had a goal of cutting close to $250.00 from our monthly budget and I think we did it!!

CELL PHONES: We lowered our minutes. We have free incoming and free mobile to mobile but we have to watch when we're dialing and if it's necessary. This is a big change for us:) We also took of texting (all 4 phones)

HOME PHONE: We had a 2nd line for fax and we disconnected that. I now have to unplug my regular line and plug that one into the fax when I want to use it, we also canceled caller ID. Its less convenient without those 2 features but was costing us around 12.00/month just for convenience.

STORAGE UNIT: Found someone that would split the unit with us to cut our cost in 1/2.

HEALTH INSURANCE: Shopped around and found a cheaper carrier with pretty much the same benefits.

UTILITIES: Set the thermastat higher then last year, it's air conditioner time. All clothes gets hung on the line. The boys complain about crunchy towels so I fluff them before they're put away.
I also use cold water when washing except for our whites.

GROCERIES: Making a list and using coupons. We shop Wal Mart so we make sure we're buying the best value per oz. Shopping takes longer but the saving are worth it.

EATING OUT: DOESN'T happen !! We're been out to eat once in the last 2 months and that was for a benefit for some friends raising money to get their daughter from China.

BEAUTY: I try to stretch out my hair cuts. I give the boys and Jamie hair cuts so we don't have that expense. I also went from expensive salon hair products to generic brand. I'll be honest I can't tell the difference but my hair is super healthy anyway.

Our family never had to budget and I think it's a good for us. It don't matter if we have the money and don't need to budget or not to us it's being money smart especially with the state our economy is in.

I hope this will help some of you I know for us it truly has put our priorities in line.