I am a working mom of 2, a teenage daughter and a 3 year old son and my husband and I are just a few days away from our 16th anniversary. We live in a country residental area in a log house with our 3 dogs. I love our house, it trully is my dream house and I am willing to give up a few splurges to make sure we can maintain it in good shape.
My husband and I work full time but I would like to not only be debt free but to have a nice emergency fund and to be able to give my kids the option to go to university or what ever they want to do after high school. This wasn't an option for me growing up and I have been busting my butt to go to school while working and looking after a family. I need to revamp some of our household spending to make this all a reality.
My daughter just entered the teen years and I still have a preschooler. They are at different life stages so I feel like I need to constantly shift my mommy hat to fit the situation. Life is hectic to say the least between work, daycare activities, high school activities, sports, cadets, the house, the dogs, and my school work. Did I mention that I am working towards my Bussines Admin diploma?
Well for starters I though I would tacle the household spending in January. We don't live beyond our means but we don't have much in the savings pot and I think we could do better. It seems we save all year and then Christmas wipes it all out. So to start the year I decided that I am going to take $25 each week and get a gift card to the places I would Christmas shop. This means that by December I can have $1200-1300 saved up for gifts. I originally heard about this in a mom group I belong to on facebook and it hit me... Why didn't I ever think of this. It is so simple!
Secondly I am taking part in a 31 days no spending challenge. For January there is no spending on anything non-essential. So we pay the bills, but gas to get to and from work, and buy only essential groceries. No eating out, no Starbucks, no clothes no Mary Kay, nothing. You can read more about this idea on the Living Well Spending Less website.
http://www.livingwellspendingless.com/2012/09/30/31-days-challenge-ground-rules/
This weekend I made a list of what is in my freezer, meal planned for 2 weeks, and cleaned out my pantry. As a working mom I recently started to use freezer cooking like I read on Happy Money Savers website. I love this. I basically spend my Sunday preping meals for the week so I don't have to cook during the work week. I originally started this to make my evenings more streamlined with my daughters extra activities but I also appreciate the money it saves me. I can buy in bulk and I waste less since I use all the fresh ingedients right away.
So far the no spending has been easy, it is only the 2nd of January and I live a bit out of town so I have no stores right near by to tempt me and since I have been freezer cleaning and prepping meals I have been too busy to even think about shopping. But we will see how it goes come Monday and I go to work. I have come to depend on my Starbucks Caramel Latte, especially on a Monday.
No comments:
Post a Comment