Pinching Pennies!

Lately I’ve been fretting a lot here and there about finances. These days I’m the sole income for my family, which is not new, but being the only grown up in the house brings added pressure to stay one step ahead of everything. If anything gets missed, guess whose fault it is?

No, we can’t blame him. He’s too cute.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not going on spending sprees, eating out four nights a week and shopping online whenever I feel like it. That kind of freedom would be fabulous, but that’s not my life.

 I shop with a grocery list.

 I cook at home nearly every night.

 I make lunches for all of us every morning.

You get the idea – we're careful!

One thing I love is insight from other people about how they balance their budgets, or where they cut costs, etc. Once I realized I had more going out every month than coming in, I knew that I needed to start making some changes, and quickly! So what did I do? I put the word out on Facebook that I am trying to tighten my budget, and asked for ideas from anyone who had one. I figured I’d get a few comments back – maybe five?

Try 21!

It turns out I’m not the only one out there watching her every penny – go figure!

I received a lot of great suggestions on how to cut spending, and here are a few I've done so far.

• Contacted my waste management company and traded in my larger garbage can for a smaller one.  That cut my bill in half, reducing it by over $16 per month.
• Contacted DirecTV and pleaded with them to help me find a better deal.  Amazingly, the guy on the phone actually tried to talk me into more expensive packages!  We talked for quite a while, and when I finally said I was going to have to terminate my account, he suddenly came up with a family package they have (but don't advertise) for half of what I was paying before.  Done!  This meant giving up a LOT of channels and pretty much just keeping all the kid friendly stations, but I can live with that.
• The kids and I have been keeping the lights off as long as we can in the evenings, and sometimes we even use candles for a little while instead of turning them on.  We've unplugged everything we can when we're not using it -- I've got them so well trained that Noelle couldn't figure out why the toaster didn't work this morning.  She didn't catch that Charlie had unplugged it as soon as his waffles were cooked!  We had a pretty good laugh over that.
• Feel cold?  Don't touch that thermostat -- put on a sweater and some slippers!

I'm still finding ways to save here and there, including stretching our grocery budget as far as I can every week.  If you have anything clever to share that you've done to help save your family some money, leave a comment and share it!