One day I woke up. I realized credit card debit was NOT a way of life. I’d always thought, “Doesn’t everyone have student loans, credit card payments, and car loans?” I realized the answer was NO! Once I finally had my eyes open, a friend introduced me to the wonderful world of Dave Ramsey. I’d always thought that what he taught wasn’t for the real world. I’d thought it was his money making scheme. Oh, how wrong I was! After listening to the cd’s, I had a new mission in life. NO DEBT! Now, I’m not there yet. We have a mortgage and I’m okay with that, for now.

I was a little worried when we decided to move to get “Moneyboy” in a better school. The house my husband loved needed a LOT of work. We’d been putting money away for the impending move and knew that some work would need to be done on any house in our price range. I’ll have another post(s) about our DIY adventures soon. The point of this post is that we were able to get most of the work done I wanted except for the kitchen. I can handle old cabinets and counter tops. It was the appliances that had me crying. I’d never had a refrigerator without ice and the stove always smelled like gas (it wasn’t leaking but I still smelled it). To top it off, we were now out of home improvement money.  Yes, some of you are thinking I’m spoiled for wanting automatic ice.

The solution? We started saving. We were able to save enough cash in 2 1/2 months to purchase a new refrigerator (with water and ice in the door!), a new smooth top range and an over-the-range microwave. Oh yes, I’m spoiled now!  How did we do it? We saved extra grocery money, pulled in the budget, hubby worked side jobs and overtime and we used our Christmas money from family.

We had a lot of time to shop around and research the best appliances over those couple of months. We looked online, checked consumer reports, and drove to every store imaginable in the area. We had picked out the appliances way before we had the money to purchase them. Once we did have the money; we waited another 3 weeks for another sale to come around. We saved an additional $500 by knowing our prices and holding out for the good sale.

Patience, hard work and persistence will get you what you want without going into debit. Putting the appliances on the credit card would have been much easier but not nearly as rewarding.

Have you saved for big purchases lately?

I started using  THIS Savings Tracker in 2010. I like to see the overall amounts at the end of the month. 

Here’s a look at the summary of my February spending:

Shelf Cost: $923.15

When I say grocery budget I include:
Food, household items, beauty, health and personal items such as cleaners, TP, shampoo, makeup, medications and feminine products.

Note: Prescriptions are from a different fund
Basically it’s my everything budget

Next I think it’s important to know where your money is going. Identify ways to cut the budget if you can and know other ways to cut if you HAD to. Money Saving Mom has a fantastic series going right now, 31 Days to a Better Grocery Budget. I know you ALL read Money Saving Mom so you already know this. For the 1 person that doesn’t, START!

Here’s the reason’s for my budget and where if I HAD to I could cut it:

Feeding a family of 4 plus a cat and fish: No I’m not going to cut a family member or pet, but I could cut some of what I buy

Cat: The biggest part of my cat expense is the litter. I use the crystals that cost me about $15-$17 month! Oh, yes. It makes my life easier, so I buy it.

Coffee Creamer and milk: We use A LOT of coffee creamer and milk. Hubby takes a thermos of coffee to work every morning and I have 2 cups in the am. But wait, in the afternoon we also drink coffee in the winter months (I know, I need to work on this). We also go through 2-3 gallons of milk a week or more. I figure my average spending on creamer and milk is $14+ week!

Meat: My husband expects meat at virtually every meal. In an effort to use less I don’t serve meals where meat is the main event as often, and when I make casseroles and such I use less meat and more veggies (he hasn’t noticed yet).

Lunches: I make lunch for my husband everyday (almost). He works in the construction industry (union pipe fitter) so lunches must be good cold and include a lot of food. He burns about 2X the amount of calories in an 8 hr work day than the average person should consume a day. Further, I also make lunch for my brother so that’s lunches for 2 grown men.

Sensitive Skin: Some family members have sensitive skin, so I have to watch what products I buy. Example: we can only use All or Tide Free and Clear laundry detergent.

I do want to add that before I started my crazy obsession with coupons and saving money, I’d spend $600-$700 month on groceries for 2 adults and a baby!  I’d also only average $40-$50 a month in coupon savings.

Look at the USDA guide HERE to see what it says you should be spending on food.  My family size’s liberal plan is $226.30 week! The thrifty plan is $116.20 week or $503.30 month! I’m not sure if I should be happy for my family or sad for everyone else. 

I would be interested to know your budget, budget killers or tips for cutting your budget.