First thing....boyfriend and I have decided to do a "December to Remember". We looked at the calendar last month and saw that we were spending entirely too much money. So this December we are cutting back spending for everything. I mean everything. No more online shopping, no more stopping on my way home to pick up a few craft supplies, no more eating out. YIKESERS.
Let me explain...I'm not the type of person to go out and spend $300 shopping at the mall. But I will stop at Target on the way home and spend $20, then go to the Dollar Tree and spend $15, and maybe stop at Gordmans quick and drop another $50. And I love the search for a unique item at thrift stores - I check all the thrift stores out weekly. It doesn't feel like I'm spending a lot, but then all of a sudden I'm in single digits in the available cash column. Oopsies.
We checked out our cupboards and we have a ton of food. Granted, a lot of it is cooking supplies (soups, pastas, sauces, etc) but we have packed cupboards. I analyzed the cupboards and wrote down as many meals as I could think of with what we had on hand. I came up with almost 35 meals. That's ridiculous - we've had some of this stuff since we moved in here. And so "December to Remember" begins.
We are limiting ourselves to spending money on bills and fuel. We're both eating breakfast every day and making lunch to bring to work every day. So we are allowing ourselves $20 a week for milk, bread, lunchmeat, cheese, and fresh produce. It's only been a couple of days and it's difficult - but it will definitely help our checkbook. It's a challenge but I think it puts our spending patterns into perspective a little bit. I hope we'll have a good experience and it will encourage us to budget better in 2012. Feel free to join me if you like. I'd love to hear how your "December to Remember" is going :) Have a fabulous Sunday evening!!
