September 2008:

*Groceries: $515.18
*Eating Out: $206.90
*Gas: $305.97
*Extras: Home Education and Private Classes $403.05, clothes for DS2 $28.58; kids haircuts $28.00, birthdays $50.00; Movies for DD1 and DS2 $17.36
Renovations/Items for House $536.26

*Plus all the regular bills and debts paid.

The total above (minus the regular bills and debts) comes to $1611.30. That is just crazy. I need to lower those costs. Some of it was justified, like the extra gas and eating out. We had to go out of town for a funeral (Yuk).

I would like to lower the grocery bill to $400/month, eating out to $100/month. I do still have a partial payment in October for the private classes, but then after that, I don't pay for classes again until January and it is no where near that amount. The clothes and haircuts are necessary; and the movies were well deserved for my two youngest. I did purchase the rest of what I needed, minus a few nuts and bolts, to finish most of the inside of the house.

Now I start buying for Christmas and two December birthdays.

I have transferred the $700 from my ING account.

*I am going to pay off the Radiology bill.

*Put $500 on my Chase Visa CC because the interest rate is the highest; and send any extra income/money I get throughout the months to this debt.

*Put $100 on my Gardner White CC each month until due in December, then payoff balance before due date.

*Increase Loan 1 from $150 to $200 per month to get the next highest interest debt paid off earlier.

*Transfer the WAMU CC balance and Care Credit card balance in January 2009 to a new 0%, no transfer fee CC before their due date.

Once those debts are tackled, then I will re-asses where I am at with my debt.

Also, my ING account will be back up to around $500 by the beginning of 2009; and my Regular Savings (freedom account) should be back up to around $1100 by January 2009 (this account I use for all kinds of things, so it fluctuates a lot). I will have to pay for my kids school in January and property taxes in February.

Both of my kids classes and books have been paid for (total cost $700) for the fall.

*I still have to pay for Christmas and two birthdays, so I am needing to start early and get creative. I am making a list and going to try to stick to it.

My house restoration has been coming along and we have some materials here to keep us busy for a little while. I do need to purchase some small items (plastic underlayment for wood floors and bolts for the log beams)

Lets see where I am at come January 2009. Looking forward to the new year and new goals.

Transfer $700 from my ING account and pay off my furniture (Gardner White). Then when October gets here, I could pay off the Radiology bill. I have money every month automatically transferred to my ING account and my Regular Savings account (Freedom Account) from my checking, so ING would be back up to $181 and my regular savings would be back up to $507; giving me close to $700 for emergencies.

That is what I use both of those accounts for (emergencies, property taxes, kids schooling); property taxes and the kids school have been paid for right now until the beginning of the year.

So what does everyone think. Is it a good idea to pretty much drain my ING to pay off a debt or two.

Because it is going up over $5.00 tomorrow morning. That is what I just got a phone call on, so I went out to get gas. It is already going up and the town has gone crazy. You can hardly get into any gas station, but I got mine and I'm home now, safe and sound.

Hurry, cause it is going up as I type.

So there is this lady who can actually live on $800/year grocery money. She has it all figured out. Her Blog is:

http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/

For me, I have spent $3,976.09 so far this year, with another 3 3/4 months left to go.

Last years total was 5,316.41 spent on groceries.

I include everything in my groceries, food, pet food, household items, laundry soap, cleaning items, etc.

I want to try to reduce my grocery bill amount. Not as drastic as the lady in the blog, but I am headed in that direction.

I just realized that I haven't posted my totals for the months since April. So, here goes for May, June, July and August, plus a lot of extras and happenings the past four months. I did make an extra $1494.44 at my summer job, but that helped pay for survival.

May:
*Groceries: $521.32
*Eating Out: $174.42
*Gas: $315.02
*Extras: License Plates $125.20; and my son's Baseball Pictures $15.00
*Charity - Wish Network $20.00
*Plus all the regular bills and debts paid.

June:
*Groceries: $391.00
*Eating Out: $167.51
*Gas: $290.78
*Extras: Open houses, baby showers and birthdays: $119.62
*Plus all the regular bills and debts paid.

July:
*Groceries: $549.05
*Eating Out: $140.93
*Gas: $278.00
*Extras: Maintenance on Jeep: $1000. Birthdays and Graduations: $90.00
*Plus all the regular bills and debts paid.

August:
*Groceries: $521.73
*Eating Out: $93.89
*Gas: $190.97
*Extras: Paid property taxes: $998.61
Dentist: $363.00, Clothes/Shoes for Jamee $120.00; Family reunion/birthdays $80.00; Jameson's bike parts: $42.29
*Plus all the regular bills and debts paid.

I have also redone my youngest son's room. I sold his two twin beds and mattresses ($205.00) and replaced it with a full size bed w/mattress ($200), plus I bought a beautiful down comforter (like brand new) at the Salvation Army Store for $16.99 and dust ruffle $4.99. I already had the paint, but had to buy paint rollers $5.29, all totalling around $228.59. So out of pocket to re-do my son's room was about $23.00. I do have both of his twin sheet sets, comforter, duvet cover and dust ruffles for sale. Hopefully, I will break even, but not bad and the room looks spectacular.

And, was able to finish up some renovations to my 1930's cottage (new foyer completely done and beautiful) paid for in full with cash.

My kids are home-educated, but do take some private classes, which I had to pay for this month. They are taking Spanish 1, Apologia Chemistry, Abeka Algebra II, Abeka Consumer Math, Apologia Physical Science, Abeka Government and Economics, Home Economics, Piano, Sewing, Health, a Book Club and various other projects. We have a busy school schedule this year and costly.

Some of the above, I have had to add to my debt column, like my hospital visit ($3,551) and fixing my Jeep ($1000), both went on the Chase Visa CC that I just paid off in June (Oh well, what do you do), but overall, I have been able to find the money somewhere for everything else and working at the Beach has helped.

I can see that I should try to lower my grocery bill (although I am feeding a family of five - pretty much all adults and my kids friends through the summer). But, if I could lower my grocery bill, eat out less, try to find birthday gifts on sale, that might help with the budget. There is a blog somewhere about a lady who has a grocery budge of $900.00 (I think) for the year. I think I need a challenge like that.

The biggest challenge is all of the graduations and teenager birthdays. Kids want money. You just can't get around it.

My gas consumption has been the same, gas, however, went up, causing the riff in my gas budget.

I have also been working on Christmas Gifts. Trying to find the sales, but some things I just need to wait till the last minute (like my weed-growing youngest son. I think he grows an inch every night, so clothes for him, which are expensive, because he has this skinny little waist and long lanky legs and arms. He is 13 and towering over me).

Well, that was long winded.