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I finally figured out a written budget.  I’m only figuring in Dave’s income based on just 40 hours per week.  He will have holiday pay in January and he is hoping to work a little overtime.  I’m also not including any income from my ebay sales or my Thirty-One Gifts since neither of those are guaranteed income.  Hopefully I’ll make good money with Thirty-One but I’m not relying on that money yet.  So here’s the plan:

• $20 per week for gas As long as prices don’t go up this should be ok, however I have a feeling if we travel anywhere it’ll be more.  If we plan on doing anything extra we are going to have to make that extra money with either overtime or ebay.
• $60 per week for groceries.  This is a little high and with the pantry challenge this month I don’t plan on using this much this month.  This will let me have extra each week if there is some good deals or great rebates, whatever is left from this at the end of the month will also go into my ING account.
• $20 per week for fun.  I almost always make at least this much from my ebay account so it will be funded from there, if I don’t make that much then we won’t spend it.  Since this is the biggest splurge it will come out of the ebay money.
• With all the other regular bills that doesn’t leave alot left over but we will plan on putting $200 a month into the ING account.

I’m hoping to make more money with ebay and Thirty-One.  If you haven’t heard of them please check it out and let me know if you are interested in anything.  I’m also considering setting up an Etsy account, I have a very crafty side and it helps me relax.  I’m going to check it out and maybe start crafting and possibly sell some of my items.  I make jewelry, scrapbooks, paper piecings, knit projects, sometimes crochet, sewing.  What can I say growing up I had a mother who could do lots of crafts and I have crafting ADD so what she didn’t teach me the internet did.  Plus I have some income from this blog and Swagbucks and if all else fails I’ve been considering a part-time job.

As you can see I really want to put away more money to move.  I hate the apartment we currently live in with a passion, the hatred grows everyday and Dave and I plan on not putting the Christmas tree back up here.  So we either move and rent a house or buy a house.  I’m not fussy either way at the moment.  LOL

So how is your budget coming?? How do you plan on making a little extra? 

This is a great way to start the year with a personalized calendar and one for a family member too.

If you follow many blogs you’ve no doubt seen this logo and lots of people talking about following along with this challenge.

I’ve decided that along with Precious’s Money Saving Challenge I will be joining this challenge as well.

Here are some guidelines they have set to help get started:

• Reduce grocery spending. We're talking about reducing grocery spending this month, not eliminating it. Set a goal that is lower than your regular food budget and shoot for not exceeding it.
• Take stock. Take an afternoon and empty your pantry, freezer, and refrigerator. Ditch what's gone bad and make a list of what's left. Knowing what you have will make you less likely to buy more.
• Use what you have. Check your pantry before you meal plan or head off to the store. Develop meals based on what you have rather than buying new.

Now here’s what we are going to be doing here.

• Starting January 1st we will be reducing the spending.  I will have to buy fresh fruits, milk and some veggies every week.  I will also be getting any free foods or foods under .50 that we use regularly.  I will be couponing all that I can to reduce those costs.
• I will be going through the pantry at some point in the next 2 weeks (after school starts again) and donating the things that won’t be used if they are close to expiring to the local food pantry.
• I don’t meal plan, I’ve tried and failed several times.  I’m trying to focus all my frustrations I mean energy on following a written budget so I won’t be attempting the meal planning this month.  But I will be preplanning what I can.
• We are going to make a big effort to eat every meal at home for the month of January.  Honestly the only draw to eating out is not having to clean up, most of the time I know I could make better food but I don’t want to be bothered.

We have no family coming up this month (that I know of) so we should be able to stick to this very well.  The money we save will be going into the new account I just opened with ING for a down payment someday on a house.  If you are thinking about opening an account with them please let me know there is a referral bonus and I’d love to send you the link, they have a good interest rate for a basic savings account (1.3% vs .25% at my bank)

Drop me a comment if you are planning on joining on to this challenge.  I’d love to hear how you are doing.

I think I have the comment problem fixed, thanks Precious for emailing me to let me know.  The easiest fix I could find was to just make the comment a pop up window so if you can’t leave a comment check your pop-ups.  Again please let me know if this is a problem or difficult, I was amazed that it was so easy to fix.

If you come across anymore kinks please feel free to let me know.  I’m new to all this kind of stuff so I will most likely screw up a few times.  LOL

Have a great night all!!

You have more than likely noticed a big change in my design.  I’ve been looking for awhile for something more fitting and decided with the New Year and the new challenges I’d start fresh with a new blog face.

If you have any trouble viewing anything please let me know so I can change things and make it easier for you.  Thanks for sticking around during the growing pains.

It’s time to print your Holiday Photos and any other ones you might need to print off.  Go to Walgreens.com and start uploading, they are currently offering 9 cent photos as long as you buy 50 or more.  You have until 1/2/10 to order all your photos so get going. 

This fits in really well to my frugal budget as this is about as cheap as I will find them.  I plan on printing as many as I can this week and hopefully I can find a nice deal at Wag’s with RR’s and pay for the photos with them.

Check back next week I’m going to start to tackle my New Year’s goals and keeping my money in my account and not anyone else’s.  What are your goals?  I’m going to try and get a budget in writing and pick an amount that we’ll spend every month and once that money is gone it’s gone.  We’ll see how it goes.  LOL