Budget help from a pro

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Meatless meals don't have to be beans. Try pancakes and eggs, cheese omelets and English muffins, fettuccine Alfredo with garlic bread. Pasta with pesto, spinach and mushroom strata, broccoli quiche, french toast with caramelized bananas. Also try cutting your chicken, etc. in half for any recipes that you use. I know how you feel though. Grocery prices kill me!

 

[disneychrista]

Also try cutting your chicken, etc. in half for any recipes that you use.

When we use meat (not very often) I almost always use less than what the recipe calls for.

 

[footballmouse]

I read the Dave Ramsey book a few years ago. At the time I read it, it was to help pay down bills but then the good old tax refund came around and I just paid everything off. I need to reread his book for the budgeting section. Will be on my to-do list for the library this week.

I tried the once a week grocery trip, I think I spend more money that way. Maybe if I start using cash that would be easier to stick to a set amount. I get paid next week, so I'm going to try that starting next week. I'll see how it goes.

 

[footballmouse]

Jake&IzzyLand - good suggestions! I already schedule a pancake night (which was tonight) and an eggs & bacon night. Unfortunately I don't know how to make omelets. Stupid me already makes a great chicken alfredo, why I never thought to cut out the chicken, I have no idea! What's the pasta w/pesto you mentioned? Sounds good. I always add ground beef to my spegehetti sauce, maybe I'll start buying the more flavored sauces instead of the plain traditional, that way I can cut out the meat. I need to go to the store this Friday, I'll plan a few more meatless meals for the week.

 

[lauradis]

Jake&IzzyLand - good suggestions! I already schedule a pancake night (which was tonight) and an eggs & bacon night. Unfortunately I don't know how to make omelets. Stupid me already makes a great chicken alfredo, why I never thought to cut out the chicken, I have no idea! What's the pasta w/pesto you mentioned? Sounds good. I always add ground beef to my spegehetti sauce, maybe I'll start buying the more flavored sauces instead of the plain traditional, that way I can cut out the meat. I need to go to the store this Friday, I'll plan a few more meatless meals for the week.

Its not just about cutting things out. Its about moving expenses around so you can pile up money.

Do you have a local credit union most of them offer classes or companies for free that do budgeting and financial planning.

 

[AnnaS]

You need a plan. Long time ago we lived paycheck to paycheck shuffling bills around. It was painful and stressful. That's when I decided to take the emotions out of money. Money is only a tool to get me the things I need first to survive and then my wants.

I'm old school and don't like all the software/ spreadsheets computerized. I love paper and adding machines.

1. find your style. paper, mobile app etc.
2. collect all your info, income, bills, other expenses for last 12 months
3. after you have all the info make a list of whats important
mine is this
Needs.
housing, lights, heating, food, transportation, retirement, healthcare, clothing
wants
cell phone, travel, internet
extras
entertainment, cable tv, eating out, Starbucks, etc

Take a good hard look at what you are spending money on and make decisions on what to cut or reduce.

More then likely you are looking at a small 2 week period and not seeing the whole picture.

To get out of the paycheck to paycheck cycle you need to plan for a whole year and build up money. Its not an easy process unless you make a ton of money more then your needs expenses.

Easiest way to break it down is stop thinking of my bills in monthly form but in yearly form. my gas bill is $75 a month nope that is $900 or $34.62 a paycheck.

Most people will tell you to have 1k for emergencies first and then 3- 6 months of monthly expenses. Some ways of doing this is just like the examples of how many posters save for disney trips, cut out all extras, get a second job, tax refunds, sell all unwanted stuff in your house.

You truly will be amazed at what you can do with money when you have a plan and make your mind up to get it done.

This is more or less what I was trying to say. I think you might have explained it better -

It can be done. Of course, if your expenses are way more than your income - you will definitely have to make some cuts somewhere (OP)

 

[StitchBuddy]

We had the same problem when we first got married. My husband bought a ledger (olden days). We wrote down evey penny we spent for about 2 months. We found out we spent a lot on little things that added up. Try it, you will be surprised!!

 

[Jake&IzzyLand]

Pesto is simple! Just Google for a recipe. Takes about 5 ingredients and 5 minutes in the blender. The main ingredient is basil which is really easy to grow inside and outside. Also making your own snacks can be helpful. Quick breads, muffins, brownies, oatmeal cookies - all pretty cheap and easy. My DD9 cam make these things herself, bonus!

 

[Sadie22]

Planning by the week or biweekly will not work as well as planning ahead for the future will.

For example, I like to keep a variety of canned beans in the pantry. I don't buy two cans at a time when they are $1. I buy a dozen when they are 40 cents each.

 

[staceyeileen]

Do you have an Aldi near you? It's cut my grocery budget significantly.

 

[Theaberdeenkid]

Very simply it's a matter of how much money you have coming in versus how much is going. If you can't increase your income you can only cut expenses. (for the record, I have no affiliation with any service I mention other than being a customer)
,
Firstly track you expenses with mint.com, since you can get access to a computer and it's free it's the most accurate and painless way to get an overview of expenses.

After housing the usual second highest expense is groceries. For cutting this bill I recommend www.grocerygame.com.
No I have no affiliation, yes I have used it for years, no its not a scheme of any sorts, yes it is a paid service ($5/month), yes you will cut your bill significantly.

With the information you provided that's about all I can say.

 

[lauradis]

This is more or less what I was trying to say. I think you might have explained it better -

It can be done. Of course, if your expenses are way more than your income - you will definitely have to make some cuts somewhere (OP)

TY

To many times people tie in emotions in with money. It took awhile for me to learn that money is just a tool.

 

[Fsupomgrl]

I get paid bi-weekly. According to my income and expenses, I shouldn't have any problems paying my bills. However, each pay period, I always have to bypass a bill or two b/c I can't pay it. I can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

We don't eat out, I cook every night. I might take the kids out once on the weekend I get paid but we don't go anywhere expensive, usually $30 for the 3 of us. I use coupons at the grocery. I go to the grocery twice a month, if we run out before then (lunch meat, snacks, cheese, things like that), oh well.

Is there someone that works with people to help them manage their money? I don't make a lot so it's not like I need an accountant. It just baffles me that I can't pay bills on time and I don't have anything left to put in my savings. God help me if I have to replace something in the house or have a major car repair. I'm a nervous wreck every other week when I start paying bills.

DAVE RAMSEY

 

[tina.tina]

I wouldn't track my money for a month or two to see where it's going. That's just more "lost" money. Where it has gone in the past isn't going to matter. Take control of your future now. You said you should have enough money to pay your bills. If I were you, I would put ALL of my money for bills in the mortgage/car payment account. Then, you have the money to pay your bills. Paying bills once a month is so much easier. You do it and can forget it until the next month. Take some out of the remainder for savings. What you have left is what you have to live on.

From what you've said, I can't tell where you're losing money but I think a lot of people spend more on groceries than they need. My sister says she does the same as you said about groceries- when it's gone, it's gone and you eat sandwiches. I think this could make everyone feel deprived so that you feel the need to "splurge" when you get paid to make up for the times of deprivation. That's certainly the way my sister does it. She will go out and eat for a week when they got paid and eat bologna sandwiches the next week. You said you don't do it by eating out, but maybe you do it in your grocery budget. To save money, have variety, and keep me from being a slave in the kitchen every day, I plan for a couple of soup and sandwich days a week. These are also leftover days and we have things like chicken nuggets and pot pies & the kids like having choices. Every other day is planned.

I don't plan my budget by grocery sales. I do my menu for a month based on what my picky kids will eat. Sam's has saved me a lot of money. Each month, I make a Sam's list and a weekly list of what I need from the local store. I go to Sam's once a month and to a local grocery store every few days for fresh produce and other perishables. To only get what's on your list, don't go to the store hungry and don't take your kids.

 

[StitchBuddy]

There are three of us too. My husband, DD18, and myself, I take out $120 a week for food. Some weeks I have some left others I don't. But, it makes me stay in budget. Meat is a huge expense. However, much husband and DD think they must have meat. So, I just use half of whatever a recipe calls for. They are happy and don't even notice the difference. When we are low on funds I fix Spaghetti, tuna fish sandwiches or grilled cheese with tomato soup. I just buy store brand or whatever is cheapest. I too stock up on things we eat on a regular basis. Someone else mentioned Aldi, I have used them, but they don't always seem to have what I need. If you can go to multiple stores and stock up on sale items that helps, but it is very time consuming.

 

[MAO]

There's nothing that says you can't track your money at the same time you're trying to cut back in certain areas. Then you won't end up saying "well, I think I probably spend too much here" or "I don't think I can cut anything more, but I'm not sure" -- you'll know. You can certainly try some of the ideas that people are suggesting, but unless you pay close attention to every penny every day you're not going to ever truly feel that you have complete control over your finances. Sure, some people make enough money they can just pay attention to the outlines of where their money goes. Just imagine, though, what would they be able to do if they paid attention to the very pennies they spend?

For folks like us, though, the pennies are where we live. Maybe you can't take advantage of all the sales, discounts and money-saving tips people suggest. But you can be the one to decide, for yourself, what works for you and what doesn't. And there's nothing wrong with saying "no, that won't work for me" though I caution you - sometimes it's more accurately stated "no, I don't want to do that much work or think too much about that". It's up to you to determine whether you don't want to cut back or economize on something because it really is a necessity for your family or because you don't want to do the work or deal with the fallout from eliminating it.

BTW - like StitchBuddy mentions, I've discovered that cutting back on meat really isn't that noticeable in many cases. For example, I use just 1/4 pound of ground beef in a spaghetti sauce recipe -- cook it, run it through the food processor (or try to chop it really fine by hand) and throw it in the sauce. For texture, I bought one bag of TVP granules (found it in the 'organic' section of my grocery store) and measure out 2 ounces to put in the sauce. Since that's larger than the finely chopped beef, my mouth occasionally gets to chew something and my tastebuds still taste the beef since it's portioned throughout the sauce.