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After a month of having this blog (my gosh it’s really gone by quickly), here I am in a reflective mood. I’d like to start setting some goals, so let’s see how this is going to work.

Put at least $600 into our vacation fund so that we have cash to spend while in Myrtle Beach for a week in September. This includes two planned deposits equaling $500 plus $100 in snowflakes.

Don’t charge anything on credit cards. The only exception is anything that is already in the budget, and once it’s charged onto the MyPoints credit card, I make an immediate payment from checking (because we would’ve spent it anyway, might as well get reward points).

Only buy drugstore items if they are free after rebate or relatively close to free if it’s an item that we would buy normally or a brand we love. Try to keep to $15 out of pocket after rebates each week for personal care and household items bought from Rite Aid and Walgreens. Remember that I have enough personal care supplies to last me a year or more, therefore I don’t need to jump on EVERY sale.

Continue to make menu plans each week and use that as a basis for grocery shopping. Make a list and stick to it! Try to keep budget at $40 per week for groceries. Also include another $80 budget for stocking up on meat at Sam’s Club since our freezer is empty. We will be in Chicago for one week, so that’s a whole week we won’t be buying groceries (Dave gets $35 allotment for food each day and I’m sure we can somehow manage to make that feed each of us, so I’m hoping to spend minimal amounts on food while we’re there.)

Keep dining out to a minimum. In July we spent $119.18 and I’d like to keep our dining out budget to $50 or less, which includes lunches with friends or a meal or two out with the hubby and friends.