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I’m really enjoying having this blog. It has helped to keep me on track and I’ve met so many great people over the past 2 months! I appreciate every comment and word of advice and encouragement. It really makes my day.
So now let’s make some goals for September!
Don’t charge anything on credit cards that I can’t pay for with cash. In other words, once it’s charged onto the MyPoints credit card, make an immediate payment from the checking account. I’m saving up the MyPoints points to redeem for gift cards towards the end of the year. So groceries, gas and other stuff that we have the money to buy are being charged and paid off within the billing cycle so we can get the points.
Keep drugstore shopping to a minimum and only go after the deals. 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 $25 out of pocket (after rebates/rewards/coupons/etc.) for the month 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. Last month I did $15 OOP after rebates each week, and I was able to stick to that and found it to be quite a high limit, so I’ll lower it a bit and see how I do. I’ve been finding that I don’t need or want as much each week. Usually I get the best deals towards the beginning of the month and then have a few slower weeks, which save on money.
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 $35 per week for groceries. Also include $70 budget for stocking up on meat and bulk items at Sam’s Club. We will be in Myrtle Beach for one week, so that’s a whole week we won’t be buying groceries. Last month I had my weekly budget of $40 and I did very well keeping within the budget on weekly grocery trips. I was only $3 above my $80 Sam’s Club budget last month, also. I’m hoping we can cut back a little bit more each week to hit these new budgets.
Keep dining out to a minimum. In August we spent $88.69 (that’s $38.69 over budget thanks to an unexpected meal while we were in Chicago that cost us $40 — otherwise I would’ve been under budget!), and I’d like to keep our dining out budget to $50 or less each month. This may be challenging once college starts back up (September 27th) because I’ll be on campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-10p. I’m hoping to be able to pack some healthy snacks to tide me over all day, and I’m hoping that doesn’t add too much to our grocery/dining out budget. I think I’ve found a better alternative to ordering pizza on weekends we have friends over for drinks and movies…I’ve been making homemade pizza and experiementing with different dough and toppings! So that should save us money in that respect.
Keep within the $700 spending budget while on vacation. I realize this sounds like a lot for just a week’s vacation, but I wanted to plan high just in case. We have the cash set aside and will be pulling $200 out in cash and sending the other $500 to our MyPoints credit card. We’ll then use the credit card for most purchases while on vacation (to get the points and also to keep us from carrying large amounts of money on us). We most likely won’t spend the entire amount as we’ve only got 3 meals planned out at restaurants and will be cooking in our suite the rest of the time. We’re going to the Ripley’s Museum, which is about $13 per person (I think) and other than that there shouldn’t be much spending of money. We’ll probably get a few souvenirs for ourselves, but won’t need to buy for the whole family like when we went on vacation to Hawaii last year. And any money we don’t spend is already sent to the credit card and will act like an extra “payment” so we don’t blow it on other stuff once we get home.
As far as gifts go, our vacation is our anniversary gift to each other (been married 2 years on the 9th!) and I’ve got one birthday late in the month (my stepdad). Try to get him a gift or giftcard for around $25 and call it good. They know or money situation, so I know he won’t feel like we’re being cheap.
There we go. That should do it. What are your goals for September? I’d love to hear ‘em!
