Kellinomics

I am 47%  of the way there on hitting my financial stability mark.  What is that you say?  No, it's not a Romnesia type economic plan. It's a plan for my family, one in which we actually live within our means.  This has been a project that I've been working on for many, many months. I actually don't know what percentage of the way I am to reaching my goal of stability and freedom from the almighty dollar, but I do like sounding all current eventy.   And dare I say, without jinxing myself (hopefully) that it may just work out?

10 Things I've put into place to get my budget on track:

1. Paying off every last f*$%ing card - this, my friends, was a bitch.  But, I did it!  In June.  Everything at a 0 balance - and without closing loopholes or negatively impacting my fellow citizens or anything.

2. Putting my husband and I on an allowance - can you say what the whuck?  But I did!  And actually, I'm about to drop our weekly amount down about fifty bucks for Christmas readiness.

3. Paying for everything with cash.  I know this seems counter intuitive & I would've agreed five months ago, but it's worked out.  Not having the debit card on hand forced me to actually count how many pennies I had in my pocketbook and make decisions as such.

4. Really, really deciding if something was a need and not a want.  I've wanted a Kindle since last winter.  Did I need one?  Of course not!  So I didn't get one - until I did.  As a birthday gift!

5. Going to more than one store to get the best deals on food, and household items.  I check the ads every week to see what the deals are, and go to either King Soopers or Safeway accordingly, as these are the grocery chains nearest me.  Also, I go to a beautiful, lovely store called Sprouts for produce only.  Their produce costs are extremely low and save me massive amounts of money each week, as my family is big into fruit and veggies.  I also get lots of pantry items at Target, which surprisingly has good deals on things like canned soup and granola bars.  Also, also I go to Costco once per month to stock up on things like paper towels, juice, dog food, etc.  I'm not at the point of using coupons just yet - not because I'm above them, but because I find it to be a time consuming enterprise and I believe couponing involves binders and it's probably best to steer clear of binders full of anything currently.

6. I stopped going to five-bux.  I mean Starbucks.  I love me a soy chai tea latte.  Oh, and a caramel macchiato?  LOVE.  But, at five dollars a pop, it's a little ridiculous.  So, I slowly weaned myself off of 5bux by switching to McDonald's McCafe coffee offerings.  But then, I went a step further.  The gas station and 7-Eleven.  I know, I know you're thinking ghetto coffee.  But it's not.  They actually have good coffee and a plethora of flavor add-ins at all Sevs and the gas station around the corner has pumpkin spice latte.  HA!  1.82 for a 20oz cup - I'm a happy girl with my one indulgence.  On the weekends, I have the husband make coffee and add in some fancy creamer - currently Bailey's caramel.
Added bonus at 7-11 - I get to vote frequently with their different cups.

7. I bring my breakfast and lunch to work every day.  I don't buy out  & if I do, it's a three dollar bean and cheese burrito from a ge-u-ine Mexican taqueria.  Furthermore, if I decide that I don't have what it takes for lunch, I go to the grocery store near work to buy lunch that will either last all week or that I can bring home for the kids to bring for their lunches.

8. Using the public library.  I read A LOT of books.  A LOT.  My kids and husband do too.  Instead of heading to Barnes and Noble, we go to the public library at least once every two weeks.  When there is a specific book in mind, we request it via the inter webs.  This weekend we plan to go and see how to get my new Kindle hooked up so we can rent e-books.

9.  Getting rid of cable!  Yup we did.  We were paying for cable with DVR and some movie channels and Netflix.  Those sonsabitches at the cable company were certainly anally probing me without even thinking about buying me dinner.  Now, we are only using Netflix and the inter webs for our T.V. watching needs.  It's been a shift, but with our Wii and our Roku box, both of our T.V.s are hooked up and no one has had any negative side effects just yet.  Actually, we've barely noticed, and at nighttime we've been reading.  The husband and I watched the debates on the laptop - how very 21st century of us!

10. Introducing the stomach flu into my home.  I know this sounds suspicious, and I'll admit it was completely unplanned.  However, I realize now that having my family pare down what they eat over a couple of days, has not only positively impacted my current budget, but could possibly have positive implications for the winter ahead.  It's like I set them up for hibernation mode - eating less and needing less!  Brilliance.