Monthly Budget Update!

I announced that each month I would share with you my utility bills along with any changes that we have made around the house that may raise or lower the bill.

I am going to totally re-do this post completely! I will have to!

My brother recently was laid-off from his current job. My husband was able to get him a position at work with him and now we have added 3 more people to our household (him, his wife, and their 3 month old son)!

I let you guys know previously that I set my nephew up with a year's supply of diapers, wipes, and other baby toiletry items so buying these items will not be an issue for a while to come! His clothes are also plentiful for at least another year!

We plan to have them stay with us for 3 months! During this time we will have to make many adjustments to our living space, our budget, our meal planning and tons of other items! Our monthly bills will definitely get higher with 2 more adults in the house!

Our house is not huge. We have 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, dining room, kitchen, basement room, and my husbands music production studio! My office is downstairs in the basement room along with part of my stockpile and the laundry room! This room would've been an ideal living space for them, except for the fact that the laundry room is in here and their privacy would be interrupted 2 or 3 times per week with me doing laundry!

We have decided to give them our guest room and my nephew's crib will be set up in my daughter's room! She is a heavy sleeper! He is sleeping through the night and usually wakes up about time that I have to get her up anyway! (She absolutely loves having him here...she's such a big helper!)

Many of you possibly may (or could) find yourself helping others out in this way! Especially since the economy still hasn't picked back up and layoffs are continuing! You will be able to follow along for the next three months to see how ones family adapts to helping another!

I would like to share with you our adjustments to our budget along with any other changes that will reflect our monthly "outgo".

As of right now I have a $100/week budget on groceries! I don't plan to change it right in the beginning! I have enough stockpile to feed an army but at the same time I don't want to deplete my stash either! I plan to have them contribute another $50 per week to accommodate for feeding more mouths meat! We all know that meat is the most expensive part of a meal and we will need more of it! Up until now I have portioned out our meat into 3 servings before freezing it! Now I will have to portion it to 5 servings plus (leftovers for lunches).

Our last electric bill was $160 and Novembers bill should not reflect their stay with us! We won't see a change in it until December!

Our last water bill was a little over $15 (due to a car wash) but has been averaging $11-$12!

Our garbage bill will stay the same at $36 every 3 months!

Our phone bill will go up! We will add 2 more lines to our AT&T cell lines @ $9.99 each (in which they will be paying their part of). This will allow them to have a cheaper service if we combine theirs with our current 3 phones (me, my husband, & my mom). I will post the new bill once we realize the cost!

I will also post more on ways to entertain a house full of people for free or close to free as we can get! I think many of you will be able to grab some creative ideas for your own family!

This is not the first time we have opened our home up to help out friends and family! There have been pros and cons of doing this. We have had instances that have not worked out at all. We are so fortunate that the failing of the economy has not affected our lives and if we can help out another family or friend...we will!