I wanted to let everyone in on my spending this year!
We are now a family of 6 after my brother and his family moved in a little over a month ago! I raised my grocery budget to $100 (up from $50) for adding 2 more adults and a baby eating baby food!
This budget will include the following items...
All groceries
All Toiletries
Eating Out
Newspapers (for coupons)
With a hefty stockpile left over from last year...this year should be a breeze!
We invested in a deep freezer later in the year and that purchase was a life-saver for stocking up on great discounted meats and other items!
We have over $200 in "eating out" gift cards that were either gifts or ones received from my rewards credit card.
As a true believer in the Dave Ramsey financial method...let me explain the credit card.
I use the credit card SOLELY for my $100/wk budget! I put money aside each week to pay this credit card off ON TIME and BEFORE I am charged with any interest. I choose to use this credit card as a way to earn FREE money! I receive Bonus Points for each purchase that I make. Most of the time it is only 1 point for every dollar I charge but there are about 5 months out of the year that those points are either doubled or tripled! I redeem the bonus points for gift cards thus it becoming a "Money Maker" for me! This is how I get most of my Blockbuster and restaurant gift cards! Occasionally I can get one for Walmart and Target.
I will continue to post my shopping trips with my updated budget information on each posting!
I hope that this series of posts throughout this year will inspire you to set a budget up of your own if you haven't already!
Follow me in a year long journey too see how far $100 can be stretched!
4 comments:
I love your organization! Wish my garage was clean and organized enough to do this. Right now, we just use any space that I can fit it all. It would be nice to not have to stuff it all under bathroom sinks and the laundry room... You might just motivate me to clean out the garage!
Would you be willing to share which credit card you use? My husband and I have been considering this concept for some time now and have yet to find a credit card that we like. The one you are talking about sounds like a good one. Thanks!
Hi Stephanie!
Believe me...when I say it took a while to get this organized and it still isn't "fools proof". For months I had nothing but bags and bags of items from CVS and other stores just laying around in various places around the house!
I found a really good deal on these bookshelves back in the summer time and took advatange of the purchase to get organized!
I still have items in every little spot in the house! It's almost impossible to keep everything in order with as much as I buy!
I usually do ONE good organizational clean per month! My cabinets in my kitchen become chaos in no time flat...this method allows me to get it all cleared up again for the next month's purchases!
The garage is a good place to start for items that aren't affected my the temperature! I have most of my cleaning supplies and toiletries along with some non-perishable items out there! I dare put Chocolate or anything like that in the garage!
A good place to start for organizing your garage is your local Salvation Army, Habitat for humanity, or local thrift stores! I often see those wire shelves (missing the hardware) that you can purchase for just a couple of dollars. You can buy the mounting hardware at Lowe's or Home Depot for pennies!
Another idea is to find scrap plywood or even purchasing new plywood to make the shelves! If you are handy or know someone that is...you can buy a whole sheet of plywood for less than $5 and have the store cut it lengthwise straight down the middle! This would give you the most bang for your buck! Again you would have to find hardware to mount them to your garage wall but having everything out from under cabinets and hiding in the closets is way less stressful!
I hope this helps! Good Luck!
Hi Erin!
I signed up for a Capital One Rewards card over 4 years ago! I am not sure if they are still running this particular card.
I suggest doing a google search on "Rewards Credit Cards" and see what's currently available right now! There are a couple of different sites that allow you to compare the various cards to see what would suit you the best!
Hopefully there is one out there that will allow you to take advantage of rewards programs that you can purchase gift cards with or even cash back would be a great one if purchasing gift cards is not an available option!
Thanks for asking!
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