Year End Money Recap

I can't believe it's already the end of 2009. Seems like just yesterday I started this blog to see how much I could save every month. Now the year has ended and I'm looking back over how I did money wise.

Some good - some not-so-good.

My resolutions for 2009 were:

1. Spend $100 or less on food each week - including going out. I did on groceries but didn't include going out.

For the year (at least what I recorded):

I spent: $3902.11
And saved: $5709.37

- that's a huge chunk of savings! I just read in Real Simple magazine that the average family spends $3700 a year on groceries. Since our family is 3 people above the average family I feel pretty good about our totals. However, for 2010 I'd like to do even better. I also plan to record better since I know my totals are a little off because I didn't include small trips to the store. It does include Harris Teeter, CVS and all other stores I remembered to record.

2. Pay $10 or less for dinner - this I did probably 90% of the time. This was an easy resolution to keep :)

3. Pay down debt - this we did but not as much as I would like (see #5).

4. Continue to buy brand name clothes but with cash - for the most part I did do this. Though again at the end of the year things got a little screwy (see #5).

5. No more credit cards - cash system only. Well, I tried! For 10 months I did great - really, really well. But the last two months have been hard and while I do have a plan to pay it all off in the next month I'm still not happy that I put any on to begin with. Clearly I need to plan and budget better at the beginning of the year to avoid the downfall at the end.

I do notice every year that I need to be more and more specific with my resolutions. I make vague ones that I try to keep but by not being specific I have trouble keeping them.

But, I'm not giving up. Just like gaining weight back after you've dieted, I've fallen off the bandwagon and I have to get back on. If I give up it will ultimately be worse. So, check in tomorrow for my more specific resolutions :)

Have a very Happy New Years and may God bless your endeavors in 2010.