Oh how I wish life were simple. In ideal worlds emergencies don't happen and we have all the money needed to pay for everything. Unfortunately this month we didn't. We haven't charged anything but still it's been a very heavy month for us putting out over $2000 in unexpected expenses and then this evening our fridge broke so I have no idea how much that will be.
Fortunately the Lord is good and He will provide but I'll just preface my list of goals with the fact that some months are harder than others and life often doesn't go as planned no matter how much we coupon!
1. Organization. This is the one goal that's going very, very well. Because of the moms of multiples sale this month I cleared out my entire basement and sorted just about every toy. I have 3 buckets left that will be finished before my next sale in a little over a week but I am quite pleased with the progress I made this past month. At least in the organizational department :)
2. Decorating. This is not going as I hoped. Mostly due to the unexpected expenses - I can't justify even a small amount of money being spent decorating when so many other things are going on. I'm guessing April will be out too for the same reason. Here's hoping I can do something before the year ends!
3. Spending less and saving more. Yea, not so much in March.
4. Do a little more deal hunting. I did a little bit. I'm still doing well with Swagbucks - which is something I highly recommend. Just a bit of searching goes a long way! Referrals help quite a bit so once you've signed up make sure to tell your friends so they can sign up under you :) The above link is my referral - just FYI. By doing deals through Swagbucks I not only earned Swagbucks but I got a number of good deals that translate to a lot of savings overall. However, in the month of April I'm already planning on shopping at a few different stores to take advantage of some deals they have as well as some gas rewards - finding every way to stretch my grocery budget and stock my pantry.
5. Monthly meal planning. Yes! I did it in March again though I'm wondering if part of the reason I went over budget on groceries in March was because I didn't buy all I needed for meals at the beginning of the month. That does seem to help me quite a bit because what's left is for produce, milk and really good deals rather than stuff for dinner.
How are you doing? Are you keeping your goals now that we're 1/4 of the way through the year? How's your budget? Even the worst budget can be turned around with baby steps.
Being good stewards of our money takes work but has a much better pay off than credit cards. I'm learning the hard way so I'm spending a lot of my time teaching my children how to put God first with their money and then to save as well so that they can live on less.
Here's hoping and praying that April won't cost nearly what March did!
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Oh, Dorinda, I hear you. We had similar problems in March, including a broken fridge! I hope things calm down for you in April :)
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