On Friday night, Mr. Money and I sat down and went over our budget.  We’ve gotten a little lax over the past few months to say the least.  I totaled up our monthly spending for the month of August (since we weren’t on vacation at all that month) and it was pretty surprising.  After viewing the totals on some of the categories I wanted to throw up.  However, that isn’t really very productive, so we decided to be a little more strict with our budgeting and try to work a little more at staying in line.  It will help us reach our goals, and enable me to stay at home with the baby. Because I’m crazy, and I think it will help keep me accountable if I post the actual numbers of our variable expenses here, I’m going to do it.  Feel free to shame me if you want; I deserve it. Groceries, including household items= 371.76 Clothing (work shoes for Mr. Money)= 42.39 Gas= 298.20 Eating Out= 369.95 I wasn’t too surprised about the grocery category, because we try [...]

I feel like my financial life is so boring right now.  Don’t take that the wrong way, though.  I am totally happy with the way things are going now because it’s low stress.  There are definitely areas where we could improve our money situation, and we need to sit down and talk about what our goals are.  One of my biggest budget busters has always been eating out, and that continues to be where more money than I’d like from our budget goes.  It’s just so easy to eat out, and when something sounds good and you don’t have the ingredients to make it, that’s when we end up giving in. Meal planning definitely helps, but there are sometimes when it’s just overwhelming to deal with and I end up putting it off and then it never gets done.  How frustrating.  I should come up with a list of 30 or so meals that we enjoy and then rotate those weekly.  It’s not like we’re always eating different things anyway. We’re continuing to save money, but aimlessly, and that’s okay.  [...]

This past week I spent time up in Michigan with my family.  I drove there, and of course had to stop a few times to get gas.  There were a few things I noticed over the different places I observed gas prices.  For one, it was cheaper to buy gas when I left on Saturday, May 28 in the South versus anywhere else I saw.  While in Michigan over the week, I noticed the gas prices jumping to $4.19 a gallon! Ridiculous.  I thought gas prices were supposed to go down. Another thing I hate about getting gas in Michigan is that there’s a different price for cash versus credit.  Where I live, this option does not exist, and I am so glad!  I use a gas rewards credit card to earn money back on each gas purchase, so when there’s a difference of ten cents a gallon less when you pay cash, it kills me!  I can’t help but think I could be getting the gas cheaper if I was strictly paying cash.  Of course, if I calculate it, [...]