I have always dreamed of being a stay-at-home mom, and now, with our third child due in April and our decision that I will quit my job even though my husband won’t graduate this year, we are trying to get “gazelle intense” as Dave Ramsey says and make the most of my income. Here are our goals for the remaining few months until the baby is born and our progress:
Save 5 months’ of living expenses. After I quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. However, before that happens, we would first have to live off of his assistantship & part time work. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that. Thus far we have saved 49%, which is approximately 2.5 months of living expenses. (I am afraid that we may need to dip into this a bit at the end of the month; I just found out we will owe more for his fees for the semester than I had anticipated.)
Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away. This not happened yet. However, we have had a grocery spending limit one month and this month we are having a needs only month and a pantry challenge.
Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt. Unfortunately we made very little progress on this this month. E-bay pulled all of my listings because I didn’t have a return policy and I just got them all back up. Without the bulk of my inventory listed, I made very little money. Unfortunately, I have actually lost progress and am now at only 5% paid off. Hopefully sales will start to increase in the coming month.
Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay. In December I sold $108,(in addition to the $202 I sold in September - November) so I have sold a total of $310, making this goal 62% complete.
I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!
Showing posts with label monthly challenges. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monthly challenges. Show all posts
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Monday, December 28, 2009
Joining the Pantry Challenge
I was excited to see that for January, Crystal at Money Saving Mom and Jessica at Life as Mom are having a pantry challenge. I defrosted my freezer a week ago in preparation for the ¼ cow that we are purchasing, and I discovered several freezer meals that I had prepared back in August before I went back to work. I also discovered that we had much more meat on hand that I remembered. So, this Pantry Challenge comes at a perfect time. Paired with my January wants vs. needs challenge, I am hoping we can save quite a bit of money.
We normally spend about $300 a month on groceries. My goal for this month will be to spend no more than $175. We will still be purchasing milk, eggs, cheese, and produce.
Last January there was a massive sale on diapers at Jewel; if that happens again this year, I anticipate spending quite a bit of our $175 on stocking up on diapers for our daughter and our new daughter who will be born in April.
As going out to eat is definitely a want and not a need, I anticipate all of our meals will be eaten at home.
We normally spend about $300 a month on groceries. My goal for this month will be to spend no more than $175. We will still be purchasing milk, eggs, cheese, and produce.
Last January there was a massive sale on diapers at Jewel; if that happens again this year, I anticipate spending quite a bit of our $175 on stocking up on diapers for our daughter and our new daughter who will be born in April.
As going out to eat is definitely a want and not a need, I anticipate all of our meals will be eaten at home.
January Challenge--Needs Vs. Wants
In the week before Christmas, Suze Orman was talking about rationalizing spending money and justifying purchases. A mom works hard at her job, comes home with little energy and thinks, “I’ve worked hard all day; I deserve to go out to eat.” (You could insert me here; going out to eat is my weakness.)
She then was urging viewers to seriously ask themselves before each purchase, “Is this a want or a need?”
My husband and I are not big spenders. We don’t buy many large purchases. I think our last big expenditure was the dishwasher we purchased last April. What we do though, is fritter away our money little by little. He thinks of eating out as a treat, so he likes to spend big when he does go out. I like to go out to eat frequently, but I am willing to purchase a cheaper menu item. When you merge our eating out pattern, you can see that we go out to eat frequently, and we spend a lot of money doing so.
I wanted to have two no spending months before the end of April, but for January, instead of a no spending month, I am going to ask myself before every purchase, “Is this a need or a want?” If it is a want, I am going to try not to make the purchase. My guess is that this line of thought will be just as effective, if not more so, than a no spending month.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
She then was urging viewers to seriously ask themselves before each purchase, “Is this a want or a need?”
My husband and I are not big spenders. We don’t buy many large purchases. I think our last big expenditure was the dishwasher we purchased last April. What we do though, is fritter away our money little by little. He thinks of eating out as a treat, so he likes to spend big when he does go out. I like to go out to eat frequently, but I am willing to purchase a cheaper menu item. When you merge our eating out pattern, you can see that we go out to eat frequently, and we spend a lot of money doing so.
I wanted to have two no spending months before the end of April, but for January, instead of a no spending month, I am going to ask myself before every purchase, “Is this a need or a want?” If it is a want, I am going to try not to make the purchase. My guess is that this line of thought will be just as effective, if not more so, than a no spending month.
I’ll keep you posted on my progress.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Monthly Goals Update--October Wrap Up
I am now back to work full-time and expect to keep my job until at least April. These are the new goals I am working on to help my dream of being a stay-at-home mom a reality.
Save 5 months’ of living expenses. I get nervous when there isn’t any money in the bank. If I am able to quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that. Thus far we have saved 18%, which is approximately 3.5 weeks of living expenses.
Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away. This not happened yet. However, we are having a grocery challenge this month, which is helping to curb our spending (and use up some of our grocery stockpile!)
Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt. Thus far I have paid off 9.3%.
Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay. In October I sold another $88,(in addition to the $78 I sold in September) so I have sold a total of $166, making this goal 33% complete.
I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!
Save 5 months’ of living expenses. I get nervous when there isn’t any money in the bank. If I am able to quit and my husband takes over as the breadwinner, our income will drop by about 1/3. I would like a cushion to help us deal with that. Thus far we have saved 18%, which is approximately 3.5 weeks of living expenses.
Have 2 no spending months. Just based on my salary and our expenses, I do not have enough extra income to save 5 months’ of living expenses. One of the ways we plan to get around this problem is by having several no spending months and putting the difference away. This not happened yet. However, we are having a grocery challenge this month, which is helping to curb our spending (and use up some of our grocery stockpile!)
Pay off 50% of my business debt. Yes, I opened my business 4 years ago before I had every heard of Dave Ramsey. In the first two years, I accumulated quite a bit of debt. I want to pay off 50% (or more, if I can) of that debt. Then when I quit my job, we can use some of my eBay income to live off of instead of to repaying debt. Thus far I have paid off 9.3%.
Sell at least $500 worth of extra household items on eBay. In October I sold another $88,(in addition to the $78 I sold in September) so I have sold a total of $166, making this goal 33% complete.
I’ll report back every month and let you know how we are doing!
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
July Challenge
For my June challenge, I had a no spending month and challenged myself to only spend $500 for the month for groceries, gas, entertainment, birthdays, Father’s Day, and a trip out of town, etc. I did end up going over my $500, but I still consider the month a success because on a normal month we spend at least $1000 a month, plus we probably would have spent another $150 for my son’s birthday and Father’s Day. By having a no spending month in place, we saved ourselves the additional $500 we would have spent. In addition, we learned quite a bit about ourselves and our spending habits. (See my post on that here.)
Because this was such a great learning experience, we have decided as a family to pose a challenge every month. For July, the challenge will focus on me.
Like almost every mom, I tend to push taking care of myself to the back burner. That was okay when I was younger, but now that I am closer to 40 than 35, it is starting to affect my health. I still have 6 pounds of baby weight to lose (and the baby is 8 months old now). I wasn’t at an ideal weight before the baby, so after I lose those 6 pounds, I still have more to lose. Ideally, I would like to lose 50 pounds.
I know that won’t happen in one month. (How I wish it would!!) But I am going to take the month of July to begin to put myself first. My goal is to exercise at least 120 minutes a week and to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. In addition, I will be following the Weight Watchers Core Program at home. (I know this isn't Weight Watchers current plan, but I had great success when I followed it before and I love that it focuses on natural eating and avoiding processed foods, so that is what I will follow.) Anyone care to join me?
Because this was such a great learning experience, we have decided as a family to pose a challenge every month. For July, the challenge will focus on me.
Like almost every mom, I tend to push taking care of myself to the back burner. That was okay when I was younger, but now that I am closer to 40 than 35, it is starting to affect my health. I still have 6 pounds of baby weight to lose (and the baby is 8 months old now). I wasn’t at an ideal weight before the baby, so after I lose those 6 pounds, I still have more to lose. Ideally, I would like to lose 50 pounds.
I know that won’t happen in one month. (How I wish it would!!) But I am going to take the month of July to begin to put myself first. My goal is to exercise at least 120 minutes a week and to eat 5 fruits and vegetables a day. In addition, I will be following the Weight Watchers Core Program at home. (I know this isn't Weight Watchers current plan, but I had great success when I followed it before and I love that it focuses on natural eating and avoiding processed foods, so that is what I will follow.) Anyone care to join me?
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