These changes include:
DH starts a new job tomorrow. I know that he will be successful.
Our baby is set to arrive March 23, 2011. But, you know how babies are- He'll come when he is good and ready.
[caption id="attachment_808" align="alignleft" width="497" caption="High Five!"]
[/caption]A new baby means that I will have to go on maternity leave, and that means less income coming into the house during that time. We have been saving a large portion of each of my paychecks (and DH's UEI) to prepare. We are only $1000 from our goal, which we hope to achieve by Mid February (my expected start of maternity leave. I am hoping I can work until the end of February, just so that we can save more money.)
Our lease is up in May. We've lived in this building for 5 years together, DH has lived here for 7 years in total. We are ready for a change to a better (safer), quieter neighborhood. My hope is that we can find a new place for less money. I have started some preliminary searches, and it looks good that we will find a similarly sized apartment (or condo... or GASP, a house!!) in a better neighborhood for a few hundred dollars less a month. My goal is to save $100-$200/month on rent from what we are paying now. The savings will be put into our Money Market account.
Our Goals for 2011 include:
Having a specific amount of money in our savings account before I go on Maternity leave. This amount is approx. 6 months of my pay. As stated above, we're only $1000 from hitting our goal! I know we can do it!
Save time and money by menu planning. If we know what's for dinner in advance, we'll be less likely to hit the drive-thru. I am also going to do some pre-cooking each weekend for the next week (brown ground beef, mix up casseroles and put them into the freezer), and write out the menu for the week. I'm going to do this weeks prep work as soon as I am done with this post! I'm making applesauce and cooking some meat. I may even mix up a casserole or two!
Continue to combine sales and coupons. Not just at the grocer, but in every aspect of our shopping. We belong to loyalty clubs at each retailer we shop with who offers a club card, or email list, so we receive coupons and advance notice of sales. This helps us plan shopping trips for new clothes and gifts for birthdays and holidays.
And as a complimentary goal to the one above: Only buy what we will use/eat. I am not going to stockpile stuff just because it's free. If we won't use it (HBA) or eat it, it can stay at the store. I'll be clipping less coupons, but I'll be savings us money (in storage of the item, cost of gas/time to go to the store). I've just cleaned out my HBA closet and I'm trading a large box of it for some goodies I will use, and a second box for coupons for items we will use.
Stick to the gift giving budget. Keep our eyes open for gifts throughout the year. I carry a list of who we buy for each year, and when I find something I know they'll like, I pick it up and put it in the gift closet. The gift closet is pretty empty right now, and I won't be restocking it as I had in years past, with lots of goodies for each friend and family members birthday. We have a large circle of friends, but with our budget being smaller this year, we won't be able to give as much as we had before.
Use our Family Binder. I started a family binder to keep track of our budget, schedules, pantry and freezer inventories, gift giving budgets, savings goals, vehicle maintenance, and monthly bills. I used some templates from Organized Home, as well as a few spreadsheets I made up myself in Excel. I have included a section for family addresses too. This will make sending cards and gifts for birthdays and anniversaries MUCH easier.
Eat out less. This means we may miss some fun nights with friends, but saving money for our baby is important to use.
Start a "Fremily" Dinner Night. Fremily is a mash-up of Friends and Family. DH came up with this idea and I really like it. Once a month (or maybe once every two weeks), we get together with our fremily and have dinner at someone's house. The host provides the main dish and each person (or couple) brings a side dish, beverage, or dessert. After dinner we can play a game, talk, or watch a movie. It's a fun way to get together and it saves us all a lot of money.
Focus on family. Last year was my "Year of Free", so I spent a lot of time looking for freebies and "shopping" for free items or items that generated a profit. We ended up with a lot of crap in our house. I did a lot of affiliate stuff (tweeting for $$, which wasn't too lucrative. I think maybe I've made $3.00, which I can't cash out. I also signed up for swagbucks, but it's just not my style and I don't have very many points), and 90% of it was a waste of time. I didn't make any money, and I wasted a lot of time. This year, I am going to stick to Mypoints (Which I freaking love), and sending SBKC my junk mail (easy to do and the rewards add up). I am going to spend more time with my family.
I'd love to hear what your Goals are for the year (savings and otherwise!).
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