• Date Started: Dec 27, 2007
• Entries: 79
• Comments: 256
• Total Visits: 758,863

Spending Record 12-27-07

6 Responses to “Spending Record 12-27-07”

1. merch Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 05:04 pm 1198861496
   1198861496
   Good first step.
   
   1) Track expenses
   2) Build a monthly budget
   3) Fund the items in the budget with paycheck
   4) DO NOT SPEND MORE THEN FUNDED. So you could have groceries budgeted for 400/month, but you only allocated 100 of your first paycheck to it. Well, you only have 100 to spend on groceries this week.
   5) Review and tweak. I had to have car repaired this month and had to dip into emergency fund. Was that a real emergency? Add a line item to budget - Auto Maintenance. Budget 100 a month there. next time car breaks you got money.
   6) Repeat - first couple of months will be hard
   
   Bonus - add some fun items to your budget (eating out, date night, money to blow on stupid stuff, etc.). Don't deprive yourself, you'll hate budgeting.
   
   Celebrate the accomplishments.
   
   Good luck

2. luxliving Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 05:10 pm 1198861850
   1198861850
   Can your family stomach dry milk? or 1/2 fresh and 1/2 prepared dry milk?
   
   Might be cheaper.
   
   Sounds like you are getting off to a good start.

3. sagegirl Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 05:22 pm 1198862561
   1198862561
   We are paying $3.50 per gallon on milk here in my area (North Texas)and I can never find coupons for milk, can you? Occasionally, our local Kroger will put 1/2 gallons on sale 10 for $10. When that happens I buy 4 of the 1/2 gallons. Have any of you had luck freezing milk?

4. mom-sense Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 05:28 pm 1198862935
   1198862935
   
   Yes, ouch on milk! We are a large family and go through about a gallon a day. I usually shop at Aldi's or Walmart where milk is $2.45/gallon on a good day. DH ran into CVS with the two smallest on his way home from dinner with my parents. They are non-milk drinkers but had a 1/2 gallon - I should have bummed that from them seeing as it will probably go to waste.
   
   I haven't tried any milk substitutes or freezing, though I am interested if anyone has tried.
   
   In my hopes for being more organized, I want to do away with "running out" after we "run out" - I realize that I wasted a lot of money this season on: batteries, strands of lights (prelit tree didn't go too long), stamps, one necessary ingredient per recipe, etc. etc..)
   
   I should add to my goal: ORGANIZATION and EFFICIENCY -

5. frugalhousewife Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 08:07 pm 1198872464
   1198872464
   I freeze milk all the time. We actually make our own 2% milk. Whole milk and 2% milk are both $4/gallon. I recently bought four gallons of whole milk on sale for $3 each. I divide those in half and freeze. When we need milk, I thaw out a container and mix with half a gallon of powdered milk/water mix. This brings my total to $2.85/gallon. I know that is not a huge savings from the sale price. When compared with a regular priced gallon, the savings is much better.
   
   If you want to freezer an entire gallon, open each jug and pour out about a half cup or so. Otherwise you may end up with cracked milk container due to expansion. Once you thaw it out, shake it well to remix. It tastes just as good as when it went into the freezer.

6. collegemomma Says:
   December 28th, 2007 at 09:19 pm 1198876783
   1198876783
   Store brand milk here is $4.29, but I can get T.G. Lee at CVS for $3.89. Not that it takes much different between store brand and T.G. Lee, but the price is better. But I do that if I only have to buy milk. If I'm already at the grocery store, then I'll grab milk there. I sometimes get lucky and find $1.00 off milk coupons near where I buy my bread (Sara Lee).

Leave a Reply