After I knew for sure that I was going to be back in school next year, we got to looking at the budget and we’re going to have to make some major cutbacks. Especially since I won’t be working any more (I’ll have a bit of financial aid, but nothing near what I’m currently making. Which isn’t actually much since I’m a teacher, lol.) We want to get as much paid off as possible before my last paycheck in August as we can.
Here are the things we’ve gotten paid off so far…
- Two credit cards (which I’ve since put a bit more back on so they again need to be paid off)
- my engagement + wedding ring
Things we want to get paid off before August 25th…
- My credit cards (again, lol)
- Our TV (which was our Christmas gift to each other)
- Justin’s truck (he doesn’t owe too much on it)
- my contacts (whole other story…I have an eye disease and the eye doc wanted to try some special contacts on me, but they ended up not working. So I got financing through care credit for a $2,000 pair of contacts that I can’t wear. Biggest waste of money ever)
If we can get all of these things paid off before I head back to school it will free up a good $800 or so a month.
We also want to build our savings a bit more because we really want to buy a house this summer. Lofty goals huh?
Well, the first thing that we’ve cut in the budget is food. Wah 🙁
But I seriously spend waaaay too much money on food. Like, I’ve been spending 5-600 bucks a month in the grocery store. Yup.
So I’ve cut the budget way back and my goal is $250/month for groceries. The first thing I did to try and save money grocery wise is get a costco membership (I simply refuse to shop at Wal-Mart. I hate that place!). Wowy- wow, I love that place! The best thing that will come out of it is the gigantic quantities of fruits and veggies that I can get so inexpensively! I can no longer afford the organic fruits and veggies unfortunately. And that sucks, but I’d rather buy a house honestly. I’ll just have to get over it.
Look at these massive quantities of the veggies that I got!
SIX, count em SIX romaine hearts for around $3!! This would have cost well over $10 in the regular grocery store! And this will last for about two weeks. Can you believe that?!
GIGANTO bag of broccoli for (I think) $3.99!! I’m going to freeze half of it and save it for cooking/stir fry. I can use this in so many different ways. This three pounds of broccoli would have cost me probably $7-8 in the regular grocery store.
Monster bag of Asparagus. 2.25 lbs! I think I’ll freeze some of this as well. I see lots of stir frys coming up! In the regular store this would probably cost around $10- I paid $4.99.
Look at these blackberries. They are gorgeous! This is a pound I think- around 5 bucks. No telling what this would he been at the regular store, probably around $15 or so. Crazy!
And look at this MONSTEROUS container of strawberries for $6!!!
I don’t even want to think about how much this would cost in the regular store.
Really big container of cherry tomatoes. Justin (AKA hubby) eats these things like candy- he loves tomatoes! I think these were around $4. At the regular store they would have been somewhere around $15-$20.
And my splurge item! Dried fruit/nut mix. This was $11 BUT it will last us a really long time. And.it.is.fabulous! I have already munched on it a couple of times. LOVE!!
It has in it…
- peanuts
- almonds
- walnuts
- apples
- kiwi
- mangoes
- papaya
- pineapple
- strawberries
- bananas
- cherries
- raisins
I also found some antibiotic free all-natural boneless skinless chicken breast. (no picture).
Wow, can you believe the deals I got?!?! Then I had to stop at the local grocery for a few things that we needed small quantities of. All in all, I spent $109. I normally spend around $140 per grocery trip. And this stuff will last at least 2 weeks (some of it will last longer). I think I will make my budget- no problemo!
Cheers!!
