Moving day

You can so do this!

I know we can.

well.. i HOPE we can.

The money is there, and if it comes down to it, I will take from our savings about 1/4 of the balance ( 1200.00) and divide that up by the months left in this year, and put that extra money to use..


there is a cushion.

but..

ug..


( biting nails )

Based on what you posted Shewolf, you are fine financially - so long as disaster does not strike and you can resist buying the Lexus SUV and Jimmy Choo shoes.

Let me reiterate:

You can so do this.

Shewolf--

Are you worried about either you or Mr. Wolf getting an urge to splurge?

Put that in the budget: $XX a month for splurging--and no more

Also, figure out what brings on the urge to splurge? Unhappiness? Boredom? Being fed up with scrimping and saving?

If you know what motivates you, you can head off the motivation.

I have not even considered the urge to splurge....

But that is a great point. Because it will happen.


I am concerned about surviving with out having to rely on savings.
And I just dont see that happening.
Simply because, once savings is gone, then what are we going to do??

We have the cheapest apt ANYONE can find in Austin.
510 for a 2 bedroom..
You cant get cheaper then that unless you do community living, wich I refuse to with a 2 year old little girl.

I have busted my hump to keep our savings up, and add everything I could think of to it.

I cant say we dont have a good cushion.
At least 6 months worth of rent and car payment are in our savings right now. And it needs to STAY that way.
We would sink if we didnt have it, in the event that anything happened.
Car repair, major medical problems, I lose a customer and cant replace them quick enough, Ian loses his job, etc...

I am trying to work our budget as if we DIDNT have a savings at all, and that is what is scaring me.
With out savings, we cant do it... I dont think..

400 + for utilities, and basic needs? Not in austin.


I am also NOT taking into consideration the possible income from photography, wich I have made a 4 week goal of getting my advertisement OUT THERE and try to start stirring the waters on that project before we move. But, if I did, that would be counting eggs before the chickens hatched.

I am feeling as if I need to get a conventional job.
the regular mon-fri 9-5.

I would make less then I do now with an 11.00 an hour job.
Finding something above that is not guaranteed.
Besides, if Jillian gets sick, it is all up to our sick time / vacation time and comp time to be able to be home to take care of her.
if an emergency happens , car breaks down for example, One of us would not be able to get to work on time for having to use the buses.

As things stand right now with my house cleaning, I have the freedom to take time off and handle the family problems with out losing pay , or losing a job because I dont have 'sick time'.

Im chewing on every straw here hoping to find a pay load of money that I forgot about , but it aint happenin..

shewolf, for stuff like your shampoos, soap, toothpaste, tooth brushes...start doing rebating at walgreens. If you clip coupons you can actually get back more than you put out.

all that stuff adds up.

I haven't spent a penny on that stuff in years.
Takes a few weeks to get the money back, but when the flow starts, it comes every month.

doesn't take any time at all.

Coupons?

Seriously, that's a great idea, Chai! I'm going to check into that! Sometimes I buy expensive shampoo. My bad. But I could do that for soap, toothpaste, etc. What a great way to save some money!

Shewolf, I think you can do it too! Maybe I'm just saying that because I really want this for you. I know how much you've been looking forward to it, and I think you and your little family need to have a place of your own.

You can do it, Shewolf. Just see how it goes for the first two or three months, then, if necessary, you can do some tweaking to your income or budget. There's always a way! Go for it, shewolfie!

Rebates?

You got some 'splainin to do Lucy.....




rebates as in walgreens mail in coupons?

Here babe....check out page 3 of this thread....

Rebating and Coupons

That was an informative thread, Chai. Thanks for posting that!

AAAAAAAAHAHHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH




you pegged me darling..

I just wanted to bring your words here too...




THAT is a fabulous idea and one kick ass plan.

thanks.....actually there's rebates all over the place. Once you start to recognize them, you'll see them all over.

Just make sure to follow all the rules exactly, like circle this, post mark by this date, include this, etc....you'll get used to it.

I think the most important lesson to me was realizing there's all sorts of money to be had, take advantage of it. $5 bucks here and $2.00 bucks there add up!
Also remember, if you can get something free that you don't use, get it anyway...someone can use it.


Stray...didn't mean to neglect you....I remember that movie clip with MM.
FABULOUS!

so, are these rebates mostly in the sunday paper?
In store?

or both?


Im thinking it might be an investment to get the sunday paper every week

I subscribe to the Sunday only edition of the newspaper...they'll try to talk you into the whole weekend, or 7 days a week, but I never read the paper except on Sunday, and it's the cheapest way to go.

That's my big thing on Sunday mornings, to sit for a couple of hours and read the paper. I just love it.

When I get done I go to the ads and coupons...I clip ANY coupon that looks like I might be able to use to get something free.

I bought some small trays that interlock and fit in a desk drawer (garden ridge, only a couple bucks for a bunch of them) I divy up the coupons like this....

any food items (that's for the grocery store)
shampoos, conditioners & body wash
toothpase & tooth brushes
makeup and hair color
household stuff, cleansers, toilet paper, etc.
other stuff/misc

I'll look through the walgreens and CVS ads to see what's on sale.
Ususally, if something is listed in the monthly rebate book for free, it'll be at a sale price one week that makes it free. Like let's say a bottle of body wash is 4.50 and the free rebate is 3.99....one week it'll be on sale for 3.99.
That's when you pull out your $1.00 coupon.
Again, if let's say toothpaste, tampons are on rebate, that may be the week they are on sale too. Some items, like tampons, are never actually free, but you sure can save a lot of money on something you use all the time anyway.

I don't rush out to the store, I figure I go to the drug store once a week anyway, and the sale lasts all week.

In the monthly rebate book at walgreens (you can also view it online) there's also tons of coupons in the first half of the book....actually, most are useless for me, but sometimes I'll use them when I can combine them with a manufacturers coupon....for instance.....Let's say hair coloring you like is on sale from $10 down to $7.00...there's a Walgreens coupon for $2.00 off, plus you've got a manufacturers coupon for another $2.00, you can use them both if they are not both manufacturers coupons....bet you didn't know that.

CVS doesn't do rebates, but they have the same time thing where deorderant which is $4 is on sale for $3.00, and using that little red card from them, it takes an extra $2 off, plus you have a dollar coupon....that equals free deorderant.

maybe it sound complicated and time consuming, but it's really really not, once you've got a system.

Once every month or so I go through all the coupons and through out the ones which expired.

Yeah also in the Sunday paper, let's say you need to buy a printer...in the office depot ad you'll probably find printers with rebates attached to them...you pick up the form at the store when you go to buy.

Today, I'm going to go by hospice to give them a bunch of stuff I got free, that they can use...let's see, I've got

3 boxes of pantiliners
A bottle of crest dental rinse
2 bottles of vanilla listerine
2 cura heat liquid capsaicin
2 deep heating rub

That's all from last month. just from walgreens, plus the stuff I can use.

I soooo want to take you shopping with me.

you are a goddess.



( off to walgreens online.. )

ok.

Generic brand shopping....



what'cha know about that?

I have learned in the last 2 weeks to look at price per unit.
That shows me how much it really is, before looking at the actual price tag.

Unfortunatly, some of the generic brands are really crappy.
Generic toilet paper being one of them.
UG , dont get me started..


but what about other products?

Most grocery stores double coupons up to the value of a dollar, so a $.50 coupon is worth $1.00. Yesterday I noticed that my favorite supermarket is now doubling coupons up to $1.50. My $1 coupon is worth $1.5.

Generics that annoy you aren't worth the savings.

I have no idea what Charmin toilet paper usually retails for, but it goes on sale about every six weeks, 24 rolls for $8.99. With a $1 off coupon this brings the price down to $.33 a roll--almost as cheap as generic.

This blog was featured in the morning newspaper weekly blog feature:

www.FrugalForLife.BlogSpot.com

I haven't explored it, but the review was promising.


Most supermarkets operate on a six-week-sale cycle. Keep this in mind and keep your freezer defrosted and you'll never have to pay full price for most meats.