Many, many thanks to Chrissy over at Traveling Light for making me a new blog button. Chrissy doesn't know me from Adam but was kind enough to make me not one, but two blog buttons! What a doll! Thanks so much, Chrissy!This blog button will apply to any of you who want to take the challenge and not limit you to a certain number. If you so choose to join in the challenge (just following along is dandy as well!) you can set your own challenge. For some families the number may be smaller (I would love to see some of these challenges!) and for many it will be larger. But the goal is to try to get your monthly budget as low as you think it can go, just to see if you can get it that low.
I realize that some of you may like the sound of the challenge but prefer not to go to the extreme. After all, cutting your spending by $600, $700, or more for a month is difficult. You can challenge yourself to just save an extra $100 from your budget for the month. Or decide to give up eating out for the month and reducing that extra expense. Anything you do to change your budget for the better in August can be part of the challenge.
I hope some of you will join me in The Budget Challenge!
I'm doing a bit of a budget challenge. It's not the whole of our finances, but as of a week ago I started a nw system, and one week in it seems to be going ok.
ReplyDeleteFor a week I have £25 to spend on food. £10 to spend on non-food groceries (toilet roll, tissues, shampoo, toothpaste...) and £20 to spend on baby stuff (including formula, nappies, food for her to eat...)
I ended last week with just under £5 left over all. My baby budget went over cos we had to stock up on nappies and I bought formula cos I knew we'd be having a bust weekend and wasn't sure if the last box would last out til monday (but it has, so that's good)
OK, I'm in. I planned out all our dinners until the 1st of September, and the plan is to spend as little as possible on groceries. My goal for the month of August, then, is 100.00--that's not including non-grocery type items like TP. Just food.
ReplyDeleteSo glad you are in, Devon! And Debs, count yourself part of the challenge as well because it sounds like you are doing a great challenge to change your budget!
ReplyDeleteDevon, do you mean $100 total for the month of August on food? How many people are you feeding?! Would love to see how you do...will you be blogging about it or updating us here on Fridays?
Though I always work hard to save and spend less, I can't commit to the challenge--because I am way to disorganized to do it in any kind of orderly fashion! But I will be reading you and others with great interest.
ReplyDeletei'll be joining in- laura
ReplyDeleteDue to some unexpected expenses and some unpaid maternity leave, we are feeling the need to be more cautious so our savings can catch up. (I overpaid on our car payments so much that when a car repair bill came we didn't have it in savings. This month we can't pay our credit card bill in full and we always pay in full.) Our current plan is to use up the groceries we have in our freezer and cupboards. It has encouraged me to get more creative with meals. It amazes me how much food and how many meals we can have. I am also more aware of leftovers. We are also turning down going out to dinner which is difficult but worth it. I hope that after this experience we will recognize how little we can spend and therefore be able to save more.
ReplyDeleteAndrea