Jkay93's Personal Finance Blog

I can't believe it is only Tuesday! Monday was CRAZY and felt like it should have been a whole week! Now I get to try to play catch up all week and then I have to work on Saturday! YUCK!

On a better note.....we only spent $85 total this weekend from our trip to Walmart and the grocery store! Wow! That was a good week! That makes $65 under the $150 we usually spend! Using some of the stocked up items we bought a couple of weeks ago. I will make that deposit this week into the tax/insurance account. Yippee!!!

Hoping today is a better day!

I wish that I could just stop in the middle of the road and ask the person riding my tail where in the world they are going?? It must be somewhere wonderful to be in that much of a hurry! And then I would tell them to leave 5 minutes earlier so they can slow down!!! It just amazes me how much people rush around and hate to have to wait for anything. I think we all need to just take a breath and relax every so often so we don't miss life as it is happening around us.

On a better note, my husband is in school for physical therapy asst and they finally got to massage! I will enjoy being the patient for the next couple of weeks!

Well, I didn't do such a great job this weekend. We ended up spending $170 total this weekend but $30 of that was ink cartridges for the printer, so I don't feel too bad about it. Also did a bit of stocking up on frozen veggies and nuts thanks to BOGOs at Publix!

On a completely different note we spent most of the day outside yesterday. Well, all weekend really. It was so beautiful here. We put up a new birdhouse that was given to us and made by our neighbor and it took the blue birds all of an hour to find it and make it thier new home!

Supposed to be stormy here by the end of the day so it should be a busy morning at work! Boy I hate Monday morning, it's such a bummer especially after such a nice weekend!

Well today was the first deposit into the account set aside for taxes and insurance. My first deposit was $75.00. I figured that we were spending $150 wk on groceries and household items so anything under that $150 would go into this account to help with the insurance and taxes. It's not a big deposit but it is a start. That is 3 weeks worth of savings and I am encouraged.

First off let me say our trip to the grocery store was much better this week. We spent $114.00 total and $12.00 off that was for charcoal and lighter fluid for grilling. So I was pretty happy about that....extra $ to save for taxes/insurance!
Not only did we not spend as much money at the grocery store I saved on electricity. It was absolutely beautiful here this weekend so I was able to hang out the clothes and sheets. I love drying the sheets outside. And of course have had the windows open so no heat or air!! Our electric bills have been so high this winter so I am happy about that! We have also spent a lot of time outside in the yard which is when we are the happiest.
Now to prepare for the upcoming week by ironing my work clothes......*sigh*

Well so much for sleeping in.....I am exhausted all week and so ready to sleep in and what happens??? Bright and early (5am) wide awake! Oh well, will give me more time to enjoy this beautiful weather! I am so glad that it is warming up, ready to get out in the yard and do some yard work and get the garden ready for planting.
I am hoping for a better report for our trip to the grocery store this week. As for saving, we got our tax return (federal)this week and I added that to our already saved money. We got a nice return due to our medical and my DH only working 7 months.....next year will be another story. Saving the return this year for the possible payment next year!

First I would like to say thank you to everyone for making me feel welcome and the all encouraging comments! This week was a beginning for me....we spent the same amount on our trip to the grocery store/Walmart. We spent $122. I have kept the receipts and am going to go over them very closely and see what impulse items we have on them. This week I am going to start saving up coupons and planning our meals around the sales and with the items we have in the pantry. We have always made a menu and a list but we don't always plan around what we have or what is on sale. I have been reading some websites on couponing so hoping that I can learn that skill! It amazes me how much money people can save with the use of coupons. Wishing everyone a happy Monday and a good week!

This is my first attempt at blogging. I have kept journals in the past but that was way back in my college days. I am going to use this to try to keep myself accountable for trying to save money. We are currently a one income household, except for the DH's unemployment that should last hopefully through the end of the year. He saw the writing on the wall so we were prepared for loss of his job. He started school part time the last year of his job and now he is a full time student and should finish up next spring. The only debt we have is our mortgage and we have that at a payment that I can send extra each month. Our problem is mainly spending, well over spending at the grocery store. I just don't know why we can't get that one together. We have been living by a save, save, save mentality for a couple of years now and we have just over 60K in savings, CDs, and money markets but we just can't seem to get the grocery store down. We should be able to save money each month but that darn grocery bill just kills us. For the 2 of us we spend on average over $150 a week! That is combining the 2 differents stores (walmart & local grocery store) and all cleaning, toiletries, and food. I just think that could and should be lower! I also would like to set up an account that is just for property taxes and insurance for our cars and our home and vacation home rather than use money in savings. The money saved at the grocery store could pay for at least one of these. Even $25 a week would take care of our car insurance for the year! I have read for many years now different blogs and have seen that people have done great debt repayment and savings and I am hopeful that this will work for me too!