Goal # 1 - Stick To The Budget

In just over one year, my husband and I have managed to pay down just over $20,000 worth of credit card debt.  While a little stressful at times, it really hasn't been a terrible experience.  For me the hardest part is knowing that we could have done more.  Yes we have paid down quite a bit - but we have also spent money that we probably shouldn't have too.  We haven't made a ton of large purchases, but our every day spending could still be cut back quite a bit.  I went back through YNAB and looked at any large purchases we made in my blogging absence.  We made two - we purchased the new mattress ($776.50) that I blogged about in a prior post and we purchased two brand new iPhone 4s ($300).  I love and enjoy each of those purchases every day.  To spend that much over an entire year time period is a huge improvement over where we were before.  In the past, we have been out for a Saturday stroll and come home with $3,000+ worth of furniture on a whim.  Now, any new larger purchases are thought out and researched. 

I think the biggest area for improvement in our everyday spending is in our groceries and dining.  In groceries I try to stick to spending around $90 per week.  That is for a family of four.  I think I do relatively good job at this.  I shop at the more discount stores like Winco and Super Wal-Mart.  Occasionally when I do visit other stores I try to stick to the items that are on sale.  Lately I haven't been planning out my meals and making a list before I shop and that has contributed to an increased grocery bill.  I also get lazy many times and decide to pick up take out - even when I have the food at home to cook.  This not only leads to increased expense for dining out - but the food in my fridge goes bad as well.  Currently our dining out budget is $40 per week - we always exceed that budget line item - always.  Lastly, my husband and I each get $25 per week for fun money.  Pretty much 100% of that money goes to lunches for each of us.

So in the next coming weeks I would like to try and focus on staying within our budget line items - focusing first on the food items.  As I reconcile by budget in YNAB I will post about our progress for the month and how we are doing.