It’s Monday again, which means time for me to set some goals for the week. Last week I set out to organize my desk. I got a good deal of desk work accomplished, but I still have a ways to go. I’ve managed to set almost all of my accounts to paperless billing. I’m finding that I now need to set up an email system to make this work for me. My email system needs a total overhaul with all the blog mail I get these days too.
The other thing I want to accomplish this week is to set up a folder on my computer for product manuals. I have a huge binder that’s bursting at the seams with instruction manuals, and I’d love to get rid of that in favor of product manuals on the computer.
In other updates, we’ve still not eaten out this month. I will admit I had a craving for Taco Bell on Saturday. Soccer season started, and we have a brutal schedule. Each week my son plays before lunch and my daughter plays after. There’s not time to run home, so our choices are to eat out or pack a lunch. I packed a lunch for Saturday, but I was really craving something hot. I resisted though. We only have one more week to go, and I can’t see throwing in the towel now. And to add to the good news, my husband, who wasn’t completely on board when I started this challenge, is now completely on board. In fact, while eating our picnic lunch on Saturday, we jointly decided that eating out twice a month is going to be our limit next month.
I also have an update on my NASCAR.com fiasco. Early last week my account was finally credited for the costume I returned. I thought that was the end of the story, but late last week, I received an email saying my account would receive a credit soon. Now I need to watch my bank account to make sure I don’t get a second credit. If I do, I’ll have to call them back to straighten that out.
And we made a decision as to what to do about our TV. After doing some research and pricing used TVs in our area, it made more sense for us to buy new. I went through weeks of listings on Craigslist and Freecycle, and what I found is that people want $100+ for TVs that don’t work very well. In addition, the fact that new regulations will make some older TVs obsolete after 2009 pushed us in the new TV direction. The good news? We researched TVs online, found a good one, and payed cash. So even though we have a new TV, we didn’t go into debt to get it.
So there you have it. I’m definitely not the queen of frugality this week, but I’m moving in the right direction.
Do you have any plans for improving your financial situation this week? Any success stories? Disasters? Feel free to share.
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I’ve organised my kitchen workspace to make room for a plastic storage box that houses all the things that I need to Ebay. My plan is that if I see them there every time I do a task in the kitchen, I will be more motivated to photograph and list an item in a spare five minutes.
It also looks a lot tidier! I’m determined that as something comes out of the box (ie. is sold and posted), I am going to add something else, keeping my Ebay listings on a nice even turnover.
Well, that’s the plan, anyway :-)
I’m also trying not to get takeaway food – doing pretty well after a lapse 8 days ago!
Last night, after one daughter’s soccer game and right before my other daughter’s swim meet, I threw together chicken quesadillas for dinner (made with leftover chicken from the previous night’s dinner). As I was cooking it dawned on me: we’d gone more than a week without eating out. I was just amazed. Before we adopted our frugal lifestyle, we would eat out at least three times a week.
I think that the thing that has helped is menu planning, including writing on our calendar what we are having for dinner each night, and then food shopping based on the menu. This way you never run short of food when you need to throw together something fast. Seems obvious and simple, I know, but it really does work. I hope that I, too, can report in a few weeks that we will have gone a month without eating out.
Leah Ingram
http://suddenlyfrugal.blogspot.com
My goal this week is to clean the dining room. I usually cut coupons, pay bills, balance check book, etc at the table. The kids also do their homework and we eat dinner there, so it’s a bit cluttered. I need to get some sort of system for the homework/bill paying clutter though.
Great self-discipline to not eat out this month, that is awesome. I know it is really hard when you are out and about and short on time to not just grab some fast food. Well Done!
buying takeaway was one of our biggest money wasters, it was just easy after a busy day at work. We have saved a lot by giving it up.
Good job on not eating out! I bet the money you saved is more than the price of a new TV!
Lynnae you are doing great! Everyone here is accomplishing so much and y’all should be so proud.
When it comes to appliances and electronics such as t.vs dh and I prefer to buy new, with the luck we have had in the past this works out better for us lol.
We, like you also pay cash, it is a G-R-E-A-T feeling knowing that there will be no monthly payments whether to a finance company or credit card :)
I kind of like the little support group we have going here. :)
And Hilda, we probably did save enough money to pay for the TV by not eating out!