Budget Master, I Am...Not.
We like Star Wars in our family. We don't really care that it's pretty late 90's to talk like Yoda. We do it anyway. And laugh. It's fine, it's part of what makes us, us.
Today, I am re-evaluating our household budget- again. I am master at this. Not budgeting, of course. But re-evaluating. If I were a master budgeter, I wouldn't have to re-evaluate so often.
Anyway, I digress.
Back to the task at hand, which is the re-evaluation. Most stay-at-mom's are very familiar with this task. We have one income, essentially. We have three people in our family. We live in Essex County, NJ. I could buy a nice, two bedroom condo in Sarasota for the amount I pay in property taxes on my little yard the size of a postage stamp. I can see directly into my neighbor's kitchen and tell what they're having for dinner. When they argue, it sounds like they are standing right beneath my window. Oh, because they are. Because their yard runs directly parallel to my bedroom. Sigh. New Jersey. All this to say, we pay a lot for not a whole lot, but we're close to our family, which we love, so we have to make concessions.
I have been making concessions for an entire year now. I am running out.
I have re-financed our car loan, saving us nearly 65.00 a month.
I have switched our auto insurance to the same company in which we have our home-owners insurance, because that saved us 43.00 a month.
I have been picking Rich up from work instead of having him take the bus twice a day, which is actually cheaper than another bus pass home.
I keep the lights off. I wash our clothes in cold water. I haven't bought an article of clothing for myself in I don't know how long. I use coupons for diapers and wipes and cereal and baby clothes.
I've taken some tutoring and editing jobs to help out.
But it's just not enough.
I am not defeated, worried, or neurotic. Well, maybe a bit neurotic. I just want to make sure we are doing our absolute best to be good stewards of the gifts we've been given. We've been given much! So much. This is not an, "I-am-freaking-out-because-we're-poor" post. It's an, "I'm-so-grateful-to-be-able-to-be-home-with-my-kid-so-I-want-to-manage-our-funds-in-the-best-way-possible" post.
We'd like to have a little extra at the end of every month. We'd like to have people over for dinner more often than we do. We'd like to go out every once in a while and not worry about taking from the grocery budget. Something can be done, surely, but, I'm at a loss.
What's next?
Is re-financing our mortgage really worth it?
How can I get the cheapest internet possible in our area? (When Verizon and Comcast are the only companies that service our area?)
I don't have time to clip coupons all day, my kid eats the paper and thinks scissors are very sharp glasses. Not only that, but I've found that aside from cereal and milk, paper products and the occasional baby item, there really aren't any products that I would purchase with or without a coupon. They seem to mostly be pre-packaged mixes or cookies or crackers, all of which I do not buy. I do my best to make everything here, from scratch, so I know what I'm feeding my family. What are the top ten items that you get the best deals with coupons, and where do I get them?
Would it be worth selling our reliable car, which is worth more than we owe on it, and purchasing something second hand, though perhaps not as reliable?
Should I part with my iphone? AHHHHHHHHHH. that sentence just left a tiny hole in my heart.
Should we throw in the towel, pack up our stuff, rent out our house and take off to greener, cheaper pastures where people are friendlier and I don't have to check the ground in the park for drug paraphernalia before laying down the blanket my kid will play on? :) Just kidding- kind of.
I don't have time to scour finance blogs all day, just a little practical advice would suffice.
How do YOU do keep a family budget? What do you do to "cut corners"?
How do you survive in the tri-state area?
Help me, you will.
Or I promise I'll keep talking like this throughout my next post as well.