This blog is my attempt to document our busy but BLESSED lives raising and educating our children for His glory. A child of God, wife to one, and mom to 6 fabulous kids. We are in our 16th year of homeschooling using a Classical ~ Literature based approach.

Come along for the good, the bad & the ugly.



Friday, October 1, 2010

A new fiscal year

images  Image credit: thinkbudget.com 

October 1st already?!? Where did the time go? With the arrival of the new fiscal year I am starting a new budget. With anything new, it’s going to take time to get it right. I have already been doing a version of the 10-20-70 % budget, where you tithe 10%, save 20%, and spend 70%. I fell off the budget wagon and from this day forward am picking myself up and starting anew. I am going  to really buckle down and make our dollars stretch and work better for our family.

Coupon                                                image credit: blog ebates

I have been using coupons at my local Farm Fresh and have been saving a great deal. I budget $400.00 every two weeks for groceries and household supplies. This amount doesn’t include diapers, as I have a separate diaper fund. For the last two weeks of shopping I have saved $73.39 (31%) off my bill! I was blown away at the check out line as the number owed kept dropping as my cashier, Charlene, swiped my coupons. Charlene is a great lady, we got off to a rocky start but now I look forward to chatting with her each week. Now, I just need to decide if I should go on Mondays where I can double my coupons up to 99 cents and get a 5% military discount or go on Wednesdays and double my coupons up to $1.00. I am thinking of sticking to Mondays but my Mondays are crazy days with the amount of running around we do. Hmmm…

     When we made the move East last year my girls had to give up their Rainbow swing set. We loved that swing set and have many fond memories playing on it. So, I plan on using my grocery savings, our upcoming garage sale earnings, and any other extra money to put towards replacing their swing set. 

                                                      Madison & Mikayla

Of course they have spied a bigger model, but as long as it has swings and a clubhouse I know they will be pleased as punch. My goal is to have $1500.00 funded by Spring and then use some of our income tax for the rest. It’s a hefty goal, but I know it is attainable with a little leg work and hard work. You know, I guesstimate I was spending around $30.00 a month on soda, another reason to give it up.

sup-sun-castle-3_loaded

On another note can you believe there is only 84 days until Christmas!  84 DAYS!!!

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