Saturday, July 19, 2008
Debt Tracker - UPDATE
| By Lynn Forgy - I opened up my mail today -- and there I found the best surprise I've had in a while. My car title!!! I paid it off last week, but I don't suppose it's fully sunk in yet that I have only $5000 left to go in my debt snowball. Yay me! The remaining $5000 is a student loan. My original goal was to have paid off my car and the student loan by the end of May, but as you can see I didn't meet that goal. But that's OK. I like to set my sights high (although some may say that that makes the fall hurt worse). My NEW goal is to have the student loan paid off by Christmas. That means $1,000 each month will have to go towards my debt snowball. That's doable I think. Some of the things I've done to earn extra money: 1) Mystery shopping - Last month I made $___ doing this, although it was a lot of work! 2) My part time job - the work has slowed down some, but I'm still able to put in 5 to 10 hours per month 3) My tax refund in April - although this wasn't earned income, I still put it towards the debt snowball. 4) The stimulus check I received earlier this month 5) Surveys, etc. - I've signed up with with a couple that I've actually gotten checks from, and others (such as MyPoints) provide rewards with gift cards or prizes. Some of the things I've done to cut expenses 1) Grocery - I only go to the grocery once every 2 weeks. I tried going once per month, and that didn't work out so well. I was going once per week, but I seemed to spend more money that way. 2) Water - We "reuse" our shower water (in the washer) and bath water (in the washer). No outdoor watering. Oh yeah, can anyone say "Mellow"? 3) Electricity - the thermostat is set at 82 in the summer, and 62 in the winter. My electric bill went from $220 in July of last year, to $115 this year! A big part of the reduction is due to our NOT using the oven, except for Fridays. Instead, we use the electric skillet or crockpot. 4) Homemade laundry detergent - I spend about $10 for the products to make the detergent, which lasts approximately 4 to 6 months. Prior to making my own detergent, I was buying detergent from the store at least 2 times per month. Big savings! Any and all suggestions welcome! |
How to Find Mystery Shopping Companies
| By Lynn Forgy In my never ending pursuit of ways to increase my income, I've signed up with close to 20 different mystery shopping companies. Some of these I have blogged about previously. I came across a website recently which provides a lengthy list of mystery shop companies. You can check it out yourself by clicking here! |
Friday, July 11, 2008
Rising Cost of Food
| By Lynn Forgy The rising costs at the grocery store have definitely put a damper on my menu planning. No longer can I plan to add potatoes to 3 meals - a 5 pound bag is $6!! That's crazy! Milk is $5 per gallon. Everything is going up. What's a person to do? I've been pondering this issue for the past few weeks, trying to re-work my menus because the items I was using have gone up so much and it's wreaking havoc on my food budget. This is particularly frustrating for me because I am trying to put all my extra money towards my DEBT SNOWBALL. Not only do I have less to throw at the snowball due to gas prices, but now with the grocery costs rising I have even less to pay on debt. My dilemma - I have $XX for groceries for the remainder of the month. (Yes, that's less than $100). I have 17 dinner meals I need to plan that I can buy for that amount of money. Ah, nothing like a financial challenge... Suggestion #1 - At Walmart, in the freezer section are bags of vegetables, seasoned and ready to eat (after you heat them of course). I can get a bag for less than $2, which will feed 3 people for 1 meal. Great, right? Except my 14 year old despises most of the vegetables that come in one of these handy little bags. Perhaps if I add a little cheese sauce? Cost = $2.00 per meal = $4.00 Suggestion #2 - Cheese sandwiches and hash browns for 2 meals. Cheese slices I can get for about $2.50 (the healthier version), and a bag of shredded hash browns for $1.60. Cost = $2.85 per meal = $5.70 And this is where my brain just freezes up. My fallback has always been potatoes, but now that the price has risen so much I can't use them as much as I would like. Rice is good, I suppose. But one can't eat just plain rice. Any suggestions????? Labels: food budget, grocery costs, help with menu |
