*hyperventilates* WE DID IT!

[dealic]

We lived one month on a very tight budget and we stuck to it! Everyone who helped me work on our budget just over a month ago, thank you! It was hard, especially food. $50 a week for 2 people is really tough as food is quite expensive here and we were establishing our household and had nothing in our cupboards to start with. But we managed to earn a bit more than expected so were able to pull an extra $100 to do a starter shop early in the month (we agreed to split the extra between savings and groceries).

Then at the end of the month we traveled to visit his family and see his sister's new baby. The gas was paid for by them as we told them we couldn't afford to go but we wanted to be able to get food if needed, so we managed 1 week on $10 and had 40 for the trip. That was an accomplishment!

We managed to earn a bit extra to cover some one time expenses that weren't in the budget so we didn't need to use credit cards at all! *well* we did use them for a few things that we couldn't use cash or debit for, but only with prepayment of the card for the amount we needed. So no accumulated debt.

AND!!!!!!! WAIT FOR IT!!!!!!

I got my tax return back, and paid off my car loan today! So now I am the proud owner of a 2004 Toyota Matrix to which the bank has no claim! So that $500 payment will slide over to savings and snowballing.

Oh and on the savings note, we managed to save $400 this month instead of the $200 we were hoping to! At this rate we will have enough for DH's school plus still maintain a small BEF even the months his tuition is due.

There is one more AND!!!!!!!!

I got paid today, since tomorrow is Good Friday, and I got a bonus! Its an extra $800 or so over my usual pay which is around $1200 every two weeks. So that's awesome. Plus, April is a 3 paycheck month for me so we were already planning to use the extra to hopefully buy tires for both our cars (something we both desperately need and have been putting off for over a year). Now we should have some left over to throw on the smallest CC or maybe into the savings for now, just to be safe.

I can't believe how good it feels to be moving towards being debt free, even on our very limited budget.

[Freedom~Mama]

Congrats. You must feel so good!

[dealic]

I really do. It was very hard all month. I had to tell many people that we just couldn't afford to do ______ and that hurt. Especially because many didn't seem to believe us and thought we were being cheap or greedy. I had to keep reminding DH that we couldnt afford stuff too which is even harder beacuse I earn the most and I keep thinking I should do better for him. But he reminds me that he wants us to succeed too and just isn't used to the budget and forgets.

But getting to the end and knowing we can do it really helps. I know this month will be tough again, and that there won't be a windfall at the end to keep me going. But in a few months he will be in school and we won't be in more debt because of it and that's what matters.

[TEAK's Mom]

Awesome!!!!

[mum4boys]

That is just awesome. Congratulations.

I thought it was very ironic when reading your thread and accomplishments, that at the bottom was an ad for a two nigh stay at disney land, lol.

[goldingoddess]

[lyterae]

Yay! That's awesome!

[RollerCoasterMama]

Hooray!!!! Congratulations!!!!

[greenmom4]

Wow - that's so inspiring! Congratulations!

[MyTwoAs]

Congratulations to you!!

[zebra15]

good job

[Smokering]

Yay!

We've just started a month of tight grocery budgeting too. Not as tight as yours - NZ$60 a week, plus $25 for meat every two weeks ('cause I get a stamp on my loyalty card if I buy $25-worth at once, and we eat TF so can't go veggie). Plus $20 a week for DH's fun money, don't get me started! So it's not incredibly tight, but we have to make less homemade ice cream and cut down on treats DH likes like olives and chips and dip. We've done a few months on $40/week before, but that was pre-recession and even then it wasn't sustainable - we really ate into our pantry and got lucky with leeks in the garden!

Which is a longwinded way of saying... it's great to see someone else doing it successfully! Congrats!

[Thystle]

AWESOME Job!!!!!!!!!

[Ornery]

I remember our first month on a tight budget. Although it was hard to give up some luxuries, it felt good to have bills paid on time with no worries.

Great job!

[Leav97]

[shepav]

Great job! Do you mind sharing with us how you managed to survive on $50/week? I'm impressed!

What a great feeling to have an extra $500/month! Yay!!!!!!!!!

[kitteh]

I'm curious about how you managed with such a small food budget. Where are you living? We're in LA and this month we're trying to make it on $350 for the month for food. I'm kind of worried about it, actually. Eating healthfully is really important to us so we buy very little processed food. But fresh produce is expensive! We're on WIC so that helps a bunch, but I'm still not sure if we'll be able to swing $350.

[dealic]

Originally Posted by kitteh

I'm curious about how you managed with such a small food budget. Where are you living? We're in LA and this month we're trying to make it on $350 for the month for food. I'm kind of worried about it, actually. Eating healthfully is really important to us so we buy very little processed food. But fresh produce is expensive! We're on WIC so that helps a bunch, but I'm still not sure if we'll be able to swing $350.

We started off by buying big bags of rice, lentils and potatoes. We got some pasta on clearance. Each week we buy carrots, parsnips and broccoli, wherever its cheapest. We buy meat if its on sale for a great price and freeze it. Each week we get 1-2 additional veggies and 1-2 kinds of fruit, whatever is on sale. We buy only small amounts of them though and when they are gone they are gone. We eat meat about 3-4 times a week, and DH takes the leftovers to work. I work in a group home so eat meals there on days I work. We don't buy juice. We got milk once and still have some. We drink water. We eat popcorn for snacks because we can get a bag of kernels cheap. Its not the healthiest but we don't eat processed foods.

We live in Canada. Many things are quite expensive here. DH has only been here since December (from NH) and they shock him still. We don't have anything like food stamps or WIC here. We don't have a choice. We have to cut back and most of our expenses are fixed. So we cut all extras and severely limited our food budget. We have to stick to it because we have no more money.

[mtm]

great job

[kitteh]

Yeah, I'm really impressed. Great job! I'm inspired!