DH and I got into a bit of a financial bind somehow last year -- slowly, month by month, we kept having to dip into savings at the end of each month until there was hardly anything left.
For some strange reason that seems totally out of character for us in hindsight, instead of altering our lifestyle we just kept using up our savings. And not even for overly extravegant stuff! It just happened from not paying close attention at the grocery store, or from going out to dinner an extra couple of times, taking DS to the ($) train ride instead of the (free) park too frequently.
December really wiped us out, with Christmas presents and an unexpected home repair. So I started lurking here and implementing some tips I learned about, and DH and I sat down and wrote out every monthly expense we could think of, and put in place a plan to stay within our budget each month and rebuild our savings.
I know we're only halfway through January, but it's working out great so far -- I just planned out the rest of our month and determined that our savings plan will work just fine -- we may even be able to save a little more than I had budgeted for! So thanks -- you guys helped get us back on track and start the new year with a fresh perspective.
For some strange reason that seems totally out of character for us in hindsight, instead of altering our lifestyle we just kept using up our savings. And not even for overly extravegant stuff! It just happened from not paying close attention at the grocery store, or from going out to dinner an extra couple of times, taking DS to the ($) train ride instead of the (free) park too frequently.
December really wiped us out, with Christmas presents and an unexpected home repair. So I started lurking here and implementing some tips I learned about, and DH and I sat down and wrote out every monthly expense we could think of, and put in place a plan to stay within our budget each month and rebuild our savings.
I know we're only halfway through January, but it's working out great so far -- I just planned out the rest of our month and determined that our savings plan will work just fine -- we may even be able to save a little more than I had budgeted for! So thanks -- you guys helped get us back on track and start the new year with a fresh perspective.
