Great news - my husband is not getting laid off again!!!! He received an email on Thursday morning letting him know that no one on his team will be affected by the lay offs. I was home that day and he was working from home so it was very neat to see each others' reaction to the news! Talk about a huge relief!!! Now we're just waiting to hear about my job, whether we received another 3 years of grant funding. I think we will receive funding, it's just a matter of when we'll hear the news.
Now on to other things, every month at the end of the month we put all of our expenses in a spreadsheet and then compare it to last month's numbers. We started this spreadsheet routine when we were engaged and wanting to keep track of wedding expenses. It's a great way to see where all our money goes! And we use it to set our financial goals and sometimes it has caused us to reevaluate our spending on certain items. The exciting thing about July is for the entire month, we only spent $136 and some change on groceries for the entire month!!! Isn't that crazy??!!! We use to spend $300-$315 a month so $136 makes me very happy!!! I couldn't have done it if it wasn't for super doubles! I have learned to stock up on things we eat during super doubles and doing that has made us not have to buy as many groceries during non-super double weeks. Super doubles for this month will start on Wednesday!!! So excited! We are almost out of tacos, Silk soy milk, and vegetables so I hope to stock up on those.
To give you an idea of the deals I get, here's what I bought yesterday -
2 cans of Skinimate shave gel for 89 cents each, 1 pack of Pampers Easy Ups for $1.99, 3 boxes of Lance Creations $1 each, box of pasta for 15 cents, 3 bags of Bugels 66 cents each, 42 pack of Poise pads for $1.75, FREE Tic Tacs, and FREE Crystal Light mix. Bought everything for $11.16, with 13 items that's an average of 85 cents per item!!! I try to hit at least 50% savings everywhere I go. Typically I'm able to hit 60-65% savings. I have my "buy" prices and my "not for that price" prices and I try to stick to those prices unless we absolutely have to have it.
My tip for the week - Know where your money goes. For us we work hard for our money so it's important for us to know exactly where our money goes every month. If you're not keeping track of all your expenses then you may not know that you spend $300 a month on groceries or $250 a month on gas. Maybe you're wondering how your electric bill could be so high. Well if you're able to compare it to last summer's bills then you can tell the difference to determine if your AC unit needs to be serviced. Maybe you think you're saving as much as you can. If you have a spreadsheet with a % break down every month like we do then you can tell how much of your pay check goes toward gas, electricity, groceries, cell phone, etc. At first it might be depressing to look at, but you set a goal and reach it, like we have done then it's fun! I really enjoy seeing our progress from month to month.
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