To celebrate the day of rest yesterday, I started a new book – one I bought about a month ago but hadn’t picked up since.  It’s “Miserly Moms” by Jonni McCoy, and is all about how to trim the fat from your budget, so to speak.  So while my worn out child was taking a massively long nap, I read through the first few sections of it.  And after doing so, my day of rest turned into a very productive day.

I have to admit, my picking the book up was a direct result of paying bills.  This month we have house insurance due, and next month will be auto insurance AND property taxes.  Oh, and we had a lovely tax appointment last week and wrote out a pretty hefty little check to ol’ Uncle Sam.  Heaven help us.  So I panicked and put on my extra super frugal hat once again.

First, I am really liking this book so far because unlike other “how to save money” books I’ve read, this one started offering practical, do-able advice from the get-go.  Plus, I kind of related to the author right off the bat, because she admitted that she isn’t frugal in all areas, all the time.  Sometimes I get overwhelmed with “being frugal,” because it feels like an all or nothing thing.  The author says flat out that it isn’t easy for her, and that she doesn’t enjoy it.  She does it out of necessity, but she picks her battles.  There are times when she spends a little extra money.  I appreciated hearing that from her, because I fully recognize and own my tendency to spend.

Anyway.  Here are a few things that I accomplished during Abby’s naptime on Sunday as a result of the first few chapters. They were pretty eye-opening pages.  I suspected we’ve been wasting A LOT…and I was right.

• I analyzed our checkbook (UGH) and calculated how much money in March went toward fast food.  It was hefty.  I am hungry ALL THE TIME lately, and so my trips through local drive-thrus have become a regular occurrence.  I took it a step further and added up the random money spent at Alco, Younkers, Walmart, etc., just for kicks.  Let’s just say, when I added up the fast food bills plus the random spending reciepts, it totaled one of my paychecks.  OUCH.  So as of now, I am quitting fast food.   No more impulse trips through the drive-thru. Yesterday’s Big Mac will be the last for a while (tear).
• Another area I spent a lot in was at grocery stores.  I haven’t been on top of meal planning, so I was making random trips and impulse buying a lot last month.  That all adds up.  So I sat down with my calender and planned meals for the entire month of June.  I made a master shopping list of all the ingredients that I will need for each meal all month long, and I will be making ONE massive shopping trip for April’s groceries after work today.  There will be things (like milk and fresh veggies) that I know will require an extra trip to the store later in the month, but for the most part, I think this eliminating all those extra trips will save us money.
• She also suggested keeping an index card in your wallet to track expenses.  Make a column for each area of your budget (groceries, gas, etc.).  Under each category, write down the amount you’ve budgeted planned for (I HATE the word “budget”…she suggested using “plan” instead), and then each time you spend money in that category, make a note to help keep track of what you’re spending.  That way you don’t get WAAAAAAAAAY off track by the end of the month (as in, you won’t spend entire paychecks at McDonalds, because you’ll see firsthand how much you’ve been eating there and will thus avoid the drive-thru in the interest of being able to pay your electricity bill. Ahem.)

None of these are new, mind blowing concepts.  But they helped me immensely as I planned for upcoming bills and finances for the next couple of months.  It feels good to have a plan and have a handle on our finances again.