This is
going to be a low spend year. With the blessing of a very full pantry and a
well stocked freezer in our garage I plan to keep our grocery spending to a
minimum. Last year I operated off of a $100 a month grocery budget and this
year I am hoping to spend even less.
Even with the rise in grocery prices I would love to see if I can manage
on just $50 per month to start the year off.
Especially since this is the time for higher heating bills a stricter
grocery budget can help offset the increased cost of electricity.
I get paid
twice per month at my job. My plan is to
live off of one paycheck and save the other.
Along with that any extra money and income will be funneled right into
savings as well. Right now I am debt
free with the exception of a small mortgage on our home. My regular monthly expenses at the moment are
the house payment, gas, groceries, medical insurance (comes out of my paycheck)
and utilities. I pay our homeowners and
auto policies annually and that was taken care of in November. In May I will need to renew the registration
on my truck and in December my car. That
is pretty much all I have in the way of regular reoccurring expenses so trying
to do it all in one paycheck is quite feasible.
Along with
my regular savings I upped my 401(k) contribution at work and I also contribute
$200 to a Health Savings Account (HSA)
twice per month. Again these come out of
each paycheck. Not only will I have the
extra monies saved but I get a tax break for doing so, which will benefit me
greatly when I go to file my income taxes next year. Even after I leave my job the HSA account is
mine to use for future medical expenses I incur during retirement.
Every little
bit helps and I save in a lot in small ways.
I keep a jar for my change and every once in a while I empty the coins
that have accumulated in my wallet into it.
Anytime I find pennies on the street I pick them up and add them to the
jar as well. About once per year I will
sit down at my dining room table and count it all up and put it in coin
wrappers. I then take those wrapped
coins to my credit union and deposit them into my savings account. It really adds up fast and I'm always
surprised each time by the total amount that I've collected.
As the year
progresses I'm sure I will come up with more ideas of ways to save and as I do
I will be sure to share them with you.
Feel free to add your ideas and things you do to save in the comments
below. I'd love to hear about what you
are doing to save up for something.
I’m thankful our credit union has one of those coin machines that counts your money for you for FREE.
ReplyDeleteOurs does too, but for some reason I love to count it out and wrap it. I'm weird.
DeleteOh I forgot. $50? Thet will be ama$ing!!
ReplyDeleteIt might be a bit tricky, but I'm hopeful.
DeleteWow! I think $100/month grocery budget is awesome, but $50/month, Wow!
ReplyDeleteAnd here I thought I was doing good if I spent $100/week for my family of 4...I have much to learn.
Well, we'll see how well I do. It should be interesting. LOL
DeleteThat's great that you can use your HSA for a longer period. I have been retired for a few years now, but when I was working and contributing to a similar plan, unused funds were forfeited at the end of the year. That made it tricky to determine exactly how much to contribute.
ReplyDeleteAfter I posted, I saw your link describing your plan. The plan that I was enrolled in years ago was an FSA; entirely separate from my health insurance. It proved to be very helpful several times with things that I knew in advance were coming up (dental crowns, etc.)
DeleteI had the FSA or cafeteria plans in the past and I didn't like risking those funds to a forfeiture. The HSA is much more my style. ;0)
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