I am a SAHM. I have been calculating our spending and doing the tax paperwork (I know Jan is a long way off, but it would be so much easier if it was all already tallied and I just had to add a few tallies than every receipt in Jan). Holy Hell!! I was looking at our fast food/out to eat bills and the receipts for random purchases! you've got to be kidding me! There was enough spent on stupid crap and going to eat that we could have paid off the credit cards, and DH's car!! And I have still about 100 or so receipts to tally!!
I was like, uhm. dearest. that's it. no more take out. (okay well, only like once a week, if that, not 2-3 times) and we've got to watch the stupid crap we buy. He asked what I meant and I showed him. He agreed.
Have you actually tallied how much you spend in the year on take out/out to eat? purchases? yikes! Last year we spent more on groceries than out to eat, this year so far we've spent more on take out than groceries. this has GOT to stop!!
It's more expensive to buy out rather than grocery shop and make it at home. It's also more healthy to cook most of the time. We rarely eat out. Besides the food we make tastes better.
These cm groups can help. The book "The Cheapest Family in America" is fabulous.
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We don't lavish ourselves very much, b/c we DO have a lot of loans, CC, and medical bills. We eat out (not fast food... we don't like fast food) about once a month if that, and the only clothes shopping we do more than once a year is for the kids (obviously, b/c they grow out of everything). I'm sure we still spend more than I think we do, but mostly our money goes to bills, LOL.
We rarely eat out, so I never think about it when we do. I would say that we eat out maybe twice a month. My DH is a penny pincher, so rarely do we have that issue, LOL.
The only time I really use my debit card is on Sun for groceries. My SIL, she spends less on GROCERIES, but since she stops at Starbucks or Target or fast food or wherever else that day, I bet you her OVERALL spending is WAY more than mine. It makes me giggle when people don't realize that.
Anyway, I don't eat outside the house. I plan accordingly. I'lm glad you took a real look at what you're really spending, some people never will.
lolol yes i have tallied up the stupid spending and most of the time its on just crap the kids wanted or a quick lattee when i was raning errands so know i have started taking a to go cup of coffee with me when runing errands and i find that i make fewer stops, pay less crap.......and i to have found that making food at home taste better and the kids love when we have homemade french frys, bugers, etc....all the stuff you get eating out i just am finding new and healthier ways to let them have the same foods its great.....
We eat out, not often, but enough that I know it wouldmake a difference if we didn't. And we buy alot of stuff we don't need. But we are both pretty much of the opinion that since we are not struggling, we can go ahead at the same pace and enjoy ourselves. Two huge differences to note though... we have no cc debt and we own our house and both our cars.
Do you reward/give money to your kids for making good grades?
- MumsTheWord571
on Aug. 24, 2010 at 3:46 AM