On Netflix and why we don't do that anymore

We just cancelled our subscription to Netflix.

Here's why:

We had a documentary in our queue and Mark said, "You should see if that one is at the library. They may have it since it's a documentary."

So I checked. And they did have it.

And then we checked every other movie in our queue. And the library also had every one of those.

Who knew?

Clearly not us. But now we know: the library carries several movies.

And now we can, for free, watch movies we were previously paying money for.

And since we're at the library frequently, and Mark passes it every day on the way to and from work, it is nearly as convenient as Netflix. And it's FREE. (Which is clearly my favorite part.)

I heart the library.

Groceries

Every other Friday Mark gets paid. On those days I do our finances, setting aside money in each budget category and taking out cash for groceries and dining/miscellaneous. Which means that every other Friday I have $235 in my wallet. By Saturday all that money is gone. Every last dollar is handed over at the grocery store on Friday afternoon. And every.single.time I think, "I'm overspending. I KNOW we're going to have to head to the store in the next two weeks for more milk, or some staple I forgot to write on the list."

So, what's a girl to do? I already buy the cheapest brand of each item off the shelf. I make a 2-week menu in advance, plan my grocery list around that, and stick to it. I don't use many coupons, as we don't get a newspaper. (Although every time I go to the store, I do pick up their coupon book to see if I can utilize any.)

Here's what I'm starting in an effort to save money in this area: A price book. If you're unfamiliar with this, you can read the links below:

http://www.stretcher.com/stories/971013b.cfm
http://www.grocerycouponguide.com/price_book.html

Bascially, it's a record of how much an item costs. I've purchased a little book that I carry in my purse, and I have a few columns: item, store, price, quantity (lbs/oz), and finally, and most importantly: unit price. The idea is that if I have it all listed I will always know if I'm paying the best price... or not. Or, as one of the above articles says, "A price book is basically a record of the best price you have paid for all the different grocery items you've purchased in the past. It's your history of what a good price is on each individual product and puts you in the driver's seat in finding bargains."

I wouldn't say I'm USING it yet, but I've started making notes in my little book and hope this tool will eventually help reduce my grocery bill.

If any of you have ever done this, I would love to hear about it. AND. If any of you have a wonderful tip to share on saving money in the area of groceries, do tell.

What we do: budgeting

Thank you to all of you who shared your budgeting system (or woes!) :)

Here are some of the things we do:

-I created a pretty straightforward budget sheet on the computer. At the top it lists how much we bring in each month. Then there are two columns representing each paycheck. Each column indicates a category (tithe, house payment, car maintenance, car insurance, gifts, medical, clothing...) and next to it the amount that we pay out (if it's a bill) or put away (if it's a savings account). There's a little box on the left-hand side of each category so that I can check it off when it's been paid or transferred. I print a bunch of these sheets out and keep them in a binder.

-I keep hard copies of these budget sheets in the binder for a year, so that I can make adjustments as needed (for instance, if I've only budgeted $25 for our phone bill each month but look back and note that we've actually been averaging $27/month, I can make that adjustment for the beginning of the next year.)

-We have several savings accounts at our bank. I find that if I transfer the money immediately into an account (as opposed to just having it "available" in our checking account) I won't spend it! Most of our categories are separate accounts at our bank.

-We take cash out each paycheck for groceries and dining/miscellaneous. And I keep that cash in an envelope. We tried the envelope system for a year or so, but I'm just not very disciplined about keeping the cash in separate envelopes. (I kept borrowing from one envelope to use for another category.) Now I only have two envelopes so if I end up using some grocery money for dining, it's okay.

-We have no debt (besides our house, of course), so that is a huge blessing. The best tip I EVER heard about credit cards (which was a huge lightbulb to me at the time but maybe everyone else already knows this!) was this: Each time a credit card purchase is made, immediately write it into the check register so that the money you just spent is actually deducted from your available money. (Does that make sense?) That way we're held accountable for how much we're charging.

It's all pretty simple. I've grown much in this area since we've been married (but I hope to grow much more in the years to come!) I want to be a good steward of what God gives us.

Budgeting

When I was in middle school, my dad taught me how to make a budget. And he set up a checking account for me (joint, with my parents). For the $40 we received monthly-- the amount we were given to purchase clothes and toiletries-- we were taught to tithe, save, and spend.

As middle schoolers, my sister and I groaned at the idea of having a checkbook and a budget. Who even knew what a budget was? It's not like it was cool to have a checkbook in middle school, either.

Now I am thankful that I was raised with those money-management tools. Who knew then how much I'd need to know how to make and stick to a budget? Yikes!

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, because within our budget there are only a few areas that aren't fixed amounts (bills). I'm trying to figure out how we can cut down our flexible amounts (groceries is the big one) so that we can save more money from month to month.

I'll dive more into the grocery topic later this week but for now, I'd love to hear how many of you have a budget. Or what system you have in place to keep track of your finances.




photo courtesty of iStockphoto