Back on the wagon

Well I have done a number of things this past year towards simplifying our life but we are not where I want to be yet. So here is our fresh beginning. I am hoping to get better at tracking and blogging about it as well.

Happy Holidays!!!!

Approved spending list

I figures I might as well be realistic and as much as I want to be on a complete spending freeze with only money coming in. That is not going to happen. I still need to pay the bills as they come in, feed the children, get to work and eat. So I am allowing for the minimum spending.
Here is what is allowed
Doctor Co-pays
Milk
Bills
Gas for the car
Lunch meat and Bread
Prescription co-pays
And Shipping for items that have already been paid for by co-op but are expected to be here this week.

Yesterday no money was spent. So far so good.

I have allowed $10 per week for Mike as he is not quite ready to go cold Turkey.

Next up getting Microsoft money up and running to track our spending and savings better.

Getting Ready for the New Year

Well tomorrow is the official start of the spending freeze. Mike is on board with the big freeze. I think we are finally ready to face our financial demons. The approved expenses right now are shipping for a few items that have already been paid for thru some co-ops. Milk, Gas for the cars towards the end of the 3 week freeze and prescriptions. Our HSA account will be renewed tomorrow so we will be using that to fill our medications. I am getting ready to start my price book for our groceries, seeking out coupons for items that we use as I have gotten away from that, and looking forward to purging our house of unnecessary things. I am hoping to build up a saving account for us as well as pay down our debt.
We are also going to balance our checkbook regularly with Microsoft Money so we can see where the money goes.


Until tomorrow then. Happy New Year.