Let's Get it On...

No, I don't mean U&I. I mean it's time for me to get my frugal on. By that, I mean we have been Dave Ramsey followers for a few months now, starting with our own level of baby steps, then jumping in to follow Dave's baby steps. Our friend Mo is the biggest Dave nerd we have met, but his testimony is just as big. We want to be like Mo, only not dorky-or hairy-or with such supple hind parts. Those of you who know our Mo know what I mean. Supple. Anyhoo, Mo and Jo, our favorite friends, have patiently walked us through some of Dave's plan, and since, we have been able to watch God bless us unbelievably, stop using credit cards completely!! when we never thought we could, and we have enough money each month to make our bills. Or rather, we have enough faith to live like we are supposed to and watch God do the whole fishes and loaves thing miraculously each month with our oh so limited funds.
We are falling into a better routine, and though we haven't perfected our budget or even got the budget totally right yet, we have made progress each month. Each month, we have challenged ourselves to cut a little further out of our spending. Last month, we had $100 left in each of our gas fund and grocery fund. Unfortunately for our emergency fund, some unexpected bills showed up, but we can choose to look at this a couple different ways. A) we had money left over. awesome! 2) that sucks, we had money left over and had to spend it on another bill. or D) we had money leftover, and while it sucks that we had to put it toward a bill, we HAD it to put toward a bill! awesome. We are choosing door number three. Or is that D? I don't know, but one day, we are totally going to have the amazing stories to tell about our finances that our friends do. We want to be them when we grow up. For now, we will continue along our path of baby steps.
This month, I am challenging myself to lower my grocery bill. Currently, I am amazed when I get out of the store for less than $180 each week. That includes toiletries, stray school supplies, dog food, extra randomness (none of which I actually purchase at a grocery store). My new goal is to bring it down to $150 each week. That will cut our monthly bill down by $120. That's pretty decent for a family of seven and a dog and a family who rarely eats a meal elsewhere!