BUDGET CUTS
CUTTING YOUR BUDGET
ONE DOLLAR AT A TIME
Budget Cuts November/December
These are cuts that we have made this past month to help trim down our budget. Some are small and some are large but all help to trim down our monthly expenses as we save toward our debt free future.
I didn’t tackle this post during the month of November because I was really just focused on one thing. Getting Christmas in under budget. I had set a budget for myself at $500 and was determined to be at that or under budget.
Last year we had spent around $2500 for Christmas so this year was truly going to be a challenge but one that I was so focused on achieving. When I think back on previous years I can’t believe that we really spent that much money but, unfortunately, we really did. For the kids alone we had plunked down, or should I say charged, at least $500 – $600 for each one of them. Right there that is $1800. I was not going to do that again this year.
I am happy to report that our total amount spent for Christmas, including cards & postage to mail our Christmas cards was only $431.13. So, I did it and I did it under budget!!
So how did we do it? Well it really wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Here are some steps that we took:
- The first thing we did was cut back on the number of presents we usually give the kids. In the past we have done about 5 for each but this year we did 3 for each. So right there that was a savings and they were perfectly fine with it.
- The second thing I did was seek out all kinds of great deals almost all of which I have posted on Living Rich With Coupons. I took advantage of some 6pm deals for the girls, a Guitar Hero cash back deal on Amazon, Vera Bradley sales, SeeHere, Snapfish & VistaPrint photo deals as well as other great deals on Amazon.
- The third thing I did was use free money from places such as Swagbucks & Ebates. These really helped to reduce the cost of my presents by a lot.
Now that Christmas is over, I’m already focused on next Christmas with a goal to not pay a cent. I am already gearing up to start saving my Swagbucks and sock away any Ebates money I get and use that all for next Christmas. I figure if I could do what I did this year in only a matter of a few short months then it should be a breeze if I give myself a whole year.
Total savings for November & December: $2069
Savings for year: $7217 (over a 6 month time period)
Savings for year: $7217 (over a 6 month time period)
How did you do this Christmas? Let us know if you scored any awesome deals or how you cut corners. Did you stay under budget?
“The safest way to double your money is to
fold it over and put it in your pocket.”
Kin Hubbard
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Cindy,
I love your goal of not spending money for next Christmas! One thing we did this year was participate in a toy swap with my mom's group. My kids are young and do not know the difference. The toys that they were most excited about getting were not the couple of new toys we bought, but the ones I picked out at the toy swap! Now, I know this may not work for older kids, but if you have little ones, give it a try!
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this year i spent about 4,000. and now its hard for the next couple of weeks. any advice on how to try and regain some money before spending it?
nikki
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We cut back on the kids present this year. A week before Thanksgiving I had them write down the top 5 things they wanted. We spent no more than $100 on each child (we have 2). The rest of their presents came from relatives.
We also have a large extened family. In the past we bought for each person in the family. This year we bought/made one gift per family.
We also did cash only this year. When the money was gone, it was gone. All in all we spent close to $400 this year!
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