tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post8469170129836417309..comments2023-08-13T04:25:25.780-04:00Comments on Life Blessons: Learning to Spend Less: From $376.25 to $0carmen @ life blessonshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11436197171458180834noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-86989287471070923122011-07-18T13:13:09.348-04:002011-07-18T13:13:09.348-04:00i've always felt that saving money is a learne...i've always felt that saving money is a learned behavior since it involves adjusting your life style and needs/desires in order to achieve your budget goal but once you've adapted to saving, it's hard to start spending! <br /><br />good for you both that you've kept your eating out budget at $0 because eating out whether that's lunch or dinner or just going out for drinks/snacks can get very expensive.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-61136806609230797402011-07-16T16:59:45.751-04:002011-07-16T16:59:45.751-04:00Carmen, you give great advice. My hubby and kids a...Carmen, you give great advice. My hubby and kids and I had to break the "eating out too much" habit a few years ago and it's one of the best things we ever did.<br /><br />I'm so glad you've joined The High Calling blogs network, too. :) I'm one of the welcome editors and look forward to getting to know you as you have time to participate.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-28466126343509273052011-07-16T15:10:24.056-04:002011-07-16T15:10:24.056-04:00You're right! It is such a great feeling to kn...You're right! It is such a great feeling to know all that extra money is going to savings. To have that security and know you're getting that much closer to your goals is totally worth the sacrifices you're making now.Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10124441401932953238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-78956487052347142252011-07-15T17:23:37.100-04:002011-07-15T17:23:37.100-04:00What a great and encouraging post! My husband and...What a great and encouraging post! My husband and I also fall into the "spend way too much on food" category. Part of our problem is never having time to cook a good meal at home. We've been learning to make a lot of casserole type dishes and beans and rice - quick and easy. We should also think about making "big" portions and freezing for later. But I just love hearing about how young newlywed couples can bite the bullet and learn how to manage their habits better! It give us lots of hope!! :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-6009314241086842312011-07-15T08:51:09.932-04:002011-07-15T08:51:09.932-04:00My husband and I have recently cracked down on our...My husband and I have recently cracked down on our spending habits too. Food seemed to be one of the most expensive things for us. So we've watched how much we've eaten out and I've been scouring the internet for good and stretchable recipes. Now, we're able to cook 2 or 3 times a week, and it will last most of the week! Thanks for sharing!Britt@knewlywifedhttp://www.knewlywifed.blogspot.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-20757119899555470572011-07-14T23:55:20.426-04:002011-07-14T23:55:20.426-04:00Wow! That's definitely inspiring! :) I'm t...Wow! That's definitely inspiring! :) I'm thinking it would be a good idea for me to try and cap my coffee date spending and such, too. I don't eat out a whole lot, but lately I feel like I have. (Lunches at work, coffee with friends, dinner with friends...) I'm probably going to set a cap for the week and do my best to stick with it and see how that goes. I figure if I can do that now, it'll be easier down the road when the Lord puts my Mr. in my path. ;)Kristin @ KK & A CAMERAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01713275955859907042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-72682778901876496982011-07-14T19:04:50.734-04:002011-07-14T19:04:50.734-04:00You're inspiring me to work on my budgeting sk...You're inspiring me to work on my budgeting skills. This summer has been a free for all in terms of budgeting, and let me just say: I' scared to look, haha.Rachel Parkerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06522399747716083993noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-88830009142417294172011-07-14T18:19:57.035-04:002011-07-14T18:19:57.035-04:00@ Holly - Haha, maybe I'll have to work on tha...@ Holly - Haha, maybe I'll have to work on that post just for you :) Yes, I think it's been so helpful to find a tracking method that works for you, whether it's on paper, some program, whatever. Because I know that when it comes to trying to remember how much we've spent, I always, always underestimate!!<br /><br />@ Steph - Ah, that's so awesome to hear! Thanks for sharing your story--and your budget. We probably could cut our budget back more but anything we don't spend we end up piling into our savings, which is SUCH a nice feeling!<br /><br />@ apockylypse - It's taken us about two years to finally figure out what kind of spending and routine works for us. But I do find that it's much easier now for us to say no or to wait than it ever was at the beginning! Fortunately, we're able to see more of our money go into savings now...instead of just into our stomachs!carmen @ life blessonshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11436197171458180834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-76813699626312909302011-07-14T16:35:47.707-04:002011-07-14T16:35:47.707-04:00I know what you mean! The few months before & ...I know what you mean! The few months before & after our wedding has caused a lot of picking up quick meals. When you have a bizillion places to go, finding the time to cook can be hard. Luckily things are finally starting to slow down a little bit, so I'm hoping we can get our spending back under control. <br /><br />We've never been completely out of control, but money has been tight with unexpected expenses & issues with DH's unemployment.<br /><br />Thanks for sharing your story because it gives me hope that some day we can finally get it under control.Apockylypsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18068444291548371863noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-86232652087810258592011-07-14T16:34:51.926-04:002011-07-14T16:34:51.926-04:00Oh the drama of spending money for food.
I eat ou...Oh the drama of spending money for food.<br /><br />I eat out so much, it's so bad!!! I hate that I do it and I keep promising myself it's going to change. I have you beat because one month our bill for restaurants was well over 600!<br /><br />Insane.<br /><br />Good for you for realizing that it's worth it to save now and reap the benefits later.PJ @ Planned in Pencilhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01595887139131622280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-34473424332906969862011-07-14T16:31:55.534-04:002011-07-14T16:31:55.534-04:00i love this! my husband and i did the same thing n...i love this! my husband and i did the same thing not long after we got married - almost exactly. we weren't crazy overspenders but we realized we were spending more than we wanted to, so we started tracking everything. bulletin boards, excel spreadsheets, etc. then we cut our eating out budget entirely for awhile. and now, two years later, we have found our happy medium of about $60 a month. it's crazy to think what we were spending. and it's nice to know that if we need to make changes about what we're doing we can. and it's okay.<br /><br />i really enjoyed reading this post! it's so encouraging to hear things like this when so many people don't seem to have a handle on things like their finances and budgets these days.Stephhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10124441401932953238noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4807180913108287708.post-52936236880492984902011-07-14T16:26:16.801-04:002011-07-14T16:26:16.801-04:00Carmen, I totally love this. I recently started r...Carmen, I totally love this. I recently started rearranging how we track our spending (staring at our bank statements online and trying to navigate the complicated world of Quicken just wasn't working). I'm a kindergarten teacher by trade so anything with numbers above 100 sort of freak me out. Haha...this month, I've committed to tracking my spending on my icalendar and color coding our withdrawals. It has been really really awesome and also really, really scary. We struggle with eating out as well. Tim will spend $12 at 3 different fast food places over the course of one day while I will spend $8 at Starbucks alone. Ha. We also struggle with just plain eating out, like what you mentioned. $12 at Chipotle....$20 for Chinese...it adds up. I'd love to read a post about HOW you conquered this habit. The crockpot? Freezing meals to eat later? Etc. sorry for the long comment, I just loved this post! :)Holly https://www.blogger.com/profile/00206322571532656042noreply@blogger.com