Budget Update

The end of the month is coming up and I have to say this month the hubs and I did a lot better than in the past. We tried cutting our grocery budget in half and REALLY tried to not visit Starbucks so often as well as any money left from fun money went to savings.

I am happy to report the following...

Coffee - $52 (reduction of $135.64 from last month)
Eating Out - $76.55 (still high but a reduction of $31.58 from last month)
Groceries - $256 ($56 over out budget but $158.65 less than last month)
Gas - $156 ($16 over but we did a little more than normal driving this month and we still have a 3/4 tank)

The most incredible change is our savings account. It's a great feeling to be at the end of the month and not only have so much in savings but still have money left over. I didn't miss the extra channels we gave up when we went to basic cable either.

Savings - $410 ($385 more than last month)

We will continue this new plan for July since it seems to be working well for us. We are not starving on $50 of groceries for the week either. July we will see an increase in expenses because we are going camping for four days. However, the hubs gets paid three times next month because he get's paid every two weeks so that will help.

The big exciting news is my parents, in an effort to help us out, have offered us a no interest loan to pay off our credit card and personal loan debt. We will still have a car payment and student loan payment. Our plan with this is to pay them the minimum until we can get $5000 in savings. Then we will double the minimum payments which roughly represents what we are paying now in minimum payments plus extra. The loan will be for five years but we plan to pay it back in two and a half to three years.

So, its safe to say our debt free date will be, drum roll please....

July 2012 - now that is a GREAT birthday present!