Since the beginning of the year, I have been tracking my monthly grocery spending (this includes baby diapers, formula, etc.). I estimated that I spent about $400-500 a month and wanted to start tracking my spending to see if 1) my estimation was correct and 2) how I could cut back. So far, this has been very successful. I keep an excel spreadsheet with a tab for each month. My columns are simple: date, transaction, amount. At the end of the month, I put my total for that month. Almost half way through the year now (boy, that's scary! time sure does fly by!), I can see that I need to find additional ways to cut back on grocery spending. I am averaging $600 per month and even with the added expense of little ones, I think I can get that number down. My goal of this spreadsheet wasn't to have a self-imposed guilt trip (LOL) but to give us a better idea of what we spend each month on groceries and such and by going this little exercise, it helps me to pay more attention to each dollar spent on food.
I have also been tracking our debt pay-off. We started in April with a plan to pay at least $1,000 a month towards (unsecured) debt payoff. This means credit cards, student loan, etc. So far, though its only been a couple months, we're doing great!!! If we stay on this track, we'll be free of the (unsecured) debt in less than our goal of one year! I can actually see that we are making a dent, even after just a couple of months, and it's VERY encouraging. After paying off this debt (in one year or less) we plan to put aside the same amount each month in a savings for a downpayment.
Even with a full time job, 2 small kids, etc. I've still managed to keep up these spreadsheets. They are very simple but have kept me on task and give me a better idea of where we stand and what we need to do to get to the place we want to be in a year.
Have a blessed day,
Julie
