M.-
the key to budgeting is to stop spending extra for one month. see how much you are really spending outside of your regular bills. get a dollar figure. it takes real disipline to not want to go and spend money on the babies, but if you want to cut out extra stuff to find where you can trim and budget it IS necessary.
i have been managing my household of 7 on a budget for several years, and let me tell ya, with a 1800 house note, 500 car note, 400-600 light bill every month, i had to find the ways to trim it down. first i tried to cut my bills down, but with 4 kids going in and out, doors opening and shutting, water left running, i found this to be a real impossibility. so i started looking elsewhere. how much were we spending on entertainment...ie....going to the movies, renting movies, buying $1 toys x's 4....cause there is four of them and you cant do for one and not the others you know, and my grocery shopping. i stopped buying clothes when they werent needed just because they were cute. of course i do still do this once in a while. we have 1 girl. she has to be the prima donna of the fashion world you know. so when i needed to budget because we kept overdrawing on these extra purchases, i took the debit cards away, stopped spending and found a way to trim down my grocery bill instead.
a great way to do this is to plan. i hate planning, but it changed my spending by 2000.00 a month. thats a lot of money. that 2000.00 went into savings and i now have nice college funds set up for the kids. the rest we save for a vacation, to buy a new car, a large purchase such as the big screen for the kids game room, things like that. it does help. and here is how i do it. scan through the sale ads for the grocery stores. find the things you like as far as meats only. canned goods are comparable at all the major markets, so you really dont save much money with those, unless you use the coupons. im not much of a coupon shopper, even though i should be, they save you even more money. 400.00 worth of grocerys and spend actually 125. 00. big difference with coupons. i have done it. but dont anymore. i dont need the help like i used to either. once i trimmed and taught myself how to be more careful, things just came easier, and wasnt so stressful.
plan a weeks worth of groceries. figure out meals for 7 days. one weekend to the next. write them down. and all the things that you need in order to fix that meal. check your pantry to see if you dont already have them, and buy the cheapest brand. most of the brands tend to taste the same, unless it macaroni. im a kraft kind of girl myself, and that is usually one of my splurge items. i average about 80-100 a week in the grocery store for a family of 7. i have been told that is quite remarkable. it just sounds normal to me. you can do it. it just takes wanting to do it yourself. plan plan plan. then you can see how much you have to spend.
sit down and write out all your REAL bills on paper, the write what you bring home every month. see if what you make covers what you have, and see the difference you have to play with. instead of buying something for the girls every time you go shopping, just do it one time a week. they wont feel cheated. they will adjust. and they will still be happy too. and with money to play with, and not to be stressed any longer, then you will be able to buy what you want and know how you can really spend it. when you see it in black and white, you dont tend to forget it. you know.
good luck to you on your budgeting, and if you need help just send me an im or an email at ____@____.com. i will have no problem helping you to see where you can trim if you like. we went from spending 8000.00 a month to around 6000.00 with all our bills, fun, and gas and groceries. it does work. you just have to do it.
take care.
C. R.