In my Making Money by Saving Money project, I made the goal of saving $20 a month from our Personal Needs fund. We have currently budgeted $100 a month to cover any non-food related purchases. This includes everything from toilet paper to clothing items.
* Diapers. We use cloth. We’ve probably spend $300 or so on them and we started when Clare was 1. You do the math.
* Clothes. Jeremy and I get by only buying new clothes for birthdays or Christmas gifts. Clare and Felicity wear hand-me-downs (although we occasionally have to supplement if the season doesn’t fit). So, Bernadette is where most of our clothing money is spent. Every Fall and Spring we have to equip her with new clothes. My goal for these next couple of months is to make her some pajamas and skirts/dresses for the fall/winter months. We will still have to buy some things like shirts and tights, but if I succeed at this goal, I expect to save us quite a bit of money. (Note: My mom used to own a quilt store and when it closed she was left with lots of fabric. I ended up with a lot of it, so I won’t have to buy as much fabric for clothes as I otherwise would.) I am going to take advantage of fabric store deals along the way and I will purchase some elastic in bulk.
* Discipline. Avoid the Target dollar section at all costs! This month we made the mistake of buying some frivolous items towards the beginning of the month (things we WANTED, but didn’t NEED). Now it is the end of the month and we NEED to pay $10 to have our water tested, but the Personal Needs funds have long since been spent. Yikes. Well, luckily, we had a good grocery month so the left over money is going to pay for those things instead of going into our “Pickle Jar.”
* Shop alone. This goes for grocery shopping as well. The last trip I made to the grocery store was awesome. I went all by myself and was able to track how much things were and make rational decisions on sale items or other things that weren’t on my list. When my kids are with me, it is a mad dash to get through before anyone starts screaming and I don’t always think things through. A box of Drumsticks is a lot more expensive when I am shopping alone.
How much do you spend on Personal Hygiene and other Needs a month?
About sewing...something I've become SUPER passionate about lately!...I don't buy patterns unless they are on sale for a dollar, which Joanns and Hobby Lobby do quite frequently.
ReplyDeleteBut BEFORE I ever buy a pattern, I check to see if someone has a free tutorial for something similar to what I want to make. Usually I can tweak it to get exactly what I want and the instructions and pictures from most online tutorials are WAY easier to understand than a sewing pattern!
Yeah, Drumsticks are sooo much more expensive when you shopping alone. Probably because theyd don't go as far.
I mean...i don't eat half on my way home...what kind of mom would do that? ;)