Goal Updates

This is the first year that my husband and I have made any financial goals, I have to say having goals has really helped us focus on saving money.

One of our yearly goals was to reduce eating out and quit eating out for one month. We met this goal when we decided as a family to give up eating out for Lent this year. After going six weeks without eating out we have found it is easy to pass up the drive through. We have eaten out twice in the last week but that was due to me being side lined by the flu. I have become better at planning our dinner meals and keeping quick meals on hand for days I don't feel like cooking. I am still struggling with our lunch menu though, so that is one of my new goals.

We are also trying to have four no spend months. We have done two so far. Our first month went really well. I found during our second month it was easier to cheat on our spending freeze. I have however not been spending much at all of our "household budget" thanks to our large stockpile of cleaning supplies, toilet paper, and diapers/wipes. My overall household budget is down to $10 a month from $200 a month last year at this time.

I did manage to follow a loose schedule for our last month of school and it went much smoother. One of my summer goals to really put forth an effort in training our children to follow a "general" schedule. I know that I will need to plan for our upcoming school year since I will have two little ones not yet in school that will need activities to keep them busy.

We have been able to start saving money for the first time in our marriage, up until this point we ( or rather I) spent most of what we made, however we haven't done as well as we should. I am struggling with our gas for our van budget. It seems no matter what we go over our budget. A simple answer is to not drive anywhere however we have many night time activities that seem to happen every day. Soccer is over though in two weeks and our church drama is over on Sunday and Scouts will be done soon also. Once our nightly running is over I plan on only leaving the house on Wednesday. It will become grocery/errand day and we also have our midweek church service that day. I will also have a thrift day/yard sale day as a special outing for the girls and I.

How are you doing at keeping your yearly goals?