Trying to cut back

I was not too happy today when I figured and paid bills. Our checking account is down near $100. Now, keep in mind that the checks for rent and water were just paid and they were well over $600. We don't have anymore bills going out for a week and a half so we will be fine. We also have about $800 in our savings accounts, but I am holding out on transferring those to our checking until I absolutely have to.

Hubby is going to put some tools on Ebay, along with a broken saw that someone could use for parts. He also wants to get the Bowflex on Craig's List. I need to re-list the clothing I put on Craig's List two weeks ago (summer clothes - boys' sizes 6-9 month and 12 months, and girls size 18 months). We could have a rummage sale, but with two little ones, it makes it even more work to have one.

We have about $60 left to spend for the month on food. We do have more than enough in our stockpile, it will just take some planning. We definitely have enough vegetables - I would say there is about 50 bags of veggies in our freezer, plus we do have a few canned. We also have TONS of pasta and rice. I have several bags of flour and sugar so I can make quite a few things that we would normally buy. I can even make our bread, either in the bread machine or by hand. So, we will definitely not starve. It is instances like this, when I am glad that we have a stockpile!

We have $60 for miscellaneous spending for the rest of the month and $120 budgeted for 3 weeks of gas (although we don't usually go through a full tank a week I always budget for extra). So, any extra from those two expenses can go into the food budget at the end of the month to replenish our stockpile.

We are trying to come up with as many ways as we can to save money. As mentioned in yesterday's post, we had our cable reduced today, so that will save us $50 a month. We already had our Verizon cell phones canceled and we got Net10 prepaid cell phones. This saves us $46 a month! We haven't used the air conditioning yet and will hold out as long as possible, by opening windows up at night and closing windows and blinds during the day.

I am open to any other money saving ideas that you would like to share. Please leave me your tips in the comments.