House Update

So, as some of you may know, my family and I have been in the process of building a new home. We have done some of it, but mostly it has been done by a contractor. They said that they are hoping that it will be done within 2 weeks, but I'll believe that when I see it.

We will need about $2000 at closing to cover the closing costs of switching from a building loan to a mortgage plus the extra stuff we had done on the house that we will owe the contractor. We have $2500 right now and while that is enough, I really don't want to wipe out our savings. My husband was hoping we would get enough back from taxes to help us put more in savings, but we are only getting about $300 back, mostly due to the fact that he was on unemployment at the beginning of the year.

So, we need money saved and we need it fast. When I was looking at my budget for February, we have very little that will be left over to go in savings. We have some things that we are going to put on Ebay and Craig's list to help us get some extra money (bowflex, calipers for machining, a bin of McD and BK toys from late 90s - so if anyone is interested let me know lol).

We are also on a strict budget. I just keep telling myself we're broke. There is no extra money to spend. I was going to go to a Zumba event in Elmira this weekend, but decided we need that $15 in savings, plus it would have cost us for the gas. All in all, I am better off going to Zumba at my gym because it is already paid for.

My husband's biggest issue is eating out and spending money on coffee and other crap. I know it's hard because he is going back and forth to the new house several times a week, but we have both decided to take control of this issue. So far we have eaten at home every day since last Thursday. Tonight's dinner is Chicken Paprikash (recipe from South Beach diet cookbook). Next we will work on the coffee issue. It really does all add up.

What ways do you save money or make extra money when time is running out? Let me know by leaving a comment. And for all those in the Northeast - stay warm. It's going to be cold later!! brrr. I am sooooo ready for spring already.

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.