November sucked for our debt snowball.
Here’s why:
We spent over $700 on groceries – not even including two trips to the specialty wine store where I spent at least $50 … each time. (In my defense, those little bottles add up so easily.) Our budget is $500, or $125 per week.
Another $288 went for eating out. Our budget is (supposedly) $80 per month.
This is just the tip of the overspent iceberg in November.
Budgets are tough. I hate NOT spending money. I don’t like thinking about NOT spending money. It’s NOT fun.
On the flip side, I love the thought of financial freedom, of having a savings, of being smart with money rather than $400 dollars stupider.
Here are some solutions for December:
Double accountability. It’s hard and annoying to keep track of a budget. Choose two areas – like groceries and eating out – and ask your partner to help monitor spending. Or adopt a “cash only” rule in these two problem areas.
Have a merry Christmas. Not a merry spend-fest. How can you save money this year? I decided not to send Christmas cards – for a savings of about $60.
Find a way to fear debt. One of the reasons I got into debt in the first place was that it wasn’t scary. I’m not sure I ever planned to pay it off completely… I had decided, “Well everyone has a little debt.” Now, the thought of debt scares the hell out of me. Find a way to let it scare you – as soon as possible. Pretend it looks like this:
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Photos by by sara b. | 2009 and Chris Gin
See also: Paying Off Snowball with a Debt Snowball
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Your advice on setting a “cash-only” budget for the most problem spending is key. My husband and I did that months ago. Barring a few “emergency” purchases, we’ve been pretty good about it. Cutting up all but one credit card helped significantly. To responsibility!
I’m glad you cut up your credit cards. We really need to start using cash. I’m already scared to look at how much we’ve spent eating out.
Or maybe we need a bigger eating out budget!