Wow...Really?

So, yeah, I kind of messed up my plan to be a better blogger this year, huh?  I have excuses, I'll even share them with you!  I was super sick and off my game for nearly 3 weeks in February, barely came near the computer.  When I got right, I had a week of catching up to do before I got the worst ear infection of my life at the beginning of March.  I was given no pain meds and wound up tethered to my bed for a week!

*sniffle*  Feeling sorry for me yet?  Haha, I didn't think so.  ;)   So here I am, with very little to report on the style front.  Unless you want to hear about my sick wear which was very uninspired.  No big shock there, hehe.

So, my news now is this, I'm writing another blog, I'm going to keep this one up and running and will update anytime I have something to say about thrifting/style/organization but for now, there won't be much going on there, since the Hubby is officially unemployed, as am I.  Scary.  Anyhow, there's no money to be thrifting for fun.

For the time being I can be found over here.  I'll be blogging about living on unemployment benefits (hopefully) until jobs are found.  :)  Wish me luck!

$5101.23

Its a new year and I know we all have many financial challenges ahead of us.  Here at our house, I'm always thinking of ways to try and save a few bucks.  I've read enough finance blogs, money saving blogs, thrifting and frugality blogs to make your head spin.  One common theme is that you need to track your expenses.  I have a general running idea of how much I'm spending and I've always considered that enough.  If we have a particularly tough month, I go ahead and write everything down and move on (I'm a total list maker and that adds to my pack rat problem, btw, since I don't ever want to toss the lists).

This morning, while it was still dark, I was wondering about how much money we actually spend on eating out.  Thinking about it pretty much killed any idea of going back to sleep.  I decided I'd log on to my checking account and go back to January 1, 2012 and start there.  One years worth of eating out, to include fast food, casual dining and Starbucks runs.  My bank has a nice tracking system (which I've never used, remember, not organized!) so I sat down in my dim kitchen and got to work.  I categorized all dining out expenses for the past 12 months.  Then I decided I wanted to know all of my food costs overall, so I went back and did all of my grocery bills as well.

The title of this post is $5101.23.  That is the sum total of my family's dining out purchases.  Can you believe it?  As it started to add up, I got a pit in my stomach.  I really didn't think we ate out that much, but the proof is in the pudding, eh?  That's roughly $425 dollars a month.  Where in the world is that money coming from?!  I know we don't have it to spare!  What isn't getting taken care of as a result of that spending?  Now, I know some of it likely comes from money we feel was "free" (even if it wasn't), like birthday/holiday gifts, taxes, etc., but come on!  *sigh*

Now, my goal, for my family of 4, in terms of groceries is $250 twice a month.  $500 a month for a total of $6000 dollars a year.  This does NOT take into account holiday and birthday meals and goodies.  Are you ready for my grocery total for the year?  Are you scared?  Maybe you should be.  $7419.  Just over $1400 more than I intended to spend.

This is a grand total of $12, 521.21.  On food.  FOOD.  Per person that's over $3100 dollars a year.

It's got me wondering, are my grocery goals unrealistic?  Is $6000 a year too small a budget for my family?  I shop the commissary, but I also use local grocery stores every now and then.  If I increase my grocery budget and bought a greater variety of things, would my dining out bill go down?   I'm going to be thinking about this all day.  Probably longer.  Today is the 5th of January.  I shopped yesterday and missed a few items on my list, so I know I'll be heading back out soon...I'm going to be very aware of my purchases.  I have no choice.  This is clearly an area that needs to be pared down.  It seems to me that it likely can be done with a little discipline.  Even if we still wound up spending $100 a month dining out we'd be saving $3900 over last year.  Maybe that should be the goal.  Increase the grocery budget but reduce the eating out budget.

Makes my head spin!

2 Weeks Plus a Few Days

That's how long until we move to the new apartment. Every time we move I forget. I forget that no matter how ready you think you are to move, you just aren't. Financially, emotionally, physically. At least I'm not. Ever. It's funny, because I always believe that I've got everything under control. And then along comes that moment when I realize I was just kidding myself. I had that moment a couple of days ago. Even though everything is moving forward, I'm just not ready. This move is the same as all of the others in many ways and it's so different in others. This move signifies the end Dave's military career. 20 years and now it's done. It signifies a choice that we made, not the Navy, to decide where we live. There's unlikely to be an opportunity in a few years for us to pick up and start again. This. Is. It. I'm terrified. Fortunately, he's not. Which is good, because one of us needs to be able to remain rational. It can't be my job, I can't handle it. He's going back to school and will be looking for work. I, too, will have to look for work. I've been a stay at home mom for 11 years. I didn't work during my pregnancy either. 12 years since I've worked. I worry. My oldest is autistic and being available to him, the school, his teachers has always been my goal. This will be difficult now. Not impossible, of course, but more difficult just the same. Both kids will (next year) have the same schedule, but for the remainder of this year it's different and neither gets bused. Right now we live close enough to walk one and drive the other. At the new apartment we will drive both to different schools, next year to the same school with the same hours. This will hopefully make it easier to find work. Not having to work around the hours of 2 different school schedules. I hope. On the plus side, I think I'll be having another yard sale. I need to get rid of a few more things that just won't fit at the new place and I really don't want to get a storage locker. So, I think maybe the weekend after this one coming I'll give another one a try. It's also giving me a really great opportunity to really purge the house. Closets, garage, everything! This is good because I can certainly tend to be a bit of a pack rat. I want the new place to be as free from clutter as possible. That would be ideal, so going in with less is the best way to start. Frugality is going to be a necessary part of every day life now, which is good. Having everyone on board with that is really exciting to me. In the past, I've felt like I've been only half on board with being as frugal and thrifty as I want to be, so that will be a nice change of pace. That will also make it easier for me to blog about being thrifty (and organized!) since it will be necessary, not just kind of a hobby. The one thing that breaks my heart the most though, is that the move is costing way more, up front, than we realized. It's pretty much going to eat through everything we have and that means the holidays are going to be very, very rough. :( I'm hoping the kids can enjoy the spirit of the holiday (which they always have) even when they know presents will be lean. It's tough, but they're good boys and I have faith that they'll understand.