
Like most people, I'm always looking for ways to save money. But sometimes I get so busy with life that I don't stop to reassess where our money is going to see where there are potential cost savings. This month was particularly tight for us because it's a long month and both my husband and I only get paid monthly (and sadly, at the same time) so I went through our monthly expenses and found a few places to save a little money. Here are a few ways I've been able to save some money in the last few months:

Our home computer died suddenly this week. I took it in to have it repaired because we were having problems getting it to power up all the way. I had assumed it was just a problem with the power supply that could be fixed, but as it turns out, there are other problems with it as well and the cost to repair would be almost as much as a whole new computer. Really, I shouldn't have been that surprised; that computer is over five years old.
However, I hadn't planned on extensive repairs or a whole new computer, so now we need to figure out how to deal with this unexpected expense. Both my husband and I (and our son, for that matter) use the computer on a daily basis, so it's not an option for us to just go without one.
It's never easy to deal with an unexpected expense, but I think if we take our time we can handle it. It also helps that we try to live well within our means on a day-to-day basis. Because we're not maxed out financially, we can find ways to cover surprises like this. Sometimes living within our budget means that we don't always have everything we want and we make due with what we have. It's worth it, though, to not be constantly stressed about money and to be able to handle unexpected expenses.

The holiday season has hit the stores full force and it's time to start thinking about my budget for gift giving. It's not exactly a fun exercise; I always end up wishing I could spend and give more this time of year. But I've learned the hard way from past experience that if we don't come up with a budget for what we can afford to spend, we'll regret it in January. Here are a few things we typically do when coming up with our holiday budget:
The first few times we did a holiday budget, my husband was resistant. Like most of us, he enjoys buying nice things for friends and family to show how much he appreciates them and felt restricted working within a budget. But after a few years of us overspending, he saw the benefit of budgeting in advance. Now he helps me set the budget and stick to it; it definitely makes January more enjoyable for both of us.
Marla
My name is Marla, and I'm a working mom with a wonderful husband and a very active toddler. With my hectic schedule, it seems like I always put... Read More |
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