Debt Free by 2020?!?!

[mi*vida*loca]

Have you thought about a cash envelope system? I hear it can work wonders. We started it a few months ago and it's really helped with our over spending. Our over spending was primarily food and eating out. We actually did Christmas without using credit cards for the first time this year.

You don't even have to do a cash envelope. I know people you have YNAB app and use that as their "cash envelopes" and still use their debit or credit card.

 

[Katie Little]

@barkley - thanks for the advice! We went yesterday just to get the lay of the land and compair prices. I think our plan is to go at the top of every month for meat (that can be frozen) and other shelf stable things like spices and what not. Then each week we can get the majority of our produce from Aldis or Kroger. That’s kind of our plan for now. I am a little intimidated by it though!

@mi*vida*loca we have used the cash envelopes before. Now we really just use it for food and every year we’ll use one for Christmas. I LOVE it!

 

[barkley]

@barkley - thanks for the advice! We went yesterday just to get the lay of the land and compair prices. I think our plan is to go at the top of every month for meat (that can be frozen) and other shelf stable things like spices and what not. Then each week we can get the majority of our produce from Aldis or Kroger. That’s kind of our plan for now. I am a little intimidated by it though!

@mi*vida*loca we have used the cash envelopes before. Now we really just use it for food and every year we’ll use one for Christmas. I LOVE it!

you can't beat the spice and seasoning prices if it's stuff you use on a regular basis (we go through LOTS of taco seasoning in our house). we get some meats there and vacuum seal them into portions but i keep an eye on the grocery store sales b/c they seem to have at least one meat a week they are doing at near their cost just to get people through the door (i'm currently keeping an eye out for ground beef or even better priced other cuts of beef to grind b/c it's the one i've got only a couple of pounds of in the freezer).

 

[Katie Little]

Week 2 Recap -

Food - $62.83
Impulse buys - 1 baby shower gift that I forgot about.
Restaurants - 0
Paid towards debt - $615.36 - Not only is it double what we had planned, but it’s our 3rd smallest debt is now paid off.

Goals for week 3 -

Food Budget - A goal $25 - B goal $50. We have A TON of food in our house right now. Want to eat it up.
Impulse buys - 0 - Really want to stick to it this time!
Restaurants - 0 - This is going to be kind of a hectic week and we have a Blaze coupon for buy 1 pizza get 1 free. I wanted to make this a 1 this week but my husband thinks we should wait till the end of the month. We are trying it his way - fingers crossed.
Debt Snowball - $0 - not a pay week.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I have to second the idea that Sam's club is not always a a bargain. If there are only two of you, the sizes are so huge--will you really use that much oregano or seasoned salt or whatever? We're a family of 6, and I dropped our Sam's Club membership when Aldi's opened up, a mile from our house. It doesn't have the huge packages, but if you watch the specials, you can do well--boneless chicken breast is $1.49 this week, their ground beef is the cheapest around, and we like their pork tenderloins. I do cherry-pick the meat specials at other stores for greater variety. I also find that Sam's Club has "bargains" on a lot of name-brand stuff--a huge box of Lucky Charms at a discount is really no bargain!

For those crazy "we need to order pizza" type nights--plan ahead for those. I know a lot of people swear by an Instant Pot for quick meals, which can be great. I'm more of a crockpot person--also a fine choice. This time of year, soup is an excellent choice (and a great way to use up leftovers). I make homemade bread to go with--my kids just love it! No bread machine? Try Pinterest for simple bread recipes (some don't require kneading and rising--I'm lazy!). Or, make biscuits, they're super easy and quick. I'm such a good home cook that my kids would rather eat my cooking than go to a restaurant, even on vacation. Um, thanks!

Beyond that, I wanted to say that your budget pain is temporary. That's important to keep in mind, because it can get frustrating when you're not eating out or vacationing or whatever you would typically be overspending on. Once you have the debt paid down, you can work on saving towards the things that you'd like to have. If you can go through this difficult time, things will look much rosier on the other side. You can do this!

 

[Katie Little]

You guys!!!! Free dining means my husband and I could go to Disney for an entire week for less than $2000!!! Someone talk me out of it please!!

Edit: We could also go during the Halloween celebration and the week of our anniversary....

 

[cel_disney]

You guys!!!! Free dining means my husband and I could go to Disney for an entire week for less than $2000!!! Someone talk me out of it please!!

Edit: We could also go during the Halloween celebration and the week of our anniversary....

I’m sure the resonsubke thing to do is to tell you that’s disney will still be there when you are debt free and not to cave - but life is to short for that to be my full answer.

October is a long way from now - so I think you should evaluate where you are when it gets closer. You can book and cancel most parts 45 days out - if you weren’t planning to buy non-refundable transportation.

I would think that you should try to re-evaluate your budget for the year and see what happens if you stick to all of your goals if you will be able to take the vacation without significant impact to your debt burn down. Maybe you want to get a part time job or pick up some babysitting or uber driving to help pay for it and only money earned above your regular income can be used as ‘fun money’ for things like vacations?

 

[barkley]

You guys!!!! Free dining means my husband and I could go to Disney for an entire week for less than $2000!!! Someone talk me out of it please!!

i'll be the bad guy-

don't do it. listen to yourself-

My husband and I have about $30k in debt.

and just say no b/c if you can find $2000 in your budget for that trip, you can find it to throw at that debt.

Maybe you want to get a part time job or pick up some babysitting or uber driving to help pay for it and only money earned above your regular income can be used as ‘fun money’ for things like vacations?

or you could use the same great suggestion and enjoy the fun of getting even closer to your debt free goals (and then you won't have to worry about booking out a deal 10 months in the future let alone the once in a while extra $50 you spend at the grocery store over what you normally budget).


YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

 

[Katie Little]

@cel_disney and @barkley - Thank you! Both of your very different responses have been helpful!

I'm going to go with my gut on this one, and say no. Only because we canceled our cruise that was $1500 to get out of debt this year and that was way more of a once in a life time trip that Disney (I mean we were going to Cuba for crying out loud.) We'll go to Disney in 2020 maybe even in January since I have my sights set on the Marathon (We'll see). It may cost a little more, but we'll be able to afford a little more cause you know - no debt!

That said, there will be some compromise there because everything needs to be paid for before January. And at that point @cel_disney - I'll be adapting your strategy.

But man! $2000 for a week at Disney including all food and tickets... That's a pretty good deal. Can't blame a girl for trying right?

 

[Katie Little]

Week 3 Recap -

Food - Technically $111.81 but due to a snow storm we did this week we bought next weeks food on Friday. Money spent on last weeks food was $24.81!!!
Impulse buys - 0
Restaurants - 1. I was sick Tuesday and Josh had a thing so McDonalds it was. Nothing quite matches that level of salt when you're sick. I'm not even sorry. LOL
Paid towards debt snowball - $0


Goals for week 4 -

Food Budget - A goal $105.
Impulse buys - 0 -
Restaurants - 1 - We have a buy one get one free coupon for blaze pizza so woo hooo!!
Debt Snowball - $690.42

 

[barkley]

Restaurants - 1. I was sick Tuesday and Josh had a thing so McDonalds it was. Nothing quite matches that level of salt when you're sick. I'm not even sorry. LOL

we have been slammed by some kind of cold/bug this month that just lingers on (cold like symptoms w/a wicked cough that hangs on for weeks). we opted for dominos one night and jimmy johns/subways another just b/c each of the 3 of us had varying symptoms/were in different stages of it so at that point everyone was banned from food preparation. we also are going through a record setting amount of clorox wipes, puffs and cold/cough meds. the one up side is we have eaten down allot more of the freezer stash of left overs.

when you are sick you do what you gotta do so i totally identify.

 

[Katie Little]

we have been slammed by some kind of cold/bug this month that just lingers on (cold like symptoms w/a wicked cough that hangs on for weeks). we opted for dominos one night and jimmy johns/subways another just b/c each of the 3 of us had varying symptoms/were in different stages of it so at that point everyone was banned from food preparation. we also are going through a record setting amount of clorox wipes, puffs and cold/cough meds. the one up side is we have eaten down allot more of the freezer stash of left overs.

when you are sick you do what you gotta do so i totally identify.

Oh no!!!! Feel better my friend! All of you!!!!

 

[cel_disney]

Feel better and I hope the snow isn’t too bad - we are waking up to about 7” and now we are going to layer sleet and freezing rain on top for a few hours, but much less snow than originally expected and not bad for the first plowable event of the season...as long as we don’t loose power we are good!