I see a few places we can cut back.

We have the cheapest cell phone service we can get with T-mobile but I think when we have the money I'll go back to pre-paid with Trac-fone and get the double minutes card. We like not having a bill to deal with and in the long run that saved us quite a bit. We'll more than likely have the satellite TV turned off. If it's a choice between that and the ISP, we'll take the ISP as it's important to the business and the satellite TV is not.

The electric bill is always so high but I don't know what to do to lessen it. This house isn't as well insulated as it needs to be but until we have the cash to add insulation we have to deal with it as is. We only use the heat when it's really cold and lately it's been fairly warm so we haven't used it much. I've come across quite a few people who maintain that they've lowered their electric bill by eliminating or decreasing phantom load. I've read up on this and it does appear that unplugging some appliances when they're not being used can save up to 26% on the electric bill but I can't get DH believe it or to go along with it. I really would like to just try it for a month and see if it makes much of a difference. I'll try talking to him about it again and see if he'll agree to a 30 to 60 day trial. I wonder if doing the phantom load test would have him rethinking it. Hmm, something to ponder...

The water bill is too high, also. It's never as cheap as I'd like but it's been higher than normal for the last couple of months. I'm going to start sending the boys into the bathroom with the kitchen timer and tell them they have 10 minutes. When that timer goes off, the water needs to be turned off and they then have 5 minutes to dry off, dress, and get out of the bathroom. Two of the three that are often here will stay in there for 45 minutes to an hour!

So, one for the next month is to decrease the electric and water consumption.

Our electric bill for November was $171.60, 2292 KWH used

For December it was $140.16, 1803 KWH used

Our most recent water bill, due on the 10th, is $56.02, 6800 gallons used

I should be able to improve both of those. We'll see.

We had to run to a local store to meet a client so we got gas for $10 and I bought a Diet Pepsi for .75. DH is now out again but shouldn't spend much at all, if anything.

When we got home earlier, I hung two loads of towels on the clothes line. I really don't like the crunchiness of line dried towels but the day is cool and breezy so they shouldn't be too stiff. I just don't want to cough up $1 to dry clothes! I need the dryer repaired but until then, line drying it is! Once those are dry I have another load to hang.

Dinner tonight will be something with canned chicken that was given to us awhile back. I'm not wild about canned chicken but might as well make use of it.

We don't do New Years so we'll just stay home as usual and probably be asleep by 9 or so.

Ehhh, exciting.. but frugal!

Updated to add that the other load of clothes is hanging around the house now and some shirts are on hangers outside on the porch. It just doesn't get more redneck than this.

First I want to say that I have some old credit card debt but I don't know the exact total so I can't give it. It's under $2000, though. I also have another $2000 or so in miscellaneous debt. None of those have been paid on in ages, though. I'm ashamed to admit it but I just stick my head in the ground and pretend it isn't there. My credit rating is horrendous. My husband's is better than mine, I think, but he has some debt too. I don't know the exact amounts for his, either.


Here are our regular monthly expenses:

Mortgage $270 (We bought this house in 1998 for about 1/2 its value. It was a REO property of a local bank and it was quite a deal! It's a 3 or 4 bedroom, 1 bath home on almost 2 acres. It needed work when we bought it and we left closing with $4000 to help with that and as we get time and money we continue to work on it)

Property Taxes 55 (paid annually but this is what it comes out to monthly)

Electricity $150-200

Water 45-55

Propane 15 (bought once a year but it averages at about $15 a month)

Food $200-250

Gasoline $100-150 (just one car but our business involves DH driving around quite a bit)

Phone 55

Cell Phone 50 (I'm going to see about changing the plan to a less expensive one tonight)

Satellite TV 50 (we get NO TV reception without it)

ISP 52 (needed for the business and the $52 is after the cost is split with my son)

That's about it for regular monthly expenses. I can't think of anything else right now. We do buy toner and paper and such but I don't know how much we spend on a monthly basis. We have a home printing/publishing business.

So, our regular expenses run about $1200 a month. That's with nothing to old debt or savings, just paying the necessities. Some months we make that much, some months we don't. Hence, we're almost always running behind.

Oops, I didn't include the $200 or so a month we spent on cigarettes! Since we're quitting that won't be a factor but it has been in the past.