Financial Friday: October 2011 Cutbacks, Week 1 Results

I'm not posting these on Friday because I want to get a full week in for my results. Last week I mentioned Brian and I were doing some October cutbacks. The main thing we wanted to focus on was eating out for meals. We don't do it often and spend hundreds each month, but we did want to pay closer attention in October. Then maybe for the holidays, we can let loose a little bit.

Here are our Week 1 Results & Conclusions:

Electric –

* We are off to a good start. Even though we've only been doing this for a week, we have already been cutting off the A/C when we're not home, and our new solar panels I made have definitely helped. Our electric bill is 52% lower than last month. Every little bit helps! *

Laundry – 3 loads

* I would have met my 2 load laundry goal, but Brian kindly did a dark load without me knowing. I still have about more 2 loads piled up that I could do this week. haha *

Groceries – $48.93

* We ran out of a lot of "non-coupon" groceries (meat, olive oil, fruit, cheese), so I spent more than I would like to spend this week. I did find some great deals and stocked up on items Brian can take to work for lunch. So essentially we save money there. I also took some time this week to plan out our daily meals, so that helps with our desire to go out to eat. *

Dining – $34.33

* Spent more than $20 this week, but not by much. This $20/week goal is going to be hard to meet for 3 more weeks. But at least we're trying, and not spending MORE. *

Extra Income – $0.00

* Haven’t had time to do anything, but I did post some stuff on Craigslist. *

All in all, a pretty crappy first week (in my opinion), but it's a start. It's better than nothing and at least we are trying a little bit. Hopefully I will have better results next week.

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