Adjusting the Frugal Momma's Budget

Things are changing all over. With hurricanes effecting gas prices again I think we are all in the same boat...the dollar just does not go as far as it used to. So what is a Mom to do? Especially one who just got herself a part time out of the house job requiring at least 3 trips a week into the office. Round trip is about 30 miles so that's 1.5 gallons a trip or 4.5 gallons a week. When you are used to hardly driving, it's a challenge!


It leaves you scurrying to find ways to save money on the per gallon cost! This past week I was doing a grocery store run. I stopped at a grocery store I usually only hit once every couple months, but 1% milk was on my list & they had a 20 cents off a gallon if you bought 8 things off a list, well at least 6 of those items were on my shopping list anyways. So I got my discount & filled up. I figured I saved about $1.60. Next time I'll plan ahead & bring the gas can too. Ah for the days of 1999 when I thought $0.99 a gallon was a lot.

The cost of gas has driven everything else up, have you noticed? Of course you have, all you have to do is try to buy ANYTHING!!! It leaves us having to be creative, cutting out things we normally consider staples, also doing things like clipping coupons, buying grocery items at drugstores, maybe going to stores we never thought we would.

Of course, I have "cheap" on the brain today. Looking at the calendar I have preschool tuition and school pictures due on Monday, open house with the book fair on Wednesday, this is after paying for our football fundraiser tickets & sweatshirt order. Yikes! Could be rice & beans this week, LOL!

But on the up cheap side I decided to make pizza Friday instead of take out. I knew we'd be buying food at the football game Saturday so spending $30 on pizza and wings was just not an expense I wanted!

Anywho, our budget is going to be changing a little because of my job. I get paid every other Friday and I think my paycheck will cover our food, gas & household expenses. So as soon as I know what my deductions will be I'll be able to allocate the funds. My goal is to increase my EF funding to $50 a month instead of $25.

Frugal is Green

Help! My Money Scares Me Relax...Breathe...Listen probably the best advice out there, given the tendency to panic at the slightest detail!


Stumble It!

Frugal Energy

I am reading Flush with Energy and I am annoyed. Not at the article, but at the idea. The writer talks about how Denmark gets 20% of it's electricity from wind and the US only 1%. My annoyance comes in to play from an ongoing local battle to build wind farms.

There are companies that want to come in and put up wind turbines to increase that percentage. Only they are meeting with constant protests, obstacles & problems. The first site was no good because it might possibly disrupt some bird migration or some such nonsense. Because what the birds will be lost and not find their way around? This group of concerned citizens even had lawn signs printed to show support for their "Good Idea, Bad Location" campaign. Because of birds, aren't these birds more likely going to be injured by the SMOG and other pollution if we don't start using more renewable energy sources? This group have tied up the first company so long that a second company has stepped up to try to get it built. The second site, even more rural than the first has met with zoning issues & neighbor protests. Think country people, neighbors is really different out here!

We are doing research right now on what it will take to build our own turbine generator. It doesn't take much and we always have wind! I hope my neighbors don't complain. I'll probably be violating some zoning law.

Everyone wants to complain but the second someone tries to fix the problem, they find something new to complain about. "They" seem to want to be "Green," just don't put it in my back yard. I seriously hope that we are the only backwards county out there & these companies aren't being discouraged like this all over the US. If they are that 1% will stay 1% for a long time to come.

Stumble It!