Household Budgeting Part 3

In parts one and two of household budgeting I touched briefly on reducing expenses such as groceries, heating and cooling and credit card debt.  Of course there are many ways to cut back on your expenses.  You can go drastic like we did such as getting rid of your furnace in favor of heating your home with a wood stove (not for everyone) or you can just start looking for ways to cut back on your day to day living.

There are bills that you can get rid of for good such as credit card debt and there are those expenses that you have to fit into household budgeting every month such as electric, gas, cable etc.  Doing simple things such as downgrading your cable to the very basic and turning lights off in rooms that you aren’t using go a long way.   We downgraded to basic cable and saved over $30 per month.  Besides our landline we have just one cell phone which is prepaid.  It may cost more per minute but we only it use for emergencies and don’t have a monthly cell phone bill.

One of the thriftiest people that I  know is my mother.  She spent years working in retail and has a nack for finding a bargain.  In fact, when my son was an infant up until he was about 3 years old I don’t think I had to buy him any clothes since she would get him the nicest clothes off season for pennies on the dollar.

My mother  loves certain luxuries such as beautiful quilts and high thread count sheets.  Because she is careful about spending money on things that aren’t necessary and refuses to pay full price she gets to treat herself to what she wants.   She likes top quality and really thinks about her purchases before she makes them.  Cutting back on impulse buying is one of the best things you can do as far as household budgeting is concerned.

Household budgeting isn’t always easy but it is worth it. Decide where you can start cutting back and really think before you spend so that you can avoid impulse buying.  Before you know it you will be closer to living the debt free life that you deserve.