Wierd Wednesday ~ Chipping Away At The Budget and our Phone/ Internet Bill

Wierd Wednesday is a post  time where I can share ideas on how I am chipping away at the budget. Our cell phone bill is high. We have 2 phones and 2 lap tops that are wireless.I like to be wireless. That way no matter where we go I have internet access.
I am always going so close to my budget time on my wireless internet time and hubby barely meets half of his limit.

A few minutes spent in at their kiosk at the mall and we combined all time used into one lump time limit and cut our phone internet bill by $30 to $35 a month. That is a savings of over $300 a year.  We now are able to have a small clothing allotment in our budget of $30.00 a month.
That does not seem like much but neither of us are clothes hounds. We are more likely to find a pair of jeans or a t shirt at thrift stores than buying new. Save the money for items we do not want to buy use.

Can you find a way to chip at your budget by a few dollars?
Thanks for stopping by for Wierd Wednesday and Happy Halloween every one.

WIERD WEDNESDAY ~ ARE YOU HOARDING YOUR PENNIES

Are you hoarding coins? Here is interesting article on why some people are hoarding pennies and nickles.

I have been putting pre 1982 pennies in a large bottle. I believe that it will be a long time before the goverment allows copper pennies to be melt. But in the mean time I am having fun looking through pennies, sorting any wheats I may find and putting pre 1982 in this vintage bottle I bought at an auction.
I have been saving nickles and dimes from my change to put in my savings account. Painless way to save some money. I also throw a dollar or two in a cookie jar. Just added $40.00 to savings account last week from my cookie jar. I took the tin that was full of pennies to the bank. We added $12.95 to savings account today towards the start of an emergency fund,  $62.95 so far. I want to start with a minimum of $1,000, snowball two small loans and then work to pay off the car.
I will have to check out the hoarding coin chat site soon.
Are saving your pennies or do you plan to start saving your copper pennies? I plan to roll up my copper pennies and sell on eBay when I have a desirable amount. This will then be added to emergency fund.
The nickles and dimes being thown into jars will be brought down to the bank next time I fill up my penny tin.
How is your emergency fund coming? Are you working to pay down your debts to become debt free?
Grace

Lets Be Weird The Dave Ramsey Way Wednesday

Lets be Weird the Dave Ramsey way Wednesday. What have I done this last last week to be weird.

Being weird and not like the " Jones"s is making our life so much better.

Our debt is hospital bill from my September illness... thank goodness for my health insurance .. expensive but boy am I glad I pay those monthly bills. I have had people tell me when I complain of the cost to just cancel it and take my chances. Wrong at any age especially when you get older you do not need to take chances. Hospital bill ended up around $50,000. Would you want that hanging over your head. Not me I will take the less than 1,000 we owe and make monthly payments to pay off.

Our other debt is a car payment and I dream of getting that paid off earlier.


So we are weird because...

We have no credit cards. We are not slaves to the lender.

We are paying our own health insurance instead of buying new furniture, new cars, going on vacations, buying new clothes,. We are not taking chances with the roulette wheel of health issues.

I plan our menu for the week and shop smart. Buying what we need only unless I find a good deal to stock up.

We do freezer cooking .. tonight was our homemade spaghetti sauce over pasta and garlic bread. Bread was bought for $1.99 at Cub Foods.. divided into four pieces. One tonight and three into the freezer. That is 50 cents a meal for warm tasty garlic bread. Spaghetti sauce came out of the freezer. I believe this saves us money. Meals are planned and no chance of saying " Lets Go Out To Dinner " several times a week.

I use coupons on needed items when best deal and use store brands when they are the best price.

I pick up pennies when I see them " See a penny pick it up, all day long you''ll have good luck".

We do not buy lottery tickets or go to local casinos. Gambling would be a saved up trip to Las Vegas. Planned and paid in cash. That is not even in the plans for some time.

We buy gas at the cheapest known place without going out of our way.

We are on the cash basis for food, entertainment and gas. If the cash is gone we are done for the week. I am even attempting to cut our weekly food budget and putting the difference in our emergency fund. I want a 1,000 in this fund. At this time we have about $200.


Are you doing anything different than "The Jones", To you want to be weird financially also. I hope so.

Thanks for stopping by... lets keep saving together and please remember

Never under estimate the value of a small amount of money .... Grace