Well, another month down and we were able to put $2510.42 towards our debt this month. This brings the overall total under $100,000 which was nice to see. The time in between paychecks felt longer this month. I'm still working on trying to get our amount spent on food lower for the month but didn't do too well. I have decided to try clipping coupons and seeing if that will help. I found a few websites that will let you pick the coupons and print them for use in the store. I also picked up a few Christmas presents for our girls.

With the holidays coming up it's going to be a much bigger challenge to continue to put money towards debt. We bought plane tickets to go see my parents for Christmas this past July so we have a trip we are locked into for December. We have already talked to the girls about having just a few presents this year because their "big" present is the trip to see Grandma and Grandpa. They don't really need anything anyways. We have a large family on both sides and that's what gets me in trouble during the holidays is buying more than I should for them. I'm thinking about trying some homemade gifts this year. If anyone has any tips I would love to hear them!

I have a lead for a part-time job doing some financial counseling and have an interview in a week. If it works out I'll be able to work two days a week. Hopefully it will work out! I'll keep you posted!

Well, it was harder than I thought but we made it through the first month. Food was still the biggest budget buster for the month. We also went a little over in our clothing budget. We just moved to Colorado and it got colder sooner than I thought it would so we had to get the kids winter coats. We have made some adjustments to the budget and have posted a new version. Any excess money will go directly towards debt. We still paid off $2388 in debt. Hopefully October we will be able to do a little more. We did receive our final travel claim money for our move which was a little under $1000 which we put towards debt.

Well, after going through our first month on a budget we've made some adjustments.

Auto Fuel $260
Auto Insurance $160
Auto Maintenance $30
Clothing $50
Dog $75
Groceries $600
Household/Gifts $100
Descretionary $560
Kids Activities $200
Life Insurance $166
Loan $700
Savings $330
Tuition $338
Tithes $500
Utilities $260
Memberships $35

Total $4364

Month Total
09/01/09 $103702
10/01/09 $101314
11/01/09 $98,803
12/01/09 $97,480
01/01/09 $96,038
02/01/10 $92,305
02/21/10 $89,095