Budget stuffs. Cutting out. Adding in. And the one thing I refuse to give up.

Yesterday I told you a little about how Josh and I have finally both agreed that we must get ourselves on a budget.

And stick to it.

That's the biggest thing.  Sticking to the blasted numbers.

Today I'll share a little about what we're changing so that we can start saving.

First to be cut out was our Starbucks addiction.  I'll be honest, a couple years ago I'd guess that we were spending nearly $300 a month on coffee.  (totally just heard and saw your jaw drop..I KNOW)  We've cut back just because over the last several months, but in the last few weeks we've cut it out almost completely.  We have gone from having Starbucks on a daily basis, to Starbucks one time per week.  On Saturdays.  Huge savings.  Huge.  And honestly, I don't miss it too much.  I've been enjoying my home brew, which is Starbucks dark roast from Costco.

The next thing I plan to do is, and this makes me slightly panicky, more so than giving up coffee, is to give up my iPhone.  I've tried this in the past.  I even tried it a couple of months ago.  I'm notorious for getting rid of my phone only to get it back again.  However, not only is that bad girl a money sucker, she's a life sucker as well.  I spend too much time playing with that thing and not enough time with my babes.  Hate admitting that, but there it is.

We're going to step up our giving. We've not been as faithful this year as we have been in the past.  Josh grew up tithing to church and we've done fairly well in doing that over the years of being married.  This last year, though, with switching churches, getting burned out, etc. we found ourselves not giving the way we're supposed to.  Both of us have felt terrible about this but resolve to do it different from this day forward.  We have found a church we're loving and have started giving again.  (side note, we're called to give whether we love the church we're in or not, however, we're finally there on a consistent basis making it easier to drop it in the box.)

I've cut back on our grocery spending.  Honestly since I haven't paid attention to the money coming in or going out, I couldn't tell you how much we were spending for groceries.  I'd guess near the $600 mark.  Ack.  Some of that is due to beer and coffee consumption because Starbucks is at Safeway and so is beer. :)  I've decided $300 cash for food for the month.  Gone are our weekly steak nights.  Boo.  We'll see how it goes...

We don't have cable or credit cards or car payments.  There's not much we can cut out.  We have Netflix for $8 a month but at this point we'll keep that.  I think the biggest thing I'm noticing is that I have envelopes designated to stuff.  Gifts.  Vehicles (tires, oil changes, etc) Clothing.  Things like that.  And there's money in those envelopes!

During the summer Josh puts in a lot of overtime.  I checked his most recent pay stub and found that he made a chunk of change just in overtime so far this year.  It made me sick to my stomach that we didn't stash that.  Instead we used it for things like eating out and coffee. And just stuff. Ugh.  Things that are not lasting.  We've decided to start adding his overtime to our savings.  Once a month if the company makes their numbers he'll get a commission of $120 added to his check. It's not a lot, and it's not a guarantee but we're going to put this in a separate savings for date nights and gas money.  If you know us at all, you know we like to drive.  I've said before that we try to get down to Portland to watch a game per season of my nieces and a beach trip as well with their fam.  These are things I just don't want to cut out.  Those girls are going to be grown and gone in no time (oh my heart hurts thinking about it) and while they still have school functions, I want to be there.  So, that small commission check will be going toward that and I'm thankful.

I'm excited for the changes in our hearts.  I've been so half-hearted about this stuff because I know that Josh was too.  This time, knowing he's all about it, has me pumped.  We can totally do this.  We can change.

And to help with accountability, I think I'll be writing about it once a month.  You're welcome.  ;)