WOW! This challenge is flying by! And it has become such a part of my life, my spending habits have changed so much already, I am announcing here and now that I am extending it for another three months. That would be a total of six months! My challenge will end at the end of November now. I know... be proud. :)July was pretty easy. Again, I purchased one or two small things, with coupons to satisfy that craving. I really believe if you cut yourself off too cold turkey when it comes to shopping, you are going to suffer. For many women, shopping is a way to perk up their wardrobe AND their emotions. So if you stop spending anything on yourself... you will probably explode after a few weeks or months.Anyway, my biggest annoyance/purchase this month was a plane ticket and rental car. I have a 50th anniversary weekend at my childhood camp in Georgia and I thought... maybe if I keep putting it off I will have the money... yeah, not so much. So that happened... But I did the math for all of my finances and "found" $2000! Aka, I thought I was $2000 MORE in debt that I am! That's awesome. I am still putting more than a third of my income to debt repayment (credit cards, student loans, car payments) but sometimes it feels like I'm not getting anywhere. I wish I could just save more on my housing expense (aka rent) as that is my other big expense per month. Otherwise, I'm not spending much.This month will be hard too as I have to renew my tags and pay six months of car insurance... less than awesome. But I feel good that I am thinking regularly about finance and Sweet Boyfriend and I are making future plans.Meanwhile, we have been growing a lot of our food... I mean, except for protein, fruit, and booze... we have grown everything else we have eaten for at least the past month. Almost 100 pounds of produce from our three gardens. That is a definite money saver. Next year, we plan to grow a lot more and since a lot of the equipment investment happened this year, we will be saving even more! Speaking of which, we made the most AMAZING pickles the other day! Check out my recipe here: Half-Sour Pickles.On another saving note, it was my nephew's 15th birthday and this year, Sweet Boyfriend and I are investing money for him. I will be the 'money manager' and custodian for this account and we will be investing it. He gave us about half of the cash he received on his birthday (pretty good for a teenager) and SB and I will essentially be matching that. I'm hoping he continues to invest and I will be putting money into the account for him for holidays and birthdays. I hope to teach my nephew and my future children how NOT to go into debt!Wish me luck!Goals:
- I will be out of credit card debt in 9 months
- I will have a significant amount in my retirement account by then
- Once I am out of CC debt, I will put that money towards my car, student loans, and savings
- I will put at least 30% of my income towards bills, loans, or savings every month