I sent another $100 to my Roth IRA today. Not much, but every little bit helps.
Despite us raising our grocery & home budget from $200 to $300 this month, we still went over by about $20. Sigh. The week is just starting too. Hoping I don't have to get anymore. I think we will be okay.
We don't eat really expensive, but food is expensive in general, so we have trouble staying in our grocery budget. We have problems when we go to the store and OJ is on sale so we buy it, or our favorite chips, etc.
I think I need to start sitting down, and using my meal plan to make a very precise grocery list. Maybe allowing us each to pick one snack or splurge item a week. And then ONLY buying off the list.
We do make a list now, but we often see stuff we want or that is on sale and we get it.
How do you stay in budget?
My credit card limit has been bothering me. Because we always paid in cash, we had pretty non existent credit scores. We both got a student card with a low limit last year to start working on establishing more credit.
Well I only had a $500 limit, and husband only had a $300 limit.
I use my card for as much as I can. Because I like the reward points. I always pay it in full every month. But it annoyed me that if I even just put groceries on it I would already be above the 30% utilization on the statement.
So I was hoping since I have been using it for some time now that they would raise my credit score. I decided to call them at the beginning of February. And lo and behold, the day I pulled up my account to find their number they had raised my limit to $1,500 on their own. Sweet!
I will never use that much, but I'm glad my utilization is lower now. Now I can also put bigger items on it that I am going to pay anyway, like the propane bill.
Husband got his card a month or two after me, so I'm hoping his will go up soon as well. Although he rarely uses his.
Credit Card Limit & Grocery Bill
February 24th, 2014 at 03:42 pm
February 24th, 2014 at 09:54 pm 1393278841
I think we have too many but some are only used for specific circumstances. For example we have a specific CC only because they do not charge fees for converting foreign currencies.
If you can stick to the routine of meal planning you'll come out ahead by avoiding restaurant meals which are 1/3 - 1/2 more expensive and more sugar, salt and fat. there is so much sugar in some brands of OJ it's important to read the figures on the side of the box/jar. It's faster to just buy the type of orange currently in season.
February 26th, 2014 at 04:38 pm 1393432682