We're not exactly one of those families you see on Oprah yet -- you know, the ones who don't have health insurance, but the mom gets her hair and nails done every week...or the ones who eat out three times a day(!), but we aren't exactly sticking to the budget, either.
The problem is really that we're playing catch-up, only not very well. When we moved into our new house about 14 months ago, we had fully anticipated selling our old one. It's in a nice neighborhood and just getting its taxable value would have been okay. But after 6 months on the market, we not only hadn't sold it, we had begun to accumulate credit card debt fueled by the notion that as soon as we sold the house, we could pay it off...just one more month, then another.
Sadly, it's a common story these days. However, having been raised by a mother who became a CPA for fun (seriously, she's never actually worked as one), credit card debt is a source of great anxiety for me...not to mention a really huge drain on the family budget.
So anyway, the bad news is that we still own the old house. The good news is that we started renting it out back in October, which allowed us to begin our game of catch-up...and that brings us to the present, where I'm trying to find ways to cut our living expenses so that we can A) pay down the credit cards, B) start saving some money, and C) travel. I realize my compulsion to travel works in direct opposition to saving money, but we all have our vices, right? Let's save that one for another blog entry.
Alright, so I know there are plenty of things I could do to save money - cancel the cable, for one. I read The Simple Family and admire Rachel and her efforts to live more simply. But as I said at the beginning, I'm trying to find ways to save without drastically altering my life (and as we know, Bravo, A&E and the Food Network are important to me). I realize this means it will take me longer to reach my financial goals, but this is something I can accept as long as I know I'm moving in the right direction.
So my current focus is on how to cut our grocery bill. I am really bad with coupons - I like clipping them, but am notorious for forgetting them when I go to the store. I'm considering using a grocery delivery service purely because it eliminates the possibility of impulse buys -- and since I do my grocery shopping at SuperTarget, the impulse buys can get out of hand.
I'm also looking for cheap meals I can make that my kids will eat...and I'm trying to break out of the spaghetti, mac 'n' cheese, chicken nuggets and repeat routine. Unfortunately, my little Owen fears unknown foods so unless it can be marketed as one of the aforementioned foods, it could be a battle. Is a diet of ramen and soup the answer? Is winning the lottery the answer? Is getting some willpower the answer? Maybe, maybe and probably...but I'm hoping one of you smart people has a more useful suggestion.
