Well, I have been looking over the #'s again in the budget. Seems that I made one really huge mistake in my figures. Since we are paying Nov. rent with 1st Nov. check I just totally forgot that we would again have to pay the rent on the 2nd Nov. check for Dec. rent. And that rent is going up $20. It threw my #'s way out of wack. I knew it was too good to be true.Unless I can get the expenses down even more there will be no way I will be able to pay off debt.
I think that Dec. electric bill may be lower, considering I have not run heat or a/c in days and days. It was cold in the house this morning (DD's hands were very cold when I went to get her out of bed this morning) so I'm afraid that I may need to start turning on the heat. I'm trying to do everything I can to keep it off, though. Any suggestions you all may have regarding would help.
I know that the phone bill will be going down by an est. $20 per month, and will go down even more once my application for assistance is processed (but probably not until the begining of the year).
The water bill has gone down about $10 this month. I was shocked to see it because it always runs high. A fire in our apartment complex knocked out 16 apartments. I didn't think it would have made that big of a difference in the bill though. We have somewhere around 300 units here. It makes me wonder if I am not getting a super raw deal on my water bill. The only reason I can think of that would decrease so quickly is the fire and the lowered occupancy due to it. Several people have moved out of the complex since the fire.
I am going to experiment a little with the grocery bill. I still have plenty of food so I am going to hold off buying groceries all together for as long as I can. I will need to get bread and diapers in the near future and may need to get a few supplies for my contribution to Thanksgiving dinner, but other than that no spending-unless absolutely necessary. We will not go without food and a healthy balance of it.
The only other option at this point is to cut the smoking budget down again. DH has been getting a little laxed with his 10 cigarette a day limit so we have bought more this month than the actual 10 a day. But, I did budget for the extra considering it was the first month of doing it. But even if I did cut the cigarette budget out completely, we still would not have enough to cover the double payment of rent for this month.
I see that the only option is to take the PayPal money (going towards paying off the bank) to pay the remainder of the balance for the rent.
This also leaves no money for Christmas. We bought DD's birthday present last weekend on clearance last weekend. Her birthday is mid Dec. I know I should probably just make it a birthday/christmas gift, because she is only turning 1 yr. and won't remember it, but I figured that one gift for birthday and a small family party with normal food and a home made cake for dessert would be acceptably low key for the occasion. And I have 3 gifts that I will be making her for Christmas, all of them I consider free because I will be using up supplies (scrap fabric, sewing notions and polyfill) that I have had for ages and ages with no specific purpose for having them.
Anyways, enough of my rambling for now...
Forgot one important bill...
November 1st, 2006 at 05:38 pm
November 1st, 2006 at 06:31 pm 1162405897
November 2nd, 2006 at 02:13 am 1162433616
If you turn the heat on the morning for 30 minutes or so to get the chill off and then turn it off until evening, that may help as well.
Another daytime option is to go somewhere else during the day. My eldest child and I spent a lot of time at my mother's house when we were not as financially sound as we are now. We took advantage of her heat.
Do you have fluorescent bulbs in all your light sockets? It makes a difference. Try to confine your activities to one room at a time so you don't have lights on in several rooms at a time. Can't think of anything else right now that might make an immediate difference in your electric bill.
November 2nd, 2006 at 04:50 am 1162443040
DD's crib is on the inside wall farthest from the window and the head of DS's bed is on the outside wall next to the window. It's the only way that the two beds will fit in the room safely (not close to window or closet doors). A lot of the problem with it being cold in the kids room is the fact that they don't have anything on their window to cover it. DS has gone through several mini blinds (which are required in the lease to have up). We don't have one up right now because he ripped the last one to shreads and I'm reluctant to buy a new on because he rips them up. At least until the management says something... Same with the curtains. He ripped the rod right out of the wall by hanging from them. It's not like I don't watch them, it only takes a second with him and he's a sneeky little guy. Example: the other morning I found 4 of the 5 wood slats used to hold his bed up hiding in the closet; or check out an earlier post about him climbing out the window!
I have florecent bulbs in the kitchen and the 2 bathrooms, but that is it. I have been putting them in 1 or 2 at a time as my budget (food & non-food is combined) allows.