Spending Fast

I recently posted on FB that I was going to be doing a "Spending Fast". This idea came from my friend Cassidy (Thank you!) who has done this several times and most recently did one in February. When she mentioned she was going to start it up and wanted people to do it with her I really wanted to, but knowing we had 2 birthdays, Valentines, and a mini vacay in Feb I just knew it wouldn't work out for us.
So, March is almost here. Today is our pay day, and last night John and I sat down and re-worked our budget.

#1 - We listed our regular monthly expenses, and worked out ways to cut back. We are cancelling cable. We found a discount that we can get on our Cell bill, and we also found some monthly medical bills that we can pay off with a medical expense account that we discovered we have. Wahoo! So that monthly payment will be rolled into our lowest debt along with the money we are saving from the cell phones and cable. Other than saving electricity and hot water that's all we got. 

#2 - We figured out how to "Snow Ball" our debt away. Dave Ramsey, did this come from you? I know I've seen it in the church's finance pamphlet too. I just googled it and HERE is the best explanation for it. Basically you start with your lowest debt and pay it off. NOT the lowest interest! Not even the lowest monthly payment. Just the lowest debt. Then once it's gone you add that payment onto the next lowest and so on. When you calculate it all out, it's exciting to see how fast your debt can go away. It's motivating!

#3 - We decided to do a 1 month "Spending Fast".
         The Rules:
             (A) Pay all our monthly bills. I can do that! :)
             (B) Make a reasonable, but also cheap monthly budget for groceries. We are going to try for $400 and put that money in an envelope. (Again, Dave Ramsey?) I know I've heard it somewhere. Once the money is gone, it's gone. But hopefully I'll be able to save here. In the past I've tried doing 1 big shopping trip a month, but I think this time I'm going to do 1 trip a week so $100 a week.
             (C) I'm making a weekly meal plan to help me stick to the budget. 
             (D) Don't spend ANY more money! No eating out. No other shopping. No trips. No dates that cost money. No activities for the kids that cost money.
             (E) Simplify and De-clutter! I'm selling and donating items we don't need. What does that have to do with saving money? Well, if I sell something I'm making more money obviously. And donating helps me simplify my life. I find that when I've simplified my life, I'm more grateful for the things I have, which in turn helps me to not want more. It's a mind set change I think. Simplifying my life is one of my goals for the year. I got this idea from my wonderful friend Katrina. She said she continues to make this her New Years resolution and when she said that I thought she was already an expert at it. I realized I have a LONG ways to go.

And there's the plan. I'd love any feedback! I got a lot of great advice on FB which I soooo appreciated, and I can always use more!  Let me know if you want to do it too and we'll keep each other going!