Good evening, everyone!
Did I mention before how much I love you?? You, guys, are awesome. Thank you so much for all your support and kind words and comments. I'm happy to report that my MIL was released from the hospital. She still needs to take meds (well, actually, give herself a shot) twice a day but we are happy that the worst is behind us now. Thank you for all your prayers!
And as you can see, I took a little break from this blog but I am back, rested and rejuvenated. I also got a few ideas from you on what to write about, so hopefully, the blogging muse is here to stay for a while...
And it's also the beginning of a new month. April was not our most frugal month but it was surprisingly quite good. I got a few nice deals but, mostly, I just stayed away from the stores and put a nice chunk into our savings. We are sitting nicely at $3600 out of my $10000 goal this year. May is actually a 3-pay check month for us (wohoo!!), so I hope to bump this number to $4000 but I doubt we can do any better because, more than likely, 1 check will go solely towards some sort of vacation. We haven't really planned anything this year but hubs and I desperately need a getaway, even if it's something small and local. After a year we just need to spend some time together...
But I was thinking about our savings goals and savings in general after one of the reader's letters (hey, Laurie :). These impromptu vacation ideas are kind of unusual for us. Most of the time we plan things like this way in advance and set money aside. As I mentioned before, this year we concentrate on general savings but we still create a plan on how to reach some other goals that we have. Our budget right now is more flexible than it was before because of a little better paycheck. But the thing is - it's not really better. At his previous job hubby used to get quarterly bonuses, anywhere between $800 to $2500. So overall, we were making the same amount of money but with getting a nice sum at a time it was easier to save. Now it's more about planning and restrain to save a dollar :) I try to move a chunk into savings at the beginning of the month when we are done with our budget. Then I'm keeping fingers crossed for some leftovers. If we have anything left by the end of the month, I move it to savings too and zero out the rest of the budget. Then we start all over again :) There are months when we have to dip into savings. But, mostly, we've been pretty successful so far with pinching our pennies.
I think, I want to write a separate post on saving when you live on a tight budget but for now I just want to say that I'm back and I'm loving it :)
So how was your frugal week and the month of April??
I'm glad that your MIL is out of the woods and I hope you do get some time to breathe now.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you're back Lena and that your MIL is doing well. I love your posts and look forward to reading your blog!
ReplyDeleteOur April was pretty good despite taking a long overdue holiday with our daughter and grandson to Disneyland. The trip didn't affect our budget as we had spent the year saving for it but I was worried that we'd lose a bit of income while we were away. My worries did not come forward, as my dh had an incredible couple of weeks with huge deals before we left and I had become very busy with counseling, so we actually ended up with more money last month than usual. The extra went right into our savings along with a bit extra that we didn't have to spend as our utilities were lower. With the snow gone and the warmth surrounding us, the furnace is not running as usual so our heating bill was down and no one is taking long, hot showers or baths at the moment, so our water bill was down as well. Good month all around!
So glad to hear all your news is good, Lena :)
ReplyDeleteI am glad you are back - but don't feel bad when you must take a break. We are not machines, right?
ReplyDeleteApril was OK but I am hoping May will be even better, for all of us.