Miserly March

Holly at Scattered Words celebrated Frugal February, which inspired me to practice Miserly March. The idea is to limit expenses as much as possible for a month. I tried to do this in February, but I was a Frugal February Fail. We went out to eat, we bought stuff, we were NOT frugal.

But I intend to redeem myself. I even found a way to make my March goal alliterative! Yay Miserly March!

First off, I want to ask: do you have a spreadsheet where you track your monthly income and expenses? I'm a finance (and excel) person, and I have to admit that even I wasn't tracking this stuff as well as I should have been. Now I have an Excel sheet that's amazing. I track all of our income, subdividing it out by where it's coming from. Then I track our expenses, subdividing them by card, account, or bill. I separate out fixed expenses (car payment, loan payment), from those that vary: gas, electric, credit cards. This really helps me see just how much control we do have to change a given month's bill, and how much is locked in. Overall, this spreadsheet is great to see how much our income is (hopefully) outpacing our expenses, and how much we can save each month. So with this wonderful financial data in hand, I look forward to seeing how much of an impact I can have with Miserly March! Who knows, if it's successful I may just have a Miserly May as well!

Purposes of Miserly March:
1. To see just how much we could cut expenses if needed, in order to make sure we have plenty saved in our "emergency fund".
2. To use all the pantry items that have just sat there for way to long.
3. To learn how to cook new, inexpensive meals.
4. TO SAVE MONEY (duh!)

How To:
1. Shop less. We have an unfortunate habit of buying food when we still have stuff at home. This makes our pantry area uncomfortably full, plus sometimes stuff goes bad. Plus, every time we go to Costco, impulse purchases happen. The total effect of that decreases if we go less often! Also, the money we spent on the food is just sitting on the shelf, not doing anything, while we're spending more that *could* be earning interest.

2. Only buy essentials. No, I don't really need a new pair of jeans. But even more than that, I don't need to buy the expensive olive tapenade when I can instead make hummus for cheap!

3. Eat in! It's so difficult to do this ALL THE TIME, especially when we're busy. We're pretty good about doing it 92% of the time. We need to get better! To be honest, I'm the bad one in this regard. A couple days a week I'm away from home for 14 hours, and I find it difficult to bring enough food. I need to get more creative, keep food in the car, do something.

4. Cut down on gas/electric/water usage. We're already allstars in this dept., but I'll try to improve. Shorter showers, making sure ALL the non-essential lights are off ALL the time.

5. Perform a financial analysis to make sure our investments and loan payments are being alloted as efficiently as possible. Investment performance changes. Everyone must constantly re-evaluate investments and make sure that his/her money is being utilized well.

Now I must admit, I do have some purchases I plan on making prior to the onset of Miserly March. Well, just one really: we just bought some wine, thanks to BevMo's 5cent wine sale, and we desperately need a wine rack. So I'll be cruising Target/Big Lots/Cost Plus to find one that's not too expensive, in honor of the upcoming Miserly March.

Feel free to join in the fun, and post about your cost-saving tips!