So, $1200 per month to pay the remainder of the bills for a family of four with two stubborn girls still in diapers? Well, it’s not so hard really if you’re willing to sacrifice a few things. For one, neither of us had a cell phone, gasp! I mean, what is the purpose of a cell phone, really? It’s to communicate during emergencies, and in that case, Bruce could just call me at work. Since then, we have purchased cell phones, but even now, we only use pay-as-you-go phones, paying probably less than $10 a month, TOTAL.

Also, we were not paying for cable TV and at that time had dial-up Internet, which I know isn’t the greatest, but it still worked. These are all simple ways to cut costs: think about what you REALLY need. MUST you watch HGTV or have the highest connectivity, or can you make some sacrifices?

Without those expenses, we still easily spent $500-$600 per month on groceries, but cut our food expenses tremendously by almost never going out to eat, a habit that was admittedly difficult to drop, as we had been accustomed to that lifestyle for six years of marriage. But you have to do what you have to do. Part of that also includes switching stores, though it’s tough to give in to this, and primarily shopping at Wal-mart. Their prices are easily half, and at the very least thirty percent, less than a typical grocery store. Once I discovered this, I knew we had to make that choice, grievances aside.

Back to the diapers… we used cloth diapers, so we weren’t spending $60 a month on diapers. Our water bill may have been a bit higher, but it has always hovered around $60 a month.

So where does that leave us: $540-640… Because of our good driving records and having old cars (yet another benefit of not buying a new car), our car insurance is less than $40 a month. Yes, that’s right people: LESS THAN $40 a month!! Some things, however, are out of our control, such as the energy bill, which can easily rise to $240 in winter months. We have always tried to balance this out by paying $150 every month, therefore crediting our account, even when the bill in the spring or summer is as low as $80. This is just another simple way to cut costs: look at the whole picture and make it work by balancing things out.

Assuming that we had an expensive grocery month, that leaves us with $350 for everything else: phone, clothing, trash, gas, insurance… and tomorrow, the great insurance debate… in my words and ever-so-bold opinions…