Tightwad Tuesday: Tracking Expenses Challenge

Okay, so I'm posting Tightwad Tuesday a day late on Wednesday instead.  *Smile*   I got a bit side tracked with our move but I'm back in the saddle again.. at least for this week.. and hope to post TT a bit more regularly. 

I've learned some of my most frugal practices from the TWG. I like to make it a yearly goal to browse through it's pages to spark new frugal motivation so this year I decided to share some of  my favorite frugal  practices from TGW with you and hopefully start a few new ones.

The frugal tip for this week is keeping a journal of your spending expenses. I did try to keep tracking of how much I spent on groceries once and I definitely felt it was helpful. But, I've never tracked everything we've spent for an entire month.

This is a different financial season for my husband and I .. every penny LITERALLY counts with no room for error. Starting in October my budget dropped another $1,000 and we are now officially living below poverty level. Funny though ...  I don't feel poor. :-)  I am very, very blessed and well-taken care of by my Heavenly Father. Every need  my husband and I have is abundantly met and many 'wants', too.

 So, I'm considering keeping a journal in February. The purpose will be to monitor all 'optional' spending. There are still dollars slipping through my fingers and I'm hoping if I make an effort to write down every penny it might deter some unnecessary spending.

Do you keep a financial journal?

Tightwad Tuesday: Buying your freedom through frugality

 I'm continuing to read through my old copy of The Tightwad Gazette to prep myself for 'The Most Frugal Year' of my marriage.  There were some real nuggets of encouragement in the article called, "They call me "The Frugal Zealot". These were my favorites...

~ "Saving money, rather than earning money, became the means to my goal".
~ "Certainly the recycling of aluminum foil did not greatly contribute to our dream.  Rather it was the attention to all the thousands of ways we spent our money that made a tremendous difference."
~ "Over the years our average income had been less than $30,000..In less than seven years we saved $49,000, made significant purchases(vehicles, appliances, furniture) of $38,000 and were completely debt free"!

Amy states that frugality is a means to her goal. That's a good question to ask.. why am I practicing frugality? What is MY goal for frugality? For me personally...  it's the means I use to (hopefully) secure my position to remain a homemaker. I have a daily choice on how I spend the money that comes into our home. If I can save more money than I spend then my chances of not having to work full-time may be accomplished (Lord willing).

A family member once said it would drive her crazy to pinch every penny.I actually enjoy the challenge of cutting expenses and living below our means. I like finding new ways (and sometimes untraditional) to meet needs in my family on little to no money.

How about you? What is your goal? How does saving money or stretching your husband's income help meet that goal?