I no longer feel like we live on the show "Hoarders". It took a couple of weeks (eek!), but we finally have the dining room & living room cleared of 90% of the excess junk. There is still a file cabinet & a chair that need to be moved somewhere else, but for now I can live with where they are. I got the hall closet cleaned out completely, and all organized. Next on my llist: the bathroom. I want to clean it (really, really clean it), and get the cabinets cleaned out under the sink. Then its on to the kitchen, the living room, and finally, the garage.
We have been looking at houses. So far, we know which city we most likely want to move to and we found some great neighborhoods. I love visiting on Saturdays when the weather is nice. You can quickly see which neighborhoods are kid-friendly and which ones are not. The one we like has a playground, sidewalks (never thought that would have to be on my list!), and when we drove through there were several families with small kids outside playing. Dh has a couple of cases pending right now. As long as those close, we should have the $$ to go in & make an offer on a house. So now we just wait for that. From what we have seen around here, we both think that house prices will fall again before the end of the summer. Not that you can time the market ever, but we want to wait & see if that pans out. Should put us in a better position to move (even if our current house price falls too).
Budget-wise we are doing o-k. Not stellar by any means. Last month was great for savings, but horrendous in the food category. I just don't know what to do anymore about the restaurants/fast-food category. I have been fighting with DH over that one since the day we got married. Its ridiculous what we spend each month. And I would say at least 70% of that is DH going out to lunch. Ughgh, most of the time its part of the job, but its also just a habit now too. I don't know how to get through to him that its not ok to spend more on eating out than we do on our mortgage!!!! Everyone has their weakness, every budget their leak, every couple their sore-point. This is ours. I just do the best I can everywhere else, and try not to nag him too much. :(
I only have 8 more weeks left in my current job (7 teaching, the last one they could possibly transition me out, so maybe only 7). No news yet as to where I will be going or what I will be doing. Hopefully I find out soon!
4 comments:
Have you tried putting him a budget? Like he gets X amount per week or per month (however you do the budget). That may make him realize how much he's spending. So let's say you give him $100 for the month as his 'allowance' Once it's gone...it's gone. No more. Thats how I started with DH. He has to eat out everyday b/c he's a driver. He brownbags it in the spring and fall, but in summer it's too hot to eat in the truck and in the winter it's too cold. So he has a set budget for the week.
The boy used to eat Wendy's everyday and get a meal or two and sides....between 10-15 each DAY, on junk. Now, if he goes to wendy's he orders off the dollar menu, but for the most part, he switched to Subway for the $5 footlongs...much healthier then Wendys!
So now he gets his allowance and budgets accordingly. Maybe that would help?
We have tried it before. Guess its time for another attempt.
I'm with Spaghetti. Another thing that I tried with my DH that worked for us was to give him a set amount. If he doesn't use it all, he gets to spend it on whatever he wants. It gave him an incentive because he would rather spend the money on his motorcycle.
I also agree on giving "fixed" amounts - if he spends it he's out on his own - and no cheating by using CC's or debit cards either. He has to learn the hard way if necessary about being responsible with money.
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