We've set a rather ambitious "out of college debt" goal date. November 2014.
It's slightly more ambitious if you think we have 11 years of college between us, and we're also financing an adoption currently. Maybe someday when I'm feeling a little more victorious about our debt reduction I'll actually post concrete numbers.
This pay period (Michael gets paid every other Tuesday), I cut our grocery bill nearly in half by sucking it up and menu-planning some less-than-glamorous meals (actually, Glamor wouldn't even touch these meals with a 10-foot pole). Of course, I realize that's not sustainable savings, and I'll run out of staples and need to stock up every now and then. But I'm hoping it averages out to at least 35% savings.
So far, I've come up with two savings techniques for us that seem to be working.
- portion sizing. (a.k.a. rationing...but it sounds healthier and less WWII when I say "portion sizing")
- buying whole fryer chickens instead of chicken breasts. (yes. I'm aware that typing out "breasts" might increase the odd people stumbling on my blog, but "adult plastic panties" continues to be one of the most popular search stumbles...and that still makes me laugh every time.)
There is one money saving tip I'm just not ready to embrace yet. Family cloth. And that's all I'm going to say about that.
