After watching my hubby spend an entire day opening mail and shredding I am convinced that good, bad or ugly- I am opening and shredding mail everyday. I would much rather just know what I am up against than ignore the ugly truth.Eventually, I would like to be in a situation where I can just open a bill and pay it the same day. That is not an option right now. However, I have set up automatic bill pay with my bank account. I realize this has been around a long time, but I was always too afraid that I would go on a huge check bouncing spree every month if I did that. It was such a relief to go online and plan out how our money would be spent and really see our budget in action. I don't have the money to pay off all the bills that I have, but it sure is a relief to see when they will be paid and how much will be going out each month.
(Steve making homemade tortillas- about .25 serving)
We don't have checks. We have just been using our debit cards and paying bills electronically- I honestly don't miss checks, I could never keep track and it was always a stressful experience for me. The natural next step is this, don't use the debit cards- except in an emergency. Part of our frugal experiment will be to pay cash for all expenses that are not bills. I was watching on the Today Show how much more likely one is to stay on track/budget in the grocery store when using cash. It is so much easier to put items back that are frivolous when you don't have the money in your pocket to buy it.
It occur ed to me tonight that I am probably not telling anyone anything new about being frugal. Lord knows, I am not an expert, in fact whatever that is below novice- that is what I am. I have been very hard headed about managing my finances, having to learn everything the hard way, many times. I realize that it is too stressful, I can't do it anymore.
Tips on saving money - TODAY Technology & Money
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