My $800 annual budget and how it works.

I have basically put $800 cash into an online savings account. This is for 4 people, one adult, 1 teen, two tweens and two dogs.  This averages out to 54¢ per person per day. One month I might spend $100 and only spend $25 the following, but as long as I have not gone over the $800 for the YEAR I am still within my goal. Any time I have to pay out of pocket for something I will use a credit card that I earn rewards on, either cash back, gift cards back or college savings. Then I will transfer that purchase amount from my online account to my checking account to cover the cost of those items when the bill comes in.

I will use coupons and gift cards, combined with store sales and loyalty cards to make my purchases cost less money out of pocket. Gift cards are obtained from trades, special promotions, survey sites, rebates, in store promotions as well as referral bonuses. I never buy gift cards as that would defeat the purpose. The stores I shop at will double up to 50¢ and triple up to 39¢. We do not pay food tax except on convenience foods. I calculate my savings by the price a product rings up at vs. what I pay out of pocket for it. (Example: if something normally costs $3.99 but is on sale for $2.00 and I have a $1 coupon, I saved $1) I know other people calculate different and that is fine, but I only go by what it rings up at since most of the time I would not buy the item if it were not on sale.

Any money earned from surveys or rebates is added back into the budget for future use as long as the rebate was for a budget item (for example if I do an ACE Hardware rebate that money is not added back into the budget).

What IS included in my budget.

1. all food
2. all HBA (health and beauty items)
3. all dog food
4. all eating out
5. all cleaning supplies
6. all coupons I pay for (the paper)


What is NOT included in my budget

1. Clothing
2. Gifts
3. Car
4. House
5. Bills
6. Coupons I obtain by using ECB or RR or gift cards, since it costs me nothing.
7. Gas

It took me almost three years to get to the level of couponing and stockpiling I am at now. It did not happen overnight.  Once you begin obtaining a stockpile of items you are able to cut back expense on those items. So even though it might not look like I am purchasing much for my family in various food groups, I am, or have in the past, and am using food from my stockpile.  That food was paid for once, so I am not including it in my budget again for this year as I use it.

It takes me on average 1 hour per week to find the deals, gather coupons and make my lists. Then I might spend another 30 minutes actually shopping for the items. With the help of Hot Coupon World, I can find out the deals online without having to drive to many stores to find them. This is a real time saver.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Please don't judge until you know the facts. No I am NOT on food stamps nor do we have health problems.


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