January Low Spend and Decluttering Challenge

As the kids and adults in our house have been sick for the past month and a half, I have had a lot of time to think about what I want our 2013 to look like and what I want to accomplish. As I look back over previous years I can see that I have made goals that were too loftly, or were doomed to fail from the beginning. Part of that I think is that I look at the big picture and don't break goals down into manageable steps. I make goals for the year that I ultimately forget about in 2 months.....

Well NOT this year. I have decided that 2013 is the year that I make smaller mini goals--my ideal is to make a monthly goal that I want to work on for that month.

January is the month where I feel like I get a start over in redoing our finances and also a redo of our house, when I get rid of excess and feel the urge to declutter. So I was so excited to see that the lovely Carla over at My 1/2 Dozen Daily was hosting a January Decluttering and No/Low Spend Challenge. I have decided to join in!

 

 

My goals for this January challenge:

 

- Financial goals:

• Spend no more than $320 on food for the month. (This averages out to $80 a week). I need to get our grocery budget down as this past 2 months we have been averaging $130 a week for our family due to illnesses and holidays.
• Spend no more than $150 on household items (diapers, wipes, toilet paper, Tide, dish detergent and trash bags)
• No Eating out
• The EXCEPTIONS:
•  Hubby and I are looking into buying new cell phones (ours are over 3 years old) and getting a cheaper plan (if we buy pre-paid we could potentially save $30 a month over our current bill)
• We have to get a title and tags for our new to us van that we were gifted
• This does not affect our utilities, rent, gas for our vehicles, etc.
• As always family emergencies, medical, dental, etc. are not counted against this as well.

-Decluttering goals:

• I have one decluttering goal for this month---the huge closet (it is the size of a half room) off the bathroom that has become a dumping ground for stuff and storage. It is horrible! Would like to donate/sell at least half of the stuff in there. Here are a few before pictures:

The view looking in from the bathroom

 

Behind the door

So there you have it....my financial goals and decluttering goals for January. I hope I can meet them and make them a stepping stone for success for 2013!