Changes Are Coming For 2013

On December 27th my hubby accepted an Accounting position within his railroad.  We are so happy about this!  This is what he went to school for and had worked so hard to achieve.  He will work daytime hours with weekends and holidays off.  He will no longer have to use vacation time just to be able to celebrate a holiday with us.  Those are the good points!

The not so good,  but we can make it work points are, he will no longer be working in the town we live in.  He will have to commute to work about an hour each way everyday now.  There will also be some traveling involved since he will now be doing accounting work for the Midwest division of his railroad.  This includes some out of state travel.

So what does this mean for us and our finances? Well first up we will have to make up about a $600 a month difference in our primary income.  We will need to cut a few expenses and increase some income. 

One of the ways we will do this is with my new job. 

The other will be to take a good look at our bills, namely whether we really need the cable or not.  It is bundled with our Internet and land line, so we will need to see what other options are out there.  We have Netflix already which we actually watch more then our cable channels.  We also all have cell phones so it is a possibility that the land line will be going away along with the cable. I am thinking that will probably save us about $100 a month.

Next up will be the grocery budget.  There are no longer 7 people living here anymore, we are down to just 4 with some occasional visits and family dinners etc with the rest of the kids, yet our grocery budget is still the same.  The few months that I attempted to meal plan for the whole month all at once really saved us alot of money.  I plan to put this back into action and hopefully shave off $100 a month off our grocery bill.  Not only am I going to have to really plan for our dinners, but I also need to for snacks and breakfasts that will be easy for my husband to take along in the car with him.  I am going to have to really sit down and plan this all out.

I have a post planned in the next day or two with my 2013 goals.  2 of those goals are to keep selling our used and unwanted items and also my craft projects.  By doing those to things I think I can easily bring in an extra $100 or more a month. 

My husband also does alot of side work which brings in extra income.  So with all of these things thought out I think the decrease in primary income will not hurt us to badly.

Our biggest obstacle in all of this is my husband is in need of a smaller fuel efficient car.  Hopefully by mid summer if not before we will be able to cash purchase a new to us car for him to drive to and from work.  In the mean time he will use my car during the week and I will drive his 20 yr old car around town.  I don't really like his car much but I DO like being car payment free, so that out weighs my dislike of his old car :)

Here  is hoping for a good 2013!