Simple Savings war on debt

Is anyone doing the Simple Savings war on debt calendar?
I am the one who does the finances in our house, and although I have done a budget we don't have any leftover money and I don't understand what I am doing I use Quicken to track our finances, which is great, but I still don't get what I'm buying that is so flippin essential!!
I've decided to bite the bullet and follow the Simple Savings calendar for this year, as it makes me feel sick to my stomach that we should be able to save and have stuff/be able to do stuff that we want, and we are not.
Is anyone else following it this year, maybe we could help eachother?

Wow! Had never heard of it but just had a quick look If you can do it, it would be great!

No you can find it on the 'free things' page, but apparently there is a lot of great stuff in the vault....it just takes so much time to trawl through it all...

That looks like an awesome challenge. I'm definately going to try it out

I have just been checking out the challenges, not sure how well I would go as some I can not go without.

T_Rex wrote: Just curious Jazzy, what can't you go without?

If we had to there are a couple of things that we could downsize or go with out.

Sky TV, we pay just over $100 a mth, but when I break that down it is around $25 a week for entertainment. We go out very really & a relative will babysit but thats maybe once a yr.
So we don't spend money on movies, babysitters & we don't hire movies. We very really have takeaways maybe once in awhile as a treat for the kids but I am trying to meal plan & use everything I buy in the shopping.

Our ph bill is high as we are on a big BB plan but then DH does lots of stuff with, study, work, on-call etc. We could drop down a plan & watch what we use & that would save us $120yr but if we went over it could cost double the ph bill, but it is there to done if we need to.

I don't know how you could do a $21 challenge unless you spent a couple oh hundred $ prior & stocked up.

I am interested in reading more about it & looking at what I can implement. I am interested to know if anyone on here is having success with it & what realistically you can expect.

We need to save money & I know we have the opportunity to do that & I guess some of it is breaking old habits.

DH & I redid the budget. So now he knows where the money goes & if he wants a holiday & things then we have to save or budget for them.

Our sky is $110 a month, we have HD & 2 decoders with sports & movies so can cut down if need be but $25ish a week for us for entertainment is ok as we don't go out & spend $ on it.

We did the grocery list with everything we need & want & it came to approx $600 for a fortnight. I usually budget in $400 & spend more on extra trips which I don't count. So I am going to do 1 trip tonight & then put $50 away for next week to get milk & bread & fruit.

This shop has $110 for meat so will see what is on special, $45 fruit & veg fresh, $50 frozen foods, $186 pantry, $50 dairy, $40 cleaning & personal...that comes $481 so far & $50 next week...also want to do PnS xmas club.

I have planned meals to the ingredients & baking as well. I make pasta once a week so can make crackers at the same time. This is one of my favs for recipes sites easy recipes & am going to try the LCM bars & puff pastry fingers & more mmm

I am going to pay the bills monthly instead of fortnightly 1/2 payments so the money will sit in my bill account till then. Have opened 2 new accounts, 1 for bills, 1 for kids & have 1 for savings (big stuff) & 1 for everyday.

Because of the set up we have we don't turn a lot off at night so DH is moving the wireless back to the computer points as it is with the entertainment, so we will be able to turn all that off at the wall, tv, sky, ps3, xbox, wii, dvd, amp, speakers so may save something there.

We use a lot of water & don't know how I can cut that down.

We are going to use 1 car only & I am walking everywhere I can. DH is going to get a scooter for work as it will only cost a few $ for petrol & won't have to pay parking & I don't think you need to warrant or reg them & it not far to work on the same road basically. He is also on the bus route & if we both want the car it is not a problem for me to drop him at work before school/kindy. I can even walk to his work form home, so we don't need 2 cars.

If we stick to the budget we should have a good amount to save...the things we need to do know is a couple of things on DH's car, get a scooter, sell my car.

Last yr my dryer packed a sad & never got a new one, I am planning on getting 1 this winter but am wonder which is better a dryer or just making sure we have more clothes. The kids need an extra school uniform each in case I don't get them dry so 3 sets each & DS3 starts school in 4mths. I am planning on walking even in the rain (like we used to).

So my main reasons are to save to update our car next yr (cash), for everyone to eat better & get fit & healthy. We want to go on a holiday & day/weekend trips & give the kids adventures & get them into clubs & sports. We don't use credit cards & don't want any or loans. Also need to save for our retirement.

Has anyone read the $21 challenge book? DH wants to know why it is $21 & not $20

I think this site really makes you think about what you spend money on & can save on.

Ahh Jazzy, you buy the item & then cook to that, I get the recipe & fit it to what is in my cupboard.

I was a bit stunned until I realised it was a fortnight you are buying for.

I do have to remind myself that we do not eat a huge range of fruits & vege's nor do I buy prepackaged foods & we don't buy dairy.

I turn things off at the wall but don't really notice that much of a power change.

Not sure why they did the $21 challenge? Catchy? The challenge isn't supposed to be a week in week out thing but more of a "crap we are lacking money this week, we can't afford to eat" so you do it on the odd occasion.

I saw in the Healthy Food Guide how to feed a family on $30 a week. It had the reference to the Simple Savings $21 challenge. Basically you write down everything you have in your pantry, fridge, freezer & garden, then you meal plan. You only buy what you need e.g. if you need 4 carrots you only buy 4 & not a bag. If you run out of bread you make it. So I don't see the difference between a food budget, a meal plan & a stocked supply of basics.

Yea, I don't really 'get' the $21 challenge. As I understand it, the point is just to not spend money for a week and use what you've got in the cupboards etc. I don't need a book to tell me how to do that, honestly.

Edited by Hopes