Money Saving

I kind of forgot what it was like to budget money.  Not that I'm out buying clothes every day, and eating at posh restaurants every evening.  I've always been relatively good at not over-spending, and I really truly love saving money in a savings account.

But for the past six years, I've had a very stable job, and very few bills.  This means that I had a rather decent amount of expendable income.  I could buy any groceries I wanted, and eat out at restaurants pretty much any time, and buy a new pair of shoes if the desire arose.  In that six years, there were still important budgeting issues, like paying off a car and paying for tuition those couple of semesters that I went to school.  But for the most part, my income was rather comfortable.

Lately, with the husband in school and paying for tuition, a lot of bills are crawling out of the wood work (handling rent without three other roommates to share, paying the FULL gas and power bills instead of splitting with people, what?)  We're pretty fine, still, money-wise.  But we're also hoping to go to Europe next year.  And with trying to save and plan for that, I have to re-learn about budgeting.

(Picture break for no reason)

It's been a bit of a battle.  Last night, I bought a $7 block of gruyere cheese.  It was delicious on our croque madame sandwiches, but eating from home shouldn't be costing us that much per meal, right?  On the mornings where I work at Tulie Bakery  (which is so awesome, by the way!), I don't have time to go home and grab a breakfast.  At least, that's what I tell myself, and then I stop in at a fast food drive-thru on my way into work.  Not only is that unhealthy, but it can add up.  And I don't even really like the food that much!

All this to say, I've really got to write up some budget goals.  And stick to them.  Here are some that I'm going to implement:

1. Only eat out at a fast food place once a week TOPS (hopefully not at all)
     a. Make healthy grab-and-go breakfast and lunch snacks so I don't get the temptation to stop somewhere

2. Keep grocery lists simple--sometimes you don't have to be fancy and get gruyere cheese when plain old $2 cheddar will do the trick!

3. Put at least 13% of each paycheck into savings (both as a good rule, and because Europe is caaaaaaalling our names)

4. Stop taking shortcuts when another (longer) way will save money--like buying canned beans.  Beans are cheap as pennies, but canned ones cost soooo much more.  And seriously, with the amount of random, and rather unnecessary, baking I do, I'm sure I could substitute in some bean-soaking time instead.  Also, I spent $6 on a car wash yesterday. Probably that could have been done with a hose and some elbow grease.

5. The $1, $2 justification is no longer allowed!  Buying a $2 or $3 treat instead of going out to lunch still adds up!

(Also doing more free activities like campfire nights.  Fun!)

Guys, I need your help!  What are your favorite money-saving tips and tricks?  Any help in changing these habits would be much appreciated!