What Can We Cut?

Stay-At-Home Wife . . . sounds great, right?  Yes!  But . . . how do I get there?

I guess the first place to start is finances.  My husband and I have to figure out how to be able to get to the goal of living without my income.  We took a look at all of the different charges on our bank statement.  To be honest, there were a lot.  We discussed what items were necessary and what we could live without.

The following items were in the first round of cuts:

•  Cable – We don’t really watch TV nor have time to.

• Netflix – Same reason as the cable, we hardly ever have time to watch the shows and even less time to watch a movie!

• Video Game Subscription – This was a sacrifice on my part.  I love to play my online game, but I also realized it was time I could/should be spending with my husband (or sewing :-p).

• Fast Food – It’s not the healthiest, it upsets our digestive systems, and it’s expensive.  I buy stuff to make the same meal at the grocery store for less.

• Eating Out - $20-40 for two people to eat one dinner vs. how many meals you can make if you spent that on groceries.  No contest there.

• Newspaper Subscription – We don’t actually read the paper (the comics don’t count).  I mainly got it for the coupons and I don’t buy most of the items they have coupons for.  We also don’t need to be looking at the ads of other stores; it’ll only make us want to spend money.

Do you spend money on any of these items?  How much?  Do you really use or need them?