One month, one income

It’s been one full month now that Eric started the academy, and we’ve been living off one income.

And you know what? We’re not eating rice and beans. I’m not wearing rags. And I’m not competing with the bum from 7-11 and screaming to passer-bys: “But I need it for fooood!”

You know what I’ve learned? I learned that in September we had our best budget month of the year. I learned we lived way below our means. I learned that less money does not equal less happiness.

In fact, I would almost venture to say that we’ve been happiest since Eric started the academy. We are spending much more time with each other, and we’ve really hit a fine groove.

Groceries? lowest amount for the year. Dining out? lowest amount of the year.  Overall spending? lowest amount of the year by almost half. This means that, if we normally spend around $2,000, this month we spent $1,000. (those aren’t real numbers, but you get the idea).

This means that we can actually live off my salary.

Things are tight, but we’re managing. It hasn’t even felt like we’ve had to deprive ourselves of anything. We’re just living a much more simple lifestyle. When you have less, you spend less.

I consider ourselves very lucky that we’re somehow still managing okay!

We spend a lot of evenings home. And on weekends? We shamelessly use both our parents for food and entertainment. Free homemade dinner? Yes, please!

I am honestly sooo proud of us. And one of our favorite things to do together is take long Saturday morning walks with our pup and grab a pastry from our local bakery. Total Cost? About $6.

Goals for October

• Save at least $1,000 for the Costa Rica fund (this is a separate travel fund)
• Keep regular savings at $5,000
• Pay off Eric’s car insurance
• Pay off my car insurance
• Continue to work on losing the Newlywed 15 (down 12, 6 more to go!)