It's the New Year and I've Already Failed

 We are not even a week in to the new year and I've pretty much blown one of my resolutions. I hopped on the Bath and Body Works website and spent that $50 gift card and a little bit more. I promised myself that I would wait a little while before I spent that. I over by $10. But the fact remains that I still failed at it. I guess I have to get back on the bandwagon and seriously get moving on trying to keep my resolutions. I haven't broken my perfume resolution yet but I want to work on saving money.

I am working on cutting more subscriptions in an effort to do that. I don't watch Hulu that much and that went and my PBS subscription that I had tied to my Amazon account went as well. Amazon Music had to go as well since I wasn't really listening to it. I downgraded my Barkbox subscription. I used to have all of these add-ons with my Barkbox along with a double Barkbox but my dogs are going to have to content themselves with 2 toys and 2 treats every month. Yes, I am too much of a wimp when it comes to the dogs. Between my dad and I, Amazon Prime pretty much pays for itself so Amazon Prime stays. That let to a $45 a month savings and that will lead to over $500 per year.

I had to strip down my cellphone plan as well. Take my word for it, those plans can get expensive and expensive quick. I might have only been able to shave about $15 per month but with small changes, I have to start somewhere. And those subscriptions and the cellphone stuff were the first things that I had to start somewhere. What is working in my favor at this point is that I am 3 more payments away from having my Afterpay balance paid off. Having to pay $75 every 2 weeks eats in to a budget. I might wait a week or two before having that account unfrozen before I will use it again.

I am starting to rethink my grocery shopping. I'm trying to buy less soda, frozen meals and junk food along with shopping that sale fliers. I'm not exactly trying to eat healthier but want to see if I can stretch my groceries a little farther. Cutting back on the soda, junk food and frozen meals might be convenient but it gets to be expensive you get in the habit of buying those things. So I am trying to plan meals around sale ads. What is working in my favor is that with Costco runs, my freezer is to the point of over full with frozen meats. All of the meat has been all separated into manageable portions. That way, I am not throwing out a whole lot of food.

What I am planning to do in the next 2 or 3 months is go with a friend to the Mansfield Reformatory for a ghost hunt. For a shade over $100 per person, from 7pm to 3am, you will be locked in the Reformatory to ghost hunt to your hearts content. If we go, we will probably get together at about 3 or 4, grab something to eat and start to head down. It will take about an hour and a half to get down there and eating takes some time. I think that I will pick up either a Panera of McDonald's gift card well before then. Nothing is finalized yet but we are planning to go when we get some kind of tax refunds.