My Uber Thrifty Month In Review - March

The month of March started off with a very short paycheck with February having only twenty eight days.  This check was missing two days on it, but since that happens pretty much every year I was prepared for it.  Despite the lower funds it was still plenty to pay the monthly bills, ahead of their due dates too, and get groceries.

Between paychecks I received a bonus check.  That more than made up for February being a short month.  I waffled between whether or not to put it in savings or toward my debt payment goal.  After a lot of thought I decided to put it toward the debt goal and I'm really glad I did.  It made a really big impact.  Now it looks like I am just a few more months away from paying it off instead of by year end.  I am getting so excited.

I did manage to make deposits into my retirement savings including an extra one due to the bonus check, but nothing into my regular savings account.

At the beginning of the month I had almost a third of a tank of fuel in the car.  I only bought one tank of gas last month.

I was extra careful with our spending and kept our extra purchases to a minimum.  I did "splurge" a bit and picked up a few clothing items for the girls and new work shoes for me.  I strategically used coupons to cut the costs of these items quite a bit.  Needless to say JC Penney isn't getting rich off of me, I'm afraid.  Total spent on shoes and clothes so far this year comes in around $115.

I did spend a bit extra on the groceries last month.  Although it was nice to be able to go in and get whatever I liked with a more liberal budget, the warm fuzzies didn't last long so I'll probably be going back to my regular budget.  After all these years it's a hard one for me to break out of.

So bills all paid, a large amount of money put on the debt repayment goal, retirement savings goals met and a few well priced items of clothing made for what I feel is a very successful and thrifty month!