Pick some areas and do something

Per my prior assessment, I can make changes here:

• (varies wildly) $200 to $750 - Personal: Allowance, Poker, Education, Vacation, Subscriptions and Dues, Gifts, Other Entertainment, Misc.
• $495 - Utilities: Gas, Electricity, Cable, Internet, Water, Cell Phone
• $300 - Food: Groceries, Restaurants, Fast Food
• $35 - Debt: Finance Charges, Debt Reduction Payments
• $0 - Misc: Savings, Other

I've reordered them in descending order.  I think I should start with the biggest ones.

Detailed assessment of each area:

• Personal
• Poker: Can come out of my allowance, instead of the household budget.  It usually does now, but that's not as firm as it should be.
• Subscriptions & Dues: I canceled my GameFly subscription just now.  That's $25/month saved.  Yay!
• Other Entertainment: This should also come ONLY out of my allowance from now on.
• Vacation: I have to pay the timeshare every other year, but I can be careful about additional vacation expenses.  We don't currently have any planned, but this is an area I can watch and be careful with.
• Utilities
• Water: This is one of my biggest.  I'm using a ton of water somehow.
• See if sprinkler system is in winter mode.  Adjust sprinkler times if necessary.
• Check if rear toilet is leaking
• Make sure water level in washer is appropriate to load size
• Do not run water while brushing teeth.
• Gas: I'm definitely using the heater a lot
• Reduce daytime temperature in house
• Reduce after-bed termperature in house
• Check for drafts and see if I can fix any
• Electricity
• Turn off lights when not in room
• Turn off various ceiling fans
• Consider putting computer on timer rather than running constantly
• Shut off air purifier
• Unplug various unused AC items
• Cable & Internet
• Call and see if they'll reduce my rates at all
• Cell Phone: This is entirely out of hand
• Go through bill with fine-tooth comb and see what can be done here.
• Food - I've already cut out fast food and restaurants.  And I'm having trouble staying within $300 as it is.  I think I'll leave this one alone for now and instead set the following goals:
• Make reasonable menus, including plans to eat frozen meals
• Reduce waste
• Start incorporating pantry into menu
• Revisit this area each month to see if additional improvements can be made yet.
• Debt
• I think this one is about the best it can be for now.  All interest rates are low at the moment, and I can't afford to make faster/higher/more payments yet.
• Misc.
• Nothing I can do with this for now.  Will revisit each month

 

Changes made:
Cancelled Gamefly

Realized Savings from last month::
$0 - Just starting

Additional proposed savings for next month:
$25 - Gamefly
$25 - Utilities(starting small)
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$50 - Total Proposed Savings