In the Summer of 2008 when gas prices were climbing exponentially, we realized the need for extreme budgeting.
So, I cracked open my Microsoft Excel program and created a spreadsheet. Every single item on every single receipt was entered. All fifty items on my grocery list had their own entry. It was categorized into 'food', 'gas', 'house bills', 'clothing,' 'coffee drinks (yes, this was a category) and several other sections. Then by each item was categorized into 'necessary' or 'not necessary.' The last bit was tricky.
Take clothing. I did not have sandals. Spending $7 at Payless didn't break the bank but would my canvas flats have done the trick. Yes. So that was 'unnecessary.' But then there was a family wedding to attend. My only good pair of shoes had holes in them. I did not need to buy shoes for functionality but to not present as white trash, it would be fair to say I needed to spend maybe $15 at Shopko.
Long story short, sorting every item purchased into necessary and unnecessary categories gave us a really great picture of where we could cut corners (really do not NEED to make pasta with gorgonzola when other cheaper options are available) and where we could not (cannot not put gas in the car when baby needs to go to the doctor.)
Rumor has it gas prices are rising. Not looking forward to that but its probably time for a new spreadsheet anyways.
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