I am fortunate to live in a city where going "green" is extremely important. A month ago, I had a green home evaluation through the Dept of Water and Power.
They evaluated electricity and water usage, installed energy saving light bulbs, checked my irrigation and made minor adjustments for the areas with overspray and reset the automatic timers.

They inspected the insulation in the attic and A/C unit. I really had no insulation in the attic. It must have been the original insulation (from 1930!).

I qualified for attic insulation and A/C service.
The cost: FREE!!!! Yes, I said FREE!

Today, the insulation was blown into the attic. An inspector came by and tweaked some of the vents so the airflow is better and a separate crew came out to service the A/C.

The crews were great and very professional.

I know the A/C tune up is at least $100. I can only imagine what insulation would have cost me if I had to pay for it myself.

Check with your city for these types of services.

I am soooooooo happy!!!

I am the owner of (2) indoor cats and (1) outdoor feral cat. I feed them premium food because (IMO) quality food equals healthy cats.

I decided to compare pricing on line. My regular discounter sells a case (with tax) for $34.
Amazon offers it for $27 and free super saver shipping.
That's a good deal. But it gets better.........

I decided to purchase (2) cases when Amazon offered me a $40 instant credit if I applied for their credit card. I looked over the terms (which were not great) but I don't plan on carrying a balance so it doesn't matter.

The total cost for (2) cases of food is $15.90.

I am thrilled!

My extreme budget is quite the challenge. I can appreciate households on small fixed incomes making their food dollars stretch each month. I know from experiece growing up in a household of seven living on social security. My father passed when I was five so my mother became incredibly resourceful. There were no credit cards to fall back on for purchases. Our meals were planned and cooked every night (with the occassional Saturday off). We lived within our means. That is my goal for the month.

With that said, I have $35 left for food and $15 for gas. I also have $10 grocery rewards and a $15 gas gift card.

I bake and freeze nutritious muffins for my work week morning snack. I cook and prep my lunches for the week on Sunday. I keep it simple. Some people don't have the discipline. It's two fold for me. I save money and eat better than my coworkers who eat fast food (yuck) or over priced/processed foods.

My next goal is to grow a few veggies in containers. I tried growing tomatoes with little or no success. The payoff didn't yield the effort or the plants contracted a fungus right just before they were ripe.

It's a beautiful day. Time to take advantage of it.

I've decided to go to the extreme this month with my budget. I think moments of temporary insanity borrowing from Peter to pay Paul has caught up with me.

So......here's my budget minus fixed expenses:
Food $100-$28.42 = $71.54 for the month
Gas $60-25 = $35 for the month

I'm doing well. I spent $28.42 on food today paying close attention to coupons/sale flyers. I've developed the habit of walking to the markets carrying only what I can handle. I do admit, today was heavier than expected but I made it. My trips are usually 1.5 to 2.5 hours. I love walking. It's a huge stress relief but walking with a heavy load 3 miles or more is not my idea of a good time

I've been working long hours (12 day) sitting in front of a computer and it's taking a toll on me mentally and physically. My sciatic nerve has kicked in and I can't sleep more than 2-3 hours a night and it's not a sound sleep. I usually only sleep 5 hours a night and working in a high stress job I need to sleep. I'm going to see a doctor this week.

I'm confident I can make my budget work this month and the rest of the year as long as put my mind to it and ignore the distractions.