saving pennies ($24,000 worth of them)

okay, when todd decided to sell his business of 10-years and start a new venture last year, i decided i was going to cut our spending the best i could to start preparing for a rainy day. here is how i saved us over $2,000 per month (yes month, not year):

first, i went through all our bank statements and categorized each entry into HOUSE, FOOD, BILLS, INSURANCE, GROCERY, GAS, CLOTHES, KIDS, AND MEDICAL. then we began to CUT!! and when i say cut, i mean sever. luckily at the time of my budgeting, our adjustable mortgage was getting ready to be reduced so that saved us $442 a month so that is a big portion of our monthly savings. then i went through EVERY bill and called the companies, no matter how small the bill was, there was a way to get it reduced. our security system brinks reduced us by $15 a month, i changed our medical insurance from a $500 deductible to a $3000 deductible (not my top choice, but had to do it for now) saving us $288 a month, cancelled my twice a month cleaning service, and changed and combined cable, phone , internet. i cancelled grace's weekly classes and opted for just-as-fun and free library and community center classes. instead of preschool, i do a "school" for her at our house once a week--same perks and fun for free. i changed the boys from expensive horseback riding private lessons ($100/month) to group lessons ($40/month) and started them on rec classes/ leagues. i decided to color my own hair ($160 to $4.99 for my last box of color on clearance). a biggie for us was eating out. we really do not consider ourselves a family that eats "out" a lot, but we do like to order in. when i added it up, i was SHOCKED to find it was totally almost $1000/month for dining (and that is not including our $1000/month grocery bill). so we go out to breakfast still on sunday and skip ordering pizza, etc. i applied for a hess card for gas which gives you 10% back and registered for rewards on our bank accounts giving us giftcards for clothing and dining. beer was a big one(and unnecessary one) for todd's expenses so i told him he needed to get that one in check. each time i spend now, i think it through. not going to target is a big one too, and if i do have to go i only get what is on my list. so that is the framework for how we have saved $2000/month---equalling $24,000/year!!!