Tightening my Purse Strings

Ok, so for the first time ever, I'm trying to keep a budget. But "Budget" is not the right word. I haven't set a spending limit - rather I'm trying to just cut back and watch everything I spend. I have a spreadsheet and have been tracking my expenses since I got laid off in April. It's a real eye opener, but to be honest, I should probably have been doing it before getting laid off. At least now I am spending less on food, tolls and gas.

I've always known that I was spending beyond my means - or rather, beyond my meager take home income. Of course take home income also took into account my health insurance payment and my 401k contributions. But never-the-less, my take-home probably just covered my mortgage and condo fee and some utilities. I was never worried, because I had such a large cushion in my checking account. Well, I submitted most of that to be invested, and while I still have enough money to live on, and have a cash cushion at Bear Stearns, I am now trying to at least make my checking account balance last a bit longer.

Now anyone who knows me knows that I am a frugal shopper. I use coupons when I can, and I've always joked that my favorite department store is Bldg 19. I also shop in Big Lots, Ocean State Job Lots, the Xmas tree shop, and sometimes even purchase food at Walgreens. The difference is that before, I could rack up expenses in those stores on things I didn't need - small items, but they added up. Compared to some women, my retail therapy is not very costly - even if I blew $40 in Sephora on makeup, that was still small change compared to paying hundreds of dollars for boots or whatever. I don't own any expensive gadgets, a flat screen TV, a GPS, or even an iPod.

The problem is with the economy and the stock market. Let's take a look:
When I got laid off, my investments were probably worth in the $800K vicinity, and I had about $22K in my checking account. Now my investments are down about 180K and my checking account has $13K. Luckily, I am going to continue getting unemployment for the next 13 weeks, which covers my mortgage and condo fee, cable and cell phone. ($1724 a month - $431 a week).
I still have to pay COBRA ($441), car insurance ($300), gas ($100), Food ($150?), medical co-pays, and other expenses that come up (gifts, tolls, car insurance). The health insurance is going up, but dental is going down, so next year I'll be paying roughly the same amount.

That doesn't take into account other "surprise" expenses. When I brought my car in for an inspection, I learned that the right tie-rod needs repair, and that will probably cost a couple hundred. I took Marlee to see Cinderella at the Boston Ballet ( 2 tix were $50 - a steal, actually). I donated $25 to her drama workshop and $25 to another charity last week (to go to an event). I'm having my new Zamir skirt hemmed ($15). I am taking a career workshop at Tufts - $150 plus a membership fee of $35 (and $20 for books). And I met with a career coach ($75) at JVS in Boston.

So, where can I save money?? Lets see what I've done so far to try to save.

* Cancelled Verizon phone and added Comcast Digital Voice - for the first year, the package costs the same as what I was paying for web and cable, so I'm saving over $40 a month. And I have call waiting, voice mail, Caller ID, and can make toll calls for no additional cost.
* Paying bills online, which saves stamps ($0.42 each) and avoids potential late fees.
* Using Amazon Visa accrues points with which I can buy things on Amazon, and now I can also get cash back in $50 increments.
* Switched my homeowners insurance to Aronson, who handles my car insurance, so now I'll save $175 on my car insurance. (the homeowners ins. will be $25 more).
* Filing rebates at Walgreen's - have received $28 back and waiting for $14 more.
* Spending less for gas, now that it's come down from over $3.00 a gallon to $2.45.
* Trying to eat more at home since my freezer is stocked with food.

And yet, the idea of getting a job - at least an IT support or some sort of cubicle hell job, just makes me want to cry. I'd rather live frugally as I wait for the market to turn, and then find some kind of part time job, something creative or interesting, and see where I can go from there.