weekend update

It's been another crazy and unpredictable week, but that is a-okay!  Weeks/months like this one are teaching me the importance of keeping my priorities in check and remaining flexible.  My youngest was sick at home Monday and Tuesday and we found out early in the week that a very good friend of ours has colon cancer.  The prognosis and outlook of everyone involved is extremely positive.  The week has been spent sitting with our friends at the hospital and doing what we can to help them at home by preparing meals for their children.  My "normal" goals for the month haven't been my top priority for the week, instead it's been that of friendship, but I am certainly glad that I have the goals in writing.  My blog is a positive distraction and when my head and mind are all a jumble, I can look at my written to-do's and have some direction on what needs to be done.

Sealed Pot - I had a jar of loose change in our kitchen that was earmarked for our sponsored child in Liberia.  We found out he has moved to a different village and no longer needs us to sponsor him, so that money has gone into the Sealed Pot.  It was about $10 in change.

Exercise/Weight Loss -Once again it was on auto pilot and  trying to make good and sensible decisions.  My goal was to exercise twice this week and I exercised once.  You can track my weight loss goals here.

52 Letters in 52 Weeks. -  This week's letter went to my sister.  She celebrated her "half birthday" and I sent her a letter and some fun, silly socks.

Reading - I finished reading the Half Broke Horses and loved it!!  It is about the grandmother in The Glass Castle and wished that I would have read Half Broke Horses before reading The Glass Castle.  After reading the 2nd book, I had so much more understanding and patience for the Mom in The Glass Castle.  Both are great books though and I recommend reading both no matter which order you read them!

Rosetta Stone  - I completed 4 lessons this week!  I have a hard time making myself sit down to do it, but love it once I'm doing it!

 

No Spend Challenge -- We're doing pretty good.  With some unexpected expenses (going to Texas and making some purchases to help our friends) I know that we will not meet our original goal of spending 10% less this month than we did in January '11 but that's okay.  We have to know when it's okay to spend and when friends and family are more important than staying on budget.  I'll know the final numbers for sure next week!  I'm looking forward to our February Challenges and will finalize my specific goals for the challenge this weekend.  Will share them on Wednesday!


But seriously, Mr. Steady and I really would like to put January 2012 out of our minds and are considering having February 1st be our New Year!

mid-month update

I got home from Texas late yesterday afternoon and am (kinda) glad to be back home.  It was very hard to leave my sister and dad, but it was time for me to get home to the boys, my sister to get back to work and my Dad to begin what will be his "new normal". 

I've spent this morning just trying to get organized around the house.  Mr. Steady drove the boys home from Texas over the weekend (15 hour drive) all by himself and he has been Mr. Mom for the past 3 days.  On the way home from the airport yesterday (I flew home...) he told him that he was so sorry if he'd ever taken me for granted.  :)

I decided it would help clear my mind to sit down and look at my finances for the month since I lost track a bit over the past week.   I did forget for just a bit when I drove by my favorite thrift store that I am in the midst of a No-Spend Challenge.  I ran in to see what was on Sale and found a fireplace tool set for $3.  We've been needing a poker for our backyard fire pit and I was thrilled to find something used!  Since it's going to live outside the fact that it's white, brass, and a tad ugly really doesn't matter.  Although, I may spray some paint on it if I get motivated!  And I'm afraid that I may have gotten something to add to my Unfinished Project List!   Our guest bath is small with very little counter space and I've been wanting to get a small table or vanity to go in our guest bedroom so that my Sister and my Mother-in-Law have a place to put their makeup and hair stuff when they come to visit.  I found a nice sized vanity with drawers for only $20.  And, let's just say that it needs to be painted.  I'll wait and show pictures to you when I have both Before and After pics to share!

So now to my update on spending. 

My goal is to spend 10% less in January 2012 than I did in January 2011.  I've taken our house payment out of the calculations because we refinanced and our new payment is 15% less than 2011's payment.  In January 2011 we spent $4721, so this month I want my spending to be below $4249.  I'm thrilled to say that even with the $500 we spent traveling to Texas for mom's funeral included in the totals, we've spent $3135 so far for the month.  This leaves me with just over $1000 for the rest of the month.  I know that I still have about $800 in miscellaneous expenses (cell phone bill, AAU registration, gas, guitar lessons, hair color, etc.), so that leaves me with a cushion of about $275 that I'll earmark for food.  13 days to go...

I've been out of town for the past week and would love to hear how everyone else is doing on their No Spend (or Low Spend) Challenge!

week 4 update - no spending month challenge

I've made it to the end of Sharon's No Spending Month Challenge and had a great month!  My goal for Week 4 was to spend $125....and I spent under that!  For week 4, I spent about $115, most of which was on groceries.

So, did I meet my goal of staying under $800 for the month?  Let's see:

Week 1 - $139.58 spent
Week 2 - $366.72 spent
Week 3 - $148.87 spent
Week 4 - $114.26 spent

Total for the month?  $769.43...$30.57 under budget!

My **WISH** for the month was to add $3900 to savings.  Because of a garage door repair ($250) and a car repair ($1100), we didn't make that goal.  But, we managed to save some and we had a great month being frugal!  Had I not been working so hard to keep our "everyday expenses" under $800 we wouldn't have been nearly as successful as we were.

Thank you Sharon for hosting the challenge! 

week 3 update - No Spend Month Challenge

We've made it through 3 weeks with minimal spending and I excited at how well we're doing!  My goal for this week was to spend $150 or less.  Here's what we spent our money on this week!

Groceries - $94.52
Personal Blow Money - $18.34
Gas - $27.26
Dry Cleaners - $5.65
Balance due on newspaper subscription - $3.10

So, if I did my math correctly, we spent $148.87, coming in $1.13 under budget.  Yippee!

A couple of things that I've been doing to SAVE at the grocery store.  I have been making a lot of homemade breakfasts for our family this month.  I did buy a box of cereal last week to give myself a break for a morning or two, but other than that, I've been making muffins, french toast, waffles, eggs and/or bacon in the mornings.  Not buying Pop Tarts, and frozen waffles and pancakes has saved a lot of money!

Another area where I've saved money is with LUNCH stuff.  We all have our favorite bread and we are never are able to go through 2 loaves between the 4 of us before it gets stale.  I have found a fresh baked deli bread that we all like, and our grocery deli will sell it by the 1/2 loaf.  It's the perfect size for us to eat sandwiches from for 2-3 days.  I'm able to get a half loaf of fresh sandwich bread for less than $1.50!  I have also been getting fresh deli lunch meat and cheese.   It's cheaper by the ounce/pound for me to buy it from the deli counter AND I am able to get only what I need. 

So - we enter our 4th and final week of Sharon's No Spend Month Challenge.   My goal is to finish the month with $125 cash which will go towards food, gas and any incidentals.

Here is my monthly recap.  My goal for February was to keep my everyday expenses under $800.

Week 1 - $139.58 spent
Week 2 - $366.72 spent
Week 3 - $148.87 spent

day 15 update - no spending month

We're halfway through Sharon's No Spending Month challenge!  How is everyone doing?  My goal was to spend $800 or less on my discretionary spending items.  Things like groceries, eating out, gifts, gasoline, and everyday incidentals would come out of the $800.  Our fixed expenses (mortgage, utilities) and pre-planned expenses (like monthly haircuts and a vacation that's coming up) would not come out of the $800.

I must say there are many things that I catch myself needing to buy that I'm not sure should or shouldn't count against my $800.  I have, for the most part, been erring on the conservative side and deducting these expenses from the $800 challenge.

So - let's cut to the chase.  How am I doing?

Week 1:  Spent $139.58
Week 2:  Spent $366.72

Total Spent:  $506.30
Total Left:  $293.70 for 13 days

We didn't have the Scouting expenses (badges and celebratory dinner) this week that I'd expected so that helped us come under budget.  Scout Sunday at our church was rescheduled to a different week...so that money budgeted will get spent later on in the Spring.

For Week 3, the only expenses that I think we'll have are groceries and gasoline, so I'm hoping to keep expenses below $150 for the week!

spending money to save money

I KNOW better than this!!!  But...temptation got the best of me.  Yesterday morning I had an e-mail from Shutterfly reminding me that yesterday was the last day to get my 50 free 4x6 prints!  What!?!  50 free prints?  Wow -- add that to the 15 free ones that I already had credit for and I'm up to 65 free prints!  That's nearly $10 worth of free pictures!

So, what did I do?  I spent $38.09 in order to get my 65 free prints!

It wasn't my best moment.

day 7 - no spending month

We've made it through a full six days on February's No Spending Month.  This past Tuesday, I withdrew $170 cash which was to last me through yesterday.  The cash was to be used for food, gifts, gasoline and any incidentals that should come us.  I must say that I did better than I expected!

Here is a run-down on where the $$ went:
$20 - gasoline (half tank)
$11 - tennis court fee
$41.11 - groceries
$33.78 - eating out
$12.69 - birthday gift
$8.29 - household
$16.21 - school supplies

Which leaves me with $30.42!

My grocery bill has never been as low as it was this week!  What did we do different?  For starters we ate a lot of food that we already had in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry.  When the kids ran out of cereal and frozen waffles/pancakes, for breakfast I made them French Toast, muffins and bacon.  There was only one complaint during the week on what was being served (Thursday night's dinner).  In fact, my kids were thrilled with the homemade muffins this morning!  I woke up in a panic when I realized the cupboards were bare of breakfast food, so I had to get up in a hurry and make the muffins.

Another area that helped was simply eating at home.  I mentioned last week that I considered it a small victory to say no to my husband to going out to eat at lunch.  On Friday I did cave in to going out (he'd been the one to complain about the dinner the previous night), BUT we went to a restaurant where we had a gift card and ended up getting $5 back in change!  Woo Hoo!  He was out of town this weekend, so I treated the kids to lunch out after their ball games Saturday and to pizza last night for the Super Bowl. 

So ...Week 2 in upon us.  We've got more activities and parties scheduled for this week which is going to require more cash.  Also, Valentine's Day goodies will need to be purchased this week. 

Here is my budget for the week:
$125 - groceries
$125 - Three celebratory out to eat dinners (one for my oldest who is performing in the school talent show, one for my youngest who is receiving a special Cub Scout award, and one for a basketball team party)
$20 - Birthday gift
$60 - gasoline
$50 - Valentines Day - includes VDay meal, party at school, VDay cards for classmates, and surprises for my family
$10 - Scout badge for my son
$20 - talent show tickets

After having such a "lean" week this past week and spending only $140, spending $460 in a week seems a bit much.   I haven't sat down to do a meal plan for the week, so I'm going to work to get the grocery bill less than $125...I'm sure I can do it!  So anyway, off to the bank today to get cash to last me through the week!

***disclaimer*** on $3900 savings

After reading back through my posts and reading the comments left about my goal of saving $3900 for the month of February, I realized that something was amiss.

I didn't take into account that our cash flowing for January and February is a bit "off".  My husband paid my AMEX bill (normally due mid-February) in January out of our savings account.  He did this to help us (me...) get back on track by using cash for everyday expenses.  So...while my hope is to save $3900 in February, please know that some of this is simply replenishing what came out last month to pay the American Express.  By the way...my AMEX card has not been out of my wallet since we started the challenge. 

3 days without using AMEX...now that is a new record! 

update #1 - february's no spending month

So, I've made it through 2 days with the "No Spending" challenge.  I ended up getting $170 in cash on Tuesday with the intention of it lasting through next Monday.  The cash is being used for gas, groceries, gifts, etc.

So what have I spent it on?

$20       gas for my car
$12.71  school supplies
$11       tennis court fee
$7.41    groceries for lunch
$12.69  birthday gift for son's friend
$2.64    travel bottles for husband's suitcase

This leaves me with $103.55 for the next 5 days!


Small victories to celebrate!!!

• I said "no" to giving my oldest son extra lunch money and instead had him take a lunch kit to school.
• I said "no" to going to out to lunch with my husband and instead spent $7.41 and made a "fun lunch" at home for us.  (This was a hard one to do!!!)
• I spent less on the friend's birthday gift than I normally would...I normally spend around $20.
• I made dinner "out of the pantry" two nights in a row...Tuesday we had a steak salad using leftover steak from Sunday night, and last night we had sauteed shrimp, couscous, and a salad.

Unexpected expenses?

• $11 on the tennis court -- because of bad weather our team chose to play our match at an indoor court instead of trying to reschedule.
• $12.69 on the birthday gift -- it is a fairly impromptu party.

February - No Spend Month

I'm joining Sharon in her No Spend Month!  Here are my goals for the month...

Objective - 
Spend less than our "normal" budget.  My goal is to add $3900 to savings this month.


How we'll get there --
I have alloted $800 to be spent on ourselves.  Normally, this wouldn't cover our grocery bill, but because this is a short month, and because we'll be out of town for a few days, AND because this is a CHALLENGE, I've decided on $800 as our "magic number"!


So, what does $800 go towards?
Food!  (Groceries and eating out)
Gasoline
Valentine's Day
Scouting expenses
Entertainment

What's not covered in the $800?
Fixed bills, offerings to our church, and expenses that were pre-planned such as a haircut and our vacation.

Where I am today--
I'm starting with $895 in checking.  Next payday is February 11th.  I'm thinking of withdrawing $400 now and $400 on the 11th and simply live on cash for the challenge.   Both cars are almost on "empty" so we'll need to spend close to $100 on gas this week.  The pantry is somewhat stocked.  I'll need to take inventory of what we have and see how we can make it stretch.  I see lots of homemade snacks in our future!  :)'

I hoping that with this challenge I'll become more intentional with my spending!  And, if we save my goal of $3900...well, that would be totally amazing!

track first, budget second

Because we haven't been tracking our expenses lately, it's hard to tell what a realistic number is to budget.  For instance, I would think that about $500 would be a good amount for us to use each month for groceries.  After doing some  homework though, I found that we spent almost $1500 at the grocery store in December alone.  Add to that $425 that we spent eating out and we're at nearly $2000 in food for the month!  While $2000 in food is an ungodly amount for a family of four...even with 3 different sets of guests during the month, it's a real number and shows what we spent.  $500 wouldn't have been realistic to budget for food last month.

I'm realizing that one reason I get frustrated with my budget is that I tend to budget what I think is a reasonable amount.  When we are unable to meet these numbers, I get frustrated and my husband wants to know why we're over budget.  But...the budget wasn't necessarily realistic.

So, over the next couple of months, I'm not going to be budgeting per se, but tracking our spending.  Beginning April 1st we'll have our budget in place with a new system of paying bills.  More about that later.

But, just for fun...I'm joining Sharon in her February No-Spending Month.  The rules will be posted on January 31st.  I'm participating, but won't be doing it at 100% like others.  We have a vacation planned for the 3rd week of February.  So, while there will be spending going on with that, my goal is to have a "no spend" month for items that were not already in the budget.