We bought groceries today and will have to buy a few more (store didn't have everything I needed). Bought soda this morning for a friend's lunch party.
Plan for next week:
1/10 - necessary groceries
1/11 - baby wipes (this is going to be a temptation - I have to buy wipes at toys r us, so my commitment is to not buy anything else!)
1/12 - no spend
1/13 - no spend
1/14 - no spend
1/15 - no spend
1/16 - no spend
we'll see how it goes...
1/1 
budgeted spend - long johns and socks for kids
1/2 
no spend
1/3 big budgeted spend day - groceries, supplements, carwash (which I hate to pay for but was desperately needed), b'day gift for my mom. Sold some books at used book store.
1/4 no spend!
1/5 budgeted spend - some household supplies (soap, dog food for pet food drive at DD1's school (we don't have a dog!), b'day gift for DD2's preschool friend, art supplies for school project, 2 grocery items, Starbucks gift card
1/6 no spend
1/7 batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 small amount of groceries and sweet orange essential oil for scenting my homemade laundry soap and cleaning spray
Jan 1: No spend
Jan 2: 
Budgeted spend
Jan 3: No spend
Jan 4: Budgeted spen
Jan 5: No spend
Jan 6: Budgeted spend
Jan 7: No spend
Jan 8: No spend
Jan 9: No spend
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 6/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 4/8
1. At the IL's out-of-state so no laundry done.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. DH stopped at the store and picked up some ice cream and cookies.
8. got pizza delivery for dinner
9. dinner at my parents'. Had to pick up salad and a b-day cake for DD2. Getting back on the bandwagon Monday.
Oh, I'm behind already! Let's see if I can catch up:
1/1: no spend
1/2: ordered some essential baby stuff online (budgeted)
1/3: hectic day for DH and I. First day back at work for me and LO was not taking bottle, so we went to see the lactation consultant ($30), bought some new bottles to try ($15) and fast food for dinner ($18). Food and bottles were within budget, consultation was over budget.
1/4: groceries (budgeted)
1/5: no spend
1/6: groceries (huge fruit/veggie sale at supermarket)
1/7: no spend
1/8: bought used cloth diapers for LO (not budgeted) and met best friend for coffee/snacks (not budgeted)
1/9: no spend
1/10: no spend
1/1 budgeted spend - long johns and socks for kids
1/2 no spend
1/3 big budgeted spend day - groceries, supplements, carwash (which I hate to pay for but was desperately needed), b'day gift for my mom. Sold some books at used book store.
1/4 no spend!
1/5 budgeted spend - some household supplies (soap, dog food for pet food drive at DD1's school (we don't have a dog!), b'day gift for DD2's preschool friend, art supplies for school project, 2 grocery items, Starbucks gift card
1/6 no spend
1/7 batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 small amount of groceries and sweet orange essential oil for scenting my homemade laundry soap and cleaning spray
Way to go on the homemade laundry soap and cleaning spray!
Made: $20 tips Spent: $30 gas* Made: $28 tips and found $20 Spent: $20 gas Spent: $20 gas
Spent: $30 drink and gas Gifted: DVD player and coffee Spent: $30 gas Gifted: coffee Made: $122 tips Spent: $95 babysitter and gas Spent: $1.25 diapers Gifted: said diapers Gifted:coffee No spend Budgeted spend Unnecessary spend
= No-spend day
= Budgeted spending
= Under budget!
= Unbudgeted/Unnecessary spending
1/05: (actually made money with a price adjustment & a return! this will pay for a bookcase we were planning to buy)
1/06:
1/07: $47 - couldn't resist a Gap sale. in my defence, DS DOES need it, I just didn't plan when I'd buy it.
1/08:
1/09: budgeted groceries, did most of them. problem was shopping with DH who found stuff he wanted to get. :( used the visa.
1/10: - got some bills in the mail today, one is $40 less than I budgeted, the other I owe nothing when I budgeted $250. set my account to pay the bill automatically later this month.
Progress:
Paid to credit cards: $248/$2300
Groceries $173/$295
Savings $100/$250
I got behind for a few days...!
My key:
No spend
Spending within budget
Over budget, but necessary
Not necessary, not budgeted
1/01 (well, I bought Starbucks with a gift card I got for Christmas...)
1/02 Ate dinner out at work with DH, DS, and in-laws
1/03 Grocery shopping
1/04 $20 for baby clothes
1/05 Going out to dinner ($20) and a movie, bought materials for food storage shelves in basement ($70 out of savings)
1/06 $30 in groceries
1/07 coffee at work, carryout lunch from Applebees $10
1/08
1/09 coffee at work
1/10 Chinese for dinner at work $??
Goals:
Work lunches $19/$60
Groceries $152.58/$500
Savings $330/$600
Jan 1: no spend
Jan 2: hairbrush, fast food
Jan 3: holy bills, Batman: mortgage, personal trainer, insurance and a buy-one-get-one massage coupon for DH
Jan 4: Target household stuff and junky groceries, DS' new medicine (no generic available! lovely!), fast food
Jan 5: real groceries at TJ's and WF, oils for this facial cleansing method I'd heard so much about
Jan 6: DH repurchased Angry Birds (WTF???) and went to Jack in the Box.
Jan 7: check I wrote in NOVEMBER to the preschool book fair was finally cashed, gas at Costco midnight Jack in the Box run 
Jan 8: copay for DD's prescription, candy after DS' b-ball game, still more DH at Jack in the Box! Good grief!
Jan 9: no spend! 'bout time!
Jan 10: snowed in! no spend!
1/1 budgeted spend - long johns and socks for kids
1/2 no spend
1/3 big budgeted spend day - groceries, supplements, carwash (which I hate to pay for but was desperately needed), b'day gift for my mom. Sold some books at used book store.
1/4 no spend!
1/5 budgeted spend - some household supplies (soap, dog food for pet food drive at DD1's school (we don't have a dog!), b'day gift for DD2's preschool friend, art supplies for school project, 2 grocery items, Starbucks gift card
1/6 no spend
1/7 batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 small amount of groceries and sweet orange essential oil for scenting my homemade laundry soap and cleaning spray
1/10 budgeted spend: Walgreens for DD2's allergy meds, bag of chips, small toy for DD2, who just had some allergy testing done today. Going for a NS tomorrow.
Its always best to buy what you need and not what you want. Thats one of the ways to control your spending.
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 7/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 5/8
1. At the IL's out-of-state so no laundry done.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. DH stopped at the store and picked up some ice cream and cookies.
8. got pizza delivery for dinner
9. dinner at my parents'. Had to pick up salad and a b-day cake for DD2. Getting back on the bandwagon Monday.
10.
Mattemma sahm to 2.Dh is a driver with a modest income. Will try not to use my credit card(just paid it off!) and spend only $100 cash weekly on food and supplies.Will record all bills and daily spending.Will put aside $25-50 weekly into savings.The more we stay home the more NO SPEND DAYs I will have,unless ofcourse I am paying bills online! I already know we will be home this weekend,and all bills are paid for the moment.Best wishes to all!
1-1 NO SPEND DAY
1-2 NO SPEND DAY
1-3 NO SPEND DAY
1-4 Tire repair(nail) $18, Food $100, Pizza $6, Savings $20, Mega lotto $3
1-5 Cell $110, Garbage $45, Dog license $30, School Pizza $12, Credit Card $100
1-6 Marcs $7, Gas $23
1-7 Aldis $90, Walmart $55, House $600, Car $330,Student Loan $140
1-8 NO SPEND DAY
1-9 NO SPEND DAY
1-10 Food $9, Meds $55, Feed store $70, Big Lots $10
1-11 DD Lunch $2, Deals $4, Gas $21,Marcs $40
1-12 NO SPEND DAY
1-13 Kefir grains $20, Aldi $40, Pizza $5
No spend
Jan 2: Budgeted spend
Jan 3: No spend
Jan 4: Budgeted spen
Jan 5: No spend
Jan 6: Budgeted spend
Jan 7: No spend
Jan 8: No spend
Jan 9: No spend
Jan 10: Budgeted spend
Made: $20 tips Spent: $30 gas* Made: $28 tips and found $20 Spent: $20 gas Spent: $20 gas Spent: $30 drink and gas Gifted: DVD player and coffee Spent: $30 gas Gifted: coffee Made: $122 tips Spent: $95 babysitter and gas Spent: $1.25 diapers Gifted: said diapers Made: Gifted:coffee Spent: $25 gas, Groceries No spend Budgeted spend Unnecessary spend
Deep breath. Hi everyone! I really need to be here.
a. Who you are: 33, WAHM with 2 girls (9 and almost 5) and DSS (12, here half the time), DH-36, paramedic, works 24-48 hours at a time, so I'm pretty much a single mom half the time. We've been married almost 10 years. No longer have credit card debt or credit cards, but we do have a mortgage and car payment plus regular utility/insurance bills. DH is also facing a custody battle (long story, but his ex decided to sue him out of the blue for full custody and child support, after 11 years of doing 50/50 and neither party paying child support), and he has a court date next month. It is likely that he will be ordered to start paying child support, and his lawyer's fee is $15,000. We still owe her $10,000 of that.
b. Where you are going (your financial goals): #1 is to pay our bills on time, and to do that, we need to cut way back on our grocery bill, DH HAS TO stop spending so much money on fast food while at work, and we need to eliminate "extras". #2 is to build up an emergency fund/set aside money for child support if that happens. I guess #3 after we accomplish both of those things is to pay down our car loan as fast as we can.
c. How you plan to get there: Working to control the grocery spending and reduce WASTING produce and meat because something came up or I didn't feel like cooking so it went bad, cooking more instead of relying on frozen Amy's meals and whatnot, planning meals. Trying to budget and save for regular expenses instead of living paycheck to paycheck.
***Edited to add that today was a no spend day for me! I resisted a huge urge to go grocery shopping since we are out of milk and stuff. Not sure about DH since he is on shift...I'm sure he had to get a few groceries for his meals, but it shouldn't have been too much.
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 8/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 6/8
1. At the IL's out-of-state so no laundry done.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. DH stopped at the store and picked up some ice cream and cookies.
8. got pizza delivery for dinner
9. dinner at my parents'. Had to pick up salad and a b-day cake for DD2. Getting back on the bandwagon Monday.
10.
11.
1/1- NS
2 NS
3 NS
4- groceries $112
5- NS
6
7
8
9
10 $51 gasoline, $6 kid cups, $54 groceries
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Goals
Groceries- 166/500
Gasoline- 51/140
Kid spending- 6/20
homeschool- 0/20
car payment -0/500
Gift cards to use this month- reminding myself that I can shop a little without breaking the budget!
kohls- $29
Joann- $40
Old Navy $39
My key:
budgeted spending true no-spend day
over budget unexpected spending
January
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8 gas, Walgreens, Kroger. Spent on otc meds at Walgreens for my allergies which I knew I needed to but dh was with me at the grocery store. He’s not always but when he is he likes to throw a few extra things in the cart. If I say something he acts like I’m depriving him. He’s not real bad but I don’t want to spend any extra if we don’t have to. I already buy him his regular snacks that he likes so I get frustrated when he throws in extra.
9.
10.
11.
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