1/1- NS
2 NS
3 NS
4- groceries $112
5- NS
6 NS
7 NS
8 NS
9 NS
10 $51 gasoline, $6 kid cups, $54 groceries
11 NS
12 NS
13 NS
14 NS
15 $31 gasoline
16 $150 groceries
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
Goals
Groceries- 316/500
Gasoline- 82/140
Kid spending- 6/20
homeschool- 0/20
car payment -500/500
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
I'm in....We've been uber-frugal all month long and payday still seems so far away.
Goals: No un-budgeted spending (our budget is VERY tight this month- we've halved our groc budget and have $10/wk amongst the two of us for anything extra-curricular.
= no or at least budgeted spending 
= un-budgetted spending 
= necessary, but un-budgeted spending
1-12:
13: (fancy $4 coffee 
)
14: :
15: : ($15 over grocery budget, but we finally had the chance to get to a market and get GOOD food)
16:
17: ($50 in the tank- necessary for work, we weren't budgeting on me working as much as I have been)
Total monthly oops factor: $69
Welcome back, Ruthiegirl! Glad to hear your move went well. It's nice to know such things can be done sticking to a budget. I'd love to live internationally with my family someday.
I took the kids (day off from school) to the zoo today (we have an annual membership) and then we went and picked up a file cabinet we bought from Craigslist. The file cabinet will help me continue to get organized and decluttered.
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 budgeted: batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 budgeted: small amount of groceries and EO for 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.
1/11 budgeted: new pots/pans set from Costco, Costco lunch, bowling w/ preschool class, a couple groceries, paid bills (mortgage, cell phone, milk delivery)
1/12 budgeted: gas for car
1/13 no spend
1/14 budgeted: large grocery shop (3 stores), dinner out, $$ car repair on DH's (brakes, timing belt). Thank goodness for EFs!
1/15 no spend
1/16 no spend - decluttered some of my house, laundry, went to yoga class while DDs went swimming with DH, then IL's treated us to dinner out. So nice.
1/17 unbudgeted but needed and useful.... file cabinet from Craigslist.
<sigh> I broke up with my spreadsheet. Mint.com and I trying to make things work out, but I can already see potential areas of tension in the relationship...
Congrats on the move, Ruthie! Where did you move to?
<sigh> I broke up with my spreadsheet. Mint.com and I trying to make things work out, but I can already see potential areas of tension in the relationship...
Congrats on the move, Ruthie! Where did you move to?
Thanks! We moved to Sweden -- we'll be here through next summer for dh's work.
I am having a decent time keeping spending in line. Shopping is rather difficult here anyway. None of our credit cards seem to be working over seas, so we are working with what cash we have available. I filled the tank in the truck today -- holy reality check people. We are borrowing a small Toyota pick up while we are here and have been using it to transport the kids to school and back and buy groceries, etc. It is a small truck and runs on diesel -- $100 to fill it up!
This move has really been a real eye opener -- food, gas, consumables are all 30-40% more. Everything costs more -- a lot more. So, people here live in much smaller houses, drive less or not at all and simply have less of everything. In the States I am frugal by habit and choice, but here it is a necessity to count every bit of money and then count it again. I think about every meal, every trip in the truck, every lightbulb that is left on....my family is going to move me when we go back home -- if they thought I was frugal before, then look out! I am going to uber-frugal-mama.
Jan 1 -- travel lunch
Jan 2 -- Household things for our old house
Jan 3 -- 2 straw bales
Jan 4 -- party supplies
Jan 5 -- moving day
Jan 6 -- moving day
Jan 7 -- Jan 16 -- off line
Jan 17 -- milk and apples
Jan 18 -- gas for truck
Jan 19 --
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 12/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 9/8
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.
12.
13.
14.
15. spent over the grocery budget.
16. had to stop at another grocery store for a few things we missed yesterday, this was NOT budgeted. Made my "loads of laundry hung to dry" goal
17. $33 at WalMart: consumables, a new pair of hair cutting shears, low flow faucet adapters
18.
I'm joining in! I am totally embarrassed by the amount of debt we have and I'm determined to make 2011 a fresh start. We want to have all the credit cards paid off in six months... and we need to get serious about budgeting. Hopefully posting here will keep me accountable for my excessive spending (and I'm working on DH). My goal is to keep the grocery budget under $500 this month and NO MORE miscellaneous spending or eating out. Home cooked meals the rest of the month!
So far this month...
Groceries $506.54
Misc $223.50
Gas $100.00
Take Out $ 79.20
1/18
1/19
1/20
1/21
1/22 
$7.43 fast food & $6 misc.
1/23
1/24
1/25
1/26
1/27 I didn't feel like cooking dinner and asked DH to pick up dinner $16.81. And then he surprised me with flowers. 
Definitely not in the budget, but it did make me feel special. $13.90
1/28
1/29 $6 misc. and $26 restaurant.
1/30
1/31
Welcome to all the new "faces" on this thread!! It's NEVER too late to start cutting spending and saving $$
Ruthiegirl~ glad to hear the move has gone well. Not so glad to hear about the cost of living increase, but I'm sure you'll figure it all out and bloom where you are planted 
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 budgeted: batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 budgeted: small amount of groceries and EO for 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.
1/11 budgeted: new pots/pans set from Costco, Costco lunch, bowling w/ preschool class, a couple groceries, paid bills (mortgage, cell phone, milk delivery)
1/12 budgeted: gas for car
1/13 no spend
1/14 budgeted: large grocery shop (3 stores), dinner out, $$ car repair on DH's (brakes, timing belt). Thank goodness for EFs!
1/15 no spend
1/16 no spend - decluttered some of my house, laundry, went to yoga class while DDs went swimming with DH, then IL's treated us to dinner out. So nice.
1/17 unbudgeted but needed and useful.... file cabinet from Craigslist.
1/18 budgeted: quick trip to grocery store
No money spent today which is amazing. Our water pump went out, so have been without water all day. Our lovely neighbors had an extra fuse for the pump and let us collect a few buckets of water from their tap to make tea and flush the toilet (in one end, out the other, eh?). We are waiting on the pump pressure to build and hopefully that will be the fix. Otherwise, we may be spending big bucks tomorrow.
Must go shopping tomorrow as well. We have eaten up most everything.
Jan 1 -- travel lunch
Jan 2 -- Household things for our old house
Jan 3 -- 2 straw bales
Jan 4 -- party supplies
Jan 5 -- moving day
Jan 6 -- moving day
Jan 7 -- Jan 16 -- off line
Jan 17 -- milk and apples
Jan 18 -- gas for truck
Jan 19 -- no spending
Jan 20 -- planned grocery spending
Jan 21
Jan 22
Jan 23
Jan 24
Jan 25
Jan 26
Jan 27
Jan 28
Jan 29
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 13/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 10/8
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.
12.
13.
14.
15. spent over the grocery budget.
16. had to stop at another grocery store for a few things we missed yesterday, this was NOT budgeted. Made my "loads of laundry hung to dry" goal
17. $33 at WalMart: consumables, a new pair of hair cutting shears, low flow faucet adapters
18.
19.
= 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.
1/11:
1/12: - figured out a way to cut back on milk so we don't go through $33/week worth (organic) JUST for the kids & DH's coffee.
1/13: - seriously considering buying a crib now instead of closer to when we'll need it. Bleh.
1/14:
1/15:
1/16: Groceries. $199 - this puts us over our grocery 'budget' but we also stocked up on some things now that we have room to store them. I got a pack of Pull-Ups reg. $18.99, on for $9.99 - $2 coupon, Easy Ups ($9.99 - $3 coupon) and Snugglers for the new baby ($9.99 - $3 coupon) .. I'm pretty pleased. :)
1/17:
1/18: $50 at WM - stocked up on some things, shopped clearance for our April baby, and scored some $1 games for DH/DS
1/19:
1/20: got "paid" today. should be able to put a big chunk of $$ on the visas, just waiting for bills to come out tomorrow.
1/21: not going out, assuming no spend
1/22: going to the library bookstore (I hope)
Progress:
Paid to credit cards: $105/$2300
Groceries $372/$295
Savings $81/$250 - didn't plan for savings this month, concentrating on paying off debt until next month
Goals: No un-budgeted spending (our budget is VERY tight this month- we've halved our groc budget and have $10/wk amongst the two of us for anything extra-curricular.
1-12:
13: (fancy $4 coffee )
14: :
15: : ($15 over grocery budget, but we finally had the chance to get to a market and get GOOD food)
16:
17: ($50 in the tank- necessary for work, we weren't budgeting on me working as much as I have been)
18:
19:
20:
Total monthly oops factor: $69
....just realized payday's closer than I originally though, woohooo! ....we are so uber broke at the moment, and though I'm working lots now, I won't get paid for that 'til the end of next month (that's good though....I'm just getting impatient).
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 14/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 10/8
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.
12.
13.
14.
15. spent over the grocery budget.
16. had to stop at another grocery store for a few things we missed yesterday, this was NOT budgeted. Made my "loads of laundry hung to dry" goal
17. $33 at WalMart: consumables, a new pair of hair cutting shears, low flow faucet adapters
18.
19.
20.
Jan 1 -- travel lunch
Jan 2 -- Household things for our old house
Jan 3 -- 2 straw bales
Jan 4 -- party supplies
Jan 5 -- moving day
Jan 6 -- moving day
Jan 7 -- Jan 16 -- off line
Jan 17 -- milk and apples
Jan 18 -- gas for truck
Jan 19 -- no spending
Jan 20 -- planned grocery spending
Jan 21 -- no spend
Jan 22
Jan 23
Jan 24
Jan 25
Jan 26
Jan 27
Jan 28
Jan 29
Key:
no spend/ budgeted spending
unnecessary/ unbudgeted spending
hung laundry to dry
January Goals
no spend/ budgeted days 15/20
eating out 1/0
loads of laundry hung to dry 11/8
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.
12.
13.
14.
15. spent over the grocery budget.
16. had to stop at another grocery store for a few things we missed yesterday, this was NOT budgeted. Made my "loads of laundry hung to dry" goal
17. $33 at WalMart: consumables, a new pair of hair cutting shears, low flow faucet adapters
18.
19.
20.
21.
The weekend is coming and it's usually the time that we end up spending on unbudgeted purchases or non-needs. I'm going to try and keep DH in the house over the weekend and maybe get some house projects done to avoid the store trap.
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 budgeted: batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 budgeted: small amount of groceries and EO for 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.
1/11 budgeted: new pots/pans set from Costco, Costco lunch, bowling w/ preschool class, a couple groceries, paid bills (mortgage, cell phone, milk delivery)
1/12 budgeted: gas for car
1/13 no spend
1/14 budgeted: large grocery shop (3 stores), dinner out, $$ car repair on DH's (brakes, timing belt). Thank goodness for EFs!
1/15 no spend
1/16 no spend - decluttered some of my house, laundry, went to yoga class while DDs went swimming with DH, then IL's treated us to dinner out. So nice.
1/17 unbudgeted but needed and useful.... file cabinet from Craigslist.
1/18 budgeted: quick trip to grocery store
1/19 budgeted: couple items from Trader Joe's, gas for car. unbudgeted: $20 at thrift store (shirts/leggings for DDs, long sleeve t for me - not needed but I was killing time, never a good idea!)
1/20 unbudgeted (we are over our eating out budget for the month) - dinner for me and the girls out at local burger place ($20)
1/21 no spend
1/22
1/23
1/24
1/25
1/26
Jan 1 -- travel lunch
Jan 2 -- Household things for our old house
Jan 3 -- 2 straw bales
Jan 4 -- party supplies
Jan 5 -- moving day
Jan 6 -- moving day
Jan 7 -- Jan 16 -- off line
Jan 17 -- milk and apples
Jan 18 -- gas for truck
Jan 19 -- no spending
Jan 20 -- planned grocery spending
Jan 21 -- no spend
Jan 22 -- groceries and beer
Jan 23
Jan 24
Jan 25
Jan 26
Jan 27
Jan 28
Jan 29
Goals: No un-budgeted spending (our budget is VERY tight this month- we've halved our groc budget and have $10/wk amongst the two of us for anything extra-curricular.
1-12:
13: (fancy $4 coffee )
14: :
15: : ($15 over grocery budget, but we finally had the chance to get to a market and get GOOD food)
16:
17: ($50 in the tank- necessary for work, we weren't budgeting on me working as much as I have been)
18:
19:
20:
21: (DH got paid...he went out for lunch, bought beer, and his dad a birthday gift...all un-budgetted ~$80). Paid for child care, not in budget, but necessary ($30).
22: We're going to go over our grocery budget today, and I am soo okay with that (not going crazy over, but I'm done scraping the bottom of the barrel. we'll spend our typical weekly groc amount vs. our dirt-poor groc amount we budgetted)
Total monthly oops factor: $230
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 budgeted: batteries, photo printing for school project
1/8 no spend
1/9 budgeted: small amount of groceries and EO for 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.
1/11 budgeted: new pots/pans set from Costco, Costco lunch, bowling w/ preschool class, a couple groceries, paid bills (mortgage, cell phone, milk delivery)
1/12 budgeted: gas for car
1/13 no spend
1/14 budgeted: large grocery shop (3 stores), dinner out, $$ car repair on DH's (brakes, timing belt). Thank goodness for EFs!
1/15 no spend
1/16 no spend - decluttered some of my house, laundry, went to yoga class while DDs went swimming with DH, then IL's treated us to dinner out. So nice.
1/17 unbudgeted but needed and useful.... file cabinet from Craigslist.
1/18 budgeted: quick trip to grocery store
1/19 budgeted: couple items from Trader Joe's, gas for car. unbudgeted: $20 at thrift store (shirts/leggings for DDs, long sleeve t for me - not needed but I was killing time, never a good idea!)
1/20 unbudgeted (we are over our eating out budget for the month) - dinner for me and the girls out at local burger place ($20)
1/21 no spend
1/22 1/23 groceries. I've made 3 "quick trips" to the store this week, totaling about $60.
1/24
1/25
1/26
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