NoSpend January -- Ringing in the New Year with money in the bank - Page 13

[nwmomof2]

Week 4 

Catching up from not recording here all week, although I did record my spending in my notebook. Here goes:

1/22 Groceries, hair stuff, a new kids' lunch box, large mixing bowl and brand new leather purse at thrift store, DH bought new jacket and winter boots - online sale.

1/23 Tutoring materials, tea and cupcakes out, some personal care items.

1/24 Money was spent online. Let's just say it was not a necessary item.

1/25 No spend

1/26 No spend

1/27  Gas, doctor's co-pay, prescription for DD1, some yummy foods to try get her to eat, she's been sick for 3 days.

1/28 No spend

Edited by nwmomof2 - 1/29/12 at 3:39pm

[Ruthiegirl]

Great day trip to visit family.  Needed $4 to pay the bridge toll.  

Jan 1 -- 

Jan 2 -- 

Jan 3 -- 40.00 cash for hospital stay/food, 15.22 flowers, 13.12 cell phone minutes

Jan 4 -- 

Jan 5 -- 

Jan 6 -- 

Jan 7 -- 28.61 birthday gift

Jan 8 -- 

Jan 9 -- 60.00 nursing bras

Jan 10 -- 

Jan 11 -- 14.90 library fines   

Jan 12 -- 

Jan 13 -- 

Jan 14 -- 

Jan 15 -- 

Jan 16 -- 23.07 Amazon

Jan 17 --   + seed order for 2012 garden

Jan 18 -- 

Jan 19 -- 

Jan 20 -- 175.00 parts to fix van

Jan 21 -- 

Jan 22 -- 

Jan 23 -- 

Jan 24 -- 

Jan 25 -- 24.14 breakfast for dh's birthday

Jan 26 -- 

Jan 27 -- 40.00 birthday gift

Jan 28 -- 

Jan 29 -- 4.00 bridge toll

Jan 30 -- 

Jan 31

January savings goal is at 138%   

Edited by Ruthiegirl - 1/30/12 at 6:17pm

[rudhaen]

1/1 -

1/2 -

1/3 -

1/4 -

1/5 - $30 for gas

1/6 - $36.60 for groceries

1/7 -

1/8 - $63.03 for groceries

1/9 -

1/10 -   $190.53 for utilities

1/11 -

1/12 - $30 for a gift that I should have budgeted for, but kinda forgot about and had to do at the last minute. I fear there may be more like this coming up :/

1/13 -

1/14 - and also since I went a little over-budget) $116 for groceries and calamine lotion, my baby has had the chicken pox!

1/15 -

1/16 -

1/17 -

1/18 -

1/19 -  $21 at toy store for birthday gifts for babies in our playgroup. again, not budgeted for, though they probably should have been.  I knew they were coming up!

1/20 -

1/21 - $117.59 for groceries

1/22 - $35 for dinner out.  We are weakening...

1/23 -

1/24 -

1/24 -

1/25 -

1/26 -

1/27 - $10 for lunch for DS and me during playgroup at the botanical garden. $315.54 for utility bill...yikes...

1/28 - $115 for groceries $14.85 for dinner out..we were hungry after all that shopping!

1/29 -

1/30 -

1/31 -

Well.  I'm going ahead and calling it done since we have no plans for today.  This has been a really helpful experiment!  DH and I learned that we really can't eat in the way that we've become accustomed to on $100/week for groceries.  It was a real challenge for me to plan as many meals as I did, and though we had a couple of slip-ups where we ate out it was really VERY good considering how willing I normally am to just run out and get something if I am uninspired in the kitchen.  We have payed off almost all our Christmas/DH tuition credit card bills, but we do have a few things that we put off buying til February (like a new carseat...) that will probably keep up from getting much ahead in the coming month.  Overall though I think we did well, and especially the experience of making and executing meal plans will really help me going forward!  Thanks for doing this guys!

[FillingMyQuiver]

Key

No Spend/ Budgeted spending

Unplanned/ unbudgeted spending

30min spent decluttering

1.  We're at my ILs until tomorrow, DH and I ran to Target for MIL for popcorn, I picked up stockings and eye makeup for DH's formal office party on Saturday, all of it was put on a GC I got for Christmas, so no $$ out of pocket.  I REEEALLY wanted to buy some other stuff that we REEEEALLY didn't need, but I resisted

2.  Trip home today.  We budgeted a set amount for this trip to the ILs, and for one of the first times, we actually stayed completely in budget!!  I'm hoping that this will set the precedent for the rest of the year, that we can set a budget and stay within it.  No extra spending, no impulse shopping, complete CONTROL!!  Tomorrow I begin decluttering for the 2012 in 2012 Decluttering Challenge.

3.    DH stopped for a haircut on the way home from work b/c I haven't had a free moment to cut his hair.  There's room in the budget for it, but it wasn't really budgeted for.

4.    Had a play date with friends today so no money spent.

5.    DH picked up part of DD2's b-day present, cupcakes, and her choice of dinner for tonight (elbow pasta w/ sauce.  Oh the joys of being 3!!)  Also purchased a used copy of DH's textbook for his class.  All spending today was budgeted.  We reviewed the budget and found we came in under budget on quite a few line items and were able to put some extra towards paying off our truck   Really hoping the momentum we feel this month will carry through the rest of the year

6.   

7.   

8.      $62 spent at Chili's for an unplanned lunch out after church w/ my brother, SIL, and nieces, though it was $$ well spent b/c I don't get to spend much time w/ that part of my family.  Undecorated our Christmas decor today and got rid of quite a few things I didn't use or want anymore.

9.      $24 spent at McD's for lunch.  2 of my kids had dr appts today and I didn't plan very well and had to grab lunch on the go.  I did however resist stopping for Starbucks on the way back and just waited to make coffee at home.

10.  and LOTS of

11. 

12. 

13.  (but it's really not) $160 at Southern Exposure Seed Exchange for seeds/ bulbs for this year's garden.  It wasn't budgeted, but we got a partial insurance reimbursement (for my homebirth ).  We didn't think we'd be getting the reimbursement, so we didn't have it allocated to anything.  A portion went to seeds, a portion will go to DH's new computer monitor he's saving up for, and the rest will go towards our truck, bringing us a few more months closer to paying it off!!  Oh, and

14.    Did our once-a-month bulk shop at Costco today and regular food shopping.  Stuck to the list, didn't go to any other stores, and stayed completely within budget.

15.    Stayed home and made a special day of watching the football playoff game.    We also looked over our master budget and if we stay completely on task, we will pay off our Suburban in March, a full 19 months early

16.    While out, DH bought lunchmeat, rolls, and chips for lunch.  I thought the total would come in under $30, but he spent over $50.  On the upside, there was a whole lot of

17. 

18.    Had to send DH out for Children's Motrin and saltines for DD1, who wasn't feeling well.  While at the store, he picked up beer for himself.

19.    Got our Amazon Trade-in credit for DH's old textbooks.

20.    I have to pickup our weekly milk and egg order and that should be all we need to spend today.

21.    $17 @ McD's for kids' lunch, $20 @ Panera, lunch for DH and I.

22.    budgeted $12 for bread and cheese for dinner.

23. 

24. 

25. 

26. 

27.  ordered pizza for dinner.  Honestly, I was too tired to even think about dinner all day and when 5pm rolled around, I had nothing planned or in the works.  We'll shrug it off and move on, tomorrow is a new day.

28.  $49 @ WM, $9 @ Lowes (for a much needed new smoke alarm), $30 @ food store for I don't know what

29.  $30 for Chinese take out (that ended up being TERRIBLE)

30. 

31.    $37- ordered DH's Valentine's gift (which normally we don't do, but I found something perfect for him )

Man, I feel like I've ended this month on a spending spree   Not how I wanted it to end.  We REALLY need to work on our eating out habit.  On to another month.  Hopefully I'll have our taxes done and filed tonight, giving us even more towards our truck payoff.

[Ruthiegirl]

Ending the month with a hefty charge to fix our van.  I really, really need to set up a car maintenance fund to avoid these situations.  Our current method is to rely on credit cards to bail us out and that is rather lame.  Lesson learned.  

On to February.  I looked over next month's budget and it looks good -- a big savings goal, one birthday present to buy, basic bills, and a big bulk order with our food co-op.  The bulk order has been planned for some time and really does save us quite a bit on groceries. And I will be doing a lot of new planting in the garden and starting seeds for the summer garden...so excited!  

Jan 1 -- 

Jan 2 -- 

Jan 3 -- 40.00 cash for hospital stay/food, 15.22 flowers, 13.12 cell phone minutes

Jan 4 -- 

Jan 5 -- 

Jan 6 -- 

Jan 7 -- 28.61 birthday gift

Jan 8 -- 

Jan 9 -- 60.00 nursing bras

Jan 10 -- 

Jan 11 -- 14.90 library fines   

Jan 12 -- 

Jan 13 -- 

Jan 14 -- 

Jan 15 -- 

Jan 16 -- 23.07 Amazon

Jan 17 --   + seed order for 2012 garden

Jan 18 -- 

Jan 19 -- 

Jan 20 -- 175.00 parts to fix van

Jan 21 -- 

Jan 22 -- 

Jan 23 -- 

Jan 24 -- 

Jan 25 -- 24.14 breakfast for dh's birthday

Jan 26 -- 

Jan 27 -- 40.00 birthday gift

Jan 28 -- 

Jan 29 -- 4.00 bridge toll

Jan 30 -- 

Jan 31 -- 271.00 labor to finish van repair

January savings goal is at 138%