Day 8

Total Spent:  $51

Kids:  $51

We let the kids eat hot lunch at school if they see something on the menu they would like.  My daughter's lunch costs $3, and she usually buys lunch twice a week.  It's nice to have some variety in your lunch and not eat a sandwich every day.  We currently put this under "kids" in the budget, but I'm wondering if this should be a separate line item next month.

The rental fee for my daughter's clarinet also came due today. This is a recurring fee and is totally worth the cost.  She really loves to play, so as long as she expresses interest, and practices, we think it's a good investment.

In my last post, I mentioned some items that I haven't discussed on the blog, like items bought for house maintenance earlier in the month.  Those were things that were purchased by my husband, Rob.  When I started this blog, it was to keep me on track with my spending, but to also share how we budget our money.

I made the decision to only post what I have spent.  I'm doing it this way for two reasons.  First, I want to be more accountable and aware of the money I spend.  Sometimes at the end of the day I have no idea what I spent. I hate that feeling.  Second, I don't want my husband to feel like I'm watching every penny he spends, every day.  I know that he is also monitoring his spending, so I trust him to stay in our set budget.

At the end of the month I'm going to do a post on how well we did that month and what changes we are going to make for the following month.  Next month, we'll need to up our "gift" money as we will start buying Christmas presents. We are also traveling for Thanksgiving, so we'll be spending more money on "eating out" as well.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Day 7

Total Spent: $46.46

Eating Out:  $24.52
House Maintance: $6.94
Misc.: $15, gift

In March, we moved to a new area.  We had lived in our old house for 13 years and made a great group of friends that all lived in the same neighborhood.  Since we moved, we try to get together about once a month.  Most of the time it involves eating out and then hanging out.  I don't worry about spending money these nights.  I consider it "keeping me sane" money, and you really can't put a price on that!

We ended up picking up food from one of our favorite Mexican Restaurants, Mexican Fiesta.  We each got Chimichanga with rice and beans and "hot" chips with salsa.

 Our total "eating out" budget for the month is $200.  When you add in the pizza we bought earlier this month, we still have $165.37 left for the month.

I also had to buy a hose for our vacuum cleaner.  I thought about getting a new one, but there really isn't anything wrong with the one we have except the house that connects the motor to the floor device.  So, in the interest of saving a vacuum cleaner from going to the landfill, I bought the part for $6.94.  I think that's a good buy.

We have $100 budgeted for home maintenance a month, so we a few other items bought for the month, mainly salt for our water softener, we have $57 left for the month.

My daughter also went to a birthday party, and we spent $15 on a gift for her.   We have $85 budgeted for Miscilanious items, so our remaining balance is $70.

So, it's our most expensive day so far, but it's all money well spent, so I'm not stressing over it.  Every purchase was either planned in advance or we really did need it.  I don't want to budget so closely and be so frugal that when day's like these happy that they make me feel guilty or unhappy. I had a great time with my friends, my daughter had an awesome time at the party with her friends, and I saved an appliance from the landfill while also saving money in the long run. I think today was a success.

Day 6

Total Spent:  $0

Today, it was really easy not to spend any money.  I spent the morning cleaning around the house and the afternoon at my daughter's cross country meet.

Part of easily not spending any money while out and about is being prepared.

Before I left the house I made myself a fresh cup of coffee and filled a water bottle.  I also packed some snacks for my daughter and me so we wouldn't be tempted to buy anything on the way home.

I'm so happy I did this because as I was sitting in the car waiting for the meet to start, this bad boy pulled up.  

It was chilly and raining so I know I would have gotten something warm.  Plus, I love a good food truck.

We also ate dinner at home, even though we got home late. Usually on those nights I would have just picked something up or we would have went out to eat. But, I knew we were eating out tomorrow, so I sucked it up and made dinner.

At the end of the night, I am very happy that I resisted and spent $0!

Day 5

Total Spent: $0

I didn't spend any money today!  Yipee!

When I went to get dressed this morning I realized the pants I had planned to wear were dirty.  So I ended up standing, staring at my closet thinking I had nothing to wear to work.  I instantly thought I needed to go to the mall and buy some new work clothes.  This was even before I started to look for anything else to wear.

As you can see, I have plenty to wear.  More than plenty.

I decided on this outfit, even though I was really unsure about it because I was a "floater" substitute teacher today.  With no set grade, it's hard to decide to wear a skirt when you are teaching really little kids.  But, I went with it, and it ended up working out fine. I got a lot of compliments on my skirt too.

With my clothes I either get in a rut and wear the same 7 outfits every week until I end up hating them, or I try to mix it up every day and get decision fatigue before the day even starts. How do I fix this?  I'm not sure.  On one hand I want to pare down my wardrobe to a weeks worth of outfits where everything can be intermixed, kind of like a Project 333 but it capsule form.  And then on the other hand I want to throw out every item I own and just start over. I know I won't/can't afford to do either one, so what should I do?  Any suggestions?

Day 4

Total Spent: $10.11

Ugh.  I was doing so good.  I took time this morning to make homemade pizza dough, got it all set up and started cleaning.  I briefly thought about the Maple Pecan Latte, but scolded myself, and just kept myself busy.

While I was cleaning, I went to turn the bathtub faucet off and the knob just fell off.  The water was still running, so I had to shut the water off to the entire house.  Feeling defeated, I went downstairs to check the pizza dough and it looked exactly the way it did when I put it in the bowl.  It didn't rise.

At this point, I was over it.  My daughter had a cross country meet after school, and I thought my son had baseball practice (it was cancelled), so I made the decision to get Little Caesars Pizza.  I don't like that pizza, but it's always ready and it's $5.  As you can see, I spent $10 because I also got bread sticks, and pizza sauce, and garlic butter sauce.  The kids ate 1 bread stick.  1.  So, next time, no bread sticks.

I probably should have made the tacos.

Day 3

Money Spent: $0


I really wanted a Starbucks Maple Pecan latte, like really bad.  I had gotten an email from Starbucks in the morning, and I just couldn't get it out of my mind.  I made myself a Pumpkin Spice coffee at home, then another, and I still wanted more coffee.  Not just coffee, a Starbucks Latte. 

I spend the afternoon volunteering at my daughter's school, and on the way it took every ounce of will power not to turn the car into Starbucks.  I was trying to justify it to myself.  I have a little over $3 on my Starbucks app.  So, I'd really only be spending $2.  I could get it from the change jar, so it's not like it's even real money.

What was my problem?!  When I had almost justified it, it was after 3 pm, and I knew I'd never get to sleep is I had caffeine that late, so that settled it. 

In the end, I'm glad I didn't buy the latte because it feels good to see that $0 at the top of this post!

Day 2

Today was grocery day.  I'm usually really good about grocery shopping.  I don't like to do it, so I'm usually in and out.

The only thing that throws off the budget is when I get distracted by other things.  This could be anything from 10 for $10 sales or candles.  It's really I problem. I feel like if I see something that is on a good sale, I have to buy it. Even if I know that we won't eat it before it expires or only 1 person likes it at home.  I still used to buy it.  Then I'd throw it away and add to the food waste.

This all changed when I started shopping at Aldi.  First, it's compact.  There is a limited number of items in the store.  The prices are already rock bottom, so there usually aren't any sales.  There isn't a lot of excess clutter.  Usually they have one aisle with "seasonal" items, such as previously mentioned candle, but I tend to skip that aisle unless they have the seasonal food in the aisle instead of the end cap.

This week I spent a total of $46 dollars at Aldi. This was (almost) everything I needed for 6 meals. 

First, I meal planned.

Monday - Ravioli / Salad
Tuesday - Tacos / Rice
Wednesday - Shrimp / Mashed Potatoes / Vegetable (whatever they had that was fresh)
Thursday - Homemade Pizza / Salad
Friday - French Toast / Bacon / Fruit (Apples which we picked at the orchard last week)
Saturday - Dinner out w/Friends
Sunday - Chili

Second, I shopped my pantry. I went through and marked down what I already had. You'd be amazed at the things you have hidden in the back of the pantry/freezer that you have forgotten about. 

Third, I made my list.  I promised myself I would only buy what was on the list.

Fourth, go shopping.  Here's my final cart:

Total: $45

There were a few things that I couldn't find, so I HAD to go to Kroger.  

At Kroger I bought:

Deli Ham
Popcorn (kernels for the air popper)
Sausage Links
Chocolate Milk

Total: $14

So, our total for the week is $59!  Not bad.

In full disclosure, I did have some items in my pantry.  We also buy all of our meat at Costco in bulk.  I go to Costco about once a month, so I'll update my total from there in another post.

So, how do you save money at the grocery store. Do you like going to smaller grocery stores or do you prefer the bigger, one stop shop stores?

Day 1 & Personal Goal

Today was the first day of the new budget plan.  I'm happy to report that I spent $0!

It really wasn't that difficult to not spend any money today because it was such a busy day. The only time I was tempted was on the way to a birthday party.  I really wanted to stop at Starbucks and get a Maple Pecan Latte.  It's right on my way and so, so easy to stop and run in.  But, I resisted.

I've also set a personal goal for the month. My goal this month is to not buy any clothes.  This should be an easy goal because I've already set a this as a no buy month. Only the essentials and only if we can't live without it for a month.

I don't NEED any clothes.  In fact, I have a lot more clothes than I need or even wear.  I know this, but still when the seasons change I feel the need for new. I want clothes in fall colors, I want a new jacket, a new sweater, a new...whatever.  I just want new.  In full disclosure, I did recently buy new clothes. I bought a pair of jeans, a few shirts, and some earrings.  So, the urge to buy new clothes is almost over. Although I do want new boots.  I don't need them, but I really want them.

So, a month of no new clothes.  Let's do this!

Back on the wagon!

That's what we say every time we get back on our budget.

In my opinion, the first month is the hardest.  Remembering to keep all the receipts or write down what was bought in each category can be daunting.  Our bills are easy to record because most of them come right out of our account and stay the same every month.

Things like grocery or drugstore are also easy. I almost always use my debit card, so we can just look at our online statement.  Although when I buy toothpaste at the grocery store, I do subtract that amount and put it in the drugstore line.

The hardest things to remember to write down is things we buy with cash. This doesn't happen very often, but I've learned to put it in the budget as soon as I get home or I'll forget.

Along the same line, living your life and not focusing on the budget is the hardest the first month. I like to go all in. I put myself on a "no buy" month. I only buy the necessities, nothing else. No clothes, no treats, no Starbucks, nothing.  I buy what we need when we need it. Don't get me wrong, it's hard, but I just go in with the thought of, "I'm not buying anything this month" mentality.  So when I do actually buy something like a gift or a drink it's so unusual that I don't forget to write it down.

The first half of the "no buy" month goes great. I'm excited about my new plan and I'm really focused.  About halfway through the month I just want to buy something, anything.  This is the time when I don't allow myself to go to Target/Wal-Mart/Meijer.  It's just not worth the temptation.

Around this time I also start making a list of things I want to buy next month. My wants list.  What I have found in the past is I usually don't want those things in a month.  I've forgotten why I wanted it or just decided I didn't want to spend my personal budget money on it.  This is has saved me so much money in the past.

And the number one thing that keeps us on the wagon is having a goal.  Some goals we've had in the past, are:

Pay off debt
Save for a vacation
Save for a down payment on a house

This time our goal is save for vacation.  We want to go on a longer/larger vacation next summer and we want to have all the money set aside for it before it's even close.  So, not only is our budget working towards something, it's also releasing some stress of "we are spending so much money on this vacation".  I hate that feeling halfway through vacation when you start to realize how much money you've spent and you're only halfway.

With your budget made, I hope these tips will help you get in the right head space to start your budget.

Up next: goals for my personal budget.

October 1st

October 1st marks the beginning of our budget.  Rob and I have done this a few times before, and it has worked really well.

To create the budget we use google sheets.  Rob is really the one who sets all this up for us.  First, he organizes all our monthly bills that don't change.  After that, he puts in things that we buy that change from month to month, such as, groceries, drugstore items,  veterinarian care, and car maintenance. Then comes the third layer, the "wants".  We give ourselves money to spend each month on ourselves, the kids, the dog.  Ta-Da! You have a budget.

We've done this a few times, so with this budget we added in things like the car payment, but mostly things stayed the same. Rob even colored coded it this time!

I've included a copy of our categories below:

October 2017

House

Insurance

Utilities

Taxes

College

Car

Groceries

Gifts

T-Rex

Gas

Medical

Maintenance

Eat Out

Clothes

Kids

Misc

Costco

Drugstore

Andrea

Rob

Entertainment

Amazon/PayPal

Bills

Needs

Discretionary

Over the next week I'll go into some of the reasons why we decided to start budgeting again, some personal budget goals, and thoughts on minimalism/zero waste living.