Funny, it's actually getting hard to remember all the info for the month now. I have way too much going on in my life right now I guess.
Rule #1 - nothing new - kinda broken. Luke had that moment of insanity that caused him to go crazy at Fry's.
Rule #2 - no frivolous spending - broken. Same reason as rule #1. "Only" $80 though. Not horrible.
Rule #3 - less eating out - broken. We had an extra meal out the weekend we were potty training.
Rule #2 - no frivolous spending - broken. Same reason as rule #1. "Only" $80 though. Not horrible.
Rule #3 - less eating out - broken. We had an extra meal out the weekend we were potty training.
Rule #4 - 1 family outing. Not broken! We still haven't had a single family outing this year (that cost us anyway).
sigh We broke all the "important" rules this month. No good.
41(!) transactions this month: 13 grocery (I'm including drugstore runs here, which there were 3 or 4 of), 10 restaurant (our weekly allowed & the 3 family meals out), 11 gas, 7 other (2 car parts, 1 dr bill, 1 Fry's, 1 Kid to Kid, 1 computer part for the still broken PC, & 1 tire for Luke's car), plus $100 cash withdrawal ($20 early in the month & $80 for the farmers market - we left with $30, which Luke will be using tonight while he's out with the guys).
I'm disappointed in our month when I look at it this way. I really am. BUT, if I stop & look at the total dollars spent this year versus April of last year... We've spent almost 50% less money in the month. That's insane! I'm not gonna even throw those numbers out 'cause I about fell over when I saw how much we spent in a month! Heck, I was feeling pretty shocked at the total amount of money we spent this year. When I added up last April's transactions I almost fell out of my chair - literally. I don't know how we spent THAT much money! I'm not even sure where we got all that money from. PLUS, we had 2 car payments still. We were living a lifestyle that left things paycheck to paycheck, that's for sure. Now, we have a cushion for anything that might come up & we're paying off our debt at the same time. This challenge really is an eye opener! I still feel like I need to get a handle on the grocery thing though. There has got to be some way we can eat the way we like to, but spend about half of what we're currently spending. I'd love ideas if anyone has them. (Coupons aren't helpful really 'cause we don't buy much stuff that coupons are made for.) Maybe I need to go back to trying the grocery game, and figuring out where the cheapest place to buy things is. Maybe I need to figure out what things I'm okay with not buying organic & switch back to the "normal" stuff here & there. Other ideas?
41(!) transactions this month: 13 grocery (I'm including drugstore runs here, which there were 3 or 4 of), 10 restaurant (our weekly allowed & the 3 family meals out), 11 gas, 7 other (2 car parts, 1 dr bill, 1 Fry's, 1 Kid to Kid, 1 computer part for the still broken PC, & 1 tire for Luke's car), plus $100 cash withdrawal ($20 early in the month & $80 for the farmers market - we left with $30, which Luke will be using tonight while he's out with the guys).
I'm disappointed in our month when I look at it this way. I really am. BUT, if I stop & look at the total dollars spent this year versus April of last year... We've spent almost 50% less money in the month. That's insane! I'm not gonna even throw those numbers out 'cause I about fell over when I saw how much we spent in a month! Heck, I was feeling pretty shocked at the total amount of money we spent this year. When I added up last April's transactions I almost fell out of my chair - literally. I don't know how we spent THAT much money! I'm not even sure where we got all that money from. PLUS, we had 2 car payments still. We were living a lifestyle that left things paycheck to paycheck, that's for sure. Now, we have a cushion for anything that might come up & we're paying off our debt at the same time. This challenge really is an eye opener! I still feel like I need to get a handle on the grocery thing though. There has got to be some way we can eat the way we like to, but spend about half of what we're currently spending. I'd love ideas if anyone has them. (Coupons aren't helpful really 'cause we don't buy much stuff that coupons are made for.) Maybe I need to go back to trying the grocery game, and figuring out where the cheapest place to buy things is. Maybe I need to figure out what things I'm okay with not buying organic & switch back to the "normal" stuff here & there. Other ideas?
1 comment:
A friend of mine also shops all organic and such and she has been trying to find a way to cut the cost. Here is one post about her adventure in that. http://thegreerclan.blogspot.com/2009/03/penny-pincher.html Hope it helps you a little
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