I’m in! My goal for November is to plan next year’s budget more deliberately: particularly the categories of travel, home projects, and garden project. This year overall our NW has been going up but our cash reserves have been going down and we just Need A Plan to make everything work.
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I figured it can be the way I end my day. I have a few end of the day rituals and can tack on transaction reconciliation to it.
The worst transactions are the ones from Target…which is actually a store for me to avoid, it’s just a black hole of temptation and if I lose the receipt it hard to catergorize the transaction
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I’d like to participate because I want to continue what I started last month.
Goals:
Spend at least $50 on protein. Last month I spent around $65, but around $40 of it was on protein powder. I think it will be more difficult this month since I don’t probably don’t need to buy any protein powder this month. Last month I only considered fish and tofu (and protein powder), but I am thinking maybe of including eggs and cheese. Eating enough protein is difficult for me, so making this a habit is valuable. I will also try to eat at least 70g of protein every day in November (technically my goal is 107g, but that almost never happens, so baby steps).
Make an appointment for an eye exam and buy new glasses. I have needed to do this for years. JUST SPEND THE MONEY.
Make some decision about professional development. Cost TBD.
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I’m in. Here are my goals
Total budget = $2,000 for the month.
Clothes = $200 - I’m working on building a capsule wardrobe and getting rid of clothes that I don’t wear any more. I put together an Amazon wish list with the items but my goal is to find these items used (possibly on ThredUp or at the local thift store) The No-Stress part of that is decluttering my closet and simplifying my work outfits so I don’t have to think so much about what I’m going to wear. Theorically all tops will go with all bottoms so I just grab and go. I also want to be more environmentally freindly and purchased used and I kind of want to avoid Amazon whenever possible.
Massage = $100 I have been wanting to get a massage for like a year now or more. I have put it in my budget for this month and I am going to make it happen.
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It may waste paper (if you have the option of refusing a receipt), but I take and keep receipts until I have entered them in my spreadsheet. I don’t enter every day (it is highly variable), but the October challenge did motivate me to enter expenses more frequently. After entered, I shred the receipt.
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I have big changes coming in my life as I will be leaving my job in January and starting the process to apply for disability. Since I’m 49, this is sooner than I’d anticipated. I’m sometimes freaked out about it and sometimes fine (and obviously lots of emotions still to process). So, my goals:
- Put together a list of things I need to do financially before I leave work and start working on the list.
- Look at accounts that I don’t really use and close/consolidate them to make my finances simpler.
- Research marketplace health plans to see if my providers and meds are covered. Sigh.
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Not a very eventful update since we’re all of two days in:
Gifts–$0/$600
Travel–$155/$0* (in progress, goals to follow)
Food–$0/$300
Home Improvement–$0/$100
Goals for the next week–I got my flight back from visiting family (one way ticket) for $255, down to $155 with a $100 voucher already applied. Goal #1 is to remember to apply credit card points to offset the charge when it officially posts. Goal #2 is get a one-way flight out with a different card since I don’t have enough points on the same card to use it for both (and it’ll also be on a different airline since I’m dependent on someone picking me up at the airport and that particular airline has amazingly crappy landing times).
Goal #3 doesn’t involve spending any money (yet), it’s to make a list of all the projects around the house I want to get done and actually figure out what I need to buy rather than bouncing from thing to thing as it occurs to me.
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I spent $2.99 on groceries so far. Mostly we’ve been eating down the fridge/pantry.
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I’m in for No-Stress November.
I have 3 goals for this month:
#1 Stick to my budget for cc payments. I have $500 allocated to my Chase card and I’m really pushing to have this paid off by the end of the year.
#2 Be careful of burnout. I work in the service industry and also pick up side hustles and freelance regularly. Last month I got very close to doing too much. I start a new part-time job this month that will be one day a week. I’m also picking up two shifts at another job as a favor to a friend. With this in mind, I want to stick to the schedule that my main service-focused job sets for me/try not to pick up shifts or work every day. My brain and body need rest during no-stress Nov.
#3 I’ve planned ahead for thanksgiving expenses and a visit from my best friend. I want to be careful not to get caught up in the moment and go over these budgets. Right now I have $75 budgeted for my contribution to thanksgiving dinner(including wine). For my friends visit, I got him free tickets to a concert where I work and I get 50% off drinks and food there, so I hope not to spend more than $50 that evening. These are really the only treats i’ve planned for myself in November but they are good ones.
This is my first challenge and I’m looking forward to the accountability and support!
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Oops, I didn’t realize yesterday was Saturday… but I’ve had no change so far, I haven’t spent any money this month yet.
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Woops I forgot to update yesterday.
Spent $148 so far on groceries, might need to pick up one or two more things today (budgeted $180 so I’m good with that)
Spent $33 on gas (damn gas was $2.27/gal now it went back up to $2.38), probably refill the tank again tonight (I like having a full tank at the start of my work week)
Paid my health insurance premium of $208.70
Paid $80 on the second personal loan
$47.83 spent on going out to eat
Let’s hope the out-to-eat spending stays down. Next paycheck in two weeks I’ll be able to put money into savings for Christmas (along with the $17 I have so far in cash back on the Discover card)
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I also forgot to check in yesterday because…I haven’t spent anything yet!! OK it is only day 3 but I’m still gonna celebrate lol.
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Weekend checkin over here- did spend, did check it showed up and categorized in Mint 
So far we’ve had our scheduled gym due, rent, google music, and charitable contribution. For variable, we’ve had two small grocery trips, and we went to dinner Friday and went to a cafe yesterday. (Fitting in dates while we can!) While we were exploring yesterday we also found a local pet shop, and got replacement tennis balls for Lil Pup (she likes a particular size of squeaky ones, it can be hard to find the ones she likes), and a chew for when baby is here. (Got some free kibble samples we’ll use as training treats too).
In the future, (once baby is here) I probably won’t Itemize everything. Just check in and say if I’m staying on top of things or not.
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45.84 on groceries yesterday. One of those days where I wonder how I spent so much.
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I’m pre-caffeine and initially read this as a dog chew for the baby and was delighted by a mental image of tiny human chewing on a dog toy hehe
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Hahaha. Well it IS all natural. But it’ll be a while before she has teeth. Maybe she’ll enjoy salmon flavored rawhide alternatives 
Lol!
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We found free boxes! We live next door to several shops and they said we could take anything we wanted from the pile behind the store. 
Today I need to send a couple networking emails and start updating my resume.
This week I need to call my 401k plan since I can’t find the transfer paperwork on their website.
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Hm, I realized that I need to make a dentist appointment this month. I surely will need a shitload of work. But I don’t have any idea what the cost will be, as I don’t know what all I need - or, more accurately, what to prioritize, and thus what it will cost. Last visit I needed a crown and that was almost $700. But I didn’t get a full exam, I was just getting my broken tooth emergency dealt with.
The last dentist I went to (before this one who did the crown; she seems more reasonable and was very kind) listed out everything I needed and the total was something like $28,000 after insurance, so I just… sort of stopped going and didn’t deal with it? Because at the time that was more than my annual salary.
Honestly, I’m tempted to not include this in the budget challenge since it is out of my control so I can’t just choose to be smarter about spending in this area (unless I continue to ignore work that needs done, which, no, I need to be a grownup about this). It is probably mentally healthier for me to focus on the things I can control - food, restaurants, misc spending, to some extent cat spending. That doesn’t magically make money for dental bills materialize, though.
How is everyone else handling budgeting for unknown medical expenses?
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Weekend check in:
Goal 1: (packing lunches) not yet applicable, but I am going to cook some food today to prep for this week
Goal 2: (not buy coffees during work day) also not yet applicable
Goal 3: (generally don’t spend a fortune on food) going okay so far. I need to work on eating down the pantry.
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$28000 sounds like time to go get dental work done somewhere else. Mexico is lovely.
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