Still doing really well with grocery budget, in fact I didnāt buy any groceries this week. So still sitting at $275/$450 goal. Iām definitely running out of fresh produce, but still have plenty of meat, beans, frozen veggies and fruit.
ETA: saw a crazy good deal on the Safeway app, so ended up ordering some groceries to fill in (mostly produce, and yasso bars). They had a coupon for $40 off a $75 online grocery order. I spent $39 after all of the coupons, bringing my total for the month to $314/$450 goal
Still havenāt bought anything plant related, or any books! So sitting solid on all of my goals woohoo
I did have some more discretionary spending this week because I was invited to a formal event, and didnāt have anything to wear. I spent $70 on a dress, and $11 on super clearance shoes that absolutely sucked, but I never have to wear them again, lol. I think $81 for an unplanned formal event isnāt bad! And, Iāll definitely wear the dress again!
I also spent like $30 on some supplies to learn to do my nails, and $11 for some random household things
My walking shoes were finally dead dead and Iāve been rotating through like 5 pairs of very dead shoes to try not to buy new ones, but I finally broke this week and ordered a new pair of Hokas while they had a $20 off dealā¦still $168 though dumb feet
I didnāt want to deal with figuring lunch today while we are in a countdown to when - once again- we are in another place and canāt take food with us. So I bought a butter chicken pie and a ginger slice from the local gas station as one does here.
It is a dessert bar, cut out from a big pan, with generally a shortbread or oat base, and then a ginger spice ( vs fresh ginger) icing/topping. This one had pistachios too because it is 2025.
So it looks a bit like a lemon square and is beside the brownies. Very sweet
Checking in for this past week! I spent $37.50 / $50 for my eating out budget! Back on track. Proud of myself for being more thoughtful in my meal planning, especially at a busy time of year when Iād normally be eating out a lot.
I just dropped my laptop off with a computer repair guy. It has numerous issues, not the least of which is it has a Trojan horse virus on it and my new Passport SS drive.
Itās going to cost $350 CAD to get everything cleaned up, rebooted and upgraded. Such a nuisance! And an expense. It has to come from that money I was going to use to top up my GIC. Means revamping the budget yet again.
Late checkin - like thousands of others, storms left the power out for a couple of days. Opted for trail mix, tuna, PB sandwiches, & countertop cold brew coffee instead of joining the doordash hordes, which excused a bit of exuberant tipsiness celebrating the return of modern amenities, when I made a charitable donation ahead of schedule (cash for food bank.)
The last of the bills populated while I was offline: one last grocery stop brought the total of all cash outflow this month barring any surprises just shy of $1130, including one indie art project & two small-dollar charity gifts, plus that pizza. Relying on the library for spooky movies instead of picking up a month of streaming helped too.
It occurred to me now that this monthās spending is artificially inflated by the power bill reflecting last monthās usage. Between much cooler temperatures & two days of no electricity, next monthās bill should look good by comparison. Itās great to have a ceiling fan back, though, let alone a stove or the ability to open the fridge.
Getting diligent this month has helped me speed up moving out of Google Sheets into local calc, too. Itās about time.
Last day (Week 4): Hit my savings goal and more since I got a windfall on my birthday yesterday. Treated myself to an amazing vintage weekender bag from the 70s. Iām so motivated iām planning my November challenge:
Save $500 - 11/30 goal $1500 for class- Already at $1350!
Nothing has to be perfect! Just check in by posting on this thread and mention where youāre at with your budgetober objectives.
This can be posting how much youāve spent this week, what problems you ran into with your plan, or asking for help if you need it.
After you post your check-in, myself or another mod will get you a special-edition week 4 budgetober badge. If you still havenāt gotten your badge by Tuesday, please bat signal me (@ anomalily) and Iāll make sure you do!
When you are done, fill in this to get your stickers mailed:
I stayed within my takeout budget! My total spend for takeout/snacks was $298.90, almost exactly my $300 maximum.
I want to see my spending by sub-category, so hereās a quick breakdown:
Vending Machines: $26.85
Work Cafeteria: $20.14
Dunkinā Donuts: $36.84
All Other Coffee & Pastries: $112.93
Takeout Meals: $89.14
Alcohol: $13
I guess I like to eat local! I seriously thought that Dunkinā would be a bigger slice of my spending, and maybe without a strict budget I wouldāve spent more there. But clearly the area to cut back on, when I need to, will be on pastries and fancy coffee.
Final numbers are in! My goal was just to track weekly, which I did, and to keep the total spend under $9931. I did that!
Some categories were more or less (I impulse bought a patio heater but negative clothes), but there were 2 big deal differences:
We did not make a planned charitable donation on behalf of one of our kids because he was a little short of his savings goal (long story, it is a consequence weāre imposing) - BUT we did make an almost-as-big donation to the food bank
We did not finish paying for the solar panels because the utility hasnāt given us the damn permit yet! Supposed to be 6-8 weeks, well past 2 months.I think we owe about $1100, so our total spend should then be $8800 or less and it was. Phew. Still a bit gruesome.
dumb feet
Means revamping the budget yet again.
I seriously thought that Dunkinā would be a bigger slice of my spending, and maybe without a strict budget I wouldāve spent more there. But clearly the area to cut back on, when I need to, will be on pastries and fancy coffee.
but we have started discussing recipes for lunches