As planned, I did no grocery spending this week, aside from $8 for some ingredients I needed to make cinnamon rolls with a friend. They were amazing, and she was delighted by the magic of yeast dough, haha.
I had an unexpected $160 expense of the next 4 months of Oliverās pet insurance, because randomly my work stopped deducting it from our paychecks. So I had to pay for the rest of the plan year all at once to keep it active.
I ordered 3 potential interview shirts, for $75 total (good sale) and none of them worked, so they will be returned.
Otherwise, basically no other spending this week aside from planned bills (gym membership and water bill)
My check in is to hold myself accountable for either starting a spreadsheet or downloading an app to track my spending. I will do one of those things before dinnertime tonight.
householdās essentials spending this week: $347, mostly boring things. Largest items in here are a therapy session ($180, counts toward deductible) and $105 for gym membership. Iām including a restaurant meal in here because we couldnāt cook one day when our water and natural gas were turned off for repairs. Thankfully as renters weāre not paying for the repairs.
fun money: $19/50 this month (a few Halloween decorations and dice I convinced myself I need for an upcoming gaming convention. yes, I could use the ones I have from different sets, but then they wouldnāt match!)
An item Iām not sure how to categorize: $62 for a birthday gift for my father-in-law. I could try to spend less on gifts, but I think Iād rather just budget for it, as some of my relations have expensive taste and Iād like to give them things they actually like.
This week I have successfully not spent money on random stuff! And only one grocery store trip that was under $100, so Iām on track to keep under my grocery budget. Turns out I have a lot more stuff in my freezer and pantry than I thought, so Iām doing my best to only buy protein/fruit/veggies.
And! None of the pets have had any more vet visits, so thatās a savings
Week one check in:
Groceries: $244.74
Discretionary: $222.30 (definitely forgotten some things here, will ask husband if heās made any not on credit card, totally thought this would be lower so thats a worry since weāre not even half way through the month. Guess thatās why Iām trackingā¦)
This weekend got away from me. So far still on track! Added my half of a Costco grocery load for $55 (we were low on milk & cheese), so assuming last monthās utilities (probably overestimating, because it was hotter then), currently at $1085 (a bit over $886 actually spent), anticipating something like another fifty bucks in groceries for a total close to $1130-1150. If I can stay under $1150 I may give the difference to an art project I liked.
In either case I will probably end up putting a bit extra to MSF in a donation that goes out this month or later. Payment processing fees often favor lumpier donations. Though charities have an easier time budgeting steady donations, I canāt usually commit to that, so bigger occasional gifts mean they get more of it.
I set up a spreadsheet and entered the monthās expenses so far. Groceries are lower than I had expected, but some of that can probably be chalked up to the fact that the kitchen was well stocked before the start of the month and also I just eat way less than TAFKAH (the asshole formerly known as Husband). My meals stretch so much more.
I was not able to resist and did buy the Halloween costume. $30, but Iām keeping the tags on in case the weather changes for my dress up event this weekend and I end up not using it. I have plenty of other options that I can wrangle.
Looks like I will be opting out of staying at a hotel post wedding next weekend so that will be about $180 not spent. Driving back late will suck, but Iāll see if anyone else attending wants to carpool.
Problem for future me: I keep finding adorable things I want to buy for my new apartment when I move. I will need to be strong and resist.
Oh and I need to figure out getting $3500 to $6500 for a retainer. Kinda blows the discounted spinach out of the water.
Just rememberd and cancelled another subscription. Amazing how they gather like weeds. Theyāre linked to good intentions, and my tendency to live up to my means, not below, but I donāt have enough to do the things I want to do in my own life, soā¦ again time to cut the cloth. Pretty sure I also did this last year, so will have to try to have less moments of weakness in the coming year. Perhaps I said that last year too. Hmmm.
Meanwhile I have decided to look into getting a car again, probably next year, so I need to save. Was looking at ones this year which need work, and then I thought āWhy? Why donāt I save and get a better one?ā. So Iām going to try to do that.
Week 2ish: I took a hard look at my budget and bills and made the decision to refinance a personal loan that was costing me almost $1,000 a month. I refinanced it with my credit union and brought the cost down to $400 a month! Freeing up that extra cash for high interest debt and savings! Should hit my savings goal at the end of the month and will be making an additional $800 debt payment with my next paycheck and savings from the loan payment!
So my medical bill Budgetober goal is perhaps difficult enough to justfy my participation here. Case in point: today I looked at my ābillingā tab in the portal for the hospital with the local standalone ER and saw a $0 balance. Also today, I got a bill from them for a little over $400, part of it for something Iāve already paid for.
Income is usually highly variable for my personal budget. This month was so-so. Not that good in sales, but lots of promises. Weāll see.
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I did speak to my mentor in the crafting group. She suggested displaying my patterns in a different way, so people could see what I have more easily. She was going to hang them on the back of chair racks, but I have too many patterns. Only a couple of big ones could hang that way anyways. The majority are small patterns. Iām seriously thinking about buying a portable fold up clothes rack, as I need something to hang laundry on wash day too. It could do double duty.
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Today I went shopping. Bought laminating pockets, ink cartridges and, on household money, a portable DVD/CD drive. Laminating pockets were $60 + tax. Ink cartridges were $90 + tax. Tax is 15% here.
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I budgeted all the money to my name and decided I had extra in the bank from all my sales (some people paid by e-transfer) to pull out for savings challenges. All the money from savings challenges is going toward topping up that $3200 GIC to $5000.
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I had a long hard think about Christmas. It has become apparent I am over gifting. I spoke with sis#1 about it. She says she and her family are feeling guilty about not reciprocating. Itās true. With them itās a one way street. Their excuse is too busy and too many people to gift to. They are correct on both accounts. However I donāt feel comfortable giving to one sisterās family and not the otherās.
Soooā¦I decided on a major scale back. I was going to gift hm tote bags filled with stuff I know they like from Dollarama and other cheap stores. Sis#1 groaned at the mention of tote bags.
So I decided to go on VistaPrint and see what was there. I found some notebooks that I could attach my own photo to and have printed. It cost $266 for 16 at 2-4 copies per notebook design. Hubby wants to go halves with me. I also suggested we find cheap funky pens to go with them, but honestly, itās not necessary.
Christmas solved! For a fraction of the price I budgeted for!
OK a few days late, but I have corralled my monthly donations/subscriptions.
Donations: $162
Subscriptions: $87 (majority of this is Patreon and Substack newslettersā¦YIKES I am definitely not reading all of these!!!)
Some work to do here, to think through what I want to carry into 2026. Iām thinking either a $10/mo limit, or cull all of the ones that are consumer-y because I really donāt need MORE incentive to buy things I donāt need
Week 2 check in early since I work and volunteer all weekend
Got another round of medical bills from a past emergency visit, and it wasnāt too scary. Just one bill left outstanding, and itās not crazy big even without the insurance. I just donāt want to have to pull from savings for these, but weāll see. If this next bill is under $100 after insurance I should be okay.
Gas $60/$200 And I still have a 3/4 full tank so thatās good. Working down in the city this weekend though, so Iāll need a fill up after that for sure. Iām trying to do a preparedness thing where I always keep the tank at least half full.
Groceries $229/$300
I just did a BIG weekly shop with some stock ups on things that last a while, but I still suspect my recast will be moving money into this category from another next week.
Eating out $172/$300
Had a really nice dinner at the saunas, but I couldnāt take leftovers home! Bummer. Iām treating a younger friend next week so that will be a chunk, but otherwise I should be able to just do cheaper things with folks until the end of the month.
Fun/gifts $70/167
Went to the Korean saunas! Omg it was amazing. Iām going to try to budget for a visit every month because it was so worth it. I got a standard day pass and went in the evening with a friend, but next time Iām going to go earlier so I can pay the same amount but spend a lot more time there.
Week 2: This weekend I shall first set up my new computer with Windows 11 so that I can do financials online. Then Iāve got a lot of work to do. I may do some bills sorting if time allows, but I donāt expect it to allow. But I wonāt do any financials on a Windows 10 computer from here on out. So, Iām declaring that setting up that computer totally counts.
I have failed at this challenge. Mostly because I didnāt account for suddenly deciding to get on the apps and go on dates (and hence buy new bras and mascara and drinks/food out). Better luck next year!
$60/$200 And I still have a 3/4 full tank so thatās good. Working down in the city this weekend though, so Iāll need a fill up after that for sure. Iām trying to do a preparedness thing where I always keep the tank at least half full.
$229/$300
$172/$300
$70/167