Budgetober Challenge 2025 🎃: BADGES SHIPPING - FILL OUT FORM BY 10/9

[jellaba]

Week 2 check in,

I am still on track, only planned dinner with a friend and coffee with another.
Yesterday I had take out lunch from the Turkish restaurant across the street. I am happy that this was the 1st time this month.

[PinkTutu]

Week 2 Check-in

I am recasting my budget for October.

• $25 Domain - due end of October - FF (means money in bank account for it).
• $170 Biz Office & Tech FF - laminating pockets & ink cartridges $170. Money on hand for this. Postponed maintenance. My laptop walked me through the update to Windows 11. Still need a check up though. Maybe November?
• $150 Biz Sales Supplies - storage bins for display - $80. Still want to purchase a cheap portable/foldable clothing rack to display patterns. That will be an additional $40 minimum.
• $50 Planners/CES supplies - bought savings challenges based on CAD currency - $50.
• $70 Charity ($55-100, depending on income.)
• $135 Christmas - Bought everyone’s Christmas presents in one fell swoop for $270. Hubby is splitting the cost. $135 total for each of us.

TOTAL needed in October = $600.00

Total income so far = $711.67

Surplus = $111.67. Will be used for Savings Challenges…probably for new shoes, as the GIC I want to top up is already saved up for.

[anomalily]

Week 2 Check-in

This weekend is the halfway point Week 2 checkin.

Nothing has to be perfect! Just check in by posting on this thread and mention where you’re at with your budgetober objectives.

This can be posting how much you’ve 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 2 budgetober badge. If you still haven’t gotten your badge by Tuesday, please bat signal me (@ anomalily) and I’ll make sure you do!

[Clare-Dragonfly]

@Clare-Dragonfly

@Clare-Dragonfly

Grocery spend seems to be wild lately—over $1k a month. So my goal for October is to keep it below $900.

My bookmark reminder tells me today is the day to check in!

October grocery budget remaining is 750.52/900.

Grocery budget remaining: 503.40/900. That’s more than half the budget and we’re over halfway through the month, so we’re doing really well! Especially considering we just stocked up on medicinal teas, and that should last us through two or three more colds.

I continue to do somewhat better with entering transactions, and when we overspent on Halloween candy (holidays category, not food) I picked a category to cover it with within a few days.

Not much progress made with the pantry this week.

[plainjane]

Budget for this trip is a complete mess. I have absolutely no idea what the numbers look like. Which I guess means getting the shadowy one to pull data off the card.

We took our hosts out for dinner yesterday, which was expensive but also roughly what one hotel night would have been if you backed out our portions.

We have already done one overnight in town with expensive dinner, and there is another coming up.

Somehow tomatoes are $10/kilo here at the discount grocery store. I know they are seasonal products, but still, every one complaining about cost of food in Toronto should see what it looks like elsewhere.

[mountainmustache29]

Week 2 check-in

Did a quick Costco trip to pick up Oliver’s meds, spent about $60 on groceries bringing the month total to $275/$450 goal which I’m super happy about

Oliver has been very expensive this month. Last week it was $165 for the next 4 months of his insurance, and this week he had his annual exam and heartworm test, recommended bloodwork because he’s on Apoquel, and a 12 month supply of heartworm meds
Vet - $280 (bloodwork, heartworm test, fecal/urine, exam fee, sigh)
Heartgard - $110 for 12 months
Apoquel - $35 after insurance

Other spending

Gas - $25
Cleaning supplies - $20
2.5 lbs coffee beans - $18
Giant iced coffee treat today - $8 w/tip

I also purchased a ring light and camera mount for one of my interviews, but returned it because I ended up not using either one.

Even though it hasn’t ended up really being a low spend month because of Oliver expenses, I’m really happy with the very low amount of discretionary spending I’ve done. Today I wanted to drop by Lowes to check out the houseplant clearance, but I resisted! I also haven’t purchased any books this month either! Two big wins for me. I have eaten out zero times (pretty normal for me) and just had the one coffee treat today for the whole month.

[jacqui_z]

I spent $65.22 on coffee/snacks/takeout this week, bringing my total spending for this budget category to $210.27. I only have about $89 left to use this month.

Buying my favorite ground coffee and bagels for the house kept me from spending even more in this category. And I got my bi-weekly CSA box yesterday, so I have plenty of food to meal prep. If I avoid buying meals out and minimize my pre-work Dunkin habit, I could still win Budgetober without recasting my budget.

[Megiavelli]

Two weeks left in October and I have about $180 left in my grocery budget.

The rest of my spending has been ok, although I forgot about two birthdays that I need to get gifts for, which will use up the rest of my “other” budget.

[kenner]

Food, $232/$250–More than half of this week’s spend was for snacks at the concert last week (covering a couple people since they got me the ticket as a birthday gift) so not sure exactly how to count that, but the rest was grocery (eggs, tortillas, milk, cheese, vegetables). Looks like I’ll be cutting it close by the end of the month, but then again the temperature’s dropping so there’s a pot of chili in the instapot for dinners this week, and I’ve got plenty of oatmeal for breakfasts so hopefully I’m at least close.

Sports/Health/Hobbies, $13/$100–Technically I’ll get reimbursed since the $13 is for one of the streaming services I get for ‘free’ through a credit card, but I still track it since there’s no guarantee I’ll keep the card in future years. May be about to blow this budget out of the water if there’s still an opening with the group doing a shark diver at the aquarium, though, since it’s not like I’m doing the diving I wanted to this month.

Trip refund/reimbursement, 80%/80%–Have the second tour (dive part) agreeing to hold what I paid towards a future trip and one of the hotels I thought would be a write-off doing the same, so at my goal at this point. One flight I still can’t tell…they said they’d reimburse me, but it’s been a couple weeks and trying to actually talk to a human is tricky (particularly given my limited French). I think I am returning the camera, though, I just don’t have a use for it normally and it seems like in a year there should be improvements somewhere.

Gifts, $0/no specific budget–No progress here

[LadyDuck]

@LadyDuck

@LadyDuck

Ok goals are:
Fill in baseline spending in ynab for October
Work out what the leftover is
Write out a list of the planned purchases for the rest of the year
Save $3k this month
Send food to work with Ponder once a week (even if it’s not a full lunch, at this point i count it a win if he takes a piece of fruit. Baby steps!)

Bonus: work out my business cashflow for the rest of the year and a rough idea of 2026.

Its halloweeny because it’s scary!

Spent $500 on plants and already got half of them in, so that was a huge unplanned purchase but should still squeak in under my $3k goal.

Did not send food with Ponder to work last week. Will try again this week!

Ponder ended up sick midweek and still isn’t better, but I took a delicious curry for work lunch!

I have been cooking so much. My kitchen is full of freshly dirtied pots rude that putting in effort results in more work!

I ended up doing 2 almost full grocery shops this week significant items did not turn up in delivery, so I went in person. The Thursday shopping schedule means I was able to grab stuff on Friday and didnt resort to takeaway, a huge win from when we did it on the weekend and it would be several days before I could make meals.

Also part of the huge cost was me buying everything except the spices for CHRISTMAS BAKING!!! I need to check my spice collection and then go spend like $100 on spices but that can wait until November.

[Cereal]

@Cereal

Check in 1
Officially I am still at $0/$100 because this week was taken up by a business trip, where my emotional-support-because-I-was-lonely-and-had-to-do-hard-work-things pastries (2) don’t count, nor do the catered desserts (I indulged in about 50% of what was offered, which is better than the 100% I would have enjoyed but far from the 0% my doctor wants to see.) I did go for extra walks to balance out all the sitting in meetings.

The night or two I was home I ate existing treats (did you know that candy from Halloween 2024 that is past its best-before dates is still good? It is. My kids shared with me because they’re going to get a fresh intake of junk in a few weeks.) We still have plenty of ice cream in the freezer because it has been summery weather until very recently. I will try to not replace it once it is gone (at least not until it is November and we have defrosted the freezer).

It’s Thanksgiving weekend so there will be desserts at family meals. I expect the remainder of the month will consume the budget I set for October, we’ll see if it was a good goal or not.

Check in 2

$14.97/$100
I got a bag of cheezies, one bubble tea, one pint of Ben & Jerry’s.

[CalBal]

Week 2 check in

Sleep budget: met it 6 of the 7 days this week again, so on target

Meals budget: well, technically I ate all meals this week. 4 of the 21 meals I deliberately chose to eat cookies and milk, as I made homemade oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies for the first time in a long time (they are so good, and the oatmeal actually gives me a fiber boost and all the milk gives me a calcium boost, and they actually help me meet eating goals), and multiple times I felt overwhelmed this week and just needed to eat something. Regardless, even if I don’t include those, I’m still at 81% meals eaten this week, so on target. I also discovered this week that soup, regardless of whether it is homemade or not, does not have enough calories in it to eat alone (I made vegetable soup and lentil soup this week and was eating those for lunch until I ran out). Lesson learned…

Craft Supply Budget: still no spending, I’ve just not had time, so on target

[a_hardie]

Second check-in.

Goal 1: cheap and prepaid thrills. We have done well at this; I have not spent any more on kid enrichment. I did have to buy her a new winter coat because she has this annoying habit of growing every single year. It cost $6.50 at the consignment store. I’m gonna let myself have that one.

Goal 2: Plan ahead. I meal-planned like a champ this week. So far I’m at $19.48 for dining out and about $430 for groceries. Technically I only have $70 left to spend on groceries. It’s gonna be close. I have blown my goal of only going to the grocery store 4 times.

Goal 3: Pay a bill. This one is gonna fail. I can’t pay the whole bill this month. And it turns out that the discount I thought I had was fake, lies. So I am on the hook for the whole thing. I talked to them this week and I’m going to pay in installments.

Goal 4: Spend under $4000 in the month. Hahahaaa we’ll see! So far I’ve spent $3225.95. Technically still under budget.

[anomalily]

WEEK 2 Checkin

• $129/$129 - sconce
• $8.99/$150 - various office sundries (desk lamp, curtain tiebacks, curtains, ac cover, backing fabric for cushions)
• $300 - one half of bed frame (used)
• $200- one half of dining chairs (used)
• $75/$140 - brackets for desk
• $180 - closet organizer stuff for all three closets (bathroom, main closet, office closet)
• $50 - towels
• $10.20/ $225 - various kitchen + bathroom stuff (new kettle, organizer things, etc)
• $45.98/$64 hot tub setup costs (testing kit, etc)
• $71.29/$60 cleaning stuff - over because I got a little green machine

Total thus far: $340.46

[LadyElizabeth]

Check-in!
I entered my transactions on 6/7 days! I also wanted to update my excel spreadsheet for the tracking of my savings but if course, my work’s employee portal was out (needed to see my last paystub) will update monday!

[natwren]

So I totally missed my Week 1 and Week 2 check-ins (this month has been… interesting, we’ll just put it that way), but I’m jumping back on late to get myself back on track. Better late than never? Tracking my eating out budget:
W1: 31/50
W2: 25.50/50
W3: 67.49/50 [recasting for this week since I went over my target]

As for my other Budgetober tasks, I have sat down and reevaluated my spending buckets. I think my new sinking fund priority will be saving up for housing-- whether that’s being able to afford a higher rent or (ideally) saving up to buy. I also still need to spend the money I have set aside for mutual aid or a nonprofit supporting a cause I care about. It’s strange having a budget task that involves spending money instead of trying not to spend, but I think it’s important that I proactively spend in the places and ways that make a difference in the world.

[BiblioFeroz]

Week 2 check in! My goal for October is just to keep total spending under $9931 even with a couple of unusally large purchases (last payment on the solar panels if they ever activate the damn things, and the new stove).

The only unexpected activity this week is that I took a kid to urgent care for a strep test to the tune of $75. We have all been in and out of urgent care this fall.

We got a $200 discount on the stove because it was dented, so that will help with the total! And it wasn’t a bad dent at all. Otherwise, we are about where I would expect.

	Planned	10/5	10/11	10/19
Home maintenance and repairs	2300	0	0	921.58
Household items	550	30.59	583.89	679.76
Mortgage	2098.1	2098.1	2098.1	2098.1
Groceries	1600	293.92	560.75	898.98
Restaurants	250	30.59	49.67	136.97
Baby stuff	250	54.28	108.02	108.02
Boy stuff	200	27	47	60
Union dues/professional costs	28	0	28	28
Subscriptions	100	3	13.78	25.76
Misc. bills	0	0	0	0
Utilities	400	0	102.76	175.96
Health	200	0	91.5	168.26
Gifts and holiday	275	55	161.05	291.05
Shopping	100	0	0	0
Cat	137.33	0	136.74	136.74
Donations	275.15	5.15	5.15	25.15
Travel	0	0	0	0
Entertainment	100	0	37.24	37.24
Car payment	452.05	0	0	452.05
Auto maintenance	20	0	3	3
Taxes and insurance	165.5	165.5	165.5	165.5
Gas	30	0	25.89	25.89
Parking, etc.	0	0	0	0
His clothes	100	0	0	0
His misc. spending	100	0	10.1	21
My clothes	100	-12.95	-6.5	-6.5
My misc. spending	100	0	70.37	89.37
	9931.13	2750.18	4292.01	6541.88

[regular_things]

lolol. I am taking my re-cast this week because hobby spending blew up.

Total hobby spending: $510 so I guess I’m re-casting to $510 and spending nothing else.

here’s what happened. The belt on my drum carder needed to be replaced ($65), a small business from my community had a horrible hate filled time at recent show and I wanted to show them support so I bought yarn and fibre ($130), I went to an open studio day at a friend’s place and bought a sweater quantity of yarn ($175) and then I bought a pattern for said yarn ($10).

Part of me is not bothered at all by this because it was all purchases with small businesses and spending is aligned with my values. The other part of me is massively embarrassed for spending 5 times the amount of money I had budgeted in this category.

In better news, I am still at $0 for house project spending and will re-cast this to $0 now that I’ve spent so much on hobbies. I am planning a little refresh in my laundry room, which will be around $500, but I think I can hold off until November to start this project.

I finally logged into paypal and all the little purchases have been properly categorized! They were all separate Patreon charges. Why does Patreon do this, it is very annoying!

[PinkTutu]

Oh, this is so me! I want to support small local businesses so badly I spend far more than I should at them. I’m reigning myself in though. Today I spent $23 for digital downloads (savings challenges), rather than larger amounts for physical copies of the same items. Why pay for them to print, laminate and ship when I can do the first two myself and avoid the third? Plus get the product almost instantaneously? But, crafting supplies…yeah, that’s a bad one for me.

[krmit]

@krmit

Goals:

• get caught up on this year’s budget spreadsheet, I’m super behind (again)
• Track Little Treat and entertainment spending
• limit grocery spending to $150 - I have a very full pantry and a weekly veggie CSA so this should be pretty doable.

• no progress made on the budget catch-up
• Little Treats: $18 for lunch on a busy day (I planned and looked forward to it, it was great!), $36 on pizza night
• Groceries: $15.17 this week, at $34.85 / $150

This week I have a full grocery list. I have a birthday cake to make this week but I think I’ll be able to be under budget without a problem.