Okay so for week 2 I have spent $51.71 on out to eat and $263.57 on groceries and household stuff. I budgeted $395 for groceries/household until my next paycheck on the 31st and $100 for out to eat. Bro is getting a good paycheck next week since he had full-time hours this week for helping another store with their inventory so heāll get the meat and Food Lion. So if I only go to Wal-Mart and not Samās Club next week I might be able to stay on budget. Woohhoo!
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This weekās update (totals are month to date):
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Groceries: $126.94 - only spent $13.00 this week because Iām avoiding the grocery store. Will have to go next weekend, though. May also buy a few small things for me during the week since I have a tooth that seems to be going bad (a recent filling on a tooth with no pain beforehand, so itās frustrating). But may need more soft food.
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Eating out - $101.87 - finishing out our big annual event and then Cracker Barrell one evening because all their food is soft
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Fuel total: $271.69, but will need diesel before the week gets going. $69.40 of that is gasoline (2 fillups), $202.29 is diesel (3 fillups). I need to check his log book and see cost per mile on the gasoline Jeep. The Chevy pickup is down while we wait for a part. Gas Jeep was also briefly down this week when we lost the serpentine belt, but itās up and running again - serpentine belt cost $27 and change.
Do we spend more than we bring home? Not yet, but weāre at $1805 spent and $2043 in takehome pay. $1600 of the spending is paying the bill on the credit card we put everything on, so we wonāt be over by much, but likely a little since the power and internet bills havenāt gone out yet this month. Property tax bill should arrive in the next couple weeks, too. Going to have to adjust withholdings.
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Week 2 check-in.
Spending on Mutual Aid Group:
Personal spending:
10/8 $4.99 stickers
10/12 $35.58 harm reduction supplies, $17.98 masks
Spending from party funds:
10/9 ā $Value period products $8.60, RiteAid $7 water
10/12 WalMart $42.60 big snack haul
Cancelling recurring payments:
10/9 cancelled a couple of patreon memberships totaling $5/month. Meant to cancel more but couldnāt bring myself to 
Cancelled another recurring $5 donation to an org I like, but Iām prioritizing more local orgs or groups/projects I have a more personal connection with.
There is one more significant charge I need to cancel for this goal to be a success for the month but it requires emailing an actual person and itās something Iād keep if I had more time and money so I feel bad about it and itās going to be hard to make myself do. Maybe next week though!
Sweaty did fun activity with me this week again but paid for himself. I did buy his food when we had a meeting at a local bar with some other folks. He has seemed a bit less stressed about money ā it seems like heās made progress figuring out how to shop for groceries on a budget and was happy rather than frustrated when he got home from the store this week.
Unrelated to these goals, I reached the threshold at my work Simple IRĆ where I could invest and actually made a first investment there!
A goal Iām adding on is just to get back to calculating my net worth at the end of the month. I skipped a couple months in there partly because itās more complicated to tease out now weāre both contributing to the house down payment fund.
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Baby stuff: 186.07, which would be around half of the projected 350. In all honesty that includes some strange things like full bed sheets for the futon in babies room, stain remover, and diet mt. Dew. But those are things i wouldnāt have bought if not for baby. Also included 4 sleep sacks, 2 new, 2 used, baby gas drops, supplements for me, and misc snacks for me.
Eating out: Mexican on Saturday, Thai on Monday, coffee for me on Wednesday, drinks on Thursday, and we will get shwarma tonight. Counting 3 meals for a total of 4 this month and 2 others which are the first. Pre baby and pregnancy we had been averaging 1 per week during the pandemic.
Med appointments: 2. $35 copays but only may be changed oneā¦not sure if the 6 week pp check falls under pregnancy umbella which is no cost on my plan or not.
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Week 2 -
$392 on grocery/household, which includes $90 for a monthās worth of kitty litter + cat food, and $40 for several months softener salt. Half of this is reimbursed to us.
I also spent $75 on take out from Culverās + fancy cupcakes for dd2ās birthday. Weāre done with birthdays until March, though!
Continue to working on sinking fund categories. I feel like āmedicalā should include vet expenses.
I donāt honestly think weāll spend an awful lot on Very Old Cat at this point because I donāt think sheād survive anything with anaesthesia and why put her through that? But Chuck needs to go in for his shots and stuff and will probably need dental work.
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If anyone who has checked in hasnāt gotten a badge, let me know. I think Iāve gotten everyone up to this point.
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Ugh! Went to a big annual makerās meetup and put $88 CAD on cc. Really must put the cc away!
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So, I shouldāve waited until tonight to post. Went to the thrift store and spent 20 bucks because my entire work wardrobe predates the pandemic and itās pitiful. Filled up my Jeep to the tune of roughly 70 bucks. Then I bought a bunch of soft food at Walmart ā 50 bucks. But Iām going to make a damn cheesecake. I can eat cheesecake.
Also, I know why food prices are up. Itās because diesel is still 4,87 a gallon.
Iāll put all this afternoonās stuff in my spreadsheet and report on it formally next week.
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Ohā¦i forgot. Hubby came home from dropping a box at thrift store for me, with a new-to-us kitchenaid blenderā¦for $13 CAD. Only one problem. The blade doesnāt detach from the container/top part.
I took the heat pumps off my October chart, as they got moved to December.
I also took paint the front door off the chart. Hubby says itās too cold. Itās the second year heās done that. I am not happy.
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Week 2 Check in!
My goal this week was $75 on food (approx 50 on groceries, 25 on eating out), $25 for cat food, and $20 for admission to the Japanese Gardens.
My grocery bill was barely over-- $50.29-- in part thanks to splurging on a delicious limited-release pumpkin chai cider. However, I didnāt spend any money on eating out or extra treats this week, so Iām way ahead there.
Cat food was, as expected, $24. Iām proud of myself for not impulse-purchasing any toys for Stella while I was there though!
Lastly, me and my friend decided to go to Hoyt Arboretum instead of the Japanese Gardens, and admission was free there (plus it was super gorgeous-- highly recommend!). As a result, I only spent $4.10 for parking.
So far this month, Iāve spent:
$750 - rent
$66.65 - groceries / $29 - eating out
$24 - cat
$74.29 - gas & parking
For next week, my goal is food - $75 (groceries - $50 / eating out - $25); gas - $75; recurring subscriptions - $20; cat health insurance & wellness plan - $80.65.
Still putting off buying clothing-- I have a sinking fund for it and everything, just canāt bring myself to make the time this week to go.
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Week two: no chips bought. Helped that Iāve been sick. Also, maybe going cold turkey helped with cravings. Anyway, on track. 
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Eating Out: $41(no change since last week
Groceries: $190.39 (I need to take out some soap & non-food purchases from this though. Also repurchased olive oil)
Transport: $0 (still need to buy bus tickets though)
Non-Budget: Returned what needed to be returned! Should be a cold front coming soon, so Iāll have a chance to make some veggie dishes. I can also list desk or grab tickets this weekend.
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Week two check-in!
As anticipated, this week was higher since I actually went to the grocery store. I spent $96.01, which is $21 above the weekly average.
Since I spent under the average on week one, the running total stands at over by $10. I still have all the ingredients for a couple more meals, and Iāve been packing cookies with my lunches to keep myself from buying more expensive baked goods when I pick up the tea/coffee that I have a subscription for, so I think Iāll be able to keep on target for week three.
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I gave birth today and bought some remaining things we needed from our registry with the discount: $120. More coherent update when sleep acquired (lol? Ever?)
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Iām at 656/750 although maybe behind on tracking. This week was crazy pants.
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Week 2, 10/9 - 10/15 (for 2 people)
Groceries/household stuff: $55 (again not including some beer, amount unknown)
Eating Out: Estimating $55? (one lunch for me, bar and hookah on Thursday night for both of us)
Ubers: $10 (plus I think Z took 1 or 2 rides, so maybe $15?)
Arabic class: $30
Other: $13 (museum tickets)
Tracking is goingā¦ okay. Still havenāt had time to sit down and do another couples budget talk to figure out a tracking system that works for both of us, so I have been doing okay at tracking purchases I know about but still canāt track everything to really know how much weāre spending. But the spending itself is fine, groceries are pretty cheap and Iāve been trying to take the metro instead of an Uber when I can. I think eating out is what might end up being the one area we need to keep an eye on.
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Goals for Budgetober:
- I want to track what Iām spending in order to see where I might be overspending or can cut back to make sure Iām ready for student loan payments to start back up.
- I want to physically write down what Iām spending. Iāve noticed I tend to impulse purchase more when Iām anxious. I think stopping to write it down will help curb some of that- Iāll be forced to stop and think for a second.
- try to avoid unnecessary spending.
Week One Check-in
Failed miserably. Itās be a rough week and anxiety has been through the roof. I forced my self to look at my statements and Iām so embarrassed. I think checking in to day has been a good wake up call because I donāt want to have this feeling next Saturday. I also realised yesterday that I should probably be saving my receipts while i try to figure out where my money goes, particularly at the grocery store and target. Having one total isnāt helpful when you bought beer, snacks, cleaning stuff, shampoo in addition to groceries. Also going to start carrying around a separate tiny notebook for this. Part of the reason I wasnāt writing anything down was because I didnāt want it in my bullet journal/everyday carry.
Week 2
Slightly better this week. Saved all my receipts this week, but havenāt looked at them yet. Spending $20 on matcha powder last week turned out to be a better investment than predicted, not only saving money not buying coffee when I go into the office, also not stopping anywhere else since āwell Iām out alreadyā. Still doing unnecessary spending, I think this week Iāll focus on unsubscribing to promo e-mails and taking a look at my patreon pledges. Most of my unnecessary spending came from seeing a promo e-mail about a sale. Last Sundayās live stream was very helpful for me, I want to go back, listen again, and take some notes. I watched a few Hannah Louise Poston videos too on impulse spending/doing a no buy that gave me a lot to think about. New goal for this month (in addition to the existing ones) is to set rules for a no spend in november.
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Did not order cards.
Adding:
$212 for a 3 hour Watercolour workshop with an artist whose techniques Iāve wanted to watch in person for years
$29 Craft market community support who I have not logged into at all. Need to spend time on this to get my moneys worth and consider cancelling until next year when Iām doing markets + toddler is in daycare
$7.20 on something I canāt remember at the office supply store, will check if it was actually my business or a family purchase.
Total: $302.50
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Whoa, congrats!!
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