Check in 4 aka let this god damn month end
Okay well, the numbers are absurd and i will simply say itās pointless now that we reached $16k expenditures.
Iāve noticed thereās a lot of āwell,fuck it. I need to get some stuff.ā So i go and oops $100 in Walgreens on stuff that is fine but also only some stuff i needed. And of course starting next month itās seasonal purchase time.
Ah well. The estate will get it back to me. When we sell this fucking house.
Week 4 + summary:
I spent $250.01 on groceries, which did include an entirely unnecessary trip to TJā¦
That makes my monthās total $1,116 out of a budgeted $1200, for 6 people and half will be reimbursed at the monthly accounting meeting (and I will pay half the utilities.)
We got take out twice, for birthdays. This concludes our birthdays for the year!
Conclusion- could be better, could be worse. I want to hold the line on food costs, but thereās no real reason to make myself crazy on it.
Sinking fund decisions -
Medical and vet: $300/month. This remains fuzzy because weāve had very few medical expenses this year, and you canāt count on that.
Car maintenance and insurance : $95/month.
Holidays and gifts:$100/month
That means I should set aside $500/month for these bumpy expenses, most of which is covered by my ss payment which goes right into savings.
In better news, I have spent a lot LOT less this month than I did last. I just need to work so hard on switching off the mechanism which tells me I need a thing, when I really donāt, or donāt yet. Otherwise all my cards are going to end up in the freezer. If I do what I did yesterday again (and Iām really cross with myself for doing that, it was a moment of weakness), then I will have to also unlink my bank accounts, because I snuck the money across from one to the other.
Dang you late stage capitalism for making me think I need to buy a thing to feel better, when what I should do is just go for a walk!! Shakes fist at sky.
Week 4 spend: $167.55 (small top up shops only)
Total spend: $988.46/$1395
Itās low this week because I didnāt actually do a grocery shop, just ducked up to grab things here and there. We did get take out three times this week which included paying for guests but even adding that $190 we still have room to get through the last few days of the month.
Iām actually kind of surprised. After the first week I was expecting to go over.
Clients asked me to do a few more days this month above the 40% plan because they anticipate less work while Iām out of country and the Dec slowdown for them. So I guess an extra day to shoehorn into this weekend.
But if Iām correct in my calculations, October should get us halfway to the shadowy oneās TFSA contribution after we fund Dec living.
Food for the month a bit high, I went out for dinner a couple of times (just over $100 for eating out), but I think weāll probably stay under the $600 mark in total.
We are blowing the budget on gifts, halfway through the year and 75% through the annual gift/books/craft budget. We still havenāt gotten to Christmas, anniversary & birthdays, so that is something to consider - do we want to pull from other categories? We are only at 30% for clothes, so maybe that is what we get each otherā¦
Check-in for the weekā¦produce stock-up was successful, although getting everything fresh from scratch-and-dent helped (they have a $0.99 shelf for things they need to get rid of thatās usually my first stop). Also helps that Iām okay with frozen rather than fresh berries since Iām just going to freeze them for oatmeal anyway. Proteins were way more obviously higher in cost, so I see more vegetarian/quasi-vegetarian meals in the future, and then I went a little over on āotherā because I donāt have a category for dairy and ran out of cream.
Definitely went over on restaurantsā¦ran a string of workshops for an outreach camp yesterday, went home at 3ish to become unconscious, and then woke up to a text from a friend saying they were at a local bar and that I should stop by and we can talk about whether weāre all losing our jobs (extremely unlikely, but itās earnings time). But it sounded better than cooking, and it turns out that their in-house cider is excellent and the āpersonalā pizza I got will feed me for two more meals. And now I shouldnāt have any reason to buy anything else food-related in October.
My budget for Week 4 was $75 food; & up to $500 on clothes shopping. Proud of myself for actually going out and getting the shopping I needed done-- spending $476.17 total. I need to sit down and make a plan for saving back up for my clothing fund by the next time I need to go shopping (probably in late spring when Oregon starts to warm up again). As for grocery & eating out, I didnāt do so well. Only spent $25.95 on groceries, but went over on eating out-- between stress-eating chipotle at the mall (terrible experience), getting pho with a friend (incredible experience), and having to last-minute buy lunch at the cafeteria of the college I work at because I didnāt have time to pack my lunch (terrible experience), I spent a total of $48.25 on eating out this week. Miraculously, still landed under my total food budget for the week though-- $74.20/$75.
For this last week of October, I should have a pretty boring shopping week-- $75 for food (50/25 grocery/eating out split); $75 for gas (I seriously need gas prices to go down, please); & $25 for cat litter.
Canceled the book subscription that required emailing a living human. Felt anxious about it but living human was kind and I did it! I would love to support this company again in the future but just donāt have time to read even a reasonable fraction of right now and budgeting is much easier the fewer recurring payments I have. This one was $30/month.
I considered canceling my cheap gym membership ($10/month) but I just paid the annual extra fee last month and I will likely use the stair climber in the coming months in prep for a spring ultramarathon that has lots of climbing.
Overall feel good about the things I canceled this month!
For stuff with my partner I didnāt cover any expenses for him this week. We did do fun activity together this week. Overall this month he seems to have made big strides in budgeting for groceries and seems less stressed about finances. The stress maybe migrated to other domains, but Iām gonna focus on the fact that he definitely seems less stressed about finances 
.
I made a big unplanned purchase for mutual aid group this week because a thing we really need regularly was on sale for about 40% off and itās never on sale that much so I got what should be pretty much all next monthās supply early. Also used party funds for a t-shirt order that we should easily make way back at our fundraiser next month.
So from my own money that was $139.73 (for harm reduction supplies that should last us through November)
From party funds $75 for t-shirt order (heavy discount + some free), plus $33.92 for water and snacks.
Tomorrow Iāll go through everything and do totals for the month.
Edit- realized rain pants are clothes, duh, so minus $27 there.
WOMP WOMP, went over budget. And still through Monday left.
$323.03/322
$19.75 - so only $4 of this was actually ours (4 more plates for Latte) but I was shopping with my mom at ikea and I didnāt realize how many things she had, I thought it was just 1 so I paid. Oops.
$10 ish- a tarp to store our lawn furniture over winter (old one went with SirBs parents to cover a couch they bought near us for their drive home) and some wood fill. My mom complained about the holes left by the old home owner in the trim and said sheād fill them for me if I bought the wood fill. (Then she left town until next week lol. Either way, at least I have it now)
$25.53 - target. Butterfly wings for Latte for dress up (30% off Halloween stuff. She had a butterfly dress she loved but canāt get it on now. Hoping she likes these), face wash for me (last one I tried was giving me worse acne, wompwomp), and an expandable folder to keep her art in as an upgrade from the tiny binder Iāve been using.
$18.49 - dental floss subscribe and save.
$15.50 - gallon size ziplocks on sale at Costco
Running a bit late but will try and tabulate my restaurant spending tomorrow.
THIS IS VERY SPOOKY
Week four. No chips. We seem to have broken the habit, for now. It will come back at some point, Iām sure, when we are really stressed or wanting to indulge. But I figure less overall time being chip dependent is good. I can see the āsaleā price signs and just walk by.
Ugh! I didnāt meet the goals for eating out. $217/200 for eating out with friends and $124/100 for eating out alone. Iām easily able to move money from a couple other categories (including gas) to cover it though.
Gas Iām all set! $161/200(250) and Iāll need to fill up again tomorrow. I may go a little over my stretch goal of $200 when I fill the tank, which usually costs about $50. But Iāll be way under my realistic $250 goal!
$80 for the fancy silverettes that probably do nothing
$40 in Vaseline and gauze
$20ish for lactation cookie ingredients
Thanks to the meal train we havenāt had to buy true groceries in 2 weeks, just little things here and there
Still no hospital bills
Kinda got a bit lost at the end of the month here. Life has become more chaos than usual but my household has been talking budget more, starting some future plans, even if some tracking has fallen by the way side while we re-evaluate things, goals, etc. But such is life, ever changing and sometimes you realize that something youāre doing just isnāt the way for you, so you gotta change it up to make it work! Thankfully my partner is a master at excel sheets, so once we find that way, weāll build something that works with our challenges in mind and ensure that weāve got an understood flow to get the data where it needs to be. Proud of the progress even if itās a bit all over the place.
Working through multiple budget books, online classes, taking notes and really digging into it all. (Iāve been listening to Oh My Dollar all the way through this time, during my down time, which I think some might say is odd since itās āworkā but I find the podcast a great cadence and length to listen and help me power through household upkeep/chores and gleaning little nuggets of information makes the chores feel even more productive which keeps my brain happy. XāD )
Iām excited to keep upgrading all my sheets to something I -want- to upkeep and donāt groan over. Learning little by little~
Definitely went over my food budget this month. Both groceries and restaurant budget. Though less than I went over last month for both. Probably just means itās time to at least up the groceries one. Ugh.
Week 4 food spending ended up at $99, which was above the $75 per week and above the buffer from week three - all told, I came in over by $19 for the month. Iām honestly pretty pleased - once again, fun with friends included a food component on Sunday, and while I could have avoided a purchased lunch later in the week, one or two lunches is something I can budget around and for in the future much easier than the pick-me-up cookies for chronically challenging workdays.
Goal going forward: More snacks from the grocery store; fewer from the chain bakery.
late check-in:
this weeks food
Oct 25 - 9.66 (milstead)
Oct 25 - 124.78 (store, also !!!)
Oct 26 - 23.33 (milstead)
Oct 27 - 44.xx vita
Oct 27 - 47.11 (doordash)
Oct 29 - 55.42 (pattyās egg nest, hangover)
So, a lot. I need to add up the total for this month still but itās a lot. I stopped using the pre-made food service this week but honestly it might have been saving me money, as costly as it seemed to be
Iāll probably do my end of month checkin tomorrow.
I am pretty sure I undid any progress I made earlier in the month, this weekend. Entertainment budget was hideous. And I am not sure I have an accurate total because I took cash out of the āemergencyā cash stash and spent that on drinks, tips, I have no idea what elseā¦
Week 4/ full month
Fuel: $436.70 ($109.24 gasoline, $327.46 diesel).
Iād like to get this down, but realistically not much we can do without spending upwards of $30K on a hybrid. We legit cannot yet go with a full electric vehicle because of the lack of any charging near us or near work. Need to figure cost/mile for the gas Jeep, but it canāt be our full-time commuter with no heat or AC. Could in shoulder seasons.
Food $513.07 ($331.20 grocery, $181.87 eating out)
Going to have to get that eating out down; thatās straight-up ridiculous. We ate something made by someone else 11 days this month. Husband is getting lunch once or twice a week at the school cafeteria; not sure he realizes the frequency and not sure how or if to bring it up. But also a lot of evenings, some socializing, our annual big event, and my abscess/root canal that led to several instances of getting a milkshake so I could take meds not on an empty stomach.
Weāll probably add somewhere just under $20 at a bakery tomorrow for treats to take to a friendās Halloween party tomorrow night.
But thatās almost half our take-home just on food and fuel.
Speaking of which: Take-home vs. spend.
$2,054.22 takehome/ $2,072.74+~$20 spend. = ($18.52) or (~38.52)
Thatās without things like the property tax ($1300) going out on Nov. 4 or the homeownerās insurance ($718) due Nov. 13. No lumpy expenses this month. So, lower the retirement withholding must go.
New expenses:
$17 treated Human to coffee when he returned from a trip
$5 thrifted pants
$18 craft supplies at Michaels (wanted to do some craft projects this weekend, but got sick and lost energy)
$41 replacing a sentimental necklace that broke
Total: $753/750
And it looks like Iām staying home tomorrow so unlikely to spend. So letās call that final.
Since I will not be replacing all my winter wear next month, 250 is probably a more reasonable goal.
