Week 2 Update:
I would not say I am budgeting so much as I am just Buying Things and Going For It, I Guess. Also I have to quit one of my jobs so I can start a new, different job! (It pays more and has better hours and I think hopefully will be less stressful.) So, absolutely no idea how that will go. Also I worked 20+ hours last week and have not worked at all this week, which is Fine.
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Week 2: doing well on the categories that I could budget, and having great discussions about the Wish List with the family about what our priorities are. About half spent on food for halfway through the month, and Iām happy to shuffle money within the overall Food category if we overspend in an area.
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Man I don;t think Im doing this right. I guess my check in is that I am reigning in my impulse purchases but not feeling the best about money rn
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Week 2 update:
| Coffee | Bars | Eating Out | Groceries | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goal | $20 | $60 | $60 | $150 |
| Week 1 (Oct 1-8) | $0 | $0 | $0 | $51.59 |
| Week 2 (Oct 9-15) | $0 | $10 | $0 | $78.49 |
| Remaining | $20 | $50 | $60 | $19.92 |
Well this experiment is failing miserably 
So far I have only spent $10 not on groceries. Other than beer at the movie theater last night, the only other time Iāve eaten out was for a work event and that was paid for by work, so that didnāt come out of my budget. I also spent way more on groceries than expected this week, probably because I stocked up on some frozen food for lunches at the studio. Maybe I need a separate category for groceries that Iām not planning on eating within 1-2 weeks?
I donāt think Iām going to make it to the end of the month on only $20 of groceries left in my budget. But I also donāt think Iām going to use the rest of my coffee/bars/dinner budget eating out, so I can just move that to my grocery category.
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Week 2 check in:
New current account sorted. The card arrived yesterday, so a job for tomorrow is to activate it, then get everything switched automatically over from the one which is closing. And then all done. Goodā¦ 
Was going to move onto sorting out what to do with the PIP savings in week 3, but have just remembered that my main, and longest-standing, bank (current and savings) accounts are not appearing in my credit report. Which is pants.
CW: Moaning about credit ratings
I had a bunch of phone conversations with someone at the bank about a year ago, and they apparently canāt add it retrospectively, so I lose credit report goodness going back to 1987. Which is treble-pants. So I went off in a huff then about that, and didnāt add it, and then forgot. Which means Iāve now missed yet another year. Which is quintuple-pantsā¦
Going to moan about it, but get them to add it this week. Because if the new landlords do a credit check (and I think they can), then my credit rating is awful. Credit ratings are something which snuck up on the world while I was living abroad, and until recently I had never engaged with them. I still think theyāre deeply intrusive and unconscionable. And just give ordinary people more hassle/hoops to have to jump through in life. But the world of money doesnāt give a wotsit what I think or feel does it? Thatās the point.
So I need to get that sorted this week instead.
Bonus points if I can also start looking into whatās best for the savings. Thereās better interest than Iām already getting in the basic savings account which came with the new current account for example: 0.01% to 0.035% (I think?), so that might be the temporary stopgap play for now. I can always move them again. (Also pending what actually happens with the house).
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Can we help you figure out a way to navigate the not-good feelings? We might be able to offer suggestions for how to mitigate the not good feelings (sometimes less or more tracking helps, or coming up with strategies to avoid triggers that make you feel bad). But also, itās normal! I want to help you feel good about it though.
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CW passing mentions of human injury, sick pup + TTC journey, but no gory details about any of them
Folks, I am here for my weekly check-in! My thumb and a can lid had an unfortunate run-in on Friday, so I was out of commission for a bit, but checking in now.
My goal is to track expenses, not to minimize, and I want to get a better sense of what we actually have going on financially. So, big changes/updates:
- Our dogās vet visit was $100, not $250, YAY. Prayer hands emoji that we donāt have any surprise vet visits any time soon.
- We paid our neighbor for some repairs he did to the irrigation and sprinkler systems on our property, and the total was $4300. That was about what I expected, and saved us literal thousands of dollars vs. if a pro had done it.
- We had a surprise home maintenance expense, triggered by us learning that there are raccoons using our yard as a bathroom. We already have rabbits under our sheds, and we donāt want the raccoons to join them. We spent $3350 on repairs to get the rabbits out and deter future animal guests.
- In very good news, we are moving forward with the person who we hope will be our known sperm donor. We paid his lawyer $650 to draft his part of the agreement. At some point soon, weāll pay our lawyer as well, which should be $700ish.
Once my thumb is in better shape, I do want to compare our projected vs. actual weekend spending. I think it is about as projected?? For now, I donāt want to overdo it with typing.
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Belated week 2 reporting:
Back from my trip!
Restaurants: $52
Groceries: $53
$105/$300
Honestly, this is a lot better than I thought Iād be doing! There have definitely been a few evenings where Iāve been a bit cranky about not just getting some prepared foods, but overall Iām doing a bit better about planning foods and eating down the pantry/freezer. Iām also pleased with managing to hit a grocery store before I started the drive home, as I got nice cured meats, cheese, and strawberries for car snacks instead of other weird road food garbage.
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Well, it luckily stayed that way. I had only a small veggie box last week, therefore litte spending on groceries. Had to fuel the car, but also in budget.
So far so good, looking forward to the end of this month 
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I also struggle really hard with restaurant spending. I donāt have any vices really besides super delicious food I didnāt have to cook!
Iāve done a month here and there with a hard āno eating outā rule and it meant I had to be super generous with myself in the grocery dept: lots of treats and yummy frozen/box dinners, easy microwaved breakfasts, powdered latte packets for Starbucks cravings.
Iām not sure if something like this would feel satisfying for you, but for me itās gone pretty well! I used to try to eliminate restaurants AND be strict with my groceries but I always end up rebelling against itā¦
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My brain is still wired on Sunday for some reason, time to set the alarm.
Week2!
This week,
improvement for sure!
I only ate out/ordered twice this week, and the second was because I had boba with friends to catch up. I went out of my way to get organized and cook or set some time to cook.
I was successful in avoiding spending on stationery! I just browsed but did not make one purchase; it also helps. Iāve been busy, and I got some stickers I ordered a month ago.
Misc expenses this week, I did pretty good, spent on groceries, and thatās mostly it, I also got some cookies yesterday for my grandma, but I wasnāt about to visit with my hands empty, and grandma is always worth it!
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Checking in. I had a horrible realization on Friday that when I set up my YNAB (free trial right now) i was paying attention to how much i had in the bank, but didnāt think about my salary and way over budgetted my monthlies to be sustainable. ugh. but on track now, changed around a lot. this explains several unasked questions as to why my bank balance has been going down since i bought a new car in January, so good thing iām looking at that.
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Check in week 2: $39.55/$40. I have $.05 left in my fast food budget. Goal for rest of month is to avoid any further adjustments.
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It wasnāt! It was a marine-grade battery for our solar gate opener, or rather was a partial cost as the old one was still under a limited warranty. Leaving it under grocery because all Walmart is āgroceryā in our budgeting world.
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Checking in early because I have yet another Friday wedding!
I bought two gifts this week and both were under budget! 
My stupid work VPN re-blocked sheets so I donāt have an updated budget total for you at the moment, but I plan to next week!
This challenge is really giving me the added external motivation I need to stick to a budget at all. Sometimes with gifts I tend to goā¦overboard. So thanks!
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I didnāt check in last week because I was on vacation and not buying groceries, but here is where we stand at this point in the month: $141.70/300. We ended up buying some plane snacks before the trip and did a tiny trip afterwards to get milk for coffee and yogurt for breakfast. It is entirely doable for us to finish the month under $300 unless we go crazy at the store which has been known to happen. I think I will stay out of Trader Joeās until November.
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Waves Magic Wand 
Week 3 update
New Budget for the month is $1,700 (was $1,400)
Total Spend = $1,397.98
Total Remining = $302.02
Iām still technically under my original budget at the moment but my Car Insurance hasnāt hit the bank yet and I do still need to eat and do a few fun family things this month.
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Reminder
Today - Friday, October 22nd is the third week checkin.
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, I will get you a special-edition week 3 budgetober badge. If you still havenāt gotten your badge by Sunday, please bat signal me (write @anomalily) and Iāll make sure you do!
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The October chickens have come home to roost, and itās painful.
- $2,000 to the estate lawyer
- $1,000 to the cruise fund
- $310 on that goddamn dog
- $50 on gas
- $10 on a password keeper program
- $11 on fun stuff
Ugh. UGH. Iām adulting, and itās so expensive.
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Check-in
X = dialed-in expenses (including mortgage)
Y = current expenses (including mortgage)
Oct 2
54% X
38% Y
Oct 8
68% X
47% Y
Oct 15
84% X
59% Y
Oct 22
103% X
72% Y
At this point in the month we are above my dialed-in expenses of 2018/2019 and below my current expenses of 2021. I did make another fairly large purchase I wasnāt necessarily expecting to (well, I expected to eventually, but not necessarily in October) - a new weather station system to replace my old one that stopped working about 2 years ago.
I lucked out though as a potential big unexpected expense (something to do with my well) turned out to be a false alarm. I had a minor fix and a water sample taken, but didnāt have to pay for it. I learned some things about my well that I didnāt know. I might end up getting a water filtration system later, but probably not until the spring at the earliest.
I sort of expected to end up between these two numbers, because as I keep mentioning, I am still working on replacing the things I left behind when I moved in 2020. I still havenāt paid my electric, cell phone, or my dogās upcoming vet bill (blood work, blood glucose meter supplies, and possibly more prescription food) yet for this month, so it will be interesting to see where I end up. I also really need to buy some clothes, as I am down to my very last pair of āniceā jeans and the hems are now fraying in a non-fixable way, but I donāt know if that will happen this month or not. Even if I end up at 100% Y thatās ok.
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