Week 3: now at $110.10/$300 for groceries. Will probably do a big Costco trip next week but it’s looking like the budget for the month is realistic.
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My update is that I’ve officially given up and have resolved to not give into the temptation of cute badges in the future. Challenges make me rebel and I’ve eaten out loads and loads this month.
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I gotta admit I laughed at this. It’s good to know your mentality! But also you haven’t failed if you just track it, you don’t have to restrict your spending!
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Week 3 Budgetober Checkins -
Going well, actually, though I’m considering buying a laptop now that the new macs are announced, as I have been saving for one since last year and I also have a minimum spend to meet on a new rewards card. Still unsure, I can probably get another year or so out of my laptop but it would be best to buy it before end of year for tax and MS reasons.
Personal Budgetober Budget: $1,093.66/$1,266.88
Month to Date Week 3 Personal Budget Details
Household & Insurance – $719.53
- Rent: $615/$615
- Water, Commons, Garbage, Sewer: $32.50/32.50
- Trash: $7.50/$7.50
- Electricity: $35.19/$37.11
- Household Items (detergent, TP, toothpaste, razors, etc): $29.34/$15.00 ^ - TP, and deodorant
Biking/Transit – $0/0
Giving + Mutual Aid – $0/100
Basic Food – $132.79/184.77
- Basic Groceries: $126.31/$145.00
- Treats (non-essential snacks): $2.99/$23.77
- Coffee/Tea For Home: $3.49/$16.00
Health – $32.46/$15.00^
Optometry : $20.98/15.00 (got 4 boxes contact solution while on sale)
Random : $11.48/$0 pill splitter and IBProfen
Figure Skating – $125/$205.00
Ice time: $125/$135.00 (paid for ice time through december)
Coaching: $0/$40.00
Bunga Pads : $/0$30.00
Looking Good – $40/$0
- **Clothing: $40.59/$0 - went to the first lolita swap meet in 2 years and purchased two things…
Extra Food + Drink – $12/$45.00
- Restaurants: $5/$30 - pumpkin spice knots
- Coffee Out: $7/$15 - hung out with @emchap last week and got pumpkin spice
Education $30/$30
German school finally cashed the check fo my textbook
OMD Budget: $773.70/$1,200
Week 3 OMD budget Month to Date details
Overall income goal: $908.37/$1,100.00
Cost of Goods Sold: $500.89/$544.24
Stickers : $368.36/$441.00 (500 sheet order - 6 month supply - 2 other orders)
Shopify : $29/29
Shipping : $103.53/$74.24^^
Operating Expenses: $336.80
Office Supply Restock for Holiday Shipping : $70.25/$80.00
Mailgun : $8.57/$9.00
Spotify: $5.00
Phone : $150.00/$150.00 (6 month contract)
Convertkit : $49/$49.00
Hosting Fees : $30/$30
Backups and Storage $13.98/$26.47
Adobe Creative Cloud $0/$52.99
Contractors: $0/$385.00
Engineering/Editing $300.00 (estimate)
Transcription: $85.00 (estimate)
Charitable Contributions: $0/$75
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Week 3 Update:
Food 267/$350
Play in the park next week and we’ll go somewhere beforehand, but odds are it’ll be someone’s patio so should be fine here for the rest of the month
Clothes $160/$150*
*$50 to be refunded shortly from rewards
- 2 ‘good’ bras that I’m happy with the fit of, so should be good for a bit
- 3 sets of underwear, not originally in plan but on sale with bras and can replace some that needed to go soon anyway
- New hiking/snowshoeing boots just arrived, need to wear them some and figure out if they’ll actually work. They seem to have an oddly small toe box and a wide heel and I’d prefer the opposite so these might get returned and I’ll look for a better option
In-progress projects $82/$100
Working through existing supplies, look to be good here
Sports/Hobbies $56/$10
I am officially weak…a puzzle set I’ve been watching went on sale and I grabbed it before I thought about it
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I’m recasting my budget so I have to track and not limit, because it’s an eventful month and I have already failed, by both failing to check in last week and I expect going over budget everywhere.
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Groceries: 40.6% of last months
Restaurant: $43/100
Coffee shops: $10/50
expense tracking mood: no fuck YOU, mint!
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You haven’t failed! You’re just recasting!
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Low spend week on groceries and HIGH spend week on going out. But I knew that would be the case 
Went out last Saturday night/Sunday morning and the total was $111 I think. I also was having a rough week health-wise and with work, so we ended up ordering a pizza for dinner on Wednesday to eat something really delicious. Otherwise we’ve been following the meal plan! $120 left in going out budget.
Groceries was another $40 at QFC last weekend.
Still no Costco run, so maybe we won’t need one this month? Doing a meal plan for the week before we go shopping is really changing things. In the past we would just go and sort of guess as what we might want to make for dinner and buy things for those ideas. It led to a lot of food waste too, and we have really cut down on that this month! Except for my weekly bag of good intention lettuce. I should probably find a new way to enact my good intentions…
Grocery total so far is $126 so $174 left for just the next week! I actually moved some money out of this category to pay for a huge book of planner stickers though…so now the remaining grocery budget is $150.
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Have much of the tracking done for this week, but I may not get it posted until tomorrow, because migraine does not want me to look at a computer screen just now. I can barely manage phone screen on dark mode if iPhone and I are both under the covers so the light outside doesn’t shine in my eyes. Doctors appointment for recurring migraines late this afternoon.
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hope you get answers and solutions. Take a break from screens and make a cave plz <3
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Still tracking so far, I need to claim a few refunds this week so that should help the budget.
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I feel like I just posted this but I guess another week has gone by!
Week 3 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 |
| Week 3 (Oct 16-22) | $0 | $8 | $0 | $31.73 |
| Remaining | $20 | $42 | $60 | -$11.81 |
I did go out to meet friends at a bar this week, but not for dinner. So far my plans of budgeting for dining out were not at all necessary but I guess that’s what happens in Portland once it’s dark and rainy out. Still overall not in the red so I’m counting that as a win.
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Hey Dream Team 
Checking in for week 3! This is my first time feeling good about a consistent budget. Thank you for helping me get to a mental place I was worried I’d never get to 
It feels big for me and is giving me confidence to keep going after Budgetober is over.
Here’s where we’re at as of today:
Overall Budgetober Food Spending 
• Groceries: $201.83 spent ($300)
• Dining out/treats: $516.16 spent ($300)
Final Total: Vacation Budget Spending 
• Dining out: $342.88 spent ($240)
• Groceries: $0 spent ($120)
• Gifts: $85.99 spent ($100)
• Treats: $39.93 spent ($120)
• Gas: $82.46 spent ($192)
• Misc/Cushion: $59.33 spent ($128)
Using my one chance to recast because I didn’t budget enough for dining out this month! Spent more on vacation than I thought. Worth it. Ate so many tasty morsels. Happy belly times. 
Going to raise my “Dining out/treats” category to $600. Hoping to keep my grocery bill under budget!
Thanks Everyone & sending you Budget confidence: you’ve got this!
Bella
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My goal for this challenge has been to keep within my overall budget, and specifically to keep my general merchandise spending under $100. I’m way ahead of where I need to be in both those areas.
Which is a good thing because today I went to see a neuro-muscular therapist (who is also one of the owners of the gym I belonged to before the pandemic) about my chronic plantar fasciitis and she convinced me to sign up for a month of virtual online personal training for $300, included in which are four in-person visits to address the plantar fasciitis. Fingers crossed this heals my heels and gives me the kick in the pants I need to to get my physical fitness back on track.
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Week 3 check-in:
I am going to go ahead and wave my magic wand to recast our food budget goal to 20 percent reduction over last month’s spending versus my original goal of 25 percent.
Week 3 was rough but it could have been a lot worse. We avoided the spiral that usually happens once we have over spent for a week or so. That alone is progress for us.
We still have a chance to hit original goal but I want to be realistic knowing what our schedules look like next week. Still have my sights on 25 percent but even 20 percent reduction would be a pretty solid improvement.
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Local food budget: $5.76 remaining 
There was an expense from the beginning of the month that I had missed until I reconciled YNAB on Saturday, because my husband is bad at giving me receipts.
I don’t think we have enough left to buy anything else this month 
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Week 3 Check-in
Snacks $0.00 / $0.00 
Books/Music/Games $0.00 / $25.00
Hobbies $10.00 / $10.00 
Giving/Mutual Aid $225.23 / $200.00
Same as last week, no new spending. I’ve been making cookies and muffins to eat in the morning and that is the only reason I’m still managing to not get snacks. Relatedly, my baked good consumption is skyrocketing (and I’m ok with that!)
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Week three check in:
Groceries: $63.44 plus a bag of free quince!
Income: $159.85 plus I got an unexpected gig this weekend (paycheck comes next week)!
Fun money: $6 on plants - strawberry and black-eyed Susan starts
My goal for next week is no spending on groceries. I do reserve the right to wave the magic wand if we end up doing something somewhat organized for Halloween.
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Week 3 checkin!
FINALLY paid my friend for her old furniture (a bed frame, mattress, a shelf-turned-fancy-tv-stand, and a dresser) for a very nice $600.
I’m at the stage where I’m buying specific stuff for this apartment – stuff like a dehumidifier for a room where the windows fog up, rinse aid for the dishwasher, extra forks (because my roommate and I both use a ton of forks) and so on. That’s another $74 from Fred Meyer and $50 from amazon. Aaaaand another tank of gas for $25 (I have a tiny car). My big spending is finally winding down, I think. 
Except for one last item: a new couch. I’d like something cozy, but I also want one that pulls out. I’m at $1650 of my budget right now which only leaves $350 for the couch. I’m guessing the couch will be around $500 -$600. I have a buffer to cover it.
TLDR:
$1650 spent
$350 left
Still need to buy a couch
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