Week 1ā
Foodā$0/$350
Clothesā$0/$150, but I did find out that I have a $50 credit on one card that can be used at the place I got my remaining āgoodā bra so assuming they still sell something that will work (always a question) thatāll bring this category down some.
In-progress projectsā$49/$100, first run to home improvement store made. Iād like to say first and last, but that never happens 
. One item wonāt be in until next weekend, which is annoying, but at least Iāll just need to swing by customer service and pick it up.
Sports/Hobbiesā$0/$10
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Sunday check in:
Coffee shops: $0/30
Restaurants: $0/100 (last month was high, this will be easy to keep to)
Groceries: one trip. 6.48% of last months total. So 6.5/100% 
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Just so yāall know, You donāt have to check in for the week ending October 1! But you can. But Badges will happen Fridays starting October 7 for the previous weekās expenses!
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This is not a check-in but a set up. (Ok itās also a check-in to get me started):
Looking back at the last 4.5 years of data, I had my expenses dialed in the most in the second half of 2018 and all of 2019. Expenses have been higher these past 7 months since buying this new house, which is to be expected as I left my previous home with very little and knew I would have to replace a lot. There are still a fairly significant number of things on my list of things to buy/replace/fix. Therefore, Iām not trying to meet some arbitrary budget, but rather, simply tracking where I am in relation to X (dialed-in expenses) and Y (current expenses). Even the dialed-in budget may not necessarily be feasible anymore since my expenses here (especially heating costs) are higher than they previously were, because of the climate. Also, taxes are higher. And food costs. It is what it is. It will be interesting to see how it shakes out. Again, no real restricting, unless things really go off the rails.
Also, Iām not going to include the really big home things, since the money for those is saved separately (and is already available).
So right now on Oct 2, including mortgage (like, it is what it is, so 
?) I am (was) at:
54% X
38% Y
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Oh no, I missed posting on Friday! I hope thatās ok. I havenāt spent any money on groceries yet this month since we still have SO MUCH STUFF leftover from our costco run last month.
I have gone out to a restaurant to get a takeout cheeseburger, but it was a super affordable (if unhealthy) place after a day of manual work so I feel good about it =)
We will need to do a grocery shop this week and Iām trying to meal plan and make a list that doesnāt have too much frivolous food. Also that will mean I use all the food and donāt end up throwing away half a bag of lettuce that went bad because I forgot to eat salads!
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First week check in- Pay day is not until the 10th so I am spending the days prior mapping out my budget. Had an unexpected meal plan charge go through ( I need to cancel all of these) so my Rover income was not saved last week.
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Week 1: $52.18 spent on groceries (goal: $300 for the month). Weāre at 0/1 for Husband remembering to put groceries on the newly designated grocery credit card but he kept the receipt. So when itās time to update the whole budget weāll know that spending was groceries and not household goods or cat supplies.
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Hey folks,
First post. My friend Becca bought me the OMD book and I am excited to get my financial %$% in order. I was using a money coach for a while through my works EAP, but she retired and I feel like this year has been a whole back track. Not sure if Fri the first was supposed to be the first check in on Budgetober (hopefully I donāt miss out on that sticker lol).
My goals for this month are to see what my spending habits are (downloading a YTD summary from mint) to make a more realistic budget and then to see where I can cut back. My first (very obvious one) is food. If anyone has tips on how to push through exhaustion and depression to make food instead of ordering it, I would love to see them!
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This is real. Also welcome!
My tip would be set expectations low and be kind to yourself. Aka buy easy to make things and gave backup plans for no spoons days. We always have a handful of box mac and cheese and frozen peas to go in it for that reason. 
Look, a vegetable even lol!
Semi prepared food is a mid point and cheaper than take out without going full āfrom scratchā 
perfect doesnāt exist.
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Yes! My work cafeteria is slightly too expensive and slightly too mediocre to make me feel happy about the food, so I bought a bunch of frozen burritos and pot pies and stuck them in the fridge at work so I donāt have to get a mediocre $7 sandwich AND I donāt have to cook leftovers.
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Plus nachos take 15 minutes to make, are excellent depression food (I think I ate nachos 2X/week last winter) and are quite cheap.
If you want to add beans or veggies or meats then the time goes up, but so does the nutritional value so itās worth it.
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I take slivers of energy to move small amounts of food to a point where they need very little effort to end up with a meal. Iām helped by feeling that ordering food is in some ways taking more effort.
e.g. I made hard boiled eggs yesterday. On Thursday I made blistered green beans. On Saturday I made a batch of rice.
I roasted a butternut squash whole, and then several days later made it into a curry and put 3/4 in the freezer in single or double serving containers. It was a lot easier to do the curry because I didnāt have to cut the raw vegetable, and it didnāt need to cook much more once I chopped it. And roasting was just stabbing it a few times, turning on the oven, putting it on a sheet pan, and then leaving it there for an hour.
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I keep some foods in the freezer so that when I have cravings, I can just throw a frozen pizza in the oven instead. Iām not sure if youāre in the US but Trader Joeās has a ton of freezer options that are complete meals.
And also, I pretend to be fancy and eat things like cheese, cured meats, olives, etc. around. It feels like a luxury instead of depravation. And then I keep things like baby carrots and hummus around so there are some nutrient-dense things I can easily eat.
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welcome!!!
Welcome! When depressed, I make a lot of quesadillas (tbh I make them a lot all the time). Fast and only require two ingredients, or you can add in bits and bobs like a can of refried beans or salsa to spice it up. Canned soup with some veggies for vitamins. Ramen packets with an egg on top.
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If even frozen pizza is Too Much, hot pockets or pizza rolls require only a minute or so in the microwave and one hand.
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Okay, so hereās my Budgetober plan:
Yesterday I bought the Kindle edition of A Catās Guide to Money, and Iām going to work through that gently this month, to kind of work out what my financial values and personality are.
Itās a modest goal, but seems important and foundational. I need to stop flat-out panicking, and again try to gently take charge. Always gently with everything atm, bcos my system is so fried.
Bonus points if I can go through the apps mentioned from your investigations this summer, and start using one or two to help me. Began looking into that this week. And huge thanks to Lillian and everyone for doing thatā¦
Iāve canned pretty much every subscription to do with my business already, but there are some Twitch subs I need to let go of, which makes me very sad, because I was trying to support some BIPOC and LGBT+ content creators at a time when theyāve been getting hate raids, as well as keeping my regulars (I hate Twitch, but the communities I was a part of moved there when Mixer was canned). Twitch is where I spend a lot of my time, either with it on as the background to help me concentrate, (doing that right now), or when I have the spoons, for chatting with my faves in the evenings as part of their welcoming communities. Itās my social life, basically. It keeps me company, and also helps my ADHD brain to focus, somehow. But, regrettably, own oxygen mask on first, etc. etc. I need to start from zero, build up again.
Lastly I need to:
-
Find a new basic current account for my small Xbox gaming fund bcos Tesco are closing their banking arm in November, and
-
Find a savings account for the remaining PIP back payment of Ā£3830 I received in July, which has better interest than Santander (currently 0.01%). My hope is to stuff two more PIP payments into that account before the rent goes up, so that I can get it, and hopefully keep it, as close to Ā£4500 as possible, and then forget itās there. If I have to move suddenly, or if any other disasters befall, Iām going to need that cushion. Itās the most savings Iāve had in a loooooong old time, and I really donāt want to mess it up.
So thatās me. Too many words as usual. But hey. Iāve started on a lot of this already, including reading some of the book, cancelling subs, and downloading two of the apps, so will update next week on how much further Iāve got.
Onwards and upwards everyone. Weāve got this, and good luckā¦
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A quick check in for me:
So far Iāve spent $811.60 this month out of a $1,400 budget. This includes Mortgage and Health Insurance so two of the biggest monthly items are done. I have $588.40 left for the month to cover groceries, utilities, cellphone, car insurance, etc.
It will be hard but I still think I can do it. Iāve been trying something called Shelf cooking which involves meal planning with what you have on hand and just buying fresh produce as needed. I did this last month and only spent $250 on groceries where I normally average nearly three times that!
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I am going to try this out, mainly for the reason that I suck at budgeting thanks to ADD/impulse control. Here goes nothing.
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Welcome! If you do something, thatās much better than not - you donāt have to do everything at once to make progress.
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