I unwittingly walked past a new stationary/crafts store in Austin today. Oops. The damage was only $9!! Given what all I was holding in the first 5 minutes I think I did pretty great.
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This is a true superpower.
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They even had some planners that were definitely imported from Japan!! They reminded me of the photos you posted from your Japan trip, not to mention that some had cat drawings just taking up whatever space they desired on various pages. So Japan! I was sooooorely tempted. Also sloth and breakfast and sushi page markers. Ahh!!
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week 1: $107.28
week 2: $119.47
week 3 check in: $63.09
5.17 shadowy one picked up discounted meat
5.23 apples at discount grocery 1
7.88 discount grocery 1
3.94 coffee (interviewing ppl for an opening at work, I hope to expense this)
8.25 coffee (interviewing ppl for an opening at work, I hope to expense this)
18.65 premium grocery
13.97 discount grocery 2 (this should have been 49 cents less, but I decided not to go back and complain that the scanned price didn’t match the shelf price because there were very long lines)
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WEEK 3 CHECK-IN
Checks 
indicate “I think this category is closed for the month”
Activity since last week:
Food: 426/800
Transit: 133/300
Coffee: 28/75 - dang look at all the fancy coffee I can still buy
Tech: 32/25 - accidentally double-paid my hosting fees, derp
Travel: 301/450 - thought this was done, forgot that Retro Gaming Expo would have some expenses around transit/food. But no more events in October! Really!
Social: 72/150 - Debating going to an overpriced Halloween dance party, nice to know I can if I want!
Giving: 170/250 - this is fun, I’ll be able to give an extra random amount somewhere if nothing else comes up
Health/home: 373/400 - hair maintenance is expensive
Hard to say if adjusting to birth control, work stress, fighting illness, or all of the above, but I had a real hard time this week and that’s reflected in a lot of unnecessary food deliveries. At least I managed to not impulse-buy any stuff on top of that!
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Failure:
I cancelled today’s massage because everything hurts and I don’t want to be touched. Also I would have to shower first. Nope.
Success:
Literally everything else on my list. I also made progress on long term projects. All this while being unusually tired and sore. Go me!
Week 4 plans:
exercise x6 or more
get the house cleaned
eat out 3x or less
host a 14 year old’s birthday party without losing my mind
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Here is how Birthdays Week shaped up!
Edit:
Revising trip expenses to remove hotel, so $350 for gas and food. Found out parents reserved an AirBNB, and they probably won’t accept compensation. Revised total: 480 (80 reimbursable).
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Checking in for the week–still have cooking left to do tonight, probably one more round of stuffed peppers before peppers start getting expensive again (at least here), and some soup given the weather we’re expecting, but no shopping trips planned
Home improvement: $0/$300–Still. Grr. However, I am back on the plumber’s calendar for this week, so hopefully this’ll be handled before next weekend’s supposed snow.
Bills: $60/$60–Done for the month
Auto: $31/$40
Food: $208/$250–Time to start watching this, but I’m set for Halloween and should be for lunches/dinners for the next couple weeks shortly.
Sports/Health/Hobbies: $10/$25–Need to find a couple cheap, stackable display crates and I’ll be good to go. That or find some time to chop up some old 1x2s in my garage and build the things, but given some work stuff upcoming I’m not sure I’ve got that time.
Travel: $0/$0–Still good.
Cat: $398/$400–Done for the month
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Week 3 update on categories I spent money on this week (totals listed are cumulative for all three weeks):
Groceries/Household supplies: $415.89/$460 ($44.11 left)
Gas: $123/$240 ($117 left)
Personal loan: $111.38/$191.38 ($80 left)
Cell phone: $57.28/$57.28 (0 left)
Internet: $15/$15 (0 left)
Out-to-eat: $161.34/240 ($78.66)
This Saturday might be a little more challenging budget-wise as we will be out of town visiting Nanny’s grave. We do this every year around her birthday, and we pop by and see a few relatives along with wandering around town and going in and out of shops. So I might spend more than I planned but I will do my damnedest not to.
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Went grocery shopping today and spent $74! Still well under my $300 limit for the month, so that’s good. Husband got his hair cut and that came out of personal care ($40), and I spent some fun money on two yearlong magazine subscriptions ($12). Also bought some canned tuna for kitty, which added a little under household (I think $4).
All good here!
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Okay…so from the 200, I withdrew 46.54 because I didn’t withdraw, needed camping groceries and then got cash at the grocery store. So I have 20 cash in hand and can withdraw 50 more (Thursday) to get me through to the 31st, which is also a Thursday and a withdrawal day. So I will likely use my full 300, less the sneaky $4. But between being pregnant, going camping and getting back on track with friend dates, it’s fine if I do spend it all.
I forgot how much I like cash budgets without envelopes or categories. So I’ll continue in November! I think I stopped partly because my insane schedule made banking hard, and partly as a rebellion after the pirate scammed me (I remember that I was still doing cash then, which is why he thought I had money and why I did have just enough money). It’s easier to say yes and no to myself with real money.
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Week 3 groceries: $132.62
Total: $247.83 out of $400.
Going out: $0 this week. Bailed on the pumpkin patch and saved money.
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All cumulative for the month:
- Groceries $260: $143.80. We almost never do this well on our food budget but I spent a week dog sitting for my parents and eating some of their food, plus we’ve been exceptionally busy so we’ve been eating random freezer/pantry things that we wouldn’t otherwise consider a full meal.
- Clothes $35: Still no spending. My husband still hasn’t bought himself new boxers.
- Date money $50: Got Chinese takeout for $24.86 and had it at my parents’ house while watching a movie. Successfully ate it without the dogs getting any, and we have leftovers.
- Miscellaneous $80: still at $12.69
- Plants $20: Still at $22.25.
- Biggest challenge this week: We’re having guests stay Friday night and our house is a disaster. We’re also going to a fundraiser Thursday night, so we have three nights to get the house in acceptable shape and get groceries.
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Week 3:
Health 3804.60 / 4500
Groceries 227.31 / 400
Personal 71.45 / 120
Not sure how groceries is still so low, I’m sure we’ll do a big stock up shop at the bulk store before next month. Pretty on track for health, probably one more appt but nearly closed for that category.
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H’Okay. I clearly need to be doing my food budget + grocery shopping this way every month, because the drop in our spending is incredible. I may need to wave a wand next Tuesday, but fingers crossed I don’t! Ponder has a work dinner tomorrow and I don’t know who’s paying for it yet. Some food went to waste because I’ve got sore teeth and need fillings.
I have started planning my Christmas shopping and making little gifts for people, so I’m not worried that I haven’t actually bought anything for anyone yet.
Update:
- Groceries: $715/$1,100 ($385 left)
- Ponder’s lunches: $223/$300 ($77 left)
- Takeaway: $208/$240 ($32 left)
- My fun money: $18/$50 ($32 left)
- Christmas: 0/$400. ($400 left)
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week 3
Snacks at work - total for the month $23
Eating out - $67.20
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Hello all
Here’s my 3rd week update.
WEEK3 RESULT
Restaurants GeekyGirl: €30.45 – Mon, Wed, Fri Lunches. Brough Lunch on Tue & Thur
Restaurants family: 0€ – still no eating out on weekends
Family Groceries: €102.33 -– Yep, Friday evening grocery shopping with the 2 kids
Uber GeekyGirl: €0 – Yay no taxi rides this week. No wonder I averaged 7K steps per day
Uber family: €6.98 – WFH Wed and went to Mcdo with LittleGeek
Personal Spending: €63.66 --28.91(!!!) phone bill, the restaurants and swimming pool
TOTAL OCTOBRE
Restaurants GeekyGirl: €132.89/200
Restaurants family: 0€/100
Family Groceries: €229.07/250
Uber GeekyGirl: €18.00/50
Uber family: €23.66/80
Personal Spending: €390.79/600
I’ve decided to remove LG beddings from our grocery budget and put it in the kids budget. MrGeek just went and brought it as he went and brought snacks for 2 months and milk for 4 months. He feels deprived if he cannot buy whatever he feels that we ‘need’ since we have the money. So that’ll be a challenge for the last two weeks. I’ll just let him know what we have spent so far. We also need to avoid going grocery shopping overtired and with cranky kids: I just put everything in the cart without checking prices and I have less stamina to say no to MrGeek fancies (we brought the umpteenth glass). I feel that we’ll be over in this category, I should have increased it.
Otherwise I’m really happy about this week spending, we did not eat out, I brought lunch 2 days and avoided taking Ubers. Moving on I need to keep an eye on my phone bill; the kids play with it and subscribe to paying options.
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Below is my magic wand recast budget!
Week 3 update:
Rent + Utilities = $122/$750 (rent is end of month)
Consumer debt = $902 /$800 (over is better here!)
Fitness $0/$50 (will probably spend $15-30 on one or two yoga classes)
Food $140/$175
Other $138/$175
Transportation $6/$100
IRA $100/$100
Savings $130 /$100 (over is better here)
Mainly just have to pay rent, get the car stuff done, and buy a little food! Any additional extra money will go toward paying off debt.
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Utilities - 355.67 – paid & under budget
Food - 761.90 – we have about $200 left, which should take us comfortably through the end of the month; I’ve made a few meals/snacks for November already, though I’ll have to make a bunch more next weekend
Transportation (gas for car) - 37.81 – I can confidently say that we will not need gas again, so this is good
Household - 37.99 – under budget; I bought a space heater but put that under the Home Repairs/Improvements budget, which is not tracked this month
The wiggler - 0 – on track
Car insurance - 450 – scheduled
Pet - 200 – under budget; I still haven’t made the freaking vet appointment so I guess I won’t need to recast! Hopefully we’ll get to the vet in November!
Family Fun & Festivals - 60.96 — stayed within budget and Renn Fest season is over; sadly, we paid for one more ticket than we actually used, since I’d forgotten my two-day pass last time and planned to use it this past weekend, but I was too sick to go.
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I succeeded in no airport food.
Doing well at my no restaurants, but I miss some of the variety and novelty of restaurants (both in terms of food and Life Experience™), and there have been a few times where cooking has felt onerous. Food takes a long time, y’all.
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