Week three check-in
Total spend = $2,980.08 out of $3,600 budget. Should be more than enough left in the budget to get me through the last 11 days.
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The month’s goals:
Last week:
THIS week - wedding week!
Groceries: $232.64 / $250. My parents left their car at our place when they left for the wedding several days before we did, so I took the opportunity for a Costco run.
Home goods/miscellaneous: $29.95 / $50 Picked up 5 big bags of pellets for our pellet stove, because of aforementioned car.
Utilities: $315.63 / $320
Internet:$49 / $50
Alcohol: $18 / $30 Got a growler for my parents
My fun money: $5 / $25
Hotel + food: $276.47 / $300
Car rental plus gas: $48 / $250 We ended up not needing to rent a car, but I did pay for airport parking for my parents.
Wedding gift: $46.97 / $100
Additional wedding expenses $91.64 / $0 I got a professional haircut instead of having mr krmit trim it, and we bought a host gift for friends who let us spend the night the first night we were in Chicago. Usually I would categorize the haircut in my “fun money” category but since I got it specifically for the wedding I’m going to cheat.
Pet expenses: $$211.98 / $200 The dog boarding actually came in under budget at $152, but I picked up two big bags of dog food at Costco, again, because the car was available.
General thoughts
So there were a few unplanned expenses surrounding the wedding, but cancelling the rental car means we still came in under budget for the whole trip!
The Costco and wood pellet run affected my pet, home goods/misc, and grocery categories, but the car was available for me to use and it will save us a ton of hassle, particularly for the dog food, for the next couple months. That said…
I’m going to recast two categories this week: groceries and home goods. It’s mr krmit’s birthday this week and I need to buy cake supplies, plus there’s a very specific $50 coat rack that I was planning to use this month’s home goods budget on.
Groceries: $232.64 / $300
Home goods: $29.95 /$80
I’ve learned this month that weekly budgeting is WAY too time-consuming to do on a regular basis for the entire budget. I may continue to do weekly check-ins on a few categories such as grocery, alcohol, and fun money.
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It kind of depends how hard it is to compactly roll up the chain link. I suspect it may want to tangle and straighten tiself out and be unmanageable.
It will be interesting though.
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Week 3 check-in!
Restaurants: $179.24/200
Groceries: $245.37/300
So we are nearing our budget limits, but the end of the month is also coming up. I wish we had a bit more left in restaurants since I don’t think $20 leaves us enough for a real meal out. This week all we got was some food truck food that we ate more because we were hungry and unprepared than because we wanted it 
. We are traveling this upcoming weekend so we will go to restaurants but it will come out of the travel budget.
For groceries, we did a big trip this week. I got some expensive ingredients for a potluck dinner (3 types of cheese), but we also got some stuff that will last us a long time (butter, vinegars). I think we will be okay in grocery unless we go to the grocery store for entertainment… which is not impossible. I’m currently making a huge batch of soup and we still have a cornish hen to cook so maybe we can stretch things.
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Well I’m using my “start over” card this week. My mom was in town last week and I had to pay for her for the few outings we did. Then I forgot about my weekend trip to Vegas which is getting scary overbudget. Mostly eating out and taking Lyft because we’re not close to the strip. I won’t be eating out for the rest of the month, besides my birthday which my boyfriend will pay for. It’s been painful dipping into my savings and I’m doubling my side job over the next month to get it back up.
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Week 3 Check In:
I used my handy recast button this week due to some backlogged charges, and just in an effort to expand my budget a bit. My expectations versus reality didn’t really match up, so I want to be more middle of the road.
It’s not listed here, but I have a work event (Spookoween! 
) that I have contributed funds too. I expect to spend about $20.00 on our potluck, costume, etc. I love Halloween, so it should be fun.
I hope everyone’s having a great week so far!
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Week 3 check in, should have done this yesterday.
Rent and mortgage payment came out as planned.
Unplanned cash expenses were a water bill for the rental, $128. Dunno how that slipped through to the keeper but if I remember correctly the renter should be paying water bills. I’ve paid it, but I’ll be having words with the rental manager on Friday when I swing through town on my way to do the gardening.
Speaking of which, 4:45pm this arvo the rental manager called and there’s plumbing issues and she knocks off at 5pm… Minor leak in the kitchen sink tap and the septic may have backed up. Joys. My details for the plumber I had out just after we bought the place to connect the bathtub to the septic system have been misplaced
(new phone since then, no message trail) so I’ve had to go with the rental agencies plumber. Will find out more ($$$) tomorrow.
Kid #2 turns 3 this week, her birthday presents from mum and dad were organised a while back, so no $ there, but something from kid #1 needs to be sorted out on Wednesday arvo after school. The need for new hair elastics and clips is high and apparently stick on earrings are a thing. So it could be a relatively cheap purchase.
Both MILs will be in town this Thursday for kid #2s birthday. My MIL is staying with us and my mother is house sitting my mates place two streets over for a week. Minimal costs involved unless mum takes me to a nursery…
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Hey folks, if you haven’t checked in for the third week, please do so! Badges will be granted today!
Just write how you’re doing relative to your prediction (numbers or no numbers if not necessary)
and what you think your budget will look like for the coming week.
Would also love to hear about your big expected challenges for the week!
If you’re going to “recast” (new budget estimate for the month) feel free to state that!
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I’m planning on putting a post up on Monday, the 28th, and then another one on Thursday, the 31st to tie up loose ends for people.
So no getting to cram your grocery budget outside the month 
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@TrisPrior As someone who is car-free who 100% does things for convenience and pays a little more sometimes, I just make it part of my overall budget, but I certainly don’t add inconvenience to keep it in the budget month. Like, a good (also hair related) example is hair dye. When I know I’ll be at the place with Ulta, I will pick up hair dye if I’m gonna run out before next time I am there. Even if I don’t really want to spend the $11 on hair dye that week, because it’s a lumpy expense. I do tend to run a big buffer though.
But I will say I generally know what’s coming down the pipeline and budget for it within the month, but there’s some food-based expenses that I pay more for because I live next door to 3 different grocery stores - but unfortunately, none of them are
- the cheap tofu place
- a place that sells a certain mass market cereal I use to make holiday treats.
I usually weigh the cost of biking (not terribly far) to pick up said cereal for $3 a box vs paying through the nose at $6 at the Rite Aide across the street. If I know I am making Holiday Cereal Treat and I’m near the grocery store with cheap cereal, I plan for it, even if it’s a month in advance.
Then the issue becomes…storing the cereal for a month without eating it. That’s a different issue.
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Oof, Vegas can be tough on budgets.
Do you have a budget recast estimate for the month?
I DID spend money yesterday. $2 to pick up a print job. There will be a bigger one near the end of the month too. Most of these relate to yoga teaching, another category I completely forgot to budget for. So I need to add another category:
$2 / $0 Yoga Teaching.
In YNAB there’s a category called “Stuff I forgot to budget for” and those fund will be covered out of that category.
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Here’s what happened last week on Budgetober…
Month-to-date flexible category spending after Week 3 out of monthly goals.
Electricity: $33.16/ $33
Household Goods: $7.18 /$10
Stupid Mistakes: $90 /$125
Figure Skating : $27 /93
Groceries: $112.26/ $130
Treats: $17.04/ $15
Unicorn Hair: $19.17/ $24
Spending Money: $6.18/ $10
Health: $41.99/ $49
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Week 3 (through 10/21, cumulative):
- Food: 89.07/+150 (50 in protein)
- $10 of this is protein (tilapia) from week 1
- Spent $18.52 on food in week 2 but no protein
- Spent $44.31 this week on food, $4.11 on protein (smoked salmon on closeout)
- Health: 0/+100
- Misc: 0/50
- Home: 0/200
- Education/Prof Dev: 0/100
I still am undecided about getting glasses right now even though I need them. The Majestic Derp procedure was so expensive. I have not done my summary of accounts for Oct 1 yet either (I was scared because of things the Great Twitterer was… uh… twitting) so I am not sure how I stand WRT when I quit the 9 to 5.
I need to buy more protein powder, so that should actually take up a fair amount of the rest of the $50. I should order that today.
I really need to decide what I want to do about professional development, stay in my current field or study something adjacent.
No money spent on the house/garden, I might have to wait until spring to spray after all, it has gotten really cold and everything is going dormant. 
In the misc category, I do still need winter socks/tights, but haven’t decided what kind to buy yet. I want something quality that will last. I might also use some of that for an aeropress or a french press, now that all guests are gone (maybe I will store my big coffee maker).
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I went pretty wild with grocery food. But I feel good about it.
I am actually wondering if I should just plan on throwing more money at some things that would make my days better.
I used to hate taking the toll road (because I was/am cheap), and now I would 100% always choose to hand over $1 if it means saving 10 minutes of my time. I mean, 10 minutes of driving probably costs MORE than $1!
Next month I may try a “reverse” budget… Is that a thing? Is it blasphemy? Will I be kicked out of this community?
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No-budget November has a nice ring to it. Maybe we need badges for that.
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Despite all my whining, today I am grateful for Budgetober. Because, OMG, there would be SO much depression/anxiety/crabbiness spending going on right now otherwise. But since I’m down to nearly no money until November, I have refrained.
My depression/anxiety/crabbiness is because my work had a huge layoff and we lost a ton of people - so that is an extra reason to not spend; I don’t think they’re done axing people. Funny how my impulse in response to money panic is “OMG buy all the shiny Halloween things!”
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ETA: Oops, pressed a key before I was ready. This week was OK, but I’m anticipating another wave of expenses next week since I’ve got to prepare for a work trip, treats to bring to work, Halloween, and two more gifts for friends/family with upcoming birthdays. Oof. It’s more exhausting to think of the gifts than to buy them, honestly, but boy is it a busy season for my wallet!
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healthcare copays etc: $69 / $158
- $69 - appt
- I WANT to spend another $69 on therapy but my therapist may be on vacation, so yay? $ saved??
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transit & gas: $37 / $60
- $7 parking meters
- $10 - half of the gas to drive to Austin
- $20 tolls. because time is more valuable. and I get carsick
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groceries: $187 / $250
- $22 subscribe & save from Amazon - this is all my stuff (coffee, creamer, snacks)
- $16 (half of the bill) at the grocery store
- $20 (half of a bill) at another grocery store… already?!
- $6 lemons & chips
- $52 (half of a bill) - had a change of heart and decided to buy more expensive groceries for eating goals
- $18 nutrition supplements
- $62 - half of yet another grocery bill
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restaurants & bars: $174 / $200
- $11 takeout bc sad and lazy after work
- $19 (my portion of a group outing that did include mr. flan)
- $14 desperation tamales
- $9 snacks at happy hr for visiting friend
- $16 krav friend retirement brunch
- $20 dinner + dessert with visiting friend
- $14 delicious BBQ where I also got yelled at for bringing water into the restaurant… worth it?!
- $5 froyo
- $11 dinner after yoga
- $14 driving food
- $26 emergency lunch + afternoon snacks when friend got bad news at the drs
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clothing/personal care: $152 / $150
- $24 winter leggings with pockets! yeah ok this was just fun splurging
- $45 dresses
- $25 nail health
- $56 makeup
- $2 nail polish
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hobbies/entertainment: $97 / $150
- $97 airplane ticket to make the 3 leg return flight from Iceland in Dec 2 legs instead
- (future: ~$40 for a tea party for a birthday)
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gifts: $138 / $200
- $13 gift for friend undergoing surgery on her bday
- $76 my half of a family bday gift
- $25 gift
- $14 boxes for macarons to be made and given as gifts
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non-fixed costs misc.: $21 / $100
- $12 airtight container…for baking
- $9 bookmarks & pen at irresistible stationary store
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How about No-Stress November? I’d like to continue budgeting and keep the momentum going but I’d like to do a better job of managing my emotions around budgeting.
I have no idea how to quantify that or what an activity to go with that would like look.
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I love this.
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