Presidents' Day Weekend in $$$

On Saturday, my family and I went to Target and spent $160, then the grocery store and spent $140. We didn’t go grocery shopping last week, so that was about what I expected to spend at the grocery store. I didn’t expect to spend so much at Target–but who ever does? Actually, we failed to find one of the things on our list, and only bought one thing that wasn’t on our list (batteries). About half of that $ was on baby formula. Hopefully, though, this is the last time we’ll have to buy formula, if we are successful in weaning him from formula to cow’s milk/almond milk/solid food now that he’s turning one.

Sunday, I went to a friend’s house and had a fabulous time and didn’t spent any money.

Monday, we went to our local awesome shopping complex but didn’t spend any money! I knew I was out of fun money for the month (spent it on earbuds and a Valentine’s Day gift for my husband), so I barely went into the bookstore and limited my browsing in the secondhand clothing stores–I did not try on the pretty green tiered skirt, but I might go back in March and see if they still have it. I also donated a bunch of clothes and shoes so I feel a lot better after that trip.

How was your weekend in $$$?

(Sorry to anyone who didn’t have a long weekend and for whom this post is therefore late! I will try to make threads like this every Monday, but anyone who wants to do it is welcome to jump in!)

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My total for the weekend, which wasn’t a holiday weekend for me, but nonetheless was a work-from-home-day since I had a fun nosebleed yesterday:

Saturday: $19.77 out
Got a refill of over-the-counter medication $13.49 Rite Aide.

Spent the day tidying the house, reading, and doing some backend web work. I went to the library and got like 19 books out, which I probably won’t finish before I leave the country, but I always let myself get as many as I like.

Then, that evening I decided I had a craving for chex mix so I went back to Rite Aide and spent $6.28 on all the ingredients to make chex mix. It was delicious.

Saturday: $22.89 out/$5 in
Hosted a financial meetup at my house, so after I finished cleaning the house, I went to the store and go ingredients to make chili for everyone, and groceries for the week for myself - $21.89 Whole Foods. Also needed toilet bowl cleaner so got some from the Dollar Tree ($1.00).

Also made +$5 from selling something on craigslist.

Monday: $59.00 out/$1,293 in
I worked from home all day due to some health stuff, but finally remember to venmo for an ottoman my parents picked up for me last month ($59.00) and my tax refund came in (+$1,293). Quickly went to work allocating that out for next month in YNAB.

Oh man, let’s see. I’ll do Fri-Sun, since that was more accurate to my husband’s weekend.

Friday:
$1.59 IKEA for a chocolate bar and $9.99 for a French press there.
$140 for special work clothing for husband, in the hopes that he’ll be self-extinguishing if he catches fire at work. FR clothing isn’t cheap though- that’s 1 shirt and 1 pair of jeans.
$28 restaurant, BIL and SIL were in town so we went to dinner.

Saturday:
Went to 3 grocery stores (2 Asian markets we were trying out/comparing, and Trader Joe’s). About $92 all told.
Also, $4.50 for bao outside one of the Asian markets. #noregretz

Sunday:
$3.99 to get grapefruit juice for the meetup we went to. (Mimosas needed restocking for folks. Not me- today is day 54 of no drinking. Never thought I’d actually give up drinking unless pregnant!)

I’ll play!

Friday: $108.44 at Fred Meyer for groceries. This is higher than normal because I stocked up on cider (12 bottle case-- should last awhile as I am trying to drink less frequently) and a bunch of sale chicken/beef that should provide multiple meals. I typically spend about $700-800/month on food and drink for my family

Saturday: $12.85 for a movie with my sister (Isn’t it Romantic – recommend!)

$8.80 for popcorn. This was my lunch.

Coffee after movie paid for by my sister in exchange for retirement finance planning advice

$15.40 automatic charge for Netflix. I just started this a couple of months ago and they are already raising the rates! Probably worth it to keep the delux plan for now as we have so many devices in the house. I will probably make this a rainy-season only splurge, though.

Monday: $8.76 for bagels, eggs, and salsa at Fred Meyer. Stuff I forgot on Friday.

Resisted the temptation to take the kids out for a meal, which we often do on weekends. We all were suffering from inertia, which does save money.

This is fun…I did better than I thought for hosting friends in town!

Friday (I took the day off to hang with said friends): $174
$10 lunch for DH since we didn’t prep enough for the week
$30 gas for DH’s care
$16 for bunch supplies (friends chipped in for the rest)
$43 pedicure
$20 late lunch/happy hour
$55 dinner & drinks

Saturday $0 (but my friend paid for my coffee/breakfast since I covered her for dinner)

Sunday: $90 groceries for this week

I had a pretty low-spend weekend, which was nice.

Friday night I went to dinner with some friends ($18).

Saturday I went to yoga (prepaid) then wedding dress shopping with a friend (that is… an experience. No one spent any money, much to the saleswoman’s dismay), then grocery shopping ($47) and a quick bite to eat ($13). Saturday night I went to a screening of High Fidelity, one of my favorite movies, then a Q&A with John Cusack that was, bar none, the worst interview I have ever seen. I left partway through and am still mad about it (tickets were already paid for).

Sunday plans were cancelled because of the weather, so I spent the day meal prepping and cleaning. I took Monday off as a mental health day, knowing it would be quiet in the office anyway, and spent the whole day doing… nothing. No major cooking projects, no errands to run, no cleaning… it was amazing, y’all, and I’m sad I don’t get days like that more often!

Total spending: $78

Hm. Not much going or doing this weekend. I was sick and we had a major Great Dane health scare (he’s 11 years old, so he’s beyond geriatric). Of course, he has perfect vet-dar (like radar), as most of our animals have had - started exhibiting symptoms about 20 minutes after the vet closed Friday afternoon. As a bonus he successfully detected the one weekend a month when the vet is not open a half day on Saturday.

Saturday - I was sick, husband spent somewhere between $30 and $40 at the grocery store. Don’t know what exactly. He fed me, though, and I was grateful. We kept an eye on the dog and debated whether to take him to emergency vet but decided against it, more to avoid stressing him or subjecting him to invasive tests than the expense (see Monday for full vet report).

Sunday- nothing in or out; no one went down off our mountain all day. Mostly we watched the dog.

Monday - showed up on the vet’s doorstep 10 mintues before opening time and without an appointment. We’ve known for several months that he has a mass growing on his spleen that will eventually do him in if he doesn’t go from plain old age first, and he seems to have had a little bleed from that causing the pain. We’ve added to his pain meds and gotten him back to “happy dog” status for now. Cost at vet: $95, plus one additional day of my sick leave when I might have pushed to go on to work that day instead. Of course now, two days later, I still feel bad enough I might well have relapsed if I’d pushed on Monday. Then husband drove to the city he goes to grad school during the week in, fueling up and buying two energy drinks ~$75 (Energy drinks because no one slept much because the dog cried out more from pain at night, and it’s hard to fit two humans and a Great Dane on a queen bed, but he felt a little better there with us — I spent the last ~3 hours of predawn Monday morning in his bed with him so my husband could get a little sleep since he was going to go in if we didn’t have to put the dog down Monday morning)

Total Spending: ~$205 cash, one extra, but perhaps not unneeded, sick day.