No spend year: February

[Rdesonia]

Our grocery budget needs to get equalized.I'm not really sure what it should be with all the changes we have made. I might cook a few meals that are seperate. DH has to eat Low Purine (for gout) and I have to eat Gluten free. The combo cuts out a lot of foods that would normally be thrifty. Like Dh can't have dry beans and I have to buy expensive GF foods... like special corn meal, oats, etc. I'm making them noodles tonight that I can't eat. I'm going to eat left overs from last night. (again... had them for lunch too) I've been trying to avoid seperate meals but I think lunches especially it shouldn't matter. DH eats lunches at home most days unless someone else pays (business lunches on the company dime//DH works 3 miles from the house so he prefers to come home to relax then to pack a lunch since he gets an hour.). Sometimes we have leftovers and sometimes I actually cook a meal. I think if we do seperate lunches it would be more cost effective. (I could eat rice/beans which I love and he could have sandwiches.) Sorry in my head ... it feels like if we eat different food, we wouldn't really be having a meal together. It's important to me that we all have a sit down dinner every night.

[happyhats]

The important thing is you're together, right


Im going shopping with my sister and mom Friday for a bit of shopping. I will be armed with a ten dollar jcp coupon and a ten dollar bn giftcard. Im hoping to get into a thrift store and find some clothes for dd. She had a growth spurt and now she can't wear a lot of her spring wardrobe.

[lyn1270]

mommy FAIL today...grrrr.....I left the kids' backpacks at home today on our way to our HS community. by the I realized it, it was too late to go back counting traffic, gas, and time. So I had to pull into CVS and get them snacks for today....grrrrrr!! That was $13 I had to spend that I totally did not want or need to spend ugghh...and i still have to get some groceries today

[happyhats]

Tomorrow is shopping day and honestly I hope I stay good, lol. I haven't gone out without kiddoes in a while. Hubby has the day off tomorrow, which is nice but that also equals less overtime. He is also looking at changing jobs. This could be a very good thing and he seems excited. But I also want to make sure we have a cushion just in case and it may mean a move in our future. I know hubby would probably be happier at the new job, the hours and wage would be better, but his job is extremely secure.

I did some rearranging yesterday and turned my hall linen closet into a display for my WOz collectibles. I have been eyeing getting a case for some time so this saves a chunk of money. I just need to oull the door off.

On the agenda tonight-thawing a chicjen for this weekend, getting coupons out for tomorrow, and eating up leftovers. I may also cook a breakfast bread.

[lyn1270]

only spent $31 at the grocery today. just got the very basics (bread, rice milk....which i had a $1 coupon for each container...and i bought 7 containers! woo!, apples, bananas, oatmeal). pantry challenge is on here as we are b.r.o.k.e. i can't even think about our finances right now w/o wanting to choke the life out of my DH....sigh.....

okay...so no spending tomorrow except have to take DS2 to the dentist for a filling and that will cost about $100 OOP w/our insurance...sigh...yeah. oh, and i got gas today for the van....$40...not too bad as I had 70cents off at the pump since I had so many Kroger fuel pts! woot!

kids got to eat at ChuckECheese (:x) tonite thx to a friend's b'day party! woot! so that meant no cooking/cleanup for mom!

other than that....we are at $0 extra spending right now yeah!

[pieceofjess]

I would like to jump in and keep track of my spending as well.
I try not to buy anything unless I have the cash for it but sometimes I splurge.
Of course like every day this week I have spent money when for about a month before I wasn't spending anything.

2/4/12: $26.45 - eating out - lunch with ds and dh wanted pizza for dinner.
2/5/12: $14.88 - spent about $4 on thrift store items for ds because he had to dress like an old man the next day, lol. the rest went to gas.
2/6/12: $20.33 - eating out for lunch. we ate out a lot this week. bleh.
2/7/12: $14.76 - bought ds an icee and myself a diet coke and bought a night time diaper for dd. also paid spots corner fee. made $6 cash from selling prefolds locally and made $12 minus fees from selling other diapers online.
2/8/12: $30 or so - my goal is to fill my tank up and that's it. we are going to a children's museum tomorrow and will be packing lunches. tomorrow is supposed to be payday for dh though so he will probably go nuts with buying lunch and other junk.

[Rdesonia]

I will have to go grocery shopping tomorrow.
We had 30 minutes to kill between Ds's appts (he had 2 appts kinda back to back but the 1st was quick.) so I went to a little thrift store. I bought a potato masher (all metal ... as DH has accidentally broke mine and the one before that. I'm hoping since this is an old 100% metal one he won't kill it.) It was 25 cents. Then because I could not resist it... I bought DD a hat for $2. It's 100% wool and very 1940's glam. I used the change in my purse that I started the year with. It is so seriously cute that I feel no guilt! I have already made 6 trainers and a dress for her so far this month. I've got 3 more dresses cut and partially sewn. They will be for Spring/summer. I rarely "buy" her clothes/accessories. (I don't think I could have made this hat.)

I bought a $5 hot and ready pizza for DS & DH to eat. (I was running late as the last appt took a while with him having to explain the results of the tests and how that changes DS's treatment plan. And we went back and forth on options. I refused one medication due to side effects so we are doing one that is less effective but few side effects first. That will be an extra $140 for one medication -not approved by insurance- plus special vitamins. We have an HSA acct for medication/dr bills. DH texted me to get pizza when I said we were running late.) I used the $20 we keep in the car as emergency Gas $. I told DH he better replace it out of his personal funds.

My debt card is expired so I can't buy anything on my personal acct (except online). That is one of the reasons I didn't go grocery shopping. So we are out of milk. (We have some powdered but that's not the same) I'll have to call the bank because it was suppose to have been mailed out already. Maybe if I pull out cash it will keep me under budget.

[ctj101502]

No money spent today. Went to library book club party and won a prize and a take home gift for everyone. Kiddos did great and ate treats and got books while there. Love our librarians, the wife of one wants too make kids quilts and the librarian has BlackBerry bushes for me

[Rdesonia]

I went to just buy milk & creamer yesterday at the local store in town for $7. (I had to go get our prescriptions there and didn't feel like making the drive to "town" as DH was taking a 1/2 day off since he worked lots of overtime.) I was feeling lazy. Dh finally sold our dead car and he handed $50 since it was "1/2 mine". I'm going to grocery shopping today.

I'm making DH take back some car stuff that we don't need. (He said he was "just going to keep it" but we don't need an oil filter that won't fit a vehicle we own etc. And he agreed. He called and they said they would take it back. )

[Rdesonia]

We spent $117 at the grocery store. I need to transfer $ from my paypal as I bought DD clothes. Clearance section got me! A 4T dress for $2.50, T-shirt for DD for $1, 2 pk "Christmas" footie pjs for $1.16, and 4 more 2packs of footie pjs for $2.50 each in size 4T & 5t. I would have just bought the Christmas ones but I didn't realize those were cheaper till I was at the register. There was nothing in DS's size for next school year but we looked. So a total of $14.66 in clothes. (But sleepers footie pj's for $1.25 new each is too good a deal to pass up especially with DH right there throwing them in the cart. She wears a 2t /3T right now so those are for later. We didn't have any 4t or 5t jammies yet.)
We bought stuff like 2 bags of shrimp, a big huge ham, decaf coffee, produce, dairy, 6 boxes of cereal (we didn't need but on sale plus coupon at 82 cents each), A bunch of dried cranberries for 50 cents a bag on sale, and other random stuff. I would have done better but I had Dh there throwing stuff in the cart.

***We got our Tax Return $$ already! *** Woo Hoo! So the $800 I had sent to my personal instead of the joint needs to go to our savings acct. Plus tonight I'm transferring 3/4 of the rest of the return in our joint acct into savings. (I negotiated).