June 2011 No Buy Thread- Keeping our summer spending in check

[annsteere]

Made my 0 days goal today, but it was an easy goal. I'm more pleased that it looks like I will be under budget , which is a big accomplishment this month. I tend to bleed money when my kids come to visit.

Groceries budget- $350-54-1-63-37= 195 left
Wedding dress budget $1100 -105-17-22-169-615= 172 left
Disney weekend budget $550 -150-117-108= 175 left

If there is anybody who doesn't "bleed money" when the kids come to visit, I don't know them.

You are WAY under budget for the Disney weekend and groceries. Good for you!

 

[hardingk]

Please let me know when the July thread starts!

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Paying off your flights! It's getting so close!!

I don't remember your numbers from last month, but it looks like you are doing well this month!

Thanks i have done much better this month but totally failed on the no buy days just happy to have the flights all paid!

Flights are all paid now it is down to knuckle down time for the rest of our spending money i could of changed another $500 into US$ today but i ran out of time will include that in July instead




So i totally failed on the grocery front last month but am so happy to have achieved what i did so i will change my expectations this month!
This month it is a juggle between do i finish paying the flights or do i change cash so it will be a week by week thing for us happy with either or both depending on DH's overtime which is a bit lacking at the moment but we are praying it will pick back up

goal for the monthVSactual money spent
Grocery's $700($923.47)
Flights $2500 left to pay ($2500)
US cash$2500 ($800)
Fuel $700$568.09
Miscellaneous $100($346.91)

June 1 $0 not leaving the house so it's a good start
June 2 $867.75( $800US cash costing$781.23 phone for DH$24.50 $62.02 grocery's)
June 3 $13.5 drinks at bbq tea
June 4 $196 ($30 fuel $166 grocery's)
June 5 $0
June 6 $0 it is helping that we have limited $ till Thursday
June 7 $40 fuel
June 8 $0 calling today really early not leaving the house
June 9 $ 123.32 $46.32 Grocery's bandaids $7 $10 fuel $60 flu injections not budgeted this week but at only $20 each just had to have them
June 10 $128.24 $60 flu injections, $20 fuel, 48.24 grocery's
June 11 $178.10 fuel $38 supermarket
June 12 $25.00 supermarket mostly junk so don't know where to put it will add to miscellaneous
June 13 $9.50 grocery's $39.99 Vitamins
June 14 $6.50 grocery's
June 15 $130 grocery's
June 16 $0 i did spend $125 on photo pass for DW but not counting it for this
June 17 $20 fuel $15 breakfast
June 18 $70 fuel $20 pizza for Boys Wed night $104.99 Grocery's $29 phone recharge
June 19 $20 grocery's
June 20 $117.99 fuel $133.90 unbudgeted tea out with a friend $11.55 drinks
June 21 $700 towards flights $16.78 grocery's
June 22 $23.75 supermarket
June 23 $1000 paid off flights
June 24$85.59 grocery's $15.75 chemist $40 post office redirect fee
June 25 $50 fuel $46.09 supermarket $11.71 breakfast
June 26 $0
June 27 $0
June 28$0
June 29 $13.77 supermarket
June 30 $800 flights $30 fuel $105.92 grocery's


No buy days 8/12[/QUOTE]

 

[charming23]

Ending the month with another no buy day. I did pretty good this month and am dreading July a little as we have some extra expenses to take care of.

June 2011 Budget
Groceries/Household- $350/$59.56 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$0.13 left
Car/Gas- $70/$7.47 left
Eating Out- $50/$20.64 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/$48.31 Left

Total- $600/$92.19 left

Goal of 14 No Buy Days


5/29- $36.93 Grocery, $7.76 Cat Supplies, and $29.78 Gas
5/30- $3.79 Cat Supplies, $18.55 Misc, and $1.50 McDonalds
5/31- $0
6/1- $54.75 Marc's (groceries)
6/2- $7.30 Starbucks
6/3- $16.16 Clothing for me, and $11 dinner with a friend
6/4- $5.38 Petco
6/5- $0
6/6- $0
6/7- $0
6/8- $53.69 Marc's, $2.98 Pat Catan's, $2 McDonald's, and $7.95 Jersey Mike's
6/9- $9 Movie tickets (2) and $20 Gas
6/10- $0
6/11- $0
6/12- $28.18 Grocery
6/13- $0
6/14- $0
6/15- $0
6/16- $7.95 Jersey Mike's
6/17- $53.74 Groceries/Household
6/18- $0
6/19- $12.94 Cat Supplies
6/20- $0
6/21- $0
6/22- $0
6/23- $48.71 Groceries, $12.75 Gas, and $1.69 Eating out
6/24- $0
6/25- $0
6/26- $0
6/27- $8.27 Lunch, $5 Movie, and $4.90 Walgreen's
6/28- $0
6/29- $0
6/30- $0


19/14 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings- $97.48

 

[ronnmel]

Expensive day, but worth it. I love my new tattoo! It even has a hidden Mickey. I will post a picture after it's healed a bit.


No Buy Days : 11/12
Gas : 103$ (max 120$)
Car : HOPEFULLY 0$
Groceries : 193$ (max 200$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 133$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 334$ (max 200$)

01/06 : 0$
02/06 : 0$
03/06 : 0$
04/06 : 5$ (fries)
05/06 : 88$ (ice cream + groceries)
06/06 : 17$ (groceries)
07/06 : 0$
08/06 : 47$ (gas + dinner)
09/06 : 8$ (dinner)
10/06 : 27$ (dinner)
11/06 : 54$ (cat litter & food + juice)
12/06 : 0$
13/06 : 35$
14/06 : 13$ (groceries)
15/06 : 30$ (groceries; yet again!)
16/06 : 0$
17/06 : 0$
18/06 : 45$ (books + take out)
19/06 : 23$ (movie)
20/06 : 0$
21/06 : 17$ (dinner)
22/06 : 0$
23/06 : 0$
24/06 : 5$ (pizza)
25/06 : 32$ (gas)
26/06 : 0$
27/06 : 40$ (walmart + Staples)
28/06 : 11$ (ice cream)
29/06 : 36$ (lunch + hair ties)
30/06 : 230$ (tattoo + food + pictures)

 

[YukiPhnx]

I'm so glad I made my $0 target this month!

I'll be staying in Waterloo for 2 weeks in a row next month, which should make it easier for me not to spend since there's really nothing to do here...and I'll be busy all of those days anyways. Grocery shopping will also be easier cause I don't have to worry about buying food I can finish in 2 days!

Have nothing planned for Canada Day tomorrow, except watching fireworks at night. Let's see if I can start my July off with a $0 day!

Overall budget: $245.14/400
Gas: $78/70
No buys: 10/10
Eating out: 3/6

I'm going to try to limit how many times I can shop for certain items
Clothing: 2/5
The Body Shop: 0/4
Gifts: 1/4

1-$10.98 (groceries)
2-$2.09 (Burger King)
3-$0
___
$40-13.07=$26.93 (so far, so good!)

4-$5.37 (Second Cup)
5-$20.91 (an iced cappuccino and lunch at Spring Rolls)
6-$28.53 (groceries)
___
$40-54.81=$-14.81

7-$7.56 (an iced coffee and box of bandaids for the blisters I got from a bad choice of boots...)
8-$0
9-$0
___
$25.19-7.56=$17.63

10-$9.75 (birthday cake for friend)
11-$0
12-$6.95
___
$40-16.70=$23.30

13-$24.42 (haircut at FCH)
14-$0
15-$6.50 (take-out for dinner)
___
$40-30.92=$9.08

16-$3.93 (McDees)
17-$12 (Sephora for brush cleaner and foundation sponge)
18-$12 (a bra and shorts at La Senza)
___
$40-27.93=$12.07

19-$0
20-$3.25 (Starbucks)
21-$0
___
$40-3.25=$36.75

22-$3.93 (McDees)
23-$7 (Tim Horton's for some chili)
24-$0
___
$40-10.93=$29.07

25-$11 (Ardene for last minute costume stuff for the party)
26-$0
27-$19.06 (some groceries for an eggplant casserole tonight)
___
$40-31.06=$8.94

28-$21 (groceries for another casserole)
29-$0
30-$19.84 (lunch, an iced cap and some Canada day shirts)
___
$40-40.84=$-0.84

See you all in the next thread!

 

[ronnmel]

2010 vs 2011

June 2010:
Gas : 47$ (26$ less)
Groceries : 140$ (86$ less)
Eating out (and snacks) : 115$ (135$ less)
Non-necessities : 204$ (63$ less)
Total : 506$.


June 2011
No Buy Days : 11/12
Gas : 103$ (17$ under) (56$ more than 2010)
Groceries : 193$ (7$ under) (53$ more than 2010)
Eating out (and snacks) : 133$ (33$ over) (18$ more than 2010)
Non-necessities : 334$ (116$ over) (112$ more than 2010)
Total : 763$ (257$ more than 2010)

 

[QVCshopper]

That's it for June! Not too bad overall; mostly food and a little bit of "stuff." I'm up in the air about July; might do a modified no-buy since we'll be away at the beginning. We'll see. Honestly, I don't think we really spend much, no-buy or not, provided there are no needed car/plumping/home repairs. Our biggest downfall is the reason all of us are here: Disney.

6/1-$0
6/2-$0
6/3-$0
6/4-$44 Wegmans, $2 Target
6/5-$7.50 Zoo, $12 Wendys, $12 Trader Joes
6/6-$0
6/7-$1.50 Pool snack, $4 Work dinner, $5 Target, $3 AC Moore, $31 Wegmans, $5 Pizza dinner
6/8-$2 Gymboree, $3 Kohls
6/9-$10 Target, $10 Lands End, $9 Wendys, $15 Dance pictures
6/10-$0
6/11-13-$100 Food (will have to update later with exact amount)
6/14-$5 Food, $9 K-cups, $10 Pizza dinner with in-laws (Can't beat 2 large pizzas for $10. Hello eating out on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future. I can't buy groceries for that cheap.)
6/15-$12 BK/Pool
6/16-$2 Popsicles for kids, $21 Wegmans, $20 to my Dad for Father's Day
6/17-$5 McD, $12 Michaels for Father's Day crafts, $2 Ice cream
6/18-$0
6/19-$6 McD, $4 Wawa, $20 Dinner; $6 Water ice (so worth it!)
6/20-$6 Wawa, $15 Hair cut (for me, finally!)
6/21-$10 Target cat food, $5 Pizza dinner (my new trend )
6/22-$8 BK, $40 Wegmans, $4 food
6/23-$0
6/24-$6 Lowes, $14 Panera Bread, $5 Bath and Body Works
6/25-$5 Farmer's Market, $4 Dollar Tree, $32 Wegmans, $6 Water ice
6/26-$10.50 Museums, $5 Auntie Anns
6/27-$0
6/28-$6 BK, $5 Pizza
6/29-$9 Giant, $3 AC Moore, $15 Wegmans
6/30-$0

 

[rnorwo1]

What are you paying with now? Plastic? Try switching to cash. If you go to the ATM and take out $200, even if you don't sit down to enter in the information, you can see it slipping away. You will know if it took you 2 days or 2 weeks to run out of the $200.

I don't track on here. I mean, I do, but my primary location for tracking is actually in an academic planner. It's far less easy to get distracted when I'm not looking at a bunch of websites. Also, I can note the purchase right when I get into my car. I can also see at a glance if I missed a day of tracking. I use a weekly/monthly version that fits into my purse. On the weekly pages, I list each transaction. In the corner of that day, I put the total and then transfer it to the month page as well. I can add up my spending across the week and month on the monthly page.

I no longer break it into categories, but when I did, I would use markers to put a colored dot next to the transaction amount on the weekly pages. Red was for groceries, orange was for eating out, green was for car expenses, blue was for miscellaneous, brown was for dog expenses, purple was for health expenses, gray was for clothing, pin was for travel, etc. Then I could add across the weekly pages to get a category total for the month.

I also use the planner for regular day book stuff too. That way, I'm at least glancing at it daily. I put library book due dates, dr. appt dates/times, etc in there. Harder to forget to track when you are checking your schedule and seeing yesterday's spending.

Maybe you could bookmark this thread and have it be the first thing you check when you get on the computer (that, or your budget software). Also, keep it simple to start, as the easier it is to do, the more keeping track you are going to do. That means, not too many categories, if at all. I'm sure others will be able to give you some more advice too.
ETA. See, I was right. Where'sPiglet already gave you way better tips than me.

Thanks, both great advice. I'm using YNAB, which I really like, but I dream of having year end reports that I can see exactly how much I paid on haircuts, for ex, so I do have way too many categories. But the most important thing is to get more money in the savings, not have pretty spreadsheets, so maybe I need to get back to basics. I used to use cash, but my checking account pays 5% interest if I use my debit card 15 times each month, so that's what I've been using all the time. Of course, if I don't get the spending under control it's pointless, b/c 5% of nothing is...

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm aiming to stay within $500 for groceries, eating out, gas, and miscellaneous.

1: $2.00
2: $31.00
3: $21.12
4: $0!
5: $100.79
6: $13.14
7: $55.44
8: $0!
9: $6.77
10: $7.61
11: $2.00
12: $97.59
13: 45.85
14: $0!
15: $28.52
16: $46.81
17: $29.31
18: $98.38
19: $62.11
20: $31.39
21: $21.70
22: $0!
23: $0!
24: $0!
25: $0!
26: $1.25
27: $0!
28: $51.76
29: $41.95
30: $0!

$500-$499.97=$0.03
$0 Days: 9

The "Dark Orchid" section is when my friend came to visit. I had a separate, $300 budget set aside for the tourist activities.
$300.00-$296.57=$3.43

This month's budget was a little strange. It deviated slightly from prior months. Usually I do $400 for food and miscellaneous and an additional $75 for gas.

This month, however, I had started with that amount but had an additional $300 for the "staycation" (photos here) and $100 for the dentist and $100 for the car maintenance. Well, the dentist turned out to be $0 and the car maintenance $14.12. So I ended up just turning the $475 into $500 and including it all - including a $40 doctor copayment (I have not included health transactions in the past) and I STILL came in within budget!

Here's a few photos:
St. Louis Cathedral, French Quarter, New Orleans


Oak Alley Plantation


Big Branch National Wildlife Preserve


Metairie Cemetery

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

To my $0 Buy friends north of the border, since we usually don't post until the end of the day, I'll say it today....Happy Canada Day!

Where'sPiglet, I think it's easier to keep it under when I half live on my own, and half at DBF's place. A lot of my expenses came from food and just misc spending on stuff I don't really need but were ON SALE. Those signs are hard to resist...

Thanks to this thread, I haven't given in to them! I've also learned to make more food for dinner so I have leftovers for the next day (or two).

I was able to meet my first $0 quota this month! Hooray!

I wonder if I should get a milkshake tomorrow to celebrate....hmmmm.

Thanks! I was wondering what you were doing that was allowing you to keep your costs so low!

I see you got some sort of treat today! I got a snoball (flavored shaved ice) yesterday as a treat.

Congratulations on meeting your $0 goal!

Ending the month with another no buy day. I did pretty good this month and am dreading July a little as we have some extra expenses to take care of.

June 2011 Budget
Groceries/Household- $350/$59.56 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$0.13 left
Car/Gas- $70/$7.47 left
Eating Out- $50/$20.64 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/$48.31 Left

Total- $600/$92.19 left

Goal of 14 No Buy Days

19/14 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings- $97.48

I think you did very well this month! You came in $92 under budget AND had 19 $0 Days!

I find it interesting that your coupon savings was just over the amount that you came in under budget. I guess those coupons add up and make a big difference!

Expensive day, but worth it. I love my new tattoo! It even has a hidden Mickey. I will post a picture after it's healed a bit.

I can't wait to see the pictures! It sounds cute!

Thanks, both great advice. I'm using YNAB, which I really like, but I dream of having year end reports that I can see exactly how much I paid on haircuts, for ex, so I do have way too many categories. But the most important thing is to get more money in the savings, not have pretty spreadsheets, so maybe I need to get back to basics. I used to use cash, but my checking account pays 5% interest if I use my debit card 15 times each month, so that's what I've been using all the time. Of course, if I don't get the spending under control it's pointless, b/c 5% of nothing is...

You're welcome! I hope you find something that works well for you. That is true about the spreadsheets and remembering the whole point of why we are doing this. I also was aiming for perfect spreadsheets a few years ago. Trouble is, if I missed just one day out of 365, the perfectionist in me was ready to throw in the towel! It wouldn't be accurate!

At this point, I have a few months worth of "monthly budget overview" sheets from 2004 and 2005. It's interesting to compare then and now. Aside from that, I'm really not sure why I would go back and look at them. So now I just focus on keeping the spending in check.

 

[neatokimmo]

I spent $6 at work today on food. boo

Bring on July, I am ready to do better!

6-30 6.00
6-29 20.64
6-28 21.31 michaels (biz), 5.64 DG (biz)
6-27 20.45 (biz), 2.97 target (I forgot about another return)
6-26 zero
6-25 $77.35
6-24 $8.56
6-23 - zero ....finally
6-22 - $33.30 gas, $32.85 consignment, $3.56 mcDs, $22ish household stuff.
6-21 - 2.19 breakfast, coke 1.25 ribbon $430ish
6-20 $6.ish BK, $1.08 stickers, $35 in crafting stuff for my biz.
6-19 $75 coffee beans
6-18 $30ish lunch and groceries, $4.85 farmers market, $8.75 shoes for little one
6-17 zero
6-16 $6.50ish tacos
6-15 26.99 groceries and bath stuff
6-14 38.64 (food and gas)
6-13 $7.44 McDs
6-12 $1.10 DDs breakfast
6-11 $54.15 lunch & groceries & gas
6-10 $12.59 (pizza and diet coke)
6-9 zero
6-8 $16.53 cats & bath, $400 cruise
6-7 taco bell $2.19
6-6 $61 zumba, shoes, tea, leotard & phone
6-5 zero
6-4 $93.54 (bug killer, pool, sprinkler, flowers, lunch & groceries)
6-3 $1.10 for tea
6-2 $105 for heat pump repair
6-1 $35.33 + 5.57 (car repair and mcDs)

 

[WAMUMOF4]

The "Dark Orchid" section is when my friend came to visit. I had a separate, $300 budget set aside for the tourist activities.
$300.00-$296.57=$3.43

This month's budget was a little strange. It deviated slightly from prior months. Usually I do $400 for food and miscellaneous and an additional $75 for gas.

This month, however, I had started with that amount but had an additional $300 for the "staycation" (photos here) and $100 for the dentist and $100 for the car maintenance. Well, the dentist turned out to be $0 and the car maintenance $14.12. So I ended up just turning the $475 into $500 and including it all - including a $40 doctor copayment (I have not included health transactions in the past) and I STILL came in within budget!

Here's a few photos:
St. Louis Cathedral, French Quarter, New Orleans


Oak Alley Plantation


Big Branch National Wildlife Preserve


Metairie Cemetery

I love those photos. We have 1 day in New Orleans can you please tell me the must sees?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I love those photos. We have 1 day in New Orleans can you please tell me the must sees?

Thanks!

What kinds of things are you interested in? One day is not a lot of time! My friend was here for 7 days and there were many things we didn't do - and let me tell you, we did a TON!

You're coming here at the end of August, right? You probably know this, but it will still be hot and humid, so make sure you have water with you, just like WDW in the summer. Also, that time of year is peak hurricane season, so keep an eye on the tropics while you're along the southeast Atlantic Coast and anywhere along the Gulf Coast.

I'd say for sure you have to do Cafe du Monde for beignets and cafe au lait! (You can get it iced or you can get chocolate milk if it's too hot for coffee!)


From Cafe du Monde, you can walk up over and take a quick look at the Mississippi River. You can also go to Jackson Square and take a picture of the cathedral (where I took that picture from). You can walk around the French Quarter for a little bit and maybe eat lunch at Acme Oyster House. It's easier to get in at lunch time than dinner time in my experience, and it's the same menu. The chargrilled oysters and the gumbo are good. I also like the roast beef po boy.

With the heat, you'll probably want to get a snoball! The ice is shaved finer than a typical snocone, and at many stands you can get them "stuffed" (with vanilla ice cream inside) or with condensed milk drizzled on top. Most snoball stands also have an insane amount of flavors available; I'd estimate mine has 50. They have unique flavors too; I've gotten King Cake flavor and Wedding Cake flavor and my friend likes Dreamsicle with condensed milk.

You could ride the St. Charles streetcar from Canal Street down into the Garden District to see the live oak trees and the beautiful houses that line St. Charles. Look in the trees for leftover Mardi Gras beads still stuck in the branches. (It's $1.25 per person each direction - have the exact amount; it does take $1 bills.)

You could go and drive or walk around Metairie Cemetery. It's kind of a unique activity.

There are some nature walks in the area that you can see some wetlands and possibly some wildlife. We were hoping to see alligators on our nature walks but they were all being elusive that day. We did see a couple of snakes swimming around.

 

[Virgderon]

Pretty good month considering that I had the wedding shopping and daughter visiting. July is a another challenge with the wedding shower, and August with the wedding. I need to modify my budget again- lucklily I have been working OT and have the money for all of this!

I spent $249 on eating out in June, which is terrible, but not normal for us. I'm driving to Chicago for the wedding shower so I know there will be more eating out , but I have to watch it for the rest of the month.

Running Total: Spent $862
$1100 budget... $238 left
$0 Days: 8
Goal is 8 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 104

Groceries budget- $350-54-1-63-37= 195 left
Wedding dress budget $1100 -105-17-22-169-615= 172 left
Disney weekend budget $550 -150-117-108= 175 left

June 1: 33 ( 20 post office, 13 gas)
June 2: 54 ( groceries)
June 3: 0
June 4: 20 ( 13 lunch, 7 Target)
June 5 : 24 ( 20 shorts, 4 hot pretzel & drink)
June 6 : 0
June 7 : 22 ( 19 gas 3 post office)
June 8 : 28 ( 23 Walgreens, 4 Chick - Fil-A, 1 Publix)
June 9 : 0
June 10: 89 (18 tp & other supplies, 71 hotel room on Hotwire for my other DD who is driving to Tampa)
June 11: 93 ( 8 fathers day stuff, 6 wendys cause I was starving after getting my hair done, 63 hair color/ tip, 11 gas station, 5 water at indoor football game)
June 12 : 63 ( groceries)
June 13: 77 ( 25 fathers day, 12 Old Navy for DD, (used 20 groupon), 40 Changs for celebratory dinner)
June 14 : 0
June 15 : 33 ( dinner out)
June 16: 0
June 17: 24 ( gas)
June 18: -
June 19: - ( Disney weekend)
June 20: 0
June 21 : 23 ( 11 Old Navy, 12 frozen yogurt )
June 22: 37 ( groceries)
June 23: 25 ( pedicure)
June 24 : 39 ( gas and a couple items at the gas station)
June 25: 37 ( 28 eating out , 9 Walgreens)
June 26: 0
June 27: 31 ( 16 gas, 8 jeans at resale shop, 7 ice cream)
June 28: 33 ( chinese food)
June 29 : 0
June 30: 77 ( 25 dinner, 20 movie, 32 Old Navy)

 

[hardingk]

Is there a July thread?

 

[ronnmel]

Lovely pictures Where'sPiglet!

 

[lillygator]

great job to those who stayed within budget!!

I blew it, but have a renewed attitude going in to July! I only have July and August really before this baby gets here so I need to budget and plan plan plan!!!

Here's to July everyone!

 

[neatokimmo]

Someone more worthy than me start up july. I actually have goals this time

 

[Debbie]

Just catching up. It's soooo easy to fall behind.

It's going to take some figuring out for me.

Debbie, are you coming to the Mary Poppins DIS meet?

No, I didn't know anything about it. Too bad. Maybe next time.

I have no idea what she hopes to get out of it. She is very vindictive and no one will ever say anything to her because she scares everyone. I watched her fire people for the stupidest reasons.
I did call the HR department but I get the run around with them. They even denied I ever worked there to a potential employee because they were told too by my ex-boss. The company is all sorts of messed up. I have friends who still work there and are trying to find someone I can trust there to call for future inquiries, I have also called the department of labor and they are investigating the issue as i am not the only one who has complained recently.

Glad that you are on top of things, but it's that you even have to go through this.

I don't even know what my original goal was for no-buy days, but I may have had two this entire month. They were both on days I didn't leave the house.

That's why I like holidays.

Had some confusion about schedules today, and ended up getting Chinese take out. We eat the Chinese food for 3 days, so it turns out to be the best carry- out option.

Now, I'm planning on Chinese this month for DH....just because he likes it.

Looking forward to rejoining in July.

home

I won't make my no-buy days goal. I thought I had 2 days left to make it, but I forgot that today was the teachers' end-of-year lunch, and tomorrow I'm getting my newest tattoo. In hindsight, I shouldn't have gotten that ice cream yesterday. Oh well, it was hot and I was hungry.

Nah, I don't think I'll plan the no buy days in July. With both DH and me at home, I don't imagine that there will be many

If there is anybody who doesn't "bleed money" when the kids come to visit, I don't know them.
You are WAY under budget for the Disney weekend and groceries. Good for you!

My time late July, I think, when DD comes home.

Expensive day, but worth it. I love my new tattoo! It even has a hidden Mickey. I will post a picture after it's healed a bit.

Looking forward to the pics!

This month, however, I had started with that amount but had an additional $300 for the "staycation" (photos here) and $100 for the dentist and $100 for the car maintenance. Well, the dentist turned out to be $0 and the car maintenance $14.12. So I ended up just turning the $475 into $500 and including it all - including a $40 doctor copayment (I have not included health transactions in the past) and I STILL came in within budget!

Here's a few photos:
St. Louis Cathedral, French Quarter, New Orleans


Oak Alley Plantation


Big Branch National Wildlife Preserve


Metairie Cemetery

WELL DONE!!! (and your pictures are great!)

To my $0 Buy friends north of the border, since we usually don't post until the end of the day, I'll say it today....Happy Canada Day!
At this point, I have a few months worth of "monthly budget overview" sheets from 2004 and 2005. It's interesting to compare then and now. Aside from that, I'm really not sure why I would go back and look at them. So now I just focus on keeping the spending in check.

Thanks for the Canada wishes. Our beach communities are buzzing...Canada Day today, Independence Day on Monday, and awesome weather! (cha-ching for them ) Keeping spending in check. That's the goal for me, too. (not been good this week!)