I'm in for May! I had a great month of April as far as "random" spending is concerned.... but I can't promise as much for May!
DD will be moving into her summer apartment at the end of the month and will need some supplies (although we are sticking to the absolute necessities, since she will be back in a dorm in September), plus she and I are heading away for a short Mother/Daughter road trip (which will definitely be a BUDGET trip, but there is inevitably some spending involved). It is also Mother's Day and the gift I have been planning since before Christmas isn't going to happen (I ordered a special piece of homemade jewelry from an online site and the woman has totally lost contact me with), so I need to rethink that.
That being said, I don't currently have any big "needs" for the house or for myself, so I should be able to keep the frivolous spending down to a minimum.
Like in April, I'm not counting groceries or gas or normal bills....... just "extra" spending (a coffee here, a soda there, a quick stop at the thrift store, the Target clearance that always seems to call my name... etc). and dinner out if it isn't really planned in advance.
I managed to save EVERY SINGLE ONE of my April paychecks and will be cashing them all together and putting the money into the appropriate savings spot (divided between tuition for DD, future college savings for DS, emergency fund, vacation fund, and Mother/Child trips). Plus we got our tax refund recently, so that will get skimmed off and added to emergency savings.
Plus I spent an INSANE amount on groceries in April and hope to trim that by at least 1/3 in May, so I will be doing SOME tracking of grocery money spent, but grocery shopping days can still count for no-buy days, as long as I ONLY buy groceries.
I will aim for 15 no-buy days for May!
May 1: Work and the robotics meeting.... no money spent.
May 2: Work and then an evening with my men... anticipating no money spent.
May 3: Yard sales in the morning.... spent a total of $27.75 on mostly necessities.... flatware, Corning Ware individual casseroles, Pyrex baking dish, canning jars, all for DD's summer apartment. $15 on a large wooden clothes drying rack.... I've been SEARCHING for one and the I managed to get it for half of the asking price. Also picked up a large box of the old-fashioned canning jars with the wire bails. I plan to sell about half and make back more than what I paid for the whole box. I also use them around the house. Also a few other odds and ends like a few lingerie bags for the laundry and a Disney mug that I will probably resell.
Also made two grocery stops while I was out. I didn't have many coupons, but hit some good deals on the produce mark-down rack and have a large batch of green beans blanched and in the freezer for another day for just .49/lb. Also hit it big on marked-down bananas (I freeze them for DS's morning smoothies) at .19/lb (not organic though...
) and bought about 50 bananas. Also found some boneless pork for $2.01/lb that was enough for two dinners. Also found Special K that was 2/$6 plus there was a coupon for buy two get one free.... so I bought three boxes for DD this summer. I don't eat cereal, but DD likes it for a quick meal or snack. Those three boxes will be enough for the entire summer probably.
May 4: Home for the day, nothing spent.
May 5: Working at school today, nothing spent.
May 6: Worked both jobs, no time to spend anything!
May 7: Worked at school, nothing spent.
May 8: Worked at school, nothing spent.
May 9: Working again, no spending anticipated.... but DH will need to pick up his car from the repair shop and I am dreading that bill!
May 10: Bought a Father's Day gift for DH from an online yard sale.... spent $40. DH also bought groceries and plants for Mother's Day ($40 for the plants).
May 11: Happy Mother's Day! I brought a handmade card and the plant, along with a homemade brunch to my Mom's house and a fruit salad and the plant to DMIL's (she made lunch). We visited DD on campus at the end of the day and had (free) dinner in the dining hall. But I did splurge on a $1 iced coffee from McDonalds and allowed DS the treat of a small soda, so $2 plus tax spent there.
May 12: Working at school, no spending anticipated.
May 13: Just working my evening job today. No spending other than a half a tank of gas, so a no-buy day as far as I am concerned.
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