MAY we interest you in a month of No Buy???

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $1244.83
$0 Days:14/14

Groceries ($186-$6/day)- $215.78
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $207.39
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($713-$23/day) 1st Month Tuition for preschool $506
Gas $300- $42.07 (5/3-$4.44/gal), $7.07 (5/8-$4.59/gal), $68.58 (5/10-$4.33/gal), $42.84 (5/12-$4.39/gal), $40 (5/19-$4.25/gal), $72 (5/22-$4.13/gal), $40.10 (5/27-$4.08/gal)= $315.66

1- $22.82 (Walgreens-Groceries), $15.03 (Dominick's-Groceries), (Meijer-Groceries), $8.18 (Meijer- Groceries), $100 (Fry's Electronics-Hubby's Birthday)
2- $0
3- $0
4- $2.03 (Meijer-Groceries), $10.96 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.82 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries), $.57 (Wal-Mart-Groceries)
5- $0
6- $0
7- $4.10 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries), $2.37 (Walgreens-Groceries), $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $30 (Lou Malnati's-Eating Out), $10 (McDonald's-Eating Out)
8- $8 (Parking), $1 (Puppetbikeshow-tip), $19 (Superdawg-Eating Out), $5 (Starbucks-1/2 price fraps-Eating Out), $318 (Broadway in Chicago Tickets- this is for 12 tickets (6 shows x2)...we will probably be selling our tickets to see the Osmond's too, so we will make some of this back)
9- $0
10- $6.15 (Wendy's-Eating Out), $5.46 (Target-Groceries), $14.29 (Jewel-Groceries)
11- $0
12- $0
13- $7.95 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $6.32 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries)
14- $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $18 (parking), $25 (Eating Out) $9 (Toys), $13 (Dessert)
15- $0
16- $26.79 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
17- $0
18- $8.37 (Wendy's-Eating Out), $4.80 (Meijer-Groceries), $1.03 (Jewel-Groceries)
19- $18 (McDonalds/Burger King-Eating Out), $4.33 (Meijer-Groceries)
20- $0
21- $0
22- $2 (Dollar Tree), $3.11 (Walgreens-Groceries), $9.56 (McDonalds-Eating Out), $27 (TeddyFabz-Eating Out), $6.75 (Jewel-Groceries), $7 (DQ-Orange Julius-Eating Out)
23- $33 (Buyzooka-4 pack to Santa's Village), $8 (2 AMC movie tickets, Pooh and Cars are coming out), $1 (Lady Gaga's new CD and Cloud service), $13.20 (Joe Caputo-Groceries), $5.76 (Trader Joe's- Groceries)
24- $4 (Admission for Kid's Play Place), $13.31 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.53 (Meijer-Groceries), $8.73 (Wendy's-Eating Out)
25- $0
26- $0
27- $15.07 (Walgreens-Groceries)
28- $6 (Donuts), $20.10 (Jewel-Groceries), $2.05 (Dominick's-Groceries), $6.63 (Subway-Eating Out)
29- $0


Budget: $1416....88%
Month: 29/31: 94%
No Buy: 14/14: 100%

My savings from coupons and sales: $1041.33

August: $300 Hotel Room for Cedar Point
October: ~$250 Rental Car

 

[Debbie]

I had posted a picture a while ago, in this post:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41110004&postcount=156

But you can find much more pictures in these posts of my PTR:
Getting Ready
Ceremony (part 1)
Ceremony (part 2)

Maybe you guys could answer the question I asked at the end of my last update:

What were we (the newlyweds) doing 2 hours after the wedding ceremony?

Thanks for the links to the wedding pics. I've never seen the 'sand ceremony'. Cool. My guess. Two hours after the wedding, y'all were swimming. (or kissing )

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I have been doing the $400 for the month as a whole ($475 including gas), and I'm going to try something different this month just to see how it works. I'm going to try a limit of $40 for each 3 day period. $400/30 days is the same amount as $40/3 days over the month, but mentally it's a very different approach. I only have $40 to spend, but I only have to make it last 3 days! I have no idea if this will work or not, but it's worth a try.

I'm tracking groceries, eating out, and miscellaneous only in this top part.

CASH: ($400)

1: $0!

2: $0!
3: $23.50 Winn-Dixie
4: $0!
Subtotal: $23.50
$40-$23.50= $16.50 left

5: $11.27 McDonald's
6: $0!
7: $0!
Subtotal: $11.27
$40-$11.27= $28.73 left

8: $84.45 Walgreens, Starbucks, McDonald's, Rouses
9: $0!
10: $0!
Subtotal: 84.45
$40-$40=$0 left
$45.23-$44.45=$0.78 overage left

11: $5.81 McDonald's
12: $7.75 snowballs & misc
13: $0!
Subtotal: $13.56
$40-$13.56=$26.44 left

14: $0!
15: $0!
16: $40.58 Rouses
$40-$40=$0 left
$27.22-$0.58=$26.64 overage left

17: $6.00 Coke & parking
18: $1.00 school charity thing
19: $1.00 Coke
$40-$8.00=$32.00 left

20: $1.00 Coke
21: $0!
22: $82.95 Walgreens, Popeyes, Rouses, Winn-Dixie
Subtotal: $83.95
$40-$40.00=$0
$58.64 overage left-$43.95=$14.69 overage left

23: $40.96
24: $4.90
25: $0!
Subtotal: $45.86
$40-$40=$0
$14.69-$5.86=$8.83 overage left

26: $0!
27: $0!
28: $23.88 Walgreens, Chick-Fil-A, Cafe du Monde
$40-$23.88=$16.12 left
$8.83-$0=$8.83 overage left

29: $0!
30:
31:
$40-$0=$40
$24.95 overage left

CASH $0 Days: 15

GAS: ($75)

2 - $21.00 ($3.68/gallon)
8 - $13.75 ($3.59/gallon)
16 - $18.06 ($3.58/gallon)
27 - $22.72 ($3.45/gallon)

Gas Subtotal: $75.53
Cash Subtotal: $335.05

TOTAL: $410.58

 

[charming23]

Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day today.

Mom and I ended up going out to Old Navy since they were having a huge sale but they had nothing that caught our eye. So we went to Target instead and I got a new belt, which I desperately needed and a few Misc. items, plus some more cat food as it was on sale and had a coupon. We also drove thru McDonald's where I got a free Frozen Strawberry Lemonade and mom got an Iced tea and ice cream cone.

June 2011 Budget
Groceries/Household- $300/$263.07 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$18.45 left
Car/Gas- $70/$40.22 left
Eating Out- $50/$48.50 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/$81.45 Left

Total- $550/$475.53 left

Goal of 14 No Buy Days

Week One
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
6/1
6/2
6/3
6/4

0/14 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings- $32.42

 

[wlake]

5/1: $110 for DS6's birthday party (so worth it!)
5/2:
5/3:
5/4: $30 dinner out
5/5: $15 jacket for DS (I just realized how small the one he's wearing is. I can't believe I let him out of the house in it.), $50 water shoes for DS and pants for me, $30 for field trips
5/6:
5/7: $84 Target, ? potting soil, ? lunch out, and ??? (the other three went out to buy a Mother's Day gift, so I wasn't with them! Guess I'll find out tomorrow! )
5/8: $18 Target (a case for my Mother's Day iPhone!!), ? groceries
5/9:
5/10: $35 dinner out
5/11:
5/12: $12 ice cream out to celebrate DS8's concert
5/13:
5/14: $40 pharmacy, $I-already-forgot Target, $85 BJ's, $95 hair cut and color, $31 things for school, $60 gas
5/15: ? groceries
5/16: $26 prescriptions at pharmacy #1; $18 prescription at pharmacy #2, $12 OTC eyedrops at pharmacy #3. $5 dinner out because I couldn't stand the thought of cooking! (We had a GC and coupons for free kids' meals.)
5/17:
5/18:
5/19: $12 ice cream out to celebrate the boys' art show
5/20:
5/21: $10 baseball socks, $10 party goods, $85 for ONE contact lens!, $3 fabric, $52 gas, $16 lunch, $20 birthday gifts for DS8, $24 Target, $30 BJ's, $4 laundry soap (*whispering* and I might order myself an iPad tonight to replace my work computer which I have to turn in next month. First I have to get over the extravagance of it.)
5/22: $44 garden store, $70 groceries
5/23: take out, $783 Apple store
5/24: $20 ice cream cake for DS
5/25:
5/26: $11 party supplies
5/27:
5/28: $60 gas, $30 plants, $70 party supplies (for work), $20 clothes for the boys, $8 Pepperidge Farm outlet, ? boys' haircuts, ? BJ's and ? Lowe's (DH was in charge of those while I had a plant shopping afternoon with a friend)
5/29: $50 shorts and pjs for DS9 (NOTHING from last summer fit when we tried on shorts and pjs today!! ) and ? groceries as I forgot to buy lettuce and tomatoes for tonight's cookout and DH is at the store right now (how on earth did I forget those?!?)
5/30: groceries (DH is going later as I am stuck inside grading. Yuck.)

no buy days: 11/10
longest no buy streak: 3 days
dinners out: 4/5
days since our last dinner out: 7
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[WAMUMOF4]

Well, for the first time in a really long time I am over budget, but I have a good excuse.

We went to the Premium Outlets yesterday, and I went into the Saks Fifth Avenue outlet. I found the perfect Mother of the Bride dress. It was orginally $510, marked down to $189, with another 20% off. I put it on and DH, who doesnt care much about clothes, was floored. I'll post a picture after the wedding, but it's fabulous and hides all the little things I want to hide. He loved it and so did I. So, I am over for the month.

Congratulations on purchasing your dress and getting such a good deal it must be a relief to have found something you love for such a good price


Well you can see i didn't get my goal of getting our flights paid of but when i add in all our excess expenses at least i can see where the money went and if we had not paid the car hire it would of been done but so be ti we still have 60 days to go. Thanks for your support i love this thread!

grocery's- $500(-$1085.07)
Fuel/gas - $800(-$686.20)
football fees -$200(-$260)
Tyres -$220(-$198)
flights $5500 left(-$3000)
happy to get as much of as possible but would love them to be paid. Miscalculated how much we had paid so had to add $500

The kids and i are on a lets see if we can spend $100 a week on grocery's our normal bill would be between $200-$250+

May 1 $0
May2 $148
May 3 $60
May 4 $0
MAY 5 $1126.43
May 6 $228
May 7 $0
May 8 $0
May 9 $0
May 10 $147.36
May 11 $0
May 12 $134.10
May 13 $500.00 ($500 over to car hire instead of flights)
May 14 $255.52 (got 2 DS shirts when paid fees so added it on to fees)
May 15 $86.24
May 16 $23.32
May 17 $27.79
May 18 $59.63
May 19 $1597.00 (paid $1500 of car hire instead of flights)
May 20 $578.00
May 21 $220.77
May 22 $0
May 23 $0
May 24 $22.41 ($16.99 on hayfever medication unbudgeted for)
May 25 $0
May 26 $452.75($298.75 grocery's! DH speeding fine$75 )
May 27 $1000 off flight thanks to refund from DW $48.98 took DH shopping
May 28 $176.60
May 29 $0
May 30 $ 500 flights $230 phone bill $24 grocery
May 31 $0
$0 = 11/12 I am surprised we have made so many
Still feeling a bit disappointed that i wont meet our flights paid of goal!

This week is a real blow out week for us unbudgeted speeding fine $75 GAS for hot water etc $225 Hayfever/Vitamins $81.94 Internet they are saying we went 2 gig over our allocation which was not possible as we had a prepaid one we needed to use first and we were away for 6 days of the bill $71.52= $453.36 meant for flight plus our blowout in grocery's

charming23 sending you lots of pixie dust hope you get the job!

 

[disneysnowflake]

I pretty much tanked for May.

I'm ready for June though.

I've got to save because I just set my budget for my Oct 2012 vacation and have it marked down how much to save by our bi-weekly paychecks. Everyone says it's way too soon to plan for a vacation that's in Oct 12, but we've got to come up with the money for it somehow, right?

 

[Virgderon]

Thanks WAMUM. We love having you!

Another lovely day. We woke up early and went to Busch Gardens to ride the new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. This would be excellent coaster for a 10 year old who wants to ride their first "big" coaster. It is fun, fast and exciting without being downright terrifying. We waited 50 minutes, and when we were done the line was up to 3 hours!!!

I can't even tell you how grateful I am to live near Busch Gardens, Universal and the Mouse. I will never take for granted how wonderful it is to go check out new rides and attractions without having to save for months or years to do it. I've had some financial setbacks in my life, but my cup is always half full here in sunny Florida.

Running Total: Spent $1058
$948 budget... $110 over
$0 Days: 9
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 71

Groceries budget- $250 -18-28-39-78-26-24-13= 24 left

May 1 : 76 (Mothers day gift , card & misc.)
May 2 : 0
May 3 : 18 ( groceries, misc)
May 4: 0
May 5: 0
May 6 : 28
May 7: 37 ( garage sale finds)
May 8: 55 ( movie, groceries)
May 9: 8 (Walgreens)
May 10: 0
May 11: 0
May 12 : 29 ( red robin dinner, magazine)
May 13: 21 ( Wendys and food at the game)
May 14 : 54 (21 lunch, 21 bathing suit, 12 soap)
May 15: 124 (20 gas, 26 spa, 78 groceries)
May 16: 0
May 17: 26 ( frozen pizza. pop and a couple misc things)
May 18: 0
May 19: 0
May 20 : 43 (19 Walgreens, 24 Cracker Barrell)
May 21 : 40 (20 parking at hockey game, 20 food at hockey game)
May 22 : 89 (15 tip, 24 groceries, 50 bd gift)
May 23: 0
May 24; 74 ( 20 Walgreens, 54 Allure box)
May 25 : 8 ( lunch and snacks at work)
May 26: 46 (37 gas station, 9 groceries)
May 27: 20 (8 food at mall, 12 Old navy)
May 28: 210 ( 19 lunch out, 13 pop at gas station, 162 MOB dress, 16 shipping at post office)
May 29 46 (18 lunch at zoo, 28 chinese food - we will eat it for 2 or 3 days, so not too bad)
May 30 : 24 ( 11 lunch , 3 pop at Busch Gardens, 6 donuts & coffee on the way to Busch Gardens, 4 food for the Wallabies)

 

[ronnmel]

Will I meet my no-buy goal? I'm so close!

No Buy Days : 8/9
Gas : 61$ (max 120$)
Car : 520$ (oil change + oil leak)
Groceries : 161$ (max 200$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 106$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 190$ (max 200$)

05/08 : 44$ (dinner + flowers)
05/09 : 5$ (parking)
05/10 : 0$
05/11 : 78$
05/12 : 172$ (oil change & other small fixes, books)
05/13 : 150$ (fixing oil leak)
05/14 : 0$
05/15 : 38$ (groceries)
05/16 : 0$
05/17 : 17$ (dinner)
05/18 : 0$
05/19 : 77$ (donation + fixing oil leak, again)
05/20 : 22$ (lunch + dinner)
05/21 : 0$
05/22 : 64$ (books, movie, DeSerres)
05/23 : 0$
05/24 : 20$ (thank you cards)
05/25 : 71$ (dinner + gas)
05/26 : 151$ (car repairs + bus)
05/27 : 0$
05/28 : 73$ (groceries)
05/29 : 56$ (gas + groceries)
05/30 : 0$

Thanks for the links to the wedding pics. I've never seen the 'sand ceremony'. Cool. My guess. Two hours after the wedding, y'all were swimming. (or kissing )

The sand ceremony is fun, a nice way to include kids, and looks so pretty. We had to buy more sand and redo it here though as the sand kinda mixed during the ride home.

You'll have to check the next update to find out if you are right. I'll let you know when I post it.

Another lovely day. We woke up early and went to Busch Gardens to ride the new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. This would be excellent coaster for a 10 year old who wants to ride their first "big" coaster. It is fun, fast and exciting without being downright terrifying. We waited 50 minutes, and when we were done the line was up to 3 hours!!!

I can't even tell you how grateful I am to live near Busch Gardens, Universal and the Mouse. I will never take for granted how wonderful it is to go check out new rides and attractions without having to save for months or years to do it. I've had some financial setbacks in my life, but my cup is always half full here in sunny Florida.

Oh how I would love to live so close to the theme parks, not to mention the Florida sun and warmth as opposed to the cold and wet weather here. DH and I like to dream about retiring there, but I'm not sure if that dream will ever come true.

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $1286.82
$0 Days:14/14

Groceries ($186-$6/day)- $227.27
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $228.89
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($713-$23/day) 1st Month Tuition for preschool $515
Gas $300- $42.07 (5/3-$4.44/gal), $7.07 (5/8-$4.59/gal), $68.58 (5/10-$4.33/gal), $42.84 (5/12-$4.39/gal), $40 (5/19-$4.25/gal), $72 (5/22-$4.13/gal), $40.10 (5/27-$4.08/gal)= $315.66

1- $22.82 (Walgreens-Groceries), $15.03 (Dominick's-Groceries), (Meijer-Groceries), $8.18 (Meijer- Groceries), $100 (Fry's Electronics-Hubby's Birthday)
2- $0
3- $0
4- $2.03 (Meijer-Groceries), $10.96 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.82 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries), $.57 (Wal-Mart-Groceries)
5- $0
6- $0
7- $4.10 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries), $2.37 (Walgreens-Groceries), $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $30 (Lou Malnati's-Eating Out), $10 (McDonald's-Eating Out)
8- $8 (Parking), $1 (Puppetbikeshow-tip), $19 (Superdawg-Eating Out), $5 (Starbucks-1/2 price fraps-Eating Out), $318 (Broadway in Chicago Tickets- this is for 12 tickets (6 shows x2)...we will probably be selling our tickets to see the Osmond's too, so we will make some of this back)
9- $0
10- $6.15 (Wendy's-Eating Out), $5.46 (Target-Groceries), $14.29 (Jewel-Groceries)
11- $0
12- $0
13- $7.95 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $6.32 (Jewel-Osco-Groceries)
14- $2 (Dollar Tree-Papers), $18 (parking), $25 (Eating Out) $9 (Toys), $13 (Dessert)
15- $0
16- $26.79 (Joe Caputo-Groceries)
17- $0
18- $8.37 (Wendy's-Eating Out), $4.80 (Meijer-Groceries), $1.03 (Jewel-Groceries)
19- $18 (McDonalds/Burger King-Eating Out), $4.33 (Meijer-Groceries)
20- $0
21- $0
22- $2 (Dollar Tree), $3.11 (Walgreens-Groceries), $9.56 (McDonalds-Eating Out), $27 (TeddyFabz-Eating Out), $6.75 (Jewel-Groceries), $7 (DQ-Orange Julius-Eating Out)
23- $33 (Buyzooka-4 pack to Santa's Village), $8 (2 AMC movie tickets, Pooh and Cars are coming out), $1 (Lady Gaga's new CD and Cloud service), $13.20 (Joe Caputo-Groceries), $5.76 (Trader Joe's- Groceries)
24- $4 (Admission for Kid's Play Place), $13.31 (Walgreens-Groceries), $3.53 (Meijer-Groceries), $8.73 (Wendy's-Eating Out)
25- $0
26- $0
27- $15.07 (Walgreens-Groceries)
28- $6 (Donuts), $20.10 (Jewel-Groceries), $2.05 (Dominick's-Groceries), $6.63 (Subway-Eating Out)
29- $0
30- $9 (Tube Rental-It is Waterpark season again!), $21.50 (McDonald's-Eating Out), $11.49 (Walgreens- Groceries)


Budget: $1416....91%
Month: 30/31: 97%
No Buy: 14/14: 100%

My savings from coupons and sales: $1083.48

August: $300 Hotel Room for Cedar Point
October: ~$250 Rental Car

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

It was in the bank this morning i lost $100 in the conversion but who cares i got to pay $1000 of the flight today
I know they seem really dear but we truly got a really good deal

I missed this earlier....paying off $1000 is a big deal!

We have been spoiled with low plane prices the last several years. I usually pay less than $300 for round trip flights; and most of the time it's between $200-$250.

Now I need to remember what I did in the past three days... Oh yeah, I got my car fixed for the third time for the same problem. Should be fixed permanently now... One can just hope... It cost me over 500$ this month to get my oil change and fix this darn oil leak!!! The one good thing about that is that between my wedding trip and my car being broken down, I've only had to fill up on gas once this month!!

I can't believe how much work you've had to do on your car this month! I hope the third time was the charm!

Thanks for all the finger crossing. I have not heard anything yet but do not expect to until sometime over the weekend.

I hope you get good news this week!

I am going to give the no-buy month a try. I am new at this but I need to start saving my money. I had to cancel my 40th Birthday trip in July due to a transmission problem with my car. This broke my heart and I have spent a large amount of time thinking about all of the things that I have blown money on over the past year! If I had of prioritized my spending/saving I would have been able to repair the car and still take my trip. I look forward to learning from you all and drawing inspiration from your successes!

Welcome!

Just some (unsolicited!) advice for you and any other newbies who may be lurking....don't set your first month's goal too ambitious. It's harder than it looks, and we hate to see people burn-out and give up!

A good first goal might not even be to set budget boundaries or $0 goals, but rather to focus solely on the habit of tracking. Once you get an idea of where your money is going (it's eye-opening in many cases!), then the 2nd month you can set realistic goals to work towards.

Well, for the first time in a really long time I am over budget, but I have a good excuse.

We went to the Premium Outlets yesterday, and I went into the Saks Fifth Avenue outlet. I found the perfect Mother of the Bride dress. It was orginally $510, marked down to $189, with another 20% off. I put it on and DH, who doesnt care much about clothes, was floored. I'll post a picture after the wedding, but it's fabulous and hides all the little things I want to hide. He loved it and so did I. So, I am over for the month.

That is a great excuse! Congratulations!

Hooray for you! At least for me, part of the reason to discipline spending is so there is money available for this kind of purchase. And, while it does not appear in your May budget, you knew you were going to spend something on this sometime. Sounds like you got a GREAT buy. Enjoy (and, post a picture later).

I agree....that is a large part of why I do this.

A few years ago I was at Disneyland with my mom. I was buying a snow globe, something I wanted but it was probably $25 or so, and quite frivolous. She commented that she thought I was very frugal. I told her I saved money when I could, so that I would have the money to buy what I wanted on vacation. I told her I had set aside $200 for souvenirs and this is what I wanted to spend part of the money on - GUILT FREE!

I had posted a picture a while ago, in this post:
http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=41110004&postcount=156

But you can find much more pictures in these posts of my PTR:
Getting Ready
Ceremony (part 1)
Ceremony (part 2)

Maybe you guys could answer the question I asked at the end of my last update:

What were we (the newlyweds) doing 2 hours after the wedding ceremony?

I'll have to check out your report later!

I wonder if you mentioned what was going to happen after your ceremony upthread somewhere when you were mentioning your plans. Maybe you were snorkeling with dolphins or something amazingly cool!

Well you can see i didn't get my goal of getting our flights paid of but when i add in all our excess expenses at least i can see where the money went and if we had not paid the car hire it would of been done but so be ti we still have 60 days to go. Thanks for your support i love this thread!

I pretty much tanked for May.

I'm ready for June though.

I've got to save because I just set my budget for my Oct 2012 vacation and have it marked down how much to save by our bi-weekly paychecks. Everyone says it's way too soon to plan for a vacation that's in Oct 12, but we've got to come up with the money for it somehow, right?

Bummer on the May budget....I think we all have months like that sometimes.

Ehhh, I'm starting to plan for 2013.

Another lovely day. We woke up early and went to Busch Gardens to ride the new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster. This would be excellent coaster for a 10 year old who wants to ride their first "big" coaster. It is fun, fast and exciting without being downright terrifying. We waited 50 minutes, and when we were done the line was up to 3 hours!!!

I can't even tell you how grateful I am to live near Busch Gardens, Universal and the Mouse. I will never take for granted how wonderful it is to go check out new rides and attractions without having to save for months or years to do it. I've had some financial setbacks in my life, but my cup is always half full here in sunny Florida.

Sometimes I wish I lived closer to the Mouse, despite this being the closest I've ever lived to WDW. I chose not to move to Florida when I had the chance because WDW is where I go to escape. I didn't want to dilute the experience!

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I have been doing the $400 for the month as a whole ($475 including gas), and I'm going to try something different this month just to see how it works. I'm going to try a limit of $40 for each 3 day period. $400/30 days is the same amount as $40/3 days over the month, but mentally it's a very different approach. I only have $40 to spend, but I only have to make it last 3 days! I have no idea if this will work or not, but it's worth a try.

I'm tracking groceries, eating out, and miscellaneous only in this top part.

CASH: ($400)

1: $0!

2: $0!
3: $23.50 Winn-Dixie
4: $0!
Subtotal: $23.50
$40-$23.50= $16.50 left

5: $11.27 McDonald's
6: $0!
7: $0!
Subtotal: $11.27
$40-$11.27= $28.73 left

8: $84.45 Walgreens, Starbucks, McDonald's, Rouses
9: $0!
10: $0!
Subtotal: 84.45
$40-$40=$0 left
$45.23-$44.45=$0.78 overage left

11: $5.81 McDonald's
12: $7.75 snowballs & misc
13: $0!
Subtotal: $13.56
$40-$13.56=$26.44 left

14: $0!
15: $0!
16: $40.58 Rouses
$40-$40=$0 left
$27.22-$0.58=$26.64 overage left

17: $6.00 Coke & parking
18: $1.00 school charity thing
19: $1.00 Coke
$40-$8.00=$32.00 left

20: $1.00 Coke
21: $0!
22: $82.95 Walgreens, Popeyes, Rouses, Winn-Dixie
Subtotal: $83.95
$40-$40.00=$0
$58.64 overage left-$43.95=$14.69 overage left

23: $40.96
24: $4.90
25: $0!
Subtotal: $45.86
$40-$40=$0
$14.69-$5.86=$8.83 overage left

26: $0!
27: $0!
28: $23.88 Walgreens, Chick-Fil-A, Cafe du Monde
$40-$23.88=$16.12 left
$8.83-$0=$8.83 overage left

29: $0!
30: $43.44
31:
$40-$40=$0
$24.95 overage left - $3.44 = $21.51

CASH $0 Days: 15

GAS: ($75)

2 - $21.00 ($3.68/gallon)
8 - $13.75 ($3.59/gallon)
16 - $18.06 ($3.58/gallon)
27 - $22.72 ($3.45/gallon)

Gas Subtotal: $75.53
Cash Subtotal: $378.49

TOTAL: $454.02

 

[lillygator]

my March, April and May are in the toilet....bring on JUNE!

I have my excel budget ready to go and plan on tracking every penny....when I look at our take home pay I am FLOORED that we really have nothing to show for it. Not this month...no siree.....

 

[Debbie]

Finishing up my month, and I've moved my bottom to my top. (Oh, dear, now I'm top-heavy!) Some good, some bad, some right on, and I (squeaked through and) made my No Buy days. All in all.....a success!

Budget: Actual (last month expenses)
Gas: $300 $295 ($337)
Groceries/Household: $600 $564 ($675)
Drug co-pays/medicine/lens: $30 $35 ($149)
Misc including gifts: $150 $505 ( $395)
Pool opening expenses: $600 $79 ($0)
Dining: $60 $67 ($0)

May 1: groceries $60
May 2: $0
May 3: gas $45 (does include gas for the lawnmower)
May 4: groceries $60, supper $30, Mother's Day gift $23
May 5: $0
May 6: $0
May 7: market $21 (bread and flowers to go with my Mother's Day gift), card, $4, groceries, $30, gas $55
May 8: $0
May 9: Darn! DH spent $2 on hot dog buns!
May 10: $0
May 11: gas $55, medical $25 (I don't remember it costing this much for stuff for my last colonoscopy), clear fluids stuff at the grocery store $11, chlorine $17
May 12: hospital parking $9, lunch $25, groceries, $14
May 13: $0
May 14: Yep, I went to the Scholar's Choice Warehouse sale. I bought little (math) books, plus a box of coils (we can make books!), and GIFTS! I bought: Father's Day, birthday, moving into residence and Christmas gifts. All told it was $92 with my discount, $19 was for school and the rest gifts. DH did his shopping and it was $45 for groceries.
May 15: DH went to the grocery store to buy pie and get the free ice cream. Spent $18
May 16: Workshop for me, offsite. Lunch+dessert: $12
May 17: Gas $48
May 18: $0 (although DD bought icing sugar to make candy for her bake sale tomorrow)
May 19: $5 donation at DD's final string concert. $38 on a book for teaching
May 20: $0
May 21: DH did his weekly "after Church" shopping $54
May 22: gas for lawn and car: $48, groceries $110 (should be good for groceries for most of the week, now)
May 23: $0
May 24: groceries/batteries $16, drug co-pay $1
May 25: $0
May 26: $0
May 27: Shoppers Drug Mart $32, gas $44, groceries $15, school supplies $35, videos/games $153
May 28: groceries $91 Hopefully, grocery shopping will be much curtailed for the rest of the week!
May 29: $0
May 30: $5 for after concert treat
May 31: $0

No Buy days: 12/12

 

[ronnmel]

I met my no-buy goal.

No Buy Days : 9/9
Gas : 61$ (max 120$)
Car : 520$ (oil change + oil leak)
Groceries : 161$ (max 200$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 106$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 190$ (max 200$)

05/08 : 44$ (dinner + flowers)
05/09 : 5$ (parking)
05/10 : 0$
05/11 : 78$
05/12 : 172$ (oil change & other small fixes, books)
05/13 : 150$ (fixing oil leak)
05/14 : 0$
05/15 : 38$ (groceries)
05/16 : 0$
05/17 : 17$ (dinner)
05/18 : 0$
05/19 : 77$ (donation + fixing oil leak, again)
05/20 : 22$ (lunch + dinner)
05/21 : 0$
05/22 : 64$ (books, movie, DeSerres)
05/23 : 0$
05/24 : 20$ (thank you cards)
05/25 : 71$ (dinner + gas)
05/26 : 151$ (car repairs + bus)
05/27 : 0$
05/28 : 73$ (groceries)
05/29 : 56$ (gas + groceries)
05/30 : 0$
05/31 : 0$

I can't believe how much work you've had to do on your car this month! I hope the third time was the charm!

I'll have to check out your report later!

I wonder if you mentioned what was going to happen after your ceremony upthread somewhere when you were mentioning your plans. Maybe you were snorkeling with dolphins or something amazingly cool!

It was last Thursday that I had it fixed for the last time. Well on Friday I had a scare, as I thought I saw smoke coming out from under the hood again. Luckily I only saw it once, so I'll never know if it was leftover not-cleaned oil, coming from the exhaust of another car (it was clod and rainy), or just my imagination. Thankfully, it seems to be fine now.

I did go snorkeling, and I did swim with dolphins, but that was the day before my wedding. And I don't think I mentioned what I was doing anywhere in this thread. It's not anything spectacular, just not your typical wedding day activity.

Finishing up my month, and I've moved my bottom to my top. (Oh, dear, now I'm top-heavy!) Some good, some bad, some right on, and I (squeaked through and) made my No Buy days. All in all.....a success!

Good job on your budget!

 

[ronnmel]

May:
Gas : 73$
Car repairs : 390$
Groceries : 226$
Eating out (and snacks) : 250$
Non-necessities : 267$
Total spent: 1206$

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

July:
No Buy Days : 5/10
Gas : 40$ (7$ less)
Car repairs : 261$
Groceries : 189$ (49$ more)
Eating out (and snacks) : 179$ (64$ more)
Non-necessities : 865$ (661$ more )
Total: 1554$

August:
No Buy Days : 12/10
Gas :38$ (2$ less)
Groceries : 317$ (128$ more)
Eating out (and snacks) : 196$ (17$ more UGH)
Non-necessities : 657$ (208$ less)
Total : 1208$

September:
No Buy Days : 16/10 New goal 15
Gas : 85$ (47$ more, but my new job is further away)
Groceries : 264$ (53$ less )
Eating out (and snacks) : 126$ (70$ less )
Non-necessities : 503$ (154$ less, but still way too much!)
Total : 978$ (230$ less )

October:
No Buy Days : 12/15
Gas : 91$ (6$ more)
Groceries : 193$ (71$ less)
Eating out (and snacks) : 118$ (8$ less)
Non-necessities : 493$ (10$ less)
Total: 895$ (83$ less)

November:
No Buy Days : 11/15
Gas : 98$ (7$ more)
Car : 74$
Groceries : 298$ (105$ more)
Eating out (and snacks) : 164$ (46$ more)
Non-necessities : 204$ (289$ less )
Total: 838$ (57$ less)

December:
No Buy Days : 7/10
Gas : 120$ (22$ more, but gas prices went up and I did lots of shopping)
Groceries : 151$ (147$ less )
Eating out (and snacks) : 185$ (21$ more)
Non-necessities : 404$ (200$ more, but it was the month of splurging on myself and lots of activities. Hopefully January will be much calmer)
Christmas : 285$ (85$ over budget)
Salsa lessons : 280$
Total : 1420$ (Less than my worse month though, and it's December, so I guess not *that* bad )

January:
No Buy Days : 16/15
Gas : 98$ (22$ less)
Groceries : 237$ (86$ more)
Eating out (and snacks) : 99$ (86$ less )
Non-necessities : 222$ (182$ less)
Total: 656$ My second best month!

February:
No Buy Days : 19/16
Gas : 102$ (4$ more, which is good considering gas prices went up)
Groceries : 247$ (10$ more)
Eating out (and snacks) : 42$ (57$ less)
Non-necessities : 633$ (411$ more)
Total : 1024$

March:
No Buy Days : 11/12 (didn't make my goal.)
Gas : 182$ (80$ more!!!I know prices went up, and I did a lot of traveling to bring my mom back and forth to the hospital, but I didn't think it would be that bad)
Groceries : 228$ (19$ less )
Eating out (and snacks) : 195$ (153$ more, but 100$ of that was a gift for some close friends)
Non-necessities : 790$ (157$ more)
Total : 1395$

April :
No Buy Days : 14/12
Gas : 120$ (max 120$ Right on the dot!)
Groceries : 183$ (67$ less)
Eating out (and snacks) : 131$ (31$ more)
Non-necessities : 320$ (120$ over)
Total : 754$

May 2011 :
No Buy Days : 9/9
Gas : 61$ (59$ less)
Car : 520$ (oil change + oil leak)
Groceries : 161$ (39$ less)
Eating out (and snacks) : 106$ (6$ over)
Non-necessities : 190$ (10$ less)
Total : 1038$ a lot, for a *short* month. At least it's almost 200$ less than May a year ago.

 

[charming23]

Thanks for the continued pixie dust for the job. I still have not heard anything and when I called today it was the managers day off so they told me to try tomorrow.

I spent the day inside my nice air conditioned house as it got up to 95 degrees here.

June 2011 Budget
Groceries/Household- $300/$263.07 Left
Cat Supplies- $30/$18.45 left
Car/Gas- $70/$40.22 left
Eating Out- $50/$48.50 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/$81.45 Left

Total- $550/$475.53 left

Goal of 14 No Buy Days

Week One
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
6/2
6/3
6/4

1/14 No Buy Days

Store and Coupon Savings- $32.42

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I did go snorkeling, and I did swim with dolphins, but that was the day before my wedding. And I don't think I mentioned what I was doing anywhere in this thread. It's not anything spectacular, just not your typical wedding day activity.

Let's see...you had to go get the rental car serviced.

And cool on the snorkeling and swimming with dolphins! Does your trip report have pictures from those activities?

 

[ariamac]

Is there not a thread set up for June? I'd like to participate this time around

 

[Virgderon]

I was a little spendy in May, a trend that will continue throughout the summer with DDs wedding coming up in August, and her upcoming visit. I have not seen her for a year, and I have not seen her sister in 6 months. I'm ready!

Still thinking about how to handle Junes budget. See you all next month!

Running Total: Spent $1117
$948 budget... $169 over
$0 Days: 9
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 73

Groceries budget- $250 -18-28-39-78-26-24-13-3= 21 left

May 1 : 76 (Mothers day gift , card & misc.)
May 2 : 0
May 3 : 18 ( groceries, misc)
May 4: 0
May 5: 0
May 6 : 28
May 7: 37 ( garage sale finds)
May 8: 55 ( movie, groceries)
May 9: 8 (Walgreens)
May 10: 0
May 11: 0
May 12 : 29 ( red robin dinner, magazine)
May 13: 21 ( Wendys and food at the game)
May 14 : 54 (21 lunch, 21 bathing suit, 12 soap)
May 15: 124 (20 gas, 26 spa, 78 groceries)
May 16: 0
May 17: 26 ( frozen pizza. pop and a couple misc things)
May 18: 0
May 19: 0
May 20 : 43 (19 Walgreens, 24 Cracker Barrell)
May 21 : 40 (20 parking at hockey game, 20 food at hockey game)
May 22 : 89 (15 tip, 24 groceries, 50 bd gift)
May 23: 0
May 24; 74 ( 20 Walgreens, 54 Allure box)
May 25 : 8 ( lunch and snacks at work)
May 26: 46 (37 gas station, 9 groceries)
May 27: 20 (8 food at mall, 12 Old navy)
May 28: 210 ( 19 lunch out, 13 pop at gas station, 162 MOB dress, 16 shipping at post office)
May 29 46 (18 lunch at zoo, 28 chinese food - we will eat it for 2 or 3 days, so not too bad)
May 30 : 24 ( 11 lunch , 3 pop at Busch Gardens, 6 donuts & coffee on the way to Busch Gardens, 4 food for the Wallabies)
May 31: 59 ( walgreens, and bd gift for my mom)