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

[Debbie]

I think that this will be a bit spendy. I know I need gas tomorrow.

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

Gas: $155
Groceries/Household: $246
Drug co-pays/medicine/hospital parking: $34
Misc including gifts: $129
Pool: $17
Dining: $67

No Buy days: 6/12[/QUOTE]

 

[Virgderon]

Charming, good work on the smaller t-shirt and good luck finding a job.

Today is a 0 day.

Running Total: Spent $432
$948 budget... $516 left
$0 Days: 6
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 41

Groceries budget- $250 -18-28-39-78= 87 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

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I have been doing the $400 for the month as a whole, 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:
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-$0=$0 left
$27.22-$0.58=$26.64 overage left

CASH $0 Days: 10

GAS:
2 - $21.00 ($3.68/gallon)
8 - $13.75 ($3.59/gallon)
16 - $18.06 ($3.58/gallon)
Gas Subtotal: $52.81

TOTAL: $226.17

I am planning to try this strategy of the every 3 days again next month. So far, it's working pretty well. I do want to figure out how to format the posting of the overage though. This is a little unwieldy.

 

[wlake]

Oh brother. Last week's mommy guilt has been completely trumped by this week's mommy guilt. I took DS6 in for his annual physical -- turns out he has a nasty case of bronchitis that I assumed was part of his out-of-control allergies (when I took him in last month, I was told the cough was part of the allergy problem, so I let it go longer than I should have). On the upside, the antibiotics he's taking for the bronchitis should help wipe out any Lyme in his system from last week's tick bite. Adding to the downside, it took three pharmacies to get everything he needed. Sigh. Just when I was feeling ok about working full time and still managing everything.

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.)

no buy days: 6/10
longest no buy streak: 3 days
meals out: 3/5
days since our last meal out: 0
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[bigmama67]

Going for 9 no-buy days this month...fell off the wagon BIG TIME in April and didn't even track the last 11 days, UGH!

Happily, I'm able to lower the utility bill allotment this month but it will be most likely eaten up by the gas increases...


5/1: $25.96 Petco (more stuff for DS' "free" fish); $7.46 CVS; $33.81 Home Depot (new grill cover and play sand).

5/2: $139.36 groceries (aggregate from the weekend but don't know what was when); $5 gas; $12 doctor (but they should have charged $15 so I'm sure that will be resolved); $9.58 for potty training DVD and VHS for DD (Craig's List); $5 overdue fines at library (still owe $9, ugh!).

5/3: $0!
Paid bills and spent $26.65 on groceries/$433.99 left for the month and I don't need too much more meat!

5/4: $0!
$108.26 groceries (stocked up on a LOT, decent coupon/sale day too!)/$325.73 left for the month
(Edited upwards - we were at dinner when I realized the kids were out of milk boxes, which involved another grocery store run!)

5/5: Paid a few bills; $10.78 Post Office to mail Mother's Day cards and gifts; $33.90 for pet food and a few other groceries/$291.83 left for the month! At least I got a deal on the pet food; spent about $28 and got $20 in coupons to use on future Purina purchases which means, between what I bought today and those coupons, we won't have to pay for pet food again for several months.

EDITED TO ADD: we'll have to pony up $1 for the Tooth Fairy - DS lost #7 today! ;o)

5/6: DS school lunch $4.65; Dunkin' Donuts iced mocha $3.52; homebrew ingredients $48.95; CVS $10 (prescription)

5/7: Groceries $77.07/$214.76 left for month (HARDLY NEED ANYTHING ELSE; got some great deals!); DH gas $41.47; $17.10 AC Moore (DS wanted to make a gift for me and got a T-shirt and some Dollar section stuff); $4 snacks at DS' B-ball game; $10.99 McDonalds.

5/8: Well, I wanted to go out to lunch so we spent $$$ today. $45 on lunch, $6.41 on wine, $8 on bowling, $12.03 on ices for dessert after a yummy grilled dinner, $12-something at Bed Bath & Beyond, and $10.09 on groceries today/$204.67 left for the month. I really had fun and enjoyed everything I ate today though...I do think it's important to do this once in a while but I am feeling a bit guilty about it too!

After I pay the tuition for my second summer class we will only have about $300 left in Savings. I am hoping that the class gets cancelled again (I was supposed to take it this spring but it was called off due to low enrollment)...if that happens I can make a strong case for getting them to let me take it as an independent study in the fall when my tuition is cheaper, and I will be taking out loans this year.

5/9: $20 gas, $24.23 in groceries/$180.44 left for the month....and ANOTHER $1 for the Tooth Fairy! (Twice in one week! ) $162 for Extended Care for DS for the month.

5/10: $0 (REAL $0, no groceries either!)

5/11: $6.35 groceries, $7.49 Staples (used a gift card though!), $121 shoes at JCPenney.com (got 2 pairs of boots and a pair of sneakers for me and 3 pairs for the kids, so I was very pleased about that!)

5/12: Definitely NOT a No-Buy day as I went into the city with a friend to see a movie - so tolls, parking, snacks, and then lunch at McDonald's with DD...but I took all of this $ out of a separate account so I am not adding it up. Ridiculous amount of library fines I was ashamed about and will NOT mention the amount! $6.53 groceries/$167.56 left for the month; $10 gas (just to get us through till tomorrow when DH gets paid); $14.99 sports equipment for DS.

5/13: $109 for tuneup and oil change (naturally it needed a bit more work than that); $5 DS school lunch; $4 snacks at baseball game; $7.99 swim shoes for DD (after a $5 coupon, yeah! ); 2 weeks at DD's daycare ($148); $72 for pet medicine (Frontline for both dogs - DH remembered to use a coupon, YEAH!); $25 on Amazon for a new plug for my laptop (DD broke the other one - this is my NEW laptop...)...$24 for training pants; $24.86 groceries/$142.70 left for the month. Also paid our mortgage, cell phone and DH's student loan...so already half the paycheck DH got today is gone plus our car loan payment will come out Monday.

One thing I did today which I feel great about is that I noticed the bank where I have an account to use for mortgage payments, was offering a 6-year CD at 3%. I realize that's not great but these days, it's something. I rolled most of the kids' savings accounts at this bank into a CD in my name which they will be beneficiaries of if anything should happen to me before it matures. Anything helps, right?

5/14: $10 gas, $10.48 groceries/$132.22 left for month; $8.06 at Six Flags (DS and DD wanted capes)...this was the ONLY thing we bought there! If we can get off that easy other times I'll be delighted. $22.01 on beer and wine when we got home (no, not because it was a rough day, LOL!) I think DH spent about $4 on coffee for the drive home too.

I feel really good that we spent so little at the theme park today.

5/15: $2 Dunkin' Donuts; $30 books; $9.98 groceries; $32.34 pet store; $41.72 to fill up DH's tank; $26.85 training pants on Amazon (counts as Medical).

5/16: $26.65 groceries/$95.59 left for the month - I got a TON of cereal, free cat food and 2 free canvas bags - great grocery day; $50.34 to fill up my tank (it's gone down 5 cents, whoopie!); $19.99 for 120 allergy tablets (DH and DS both use them now); $4.21 Dollar Tree; $35 for tricycle for DD (found on Craig's List).

5/17: Oil change on van, lunch with my SIL

5/18: Gotta be No-Buy #4!

5/19: Seeing a play in NYC with my friend at night (free tickets but I'll have transportation costs)

5/20: DS lunch at school; planning to have an eye exam for new contacts; plants for the garden (so Saturday can be no-buy #5)

5/21: Weekends are tough for no-buy but we don't have plans...hmm...hoping for no-buy

5/22: Annual Congregational Meeting, I'm sure we'll have to make some donation or other...

5/23:

5/24:

5/25:

5/26:

5/27:

5/28: Going to Six Flags New England - definitely not a no-buy day!

5/29: Coming home from Massachusetts.

5/30: Going to the Zoo for sheep-shearing day (we are members so I MAY be able to pull off a no-buy...)

5/31:

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $857.40
$0 Days:8/14

Groceries ($186-$6/day)- $122.74
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $116.10
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($713-$23/day) 1st Month Tuition for preschool $458
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)= $160.56

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)


Budget: $1416....61%
Month: 16/31: 52%
No Buy: 8/14: 57%

My savings from coupons and sales: $467.15

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

 

[WAMUMOF4]

I am way behind the 8 ball and will endeavor to post my catch up by tomorrow truth is i don't want to add it all up

 

[charming23]

Charming, good work on the smaller t-shirt and good luck finding a job.

Thanks, Virgderon. I actually have an interview on Thursday for a job that I had put an application in for last firday.

Staying in again today. It is cold and rainy, so I do not feel like going anywhere. I will spend the day doing some baking instead.

May 2011 Budget

Groceries/household- $300/ $87.21 Left
Car/Gas- $50/$23.17 left
Cat Supplies-$50/ $44.31 Left
Eating Out- $50/$22.82 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/ $78.32 left

Total Budget $450/ $155.03 left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
4/30- $99.35 Groceries/Household and $5.69 Cat Supplies
5/1- $0
5/2- $0
5/3- $0
5/4- $22.73 Groceries/Household, $26.83 Gas, and $5.07 Eating Out
5/5- $0
5/6- $0

Week Two
5/7- $27.58 Groceries
5/8- $0
5/9- $7.11 Lunch at the Zoo
5/10- $0
5/11- $56.21 Groceries/houshold
5/12- $14.68 at Ulta
5/13- $0

Week Three
5/14- $0
5/15- $7.92 Grocery, $15 Chinese dinner, and $7 Dots
5/16- $0
5/17- $0
5/18
5/19
5/20

11/15 No Buy Days

Store/Coupon Savings- $49.50

 

[Virgderon]

Aww Wlake its okay. Sometimes I wonder how my children survived me. I never made the right call when they were sick. I took them to the doctor and the doctor would say "virus" and there is nothing we can do. When I did not take them it was pneunomia or something terrible like that. They are both alive now (LOL) and are lovely young women. You are doing just fine.

Todays spending was for pizza and pop. No excuses. I've been working like crazy and sometimes dinner is frozen pizza.

Running Total: Spent $458
$948 budget... $490 left
$0 Days: 6
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 45

Groceries budget- $250 -18-28-39-78-26= 61 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)

 

[wlake]

Aww Wlake its okay. Sometimes I wonder how my children survived me. I never made the right call when they were sick. I took them to the doctor and the doctor would say "virus" and there is nothing we can do. When I did not take them it was pneunomia or something terrible like that. They are both alive now (LOL) and are lovely young women. You are doing just fine.

Thanks for the reassurance that they'll live, Virgderon! That's exactly how I feel sometimes! I took him in a month ago because I thought he sounded bad but it turned out that it was just allergies, so this time I figured he had a checkup coming up and we'd just get some more effective allergy meds. Hopefully his lungs will be clear when we go for the recheck next week!

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:

no buy days: 7/10
longest no buy streak: 3 days
meals out: 3/5
days since our last meal out: 1
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[A.Mickey]

Running Total: Spent $857.40
$0 Days:9/14

Groceries ($186-$6/day)- $122.74
Eating Out ($217-$7/day)- $116.10
Misc. (Shopping/Entertainment) ($713-$23/day) 1st Month Tuition for preschool $458
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)= $160.56

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


Budget: $1416....61%
Month: 17/31: 55%
No Buy: 9/14: 64%

My savings from coupons and sales: $467.15

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

 

[dizluvah]

Yikes! I'm am doing very poorly - over budget on groceries and misc spending line items. Seems less and less likely I will hit 15 no buy days - the only budget line item I think I can stick to is gasoline - will be interesting to see where final totals for month end up - I'll have a clearer picture of what I actually spend (the scary part is this is us cutting back...) We have lots of room for improvement!

Gas $500 ($267 left)
Groceries $250 (OVER BUDGET $103)
Dining Out $200 (43 left)
RX Copays $150 (37 left)
Misc $300 (OVER BUDGET by $187.00)

But I commit to 15 no buy days for May.
7/15 No Buy Days so far

5/1 $155 ticket (MISC), $39 Gas, $25 breakfast (Dining Out) $219 total spent
5/2 $0
5/3 $0
5/4 $52.87 (RXs), $58.54 (Market Basket), $21.77 (Shaw's), $2.18 (McDs), $43.29 (Gas), $25 (MISC -Doc visit copay)
5/5 $47.97 (DDs photo session), $11.70 (baby food), $2.18 Breakfast
5/6 $ 7.77 (DH Breakfast), $29.99 Staples, $ 60 CVS, $56 (KCs Ribs -dining out)
5/7 $34 (Petting Zoo), $61.70 Kcup store, $$27.11 Kids Consignment, $ 25.95 (Supercuts DH), $63.42 and $36.92 (Walmart- baby stuff and mother's day gifts)
5/8 $18.04 (Beefside dining out), $2.50 newspaper
5/9 $0
5/10 $0
5/11 $66.19 Gas
5/12 $0
5/13 $7.77 Dunkin Donuts, $12 McDs
5/14 $0
5/15 $28 Gas, $78 Groceries, $2.40 (Coke and snack), $25 5Guys- dining out
5/16 $20 (PackNPlay from craigslist), $54.44 gas, $20 pictures, $120 Walmart
5/17 $0
5/18
5/19
5/20

 

[IMALOVNDISNEY]

I've been so bad at posting lately. It's been another crazy month...But, my simple life crazyness doesn't compare to all the flooding ya'll are experiences. My thoughts and Prayersare always with you. You would think this kind of flooding only happens once in a life time. My heart truely goes out to those in LA and MS. How much more can you be dealt.

05/01: -0-
05/02-0-
05/03 -0- I actually got a script from Walmart for $4.00 but used my flex card. So nothing out of pocket. And that's all I got, never even looked at anything else. In and out. I didn't want to tempt myself.
05/04 $5.00 I caved and got Wendy's for lunch today.
05/05 $50.00 Mother's Day gift for DMIL
05/06 $86.00 $60.00 gas $26.00 groceries, produce and dairy. We are trying to eat from our stock again this month. So far So good. This is a huge accomplishment seeing it's softball season. And we usually eat on the fly. I love my crockpot. Made $186.00 with lia sophia
05/07 -0-
05/08 $85.00 Mother's Day breakfast with the InLaws.
05/09 -0-
05/10 -0- Made $235.00 with lia sophi
05/11$5.00 Wendy's again. No time to go home after work. Have another party to do. Made $168.00 with lia sophia
05/12 $49.00 $40.00 gas, $9.00 snacks for home.
05/13 $110.00 $45.00 3 tickets for DD's performance, $15.00 flowers for DD, $50 eat out after performance
05/14-0- Actually shopped at Home Depot. Spent $42.00 but had a gift card that was a gift. So spent -0- And spent the day at home doing yard work.
05/15 -0- Went to church and then back home for the day. We're still doing well eating from our stockpile.
05/16 $2.00 for soup at lunch time. Sinus day!!
05/17 -0- another sinus day. I wish the rain would just stop.
05/18

]Auto $100.00/$280.00(raised alot due to the prices)
Groceries/Household Goods 35.00/$200.00
Eating Out/Entertainment $152.00/$150.00 (raised for Mother's Day)
Misc $110.00/$250.00 (raised for Memorial Day plants)
No Buy days 9/10
Coupon savings $11.00
Money made with lia sophia $589.00

April crashed.
March coupon savings $116.00
No buy days 15/15
February coupon savings $124.00
No buy days 15/12
January coupon savings $360.00
no buy days 17/10

 

[charming23]

Stayed in today. I have a cold that I am trying to keep from getting any worse. Tomorrow I will be hitting the grocery store.

May 2011 Budget

Groceries/household- $300/ $87.21 Left
Car/Gas- $50/$23.17 left
Cat Supplies-$50/ $44.31 Left
Eating Out- $50/$22.82 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/ $78.32 left

Total Budget $450/ $155.03 left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

Week One
4/30- $99.35 Groceries/Household and $5.69 Cat Supplies
5/1- $0
5/2- $0
5/3- $0
5/4- $22.73 Groceries/Household, $26.83 Gas, and $5.07 Eating Out
5/5- $0
5/6- $0

Week Two
5/7- $27.58 Groceries
5/8- $0
5/9- $7.11 Lunch at the Zoo
5/10- $0
5/11- $56.21 Groceries/houshold
5/12- $14.68 at Ulta
5/13- $0

Week Three
5/14- $0
5/15- $7.92 Grocery, $15 Chinese dinner, and $7 Dots
5/16- $0
5/17- $0
5/18- $0
5/19
5/20

12/15 No Buy Days

Store/Coupon Savings- $49.50

 

[ronnmel]

So far behind... At least I don't have much to report on.

No Buy Days : 4/9
Gas : 0$ (max 120$)
Car : 300$ (oil change + oil leak)
Groceries : 68$ (max 200$)
Eating out (and snacks) : 38$ (max 100$)
Non-necessities : 98$ (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$

 

[Virgderon]

0 day for me.

Running Total: Spent $458
$948 budget... $490 left
$0 Days: 7
Goal is 9 or more!
coupon/sale savings : 45

Groceries budget- $250 -18-28-39-78-26= 61 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

 

[Debbie]

Quickly catching up. I just realized that I have to do my work tonight, since tomorrow is DD's last string concert--ever. (can't make up my mind how I feel about that!)
Budget: (last month expenses)
Gas: $300($337)
Groceries/Household: $600($675)
Drug co-pays/medicine/lens: $30 ($149)
Misc including gifts: $150( $395)
Pool opening expenses: $600 ($0)
Dining: $60 ($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)

Gas: $203
Groceries/Household: $246
Drug co-pays/medicine/hospital parking: $34
Misc including gifts: $129
Pool: $17
Dining: $67

No Buy days: 7/12

 

[wlake]

I'm having one of those weeks. I dropped a contact lens down the sink this morning -- $60 to replace it as it's a RGP lens. I'm not counting it until it comes in and I actually go pay for it!

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:

no buy days: 8/10
longest no buy streak: 3 days
meals out: 3/5
days since our last meal out: 2
longest no meals out streak: 10

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I have been doing the $400 for the month as a whole, 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:
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 Soda & parking
18: $1.00 school charity thing
19:
$40-$7.00=$33.00 left

CASH $0 Days: 10

GAS:
2 - $21.00 ($3.68/gallon)
8 - $13.75 ($3.59/gallon)
16 - $18.06 ($3.58/gallon)
Gas Subtotal: $52.81

TOTAL: $233.17

Well, I got home late last night after going to a charity softball game. It was a great time, and we had bought the tickets last month so we only spent $5 for the parking.

May 2011 Budget

Groceries/household- $300/ $87.21 Left
Car/Gas- $50/$23.17 left
Cat Supplies-$50/ $44.31 Left
Eating Out- $50/$22.82 left
Entertainment/Misc- $100/ $78.32 left

Total Budget $450/ $155.03 left

Goal of 15 No Buy Days

I just noticed that your category breakdown has a budget of $550 total but you have $450 listed as the total. Maybe you have more left than you think?

 

[Where'sPiglet?]

I'm having one of those weeks. I dropped a contact lens down the sink this morning -- $60 to replace it as it's a RGP lens. I'm not counting it until it comes in and I actually go pay for it!

$60 contact!

I'm having quite the week too.