Weekly Spending (11/21-11/27) & big bonus news

It was an expensive week! Here's what we spent. N had his dental surgery on Tuesday, and I had to pick up a few soft foods for him. It was also Black Friday, so I picked up a few things that we needed that were a great price.

• Monday - No spend day
• Tuesday
• Costco - $124.80 on groceries
• $1.67 on a box of popsicles (recommended by the dentist to help N feel when the numbing agent wore off)
• $13.92 - Panera for lunch out with N. He was a complete trooper during his surgery, so we went out for a soft lunch (aka macaroni & cheese/yogurt)
• $16.41 - I bought myself a new sweater at Loft.
• $22.43 - bribery gift for N for his awesome behavior during the surgery. He didn't even cry!
• $162.50 - dentist
• Wednesday:
• $60 - lunch with M
• $8 - tip for free car wash/vacuum
• $100 - we purchased a $100 gift card to one of our favorite restaurants, as they were having a promotion where you received an extra $25. We met for drinks & used some of the $100 on Wednesday, but will keep the rest for another occasion.
• Thursday:
• $15 on various snacks for the kids. I packed lunches & snacks, but during various potty stops on the way to Thanksgiving, we bought things. Our Thanksgiving meal is at 2:00, which is a hard time for kids. It's way past lunch, so we had to feed them ahead of time, and the adults don't do dinner - one big meal. I'll have to remember to pack the kids several extra things next time.
• Friday:
• $180.71 - clothes for the kids for the vacation house. They now have pajamas, pants, gloves, hats, etc. We should be all set for the next year or so.
• $25 - gift certificate for Bath & Body Works. (I get gas rebates on gift cards & we need soap & candles for the house).
• $100 - Christmas gift
• $5 - Starbucks for breakfast.
• $61.72 - groceries
• $39.99 - shearling boots for me (Costco). Not sure if I'm keeping them or not.
• $192.45 - Costco household items. This includes: Sonicare toothbrushes for me/N, a headset splitter for the car for the kids, trash bags, & light bulbs.
• $9.99 - Christmas wrapping paper at Costco.
• Saturday:
• $34.93 - gas
• Sunday:
• $1.15 - protein smoothie at the gym
• $24 - used the childcare at the gym to get in a workout.

Total spent for the week = $1074.87.

And, in big, huge, amazing news - M just found out that he is receiving a huge bonus this year! Last year, due to a bunch of reorganizations at work, he lost out on his commission for the year, which is typically 65% or so of his salary. While we budget based on our his base salary + mine, he's received his bonus every year he's worked, so it was a very unpleasant surprise. We spend the bonus on extras, fun stuff, house projects, traveling, etc, so we trimmed to a much more basic budget when that happened.

Anyway, M received an $80,000 after tax bonus this week, so to say we're excited would be a colossal understatement. We're not sure where all of it's going, but here's the tentative plan

• $35,000 - M's 401K loan payoff. Paying this off means our only debt will once again be our mortgages, which will make me very happy.
• $5,000 - family trip to Hawaii over spring break
• $5,000 - boys college fund
• $35,000 - savings for new car. We know we'll be replacing a car soon, as M's is over 10 years old, so we want to be prepared.

How would you spend $80,000? Any input for us?