Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Weekly spending roundup (10/26-11/1/15)

Tracking our weekly spending gives me more visibility into how we're doing, and (sometimes) keeps me on track. :-) As a general rule, we mostly spend on weekends, as we have time to run errands.

Here's where the money went last week:


  • Monday - No spend day
  • Tuesday - $36.59 - Dinner at Sweet Tomatoes, after late soccer practice. Need to break this habit!
  • Wednesday - No spend day
  • Thursday - No spend day
  • Friday - $24.73 - pumpkins & Halloween candy
  • Saturday:
    • $85.50 - Turkey Trot registration for the family. Money goes to a local high school, and gives us something fun & fit to do on Thanksgiving!
    • $249.12 - groceries at Costco
    • $55.99 - whiskey :-) On special offer at Costco. Who could resist? 
    • $28.51 - two new small pans at Costco. My parents *may* have damaged ours when they were here, so we replaced them. M is convinced that's what happened. ;-)  
  • Sunday:
    • $25 - hair cuts for M & Nick
    • $35.75 - smog check for one of the cars
    • $22.57 - groceries that M ran out of time to pick up on Saturday. Mostly baking supplies that we are out of (cinnamon, flour, brown sugar, chocolate chips, etc)
    • $8.36 - produce stand
    • $11.95 - Smart & Final for a container to hold our rice
Total spent = $583.20. Not too shabby, but definitely areas for improvement! The dinner out was a totally unnecessary splurge (I had a late meeting, & the kids were at a late practice). Not sure how I can get home in time to get dinner made, but need to sort something out. 

How about you? Do you track your spending? Is it helpful to evaluate your spending on a weekly basis? 
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2 comments:

  1. Baroness Prudent SpendingNovember 4, 2015 at 8:40 AM

    Hi Hawaii! An idea for late night soccer practices...Actually it's something that I decided to do for myself today while grocery shopping. Anyway if your family likes burritos or chimichangas, why not make a batch and put them in the freezer. Then once you get home presumably the kids need to shower post-practice. While they clean up, you can quickly re-heat the burritos in the microwave. Boom dinner is ready in a few minutes. I find that the post-freezer texture is usually fine for most people. But if it isn't, you can defrost the burritos in the microwave and then quickly fry them a bit (aka chimichangas) to make them crispy on the outside.

    If you toss in (frozen) spinach with the bean and/or meat mixture, you could opt to not even have a side or just toss together a salad (easy enough to make the night before). Just 2-3 burritos per person (depending on size and hunger).

    This idea is also great for breakfast burritos (or just egg scrambles in a tortilla) for any early morning meetings/practices/games.

    HTH ~ Pru

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    Replies
    1. Hawaii PlannerNovember 6, 2015 at 7:48 AM

      Great suggestion! We do a lot of pre-prepped meals (almost all of our weekday meals are prepped on weekends), but sometimes it's overwhelming to come home at 7:30 with nothing ready to go & kids who go to bed at 8:15. But, totally hear you. There are better options available & I should plan ahead!

      In good news, goalie practice is now every other week. So, at least we've reduced the need to have the late dinners, either way. ;-)

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