Weekly Spending Update

Here's what I spent during the week. My mom, sister & I spent all day Saturday together, stayed overnight in a hotel, ate lunch, dinner, & breakfast out, as well as went shopping during the day. Although the weekend was expensive, I stayed within my planned budget! It was my mom's birthday. I was super excited to see that our parking was free, which I hadn't expected. Yeah!

• Monday
• $19.05 - Trader Joe's (groceries)
• $7.43 - Fred Meyer (groceries)
• $52.68 - Gas
• ++$45 for a Craig's List sale.
• Tuesday
• No spend day!
• Wednesday
• $47.18 - Costco (groceries)
• $227.25 - Costco (Christmas gifts)
• $43.68 - Costco (Christmas gifts)
• $52.24 - Dining out. Took a friend to dinner since I'll miss her baby shower.
• Thursday
• $1.15 - protein smoothie at the gym
• $35.60 - Costco (Christmas gift)
• $26.78 - Amazon (Christmas gift)
• $123.75 - Car registration/tab renewal
• $14.75 - new air filter for the car
• $57.99 - spark plugs for the car
• $16.24 - Ebay (Christmas gift)
• Friday
• ++$6,862 - stock options from work. I typically only get these in September, but my vesting delayed during my maternity leave so this is my last round of October vesting.
• Coffees (Me + M) at the local coffee shop this am. On a gift card.
• $15.89 - Costco (meatballs - forgotten in the earlier Costco stop this week)
• Saturday
• $25.54 - Bath & Body Works. Stocked up on hand soap, and also got a freebie body wash that will be included in a Christmas gift
• $105.34 - Ruths Chris (lunch). Will be split with my sister
• $4.37 - Hallmark. Birthday card for my grandmother
• $54.74 - Aerosoles. Comfortable brown flats. I have a broken bone in my foot & own basically all heels, which are unwearable at the moment. My budget for clothing this month was $50, so I was so close. :-)
• $143.74 - Dinner. Will be split with my sister.
• $20.43 - After dinner drinks. Will be split with my sister
• $24 - M & the kids went out to dinner.
• $5 - Sephora. Lipstick brush. On a gift card.
• Sunday
• $17 - coffee/breakfast this morning. Will be split with my sister.
• $7.10 - Fred Meyer for a few groceries (lime juice + a bunch of clearanced ZBars that the kids eat before swimming practice)
• $20 - Fred Meyer for socks for me. Officially now over my clothing budget. By socks. Drat. So boring, but essential.
• $15.66 - Fred Meyer for a new pizza pan. This was less than I budgeted.
• $2.19 - Fred Meyer for balloons for my youngest son, who was shopping with me. Total impulse purchase.
• $16 - Fred Meyer for a Christmas gift.

Total spend for the week = $1152.77
Total spend for the week (after my reimbursement from my sister) = $1052.77
Total for the week (after I add in my stock vest) = +++$5809.23

How did you do with your weekly spending?

Christmas Budget & Plan

I love reading about how everyone spends their Christmas budgets, and writing an actual plan makes me feel more accountable, so here goes! :-)

I keep a fairly detailed Excel spreadsheet, with the following tabs:

• Gifts. This is where I track what I've purchased so far, and each person we buy for has their own row in Excel. Once I'm done purchasing gifts for someone, I highlight that row so I can quickly tell who I still need to shop for.
• $ Transfer. This is where I track if I owe anyone money, or someone owes me money. For example, my sister & I regularly pick up items for each other (she usually knows best what her own kids will like, and vice versa). I also usually help my mom shop for my kids, etc. We both track everything & as we near Christmas, we add it up, double-check our numbers & even things out.
• Budget. This is where I track how much I've spent. I have several columns per person - the initial budget, how much I really spent, and whether I was under/over.
• Lists. I track any ideas for people here.
• Notes. I use this section to detail any notes for the following year. For example, last year I reminded myself not to shop on Black Friday, because I primarily shopped for myself, thus wiping out any savings on my Christmas budget. :-)

Okay, now that you know how I track each item (I'm an Excel geek, I'll confess), I'll break things down a bit more. Here are the line items on our Christmas budget:

Gifts:

• M - $100
• S (our oldest son) - $100
• N (our youngest son) - $100
• C1 (nephew) - $30
• C2 (nephew) - $30
• Grandmother - $25
• Grandmother's husband - $20
• Aunt - $25
• Best friend's child - $25
• Best friend's other child - $25
• Baking - $25
• School (teachers, etc. I donate to the PTA fund that covers my Kindergartner's class, so this will be just for my preschooler's teachers) - $50
• Christmas cards (my husband's family lives abroad, and sending gifts is cost prohibitive due to weight. Instead, we do a family photo session, and use the pictures for Christmas cards & to send prints to his family) - $100
• Team at work (I manage a small team & pick up things like a coffee gift card for my staff) - $20

Stockings:

• M - $25
• S - $25
• N - $15
• Nephew1 - $15
• Nephew2 - $15

Budget:
Total estimated budget of everything above = $760. I like to create a slush fund in case we go over, I've forgotten any expenses, etc, so my actual budget is $1000. I try to stick to the $760 (and approximate amounts for each person), but then have a little flexibility if something comes up. I budget $333 for October, November, & December, but I try to be done by the end of November, so I may actually spend $333 in October & $650 or so in November, with hopefully no spending in December. (Fingers crossed).

Progress so far:
So far I've spent $435, and I'm approximately $50 over my budget. I have finished shopping for the following:

• M (husband)
• S (oldest child)
• N (youngest child)
• N's stocking
• S's stocking
• Nephew1
• Friend's child1

I'm over the $50 because I bought more books than expected for my kids, but I'm okay with that as long as I keep it under $1000 total!

How is your Christmas shopping going? Are you on track? On budget? A last minute shopper?

Tales from the grocery store

I generally try to recap what we purchase each week, because I always find it fascinating to see what you folks purchase. I will try & start taking pictures, but I keep forgetting!

M made a Costco run a few days ago, & here's what we ended up with. M spotted a few items that we've been looking for as Christmas gifts, so he picked them up. I also shop for my mom's Christmas gift for the boys, so we will be getting reimbursed for some of it. I'm irritated with myself, because I didn't notice that we had an unopened container of Roma tomatoes in our downstairs fridge. We didn't need the package M bought today, so waste of $4.99. We will definitely be eating a lot of tomatoes this week! Luckily, every one in the family is a tomato fan. ;-)

Produce:

• Tomatoes - $4.99
• Cucumber (3 pack) - $3.79
• Bananas (x2) - $2.78
• Plums - $5.99
• Pineapple - $2.99
• Gala apples - $5.99
• Pears - $5.29
• Honeydew melon - $3.29

Dairy:

• Milk - $4.29
• Organic eggs - $4.69

Christmas gifts:

• Lego Black Pearl Pirate ship - $79.99 (this will be my younger son's "big gift" from Santa)
• Casio Keyboard - $79.99 (this will be my older son's "big gift" from Santa)
• Lego Alien Ship - $49.99 (this will likely be my mom's gift for one of the boys)
• Erector set - $43.68 (this will likely be my mom's gift for one of the boys)

All told, we spent $318.11, with $47.18 spent on groceries & $270.93 on Christmas gifts. In excellent news, I'm done shopping for both of the kids & my husband!

Christmas shopping
For my older son, we got him: several games, a few books, a kids chess set, & his keyboard. For his stocking, we got him a few other books and a toy. For my younger soon, he'll be getting: games, a couple of drawing kits, the lego set, and for his stocking: a few books & a toy. I feel like it's the right balance of fun stuff, practical items (they LOVE books & games), and the right amount of presents for a 4 & 5 year old. (Keep in mind they get plenty of gifts from other family members.)

I also figured out what to get my husband (a running jacket + a watch for running). Practical, but fun little splurges. And, I know he's been coveting this particular Under Armour running jacket, so I found both items online for a great deal & ordered them. Yeah!

Goals for today:
I did work out for 60 minutes yesterday, which made me feel amazing. I also ate well (1500 calories and lots of healthy food choices). The mini daily goals really helped, so here's what's on my list for today.

• Call about an appeal on our tax assessment
• Schedule an appointment for a (free!) massage
• 60 minutes of cardio today
• Arms strength training
• Clean the fridge
• Finish another development project at work
• Hopefully receive the final numbers for our refinance and closing for our vacation house
• 1500 calories or less!