Weekly Spending Wrap Up (2/27/12-3/4/12)

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We took the kids skiing on Sunday, & it was the perfect day. Great weather, everyone listened, & both kids are finally up to doing intermediate runs. (We've spent the entire season on the bunny slopes). It made all of the time & effort that we've put into skiing feel worthwhile. :-)

I also took Friday off to complete our taxes (more on that later. We owe. A lot), and rewarded myself with my last free massage coupon. SO nice. We had a date night on Saturday, & skied on Sunday. Fun weekend!

Here's how we did this week:

• Monday
• $10.49 - Lowes. Not sure what M bought for the house.
• Tuesday
• $47.71 - Trader Joe's for snacks for my office. I've been buying much more food at work, since I ran out of snacks, & this is much healthier & cheaper.
• Wednesday
• No spend day
• Thursday
• $30 - replenishment of my toll pass
• $723.84 - deposit for our hotel stay over Memorial Day weekend.
• Friday
• $106.31 - groceries
• $60.93 - house stuff (mostly for the lawn))
• $43.92 - gas
• $49.24 - quarterly gift payment for a music subscription (for my father)
• $6.01 - lunch at World Wrapps
• $-59.66 - returned a sweater to Jcrew
• Massage & pedicure -free with a coupon & on a gift card
• Saturday
• $29 - items for N's birthday party
• $3.99 - groceries
• $15.12 - gift. I'll be getting reimbursed for this.
• $.41 - poster board for a school project. Apparently, I forgot to take this out of the cart, because I can't find it at home.
• $8.99 - beer
• $149.45 - running shoes. My current shoes (that were only 6 weeks old) were causing terrible bruising & swelling on my toes when running more than a few miles. I finally went to a running store & got fitted - I needed a bigger size. My toes are KILLING ME.
• $2.37 - frozen yogurt after our date night
• $58.28 - dinner & drinks on date night
• Sunday:
• $16.41 - ski lunch at Subway
• $47 - ski passes

Total spend for the week = $1349.95. Pretty typical for a week, minus the running shoes & hotel deposit. I have $500 budgeted for clothing/shoe spending this year, so that's a huge chunk of my money. :-(

How did you do with your spending last week?

Weekly Spending Wrap Up (2/20/12-2/26/12)

I'm happy it's Sunday, because I'm exhausted! I ran 8 miles yesterday, worked out today, swam with my youngest, made 10 meals & 6 dozen muffins for the freezer, and did all of my normal household miscellany. Today, my youngest & I spent the day together while my oldest + my husband skied. It was a very nice day. I'm trying to motivate myself to get off the sofa & get dinner prepared. So far, not very motivated. :-)

Another week, and here's how we did! :-)

• Monday
• $85 - child care, as schools are closed but our employer is not. On a gift card.
• Tuesday
• $9 - lunch at Panera. On a gift card. I was at home sick, & ran out to get some soup.
• $326 - one tuition credit for each child. I used S's birthday money (gifts from family) to fund his.
• Wednesday
• $76.57 - new ski coats, as one got lost & one was ripped at the seams. Spending this much makes me cringe, but both will last through the end of next winter. I did manage to get them on sale, but there were very few options this late in the winter
• -$60.17 - returned a dress at The Gap. Trying to offset the kids ski coat purchases.
• $583.49 - car expenses. Drat.
• $51.61 - gas
• $7.61 - lunch, out
• Thursday
• No spend day
• Friday
• $158.47 - Costco, groceries
• $30.31 - Costco, household
• Saturday
• $31.24 - pet store, for fish food & other various fish supplies
• Sunday
• $12 - child care at the gym, on gift card
• $5 - frozen yogurt, free with a coupon
• $21.25 - I took my youngest son on a Mom/Son day, & we did a bunch of fun stuff (see above & below) :-). This was for lunch out.
• $20 - a new pair of jeans, for me
• $68.83 - two pair of jeans, as a gift for my sister. I'm not sure what size she's wearing, so I'll return one after she has a chance to try them on.
• -$16.96 - returned a top to Jcrew
• $5.45 - bought my youngest a Lego key chain.

Total spent for the week = $1303.70

The car repair 44% of our spending this week, and the two tuition credits were another 25%.

How did you do on your weekly spending?

Weekly Spending Wrap Up (2/6/12-2/12/12)

Wow, what a spendy week! Most of it was planned (it was my birthday, so we had a few things we knew we would be spending on), but my car unexpectedly needed a new battery, we had an extremely expensive trip to the dry cleaners (M wears suits for work), & we had a one time expensive house cleaning visit.

M & I were planning on skiing together on Friday for my birthday, but it was raining at the mountain, so we had lunch together, & then I did a bit of shopping, & got a pedicure. I received $100 as a birthday gift, so I'll be using that to offset some of my shopping. I also might return a few things once I see how they match up with what I already have. My shopping goal for the year is $500, so I want to be sure that I *love* everything that I get!

Here's what we spent:

• Monday, 2/6
• No spend day
• Tuesday, 2/7
• $87.49 - Costco for groceries
• Wednesday, 2/8
• $7.09 - Fred Meyer for mouthwash
• $275 - cleaners. We switched house cleaners, and they require a one time deep clean before they start billing monthly. Yikes! I will say, our house is crazy clean right now. ;-) This includes the deep clean & one week of normal cleaning.
• Thursday, 2/9
• No spend day
• Friday, 2/10
• $54.72 - lunch out
• $30 - pedicure + tip
• $66.14 - a few sweaters, silver flats, a pair of pants, & tights from The Loft
• $120.42 - My favorite sweaters were on sale at Jcrew, so I picked up two & also got a top.
• $125.82 - two dresses at The Gap
• $39.74 - dry cleaners
• $99.99 - a new blow dryer. (My gift from M.) It dries my hair in 1/3 of the time I normally spend, so it's a huge morning time saver. LOVE it!
• $169.71 - new battery for my car.
• Saturday, 2/11
• $10 - massage tip (on a gift card), after I used a free promotional card for the massage
• $150 - estimated dinner out to celebrate birthday/Valentine's Day. I didn't sign the check, and it hasn't posted to the credit card yet.
• Sunday, 2/12
• $47 - two ski passes
• $1.04 - prints at Rite Aid for my Valentine's gift for M. I printed out family ski pictures & framed them, replacing a collage that had pictures of us skiing together ten years ago. Talk about progress. He's going to love it!
• $15 - lunch at the ski lodge. Didn't wake up early enough to pack a lunch for the kdis, after our date night, at it was silly expensive.
• $11.97 - gas
• $26.84 - some sort of spray for the yard that I didn't quite catch, per M's request.
• $58.30 - groceries at Costco.
• $1.95 - strawberries at Fred Meyer, per the request of my little guy, who was shopping with me.
• $175.46 - gifts for my oldest son's birthday. I'll be getting reimbursed for most of this, as I picked up gifts from my mom & grandmother.

Total spend for the week = $1563.68! After subtracting the cash for my gift & the money I'll be getting back from the birthday gifts I picked up, total spend was $1353.68. We are also expecting the upcoming week to be relatively expensive, as we have my son's birthday party, family visiting, and a few other smaller things planned..

How did your week go? Did you spend more or less than planned?

Weekly Spending Wrap Up (1/30-2/5)

Hope you had a great weekend! Here's how we did with our spending last week.

• Monday (1/30)
• No spend day!
• Tuesday (1/31)
• Free birthday coffee at Starbucks + breakfast wrap (on gift card)
• $114.85 - Costco for groceries.
• Wednesday (2/1)
• $59.83 - registration for half marathon in May
• Thursday (2/2)
• $59.83 - registered my sister for the half marathon in May. She registered me for a different race, so returning the favor.
• Happy hour with M, on a gift card.
• Friday (2/3)
• No spend day!
• Saturday (2/4)
• $13.93 - groceries
• $75 - went to dinner with friends, and we treated.
• Sunday (2/5)
• $8 - snack at the ski lodge
• $47 - lift ticket for myself & our youngest (other two have season passes)
• $9.71 - car wash after we left the ski area. The car was filthy with mud, salt, etc.

Total spend for the week is $388.15! This is our new low. So excited, especially given that the $75 on dinner was unexpected, and a last minute thing. We're making progress!

How was your week?

Weekly Spending Recap (1/23/12-1/29/12)

Another week has passed! Here's how we did with our spending this week. Two no spend days in a week. Super fun! :-) I picked up some birthday supplies this weekend, which will go towards our planned spend for each child's birthday.

 

• Monday
• Coffee for me + M at Starbucks (on a gift card)
• Tuesday
• No spend day!
• Wednesday
• $66.55 - gas
• Thursday
• $100 - donation to the boys school's auction
• $18.57 - groceries
• $18.98 - birthday gift for a kids party my son is attending this weekend
• $8.99 - beer for M (so much for the no liquor spend ;-))
• $43.74 - invitations, goodie bags, and items to fill the bags for my oldest's birthday coming up in a few weeks
• $138.65 - Costco. We stocked up on chicken breasts (M barbecues them in giant batches & then we freeze them for easy meal prep) and also had to purchase ground beef, plus all of our normal produce.
• Friday
• No spend day!! :-)
• Saturday
• $58.30 - Target for goodie bag items. My younger son is having his party at my mom's house (his request), as most of my extended family lives in the area & he requested a party with all of the family. As a result, there will be just my kids + my two nephews at the party, so I got more substantial goodie bag items - one pack of Pokemon cards each (it's a Pokemon themed party, of course ;-)) + a $10 Target gift card for each kid. I get annoyed by all of the wasteful stuff in a traditional goodie bag & was hoping to come up with something a little more useful.
• $35.50 - party store for invitations, plates, napkins, etc for youngest's birthday. He's turning five in *March*, but gets very excited when he sees the planning begin for my oldest son's birthday. As a result, it's easiest for me to plan & purchase for both parties at the same time. :-)
• Sunday
• $1.15 - Protein smoothie at the gym (on gift card)
• Childcare for the kids while I worked out - on gift card

Total spend = $489.28. Hands down, the least we've spent in a week since I stated tracking! Victory! And, the $100 donation to the kids school was completely unexpected - we would have been rocking it without that.

How did you do for your weekly spending? On track? Also, if you have kids, how much do you allocate for each birthday? We typically get the birthday boy one gift, and allow them to either do an experience (for example, a night at Great Wolf Lodge), or a birthday party. For my own sanity, we typically do not have the party at our house. Either way, it adds up quickly. Our budget is $500, although I'm hoping to trim it back to $450 this year.

Here's an example of our budget for my oldest son's birthday. (He's having his party at a bowling alley, and my nephews will attend, plus two family friends, and he's inviting four school children.)

• Cake - $30
• Cupcakes (for his class on the day of his birthday - we cannot bake our own) - $10, estimate. Not sure how much these are from the store.
• Goodie bag items for 10 kids- $50
• Bowling + pizza/soda for 10 kids - $160
• Adult food/drinks (my parents, sister, and best friend will attend, as well as any parents of other children. We'll order a few pizzas/salads & beverages - $100 (estimate)
• Birthday gift (purchased in 2011 on a Groupon deal) - rock climbing lessons & rock wall climbing pass - $40

Total = $390.

Weekly Spending Report (1/16/12-1/22/12)

Well, we were snowed in for a bit of the week, so our errands/events were all consolidated into the days when we could leave our house. ;-) I felt guilty about breaking my January spending fast (no shoes, clothes, or makeup) when I bought the eyebrow pencil, so I returned a pair of yoga pants to Costco that I hadn't worn/didn't need. That more than offset the cost, alleviating some of my guilt. ;-)

• Monday (1/16) (MLK day, the kids were off school):
• $42.92 - Gas
• $14.91 - picked up sandwiches for skiing at Subway
• $71 - lift tickets (2 of us have passes, so this was just for me + my youngest)
• $139.42 - groceries at Costco. Good thing we stocked up, because the snow came the next day!
• Tuesday (1/17) - M & I met for lunch, since I was working from home.
• $27.86 - lunch at PF Changs
• $14.78 - an eyebrow filler/pencil at Sephora.
• Wednesday (1/18) - no spend day. :-)
• Thursday (1/19)
• $2 - made the very snowy trek to the grocery store for pasta, which we were out of.
• $9.30 for beer. M needed it, badly. :-)
• Friday (1/20)
• $30 - Took the kids to the gym daycare, so M & I could squeeze in a few meetings. I was supposed to use my gift card to pay for this, but forgot the card at home. Bummer.
• Saturday (1/21)
• $64.15 - groceries from Costco
• $13.94 - dishwasher soap (comes out of our household budget)
• -$21.89 - returned a pair of yoga pants to Costco
• $100 - dinner out with M for date night. I think. Haven't seen the credit card charge, & M signed for it.
• Sunday (1/22)
• $71 - ski lift tickets
• $7 - hot chocolate + fries at the ski lodge

 Total spend = $586.39. Totally it up, it's more than I thought it would be! I guess the two ski trips in one week, plus the date night dinner out made this week similar to others. Bummer. Above last week's spending by about $3. :-)

Weekly Spending Report (1/9/12-1/15/12)

Whew, where did last week go? My sister & I took our kids to a water park (delayed birthday celebration for my nephew, who broke his collarbone & couldn't go in December), schools were closed for MLK Day, we took the kids skiing, we had a snow day, the list goes on. :-) We're expected to get more snow tonight, but the weather forecast has been pretty off so far. We shall see.

Anyway, here's the spending recap for last week.

• Monday (1/9)
• No spend day. Hurrah! :-)
• Tuesday (1/10)
• $73.48 - groceries at Costco
• $42.73 - tax preparation software
• Wednesday (1/11)
• $326 - two tuition credits for the kids
• $44.65 - birthday gifts for my youngest at Toys R Us. I picked up gifts for my mom, so I'll be getting reimbursed for part of this.
• $6 - lunch at Nordstrom Cafe. This was for the tip - we had a gift card for the rest.
• -$194.91 - M returned his jeans he bought last week, because he found a similar pair for much less.
• $97.35 - M's "sale" jeans. ;-)
• $9.71 - car wash, after taking the car on the mountain roads for skiing.
• Thursday (1/12)
• -$45.96 - Returned a coat to Lands End that doesn't fit my son.
• Friday (1/13)
• $15.60 - Quiznos for lunch, on the way to the water park.
• Saturday (1/14)
• $65.54 - Gas
• $15 - lunch at McDonalds on the way home from the water park.
• $128.03 - remaining charges for the water park. Includes room tax, dinner on Friday night, breakfast on Saturday, etc.
• Sunday (1/15)
• Child care, massage, & lunch at the gym. All on a gift card.

Total spend = $583.02. Wow! Considering that $326 of that was for tuition credits for the kids, that's a huge improvement for me. :-) How did your spending go last week?

Weekly Spending Report (1/2-1/8/12)

Here's what we spent this week. Overall, I feel like it was a fairly reasonable week. I made some tweaks to offset the cost of the race registrations (returned some clothes), we ate out using a gift card, I ended up cutting back on a gift from $75 to $50. In addition, I did not buy myself a ski pass when we took the kids skiing yesterday. Even though I really wanted to ski while my son was in lessons, it seemed silly to buy the pass when I knew I would only be able to ski by myself for a few hours. In the end, my son was ready to ride the lift after his lessons, and I sat out while everyone else skied. It sucked, & I'll definitely buy myself a ski pass next time. Oh well, lesson learned.

The areas where we spent more than anticipated:
-My race registrations. I knew this was coming, but didn't budget this for January.
-$320 for the kids for spring baseball. Also knew this was coming, but had no idea the registration happened in January. (This was our first time signing the kids up.)
-M's jeans
-I didn't know we needed a ski pass for N (our youngest) until a few days ago. His ski lessons required it, so it was a must do.

• Monday (1/2):
• $63.29 - Groceries at Costco
• $70.95 - sheet set at Costco
• $5 - tip on lunch out with M. (Had a gift card for the remaining amount)
• Tuesday (1/3):
• $50 - graduation gift for my cousin
• Wednesday (1/4):
• $38.10 - race registration for 10K in March
• $108 - race registration for 1/2 marathon in May
• -$70.95 (returned a different sheet set that was the wrong color)
• Thursday (1/5):
• $1.99 - Safeway for lentils. Hoping to make ham & split pea soup for my lunches.
• $50.88 - Gas
• $1.15 - smoothie at the gym. On gift card. :-)
• Friday (1/6):
• -$29.75 - returned a couple of tops to the Gap
• -$26.27 - returned a jacked & top to Lands End
• -$30.85 - returned a couple of other tops to Lands End
• $320 - registered the boys for spring Little League. I didn't know the registrations were coming up in January, so this is an unbudgeted expense. However, they only had 5 spots left in their age group, so I bit the bullet & registered them. In order to keep the budget on track, I need to find that money from some other spot.
• $1.15 - smoothie at the gym. On gift card.
• Saturday (1/7):
• $23.43 - Safeway for groceries. I had to pick up some snacks/drinks for our mini trip next weekend. We're staying overnight at a water park with my sister & her kids, and it's much cheaper to bring snacks from home.
• $194.91 - jeans for M. He ripped out his old jeans, and applied $100 of Christmas money to this purchase. Still over our budget, but he buys jeans one time per year, and this is his preferred brand.
• Sunday (1/8):
• $12 - ski pass for my little guy.

Total spent for the week = $780.73. A huge improvement over most of our other weeks, like this one, for example! How did you do on your spending for the week?

Weekly Spending Wrap Up (12/5-12/11/11)

Honestly, I was a little (okay, quite a bit) embarassed to write this one. Lots of places I could have made smarter spending choices. But, I'll be honest & just put it out there.
Here's what we spent for the week:

Monday (12/5):

• M & I met for lunch, but used a gift card. OOP = $0
• $9.78 - silk camisole at the Loft
• $18.53 - Rite Aid. Facial cleansing wipes (x2) for my gym bag + eye brow pencil
• $90 - cleaning for our vacation house. This was an error, & supposed to be $75, but I'll get a credit on our next cleaning.

Tuesday (12/6):

• No spend day

Wednesday (12/7):

• No spend day

Thursday (12/8):

• $45.65 - shoes for my oldest, who managed to destroy his existing pair. The kids go through their shoes so quickly!
• $128.74 - Costco for groceries. I've already reviewed the list & determined ways to cut back for next time. No more buying pre-shredded cheese. Our groceries our too high, & I can shred it myself & save the money. I'll continue to review our receipts to look for other ways to cut back.

Friday (12/9):

• $48.73 - new jeans for me at American Eagle
• $54.73 - a couple of new tops at Ann Taylor
• $13.91 - 2 Christmas gifts at Gap. We were done with our shopping, but M wanted to pick up hats for our friend's daughters. :-)
• $178.69 - Gap, clothes for me. 4 sweaters + a couple of tops + a pair of jeans.
• $54.74 - dress for me at White House/Black Market.
• $3.79 - Amazon for books for my Kindle for my next trip.

Saturday (12/10):

• $1.15 - protein smoothie at the gym, OOP = $0. On a gift card.
• $94.50 - haircuts for all four members of the family
• $3.79 - cookies at Safeway for our holiday party last night
• $109.45 - ski shop, for new ski boots for my oldest. I'll be consigning the pair that's too small, so I'll hopefully get $20 or so back.
• $565 - swimming lessons for 3 months for two kids.

Sunday (12/11):

• $4.04 - McDonald's. Bribe for my youngest child. We stood in line for 40 minutes (outside, in 35 degree weather) to see Santa yesterday. When we were 2 people from the front of the line, Santa took a one hour lunch break. I was not about to wait another hour, so I bribed my child with a Happy Meal. Best money I spent all week.
• $1.15 - Protein smoothie at the gym. OOP = $0. On a gift card.
• $12.50 - childcare at the gym. OOP = $0. On a gift card.
• $85 - pizza for our holiday party. This was intentionally more than we needed, as we sent home pizza for a meal for our friends.

Total spent for the week = $1419.07

Good:
-Two no spend days
-Only went grocery shopping once! :-) Quite an improvement for us.

Bad:
-I was overcharged for a cleaning service at our vacation house. I'm irritated, because I do our own laundry to save $15 (it's nearly impossible to get the house cleaned & ready to go while the kids are running around & we pack/load the car/ensure all lights are off, etc) so every other time we go, I have the bathrooms deep cleaned, etc. I'll get the money back in January, but it pushed my budget over.
-$565 for swimming lessons for two kids. It's for 3 months, and the instruction is amazing, but it's crazy expensive. I'm looking into cheaper options for my older son, who's ready for a more advanced program anyway.
-I opted to do take out for our holiday party this weekend. I could have prepared the food, but M was out skiing with our oldest child, & I was looking for convenience, rather than frugality.

Ugly:
-While I did need a few clothing items that were on my list (a new pair of jeans + a new sweater) & I can maybe count the new dress I bought (apparently I own only summer dresses, & we have an unexpected weekend trip where I'll need a dress), some of the other items were totally frivolous & just because I liked them. This time of year is *very* difficult for me with clothing shopping. The deals are great, I'm already at the mall for various gifts, & I try hard not to spend too much on clothing the rest of the year. I really didn't want to post this, but I figured it was best to confess. :-)

How did you do with your spending last week? Are you ever tempted to buy things for yourself at the holidays? :-)