the results are in

august was a challenge month at our house.

nathan and i committed to a month long spending fast, as well as a workout/diet regimen.

both were very successful!

like i said at the beginning of the month, we spend too much. not really out of our means.  but more than we should.  and mostly on silly things.  aka eating out.  which is probably why we are fat.  and by sticking to one goal, we were able to accomplish the other.

so, i have budgeted $400 a month for grocery shopping.  that includes toiletries and dog food.  

guess what ... this month we spent 374.96!  HOLY SMOKES PEOPLE!!! we stayed on budget.

as far as the spending fast goes - here is where we went over:

eating out - we had a few mishaps here and there - and so we spend about $48 eating out.

not perfect. but not bad either, if you ask me.  

other places we spent money

a babysitter. $35 (my family took us out to dinner and to see Viva Elvis.  free entertainment? yes please! i'll pony up to pay a babysitter in that case!)

pizza for said babysitter.  $20

and i shopped!  ugh! in my previous post i mentioned doing a photoshoot with my cousin.  so i purchased a new tripod and a reflector set that ive really been wanting.  with amazon prime free shipping - i spent $30

i also bought ice and water bottles for a picnic - at $7.54

i bought LBJ shoes - but that was allowed this month - at $47

nathan got a haircut - $18.  that was sort of a necessity.  he was getting shaggy, and as a salesman in front of people, he cant really put that off. 

nathan got some golf shirts and some going out shirts - all paid with gift cards!

so all in all - $140 and change spent eating out and shopping. not including the necessities i mentioned above. 

i have budgeted $100 for eating out and another $100 for shopping and entertainment.  so even with the necessities, we basically stayed on budget.  plus the left over from my AMAZING grocery shopping.

i cannot tell you how happy i am that we did this.  that we not only committed to it.  but we worked hard to stay on target.  even despite our moments of weakness, we were able to stay on budget. and therefore put money into savings this month!

thanks morgan for such a great idea!!!

as an added bonus.  i lost seven pounds.  

lay off me!

guys. i had a break down.

nope. my car is fine.

as is my nervous system.

but yesterday was the crappiest day ever. and, since i am an emotional eater. and nothing in my house is satisfying in that way (blaaarrrgh! weightloss goals!), i sent nathan off to buy me dinner and bring it home so i could mope in my pjs while stuffing my face.

it was 31$ we shouldnt have spent.

making us 34$ over our spending fast! (remember that silly 3$ smoothie?)

i felt horrible about it. but not horrible enough to stop us.

what i am telling myself is that its the 12th, that i know we are making dinner tonite at home. as we are tomorrow. and then its sunday. that will bring us halfway through the month. and if halfway through the month, we have only eaten out once, im pretty much considering that a miracle.

so, lay off me. im starving!

weekend spending

for those of you wondering (and i know you all are) how the weekend went. let me share.

on friday night, we had dinner with my parents. and rachel and alex drove in from cali!! so we were super excited. it also was a free dinner (thanks parentals!)

remember reading seventeen magazine when you were 12 and they always referred to your parents as either the parentals or the 'rents.  so weird. 

saturday we headed to tivoli village, because we still hadnt been yet, and i read they host a farmers market. SCORE!

we bought our fruits and veggies for the week, and only spent $12 buckaroos.

on the downside - while LBJ played in the splash pad and jungle gym, nathan bought a fruit smoothie for $3.

i know what you are thinking, its only $3.  but every time we spend three dollars, thats what we say - and then somehow, we've spent hundreds of dollars on little things. just like that.  hence the reason for the spending fast.

none the less - we are a full week in, and have only spent $3.  so thats pretty freaking good.

saturday afternoon my mum invited me to play penny slots.  she knew about my spending fast, and offered to give me the money to play.  so i went. obviously. im not going to turn down free fun!! 

sunday was church and then dinner at my parents again. and here we are monday night, and nathan is out golfing.

what?! golf isnt a necessity!

nope.  but nathan gets points for the tee times he books regularly, apparently. and had enough points for a free round.  so off he went to have a little r&r.

i think that i have enough food in my fridge and cupboard to last us the rest of the week for lunches and dinners, so im not expecting to spend much this week.

thursday night we are heading to az.  nathan and i have already talked about it, and i plan to make something we can take in the car with us.  one) saving the money and two) totally healthier than fast food on the road (see: weightloss blog)

we will see how the spending fast goes while in arizona.  i am hoping for a lot of sitting around the pool and bbqing so we dont spend money out.  but its hard to refuse when theres almost 20 other dee family members with other ideas ;o) 

i will check in next monday and let you know how it goes!

success!

i AM amazing.

i went to target today.  and i spent $3.48 on a pair of flipflops for LBJ.

(as you recall, i allowed myself money for LBJs shoes this month)

i didnt buy anything off the clearance rack for me.

i didnt get that snickers bar staring at me.

i didnt buy any earings.

i got the shoes.

and i left.

TAKE THAT 30 DAY SPENDING FAST!

ps i also bought real sneakers and church shoes for him - at another store. i dont want you to think that i am just going to make my kid live in flipflops for the rest of the year.

spending fast update

two days into our spending fast and so far so good.

mostly.

our costco membership ended yesterday, so i had to renew it. which i wasnt planning on. but it had to be done.

so i made a menu, and only bought the things i needed for the lunches and dinners.

yay for nikki!

the plan is not to go back to the store until next tuesday.

and thats the update!

money money money

nathan and i are extremely lucky.  we have extremely similar spending habits, and therefore rarely (if ever?) fight over money.  we both like to eat out (weird, huh) and arent big shoppers.

last week, i spent almost an entire day tracking our last 7 months worth of spending.  literally breaking it down line by line and looking at our visa, amex and atm/bank cards.  what i found was unsurprising.  we spend more than we should, and most of that extra spending goes to food.  we have a budget, that we apparently have NEVER stuck to.  except for april.  i dont know what happened in april, but april was good to us.  i want every month to be like april. 

so - i have challenged nathan to a month long spending fast, beginning today.  this is going to be hard, as we are going to arizona for a weekend, my penpal and her husband are going to stop in for a couple of days, and then some family is coming to town for the last weekend of the month.  its kind of intense to actually think about it.

but, i really want to do it. mostly so we can FEEL where the money is going.  we know enough to not really spend over our means, but we also aren't entirely careful.  so this month is necessities only.  bills, gas, and food at the grocery store.  

it means no buying any amazon mp3s (nathan)

it means no buying any golf equipment or art supplies or random things at target (mostly me)

no clothes (i am giving myself one exception there - lbj has grown out o f his shoes, so i am going to have to buy him one pair)

and especially no eating out (both of us!)

ill let you know how it goes.  wish us luck!

as a side note, i read this blog: morgan makes cents

her brother and i were friends once upon a time, so i started blogstalking her 

and now she is doing a YEAR LONG spending fast. shes intense. and awesome.