Week 2: doing better!

This week, I'm going to consult the Money Manager in my USAA bank account. I've set a goal limit for each line item, and it tracks my spending from my credit card, debit card, and Target card. It doesn't track my husband's spending, so that's the only thing really missing. Our spending is tracked for the entire month of January, so this chart shows the past 14 days.  The bars are categorized by percentage of budgeted spending, not by amount.Green means good, orange means "getting closer" and red means "ahhhhhhhhhhhhh"

  

When I first viewed this list I thought, "we're doing great!" but then I thought, "we bought gas, why isn't it here" and we had some other purchases not reflected.  I went back to review our checking account and how things were categorized, I saw some things were left out. So, I had to go into the checking area and categorize some items.  This is what it looked like at the end.

Our mortgage was paid.  We've done some charitable giving.  One of our goals was to meet numbers for Charitable giving, we are at about 1/4 of the bar, and half way through the month.... hmmm... we'll have to work on that item. We've paid one phone related bill - our internet. The rest of that line item goes to the cell phone.  The restaurants/dining line item reflects our spending over the birthday and anniversary weekend. And the ones down there are gas and groceries we've bought so far. At the very bottom is a line called "non-budgeted spending" and that's a catch-all for "other" which I would also like to keep really really low over time. 

  

This week I've done very well in not spending anything outside of groceries and gas (allowable). I've saved some items for reusing.  I've gone through our home to make it neater, more useable.  I have passed on some baby clothes to help another family save money! I announce this week to be a complete success! I can't wait to see how the rest of the month goes.  

Week 1: blowing it already.

So this week was a bust for saving, not spending. It wasn't a great way to start the new year, but I know I can start over tomorrow for the following week. We spent two extra days on vacation, meaning two more days of rental cars, two more days of dinners out, snacks for the plane, yesterday was our daughter's birthday so we went out to eat, and today was my husband and I's 6th anniversary of marriage, also a cause for an expensive celebration.

However, when I look at my "payments" outside of allowable spending for the year 1. groceries 2. sanctioned celebrations (birthdays and anniversaries). I didn't do too bad. I went out for lunch one day, which was a huge stress reliever and welcome break. I spent $12. It was awesome to go out by myself. I didn't NEED to, but I did. I also spent $10 on disposable diapers because we were traveling and we were out of diapers. At home today, I switched back to cloth diapering, which I hope will help us save money in the long run.  The pack of $10 diapers is almost gone, and I'd like to ration them a little bit. 

So overall this week, I didn't meet my goals, but I only spent $12 of money that could have been saved instead. 

I'm watching my credit card bill, and will try to analyze it at the end of each week for usage. This is where I spend most of my money every month, using the great plastic dragon. I am hoping I can cut my CC bill in half, quickly, and then we can save that money that I'm not spending.  It is tricky to make the CC bill my indicator for spending. In the past I've done things like, "I'd like to drink less caffeine, so I'm not going to have any coffee this week." Instead I'll drink a ton of soda. Then a few months later, I'll say, "I'm drinking too much caffeine, I'm not going to have any soda." And then I'm back to drinking coffee.  I seriously use my CC for almost every purchase, and I solemnly promise NOT to use cash or my debit card instead.  The CC will be a good indicator as much as I can possibly allow it. 



So, that's my report for this week, my weigh-in so to speak... 

Weightwatchers works because of two reasons 1. every week there is a weigh in, and 2. there is a big meeting where you meet other people who are trying to achieve the same goals. you share ideas of how to get there.

That's my plan for this blog. Let's Save It, Don't Spend It! And meet our money goals together!

Enjoying some last minute spending

I've been enjoying some last minute spending before 2012 begins and my wallet is closed.  I went to Target and got whatever I thought we "needed" before the year begun. I've also had a few excessive drinks at Starbucks.

You may think, "well, that kind of not spending isn't going to save us money," but it might.
Today for example, I went down to the National Mall with my kids. I stopped at Starbucks and spent $7. Later on, I brought the kids over to the carousel, which I thought they would enjoy looking at.  No, my son just wanted to play in the dirt. He glanced over at it a few times, but wasn't that intrigued. 

 I thought about my children then, and how wonderful and easy they were to entertain. Also, how cheap they were. I was gloating over my cheapness as a mother.  I was thinking how great it was that I hadn't bought them any presents for Christmas - and the beautiful thing was, they didn't even know they were supposed to get presents!  I am, and always have been a supreme cheap-o.

Well, 30 minutes into the dirt playing, little boy looks up and asks to go on the Carousel.  I could have told him, "no, sorry, we can't go on it." or "oh, that carousel is just for looking" and that would have been the end of it.  But in a moment of spending frivolity, I looked at the ticket booth which both took Credit, and allowed children under 1 in for free, I forked over my plastic and spent another $7 for the day.

So we had our delightful 3 minute carousel ride. 

And 20 minutes later they were both playing in the dirt again.

Most young children are really easy to entertain and don't need fancy toys, snacks, or entertainment devices.  I was reading the newspaper this morning and Suri Holmes asked for $130,000 worth of presents, including a pony, diamond earrings and a fairy princess dress, all of which her parents were going to buy for her.   Does a 5 year old really need that stuff, probably not. No, definitely not.

What else could $130,000 buy? In Waslala, Nicaragua, a college student project has turned into a Social Justice project that is transforming lives. Water for Waslala  is seeking to provide clean drinking water to the entire state of Waslala.  So far, they have provided water to 3000 people in 12 rural villages.  It takes $100 to provide one man, woman, or child clean drinking water for life. Suri's Christmas list could supply clean water to 1,300 people for the rest of their lives.

So what about my $14 adventure today? Does that really make a difference in spending? Well, yeah. Since I go out almost every day with my kids, it does.  I try to limit my spending to once a week. $14 once a week is $728.  That's 7 Waslalans with access to clean drinking water, that's almost 4 months of student loan payments, that's enough for....

A cow - $500

A flock of chicks - $20
 

A pig - $120

A flock of geese - $20

 

 

 

 

 

 ...from Heifer International with $8 left over for a modest Starbucks trip for you and a friend - or two rides on the Carousel, plus $1 for a homeless dude.  That $728 is money that can transform lives and make the world a better place.  To me, that's what this year is about.  I want to spend less frivolously so that others may have more. Even when it means paying extra on student loans or building up savings, it means that we pay less interest in the long run - and are able to have more money later to give away, or if we have savings - we build a safety net which we can rely on instead of needing to go into debt.  

A trio of rabbits - $60