***spending freeze 2013 check in wk 1***

[sweetnsour]

We did okay. I had my hair done, bought gas, went to the grocery store and sam's club. I noticed I didn't buy drinks while we were out running errands. I think I have to sit down with my husband and come up with better goals.

[Deleted]

::comes out of lurkdom::

Positive: I paid off two credit cards on the second, which feels like a GREAT way to start off the year.

We've made a few trips to the produce market and grocery store, and so far we seem on track for our new monthly food budget. We also had to get dog food and pay some utilities and rent, but again, that's all included in our budget.

Negative: DH spent $12 on a new dog bed, $8 on a new shirt, and $3.50 on a smoothie. :@ The first two were impulse buys, and the third was due to not packing a post-workout snack.

It's a huge improvement, but we've still got some things to work on.

[Deleted]

I've done good in that I haven't eaten any FF or gotten Starbucks. So far we went to a restaurant once & that's it. That is really good for me for 7 days.

Shopping...I'm doing OK at. My steam cleaner died & DH had a $200 one picked out for me on Amazon. I went back & changed it to a $50 one & ordered that one. I also deleted the tights he had picked out for the girls ($10/each & 3 pairs each kid). He was proud when I knocked off so much $$ off our shopping cart. Now I went to BRU today & bought tights for the younger 2 (3 for $10!!) & some stuff for the baby. I spent $250 which is not great but I got almost all necessities for the baby. So all & all doing pretty good so far.

[genet313]

I did so bad...we ate out/got take out twice, and had brunch (so like $150) and although not super-expensive, the one place was supposed to be decent pizza, and it was not.

I also needed new Sports bras so spent $$ at Sports Authority.

Note to NYCers: Do not try Ovest Pizza. $20 for a personal pizza and it had no flavor. So disappointing.

Though I did sell an old bookshelf on Craigslist, which offset the cost of the $350 bookshelf I just purchased. So...whee.

[Deleted]

I am joining you guys. I did our budget for this year this morning and it wasnt pretty. Having a kid is expensive. Good news is that I thought we would have to pull from our nest egg to cover my maternity leave and we do not have to. We will actually add to savings for the first half of the year while we arent paying daycare.

I bought lunch today, a $5 jacket from baby gap and 2 necklaces this morning off veryjane for $10. I dont even want to count what I did last week. I also bought a groupon for a froyo place. Thats my last hurrah.

This week i am going to try to:
Bring my lunch the remainder of the week
Not buy anything else I dont need.

[barefootcontessa]

Jan 7, 2013 12:54:36 GMT -5 raangoli said:

Jan 7, 2013 12:08:27 GMT -5 barefootcontessa said:

I only bought gas and groceries. Not sure what DH did. Gas was $75. I used grocery store points and paid $2.82/gallon.

I am back on the coupon-sales match train.

For $140, I got:
- 7 bottles of Tide Free
- 60 rolls if toilet paper
- 200 kitchen trash bags
- 5 large bottles of dish soap
- 8 boxes of Rice Crispies
- 2 packs of bacon
- 5 pounds of organic pears
- 5 pounds organic apples
- lettuce
- 10 pounds of bananas
- 2 packs of jello
- 2 dozen eggs
- quart of half-n-half
- 2 gallons of milk
- 5 boxes of spaghetti
- 2 large containers of greek yogurt
- 2 pounds of block cheddar

What do you do with 10lbs of bananas? Does your family eat a lot of fruit?

I have four children.

[Deleted]

Jan 7, 2013 16:05:44 GMT -5 barefootcontessa said:

Jan 7, 2013 12:54:36 GMT -5 raangoli said:

What do you do with 10lbs of bananas? Does your family eat a lot of fruit?

I have four children.

I need to fly you out to teach me. I'm impressed! I just $70 on nothing at the Grocery store.

[cjeanette]

We did awesome. $80 for groceries for the week. That also included chicken and pork chops that were on sale that we don't need this week.

The only eating out was from the salad bar at the grocery store. So $4.99 for me and DD.

[Deleted]

I got a free delivery code for peapod, so I made a $100 order there. I usually spend much more than $100 a week on groceries so as long as I dont eat out this week, it will be a super total win.

[Deleted]

Jan 7, 2013 15:43:07 GMT -5 genet313 said:

Note to NYCers: Do not try Ovest Pizza. $20 for a personal pizza and it had no flavor. So disappointing.

Hahaha, thanks That's kind of sad -- they're affiliated with Luzzo's which is quite yummy.

In that area, I really like Co., if you need more Neapolitan pizza options. (Donatella's is pretty good too).

[winnied]

We did pretty well!

We bought groceries under budget, with almost all meals being prepared at home. We also bought gas and gave a budgeted donation.

I'm proud of myself for not buying clothes online at all since early January. I only recently got into online clothes shopping, and haven't bought much, but I want to keep nipping it in the bud now.

[mactastic]

Can I join in on this as well? I feel like if I'm sharing with others, it makes me more accountable. Had a pretty good weekend, not so much in terms of what I spent, but rather what I could have spent, but didn't.
Friday: DH had to work, so I just stayed in and read. $0
Saturday: instead of going to a bar to watch the Packer game, we went to a friends house, and brought a sixer of beer. $9
Sun: DH worked again, so I went up to the mountains to ski. I already have my pass, and carpooled with a friend, and brought my own food, instead of spending 13 dollars on a hamburger. Total: $10 for gas. Overall, not bad!

also, I wanted to thank you ladies for the recommendations on our grocery budget. we usually spend about 125 dollars per week, and just going for sales, this week spent only 92!

[yellowbrkrd]

We did great! The only thing we spent money on was groceries, gas and then took out cash for our monthly "fun money".

I was really proud of us for making dinner and enjoying a free movie at home when our Saturday plans were canceled (we were supposed to go to another couple's house for dinner).

[childofhiphop]

Friday: Saw The Godfather at the theatre (tickets were a gift from my sister)

Remaining weekend I cooked and ate each meal at home (except Saturday - I used my free meal on my Red Robin card).

Only Slip: Went to Hobby Lobby and bought my 7 yo niece dollhouse furniture for the house she is building with my sister. Purely nostalgia since I used to build dollhouses too.

Only gas this morning.

[dulcedeleche]

We only ate out once this weekend - a cheap meal at Culvers. That may not seem that great, but that is really good for us! DH and I are really working on eating at home more, so we were happy about that.

Other than that, we bought gas, butter, and milk at the gas station. I have not gone grocery shopping because I am trying to clean out the pantry, fridge, and freezer.

[karinothing]

Jan 7, 2013 15:05:38 GMT -5 @jalh55 said:

::comes out of lurkdom::

Positive: I paid off two credit cards on the second, which feels like a GREAT way to start off the year.

We've made a few trips to the produce market and grocery store, and so far we seem on track for our new monthly food budget. We also had to get dog food and pay some utilities and rent, but again, that's all included in our budget.

Negative: DH spent $12 on a new dog bed, $8 on a new shirt, and $3.50 on a smoothie. The first two were impulse buys, and the third was due to not packing a post-workout snack.

It's a huge improvement, but we've still got some things to work on.

Great job paying off the credit cards!

[mskitkat]

So very failed this weekend. $500 at Ikea and dined out all weekend despite deliberately buying food supplies ahead of time.

In my defence, the Ikea stuff was furniture we planned and/or necessary. I got nothing on the food part, aside from my love of Ikea meatballs.

[Deleted]

I did pretty good. So far in 2013 I've spent about $15, between a workout DVD, a tip for a prepaid massage, and a Redbox movie.

We also spent $100ish on groceries and bought gas, but those aren't avoidable.

DH is out right now watching a football game, so we'll see what he spends.

But we haven't done any shopping, eating out, or spent any money on entertainment (other than the Redbox movie). I think that's pretty good considering it's basically Jan 8th at this point.

[gt7301b]

I am just focusing on our food line item. I spent 140 between Costco and the grocery store. I had to buy a lot of staples at Costco and we shouldn't need to go back for a few weeks. I am In training this week, so I left DH with meals for the week. Hopefully he will eat what I left and won't eat out.

[FishChicks]

We did a pretty good job. I only spent money on groceries, gas, and car repairs. I also got minimal groceries. The thing I'm most proud of: we came home and made our own lunch after being out at the mall to return some stuff. Since we eat out way too much, no meals out together was a big win.

[sopsyched]

Good: I was on budget for gas and groceries $50/$120
Bad: I went into target to buy hangers and walked out with a $40 picture as well...I'm pretty sure that is going back this weekend. My other goal is to only go to target once a week (or less)

I really, really, want to buy a home this year...I keep trying to ask myself if my purchases are helping that goal or hurting it...