January spending freeze update?

[SusanBAnthony]

I hope I am not stepping on toes by starting this post.  I just finished our January budget, and am proud of myself!  

Total spending was down 2K from December.  I am mostly just horrified by how much we spent in Dec. 
 
Highlights for me:
28$ on kids clothes, all planned, down over a 100$.
Misc. household, the catch-all target category, was 169$, it is often over 200.
No vacation, holiday, or adult clothing purchases!  
Gas spending was down 100$ (assuming DH has given me all his receipts, I need to get him to check all his pockets tonight).




How did everyone else do?

[aspentosh]

-We actually came in under budget for food!! First time we've spent less than $600 in a loooooong time.
-Spent $200 (food, decorations, present) for DD's birthday. Happy about that since we had 32 people over.
-We also spent less than $200 between us on "stuff". Some was more necessary while others weren't.
-Was able to get about $1500 reimbursed from FSA.

Overall we did great this month and I look forward to bringing the progress into Feb.

[lb2006]

We came under budget for the month by $150! I'm very proud of us & hope the success continues!

[SusanBAnthony]

Jan 31, 2013 13:11:46 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

I cut up my credit card at the beginning of the month and was am proud at the money I didn't spend because I couldn't. I don't have an exact figure, but still, I'm happy on stopping impulse-buys.

Bad news = I was in an accident on Monday so I don't know how much I'll be having to pay out of pocket for that yet...

It will be in the February budget    You still kicked January's butt!

Sorry about the accident, though, that sucks.

[rubytue]

I didn't sign up for this, but joined by default (see my other post).

Also, this was our first month budgeting and tracking spending, so I can't say much for sure. But I can say:
1) I didn't buy any clothing, jewelry, shoes, or makeup.
2) I spent more than I planned to spend on tolls. *shakes fist at ICC*
3) We shop at Costco too much.
4) They $4k of the truck we put on the cc (for points) is going to hurt this month (see also other post). We paid all cash for it, and while we still have the cash for the remaining $4k, right now I'd rather horde it. Lol

[phunluvin82]

Jan 31, 2013 13:11:46 GMT -5 milsaroo said:

I cut up my credit card at the beginning of the month and was am proud at the money I didn't spend because I couldn't. I don't have an exact figure, but still, I'm happy on stopping impulse-buys.

Bad news = I was in an accident on Monday so I don't know how much I'll be having to pay out of pocket for that yet...

Yup, this sounds familiar.  I put our CC's in the shredded earlier this month, and we have not been able to spend money on anything unless we had the $ in the bank.  It has been kind of stressful b/c our income is on the low end this month due to a few different things.  I never realized how much we were relying on the CC's until we didn't have them!

Bad news = furbaby has some sort of mystery growth on her paw and is limping, etc.  Two very costly vet visits later and we are still not sure what the thing was, though it's been removed.  We'll have her at the vet for the 3rd time this month to get her bandages changed and decide whether to send the growth to pathology to see what they can tell us (that alone would be $160, ugh).

[sh10]

We are under budget for eating out and groceries. Eating out the pantry and the freezer has been great!! We are also selling a table we don't need, so that is extra income and getting rid of crap we don't need. We also submitted our taxes last night, and we are getting $2k back, do that is exciting. I think we are getting it because MH started grad school this year. Normally we break even at tax time.

[galaxy8227]

We did really well with our spending. We didn't go out to breakfast once this month (usually it's at least 4), only had takeout once (usually 4) so that was huge for us. Didn't buy DS any clothes, only bought new clothes for me with giftcards from Xmas and started a gift line in our budget. I'm very happy with how January went for us. Hoping to do the same for February!

[IrishBelle]

This month was my first budgeting and tracking. I was $6 under budget on groceries and $4 under budget for gas. We had DD's birthday in January and had 30 family members here for her party so the grocery budget included food for that. Overall I think my grocery budget which also includes personal care, diapers, etc is realistic.

I'm trying to lose weight so that is helping me curb my clothes spending. I don't want to buy anything new until I reach my goal.

[Deleted]

I still have one week left in my January budget - just how my paycheck works out. I started the month with only half of what I normally have. I've managed not to use my CC and not to dig into savings. I've spent less on groceries, bought nothing home wise, and no clothes. I worked a Saturday and sold an old Silpada bracelet to bring in some extra. It looks like I will have about $100 left at the end of my month.

[bluelikejazz]

We did great. Grocery budget: $350. Spent: $260. Gas Budget: $400. Spent: $200. Misc Budget: $200. Spent: $40.

[cowboyjoe]

We did really well this month.

We are a little over on entertainment, but mostly because we didn't come up with a budget until after we had pretty much already blown through that catagory.

We are also over on groceries. But I got a steal from a local farmer that I could not pass up. 30lbs. of organic ground beef for $3/lb! We would have been on track otherwise. We've done great at actually eating leftovers.

[Deleted]

I didn't join the spending freeze, but I love talking money.

we did really well this month-came in 8.5% under budget with total spending at $3,663.

Things that hurt:

• Finding out one of my $100 Macy's Xmas GCs was never activated - shelled out an unexpected $80 OOP for work clothes.
• $300 in medical bills
• annual professional membership dues

Helped:

• treated OOT friends to dinner and they picked a really cheap BYOB sushi place - delicious meal for four with wine for $70ish? I was expecting to pay twice that for a nice dinner for everyone.
• Book of Mormon tickets were purchased last year so non-food entertainment costs were $0.

[karinothing]

Nope! Not stepping on toes. I posted a check in earlier this week pandce.proboards.com/thread/129620/spending-freeze-2013-week-4

But obviously we can have more than one!

[mmmomof2]

Jan 31, 2013 20:15:34 GMT -5 tacom said:

Things that hurt:

• Finding out one of my $100 Macy's Xmas GCs was never activated 

Awkward! Are you going to tell the giver? If I gave someone a giftcard that wasn't activated I would be mortified. I would definitely want to rectify the situation.

We were under in every discretionary category except for Auto-Fuel. Whomp whomp.  

[mmmomof2]

Jan 31, 2013 20:15:34 GMT -5 tacom said:

[Deleted]

Jan 31, 2013 21:21:36 GMT -5 mmmomof2 said:

Jan 31, 2013 20:15:34 GMT -5 tacom said:

Things that hurt:

• Finding out one of my $100 Macy's Xmas GCs was never activated 

Awkward! Are you going to tell the giver? If I gave someone a giftcard that wasn't activated I would be mortified. I would definitely want to rectify the situation.

It was from my boyfriend's parents, so I will say absolutely nothing. 

They have the money and would be mortified - I'm sure it was a mistake!

[bostonmichelle]

We did really good this month. Unexpectedly though, DH's computer died the other day so I bought him a tablet, but I got a bonus this week and a 5th paycheck this month. We went to a cash only system for our problem areas, groceries, dining out, household stuff, and miscellaneous. I think that helped a lot and we will continue with that this month.

[Cheerio]

I'm mostly just a lurker, but DH and I decided that we'd been overspending since we moved last February, so we tightened the belt this month. We were under budget in all categories except two:

- Our water bill was $1.33 more than expected. I think we can handle that, thoguh.
- DS had to have surgery. We had to pay our $3,000 deductible prior to the surgery. This money will be covered by our HSA, but since it's the beginning of the year and the HSA isn't funded yet, we had to pay out of pocket.