monthly recap
November Recap & December Goals
November was a surprisingly good month for my budget but not such a great one for meeting goals. I only overspent in two categories, and the money I saved in other areas more than made up for it. I should note that my monthly budget does not include our Christmas budget, which we set up separately. Budget-wise, here is how I did for November (over budget categories are in red; under budget in green): Groceries: budgeted $350.00, spent $285.41 (I fully expected to go over in this category this month, considering that last November I think I spent close to$350 just buying my groceries for Thanksgiving dinner.) Eating Out: budgeted $150.00, ... read more
October Recap & November Goals
October was another month that just flew by. Did I miss a memo somewhere about time speeding up in 2010? I can’t believe the year is almost over! Seriously, where did it go? Budget-wise, I didn’t do too badly, but also not as great as I had hoped, either. I was actually feeling really confident about coming in well below budget all month until a few days ago, when my husband unexpectedly handed me a pile of receipts for purchases he had made during the month. It was nothing shocking–gas, haircut, auto parts store, pizza, a night out on the town with friends–but it definitely added up! Budget-wise, here is ... read more
September Recap & October Goals
I meant to post this budget recap yesterday but I was so excited about my new couponing series that I decided to put the boring stuff off for a day. I don’t know how it was for you, but September flew by for me. I actually felt like I blinked and the month was over. I had a lot of things on my list that I wanted to accomplish, and looking back, perhaps I was a little overly ambitious. (Me? Overly ambitious? No!) I think I ended up being able to cross off only half my list, but as my 4 year old likes to say, “neh neh, nevermind.” On ... read more
August End-of-Month Budget Recap
September marks the beginning of my third month on my new budget. When I started this adventure two months ago, our marital spats about money had reached epic proportions. We had just spent the first half of the year remodeling our home, and while we had saved for our remodel for more than three years, done much of the work ourselves, and shopped around as much as possible to get good deals wherever we could, we still found that everything cost more and took longer than we anticipated. Remodeling is expensive! By June, my husband, by nature a thrifty and money-savvy guy, just couldn’t take any more spending. It didn’t ... read more
New Beginnings
I have always loved the back-to-school season. There is something about the hint of fall in the air, new school supplies and school clothes, the idea of a fresh start that just gets me every time. It has been many years since I was a student, but now, finally, this year I have a child old enough to go “back to school” for the first time. Today was Princess’ first day of pre-K. She picked her own outfit (her favorite “zebra-ina” dress, as my husband calls it), was up and dressed before I was this morning, and I watched as my suddenly-very-grown up little girl marched into her classroom, sat ... read more
