Yet Another Way Credit Cards are Dangerous »
Low-Spend Challenge Update - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
How is it the end of August already? I am shocked at how quickly this month has passed. Since we leave for vacation on Saturday, these are my final results for the month. Not as good as I hoped, but just being more conscious of my spending has lowered it tremendously.
- Groceries: $289.08 ($89.08 over budget)
- Fuel: $510.38 ($39.62 under budget)
- Auto Repair: $311.34 ($31.34 over budget - we needed an oil change that I forgot about)
- Auto Inspections: $0 (budgeted $58, but I ran out of time to get this done before we leave - oops!)
- Fun Money: $361.44 ($161.44 over budget)
- Day trip to Martha’s Vineyard:$409.69 ($309.69 over budget - OUCH!)
- Waterfire in Providence: $94.84 ($5.16 under budget)
- Electronics: $333.53 ($333.53 over budget - no budget for this!)
So as you can see, not very good on the spending. However, I did say “the good” & I am happy to say that I made a little extra dough selling things on Craigslist & eBay. We brought in $235.11 by selling a laptop, phone, futon and chair. Great momentum going into Earn More September!
So what happened to the spending? The groceries are simple - we spent more than usual when we had house guests for the weekend and then had a salad week this week, which cost us a pretty penny. I also decided this month to include all household items in the grocery budget, while before I had them as seperate line items. So adding household items to the grocery budget + lowering the budget by $100 = going over budget. We were still under the “regular” budget of $300 this month, so I’m happy.
Martha’s Vineyard = budget disaster, but tons of fun! I made the classic budgeting mistake of not looking up any prices before making my budget. Yeah, no excuses. We had a great day with my in-laws. Doing what, you may ask? Well, we…
Rode on Mopeds
Checked out Lighthouses (Edgartown Lighthouse)
Jumped off bridges (My husband, father in law & sister in law's boyfriend)
I’m happy we spent the time together, even though it cost so much - we rarely see them and it was tons of fun! Next time I will be able to budget better for house guests.
August 28th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
I think you did fantastic! Hey, it wasn’t a No Spend Month, it was a Spend Less month, and you did! I call that success!!!!
Have a GREAT time on your vacation! Don’t forget the suncreen!
August 28th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Way to go, I’m with Sharon it was spend less, not no spend. And great head start for the earn more challenge!
August 30th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Meh. Life costs money
I spent quite a bit this month too, but interestingly enough, because of the stock market, my net worth INCREASED
Go figure
Am posting my #s tomorrow
August 31st, 2009 at 11:53 am
Thanks, everyone! I think if I did No Spend, I would be screwed. I am happy we were able to cut down on the spending and I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s successes!