Fuel – 32.56
Soda – 9.04
Stamp – 0.42
Gift Certificates – 2.40
Credit Card Payment – 16.00
Dining Out – 12.82
Alcohol – 55.00
Dogs – 5.00
Groceries – 18.49
Total = 151.73
I had two No Spend Days on 11/15 and 11/16.
Posts tagged Shopping
Weekly Spending Report
Nov 8th – Nov 14th
Fuel – $50.10
Groceries – $143.07
Pet Items – $9.62
Utilities/Water – $173.48
Dining Out – $15.49
Gym Membership – $64.20
Newspaper Subscription – $5.42
Credit Card Debt – $22.35
Student Loans – $85.00
Total = $568.70
I went crazy at the grocery store. There’s no way I should have spent nearly $150!! That’s just unacceptable.
Weekend Overview
Saturday I went to my family’s friend’s wedding. It was a very nice ceremony, the dresses were beautiful, & the reception was fun. The wedding cake was awesome & the dinner was good too. But all-in-all, I still don’t like the fact that I spent all my “left-over” money on a dress & shoes. I get paid this coming Friday. Until then I have $6.80 in my checking account. How pathetic??!?!?! I was able to get gas on Sunday while I was working at the convience store, but gas prices have gone back up. It was up about $0.11 from the last time I fueled up. Completely disgusting if you ask me. Even though the gas prices move upward, I was still busy with plenty of customers. It amazes me. I didn’t have one single no-spend day this weekend either.
Today I went to the gym & then went to Wal-Mart with my mom. Again I ended up spending money, but I needed a few groceries. I’m not much of a morning person & I don’t really have time to cook. So I prefer to just eat cereal for breakfast while I’m getting ready for work. I also needed a few apples for snacks through out the week. My mom suggested that I try to slowly lessen my Diet Mountain Dew intake by buying some juice instead. Therefore I bought a container of Ocean Spray Light Cran-Grape Juice. But Wal-Mart did have 6pk Pepsi products for 2/$3.00, so I ended up buying some. I know that pop (or soda as some call it) can cost quite bit if you’re drinking enough. I really should cut back. If I replaced every other can of pop with water, I could put the money towards my debt. Another thing that would help save money is if I went to cash only. It’s so easy to lose track of the money I spend when swiping my debit card. Starting this Friday, I’ll start carrying cash instead of my card. We’ll see if that makes a difference in my spending.
Another thing to consider is the electricity bill & water bill. I’ve started slacking on making sure things that are not in use are not plugged in. I need to go back to making a conscious effort to unplug everything I can. I also need to stop taking baths. This is going to kill me because I LOVE baths. However it really is such a waste of money. Also there’s something wrong with our toilet. It keeps running long after the tank has filled. We either have to sit there & wait for it to fill & then pull the lever-thing up, or forget about it & the water runs forever! That’s another huge waste of water. Hopefully there’s a cheap & easy way to fix it.
End of the Week
Blogging has started to become a little difficult for me. I don’t lead a very exciting life so there’s not much for me to post about. However, at times it makes me feel more accomplished when I write things down. There have been a lot of set backs this month when it comes to paying off my debt. All I’ve been doing lately is spending money. Grrr…
First, my manager’s Step-Mother passed away this week & so everyone in my office decided to pitch in a few dollars to buy a gift for her family. I donated $5.00.
Second, my parents’ friends’ daughter is getting married this weekend. I’m not much for dressing up so my mom decided it would be good for me to buy a new dress. I bought a plain black dress with white trim. It’s practical, comfortable & I can wear it to any occasion; weddings, birthdays, funerals. etc. That cost me $40.00. Then I had to buy some nylons because I never wear nylons. That cost me another $20.00.
Then I needed new dress shoes to go with my dress. Again I bought some practical & comfortable not-too-high black high heels. Since they were under $20.00, mom made me get a second pair of not-too-high black high heels, but in a different style. Both of these pairs I can wear to work, along with the dress. The second pair of shoes cost me a little over $20.00. That’s ok though because since I can wear all this stuff to work as “professional attire,” I’m going to write them off my taxes as a work expense. The outfit will also come in handy again next month for another wedding I have to attend. My mom also convinced me that I needed new earrings to go with my dress. Those I didn’t pay for though. Let me just say being a girl is tough work!! I’m not much for the whole dressing up thing & I’d rather not wear a dress. I’m more comfortable in pants.
The worst thing is not just the spending money, in order to be at the wedding I had to take the day off of from my part-time job to be there. So there’s a loss of funds from missing work. Ugh!
CVS Trip
2 Bic Wite Out – 2/$3.00 – $1.00 Off Coupon = $2.00
2 Glade Airfreshner – $0.88 ea – BOGO Free Coupon = $0.88
2 Puffs boxes – $0.88 ea – (2) $0.25 off Coupons = $1.26
3 Crest Toothpaste – $1.99 ea – (3) $1.00 EBC ea – (3) $1.00 Off Coupons = +0.03
4 Oral-B Toothbrushes – $1.99 ea – (4) EBC ea – (2) 2/$1.00 Off Coupons = $1.96
Subtotal = $14.50
Total ECB = $7.00
Grand Total = $7.50
Not bad I’d say. Yes, I still spent $7.50 of my own money. But I still think I did a good job. Toothpaste & toothbrushes should last a while!
First No-Spend Day In Awhile
As the title reads, today is the first no-spend day I’ve had in awhile. It’s about darn time! I always end up spending money (usually way too much) when I’m with family or friends. Peer pressure is not a friend of mine! This is why sometimes I’m glad I have a part-time job. As long as I’m working 7 days a week it’s makes it more difficult for me to go out & spend. Once I’m done working all I really want to do is go home, watch TV, or lay down. Although, working at a convience store has it’s downfalls too. I LOVE food. Not sure if I’ve mentioned that before, but I do! And of course, convience stores have lots of junk food. Plus, I work mornings there & I’m not a morning person so I usually end up buying something to eat for breakfast.
I only plan on keeping my part-time job until the end of October at the very latest. Once November comes & it gets closer to the end of the year & the beginning of the new year, that’s when things kick into overdrive at my full-time job. Last year there were plenty of opportunities to work overtime & that should sustain me through the winter. Plus, I’d rather not drive 7 days a week in the winter time. MidWest winters are not good ones by any means. They’ve been getting progressively worse the last few years & the less I’m actually on the road, the better. Plus, it makes more sense to work overtime at the full-time job that pays higher then to keep a part-time job that pays less.
I’m still waiting on my rebates from recycling my cell phone & laptop. They say it takes 4-8 weeks to send the gift cards. They estimate I’ll receive the cell phone rebate in the 2nd week of Sept. The laptop rebate isn’t supposed to show up until the middle of October. Patience is something I’ve never been very good at.
One last thought – Everyone please pray that I get the new position I posted for at work. It pays quite a bit more than what I make now.
New Week
Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to post yesterday. I spent Day Off #2 out of town visiting family. We left the house at around 8:40am & got to my relatives’ house at about 11am. We spent a few hours at their house, checking out the remodeling they did & catching up on everything. Then we went out to lunch at The Cheesecake Factory. I’ve only been there twice. They have really good food, but extremely expensive. After lunch, we decided to take a look around the nearby mall. So not only did we spend quite a bit on food, but then I bought some clothes & cosmetics that were completely unnecessary. I have a cosmetics addiction! I love bright eyeshadows & different lipsticks. I’ve been so terrible lately! I can’t seem to control myself. However, today I made sure I locked up all of my credit cards so I can’t be tempted anymore. 2 credit cards are already cut up. I’m not cutting the other one up in case I need it for an emergency.
I’ve decided that my goal for 2008 is to pay off my credit cards before January 2009. Once that goal is accomplished, I’ll start sending the money from the credit card payments toward paying off my auto loan. Right now I need to buckle down & seriously stop spending money. If I can do that, then there’s no reason I couldn’t have the credit cards paid off before 2009. I really need to be credit card debt free so I can get everything else paid off. The faster I pay down my debt, the more money I’ll save on interest & the sooner I can get my emergency fund fully funded.
Anyway, to finish up my family outting, after shopping we headed back to my relatives’ house, talked some more & then headed back home around 6:30pm. We didn’t get back home until almost 9pm. I was so very tired for the day’s events. My mom & I were supposed to go to the gym this morning for Zumba class, but we ended up sleeping in late. I really needed. My alarm went off 5 or 6 times before I could actually pull myself out of bed.
Clothing
I’m not really that interested in buying clothes. One, because most of them are too expensive for what you get. Two, because I’ve gained weight in the last few years & I know I have perfectly good clothing that I could be wearing if I would force myself to lose weight again. It’s a struggle for me, but I have been going back to the gym regularly again. Now only if I could stop loving food!! I really do love food! But as my mom says, “nothing tastes as good as thin feels.” For the most part she’s right, but there are some pretty darn good tasting foods out there! Anyway, back to the point… I can’t really remember the last time I went clothes shopping. At work, we are casual-comfy, so we get away with wearing jeans & t-shirts all the time. So the only “shopping” I’ve done per se in awhile has been to buy a pair of jeans or two in the last year. Until now. I decided that I needed a belt. So I went to my favorite store, Hot Topic. I love everything about this place! It’s sort of punk meets goth. I love it.
I was shopping for a belt when I happened to see the cutest gray & purple shirt. It was on sale for $13. I decided that I couldn’t leave without it. Then I saw 2 more shirts that I really liked, but they were both full price. $22 & $11. I bought them anyway. Then I was looking at the body jewelry. (I have 13 piercings.) I have 4 piercings in each ear, but I don’t always wear earrings in 3 of them. So I decided to buy some half-hoop earrings to put in all 4 sets of holes. That way I don’t have to worry about taking them out. All in all, I spent a lot! There goes my budget for the month! 
I’m disappointed with myself, but I don’t usually buy clothing so I figure this one splurge is OK. But it can’t happen again! Now I must focus all of my efforts towards recovering the amount I spent & then some. I’ve been trying to participate in several online surveys. So far I’ve made $7.00 on one & will be receiving a check in 4-8 weeks. Gosh! That stuff takes forever. Oh well, it’s $7.00 I didn’t have before.
