SPENDING FREEZE- Part Four. Is this over YET?

These are personal notes from my experience doing a Spending Freeze for the month of November.  For more info, see our first Blog about it at: SPENDING FREEZE- THE PLAN

Description:

RED is what we spent in excesses or was not "needed"

GREEN was money we brought in or "saved"

ORANGE was free stuff

PURPLE was spending that was necessary to living like bills or groceries

Day 18:

5 yr old has no school for next two days (well, next week, too) so we decided to "be still like vegetables.  Lay like broccoli" 

Activity-

• Housework day since I'm vegging
• Talked forever on the phone with out of state BFF and sister which should burn a TON of calories (I pace while I talk)
• Went for a 4+ bike ride while hubby jogged FREE

Spent today-

• $50 (!!!!!) for tanning for daughter and myself.  Was SO not on purpose!  Told tanning salon to put our account on "hold" through December (I had decided to cancel), and apparently the little receptionist could not count that far...and I can't proof my contract. :(  Have been trying to get ahold of the company but they're NOT calling me back.
• Hubby spent .85 for a candy bar at work.  Total shocker since he doesn't eat candy.
• Hubby brought home from work 4 member passes for the Seattle Art Museum to lend to a friend- FREE

Day 19:

Busy, busy, day and most of it before noon! Ugh.

Activity-

• Allergy shot day
• Ran some small errands like library, gas, post office, pharmacy, trip to the high school, grocery store and ATM
• Since I had two unexpected errands, we missed breakfast and were going to miss lunch so HAD to eat out.
• Chiropractor appointment (hopefully helps this 2 week headache).  This is special from our regular appt since it's Costumer Appreciation Day so fees were discounted

Spent today-

• Paid $120.32 for milk bill.  This was for 3 months worth.  NORMALLY pay monthly but they switched the deliver date, and they wanted us to start paying online which threw me off 
• Pharmacy prescription for daughter (she got strep throat) was .78  -thank God for insurance!
• Had to get gas $48.00 for my car and Dave had to get some for his $41.23
• Chiro $30 for myself, daughter and husband (included his XRays)
• McD's was FREE since I just used my Monopoly game pieces.  Saved $7.27
• Spent $46.00 at Wal-Mart (vomit. Hate that store) which included two undershirts for my daughter (she's cold at work), ingredients for a special French toast recipe and some socks.  Also, bought some items for Christmas charity.  Spent "extra" because of the clearance aisle (I KNOW- shouldn't have walked there) but they had small Lego figures for $7.00 (normally they are $12 and since this is something I was GOING to buy next month, technically I saved $5.00!).  
• "Made" $6.50 from rebate from license fee for husband's car
• OK.....in the clearance aisle was also a Transformer costume my 5 yr old flipped over (mask and everything!) so after his chiro appt, I had my hubby pick it up $14.00 for Christmas.  Though technically NOT on our "list" it was a good gift for him and saved us $10.00. Also, we needed coffee so he picked that up for $4.79 (never heard of 8 o'clock coffee...not sure if anybody should buy a LB of coffee for the same price as a cup)

Day 20:

Activity-

• Hubby went for a hike up Mt Peak- FREE (no, I didn't go- slept in)
• Had an "at home day" and scanned old Halloween pics to computer

Spent today-

• $0

Day 21:

BIG snow storm coming!  Batten down the hatches!  Stock up on food!

Activity-

• We continued to scan photos
• Ran errands- library, post office, and store

Spent today-

• MY BAD!!!!!!  We were running all over and popped into McDonald's to use some of our Monopoly coupons and I totally left them on the table!  Darn, darn, darn.  $22.57
• Went to Fred Meyer for our "FREE" turkey (if you spend $150).  We spent $190.11 but they OVER CHARGED us (watch those receipts!) so total ended up being $175.21.  Turkey was free so saved us $22.42.

Day 22:

Snow was so bad that my hubby came home from work early and we drove our 16yr old to HER job.  Roads were clear at 4pm but by the time we left Costco, it was a complete storm!  Daughter's work decided to close early so hubby and I were stuck waiting for her to close so ate out.  We didn't get home until AFTER 8pm!

Activity-

• Drove daughter to work, then hit Costco, and mall.

Spent today-

• Went to Costco- ugh trip.  Got lightbulbs, ground turkey and other other food items.  My middle child has NO COAT so we had to pick one up (bought two so he could have a choice but I'll return it) and then we got three Christmas items we got but all were items we had planned and I didn't want them not available later (and one took a coupon).  Hmmm....also bought Christmas tree lights for the outside of our house.  My husband says this is an extravagance but I think it's a necessity since we've had the old strand for about 10 years so spent a total of $284.00.  Looked outside and it was a WALL of snow so bought two coffees for $2.19.  Coupons made us save $14.75
• Since we had to kill time, we went to the mall and had to eat at Del Taco $7.63.  I consider this a NECESSITY dining out since my hubby hadn't eaten forever and we WOULD have been home if it wasn't for the snow.
• While we walked around, I found something on our "list" at Hallmark (and when you're there, you HAVE to get your ornaments or they won't be there later!) $14.15.  I also found a pair of boots on SALE for $15 at Old Navy and at Target a couple sweaters for the chihuahua but we decide on to skip it (actually had them IN MY HANDS!!) on the way out so saved $20

Day 23:

Another snow day.  Kids are now taking the entire WEEK off!

Activity-

• Cleaned, scanned photos and tried to keep myself- I mean kids- from killing each other.
• Started some "winterizing" of the house by covering windows and attics.

Spent today-

• $0

Day 24:

ANOTHER snow day :(

Activity-

• Clean the table for Thanksgiving (cluttered with scanned photos)

Spent today-

• Hubby got gas for his car $32 (worse mileage yet but was due to snow).

Day 25:

Hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving!

Activity-

• Family Day!

Spent today-

• OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Forgot the Cream Of Potato for the Green Bean Casserole!!!  Kids had to run to the store (oh, the shame!) $2.00

Day 26:

BLACK FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Normally this is my "purse day" because you can get such awesome deals!  I told most of my friends to make this their get-out-of-jail-free day so they didn't have guilt shopping.  At first we weren't going to go out but my 5yr old's PJs are about 3" too short so we headed out.

Activity-

• Ended up running to Fred Meyer, McDonald's, Target, Payless Shoe Source and Sally Beauty Supply for Black Friday
• Went for a late, late night walk  FREE!

Spent today-

• Opted out of getting my purse so saved $45.00
• At Fred Meyer, they didn't have the killer deal PJs that we wanted but DID get a pair for $12.00 (saved $12.00).  An item we purchased at Costco earlier this week was door-buster sale so saved $7.00.  Also, ON OUR LIST was a Pillow Pet which NEVER goes lower than it's $20 price but if we bought it for Black Friday, we got a $5.00 Gift Card so it was perfect timing.
• Went to McDonald's for early lunch (we missed breakfast).  Used our Monopoly pieces and coffee punch cards (our LAST TWO!) so it was FREE!  Saved $18.34
• Though Hubby wanted to go home, he was a dear and took me to Target.  We got some cleaning items, hair products and body wash.  They had a couple Black Friday specials that we had on our Holiday List already (can't be tooooo detailed in case kids read).  We spent a total of $90.47 but saved about $40.00.  Frivolous items would be the candy canes Hubby grabbed for $7 since we didn't need them YET since we don't have our tree.
• We had about a $100 valued Chi flat iron that died during a power surge.  My daughter offered to pay 1/2 the price for a replacement since she uses it the most.  Sally Beauty Supply had a sale so we got a good deal: IF we bought a blow-dryer (which we needed) for $65.00, we got a $65 flat iron she wanted for FREE, a reusable tote, PLUS a $25 valued gift (shhh- present).  Total saved was $99.00.  The sales girl DID talk me into their Club Card for $5 because it gave me two $5 Coupons so I'll save $10 off my next purchase!  Also, since we decided to replace Chi with cheaper iron, saved extra $40.
• With the big snow storm we had, my 12yr old found out he had no boots so we popped into Payless Shoe Source.  BOGO sale is over but if you give them your cell phone #, you can get 20% off your order right then!  We also picked up another gift we had planned on getting which were Black Friday on sale and with the cell phone text sale it made them $10.00 so saved $10.00.  We ended up saving about $10 on the snow shoes BUT when we got home, we realized his feet had grown so much that he can just wear his dad's snow boots so though it was a good deal, we'll return the boots so technically we saved $45.00 because we chose to share.  

Day 27:

It was a nice day so we decided to go get out Christmas Tree!!!  Normally we go to our favorite pre-cut place but this year we wanted to do a local U-Cut.  (LAST year we tried to cut down a tree with a permit which resulted in two lost days, 3 trips, miserable family members, and having to buy a tree in the lot anyway LOL).  The U-Cut place was wonderful- enough land to make you feel like you're "in the woods" but easy walking and even a bonfire.  

Activity-

• Hillside Tree Farm U-Cut.  
• Fred Meyer because we didn't buy enough Christmas Tree lights (50 lights does NOT = feet!)

Spent today-

• On our way out, realized we forgot to bring water for the 5yr old so had to stop at a mini mart $1.49.
• Spent $21 for a 9' Douglas Fir Tree (all 8-10' were discounted) so saved $34.00.  Normally we get hot cocoa and/or coffee but skipped it so saved $24.00.  
• Additional Christmas Tree Lights $45
• Library fine (I KNOW!)- $6.30

Summary:

Necessities- $1,102.07 (keep in mind- this counts some small items that were on our "list" for Christmas!

Excess- $93.91 (DARKNESS!  This was mainly from stupid Tanning oops and McD oops)

"Saved"- $465.28 (Mainly shrewdness on shopping!  Uh-huh- that's right!)

Weight fluctuation- 2 lbs

Month To Date:

Necessities- $5,308.67

Excess- $141.78

"Saved"- $1,089.45.  WOW.

Weight fluctuation-  Lost 3 lb Whew- this will take forever (and probably will be back on after Thanksgiving has digested)