SPENDING FREEZE- Part Three.

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

This was a S.U.P.E.R. stressful week for us!  Between everything- I SO wish I could have indulged in a mindless spending spree!!!  This Freeze probably saved our bank account haha.  Well, at least I got to "escape" in a couple movies and good books.  LOVE the library and Netflix!

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 8:

Mental Health Day due to frustration with a malfunctioning light in the fridge.  It continues to stay on causing an ENTIRE case of Costco eggs to spoil [ARGH!].  Stayed in PJs and was lucky to at least load the dishwasher.  

Activity-

• Went for about a 5 mile bike ride while hubby jogged FREE

Spent today-

• Automatic payment went through for Netflix (online movie rental club) $9.75

Day 9:

Went to get my allergy shot today and I SKIPPED going out to eat!!!  Sounds silly but this is HUGE for me.

Activity-

• Allergy shot day and went to the library
• We went for another jog/bike ride for about 3.5 miles this time FREE

Spent today-

• Skipped going out to eat- saved $11.00
• Daughter's car got a flat tire so Husband had to pick up a new spare at Les Schwab $120.73

Day 10:

Clean house Day!!!!

Activity-

• Cleaned house...isn't that enough? ;)

Spent today-

• $0

Day 11:

Had a  horrible night.  Daughter's car was involved in an un-claimable accident so we'll now be looking for ANOTHER car (just got this one a couple of month's ago).  On the plus side- we can now return the spare tire we bought LOL

Activity-

• No school for Veteran's Day so had a full house of kids!
• Went to car repair shop

Spent today-

• Car repair estimate- FREE  
• Gas for husband's car $40.12

Day 12:

The Hungry Housewives got together for their monthly brunch.  THANK GOODNESS!  I SO needed this....it's like my own personal therapy.  Huh, what's the going rate for a therapist?  I just saved a TON!  See the recipes from our day at: Brunch at Dawn's

Activity-

• Spent a very nice day at HH Dawn's home for brunch and conversation (well, and we had a mini business meeting, too) 

Spent today-

• Lunch at Dawn's home- FREE

Day 13:

Once a month, my husband and some buddies get together to play poker.  Since he's needing a therapy session JUST as bad as me (though men don't talk really, do they?), there's NO way I would ask him to skip out!

Activity-

• Did some shopping errands.  Walking through the Christmas decorations was therapeutic.  
• Went out at a weird time so ended up popping in for fast food
• Husband went to his monthly poker night so I stayed home and worked on upcoming blogs

Spent today-

• Poker Night w/buy in, snacks and couple of beers: $28.50.  Hubby did well at Poker so brought back $15 of his $20 buy in!
• Target: $37 for some lunch items and toiletries.  Out of that, $5 to add to a birthday present for son's friend.  I did break down and get about $8 in stocking stuffers (my mental excuse was if I don't start now, it'll suck in December!)
• Safeway.  Spent $4.78 for two Advent Chocolate Calendars (not a necessity but such a small thing to have and I wanted them before Dec 1st!)
• McDonald's $3.49.  We used coffee punch cards and FREE food item coupons from last month's Monopoly so saved $18.34

Day 14:

We spent a lazy morning together before taking our 5 year old to a birthday party today.  It was over in Puyallup which is about a 1/2 hour drive.  

Activity-

• Went to a Birthday Party for son's friend.

Spent today-

• Skipped going for coffee on the way- saved $12.00
• Skipped stopping on the way home for fast food- saved $15.00

Day 15:

Whenever we go to the Orthodontist, we usually hit some place to go out to eat since it's kind of a drive but we SKIPPED it again this time!!!!  As my husband said, the 5 yr old threw a Mc-Fit but he was mainly grouchy because he was hungry and didn't want to shop (I DID offer him snacks from my purse!).  

Also, to keep spending lower, we only did basic school supplies and clothing this year.  I kept trying to figure out why my 12 yr old's Converse shoes were wet...so, yeah, umm...he had two HUGE holes on the soles!  Needless to say, we HAD to hit the shoe store!  Normally we would go to the mall or Fred Meyer but he was actually open to going to Payless's BOGO sale.

Activity-

• Took son to Ortho- booked next appointment after Christmas
• Went to Payless Shoe Store

Spent today-

• Took son to Orthodontist- gave them debit card number for payment to go through on Friday since I was a little short the full amount (they raised our minimum w/o telling us and we had been paying the wrong amount for months) $180
• $40 for two pairs of shoes for son- one everyday pair and another new pair for PE
• If there is a BOGO sale and I'm buying something, I always get AT LEAST a pair for myself so didn't. even. look.  Which sucked because actually, son and I both need new slippers but we can wait until Christmas.  Saved about $35.00
• Skipped eating out (though meant eating dinner at 8pm)- saved $15.00

Day 16:

Rainy, stormy night last night so stayed home to work on laundry and brought in extra blankets. Lots of people's electricity went out so I wanted to be prepared!

Activity-

• Errand and chore day with library drop offs and post office   
• Worked on getting a hold of insurance to remove daughter's banged up car- Saved $50 by car sharing (though that's temporary...hopefully)

Spent today-

• Gave daughter $20 for gas since we're sharing the car right now (usually she pays for her own)
• Gave son $5.00 to go to coffee shop with his friends- let him keep the change for school snack line.

Day 17:

Another stormy day weather wise.  Spent most of my morning on the phone setting

Activity-

• Took daughter to Dr appt because she had a sore throat and gave her (our first EVER) flu shot since she works at a fitness place
• Went to Win-co for some groceries

Spent today-

• $15 at the Dr for co-pay.  Luckily she wasn't sick enough for antibiotics so didn't have to pay for those.
• Spent $65.11 at Winco for some dinner items and lunch stuff.  Also bought third Christmas Advent I was looking was and two stocking stuffer items: $5.00, and $2.50 in candy as a thank you to friend that has been driving daughter to school (red cause probably had something at home I could give).
• Offered to take my daughter to Starbucks for coffee/cocoa to warm her up but she said she'd wait until she got home (bless her!) so saved $10
• Daughter owed us $50 and her car insurance (she is going to pay bi-monthly) so received $180

Summary:

Necessities- $561.21

Excess- $28.77

"Saved"- $361.34

Weight fluctuation- lost another 1/2 lb.  This could take awhile!

Month To Date:

Necessities- $5294.52

Excess- $47.87

"Saved"- $624.17

Weight fluctuation-  Lost 1 lb