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Home > January 3 - a no spend day, technically - for me, anyway

January 3 - a no spend day, technically - for me, anyway

January 4th, 2006 at 02:57 am

I had to stop and buy diapers after work today, but technically, I didn't spend anything. I returned a toy to Wal-Mart that my son has shown no interest in (and, I will admit, I hated the look of it - the last thing we need is a freaky doll that talks). So I was given a Wal-Mart gift card for $16. I used most of it on diapers and a few jars of baby food. I still have $2 left on the card. Normally I would have browsed Wal-Mart for a while - the grocery section - but I decided to hightail it out of there. I think I may have to start shopping from lists instead of my usual browse. I really need to tackle those grocery bills. I was so pysched about possibly getting into the grocery game, but they don't carry it in my area Frown the closest store is 72 miles away, which I find hard to believe since we are so close to a decent sized city (Syracuse). But for whatever reason, they don't carry it there. Oh well...I guess I will have to do it on my own. I have to admit, I rarely use coupons. I buy mostly fresh fruit, veggies, and meats, as well as generic foods (I find they are usually cheaper even when taking coupons into consideration). So when I browse through the coupon inserts in our paper, I only find one or two that I *might* use. Most of the coupons are for prepared foods, which we avoid thanks to being on the South Beach diet, or for health or beauty products, which we buy very little of.
Last night I did make myself feel pretty good though - I whipped up a homemade veggie beef soup in about ten minutes using things up from the fridge and freezer. I was able to get rid of three partially used bags of veggies (the ones you don't eat plain because they've acquired that "freezer" taste, but work good in soup), part of a leftover roast beef that was thrown in the freezer, and some veggies from the fridge. In the crockpot, on all night, and I was able to grab a bowl to take to work with me for lunch today. It didn't cost a thing other than some leftovers that may not have gotten used and a few minutes of my time, and it will feed us for two lunches and then some (picture me patting myself on my back here).
DH decided to spend some cash today, but I can't fault him. A few weeks ago a chunk came loose from his bowling ball. He wanted to get a new one right away, but since we only had one more week of bowling left before Christmas, I convinced him to wait and put it on his list. My family is full of bowlers and there was a good chance he might have gotten a gift certificate toward the new ball. But he didn't, so he decided to get a new one today. $120. Ouch. But it is something he really enjoys, so I don't mind. I told him we were going to be on a stricter budget for a while, but I think it went in one ear and out the other. He thinks as long as we have money in out emergency fund, we're fine...but I hate to use it for expenses like these.
I went through all my paperwork tonight and threw out a ton of outdated stuff. I set my credit cards bills and bank statements aside so that I can tally up my expenses for the year. I think I need to get a grip on the overall picture, not just the last two months. Maybe it's not as bad as it seems...or maybe it is, and I can prove to DH why we need to buckle down.
January expenses: $6.73 + 120 = $126.73
January income: $10

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