Yesterday we went shopping. I didn't even have a grocery list written out but we still went shopping. Which means that we spent $85.15 at the grocery store and didn't even get all that we needed for the week. I also finally got fed up with waiting to buy throw pillows for the couch (the ones we had were in really bad shape and I planned to wait until July to buy some new ones but couldn't hold off any longer). While at Kohl's browsing through the pillows, I saw a small rug I wanted for the kitchen and a package of washcloths, which we needed. I spent $25.97 there. We also spent $10 in gas. It didn't end there, though. This was also the month that hubby and I were both in desperate need of new underwear. No, not the sexy expensive kind...just basic underwear. Again, I was holding off until July to buy them - along with flea medicine for all the animals, cat litter, and baby wipes. You know how they say that you can start with one sin and work your way up to bigger sins because once you sin it's easier to keep on going? Well, the same held true for this experiment/challenge. Once I went over budget it was just too easy to keep on going. I spent $45.05 at Walmart, which means all totaled up we are $175.78 over budget. With three days left in the month I am staying out of stores.
These were not all luxury purchases. We actually needed everything that I purchased at Walmart. The food we bought at HyVee was all healthy foods that we will eat, but I could have done better by having a list and just sticking to what we needed for the week. The pillows and throw rug were more of a want.
So for this month we have come in at $1,375.78. It's still much better than what we usually come in at towards the end of each month. It is a change. I'm going to take what I learned about this month and try to perfect it for August.
Could we have lived off just $1,200? Yes. We could have cut out the $30 some odd dollars we spent on fast food. We could have cut out all treats and extras at the grocery store. I could have waited to purchase my Walmart items until next month. That all would have brought us under $1,200. But I wanted to be realistic. If someone living on $1,200 a month needed underwear, they would have had to budget it in somewhere. Does someone living on $1,200 never eat out or get treats? I guess, had we really had to live off $1,200, we would be $175.78 in debt right now. Scary!
I will be writing about where I could have saved more, cut out, and done things differently which will be published later this week. I then plan to take what I did learn and use it to do better in August.
Don't forget...the $400 grocery budget starts in just three days!
I think I understand a little what you were feeling. A couple weeks ago, I was really tired of being broke. We've had a lot of extra expenses this summer, mostly good things (birthdays, family visiting), some not so great ($400 for dog expenses in one two week period, ouch!) but I've been trying to pay for everything with normal cash flow instead of taking money from savings. Happily, I have succeeded, but I had a day a couple of weeks ago where I was just tired of it! For some reason, this caused me to feel that I just could not buy the Sam's brand of TP - just had to have Charmin! LOL! I don't know what was up with that. We did need TP, but the Sam's brand has been just fine for a long time. But in any case, it's always a slippery slope, as you know. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I can be disciplined for some time, and then when I go to purchase something that we really do need, I have trouble not turning wants into needs.
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