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Well, another month in the past. Let’s see how I did on my financial goals!
- Don’t charge anything on credit cards that I can’t pay for with cash. Keep within the $700 spending budget while on vacation. This would’ve worked out well had we not had to rearrange our vacation. We ended up having to rebook flight on the credit card since it was so last minute that I couldn’t find decent flights to use our flight credits on. Plus we spent a little more on vacation items than we should’ve. We came in at $53.01 over our $700 budgeted for spending cash while on vacation.
- Keep drugstore shopping to a minimum and only go after the deals. Try to keep to $25 out of pocket (after rebates/rewards/coupons/etc.) for the month for personal care and household item. I did much better on this task. I spent $52.46 out of pocket, but will be getting back $65.89, so I actually MADE $13.43 this month on drugstore deals.
- Try to keep budget at $35 per week for groceries. Also include $70 budget for stocking up on meat and bulk items at Sam’s Club. I spent $146.76 on groceries, plus $59.56 at Sam’s Club. I don’t know what my deal was when it came to groceries. I recall spending a bit more here and there due to stocking up on sale items for food I can take to class with me (Wheat Thins, animal crackers, stuff like that). I definitely could’ve done better, though.
- Keep dining out to a minimum, spending no more than $50 for the month. Finally cut back on this area! We spent $91.71. Ouch. We ended up going out to a sit down meal one night after we were out late helping to plan/setup for a surprise birthday party. I wasn’t about to come home and make my planned dinner at 10pm, so we went and got Mexican food (and treated our friend). It was only $36 + tip for the three of us to get meals (and beer/margaritas) so it wasn’t that bad. Still, that is what pushed us over our budget for the month. Oops.
Overall, not too bad of a month but I could’ve done better. Here’s hoping that October brings about some better planning and determination on my part.
