We didn't seem to have one of these yet. How is everyone doing on their budget?


Personally, it was a rough week. Hubby stepped on a nail and we used that as an excuse to indulge.

Out of the $299.62 I had left I spent $219.74. I now have less than $80 less for the next 9 days. You'd think that wouldn't be a problem but since we have been spending money like water.........

$45 for me

What was the challange?

The challenge for the month of April was to create a specific grocery/ food budget and stick to it. In my case I budgeted $550 for the month for food including our eating out. I have found it helpful that some of the ladies earlier had posted a weekly "how are you doing" challenge thread, so I decided to post one for week 3.

There is a sticky up thread for the April challenge for more details.

I have actually been really good. I have only been out to eat once this month and it was Sat. morning my dh and I were going to garage sales and we stopped by McDonald's to grab a bite to eat. We spent money at the garage sale but it was at our church and so the money went to the children's ministry. We spent $80 going to garage sales, but we did find two chairs and an ottoman for $20 that work great in our loft. Plus, I bought a ton of clothes that were brand name for cheap!

On my grocery and household bill, I said $400 and we spent $425 so I need to cut that....I am getting there though!

At the grocery store, there was a great deal. If you bought 5 General Mills cereal you would get $5.00 off your total bill plus a coupon for $4.00 off milk your next trip. I had 5 coupons for each cereal for $1.00 off each, so after everything was said and done, I was able to purchase each cereal for $0.65! I was very excited!

thanks

I spent $35 out of my $50 budget. This is good but I was discouraged to see that all of that $35 was in two bags and they were not full of stuff.

For the month of April, I'm doing well. The first week I was slightly over my budget. The second week I spent half my grocery budget because I had some unexpected expenses that week. Now this week I'm under again.

I expect next week to be a bit over because I'll be stocking up on some pantry items.

TOTALLY blew it. I'm just realizing I need to up my grocery budget. In the past 3 months, I've had some major changes to it: DH is on two daily OTC meds ($60/month), the local discount supermarket closed (where I bought ALL my meat), I don't get the loss leaders in the mail anymore (how do you fix that?), DH doesn't get fed for free at work anymore (so I have to buy lunch stuff for him), and prices of things are going up in general. Every paycheck I tell myself I can do it, and every paycheck I go over at least $50. It's really frustrating.

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~~Amanda~~ Mommy to one Little Man (3 1/2 yrs old), TTC #2