Welcome to another weekly edition of “Where Did The Dough Go?”. Below you can get a completely open and honest view of what we’re spending money on, how much we’re saving, investing and putting away for retirement. Please feel free to learn from our financial mistakes if at all possible, it’s way better than making them yourself.
Friday 7th
+ $1,388.86 Honey’s Paycheck
– $168.75 (dining out)
– $39.20 (gas in mom’s car)
-/+ $800.00 (pretend mortgage & bills to house fund)
– $112.38 (cigarettes)
– $44.12 (alcohol)
– $47.84 (groceries)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to Xmas fund)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to savings)
-/+ $2.00 (transfer to ING to save for Car insurance)
Saturday 8th
No spend day
-/+ $25.00 (to Roth IRA)
Sunday 9th
No spend day
Monday 10th
No spend day
+ $132.00 (classes/training expenses)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to savings)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to Xmas fund)
-/+ $2.00 (transfer to ING to save for Car insurance)
Tuesday 11th
– $20.00 (gas @ 3.999 per gallon)
– $107.67 (groceries)
– $24.95 (honey whiskey)
– $16.68 (gas in mom’s car)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to savings)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to Xmas fund)
-/+ $2.00 (transfer to ING to save for Car insurance)
Wednesday 12th
No spend day
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to savings)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to Xmas fund)
-/+ $2.00 (transfer to ING to save for Car insurance)
Thursday 13th
No spend day
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to savings)
-/+ $1.00 (transfer to Xmas fund)
-/+ $2.00 (transfer to ING to save for Car insurance)
Total Weekly Spending: $1,426.59
Pre-tax 401K Contributions $156.82
Categorized:
Savings $810.00
Dining Out $168.75
Cigarettes $112.38
Groceries $155.51
Gas $75.88
Alcohol $69.07
Roth IRA contributions $25.00
Save 4 Car insurance $10.00
Left-over for remaining week $94.27
Notes: I did really, really awful this week! If things don’t go according to my plans, I apparently don’t adjust well. At least I still…have 5 no spend days this week, LOL!
Right away, I knew something was off because of the amount of the paycheck, but we didn’t get the paystub until a couple of days later. After reviewing the paystub, I realized the problem…the 401k contributions were bumped back up to 8%.
I hesitated transferring 50% over our root income because I didn’t think we would have enough money left-over and didn’t want to turn around and take it back out of savings. I still transferred over the pretend mortgage and bills money.
The dining out was actually spread over the course of a few days, but it was just easier to lump it together. My husband was out of town for a few days taking he classes and getting re-certified so that was a big chunk of that.
Our daughter and I also ate out a few times while he was out of town, probably because I was missing him and being lazy. Then after he came back, we ate out some more. Awful, awful wasting of money—not his food while he was out of town, just the rest of it.
Then there’s the whole matter of our daughter starting school, which is about 40-50 miles a day I have to do 5 days a week. We’re having her go to her old school until we move into the new house, otherwise, it would be 100+ miles each day. So that’s really adding up, thankfully while my mom was out of town, I was able to use her car. I’m so sick of driving now.
I’m not sure how the last half of the pay period is going to go, mostly because we’re almost broke. I’ll certainly be avoiding eating out and whatnot, but I’m sure we’re going to need more gas soon.
How did your budgeting/spending go this week?
Our budgeting went well this week. We still ate out a couple times, but we used a coupon every time so it was pretty cheap!
Michelle recently posted..My Crash Course in Personal Finance
At least you used a coupon.
Jen recently posted..Getting The Most “Bang” For Your Halloween Bucks
Ouch sounds like you’re going to have to reign in that dining out spending. With a bit of motivation in the kitchen it’s really the easiest place to save money.
Modest Money recently posted..Mid September 2012 Blog Update
That was the plan, but it didn’t really work out too well with getting the house ready, etc.
Jen recently posted..Getting The Most “Bang” For Your Halloween Bucks
It’s funny how if you eat out once, it’s like you fall off the wagon and it’s easier to keep doing it. I thought I had to drive a lot to take our daughter to school (24 miles/day) and we also found a couple of carpool days, so it’s not so bad. Will she be close to school when you move?
Kim recently posted..Grocery Game Saved Our Budget
Totally agree with Kim. I have the same problem—once we eat out, it just becomes that much easier to throw money at it. I wouldn’t worry too much though because everyone has a bad week with money.
thethriftyspendthrift recently posted..Taking a Different Route – Job Hunting
I seem to have them fairly often lately.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Earn Money Online w/ Surveys: Opinion Square
I know, I hate how it’s so easy to keep going once you screw up with some things.
The whole town seems to be only a few miles long, so thankfully she’ll be very close to all the schools.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Getting Back into the Swing of Things
When we decided to live frugally, we reduced our dine out experience. Instead, we cook at home and experiment on dishes we would love to try out on the restaurant and I keep a journal of the recipes and photos. As a result, I turned these homecokked dishes into a blog. An additional source of income!
Manette @ Barbara Friedberg Personal Finance recently posted..WEALTH BUILDING ADVICE FROM SELLING LA
Great thinking on the additional income. Unfortunately, I HATE cooking and suck anyway. Even if I didn’t suck at cooking, I still wouldn’t really want to do it.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Carnival of Financial Planning
Lol Jen, don’t worry. At least you’ve got that pretend mortgage going on I hope you had something yummy eating out.
Veronica @ Pelican on Money recently posted..LinkLuv Friday You Cheered Me Up
LOL We had a lot of yummy somethings. 😉
Jen Perkins recently posted..No Mortgage Payments For A Year—Sign Me Up!
It’s not too bad Jen and at least you did a lot of saving.
Keep smiling it’ll all be worth it in when you’re moved into your lovely new house
Laura @ No More Spending recently posted..Spending Report September 2012 #2
Well, we’re all moved in now and you were right…totally worth it.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Net Worth Update~ October 2012
I just found this blog recently and really like it. Who is the smoker? $112.00 on cigarettes it’s such a waste. This used to be on my budget too and I started to calculate how much I would save if I quit. I bet you already know! However, I do like your daily spend tracking. I’m going to try it.
Hey Charlotte, sorry it took so long to get back to you…I was on a short sabbatical while getting settled into our first house.
Both my husband and I are smokers, that’s why it’s so much. Yeah, it’s a huge waste of money and we do eventually plan on quitting one day.
I hope you’ve been doing well with your daily spending tracking. It’s kind of annoying at first, but gets easier after a few weeks…then you start noticing the benefits too. Good luck sticking with it.
Jen Perkins recently posted..Getting Back into the Swing of Things