Sunday, February 13, 2011

Weekly Spending (2/7-2/13)

My goal for 2011 is to keep my monthly flexible spending (i.e. what I charge on my credit card & includes: groceries, dining out, gifts, clothes, lessons for the kids, etc) to $1750/month. This nets out to around $58/day, which is pretty eye opening. I am regularly overspending the $1750/month, so I need to start keeping a close eye on this figure. Keeping the monthly spending in check is a critical part of paying off my 401K loan in 2011.

Caveat: Last week & the next 3-4 weeks are generally our most expensive weeks of the year. They include: my birthday, both of my kids birthdays, Valentine's Day, etc. For the kids, one is having a friends party, and then we will have an "after party" dinner for all of our family/friends that drove from several hours away to participate. One child is having a water park getaway (we were going to do it anyway, but probably not at this time) and we're meeting friends/family there. Both kids are having a school party (not mandatory, but the school encourages you to bring something on their big day, of course), which means cupcakes for 36ish x2 over the next few weeks. They also both have Valentine's Day parties at school and we need to help with that. Plus meals out for my birthday, and M is taking me to Las Vegas to celebrate my birthday & Valentine's Day. It's not normally this expensive, I promise. ;-)

Monday:
-$38.44 at Rite Aid. Picked up a couple of personal items (shampoo, conditioner, and my Olay lotion I wear. I also picked up an eye cream, since I'm noticing wrinkles for the first time. Oh goodie. ;-)) I also received $10 in Up rewards.

Tuesday:
No spend day!

Wednesday:
No spend day!

Thursday:
+$10 cashed out from a gift card after my massage
-$60 for my birthday lunch with M. I was supposed to use a $30 gift card, but forgot it.
-$113.83 at Costco. We were out of ground beef & tilapia, plus a bunch of produce. We're produce addicts, apparently. We go through *a lot* of volume. :-)
-$27 - exchanged a birthday gift (gym bag & shoes) & got something that was more expensive.
-$20.45 - Gymboree for socks for the kids & a couple of shirts that were super marked down ($2.43 atnd $4.85)
- Big lotion from Aveda. Free for my birthday via an email offer. My son loves the scent (rosemary mint), so he's absconded with it.
- Big philosophy "birthday cake" body wash from Sephora - free for my birthday via their Beauty Insiders program.

Friday:
-$20.07 - grocery store. Picked up items for dessert on Saturday for a dinner part we're having + asparagus & a few more items I need for next week.
-$75.57 at Costco for yard maintenance items. I can't do them justice - M picked them up. ;-)

Saturday:
-$65 for party trays for the evening get together we had. (Family & friends after our kids party)
-$350ish for my son's 5th birthday party. He had a swimming party for his friends and our family & it was an excellent party. I'm very pleased with how it turned out.

Sunday:
+$10.14 - party store return
+192.00 - birthday money
-$84.75 - grocery store. Replenished our wine stock after our party, plus finished off what we needed for the goodie bags for my younger son's (N) birthday party. Also picked up cupcake liners.

Total spent for the week = $642.97. Total spent per day = $91.85. Over by nearly double. Yikes - I really need to get this under control next week & going forward!

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