Saturday, June 23, 2018

Thrifty and Not So Thrifty

It's all a balancing act isn't it? Trying to have little savings in one area then little spending leaks happen. In doing a good job of putting money away for long term or big plans and then the unexpected comes up. We've been on the thrifty roller coaster in June. We'll make some progress on our savings goals but I already know we won't meet the month target. I already anticipate our 6 month year balance will be stretched considerably most likely to the point of not being doable.

I want to continue to aim for that good balance where we are putting money towards what matters, not being cheap, but also not being foolish. To keep myself accountable, here's a list of the frugal misses.
  • I babysat for my niece last night, the one who lost her husband last August. Here kids struggle with separation from her, but she really needs to get out and have a break. To help us all, I had no problem entering into a bribe, promising a walk to Dairy Queen. The 11 year old neighbor girl who has been a ton of help to my niece keeping the 7 year old entertained, came along. I did not put any parameters on the kids orders and my great nephew and the neighbor girl each ordered large Blizzards at $5.99 each. DQ for the four of us cost $18-quite a lot for ice cream. No regrets, though neither big kid finished theirs!
  • I already exceeded my $350 household and grocery budget  ($362 with a week to go) due to both a rogue shop by DH and, self declared rogue shop by me.I made the error of dropping into the fancy HyVee on route home. I realized as big as the store is, the selection of groceries is quite poor.I will say, the splurge on a couple things-artisan ciabatta bread, shaved deli ham, and thick cut Colby cheese from their deli sure were delicious treats. 
  • Since June 13th, we at out three times, quite rare for us. Wednesday night was on a whim at DD2's suggestion to eat at the restaurant she works at and for us to try different things. She wanted to better recommend to people when they ordered food. We did get to use her employee discount, so saved a few dollars. 
  • My work schedule was odd this week so I had two different days where lunch was purchased instead of packed. 
But then, there were a few frugal wins as well.
  • We enjoyed free entertainment Thursday night provided by A Day of Music.
  •  I'm making frugal dessert bars for my friends daughters grad party later today, using cake mixes. I did buy vegetable oil finally. 
  • Instead of driving to DQ, we walked the mile each way. It was  also my tactic to keep the kids entertained a bit longer, plus it was a beautiful night. 
  • I'm on the fence about this one but I ordered eye glasses through Glasses USA. With discount code, I ended up spending only $93 on glasses that similarly would have cost  several hundred at the eye clinic. I did not get the bifocal version, as I always struggled with the last pair, but now I am seeing that I perhaps did need them after-all for the computer (though had to remove glasses for reading). I am going to buy a pair of reading glasses to see if that helps for computer use. 
See, a balancing act.  I finally received some reimbursement for travel expenses last month, which will help offset the VISA. DD2 came home with most of the money we sent for her to use on her trip because our family friends wouldn't let her pay for anything. We had their daughter for a month and she has and will spend days and weekends with us at the cabin, so I guess they figured it all balances, which is how good friends are with each other. We've promised them lots of free labor next weekend for their older daughters grad party! How have you been doing balancing your spending and saving?

5 comments:

  1. It is a complete balancing act....we went W-A-Y over our food budget this month - as in I budgeted $200 and spent $505 (wat wat waaaa) BUT I inadvertently took $250 our for our IRA twice, so at least that made up for my "mistake". We will NOT be grocery shopping for a very, very long time!!! Other than that, doing well at sticking to the budget - I did spend $45 on 2 make up cases I am making for a friend of mine for Christmas, but she is insisting on paying me $80 to include the labor, so that will be a little snowball for the IRS (grrrrrrrrrr.....but I'm not bitter and TOTALLY over it....)

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  2. I don't think we have to be 100% frugal all the time but we should be aware of where the money is going. Sometimes I splurge, feel great and then know to rein it in after that. As Sue said "a balancing act".

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  3. I use progressive bifocals and never have had trouble. I would never adjust to the glasses with a line. I seem not to be balancing too well. I needed an ac two weeks ago and then had to pay $140 to electrician to plug up the refrigerator. I was trying to save enough to buy a water heater which broke last summer.

    I approve of bribing!

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  4. It’s a juggling act fire sure especially as I still think we can have the same trips away as we did when we were working and now we live on less than half of what we had coming in before. However I have made considerable savings re hair beauty products and clothing plus we don’t do take outs and eat out rarely. I don’t feel hard done by here in the least as I used to waste money when I was working. I am spending on my yoga classes and training but my savings more than make up for this. I have found it liberating buying less lol

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  5. As far as balancing acts go, I think you are doing very very well! And some months are definitely better than others right? You always seem to have a great handle on where you stand with all aspects of your budget and that's really more than half the battle in the end. =)

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