How I Spend Week 1 July 30-August 6

     If spending summaries are not your thing, here is notice to scroll on by and my feelings will not be hurt. This is more an exercise for myself and I'm  inviting anyone that might be interested to peek in. I was going to start this in August, but since I had tried to "Close" my July books the last Monday in July, I thought I'd make this a Friday-Thursday. However, I started a day early and counted Thursday July 30th in as well. It will be hard to capture DH's spending as he does things on the side, but for a real picture of where we might have  off the rail spending, or creative savings, I'm trying to account for his spending as well. I'll be editorializing throughout the spending log so I have context for the why's of some purchases. My daughter's purchases are not tracked, though minimal, they are her responsibility. I may treat her to a tank of gas or a take out on occasion through, and those would fall in this log.

July 30 to August 6 2020

Thursday: DH is a pricey guy to have around! I'm just kidding, but my eyes watered a bit when I saw he spent $13.86 at Five Guys for lunch on Thursday, and another $11.90 at Kwik Trip because there was a new one built near the lake and he was curious. He didn't get gas, just something to drink for the drive home and boneless deli chicken, which he brought home. He wanted pizza that night for supper, so we also got Papa Murphy's, two at $21, using  25% off coupon. The chicken was used for lunches Friday and he had a snack of one each Friday and Saturday after work, reheated in the air fryer.. Pizza was dinner Friday as well since we had two pizzas. I should mention, DHS has a high metabolism, and when hungry, eats large meals. He is a very healthy weight, thin almost for his age. It is the poor quality of foods that he overindulges in at times that I don't like, so if I sound like a nag, it is because I am. Better me than by a doctor after a stroke or heart attack.Total: Take out Meals $46.76

Friday: My BritBox subscription hit the credit card. $7.49. I think I will be cancelling Acorn as I haven't been watching that much. I can pick up again should new material start being produced again. I haven't decided if these streaming services are utilities or entertainment. Total: Entertainment/Utility $7.49

Saturday: Groceries, not many but when shopping at a local store with really nothing on sale, it adds up really fast. I spent $100.84 and other than boneless ribs, and a small pack at that, amd some deli ham and turkey, bought no meat. I don't even know how it added up so fast. I'm stocked up on pop for the month, and added to the TP stash. I bought a can of generic Lysol to add to DD2's college health kit, but the rest was just weekly items. I must figure in an Aldi shop to keep my spending from going too high. Total: H&G $100.84

Sunday: Woohoo, a no spend day. I didn't even need gas for the car despite the drive to the cabin and back. I will fill up with a coupon when I next need it.

Monday: No spend day two of the week. .

Tuesday: DH paid the utility bills/miscellaneous items that come the beginning of the month. There were some family obligations and long term savings in this as well, but not part of my log. Gas Bill: $56.96 Electric $75.16 Cell phone: $179.57 (Might seem very high, and is, but includes our home line, and we are on a family plan though both adult kids have separate lines for their jobs, plus two lines are used for work so a business expense) Internet/Satellite: $147.46 Garbage: $56.59 (quarterly or every other month-I can't remember but not a monthly cost.) Total Utilities: $459.15

Wednesday: I ran to the Dollar Tree for stationary and cards for DH's mom's birthday, plus miscellaneous stuff needed around the house. I counted some towards gifts, which are not part of this log as so varied between households, so $13.85 to Household/Grocery line is counted. I stopped at Kwik Trip as we were out of bread and bananas, and found a few low cost meat items, so $20.09 Groceries.  DH also paid  a portion of car insurance. of $119,99 Total: H&G: $33.95 Total Car Expenses/Insurance/Gas $119.99

Thursday: The water heater is caput. The heating element would be $1400 alone, with no warranty, and a new one, with a credit for our air and furnace tune up, is $2,500, with a warranty for the life of time we stay in this house. DHS went with the new  water heater, There is that. $2500, plus tax, but the exact bill will be coming. We have a seperate account that we put a monthly amount in to cover  expenses that are only paid a couple or one time per year, and these type of house necessity replacements. This will not come from our regular cash flow. With no hot water, and with the noise, I worked at my daughters. My younger daughter came to get ready as well since the water had to be shut off. We ended up getting Jimmy Johns for lunch, Spending $16.49. DH wanted hamburgers for supper so I stopped and got buns, a few oranges, and some muffins, and spent $5.16. Total: Take out: $16.49 H&G: $5.16

Total Spent for the week: $789.93

Take Out: $63.25
H&G: $139.95
Utilities: $459.15
Car Expense:  $119.99
Entertainment: $7.49

     The week utilities are due is always going to be  hard on cash flow. It would be nice to cut that by a few dollars each month, mainly by watching how much home energy we use or waste. I'm not pleased with the amount of take out already. With three weeks still to go, that could push us close to $200 if we don't make different choices. Hopefully this water heater is more efficient, plus after DD2 leaves, we will have less spending on food in general. In all honesty, this was not a favorite blog post to write. I'll keep this up for the month, and decide if I'll keep tracking to this extent, and will leave it up to you all if I keep posting spending logs into September. If at least one Ah Ha moment comes out of it, so far is the realization that we are getting take out much more than I have been honest about. I guess that is worth the tedious tracking.