Every week in 2012, I hope to have a financial recap of the week so that I can try to keep our variable spending under control and try to get as much money toward savings and debt repayment as possible. Today is the Friday Financial Update #2.
Sorry this is late today. We had a snow day from work and school, so I spent the day napping, making brownies and just relaxing as much as possible, while trying to get over this nagging cold that I have. That being said....
Here is how we did on our variable spending this week. It was a spendy week, because everyone was sick, including Bill and I and we had some car maintenance that needed to be done.
1/6/2012--NO SPEND
1/7/2012--$3.97 Kroger (milk)
$25.96 Firestone (oil change)
$34.88 Kroger (gas for the car)
$35.00 Big Boy (date night for hubby and I)
1/8/2012--$8.44 Walmart (Sunday paper and a couple groceries)
1/9/2012--$20.42 Kroger (meds for Bill and ice cream for his sore throat)
1/10/2012-$2.52 Taco Bell (hubby lunch)
1/11/2012-$11.00 Papa John's Pizza (this was for a mystery shop and I will be reimbursed for this)
1/12/2012-$50.00 TRP order (this is for gift cards ordered through Rebecca's school--we get a % to help with cost of tuition)
$4.38 Walmart (milk and donuts)
Like I said, it was a spendy week with only 1 NO SPEND day. :( I think that I just need to plan better. Especially for date nights and car maintenance. My plan for tonight is to figure out what we have in our pantry and freezer to see what we can use up and HOPEFULLY (fingers crossed) I won't have to spend much at the grocery store this weekend, as we are down to $40 in variable spending money left until pay day next Friday. Unfortunately I will have to get gas, but I think I am going to take that out of our bills money instead of putting it on a credit card.
Speaking of bills....all of our bills for January have been received and paid! We had $21.27 left over and I will be putting $14.64 in savings and $6.63 onto our Sears Credit card. When I paid our Sears card I did twice the minimum payment so in total I will have put an extra $31.63 payment toward that card this month! Yay! I just have to keep reminding myself that every little bit helps.
So for this week my totals are:
No Spend Days this week 1 day
No Spend Days this year (goal is 186 days in 2012): 3
Ending balance as of 1/13 for variable spending: $40.28
We so need to do better with our variable spending. I HATE this living paycheck to paycheck. Am not sure what other steps to take. Today I am feeling defeated even with my small victory of paying more toward the credit card.
How are you doing on your financial goals for the year? Let me know.
I don't think that was too bad, since Fuel, the oil change and the meds took a chunk of chance from you. I think it will get better next week. Maybe you can find daily deal sites that offer date night-type savings. One other thing you can do (that helps me) is put $7 per week into a safe spot like a the back of your wallet or in a nut can or something. Then, at the end of the month add all the months together that your have stashed away. If you don't dip into it for emergencies, than you will have $336 for the year. That can be used toward bills, maintenance, or to pay down debt. IDK- just a thought :D
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