September Savings Challenge Week 1 wrapup

When Carla from My 1/2 Dozen Daily decided to offer up a September Savings Challenge I decided to sign up.

As I was thinking about what my goals should be this is what I came up with....

Use my paychecks to pay Rebecca's school tuition.
Be able to make at least double the minimum payment on credit card #1 (CC#1).
At the end of the month, take whatever is left over from my paychecks and put on CC#1.
Spend no more than $400 on food, $50 on diapers, and $25 on household supplies.

So now that week 1 is over and done with, the question is HOW DID I DO??

Use my paychecks to pay Rebecca's tuition

• I will use the paycheck on the 20th which will be more of a normal pay. The pay I got on the  5th was for only a few hours.

Be able to make at least a double the minimum on CC#1 and take what is left at the end of the month and put toward this CC.

• Haven't gotten the bill yet. Hoping to make a double payment!
• End of the month not here yet!

Spend no more than $400 on food, $50 on diapers and $25 on household supplies

• On food, we spent $132.41 this week partly because of throwing Benjamin's baptism party. So we have $267.59 left for the month
• We have spent $17 on diapers
• $25 on household supplies....This is a FAIL!!!! I did not take into account the paper goods for Ben's party (that was $20), ran out of Tide ($15), had to get 2 lawn chairs for Bill and Rebecca's soccer game ($18), and today as I am making out my list for the store tomorrow, we are out of trash bags.
• I also DID not take into account back to school expenses (pictures for school, pictures for soccer, etc.)

What I have learned after week 1: In some ways it was a success, in that I did not go overboard for Ben's party and I incorporated the leftover food into our menu plan. I SEVERELY underestimated household use. I need to rethink this and see where I can cut corners or lower this. I need to plan better for extra expenses (such as sports, school, etc.) This first week has been eye opening for me about how much I need to get working on a budget for us. The good news is I think I will still be able to get my CC goals done for the month so that is a positive!

Here is to a good week 2!

To see how others are doing and to see Carla's week 1 recap you can go here.

Thank you Carla for bringing this on!