2019 Controlled Spend/No Spend

[moneysquirrel]

Spending has been limited to the craft store to get items needed for the current projects.  All items were either on sale or purchased with a coupon.  

[shanendoah]

On Friday, we had a communication issue, and I ended up sitting at a Starbucks waiting for C for a bit that afternoon, so I had another chai. And then we went to Home Depot and got yard stuff. Saturday ended up being our quiet day. I did grab dinner for myself while babysitting for BFF (baby boy and I took advantage of the lovely weather and walked over to Panda Express). And then yesterday, we finally did our grocery shopping. TJs this week, instead of Safeway.

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, Card) Starbucks, Urgent Care
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (Admin Day) Admin Day
Thursday: (Starbucks, Dinner) ----
Friday: (Safeway) Starbucks, Starbucks, Yard Stuff
Saturday: (House/Yard stuff, snacks) Dinner
Sunday: (----) Trader Joes

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
April	(2)2 (2) (2)4 (3)2	(4)4 (4)4 (4)2 (3)3	(1)1 (1)3 (1)1 (1)2	(Current Planned - 28 days) Current Actual - 28 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[shanendoah]

Quiet week this week, which is good, as I am off at a conference Sunday-Wednesday next week. Because my train leaves early Sunday morning and gets back late Wednesday evening, I will be on a per diem those days. I was originally thinking I'd buy myself lunch today, and then got to work and saw on my calendar that I've got Breakfast with the Dean this morning and a retirement party this afternoon. I don't need to buy lunch.
We are doing a pot luck here at work on Thursday, so I'll need to do some shopping for that Wednesday evening.

EDIT: Turns out the Breakfast with the Dean is Wednesday morning, not today. So I moved by Starbucks day to today (Monday) instead of tomorrow

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks) Starbucks
Tuesday: (----) 
Wednesday: (Pot Luck) 
Thursday: (----) 
Friday: (Gas, CostCo)
Saturday: (Safway)
Sunday: (----)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
April	(2)2 (2) (2)4 (3)2 (1)	(4)4 (4)4 (4)2 (3)3 (1)	(1)1 (1)3 (1)1 (1)2	(Current Planned - 30 days) Current Actual - 28 days
May	(1)	(3)	(1)	(Current Planned - 5 days) Current Actual - 0 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[TheOtherMe]

Switched insurance companies this morning and saved $198 per year.  

Said refund checks should arrive in 6 to 8 business days from old insurance.

It saved $175 to pay in full rather than to pay month.  I do put the amount plus 10% in savings each month.

[shanendoah]

This week is going to turn into a spend. First bit is small. We'd originally been planning to see Avengers next Friday (5/10) with BFF & BFFIL. But their sitter said this Friday would actually be better for her. So, we're going to see Avengers this Friday instead.

The other is more expensive - almost $1k expensive.
I leave for a conference this weekend. As I have started going over the packing list in my head, I realized that last year, when I went to this same conference, I took 4 screens with me - my phone, my tablet, my tablet pc, and my actual laptop. I don't want to do that again.
The problem is is that my tablet pc isn't really good as a tablet or a pc. It's great for taking to meetings around campus to keep an eye on my email, but it's slow, battery life is not good, it can't handle most tablet games, and the keyboard attachment really doesn't work for how I type/hold my hands. Just about anytime I am typing for more than a line or two, I end up accidentally hitting the function key and completely messing up my screen. And so, I took it to have something small and light to carry around the conference in order to keep a handle on email, but if anything substantial had to happen, that had to wait until I got back to me room and onto my laptop. Now, I bought the tablet pc for less than $100 about 2 years ago (I think to have something to carry around this same conference then - but that year, the conference was in my home city, so if something substantial really came up, I could pop into work.)

Now, I have had 3 Surfaces. I LOVED them. But while other people I know can't kill their Surfaces, no matter how hard they try, I apparently can't keep them working for more than about a year. And at $1500+ per pop, that's not sustainable, or even reasonable. So I am not looking at a Surface.

I am looking at this new round of 2 in 1 laptops (basically laptops where you can either detach the keyboard or fold them fully over and have it function like a tablet). I've set myself a limit of $750, kind of based on CostCo pricing. And since I need it by Saturday (my train leaves early Sunday morning), I have to figure out if I can get one of the ones I want at a local CostCo, or if I should order from Amazon.

[shanendoah]

And $1200 spent on a new Surface last night. This includes the protection plan, which I normally don't get, but given my specific luck with Surfaces, probably a good idea.

[sheilaincali]

May 2, 2019 12:45:40 GMT -5 shanendoah said:

And $1200 spent on a new Surface last night. This includes the protection plan, which I normally don't get, but given my specific luck with Surfaces, probably a good idea.

We switched to surface pros? IDK whatever is the laptop and costs about $3500 for everything a couple of years ago at work. We love them. We did get a couple of the tablets for the guys in the field and they seem to like them. Spendy but we've had really good luck with them so far. Plus they are lightweight so easy to cart around when traveling.

I've been remiss in updating this at all. It's been a mixed bag of spending/not spending lately. The Hubs need to stay off amazon. He goes in spurts. Last week he bought a 3D printer (we discussed it first) but now it's been daily orders of misc. things for the printer. Frustrating.

I've been doctoring for celiacs. They can't diagnose until my endoscope next month and in the mean time I have to eat a piece of gluten full bread (regular bread) every day. Not fun at all. However, the upside is that we now rarely eat out. It's just too risky. Cross contamination is no joke and frankly not worth it. There's only 3 or 4 places I can eat with confidence. So yeah, not going to restaurants has really helped with the no spending days   Silver lining.

[shanendoah]

Alright, let's see how well I remember last week...

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks) Starbucks
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (Pot Luck) Surface, Pot Luck
Thursday: (----) ----
Friday: (Gas, CostCo) Gas, CostCo, Movie
Saturday: (Safway) ----
Sunday: (----) ---- (reimburse-able day)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
April	(2)2 (2) (2)4 (3)2 (1)1	(4)4 (4)4 (4)2 (3)3 (1)1	(1)1 (1)3 (1)1 (1)2	(Current Planned - 30 days) Current Actual - 30 days
May	(1)3	(3)1	(1)1	(Current Planned - 5 days) Current Actual - 0 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[shanendoah]

This week is either a no spend (per diem) or a spend day. I never spend as much as I am allowed on the per diem, so I don't count spending on those days. And otherwise, a plan was not put in place for this week, so all other days are spends.
I'd like to plan for one day this weekend to be a no spend, but Saturday tends to be our productive day (so when we're likely to go get something for the house/yard), and I may need to get myself out of the house on Sunday. 

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (per diem) ----
Tuesday: (per diem) ----
Wednesday: (per diem) ----
Thursday: (spend) Starbucks, cards, dinner, fish oil for dogs
Friday: (spend) Starbucks
Saturday: (spend) 
Sunday: (spend) 

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
May	(1)3 (3)3	(3)1 (0)	(1)1 (4)1	(Current Planned - 12 days) Current Actual - 9 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[shanendoah]

Definite spend on Saturday. Managed a no spend on Sunday.
This week is pretty busy. Originally, I had been planning on traveling this weekend, but that has fallen through.

Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (per diem) ----
Tuesday: (per diem) ----
Wednesday: (per diem) ----
Thursday: (spend) Starbucks, cards, dinner, fish oil for dogs
Friday: (spend) Starbucks, Uwajimaya, Safeway
Saturday: (spend) Safeway, pit barrell smoker, amazon
Sunday: (spend) ----

This week's (planned) v actual spending:

Monday: (Starbucks, book event tickets) Starbucks, book event tickets

Tuesday: (----)
Wednesday: (snack) 
Thursday: (Starbucks) 
Friday: (Gas, Costco, Safeway, house stuff) 
Saturday: (----) 
Sunday: (breakfast) 

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
May	(1)3 (3)4 (2)	(3)1 (0) (3)	(1)1 (4)3 (2)	(Current Planned - 19 days) Current Actual - 12 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[shanendoah]

sheilaincali - Pretty certain you got the Surface Books. I looked at those, but basically, they were the Surface with a heavier keyboard cover, which isn't what I was looking for. I do love Surfaces, and have been happy with them in the past, I just can't seem to make them last. That's why we bought the protection package this time, even though we normally skip those. My history with the Surface says I will need to replace it twice in two years.

[moneysquirrel]

I need to get back in the swing of things.  Just returned from an overseas trip.  Trip was 95% paid in advance and I paid off the credit card this morning for my purchases. Now I have to start building up the travel money again so if the opportunity for another trip like this one comes around I can just book it.

Have some house repairs to look forward to.  Repair estimate coming this week.

[shanendoah]

If I don't check in here frequently, I will honestly forget what happened/what I did.

Monday: (Starbucks, book event tickets) Starbucks, book event tickets
Tuesday: (----) ----

[moneysquirrel]

Getting things back to normal.  Spending last week was groceries, craft items and gas.  Other spending was a CS as a lunch out with a good friend.  The craft items were for a series of items that I am making as gifts.  Picking up a few things at a time whenever I have a good coupon on them. 

Repair on house will be next month so trying to add to my sinking fund for that payment.

All in all doing as planned.

[shanendoah]

I had Friday off, and so we decided to go see John Wick 3. It was a lot of fun. I am calling Wednesday a planned spend. BFF and I bought dinner in order to have time to eat before heading to the book event. I'd originally thought I'd only need a snack, but dinner was fine.
I might need to buy dinner tonight, as I am watching BFF's son while she and her wife go to the symphony. 
The Pit Barrel Cooker arrived this weekend, and we tried it out yesterday. The ribs and chicken were amazing. Trying to decide if we want to have some people over this weekend.

Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, book event tickets) Starbucks, book event tickets
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (snack) dinner
Thursday: (Starbucks) ----
Friday: (Gas, Costco, Safeway, house stuff) Gas, CostCo, house stuff, movie
Saturday: (----) ----
Sunday: (breakfast) Haggens, lunch

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, dinner) Starbucks
Tuesday: (----)
Wednesday: (----) 
Thursday: (Starbucks) 
Friday: (Safeway, house stuff, BBQ stuff?) 
Saturday: (----) 
Sunday: (hair) 

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
May	(1)3 (3)4 (2)3 (2)	(3)1 (0) (3)2 (3)	(1)1 (4)3 (2)2 (2)	(Current Planned - 26 days) Current Actual - 19 days

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[shanendoah]

Just a quick note to remind me of where I am so far this week:

Monday: starbucks, dinner
Tuesday: NSD
Wednesday: starbucks


And now, roll call It seems like we've only heard from myself and moneysquirrel lately. How is everyone else doing?
TheOtherMe
3catslady
sheilaincali
Blonde Granny
zibazinski
imanangel
laterbloomer
debthaven
countrygirl2

[TheOtherMe]

I blew the budget when I bought myself a ticket for David Crosby in August.  In my defense, I had no choice.  

Last night, the sump pump died.  I do have savings to cover the repair, but it means something else has to give and, sadly, it's going to be the company to haul stuff from the basement to the garage and some other stuff to the .  That has to wait until savings is built back up.  

I did move homeowner's, auto and umbrella insurance to another company and saved about $200 a year.  All refunds have now been received and the new premiums paid.  

I don't plan to go anywhere over the 3 day weekend.

Next weekend, I'm going to another concert.  I thought about not going because it involves a hotel.  I checked the hotel this morning and the rate has gone down enough that I rebooked for the lower rate.  I am comfortable paying that amount but not the $75 per night more that I had originally booked.

[sheilaincali]

GRRR. It's going so/so. The Boy moved into his first non-campus apartment. So it wasn't furnished or part of his tuition.  So far: $400 for first month's rent and deposit, $250 for renter's insurance for the year, $100 for his portion of the electric deposit, $50 for first month's internet, $300 to go to Ikea and buy a desk and office chair, $500 to buy him a mattress and box spring, etc. I'm pretty much over it at this point.

Hubs bought and assembled a 3D printer. He's been obsessed with getting a variety of filament colors and things for it. I swear every day a new box from Amazon shows up at the house.

I've been responsible myself- I was in Denver this week with my bestie. I didn't really spend much. Just food, a couple of gifts for back home (like $40 total) and my newest tattoo.

We're driving to Dayton this weekend to deliver more furniture to The Boy. After that we are done with traveling and that for a while. Hopefully we'll be able to get back on track.

[countrygirl2]

We had some expenses for the rent house remodel, I had to pull $3200 from my floor and travel funds to pay for a new AC.  Paying all the ins, registrations, and property taxes almost wiped out the property acct.  It is starting to rebuild now, our major expenses left is bathtub, countertop, kitchen sink, some floor coverings, and new roof on the garage.  Otherwise the big expenses are done. Of course a lot of incidental expenses of paint, he is going to redo perimeter drainage and things, couple of exterior doors, but we can do these out of money coming in and I'm putting $500 a month back into my account.  That is for new flooring in our home.

For personal. everything is paid for the year all property taxes and insurance, I saved it back and have to start for next year again, sigh. We got our federal tax deposits all back and I think with what we are spending on the last house we won't owe next year except for state. Now the following year will be different, we will owe, but with the new rental should not be an issue.

But we are good, no major expenses coming up I know of, so we are good for awhile we hope.

[Blonde Granny]

My life is going well. Without needing an increase in my monthly income I have started tithing to my church. That was a huge step for me and convinced I'd be in the red sooner each month than later. I was wrong. I've also made a building fund pledge of $10/mo for the next 3 years. I may just write them one check for the total amount and be done with it however.

My YNAB is way in the green for this month so that make me happy. I've also purchased a new 55" Samsung QLED TV. That will be delivered and installed tomorrow morning. However, that will be my spending that is not budgeted for a long time.

Still no funds withdrawn from my investments, I just try to operate monthly on common sense and being cautious with the monthly income I do have. Seems to work for me.

[shanendoah]

Blonde Granny - I have an OLED tv (the tech right before QLED), and I love it. The picture quality is amazing

[Blonde Granny]

I hope so....it was fantastic in the Best Buy store. Can't wait for football season. The old TV was ok, but at 8-10 years old, this will be quite a difference.

[debthaven]

I'm generally careful but I don't really do no spend/controlled spend days.

This said, between our trip to the US and redoing our bedroom last month, it has been a very spendy time. We did get a great price on the workers and wooden flooring though.

[zibazinski]

My tax news was terrific so I put the money I had saved for my taxes into a money market account. Still left money for a new car in my savings and money for my roof replacement in my checking. It’s amazing when you’re not taxed to death, what you can do with the money. I’ve saved some and I’ll spend some. Trickle down effect is a reality. I’d have put off my roof for another year or so had I not saved so much from taxes. Plus I’m really trimming trees so that’s another trickle down.

[laterbloomer]

I'm not doing great. I did a women's retreat a couple of weeks ago and ISO and I went to a conference last weekend. Those put me back about $300. Not bad for what I got but not good when I'm trying to not spend. I've also spent about $200 on clothes. Then there's the haircut and nails...Thank goodness I'm trying not to spend. I'd hate to see what I'd spend if I wasn't watching it

[moneysquirrel]

All of you are doing well.  Sometimes just knowing where your money is going is a asset.  Being aware of your habits will allow one to refine goals, set priorities, and begin to make wiser decisions.  

All of the money bills and cc are paid for this month.  Car payment is scheduled for the beginning of next month.  And then the whole routine starts over again.

Other than a coffee with a former co-worker I have been doing well this week. Some spending but on needs more than wants.  This coming week I will get to Joann's before Wednesday as I have a $10 reward that will be put toward supplies for those gifts I am working on as well as a few other small items. Definitely do not want that free money to be lost.  Also hope to get to a movie with a friend.  Have a GC for the movie so will only need to pay for lunch that day.

Staying in as much as possible as our summer 90+ temperatures have arrived.  Errands run before the heat of the day and then inside for the rest of the day will be my summer goals on the days I actually leave the house.

Stay on track.

[countrygirl2]

We blew $130 today for lunch and junk plus gas.  We went to Evansville and just frittered the day away.

I keep $16k in a slush fund but $6k is new flooring money, but I want to put the $3k back I took out before I do anything with flooring.  This is the emergency or "what if I can't get prop tax and ins money back for the coming year fund"  so I do not intend to spend it.  We do go through the RMD money each year, hubs gets half for him to use and the rest goes for taxes, expenses, etc.  Without it, it would get very tight while we are still remodeling.

He got truss rafters there will be some expense for him putting a roof up between the 2 big garages.  It will be a good place to keep his back hoe and truck in winter and for him to work under in the summer out of the heat.

But we are doing ok.

[shanendoah]

I have no idea what this week is really going to be like. Today, we'll spend $1 in change for parking at the dog park, but that doesn't even count. I am at work Tuesday and Wednesday, then on Thursday head out to go see Pop Tart in her school play on Thursday and Friday evenings. I've got a conference call on Saturday morning, so then I'll fly home late Saturday afternoon. I've got no real idea what spending on Thursday and Friday is going to look like.
On Sunday, we'll do our grocery shopping, and then I'll go pick up the rental car I booked on Thursday, to drive down to see Cousin K graduate with her Masters degree a week from today.

Last week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (Starbucks, dinner) Starbucks, dinner
Tuesday: (----) ----
Wednesday: (----) Starbucks
Thursday: (Starbucks) Rental Car
Friday: (Safeway, house stuff, BBQ stuff?) Lunch
Saturday: (----) ----
Sunday: (hair) Safeway, house stuff, hair

This week's (planned) v actual spending:
Monday: (----)
Tuesday: (Starbucks)
Wednesday: (----) 
Thursday: (Starbucks, Lunch, Dinner) 
Friday: (Lunch, Dinner, Pop Tart visit) 
Saturday: (Lunch, gas) 
Sunday: (Safeway) 
Monday: (Starbucks, brunch, dinner, gas)

Current Month - (P)vA Running total	NS	CS&HS	Spend	Notes
May	(1)3 (3)4 (2)3 (2)2 (2)	(3)1 (0) (3)2 (3)3 (2)	(1)1 (4)3 (2)2 (2)2 (1)	(Current Planned - 31 days) Current Actual - 26 days
June		(2)	(1)	(Current Planned - 3 days) Current Actual -

Year long tracking:

Month (P)vA	NS	CS/HS	Spend
January	(8)6	(19)13	(4)12
February	(6)9	(13)12	(9)7
March	(8)9	(14)16	(9)6
April	(10)9	(16)14	(4)7
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

[moneysquirrel]

I did make it to Joann's and picked up the items I needed for the projects I am working on.  I was able to use that free money on some items but had to use cash for a few others as they were not eligible for the coupon use.  Other than that I have spent nothing.  I also have not left the house much this week.  It is nice being able to complete and/or work on several projects both house and craft.

[vetswife]

Spent $14 on speakers for my new computer; DSIL picked them out and installed them.  He even compared prices for the best price.  He's priceless!!