Things that are blowing your budget

[muttleynfelix]

Inspired by all the people coming back to the boards, I looked at my annual spending on my CC statement to see where my husband and I really didn't budget for (and therefore is the reason our savings took a hit this last year).

I was shocked to see "we" spent $3100 at the the Casey's down the street from our house. (Casey's is a midwest gas station chain). Personally, i have probably gotten gas there 3 times this year. I have never used my CC to get snacks there. I know my husband goes there a lot to get snacks and cigarettes, but holy shit $3100! That is half what we spent on groceries this year. Plus he has cash to buy snacks or ask me to buy them at the grocery store...or go across the street to the grocery store.

Other surprising things, we spent over $1000 on the dog. I wasn't actively budgeting for him, but is should this year. He is 15.5 and on the decline, but he seems to have 9 lives.

I have budgeted correctly for utilities, clothes, close on groceries and household, even Lowes...we spent $3000 last year and had $3600 budgeted between house maintenance and just Lowe's (yes I have a budget item for Lowes).

Part of me feels real good about it all, but damn the $3100 at Casey's is money we can't afford.

[Deleted]

Maybe not applicable to this thread but Casey’s has the best gas station pizza ever, I mean it’s awesome.

[laterbloomer]

I gather you don't mean you were buying gas. What were you spending the money on?

[muttleynfelix]

Jan 4, 2019 18:42:01 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

I gather you don't mean you were buying gas. What were you spending the money on?

He gets gas there every couple weeks. So if I'm generous it is only $2k of crap.

By crap I mean:
Cigarettes
Mt Dew
Beef jerky
Candy bars

[chapeau]

If your husband is anything like my husband, he didn’t spend $3100. He spent $3.10 a couple times a week. That can’t possibly add up to $3100, can it?
And that’s where our budget goes to heck.

[countrygirl2]

My husband spends most of his extra on gas and fuel but its for his truck, the truck, mowers, tractor, we spend a LOT mowing in the summer.  We mow about 7 acres every week or two, expensive.  He spent way over $3k.

We put all of our rent money into expenses and remodeling, we spent a lot on remodeling his moms old house, one more house to do and that will stop, but this year will be tough on rental income again.

I overspent at Christmas this year, we bought things I wanted and I wanted for hubs, way overspent.  Some before Christmas, a big tool cabinet $1200, one for son $500, a new vacuum, have Kenmore and parts didn't really work, so a $1000, yes its American made. It's really good but a lot, a reverse osmosis water system $1200,  $1000 on bedroom furniture, we had not planned a lot on these.  I need to pull back for awhile and rebuild cash reserves plus we have a ton of insurance and property taxes due in May.  After that we should be ok again, but no Christmases like that, I need restraint.


We too spent likely a $1000 on our old dog, he was sick and also for boarding, he is 15.  Now about a $1000 on the basement sewing room, but it also gives hubs something to do.  We reduced entertainment expenses, hopefully that will offset some of the increasing insurance costs.

Yes, we have money but the rate we are spending needs to slow down, as in a couple of years we plan to buy another vehicle for hubs and want to pay cash

It's easy to let a lot of money slip through your hands, that's for sure. 


 

[Blonde Granny]

My downfall is QVC.  Another package came today.  $47 for 4 pair of compression socks....needed, but still.  I also fall into their 3-4-5-or 6 easy payments with no interest. I already owe them $87 for this month and it's only the 4th day.

I should give them their own line item in my budget, maybe that would cause me to skip that TV station.

[laterbloomer]

Jan 4, 2019 18:50:46 GMT -5 muttleynfelix said:

Jan 4, 2019 18:42:01 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

I gather you don't mean you were buying gas. What were you spending the money on?

He gets gas there every couple weeks. So if I'm generous it is only $2k of crap.

By crap I mean:
Cigarettes
Mt Dew
Beef jerky
Candy bars

Cigarettes are a killer. And I don't see that you're going to curb that spending.

[countrygirl2]

Amazon isn't good for me.  I bought some cookbooks from Thriftbooks, only $20,  $29 for a sushi kit, $50 for ear cleaning washer and kit that works off the computer, 2 pair of soft socks $25.  Just on and on. That's a $100 and like you said only the 4th of the month.

[oped]

Dogs have been expensive the last few years. Our lab died last year at 14 and our mix is currently 13. His meds run just over a 100 a month. There are also more appointments and tests, etc. Got him a new bed this week. But he's still happy, loves being around the kids and can still open the door and escape to run around the yard for a spry half hour, although he does tend to sleep the rest of the day... he still sleeps next to wherever his favorite people are currently and moves when they do. When that stuff starts to end we'll make other decisions. I figure this is the last one i'm having, possibly ever. Whatever makes him happy till the end. 

[Deleted]

I watch people spend $10+ at the convenience store all the time.

Talk to your husband.  You can't do anything about the cigarettes until he decides to quit smoking so take that off the table.  But the junk food?  Can he take it to work with him?  Is there a communal refrigerator to stash a 25 cent coke?  Make sure that he knows that is the cost when you buy a 12-pack for $3.  Make sure that he knows a candy bar is 6 for $3.50 or whatever.  Once he realizes the markup, maybe he can come up with strategies to cut it back.  

It isn't that he can't have whatever junk food he wants.  Make sure you frame it that way.  It's just the convenience store markup is horrendous.

[hurley1980]

Dogs and beer! But I can't live without either, so it is what it is.

[Deleted]

Buying the kids stuff they don't really NEED is what's breaking my budget.   It seems that every time one of the booster teams sends out an email about things they're selling I'm right there buying it.  Yesterday the swim team coach sent out an email about team clothing and I right away asked Carrot what he wanted from there.  He wanted a sweatshirt.  It was $29 and he doesn't need a sweatshirt at all.   The speech team put together cookbooks and I didn't just buy one, I bought 4 thinking I'd give them as gifts.  Of course, they didn't get them back in time for Christmas....

[lynnerself]

The local wine shop is our downfall. They have themed wine tastings twice a week ($12-18 each), good food, and great wines at all price points. I guess it is a good thing we really don't have a budget to blow.

[Deleted]

Taxes- income and property- are my biggest line item, followed by charity and travel- but if I define "Budget busters" as items which, when you add them up, are more than you expected, I'd have to say it's the grandchildren.  DDIL's family gives them a lot of toys so I don't buy much in the way of things.  Instead I add to their 529s and pay for experiences.  It's priceless, though- the Sugar Plum Fairy Ball last month ($485 for 3 adults and a 2- and 4-year old), the overnight trip the 4-year old and I took to Chicago- I can see that expanding as she and her sister get older and their new sibling (due in late June) gets old enough to join the fun.  Longer trips, further away, and eventually seeing The Nutcracker together when everyone is grown up enough to stay in their seats.  We're not there yet. 

I hope I can keep doing this for a long time!

[imanangel]

How long do you have to read my list? 
Dogs (Moo Moo just had emergency surgery like a month ago to the tune of $2418)
Food (I am not a cheap date)
Wine I developed a picky taste to wine after living in Italy.
Not going to lie...for awhile it was cigarettes again. I had quit for many years, and then 2018 happened. I am back on the no smoking bandwagon now though.
Pedicures
Food again 
Wine again
Going to local festivals. The food festival was $80 per person. The whiskey festival...another $80 per person.  
books and school supplies.  I can't seem to resist buying either of them. 

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

I am not going to go into DH's vices but let's say that now that he is sober and he has surrendered his debit card I am rather alarmed at how fast our budget is starting to recover.  We're not out out of the red yet but now I have hope we might actually get there.

[laterbloomer]

It's different things all the time blowing my budget, a trip here, house décor there, a few meals at nice restaurants...I need to master the delayed gratification thing.

[wvugurl26]

Entertainment and travel busted our budget last year. We are working on cutting back this year. Sure we paid for all of it but we made very little progress paying anything off. It was a lot of fun though.

We are also eating out less.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

In my head, buying decor accents for my house. I don't know why I lost my mind on that this past year. That total was $4,100. 
According to YNAB, we spent $6,000 last year on car, trailer, and umbrella insurance last year. 
We spent $6,700 on restaurants last year. 

I cannot reduce the insurance payments, but I need to reduce the other two for this year. 

[giramomma]

The kids, the degree, and the house..in that order.

But, there's really no going back with anything on the list..so...I will just move forward.

[Deleted]

I got curious about the gas station bottom line since we seem to live at Kwik Trip.  I was actually pleasantly surprised.  It was $2400 for 2018, but almost $1900 of that was gas.  There was $455 for food.  That's what I thought would have been a lot higher because Carrot and I eat there a lot, especially before his brother got his driver's license.  But, a lot of stuff there is really cheap.  It's also where we get all our milk, bread, butter, onions...

None of it is budget busting since I account for it all in the gas/groceries line items.  I just don't normally look at what I spend per store.  

[muttleynfelix]

Jan 4, 2019 19:17:18 GMT -5 @bamafan1954 said:

I watch people spend $10+ at the convenience store all the time.

Talk to your husband.  You can't do anything about the cigarettes until he decides to quit smoking so take that off the table.  But the junk food?  Can he take it to work with him?  Is there a communal refrigerator to stash a 25 cent coke?  Make sure that he knows that is the cost when you buy a 12-pack for $3.  Make sure that he knows a candy bar is 6 for $3.50 or whatever.  Once he realizes the markup, maybe he can come up with strategies to cut it back.  

It isn't that he can't have whatever junk food he wants.  Make sure you frame it that way.  It's just the convenience store markup is horrendous.

The really funny thing is that he is a stay at home parent (even though both kids are now in school, see the kids thread for more on that). So he has access to everything in the house and there is a grocery store across the street from the gas station (technically it is a Hy-Vee Drugstore, but they have the same supermarket prices as the full stores in town, just a smaller store - I'm being very Iowa with my talk of Casey's and Hy-vee.)

Yeah, I just need to talk to him about how much he is actually spending and he probably needs to go back to an all cash diet. I'll see if he will leave the CC at home for a while. For years we did all cash for everything but gas and Lowes. Maybe we need to go back to that?

[imanangel]

Jan 4, 2019 20:18:25 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

It's different things all the time blowing my budget, a trip here, house décor there, a few meals at nice restaurants...I need to master the delayed gratification thing.

I am not very good at delayed gratification thing either.....I have to learn to get better though!

[zibazinski]

Jan 4, 2019 20:46:13 GMT -5 imanangel said:

Jan 4, 2019 20:18:25 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

It's different things all the time blowing my budget, a trip here, house décor there, a few meals at nice restaurants...I need to master the delayed gratification thing.

I am not very good at delayed gratification thing either.....I have to learn to get better though!

Your new grandson!!!

[imanangel]

Jan 4, 2019 20:47:51 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Jan 4, 2019 20:46:13 GMT -5 imanangel said:

I am not very good at delayed gratification thing either.....I have to learn to get better though!

Your new grandson!!!

OH MY GOSH, YES.  He is completely beautiful, and perfect. I may have also went a little crazy buying him stuff. But he is growing so fast, and his momma and daddy are very low income....and Gap was having a sale, and Amazon, and Target.....

Ok, he is definitely a budget breaker. BUT, I would give up my weekend brunches to splurge on him.

[empress of self-improvement]

Jan 4, 2019 20:46:13 GMT -5 imanangel said:

Jan 4, 2019 20:18:25 GMT -5 laterbloomer said:

It's different things all the time blowing my budget, a trip here, house décor there, a few meals at nice restaurants...I need to master the delayed gratification thing.

I am not very good at delayed gratification thing either.....I have to learn to get better though!

Me three. If I want it, I want it NOW!!!! Not later. Kind of a bank account killer though.

My gas station purchases are all gas. At 4:30 in the morning, I ain't getting coffee. I fill up every week since I work 30 miles from home and sometimes twice a week. Depends on what else I do during the week. Last month's CC bill was stupid because exactly half of it was a vet bill for 2 cats. Joy.

[Miss Tequila]

Jan 4, 2019 21:02:47 GMT -5 imanangel said:

Jan 4, 2019 20:47:51 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Your new grandson!!!

OH MY GOSH, YES.  He is completely beautiful, and perfect. I may have also went a little crazy buying him stuff. But he is growing so fast, and his momma and daddy are very low income....and Gap was having a sale, and Amazon, and Target.....

Ok, he is definitely a budget breaker. BUT, I would give up my weekend brunches to splurge on him.

What?! How old? Whose baby? Huge congratulations!

[countrygirl2]

Taxes- income and property- are my biggest line item, add insurance to that.  I know a lot is for property but still have to pay it, to the tune of $14000 per year, ouch.  That does not include our personal insurance of near $12000, all this before any living expenses.

Me three. If I want it, I want it NOW!!!! Not later. Kind of a bank account killer though. We both were used to buying anything we wanted, I couldn't get hubs to even think about it.  I kept explaining to him with his investment decisions he did not have unlimited funds like he used to.  After giving son more money then we should have its finally sinking in.

We aren't poor but we can't spend like we did.  If we knew when we were going to kick off for sure, we could spend accordingly, but, not going to happen, so, just need to keep it within reason.

If your hubs is spending that much at a convenience store, show him the accounting, I doubt he has any idea, seeing it in black and white makes it real.

[Deleted]

Eating out.  Neither of us work outside the home, so we often feel the need to leave the house, but don't have a real reason.  So we go out to eat.  A favorite breakfast joint here, a dive bar there, a place with a great Wednesday special, so many tasty happy hours to choose from.  Oh and coffee, so many coffee joints.  Luckily DH is giving up caffeine so that has stopped.