2022 Controlled Spend and No Spend

[catsareme]

May 19, 2022 16:46:45 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

May 19, 2022 16:36:35 GMT -5 catsareme said:

The settlement of the DS1's estate is moving along but very slowly.  Since he died intestate, all expenses have been out of pocket until I am officially named executor.  This experience has pushed DH and me to make sure all of our financial affairs are in the best order possible for our executor.         

My uncle lost his low income senior housing when he inherited all of her money, etc. when she died suddenly intestate.  He had been after all 3 of his kids to get wills, etc. but none of them did it.  She was single so it all eventually went to him and he had to move.  That senior apartment was where he had lived with his wife and he did not want to move.

Oh dear, that move had to have been very painful.  Our other kids have all taken care to make sure their "estates" are in order.  The final inheritance amount of DS1's estate will likely cover the funeral expenses and not much else.

[TheOtherMe]

It was very difficult for him.  He now has a lawn to mow and snow to shovel.  He's over 90, so that is hired out.  All kinds of complications for him because she didn't have a will.  She was over 50, so it's not like she should not have known.  

I hope his other two children have taken care of their estates, but they have spouses and children, so their estates would not all go to him.  

Once some of his grief waned, he was angry that he had to move and uproot his life.  

He also had all kinds of widowed ladies at the complex who suddenly found him quite attractive.  Word travels fast in small towns.

[moneysquirrel]

Quick check in.  Things are going as well as they can.  Spending has slowed down a bit.  This week was just the usual bills and small home and food spending.  Nexr week the car goes in for its yearly service stuff and I hope that I can reschedule that AC maintencance check for then as well. 

[moneysquirrel]

Car service was done and less than I expected.  AC maintenance was also done this morning -- price was the same as last year.  A welcoe surprise since everything else seems to be going up.  Lawn was mowed as well and I also paid that bill this morning.  Only waiting on one more bill.  It should come in sometime this week.  

Then a few weeks break before all the June bills come in. I am hoping that it will be a slower month for expenses. 

[seriousthistime]

I am making an effort to stay home and not spend money.

But I did have the crew come and remove some shrubs from my backyard patio area and do a general clean-up of the yard.  ($380.) Now I have a place where the shrubs were removed.  Instead of planting something else in the ground, I am thinking I may just buy a tall pot and plant some annuals in it. 

I have some tasks to hire out: a thorough window cleaning (inside/outside/window tracks), carpet and upholstery cleaning, and a handyman visit.  I'm putting together a list of chores for the handyman so he can knock them all out in one visit. 

Is this kind of home maintenance a want or a need? 

[TheOtherMe]

A need because if you don't do it can become an emergency.

[moneysquirrel]

seriousthistime  -- I agree with TheOtherMe that keeping up with the house is worth it in the long run.  

All of the monthly bills have been paid.  I plan to look for those new exercise shoes tomorrow as I will be in the area of the NB store for an appointment.  Other that that planned purchase I may have one more grocery run this month but I hope to avoid that if possible.  It would be nice if that is the last of this month's expenses.

[vetswife]

A very expensive month due to new shoes and inserts, airplane tickets, and DGD2 spending a week here. Rewards points covered most of the airplane tickets and I've so enjoyed having DGD2 here that I don't mind the money spent on doing things with her.  The shoes and inserts were more expensive than I expected so had to dip into my sinking fun but hope to build it back up in the next few months.

[Blonde Granny]

Many of you may have a slight of my so called "break down" a few weeks ago and fortunately things have really gotten better. Taken a good look at some mistakes and other things that I managed to bring out in the light, my like have gotten better.

Back to choir and the practice, along with church and Sunday school, including tithing, my spending has been within YNAB, and I'm looking forward to June.

Happy summer to all of us, and at my house it just might stop raining and our 50 mph winds could finally abate.

Blessing of a wonderful summer to everyone.

[seriousthistime]

Blonde Granny , did you sell your house?  Are you still thinking of moving to the apartment or has that already happened?

I'm glad you are doing better.

[countrygirl2]

DD and I don't go as much. Every 3 months is when all my pill expenses come due and that's a lot, so trying to save back and not spend that amount.

Hubs trip to get little guy and then all of us going out is going to cost, but we knew that was coming, and hope to take some side trips on the way out and back. Just didn't realize the price of fuel would be this high.  Hubs looked at plane tickets for 1 person less then gas but for more, of course, it's not. 

And now the expense of fixing the house is going to bite too. But there is money in the property account for it, we were hoping to transfer it to our general account though. But such is life, we are ok. But we still need to watch our spending more than we did in the past because of everything raising.

We are hopeful if rates go up, we can get more interest in our savings but seems like that never happens.

I am reading now; people will not believe how high their electric bills are going to be this summer. The article said be prepared for the shock.

My hairdresser said she and her hubs are working to be more self-sufficient, but they have kids and grandkids. She said they are raising a garden, have 2 calves, and getting 2 pigs, plus have chickens. She cans also. It would be difficult for us to have that much beef and pork as we don't have family to share it with. Will work well for them.

I have never seen all the garden seeds sell out here before, tells you people are finally worried.

[Blonde Granny]

No, my house was not sold., not that didn't have an offer the first day.

I am staying put and doing some redecorating, It's back to church and the choir and I'm grateful for the friends I've been able to trust and care,,,Thanks for a asking sseruousthis time.

[nikiz628]

Well H and I went in to May with high hopes of mindful spending... and that's about as far as it went. 
I am taking extra steps these last days of the month to prepare to try again in June. 

[laterbloomer]

So I'm over 2 months into my year of not buying clothes. I've been tempted lots but haven't done it.

[catsareme]

Sort of good news:  May CSD/NSD:  21/31

Bad news:  DH's dental co-pays for the year are approaching the $6,000 mark.  

[seriousthistime]

So far this month,

I made partial payment for travel in January through March of 2023. ~$2,500

I went out to dinner with a group last night. ~ $29

I went to Costco. ~ $156

Sent two memorial donations. ~ $150

Ordered my DDIL's birthday gifts. ~ $64

I feel like I've spent enough, but I need to go to Trader Joe's for groceries. 

A few months ago I cleaned out my closets and drawers of old clothes.  I got rid of a lot of stuff.  So far I have been enjoying wearing what's left from that purge. I have been able to avoid spending any money on clothes -- except for a special occasion dress, shoes, and purse to attend a wedding in April.  I could probably get rid of even more but I'm not ready yet. 

My garden, on the other hand, oof! Many trips to Home Depot likely in the next few weeks. 

[Iggy aka IG]

May 17, 2022 13:02:55 GMT -5 Iggy aka IG said:

Holy smokes, halfway through the month already.  And forget what I said at the end of March about not travelling for a while.  I have an opportunity to go to Hawaii and I am going for it.  Most things will be paid for, so I splurged for first class ticket upgrades.

Mid-month non-essential spending:  $2,203.11

Thank goodness for a decent bonus this year.  

Ahem.  Holy smokes May non-essentials were expensive!  Add vacation clothes (discounted 40%), one meal out, contacts for the year, and liquor to the above.  $2,951.99.  I may return several clothing items, though.

May essential spending:  Truck serviced, vacuum bags, necessary clothing for work, a medical copay, and a Sam's Club restocking order.  June will be pricy with liability insurance, quarterly taxes and HOA dues.  Grateful I am able to afford everything.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I will not list all of the expenditures for May. It's hard to tell what is "essential" and what was "wants" because moving in general had been planned. However, there have definitely been some "stupid tax" incidents. 

I did start this year saying I was going to curb my clothing purchases. I have done well, but I did make two purchases for myself in May: $36 for a black blouse. It is replacing one, and that is a "staple" clothing piece. Similarly in need and color, I purchased new black flats. I'd gone almost a year without any plus I wore out a pair of black heels a few months ago. I have now worn out pink, red, maroon, and black ballet flats and black pumps. Each of those pairs were several years old, and I will need to replace at least one more pair this summer. 

Anyhoo, For June, I'll focus my controlled spending on only clothing and eating out. I do not intend to purchase any additional clothes for myself in June, and I don't want DH and I eating out due to laziness. 

[seriousthistime]

I like the focus on certain controllable categories, Knee Deep in Water Chloe.  

I'm going to think about that and come up with a few categories for the rest of June.

[moneysquirrel]

Good Morning all1
It has been a while since I posted but I have been finishing up my volunteer work (for a few months at least), participating in a craft workshop (which I count as essential spending for the materials needed as I use it to learn new techniques), and general household chores and errands.

May Wrapup:

16 No Spend Days

12 Essential Spending Days (Monthly bills, grocery, gas, payment on plumbing bill and AC/H Semi Annual inspection maintenance fee, Replacement sandals and walking shoes and kits for my craft retreat)

3 Non-essential Spending Days  

June Forecast:
Other than the usual monthly expenses I know I have my car insurance (I pay every 6 months) due this month.  I may need to stop at the either Home Depoet or Lowe's to get a few items but on the whole this month should be less expensive.

[startsmart]

It been a few months since I posted as well, my trip to NYC in April threw off my tracking and I’m slowly catching up. May was low key and early June I went to Tulsa (both of these trips had active shooter situations very close to me 😔) and now I’m home until probably August.

I have a long list of house updates and improvements with very few of them costing me additional money so that’s where I’m focused for now.

Last week I had 3 new windows installed so now I only have… 22 more to go!

The pool is set up outside and I’m out there every day it’s 80° or more. And I’m the garden I’m growing raspberries, blueberries, kale, tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, squash, watermelon, pumpkins, carrots, radishes, beans, lavender, mint, thyme, basil and sunflowers.

I posted pics of my garden here! imgur.com/gallery/C8W5KUa

[CCL]

Startsmart I love your garden pics!

[catsareme]

The bills have landed.  

No charge for the JD Gator since the repair shop couldn't replicate the problem.  They had the UTV for six weeks!  At least we weren't charged for the pick-up and delivery.

The plumbing turned out to be a major expense $10,260 but the cost included not only the water treatment backwash diversion but replacing the kitchen sink faucet, repair/replace an outdoor hose bib and repairing a leak from the laundry room sink.  

Keeping a sharp eye on the everyday expenses (groceries, gas, utilities) as I begin to pay back into the slush/emergency funds.   

 

[laterbloomer]

A couple of decisions I'm proud of. My laptop died and instead of getting a new one ISO set me up as a second user on his. I do most of my online stuff on my phone, there are just a few things that are a lot easier on a laptop so sharing should work fine. Money saved!
And I'm still not buying clothes. I can't tell you how often I've been at Costco and actually had items in my cart and took them out before check out. I'm guessing I have saved at least $600 so far. And there are still clothes I like in my closet I rarely wear!

[moneysquirrel]

Had a couple of spending days this week but all of it has been essential -- grocery, gas, home improvement items and a few bills.  Got an alert from the electric company that the bills will be higher over the next few months due to the price of natural gas.  Not news I wanted to hear.  I use ceiling fans and an occasional table fan as it is to be able to avoid the AC kicking on as much.  But here in the deep south I can't do away with it entirely.  So grateful that I replaced all of the old windows about 10 years ago.  I definitely have lower bills than some of my neighbors.  I should be receiving that bill in a few days but not looking forward to it.

Also my car insurance will be renewed later this month. That should be the last semi-annual big expense until the end of the year when everythng big comes in toward the end of November and then December -- March.

Like catsareme I am also keeping a sharp eye of my expenses as I begin the process of rebuilding my home maintenace sinking fund. 

[Iggy aka IG]

Nice pictures, startsmart!

Ouch, catsareme!

Add me to the list of folks watching spending this month.  As mentioned last week, it's going to be an expensive one.  So far, the only non-essentials were getting my hair done since it had been 2.5 months and one liquor store stop.  Oh, and I paid the cleaning lady, though I'm realizing this is becoming a health expense, as she's good for my allergies, asthma, and peace of mind.

I counted going to Walmart at least 6 times in May.  Granted, one was for refund purposes, and one to return the recalled peanut butter, but still.  I used to only go once a month for pickup purposes.  So, I'll reel that in this month.

MTD non-essentials $399.33

[Iggy aka IG]

Just paid bills.  Yeouch!  Except for a monthly stock up at the liquor store (I buy my neighbor's drinks of choice and keep them on hand), I've done no more non-essential spending this month.  Tonight's monthly WM pickup, only the second this month, contains only the bare essentials which will put this month's groceries, HBAs and cleaning products at just over $321.  This is about half as last month.

$516.69 MTD non-essentials

[moneysquirrel]

Most of the monthly bills have been paid.  I think that I have three more to pay and then I will be done for a few weeks at least.  Got my hair cut yesterday and made a quick trip to Sam's on the way home.  I was going to be passing it anyway and I only needed a few things.  Hope that I can get a few no-spend days this week as the beginning of the week was all bills and needed items.

Have a great week all!  Will check in when I can.

[vetswife]

Just got hit with a huge plumbing bill for repairs and new water heater.  Fortunately I had the money in savings but still don't like it.

[catsareme]

vetswife I feel your pain.  Yes, I had the money to cover to cover our plumbing bill too, but it still hurt big time.

We filled up the truck yesterday and the car today.  Total cost:  $154 after the $1 per gallon gas reward discount on each fill-up.  At these prices I see us becoming serious homebodies.