Last month I wrote about how I’ve decided not to continue with my ‘No/Low buy year’ and that I didn’t want to feel ‘punished’ by having to control my spending. I was positive I could keep my impulse spending in line. After all, it had been 3 months of diligent tracking and holding back.
Obviously, 3 months was not enough to change my spending ways.
I went into impulse spending mode as soon as I pressed send on that blog post. Good grief. How do I fix that?
Although I will not be going back to the No/Low spend rules as they are, per se, I will continue to track and post my expenses on this blog weekly. That should put a pause on ridiculous impulse spending knowing that I will have to share it with all of you. Let’s hope that works! 🙂
On with April’s financial results. (Be warned. The numbers aren’t pretty. 😦 )
- Groceries: $1,097.75 (Meat and pantry stock up – I now have a full freezer of meat and veggies and canned supplies.)
- Eating Out: $122.34
- Miscellaneous: $87.79
- Coffee Beans: $80.00 (On sale and stocked up for 3 mos.)
- Household/Personal Care: $944.74 (Stocked up on all household and personal care products for a year)
- Hair cut and color: $100.00
- Clothes & Accessories: $173.06 (I don’t even remember what I bought. 😦 )
- Pets: $110.51 (dog food and treats)
- Home/Car Maintenance: $1,343.00 (new electric lawn mower and power washer)
- Gasoline: $142.17 (trip to NY and high gas prices 😦 )
- Mom: $1,092.00 (a new IPAD, dinners, etc. to help pass the time now that my Dad is in a nursing home. 😦 )
- Gifts & Holidays: $458.00 (Several birthdays, Easter, Hosting)
- Charitable contributions: $202.23
- Road trips/vacation deposits & travel accessories: $673.00 (This is where a lot of the impulse came in. Ugh. 😦 )
Grand total for April: $6,626.59
Adding it all up made me a little sick. That’s a lot of spending for just one month. However, not all of the spending was bad. We wanted to prep a bit by way of stocking up on household and food items. We also wanted to get rid of the gas-powered tools and switch to electric. And, since my Dad went into a nursing home, making my Mom’s life a little easier was worth every penny.
However, the overspending on holidays, birthdays, travel accessories (a new suitcase and such), was a bit over the top.
I’m reigning it in for May. There are a few expenses that are out of the ordinary, but for the most part, I should be able to get back on track. You’ll see it in my first May budget report.
How was your April?
JOURNEY TO RETIREMENT 
I’ve been thinking of an electric lawn mower, I’m hoping you can post later how it works out. I use a John Deere rider mower for my home (over an acre) but I have a lake cottage with a smaller lawn and I can’t start a regular mower anymore (at 68 I don’t have the strength to pull the cord anymore.). My adult kids will do it but I don’t want to wait or ask them (they’ve been good about it and don’t complain). Also I’ve had a bad spending month too, Easter costs and buying too many clothes for grandkids for summer. I need better control of myself!!
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We purchased the GreenWorks PRO 80V 21″. It turns on with a button and is self-propelled. It comes with two batteries, and my husband used 1 1/2 batteries for our quarter acre. Recharging took less than an hour. It’s quiet! We love that there is no gas smell, and we no longer have to house gasoline in our garage. It stands up on its own in the garage. The only con is that it is a bit awkward to use at first. You have to get used to the way the self-propeller works. My husband said it doesn’t take long to figure it out and it did a beautiful job on our lawn. We’ve only mowed once so far, but we are really happy with the decision. Hope that helps!
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Thanks! I’ll look into it!
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