No/Low Buy Update: Week 3

Every Monday during 2022, I am posting an update on what I spent for the week as a way of keeping myself accountable for my No/Low Buy Year. Also, in order to see my true savings, I am also tracking items I was tempted to buy but didn’t. 

Via

Well, well, well. After looking at my spending, Week 3 proved to be a bit more spendy than I thought it was. My daughter and her entire family came down with Covid so I helped with their meals all week. I also purchased meals for my parents and had them delivered. These expenses come out of a ‘spontaneous giving’ account, which is my very favorite to fund. I get so much pleasure out of blessing others. It is money well-spent. However, the extra eating out for us? Not so much.

I also purchased a pair of sneakers that were recommended by my orthopaedist to wear as my foot heals. They were expensive — but I consider that a medical purchase. Normally I would have gone directly to Amazon, but because I banned myself from using them, I searched and found another company that sold these specific sneakers. The bonus? They were $20 cheaper with free shipping! I’ve found this to be true on many items that Amazon sells — they do not have the lowest prices on everything.

What I spent (January 17 – January 23):

• Spontaneous giving: $257.12
• Take Out: $106.00
• Medical: New Balance shoes (for my broken foot): $152.96
• Personal Care: $15.93

Total: $532.01

I’m disappointed that I spent so much on take-out again but other than that, not a bad week. Since half of this spending was for a really good cause, I’ll call it a win! 😉

But, this week was not without its challenges and temptations!

On Saturday, I had to pick up an item at Walmart. BJs was right next door and I thought I would just go in and look around. I thought it would be a good way to do some walking and stay out of the cold (bad idea). Dang if three items didn’t end up in my hands. I carried these items around the store for about 20 minutes. When my foot started to hurt, I had to make a decision. Do I take these items home? (All on my NO BUY LIST, mind you). Thankfully I had all of you in my head as I was making the decision to purchase, and I ended up leaving all three items in the store. 😉

Here are the items I was tempted to buy this week but didn’t:

• McDonald’s breakfast sandwich: $5.00 (I was out early in the morning for a doctor’s appointment)
• Happy Planner Stickers: $21.00 (a pop up add on my computer….)
• Book: 55, Unemployed and Faking Normal, by Elizabeth White: $21.00

BJ’s temptations:

• Book: Enough Already, by Valerie Bertinelli. $17.59 (This is the second time I almost bought this book so it is going on my wish list.)
• Travel mugs (set of two): $20.98
• Book: The Bible in 52 Weeks, by Dr. Kimberly Moore $8.99

Total: $100.23 (including tax)

Isn’t it amazing how much impulsive purchases add up if you succumb to them?

This challenge is working. 🙂

How did you do this week?

If you missed it, here are my weekly No/Low Buy Challenge Updates:

Week 1

Week 2

Retirement Preparation Update

Photo by Karolina Grabowska on Pexels.com

We have just completed six months of 2020.  Can you believe it?  It has been the longest six months of any year I can remember.

Anyway, it’s time to check in with our retirement preparation.  Our ultimate goal is to retire in exactly 43 months.  (I haven’t figured out the days, hours, or minutes yet, but I will soon 😉 )

When the pandemic started and the stock market crashed, I thought we would have to extend our retirement plan out two extra years.   When the market bounced back, we successfully rebalanced all of our accounts, and have a much less volatile portfolio.  We won’t have significant gains, but we also won’t have significant losses.

The biggest eye-opener was our lack of sufficient cash. We had 6 months’ worth, but it didn’t feel nearly enough with our age as factors.   We have implemented a new savings plan and are now socking away nearly 40% of my husband’s income (even with a 10% pay cut).  This has been relatively painless since we are not going anywhere or doing anything.

I imagine once the world opens up again, we’ll have the travel bug and want to start going places.  We have a Disney cruise planned for May 2021, a trip we planned with our entire family 1 1/2 years ago.  If, however, masks are still required, this trip will be postponed until all’s well with the world.  I have that trip money already set aside.  My grandchildren may be teenagers by the time we go, but we are going nonetheless. 😉

Photo by Craig Adderley on Pexels.com

As far as other trips, we may postpone until retirement so that we have enough cash to feel comfortable when we do say goodbye to a paycheck.

As far as the budget, the only wild card has been food.  The grocery stores have been hiking up prices and I’m trying to stay fairly close to what I’ve allotted.  The only way I can do that is to shop solely at Aldi.  But even Aldi has raised their prices.

All in all, we are on track to retire in early 2024.  How are you doing with your budgets?

Gearing up for a 3-mos Spending Freeze

Photo by Pixabay

How does one save a bunch of money really fast?  Don’t spend any!

I’ve been revisiting the idea of a spending freeze. I did a successful one for the month of February several years ago. And I saved a bit of money.  But as I was perusing the internet, I found one person doing an arbitrary 4-month spending freeze. Hmmm.  If I want to save a lot of money fast, why not do more than a month, perhaps a 3-month spending freeze?

We are about to enter my least favorite months of the year Jan/Feb/Mar- which I affectionately call winter suck.  Why not do something productive to get ready for spring?

Photo by Pixabay

This spending freeze will be about giving up wants.  After all, I’m already living with abundance and more than enough.  I certainly can go for 90 days without purchasing any more.

THE RULES:

The following items are off limits for 90 days: (Every one of these items is a trigger for me.)

• Clothes, shoes
• Books, cds, dvds
• Household decor
• Wine (I may or may not stock up in December)
• K-cups
• Purses/wallets
• Jewelry/clothing accessories
• Planners, stickers, pens (yes, they are a thing)
• Trips (other than NY to see my parents)
• Eating out
• Travel items/accessories
• Manicures/Pedicures
• No online spending (unless it can’t be purchased in a brick/mortar store)

Things I can spend money on:

• Groceries (within a budget of $100/week)
• Medications/Medicine/Drs. appts.
• Anything that Ben (my sweet, sweet boy) needs
• Replacement products (i.e. toothpaste, toilet paper, shampoo, conditioner, make up) * Find the cheapest way to replace through coupons, sales
• Bills (utilities, mortgage, etc.)
• Gasoline (but only one fill up a month for me)
• EZ Pass for my husband to go to work
• Date night (2x) No need to punish my sweet husband. 🙂
• Travel to my parents in NY (a necessity)
• Gifts (3 to be exact – 2 birthdays and an anniversary)
• Hair cut and color 1x (absolutely, positively necessary.)

If anything else should come up that I didn’t account for, I will update this list.  In the meantime, I will work on coming up with at least 100 things to do for free to keep me from spending.

This freeze will officially start January 1st.

I’m actually excited.  A challenge that will bear fruit at the end.  Money fruit, that is. 😉

Anyone with me?