August tends to not
be a thrifty month for me and this time was no exception. I ended the month of July with my gas tank on
fumes so off to the gas station first thing to fuel up the car. On pay day I paid all of our monthly expenses
and even managed to make some good progress on my savings goals. Next up was to get both girls registered for
school at their respective schools.
Activity cards, yearbooks, a cap and gown for graduation, cheerleader
fees, etc.
I ended up doing a
lot more driving this month than usual as well.
Lots of activities prior to the start of school with band camp and
cheerleader camp meant a lot of drop off and pick up for both girls. There was also the trip out to Eagle to pick
up a certain bunny. In order to not
waste fuel I made sure to combine errands as much as possible. Even with my best efforts I ended up needing
to purchase a second tank of gas before the month was up. Just how it goes sometimes.
I stocked up on a
lot of items for the girls to pack school lunches with. Drinks, crackers, cookies, pudding cups, gelatin
cups, applesauce cups, granola bars, cheese sticks, Pop Tarts, etc. I also bought instant oatmeal, bagels,
english muffins, and bread. Everything
was either purchased on sale or marked down but it still added more to the
overall grocery bill than what I usually spend.
Mid month I felt
very blessed to find $80 cash in an empty parking lot early on a Saturday
morning. I used $50 of it for groceries
and the rest I still have in my wallet.
I've yet to decide what to do with it, but when I do I'm sure it will be
well spent.
I used a $10 OFF $30
Purchase coupon at ShopKo to pick up a few Christmas gifts. I used a couple coupons at Bath & Body
Works to pick up a free item and take 20% OFF on another item that was on
sale. I also did some more Christmas
shopping at Walmart one morning while I waited for my daughter to complete a
test at her high school on a Saturday morning.
After I picked her up from testing we went to the mall and I was able to
get her two bras for $25 at JC Penney.
Using my store credit card gave me an additional 20% OFF the sales price
making them even more affordable.
I do anticipate the
extra expenses in August and plan ahead accordingly. I've never been one to wait to buy my kid's
clothes, shoes and school supplies until back to school time. I buy their clothes and shoes year round and
we do shop second hand quite a bit as well as happily accept hand me downs.. We reuse school supplies whenever we can and
I stock up on loss leader items like spiral notebooks, loose leaf paper and
folders. Lunch boxes and backpacks get
reused too until they literally fall apart.
I shop clearance sales for replacements and put them aside until they
are needed.
So while it may have
been a more expensive month than our usual I was pretty well prepared for it
and fortunately it all went off without a hitch. My girls are back in school, well dressed,
well fed and well supplied. You can't
ask for much more than that!
