October Thrifty Wrap Up

Here we are again!  Can you believe how quickly October flew right by.  Mercy!

I began the month with $16 in my checking account and about that much cash in my wallet so not too shabby.  Pay day was on the fifth so I was able to get all of our monthly bills paid ahead of their due dates and mid month I paid our mortgage three weeks ahead.  I made my planned savings contributions and a double payment on my PayPal account (carpet) as well.  What remained after all of that was used for groceries, dining out, a trip to dollar movie night at our neighborhood cinema, tickets for band competition, stocking up and some birthday gifts.

I did pretty well stocking up the pantry last month with items for holiday baking as well as filling in with items we were running low on.  I took advantage of sales and added digital and paper coupons everywhere I could to purchase those items at the lowest possible cost.

I used coupons at Bath & Body Works to obtain a free item for my gift bin as well as a discounted item.  Both will make nice gifts for someone on my list.  I did a lot of no and low cost little projects around the house as well as in the gift making department.  I was also able to wrap a bunch of gifts using supplies I already had.

It was also the month where I stock up for winter making sure all of our animals are well provided for.  We had plenty of pine bedding for the coop and in September I had bought 50# of scratch grains.  Last month I added two 50# bags of lay pellets that should get them through the coldest months until spring.  I also bought two large bags of dry cat food to put up in the garage.  In August we put in a really good supply of Timothy hay and pellets for the bunny so she is all set.  Our pantry and both freezers are full so we are all set too.  No one is going to starve around here.

The biggest expenditure for October was to book our family vacation which is a trip to Disneyland in 2019.  We are ever excited and can hardly wait to go.  I put all of it on my credit card in order to receive the rewards points first and will pay that amount off with money from my savings account when the bill comes due.  It was a lot of work to save up that money, but definitely well worth it.

November will be challenging for me as we have two birthdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas up ahead and two annual bills that come due every year.  But as always, I'm up for the challenge and feel fairly confident I can pull it off.  At least I hope so anyway.