All things
considered July definitely turned out to be uber thrifty and I am so happy with
how much mileage I got out of my dollars spent.
To begin with funds went into my retirement accounts and then I paid all
of our monthly expenses well ahead of their due dates. When it comes to spending, the bills get paid
first.
Our power bill was
the lowest it has been in a year which made me quite happy. I was able to use the money I didn't spend on
electricity toward extra groceries. I
spent more last month than I have in quite some time. Fortunately, I was able to keep the costs
lower by taking advantage of sales and buying quite a bit from markdown bins.
Surprisingly I ended
the month of July with just under half a tank of gas in the car. The truck was down to almost a quarter of a
tank so I opted to fill her up this time and used my rewards points from my
Fred Meyer card to shave off 40¢ a gallon!
We did a lot of
repairs and improvement projects. Our
chicken coop needed a new roof and some reinforcements. I re-used the wood from our old gate to make
the necessary repairs at no cost and then spent $27 at Home Depot for a piece
of PVC corrugated roofing materials, a small box of roofing nails and a piece
of metal flashing. I also spent $26 at
the feed store for a new 2 gallon galvanized water feeder to replace the broken
plastic one we had. The hens had earned
$14 recently in egg sales so the feeder only cost me $12 out of pocket. That was a pretty good deal!
I spent $10 for an
eight foot pressure treated 4X4 to replace one of our broken fence posts. After a little hard work digging up the old
one and putting in the new one the youngest and I put the two sections of
fencing back up and declared that part of the project completed.
Other projects
completed around the house were done by using and re-using items I already had
on hand as well as some wood I had picked up from the FREE WOOD bin near my
work. My can of miscellaneous screws and
fasteners really got a workout. It is
always nice to be able to build or fix things without having to run to the
hardware store and spend a bunch of money all the time.
We ate out three times last month. I took the girls and my
oldest's boyfriend out to lunch at Pizza Pie Cafe and I used a digital coupon
which included drinks spending less than $30.
A couple weeks later after finishing up the chicken coop roof and the
fence post I took them all to Sizzler.
We enjoyed the salad bar and drank water, none of us are soda drinkers,
and I spent $42. Then while doing some back-to-school shopping I used a gift card and took the girls to Red Lobster for lunch. After the gift card I spent $23 out of pocket for the remainder of our bill and a hefty tip for our fabulous waiter. I try to keep our
dining out budget at $50 a month, but we did have an extra person with us two of those times and so I was fine going over budget this time, especially since the BF helped out
with some yard work one day, which I really appreciated and my girls have been helping out a ton with everything.
I am really pleased
with how much I got done last month without having to spend a gob of money. It always makes me feel truly satisfied
knowing I've taken care of our financial obligations, maintained our home,
cared for my children and even enjoyed a couple extras like going out to
eat. It makes all the hard work worth
it.
It sounds like July was a great month for you all. You are definitely making memories for your kiddo's.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I sure hope so. :)
DeleteI think it's super cute that even the hens are working hard to contribute to the budget!
ReplyDeleteThey are pretty awesome that way. Hee, hee.
DeleteGreat job on your part.
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteYou had a great July! We also had house guests for the majority of the month. We spent extra on groceries, but I kept eating out in check, which was a huge victory. I made lots of dinners vs eating out. Great job!
ReplyDeleteThat is a huge victory, isn't it? I managed to keep the eating out to under $100 so I was pretty pleased.
Deleteyou did a great job in July...especially with extra mouths to feed...I offered a booklet of my prim designs for sale to earn some extra cash...got a great deal on mailing envelopes on Amazon and had a small credit to apply so they were nearly free...used up scrap paper to print mailing labels...other than having them printed at a shop (vs buying expensive ink)my costs were low...earned enough to make and extra mortgage payment!
ReplyDeleteWow Kelley, you did really well! That extra mortgage payment has to feel really good!
DeleteThat was sure nice of your oldests boyfriend to help out and of you to take nim out to dinner. :) You did well again my friend!
ReplyDeleteIt was really nice of him. He likes to help and I like that he likes to help! ;)
Delete