Frugal Living Archives--2010

[lizzie lou]

Thank you, MM! It's helpful to see how you plan ahead for expenses.

I haven't spent any money today. It was a hide under the covers day. I did tell DH about an unexpected expense. $1,170.00 for workshops at the Spring Academy that I thought DH and I were going to take for free. We are kind of stuck, as I have enrolled my parents in it and they have already paid and bought their plane tickets and arranged to visit friends in FL.

So we need to negotiate with the team... I'm hoping to get at least Tom's fee comped. I'm very anxious about this. I had a fantasy about paying it "in secret" in order to avoid conflict. But I am trying to change this pattern.

We have a team meeting scheduled this Thursday, so perhaps DH and I will bring it up for the agenda.

[Zippity]

Good job on staying accountable, LL! I know how difficult that is.

I didn't buy much on vacation--any time I had the opportunity to spend more than a few dollars on something, I either consulted DH or really just had the feeling that there was something I'd rather spend the money on, or something I needed to spend the money on. I was right, there are a lot of pending expenses around here, so it's best I didn't blow too much over there.

I rented a macro lens for the trip that I ended up loving, so that's on my wishlist now. Probably, it will have to wait for a birthday or christmas or something. I'm with you on the "extra money" thing, Lizzie--I keep thinking that I didn't spend much on vacation, so there's "extra" I could use for the lens. There isn't--but it feels like there should be. I also rented a great telephoto lens, but I know that wouldn't get the workout it deserves in my everyday world. It was fun, though.

I need to do something about my laptop before it blows up...it has a short in it somewhere.

The server went down right before we left, and DH needs to get that replaced and up/running. Luckily, it's under warranty. We need to fix that fast, so that I have my laptop backed up properly.

The roof needs to be cleaned and repaired. Big expense, but it will hold us another 5 years so that I can save up for a new one.

The treadmill needs to be cleaned and repaired. This is one of those jobs where I could save a lot if I could figure out the repairs myself, but that's just a reason to procrastinate getting it done, and it's a safety hazard with the belt slipping all the time.

I'm toying with dropping our gym membership, and am torn between the "we're not using it enough" and the "we NEED to be using it enough." With DS13 back in school, I should be making time for this.

[rskmom]

I just decluttered and re-organized my snack drawer here at the paid gig. I try to keep it stocked with healthy snack choices to avoid any vending machine temptation, and it was just a big bunch of stuff. Looks nice now, and I can see what I have to choose from!

[mommymath]

Well, we're at the 19th of the month. How is everyone doing?

Summer camp listings are out ... forgot to factor that into the budget!!
splurged on some flowers for our dniece -- she won a very big scholarship to the local univ. so DH and I decided to get her something special right now since she just found out.
reserved hotel rooms at good rate for family trip

-- upcoming at end of month - need to pay for flights for May travel (already factored into budget)
-- dh is going for dental work ... I don't even want to think of what the estimate will be
-- need to pay a professional society fee for dh -- must remember to put that with tax stuff for the deduction
-- reserve car rental for May
-- benefits open enrollment coming up (need to mark dates on calendar)

[mommymath]

ds and I got a batch of clutter out of here to the kidstuff sale -- and from the first night's posting, it looks like we'll at least cover what we purchased there, LOL! (He got a couple of small toys; I got some stuff for the lab -- like a fiskars embosser and a paper roll holder, and some clothing for ds ... a good deal. DH says we just all swap our stuff around, which is basically the case.)

[Zippity]

There's a huge list of pending expenses--yuck.

Must file taxes, which means getting to the bottom of the scary paper piles this week. Oh, the fun.

[rskmom]

Go Zip Go!

You could live here in NY, where I filed my state return in early Feb and just got notice that it should be mailed to me in mid-April. Yeah, because we are in a budget crisis in this state. Thanks, Gov!

[mommymath]

er, well, we went back to kidstuff 1/2 price sale ... I got a ton of really high quality homeschool stuff -- including some Susan Wise Bauer stuff I'd had on my wish list for $2 each. Also got huge bag of tinkertoys for the new school; ds got a neat pottery wheel for $3. We'll just break even, I think. But those homeschool books were a great find.
spent a bit for lab supplies, too -- Big Lots had huge 6V batteries (we use these for circuit testing) at 70% off; and a batch of tilt bins for 70% off.

[Zippity]

It's past time for a budget review in this house. We've added a significant expense with behavior therapy and we haven't done well compensating for that on other things.

Time to start evaluating and trimming.

[Zippity]

Come continue your frugal efforts in April!