I talked to DH about really wanting to come in under budget this month on food, just to prove to ourselves that we really can do it if we et our minds to it, and he's in agreement. We've both been creative with dinners this week, and DD has been liking being in the kitchen more. She made popovers almost entirely by herself a couple of nights ago! We've spent about $57 so far this month on groceries, and none on dining out.

Our savings took a big hit last month with home repair stuff. It's hard to see those numbers go down so quickly and not really be able to enjoy the spending. We'll build the savings back up, though. We always seem to manage to get back to where we were.

I wrote a check today for our lodging in Mammoth. DH's company sponsors a trip for employees and their friends and family. Lodging (three nights) and lift tickets (2 days) for the three of will be about $600. We'll bring food and eat at the condo or pack along a lunch. We learned the first year that eating out in Mammoth is expensive (obviously) and not all that tasty, either. Friends are coming with us this year, which will be fun. The trip isn't for a couple more months; we're hoping for some good snow between now and then! This has been our only real vacation the last two years. It's fun.

DD and I went to the fair, and DH met us there about an hour later after work. We rode some rides, ate fair food and ran into some friends. DD saw a friend from ballet whom she's known since they were both about three, and they had a blast riding rides together. It's 9:30 p.m., we're all tired, but DD is still going strong.

The kittens are running back and forth between the bathroom they stay in and the hallway. Pitter patter pitter patter...16 little feet running back and forth. They are happy to have their people home.

Some budget updates for August:
Groceries: $43.28 (budget: $300)
Dining out: $33.02 (budget: $120)

I'm due to get a few things from the grocery store, and there's a recent trip DH made that I haven't entered yet.

We've got some more medical receipts saved up, so I think next week I'll gather them together for DH to take to submit at work. Which reminds me that I bought some vitamins not too long ago and forgot to save the receipt for reimbursement. Bummer.

Looking at Quicken, on average each month so far this year we're spending...

Groceries: $337
Dining Out: $162
Gasoline: $162
Utilities: $120
Education: $407
Gifts: $53

I'd like to see groceries come down under $300 and dining come in around $120. Gasoline is about as low as it can be; DH bikes to work and I carpool, so there isn't a lot of room there to whittle it down. Utilities are OK - that's gas, electric and water. Education is basically ballet and school tuitions and niether is negotiable, but if I can get to a 75% position at DD's school then we'll start getting a reduction in tuition. I have gifts given budgeted at about $50/month, so we're doing pretty well there.

Interesting to look at.

DH got us a reduction in our DSL for a year, I think, so that's down to about $14/month.

Our mortgage is currently about 35% of DH's take-home pay, but at least it's a 20-year loan and not a 30-year. I think we have less than 17 years left on it. Might be nice to actually make a note of when our last payment is due, assuming we don't send along any extra payments along the way. The percent of income goes down by about 5% if I actually factor in all the extra income from DH's freelance work, his tutoring, my tutoring, etc. Counting my salary next year and no extra income at all, the percent will be about 30% of our take-home. That's the whole idea behind my working - make enough so that DH doesn't have to do any extra work if he doesn't want to, or he can work the hours extra he wants to and we'll be able to get ahead of where we're at now.

I've been looking at our spending first quarter last year versus first quarter this year in Quicken, trying to see concrete results from our efforts to save here and there in a few categories.

Here's the data (2005 vs. 2006):

Groceries 1152.09 vs. 986.61 (14.4% decrease)
Dining 594.97 vs. 494.83 (16.8% decrease)
Electric 150.82 vs. 156.38
Water/Sewer 50.92 vs. 98.22

Totals: 1948.80 vs. 1736.04

So we're ahead by $212.76 compared to first quarter last year. I'm wondering about the water/sewer difference - perhaps two bills came in first quarter of this year but only one got paid during first quarter last year? I may look, just out of curiosity... Yep, that's what happened. The next payment was in the first week of April, for $54.98, for a total of $104.90 for two payments compared to $98.22 for two payments this year. That's a 6.45% decrease.

I don't know if our electric rates went up or not, but that's an area to keep working on. We've been switching to compact fl. light bulbs and are hoping to see a reduction from that.

Sometimes it feels like we aren't making progress, but exercises like this prove that we are. This is one of the reasons I am so much in favor of tracking our expenses, whether it's in Quicken or a spreadsheet or whatever. I track our savings balances on the first of each month, hoping to see them going up. If they don't, I notate why (tuition due, surgery for a pet, etc.).

When I joined one of flash's coupon trains, she sent a whole pile of coupons in my welcome pack. I was surprised to see quite a few that I could definitely use. My view on coupons is that they aren't any good if I wouldn't have bought the product anyway, or if I can buy the same thing in a generic form for less.

I did some shopping this evening, and with coupons I saved about $13. It was great having coupons for Vons' organics brand, as well as some other organic/natural things I buy anyway.

For the month, we have about $123 left in our grocery budget and $9 left in our dining budget. We'll see how the rest of the month plays out. We're over in many of our other categories.

Oh - I forgot that I used the new dividend card for tonight's purchase, so that's 5% back.

It occurs to me that I have no plans or goals with regards to my challenge money. I have no set amount I'm aiming to reach, and I have no specific plans for what to do with the money, either. I find myself just kind of squirreling away extra money.

I am having to track down what happened to an online check. My water delivery person can't find my last payment, but my online check cleared 3/24/06. So the question in my mind is who deposited that check, and where did it get applied if not to my account? I'll get it worked out, but I hate having to deal with this type of thing.

I took care of three bills this morning, while I was online. I renewed the car's registration online, in a process that took all of 60 seconds. That is so convenient - and we didn't need a smog check this year, so it was truly a painless process.

I printed out our first quarter's worth of budget ananlysis from Quicken, to gothrough later. I'm curious to see how it looks. Last month was a pretty good one for us, considering we had to buy plane tickets to Chicago and went on our little ski trip. We did well in most areas of our budget.

I will find out Wednesday what my salary will be, and then I can go in and update the budget some more. Actually I'll make a new one and apply it once I actually start earaning a paycheck.

I use Quicken for setting up and adjusting our budget, tracking our spending and saving, and analysis. This month, I've also been using Jesse's You Need a Budget, in an effort to have a tighter grip on our day to day expenses. I'm trying to see just how much I can control some of the spending that goes on. It has definitely made me more aware of my spending, of my budget and of my wants versus needs. I don't like entering data twice, however, so I won't keep doing things this way. My hope is that after a few months, new habits will be ingrained, or at least new ways of thinking, and then I can go back to just using Quicken.

I got gas today at the cheapest place by far that I know of. It was at least 8 cents cheaper per gallon than the place I used to go, and good 12 cents cheaper than some other places I passed on my way home today. The only problem is that this other place isn't convenient on the weekends (it's about 15 miles from our house), so I have to make sure that I get gas on my way to or from DD's school. If I buy about 30-40 gallons of gas per month, I'll be saving about $2.40 - $3.20 per month. Not bad.

I took the car in to get its oil changed this morning and then found a coupon for $7 off this afternoon! Frustrating, but the other car needs to go in too, so I'll be sure to take it in before the coupon expires.

Other finanical happenings -
*two tutoring appointments today
*all three meals have been/will be at home
*DH tutored last night
*found Balance gold bars at the 99 cent store last night. They were 2 for 99 cents, whereas normally they're a dollar each when I can find them on sale.

We spent about $48 today on groceries to take with us when we go skiing. We still have a few things left to buy, but that is most of what we'll need, given we already had some things at home we can bring. I'm going to make a few things before we go - applesauce cake (recipe was given to me in the forums - thank you!), baked tofu (it's been marinating in soy sauce), and possibly some chocolate chip cookies.

Blew $4 today on a box of Thin Mint cookies. I wish those things weren't so good!!

I set up some online bill payments earlier today, just to make sure that nothing gets overlooked while we're gone. We are only going to be gone for a few days, but I'd hate for something to be late.

I'll take the car in for an oil change this week, and I need to make vet appointments for all of our pets sometime in the next few weeks. I'm also long overdue for a dental check-up, and DD is due next month. Lots of spending coming up. Oh, I need to go get more cat litter tomorrow, too. And we owe the deposit on next year's tuition. I think that's due by the third week of this month. I need to loook over those forms and fill things out.

Bills, bills, bills. I'm glad we are able to swing two days of skiing - we can all use some R&R around here.

One more thing - I did 5 more reviews at InsiderPages, so hoepfully that will be another $5 for Target.

For 2/1 - 2/20:
Groceries: $362.87 (goal: $300)
Dining: $151.18 (goal: $160)

Disclaimers/Rationalizations
All of the food and supplies for DD's birthday party are in the groceries category, and if I really wanted to, I'd separate that out and classify it as entertaining. Also, we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate her birthday and mine before going to the ballet. I'm feeling unmotivated to do get real picky about it all and will just accept that February's food spending is going to be higher due to her birthday and mine.

Money saved today -
1. carpooled
2. got taken out to lunch
3. used gift card for coffee
4. breakfast and dinner at home

Money earned today -
1. worked 3+ hours

Not much to report. The gift card for Starbucks that I got as a Christmas present is almost all used up now. I have about a dollar left on it. It's been nice having it this past month. I started a list at www.thethingsiwant.com and added Starbucks gift cards to my list.

Our credit card cycle closed yesterday, and it was a good month. Even with the cost of getting my clarinet refurbished, it was still less than what's it been lately. I imported everything into quicken, and I'll look at the actual numbers versus our budget once the month comes to an end.

Money saved today -
1. carpooled
2. used gift card for coffee - it was the 7th one, so next one is free
3. breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert at home

Money earned -
1. 2 tutoring appts.

I mailed in the claim form for two prescriptions. I ought to get back about $190. I've also started my 2006 spreadhseet to track medical expenses. We're setting aside the full allowable amount this year in the medical reimbursement plan at DH's work. I was pretty organized with receipts and such last year, but I want to do even better this year. I also want to keep track of over the counter things like contact solution and ibuprofen. It can all be reimbursed through the plan.

Earlier this evening I was feeling lazy and wanted to order out for dinner, or go out, but instead I grabbed stuff out of the freezer and pantry. Another day closer to the end of the month and sticking to our budget.

We went out to breakfast this morning and were pleasantly surprised when one of the others offered to treat us. We offered to pay, but he insisted. It was a very nice surprise.

Went to a potluck last night. We brought a layered bean dip and tortilla chips. We had refried beans and cheese already, so I bought some salsa, sour cream, avocados, and chips. It was easy to make, vegetarian, and yummy too.

DD's birthday is coming up. We have tickets to Swan Lake as a 'big' present for her birthday and mine, but we're going to do a low-key party for her and some friends. I'm planning on making cupcakes this year, and we're hoping to have the party outside at a park, if the weather will cooperate.

1/1-1/21:
Groceries: $230.25 (goal = $300)
Dining: $113.78 (goal = $160)

Money saved today:
1. Coffee and breakfast at home
2. Took lunch to work
3. Will eat dinner at home

Money earned today:
1. 2.5 hours of work

We did a big grocery run at Trader Joe's last night to the tune of about $120. We are well-stocked now. We have about $100 left in the budget for groceries for the month, and about $45 left for dining out, I think. I'll look at those totals over the weekend.

I put in another two and a half hours of work this morning. Had lunch, went for a walk, and then checked back in after lunch to see if there were any more jobs for me to do. There weren't, so I went home early.

Spending today:
$5 for lunch at DD's school
$1.95 for snack
$2.60 for latte
$32+ for gas
$4.25 at 99 cent store for TP and shower gel

Had a migraine come on last night that Maxalt helped tame. Have another one tonight that doesn't seem to be budging.

I went over our budget last night, updating things based on last year's numbers and this year's projected income. Still need to finalize things.

I may have a parttime, short-term job starting up soon. It's pretty likely, but no contract has been signed yet. It would be doing pretty basic web site maintenance for a company here in town, as a contractor. They pay ought to be pretty good. Hopefully my available hours will work for them.

I was just looking at the spreadsheet I keep to track our savings balances on the first of each month (after interest has been posted). In looking at our balances on 1/1/05 vs. 1/1/06, we are up about $8000! This doesn't include retirement accounts - this is strictly savings and CDs. It's good to see it in black and white, as it means that all the hard work over the year was worth it. And we managed to pay for a year of private school and redo our kitchen and one bathroom (ourselves) last year. I'm happy with how the year turned out and am looking forward to trying to do well again in 2006.