Lizzy- Today at work I was looking into Gracie sports class that was supposed to start this Sat. I signed her up and paid for it in April this year and they bumped her time to September. So we were really looking forward to having her go to this class on Saturday, however, when I asked about it today they said only 3 people signed up for the class and may cancel. They offered to switch me to Wednesday mornings but of course that conflicts with my work schedule so I ended up having to cancel. Very disappointing. They did refund my money. So today's money saved does not seem like a victory won but sad that we can't sign her up for something else. Oh well. She did enjoy preschool today and at least we have her involved in that. So I guess Sat mornings we will go to the park and have our own family sports day. Which I kind of like better:)
Ryan - I went to fix myself dinner and I couldn't see anything appealing in the cupboards and fridge. So I BBQ some chicken and made some instant mashed potatoes for the second day in a row. How many times do we look for something to eat and think "There's nothing to eat", but in reality, we are just being lazy and we don't want to eat what we have that is less desirable. We've been doing great on shopping once a week. When the milk runs out, we drink water.When cereal runs out we eat toast, oatmeal, or eggs. When we run out of ice cream, I eat the Otter Pops (they've been in our freezer for about 6 months-they last forever). I don't know how much we've spent on groceries over this last month, but I bets we've saved $200-300 or more with our new attitude. Lizzy would call me atleast once a week to pick up this or that or we would go shopping 2-3 times a week for little things we were craving.
ITEM WANTED: Mighty Tikes Program
COST: $22
DAY 27
Lizzy- Our days are limited for walking to work. Its starting to get cold but I think we can push another month.
This evening we spent at the library getting new movies and books. We found out we were late 1 day on a movie and they are charging us $1.00. I swear this is the oldest movie you could find at DI for 25 cents. It kills me how much they are charging for just one morning off. But I will pay my dues and learn my lesson. It's funny how before I would not have worried about $1 but now that we have been watching every dime $1 seems like a lot to just pull out of my wallet. Its a great feeling to want to be in control of my own money. Even when it comes to mere penny's.
Then we went for a walk with Ryan's parents and had dinner up there. His mom has to go in for an MRI tomorrow and hopefully things go well. When we got home the kids went straight to bed and I was able to catch up on some reading. So another day of no spending.
Ryan - I can't remember the last time I had cash in my pocket. It's been 4 weeks now and time is passing by normal now. I heard that something becomes a habit after 30 days so two more days and we'll be cured of our financial disease. I think the late fee from the library is a refining moment. Once you make the big decision to cutback on spending and commit to it, the small things start to come into focus and you start analyzing all aspects of your life. So the late fee is actually a blessing that will save us money in the future. We will adjust things so that we can eliminate late fees. I wonder how much we pay a year in late fees and unnecessary finance charges. It would be interesting to estimate. Off the top of my head I would guess $100-$200. Take this for example. I use a Discover card to charge material for side jobs. Well Lizzy took over finances and made a payment to Discover from an old account. Well there was no funds there, so we were charged a overdraft fee twice, totaling $40. Ouch. So that's $41 dollars in less than one month. I can also remember returning Redbox movies late almost every time and we would get 2-3 a week.
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