Tuesday, July 4, 2023

Money spent on a treat for Amy – lunch out with a friend – is always worth it!

Happy 4th of July (if you are reading this today)! Here is my “report card” for June. It ain’t pretty. Pour yourself something strong. I’m really not excited to put this month’s spending diary out here.

Initial Thoughts before the Tallies:

This month should be interesting. I usually spend more in the summer for sure! I am continuing to record because it is making me pause.

June 1 – $156 Walmart Plus grocery order including tip. I was excited to try my new grocery delivery! It was also the last day of school for students. Your girl was wiped out and it felt good to have this service. Groceries dropped off on my doorstep? What can I say?

June 2 – $35 Lunch at Captain’s Quarters, $17 for 2 bourbon slushies at Norton Commons (one for my friend), $54 dinner at Fiesta Time which included take home for a kid, $28 shirt on sale at a boutique. Your girl was feeling giddy that it was finally summer!

June 3 – $0 Spend – Tom drove me to ER in Madison (my mom had had a stroke), back to ER in Louisville, my sisters came and after a long and emotional day, I made dinner for my sisters with stuff I had at home – Greek Bowls – friend Heather dropped off Crumbl.

June 4 – $33 Treated my sisters to Taziki’s take out that we ate on the patio before one sister – Kate – went home – we discovered whipped feta, $ 139 Walmart + grocery delivery

June 5 – $0 Spend Day – Molly went home

June 6 – $0 Spend Day

June 7 – $0 Spend Day – my mom got released and I took her home

June 8 – Erica invited me to her pool because she knew I needed a taste of summer – $23 pool entrance fee and salad for lunch, $22 dinner at Alchemy with my friend, $167 Walmart grocery delivery

June 9 – $55 Trader Joe’s, +50 Old Navy return, $21 Greek Festival

June 10 – Buy Local Fair $28 – pretzel bites from a food truck and a cocktail mixer

June 11 – $50 graduation gift, $188 Costco, $10 Walmart on a graduation card and aluminum disposable pans

June 12- $50 Captain’s Quarters gift card for friend who helped my mom, $33 Trader Joe’s

June 13 – $ 74 Kingfish Restaurant for Tom’s birthday, $50 small gifts for Tom

June 14 – $0 spend day

June 15 – $0 Spend day

June 16 – $74 Lunch with niece Brooke for her birthday at Parlour (included a carry out order for Jack), $19 bottle of wine at next door wine store

June 17 -Farmer’s Market Haul: $8 Benedictine, $5 sandwich, $7 tomatoes, $3 kale, $3 popcorn, $6 kettle corn – I feel really great supporting these local people and oh my were the vegetables so good. I loved the grape tomatoes I got and will definitely look for that farmer again if I can, $81 gas, $35 Target, $22 Canes, $42 Felipe’s

June 18 – Father’s Day – $0 Spend Day – I cannot even believe this. I packed lunch for the boat after making breakfast at home and then managed to use all foods we had at home to make a dinner for Tom.

June 19 – $65 Kroger

June 20 – $170 Walmart Plus Delivery, $30 J crew, $40 Trader Joe’s

June 21 – $28 Fresh Market, $14 KFC

June 22 -$95 Amy hair, $5 sleep/lounge shorts from tent sale at local boutique

June 23 – $30 Mesh lunch with Victoria, $50 movie tickets plus snacks (Tom’s Father’s Day gift with the whole family)

June 24 – Farmers market $30, $130 Walmart Plus delivery

June 25 – $30 Cunningham’s for lunch with friends – power goes out at 8:20 p.m.

June 26 – $16 Starbucks coffee and breakfast, $15 lunch out with Jack, $7 baby pool, $10 chilled white wine at wine store, $25 Kroger s’mores stuff and batteries, $55 Qdoba dinner – power out all day and night

June 27 – power comes on at 5 a.m., $85 in person Kroger grocery trip to replace lost fridge food just to get by until next order

June 28 – $172 Walmart grocery delivery to continue replacing lost food- Why am I spending so much? I don’t know, but even a carryout Qdoba order on Monday night was $55 for 4 people. We are making our own coffee, breakfast, lunch, and dinner at home most days for four people most of those days.

June 29 – $15 bagels after dentist appointment (for 3 of us), $30 Hotel Genivieve and dinner for Amy

June 30 – $0 Spend Day

$0 Spend Days: 6

Groceries:

Walmart Plus:

I did a 30 day free trial from June 1-July 1.

June 1: $140

June 4: $139

June 8: $167

June 13: $219

June 22: $157

June 24: $116

June 28: $172

$1110 (each of the totals includes the tip which was about $20, I think. It was based on a percentage of the grocery total.)

I think I spent almost $200 replacing some things after losing power. Most everything in the fridge had to go and some of the freezer stuff had to go (and needed to be cleaned out anyway).

So, on June 30th, I cancelled Walmart Plus. I know it’s more me than them, but if you include $12 a month plus about a $20 tip for each delivery, I just am not sure this makes sense. I didn’t want another monthly charge and I didn’t want to pay $98 for the year.

One thing I think is happening is that I am not meal planning around sales and I just get what I want when I want. It was so easy to just place an order just like it’s so easy to do a pick up from Kroger and one thing leads to another and I end up with way more than the one thing I needed. There need to be more “this is what we have so we are having it meals”. Do you struggle with this, too?

Other grocery besides Walmart (gulp):

$578

This includes Kroger, Costco, farmer’s markets, and Trader Joe’s. Some of the purchases were not food, but things we need for household.

Meals Out/Take Out/Happy Hours out:

This is going to be super high due to celebrating! We had end of school celebrations, Father’s Day, Tom’s birthday, niece Brooke’s birthday, a couple of fun outings for me because I am off work, and a bit more take out than normal just for fun and for when our power was out.

Are you ready?

$601

OMG….This can really get away from you!

Amy clothing or accessories:

$28 – silky jaguar top

$5 white lounge shorts

$15 Pioneer Woman summer robe

$14 J. Crew Factory green and pink blouse

$13 J. Crew Factory black sandals

$16 Walmart fun printed leggings

$11 Walmart gauzy palm print blouse

$9.98 Walmart soft Pj set

$111.98 – Not bad! I am happy that I felt content with what I had and really only purchased things that I thought would work well and that were good prices.

So, I always want to put people before money. I will never regret treating my people or spending quality time that also involves spending money. When you are a teacher with a 20-minute lunch break, a summer lunch out is a total luxury, too, so this also counts as entertainment.

But, when I look at the food totals of $1110, $578, and $601 this makes me feel sick. I guess I should also say again that this includes Ernie food and toiletries/household supplies. But, still! What am I doing wrong? I really want to work on this. I thought Walmart Plus was going to be a big money saver, but if you go back to May, you will see it really wasn’t. I think this shows me I need work on meal planning, food waste prevention, and more. One idea I have it to buy less at a time so food waste doesn’t get away from me.

I am open to suggestions! Or, can you at least empathize with me? I am feeling pretty down about how I did this month.

How was June for you?

Amy

32 thoughts on “June Spending Diary”

  1. I wouldn’t feel too bad. It’s summer, you have more people in the house, you are having a fabulous fun summer. For Walmart I do the grocery pick-up and it is free, well you know what I I mean lol. My orders are almost always perfect. Once or twice maybe something was left out but that is almost unheard of. I always save money by doing an online order because I don’t have all the tempting items I see in the store. It looks like you are having a fun summer. Enjoy!!!

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    1. Thank you, Lisa. I do. I noticed the Walmart orders are way more perfect than Kroger’s. Kroger is always missing something I need. I will think about what I am going to do in August!

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  2. I enjoy reading these. Tempted to do this myself and log my spending. I don’t think you’re doing badly. Some months are crazier than others. I plan out our meals for the week and try to use what we have. The planning makes it easier so we don’t randomly buy items. We also only grocery shop one day a week. We try to avoid random trips.

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    1. It’s very eye opening. I have done it all year so far and we will see if I continue it. It makes me think I would have spent even more this year if I hadn’t recorded. I do all of that, too, but I feel like June was just a bust for me!

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  3. Amy, you can’t take it with you! You are spending money on food for your family and experiences, not throwing it away foolishly. Groceries cost more and your sons are home – enjoy!
    As nice as it is to get the groceries delivered to your door, it’s super convenient to do pick up too and there is no tip. So there’s that!
    But I don’t think you are doing anything wrong, sure meal planning is nice but as a teacher you spend the school year planning. In summer it is kinda nice to relax a bit.
    Happy 4th!
    xo,
    Kellyann

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  4. I went to Aldi’s last week and spent $150. I look in the cupboards and fridge today and 80% of it is gone already. It is unreal how expensive items are now.

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    1. Even Aldi is expensive! I have tried to be an Aldi convert, but it just isn’t happening for me. It’s not that convenient and some of my people are very brand loyal to brands that Aldi doesn’t have. Whenever I have gone, it has been an “add on” to the weekly budget because I just got fun stuff!

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  5. As far as groceries/food goes I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. Food– whether from groceries or eating out is crazy high right now and you now have 4 people you are feeding full time. Our grocery bill is sky high too (so high I stopped keeping track because it was depressing the hell out of me knowing I couldn’t do much about it).

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    1. Ha – thank you for commiserating. That really does help! I guess I feel it’s the only area in the budget that I control besides my clothing and I want to be frugal this year.

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  6. Food is just really high right now! I cringe every time I check out at the Teeter. I do better when I plan meals and make a list based off of those recipes but over the last few weeks, haven’t done that and have spent more. I saw where your hair was $95. Can I ask what does that include? I’ve noticed getting my hair highlighted and cut has become VERY expensive here in Virginia Beach, like over $250! I just think that is too high and am wondering what women in other areas are paying. Happy 4th of July everybody!

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    1. I know! I am glad you can commiserate with me!
      My hair is super reasonable. I get a partial highlight every 8-10 weeks and every other time I get a cut with it and then it is more. She only charges me $80 for a partial which is amazing in a big city. The rest was tip. I can’t ever change people because I won’t be able to pay $250! Great topic for a blog post, perhaps?

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      1. Yes! Would be a great topic for a blog post! I’m going to have to change stylists. She just went up again on her charges and it will be even more. Yikes!

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      2. I once went to a very high priced salon and they even made me prepare the foils for the stylist. I was like – “nope, I am not working for you!” I think I had to fold the foils and put them on a board or something?

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      3. Good grief! That would’ve been it for me. I’m going to start and look around for a replacement. Will let you know how this goes.

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      4. Ha! I know! You might want to ask friends where they go (if you like their hair – ha!). I found my current stylist with a Groupon about 15 years ago. How crazy is that?

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  8. Amy-

    Happy Fourth if July! Thanks for the recommendation about the Kuai vanilla macadamia nut coffee. I was in my local Kroger store and immediately recognized the beautiful package design! I picked up 2 bags and I LOVE IT! Like you, I enjoy 2 cups of coffee in the morning, before I get ready for work.

    I enjoy your blog.

    -Ann

    Ann L. Bushle

    1119 Tahoe Terrace

    Cincinnati, OH

    45238

    513-227-9253

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    1. Thank you so much! You are not far from me if you live in Cincy. I really like the Kuai! Yes, to taking time for yourself and for your coffee. I have to ease into the day! Hope you had a lovely 4th!

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  9. I don’t really have any advice for you, but maybe it’s just costing a lot more because of your sons being home for the summer. Even so, I know you wouldn’t have it any other way! Also, everything is just so expensive right now, especially if you’re trying to eat healthy. I don’t like that the prices make it easy to eat unhealthy and more costly to eat healthy. It’s hard!

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  10. I don’t think you’re doing anything wrong, and I totally relate to this post! Food is just so expensive right now, whether from the grocery store or restaurant. Since we moved, I have gotten in the bad habit of just popping into the store every few days instead of doing a big shop once a week. I’m going to work on making a list and then going once a week. And I agree about Aldi. I don’t find their prices that much better than our grocery stores. I think it depends on what area you live in as to how much savings you can get there. Here in the Houston suburbs we have SO many grocery stores including several Walmarts, so the competition is pretty fierce on low prices. Hang in there and enjoy your lunches out this summer!

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  11. What really impresses me is how honest you are about what you spend. Don’t feel badly about your grocery bills. We spend about $100 a week, and there are only two of us. And, I usually only buy one package of protein which lasts us most of the week. I think grocery prices just skyrocketed this year…so, it’s not you…it’s them!

    My feeling on what I spend (though I don’t go into depth and am half afraid to) is that I saved all those years for retirement. Retirement is now here so if I spend lots, it’s because I saved and planned for it.

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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  12. You are so brave to share this lol
    I agree with memories/spending time with others vs staying home. I think you do a great job of eating at home, making food for the 4 of you, etc.
    I still haven’t tried Walmart + …I didn’t think about tip! That’s definitely an extra. In a way, I think my groceries have been less this summer because I don’t stress about getting everything like I do during the school year …I guess because I know I have more time to pop into the store if needed. I hate when we waste food but it definitely happens!

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    1. Brave or stupid? I try to keep a list of take out ideas and meal ideas going on my phone at all times. I am trying to stick with Kroger this month and buy less at a time for less food waste. We will see how this experiment goes!

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  13. You hav e convinced me to do this. I am pretty good at tracking but Amazon is where our little orders add up. For groceries I do find meal planning helps keep the cost down but on top of that I shop my kitchen first. I found I was buying stuff I already have. I don’t need 10 cans of tomatoes! Good luck. I really enjoy these posts

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    1. It’s very eye opening and you will be more careful because it’s being recorded! Right – when I am not organized I waste money. I am trying to have a good week of sticking to the plan. I have fresh groceries and lots of ideas so here’s hoping! Thank you!

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