October 31, 2023

Happy Halloween! You want to see something scary today? It’s my October Spending Diary! Ha!

I decided to post this today because I have a lot of other things to post this week. I do have plans today to get a few things at Kroger for tonight – having no fridge just means more trips to the store and luckily my Kroger is a stone’s throw away, so it hasn’t been too bad.

Ok, here we go! I am writing a bit more in my spending diary this month. Maybe I am getting more into the psychology of my spending? Gosh, I have now done this for 10 months!

Our fridge went out October 15th, so we spent half the month using our cooler set up in the mudroom. I can’t believe that was literally half of my October! It was also a stressful month with dealing with Mason’s debit card situation. But, I did also have a lot of fun and I enjoyed the beautiful early fall and fall weather!

Here we go…

Oct. 1 – $0 spend Day – Way to start out the month, no? Tom and I (and Ernie!) went boating with a picnic I packed – Go Amy!

I was on Fall Break, so that means more time to spend money…uhoh!

Oct. 2 – $41 pedicure including tip, $34 bougie French lunch with friend, $59 TJ Maxx

Oct. 3 – $15 boutique hotel pool entry, $49 drinks, lunch, and tip

Oct. 4 – $0 Spend Day – lunch at friend’s house and she ordered delivery and wouldn’t let me pay

Oct. 5 – $32 Lunch including tip at BJ’s, $12 Bath and Body lotion and body wash with coupon, $0 dinner with Tom’s work friend at Bonefish – the friend insisted on paying

Oct. 6 – $34 DSW new shoes for Amy!, $26 Blaze pizza with Jack

So, as I said, it was my fall break and I let myself have the treat of going out to lunch, but man was it expensive especially when I added a glass of wine – ha! I also bought 3 tops and one pair of shoes but made $74 at the consignment shop so it wasn’t that bad! So, my fall break basically cost me $302 and I had tons of enjoyment! If you subtract $74, then it only cost me $228!

Oct. 7 – $120 Aldi, $26 Liquor Barn (Tom’s beer cheese – it is a staple in our house, along with his Ale 8 One soda)

Oct. 8 – $12 Old 502 Winery listening to music and having some wine, $8 gelato for Tom – his friend brought him back a cone from Italy and he went to get it “filled”.

Oct. 9 – $0 Spend Day – Back to school after Fall Break!

Oct. 10 – $0 Spend Day + NO PRIME DAY SPENDING!

Oct. 11 – $0 Spend Day + NO PRIME DAY SPENDING!

Oct. 12 – $0 Spend Day – did have my friend over for a French happy hour! Heather and her gold retriever Sadie came and hung out and we had truffle fries (Trader Joe’s frozen and I add truffle oil), truffle popcorn (add truffle oil to my kernels), and a French white Bordeaux. It was so fun and I already had everything!

Oct. 13 – It’s Friday and we made it! Erica and I were finally able to go to a new place at a marina for happy hour. We got a margarita, a beer, chips and chorizo queso and guac for $18 each so not bad! I came home and was full but Tom and Jack had a combo of chicken nuggets from freezer, curly fries, ham and swiss sliders, and Totino’s pizza. I guess we will get our vegetables another day! I did have a couple of fries and one slider later.

After a stretch of 4 no spend days, I am happy with that price!

Oct. 14 – Saturday means spend all the money and make up for lost time! $131 Aldi, $44 Waldo’s Chicken and Beer

Oct. 15 – $36 Aerie black tank swimsuit on clearance, fridge goes kaput and we bring out the coolers, buy ice, and save what we can save from fridge and freezer

Oct. 16 – $25 Paul’s Fruit Market – needed a wedge of parmesan cheese and left with a few more things – oops – cooking whole wheat penne pasta with bacon and brussels sprouts (managed to save these and put in cooler)

Oct. 17 – $52 Panera dinner delivery with tip – crazy expensive for what it is but I just couldn’t cook again from my coolers.

Oct. 18 – $49 Kroger pick up order to make yum yum bowls and Mexican. With only coolers, I guess I am planning for two meals at a time so yum yum for tonight (Wed.) and the Mexican for either Thursday or Friday depending on whether we go to a bluegrass concert Thursday night. If Mexican is Friday, I may grab chips and queso from a Mexican restuarant to go along with it.

Oct. 19 – $0 Spend Day

Oct. 20 – $13 happy hour with Erica but also ordered dinner to take home from Boombozz for $40 more, $50 birthday gift in same shopping center

Oct. 21 – $ 120 Amy hair including tip, $34 lunch, $70 birthday dinner

Oct. 22 – $131 Kroger – bought very little refrigerated stuff because living out of our coolers. I focused on pantry things for the week as much as I could

Oct. 23 – $0 Spend day

Oct. 24 – $18 Texas Roadhouse take out – had a $15 gift card and the 3 of us split 2 meals

Oct. 25 – Too much! $16 Mexican happy hour, $30 decided to bring Mexican takeout to Tom and Jack, $20 Kroger ice for the cooler and milk and chicken for Tom and Ernie

Oct. 26 – $0 Spend Day – had an old friend over to my patio for water and popcorn. She was on her way to an exercise class, so no wine! She now works at the elementary school behind my house so she walked over after work. So fun!

Oct. 27 – $50 Friday Happy Hour at Osteria with my friend Heather. I took a pasta dish home after she and I had two glasses of wine over a span of 3 hours! We also had frites and baguette.

Oct. 28 – $95 Trader Joe’s groceries, $15 Trader Joe’s wine, $0 library

Oct. 29 – Jack’s concert at a church and early dinner after $55

Oct. 30 – $0 Spend Day

Oct. 31 – guessing $30 grocery run

How did I do?

Clothing – $173- 3 tops – 2 from TJ Maxx – bright colors, woodland print and 1 top from brand Umgee from a local boutique, $34 black Mary Janes, $36 Aerie swimsuit online clearance, not counting my camel coatigan yet because still waiting on the size down. They sent me a second of the same size on accident so now I will have the two to compare, so that’s good. I made $74 at my consignment shop, so this would take it down to $99 – Woohoo! Fall is usually the time I shop a lot, but I am really proud of myself this month. I was thoughtful and careful about my purchases.

Beauty – $161 – one pedicure and one haircut and color

Groceries – $551 not including what I pick up today.

Meals Out/Take Out/ Happy Hour – $575 – this includes happy hours, lunches out over fall break, takeout, dinners out. Towards the end of the month I was over really over trying to cook from my cooler.

Zero Spend Days – 10 – Kind of pleased with this!

Refrigerators – $2500 – ouch!

So, are you sufficiently scared? I have learned so much through doing this each month.

Amy