Money Matters
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1. How MM was your weekend?
2. Any progress towards goals?
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
Re: Monday Accountability
1. $40 Grocery Store, $45 Booze for party, $350 Home Depot- Mostly cash and gift cards from party
2. $1200 to savings
3. Decorating with mums and pumpkins inside and out, Haunted houses, Corn Maze, giving out candy in our first house!, Fires in the fire pit, watching scary movies..I'm sure there's more I can't think of
2. Staying the course, same as usual.
3. Watching football with friends, the start of hockey season, dressing our dog up for her Halloween party (which is also a wine tasting), Halloween party with friends, maybe watching a scary movie if I get up the courage.
1. How MM was your weekend? Pretty good - groceries ($101), sold some more fabric on IG (made $60), Nursery for plants ($50).
2. Any progress towards goals? No change for this week- we did re-landscape the front yard this weekend from the sewer repair. It only cost us $50 because we had a $100 gift card from our credit card. The yard actually looks back to normal except for the 2 pvc pipes sticking about 8" out of the ground. The repair company will come back in the spring and cut them down- they just want to make sure the ground isn't going to settle any more over the winter.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October? The pumpkin patch we have gone to since DD#1 was a baby is no longer operating as a you pick farm- they decided to shut that down and focus just on the commercial business. We're super sad so we're on the hunt for a new one- we usually get some nice family pics this time of the year, the girls pick out their pumpkins for carving, and we get some for the front porch. Other than that, we're finally getting in the groove of back to school for DH, DD#1 in kindergarten, and DD#2 at day care in her new room- lots of changes for September.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Good. Went to STL for a ball game with DH's parents. $36 for both tickets through MIL's work. Each used blow money on game food. $24 on gas for the trip. $77 on groceries and toiletries Sunday.
2. Any progress towards goals?
None this week. But we made our budget for October. It's an extra paycheck month for me, but we have a couple hundred more to budget for my car maintenance and we're going to put aside all our xmas money, so It'll be around 3200 towards SLs in October.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
It's our anniversary, so we're getting a couples massage. Might go to a local pumpkin festival or bike ride to a winery about 15 miles away. Just lots of walks at the park across the street mostly. I love fall.
- expensive, but mostly budgeted from our moving funds. H needed a new suit. He wears a uniform to work, but he's now a supervisor and needs suits for conducting interviews and other functions. We ran into a sale where like items were BOGO free, so he got two suits, two sport coats, two shirts, and two ties. We spent $1200 on that, but now he's set for the next 5 years of work, since he'll wear them probably once a month. We also spent $400 on new towels and a new comforter set.
2. Any progress towards goals?
- $500 to savings
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
- I LOVE Fall. We'll be using our fire pit all the time, I'm sure. I love game days at our place, I love the changing colors. My parents are coming in town next weekend and we're going to the local Octoberfest. H and I took a couple of days off in the middle of the month, just to enjoy the time of year. We'll probably check out a pumpkin patch or go apple picking.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Not too bad - Saturday- 2 dollars at micheals and DH bought a new dog bowl for our spoiled rotten dog that refuses to drink out of anything but this tiny portable green water dish. and 36 on a hair cut.... Sunday, 50 dollars at Tractor supply for dog food and batteries (overbudget because we already bought them food at the beginning of the month) And another 20 overbudget on groceries.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Nope. Quite the opposite actually. We BLEW our September budget and have to pull 300 out of what we were supposed to be putting on debt. (We set ourselves up with a 1200 extra per month debt to reach our payoff goal) So now we are behind by 300 and we need to find a way to make it up.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
We are leaving for the beach on Wednesday. And ofcourse its supposed to rain the entire time.
Hopefully it stays away and we atleast get one sunny day.
2. Huge progress! Got a contract on our rental property which would make us debt free. (Feels a bit like cheating, but it will free up so much every month to contribute to retirement and just other stuff).
3. I love harvest festivals that that type of thing. I will probably be taking ds to something every weekend if possible. I also love all the fall. Craft fairs, so I will check out a couple of those too.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Not MM at all, but we budgeted for the weekend in Nashville. We stayed within budget, and had an amazing time.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Cash flowed Nashville for the month, and will still put $200 into our "give/save/spend" account.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
We're meeting up with friends for the apple orchard on Sunday with their daughter. Really, I just want some apple cider donuts. That's about it. H is working 80+ hours/week this month. So any time at home is going to be spent getting things done.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)

Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
1. How MM was your weekend?
Pretty good. Friday -- oh, forgot! I spent $67 getting Amazon Prime. Saturday -- $120 Costco (budgeted). Sunday -- $36 brunch (but reimbursed later), $18 for poboys/drinks at Parkway Tavern (if you are ever in NOLA, it is THE place to go for poboys).
2. Any progress towards goals?
Bought flooring for my new duplex. Spent $1,000 for that, but had conservatively budgeted $2,000. So nice to finally come in under budget on something, lol.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
October is my favorite month! Spend a lot of time outdoors on my new deck or around my fire pit. Drinking cider or pumpkin flavored coffee. For Halloween, my dog and I have matching sock monkey outfits, lol.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Eh, well Saturday was OK, just spent $40 on groceries. Spent the rest of the day at home working on putting together our new bar cabinet, and then I realized one of the parts in the middle was on backwards, so then had to take it apart and put back together again, so that was annoying. Sunday wasn't too bad either, considering we went downtown for a hockey game (we have season tickets). Usually we eat at the arena, which gets expensive, but since we had time before, we went to a bar where a friend works where we ate lots of small plates and had a few drinks and the total was only $23. At the game, I had a churro and H had his usual beers, which is actually a budget line item (is that sad, a budget line item for beer at hockey games?).
2. Any progress towards goals?
None this week, but I was able to put $500 in my savings last week when I got paid. Unfortunately we had 2 house related things to pay for that weren't planned... we were gifted a new riding lawnmower from H's dad for our wedding, and after the first use, it got a flat tire, so that was around $85 to get a new tire and have it mounted. Then yesterday, H was weedeating outside and a rock flew up and hit our slider and broke the outside pane. He had to fly out for work this morning so I get to spend my lunch hour calling glass places to get quotes and/or set up a time for them to come do the work on Friday after H is back (it's month end so I can't take time off work this week). Also crossing fingers the broken glass won't fall out as that would be a big cleanup job and that's the door we let our dogs out from.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
We are heading to Las Vegas this weekend to watch the Avalanche play the Kings at the MGM Grand. The only costs to us are the tickets to the game, and a rental car, and incidentals for food/drinks. Since H travels so much for work, he used points to pay for his ticket on Southwest, and he also has a companion pass so I fly free. His dad has a condo in Mesquite, which is about 45 minutes from Las Vegas, so we stay there to avoid paying hundreds for hotel rooms, plus we can eat at the condo or at the way cheaper restaurants. Otherwise, just the norm... hockey games, and we have a co-ed baby shower BBQ to attend in a few weeks.
@short+sassy you and your dog having matching outfits is the best thing I have ever heard. That's awesome!!
2. Any progress towards goals? Figured out our plan for paying for the front porch and ironed out a new budget.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October? There are quite a few fun things in October; my niece's birthday is this weekend (already paid/budgeted), my mom's bday is in a couple of weeks (already paid/budgeted), and I am most excited that H is taking me out of town for the weekend the middle of October. H is up in the mountains hunting for most of September, so we're going to take a weekend just to reconnect and relax. We're only going two hours away for one night so we won't spend too much, but I'm looking forward to a nice dinner, maybe a little shopping, and just chilling.
H wants to try Selmi's this year, but I don't think we will have time to fit it in.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)

Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
1. How MM was your weekend? Not horrible, but not great. We ate out once (to celebrate my new job) and so far we have spent about $900 on stuff for my home office. I needed furniture (desk, chair, printer stand, bookshelves) and we spent about $100 at Home Depot for odds and ends (new electrical outlets, light switches, new register cover, and wire shelving for the closet). The Home Depot stuff are items we are doing for every room as we "re-do" it.
2. Any progress towards goals? Status quo until November when we really take a look at our new income and re-do the budget. I did check our savings for our ROTHS for this year. Even though I've been on unemployment since March we are only $200ish dollars "behind" in fully funding both of our ROTHs for 2015. I'm pretty proud of that.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October? I start my new job next Monday. We have hockey tickets to the opening night (BlueJackets) game on October 9th and will likely go to a college hockey game the following weekend. My Alma Mater plays at Ohio State here in town and I love my old hockey team. We don't have anything else planned but we may go apple picking or something fun like that before Halloween.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Decent. I actually made $5 by couponing at Target. I was planning on getting new glasses for my bday (Oct. 10) since my prescription is out of date, but when I was browsing online last night I found out glasses.com carries the brand that I have right now that I thought went out of business. They were also buy one get one free, and they were having a free prescription sunglass lenses sale! So I spent $250 on 2 pairs of glasses and a pair of sunglasses; not budgeted but they were needed. My parents usually give me about that amount for my bday, so I'll probably get to pay myself back in a couple weeks.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Made an extra $50 working on Saturday, which is going to savings. FI and I decided to get rid of our eating out budget for a few months; he's going to take half to save up for an Xbox One, and I'm going to just put the other half in savings.
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
My dad is coming to visit in a couple days. He hasn't met my younger daughter yet, so we're very excited! Then we're going to Disneyland for my bday, and nothing else planned besides trick-or-treating with the girls.
Today is another matter. I took the day off work to get some things done.
New humidifier on the furnace -500
Winter tires put back on my car-130
Then I thought since I was already spending, new matching Christmas stockings. DH and I had mismatched ones, then DD's doesn't even remotely go along. So 140 at LLBean.
Also, snow pants for DD and a new furnace filter -60
So, gulp, over 800 today. As far as goals, I not be able to put my goal of 600 in savings this pay check but next one for sure. I am back to work after being home for years so my pay checks are enabling me to get some of this stuff done.
H is an archery hunter so that's why the September season. He likes to be long out of the woods before the guys with rifles show up
And yeah, he too doesn't seem to understand that everybody we know does NOT schedule their entire life around elk season. Haha. I'm super supportive of him because he loves it, and even when he doesn't get an elk (which is most years) he really enjoys the experience.
2. I've been so busy that I can't even remember what we did last week! This week though we'll send a little more than $2,000 to H's student loan, send our auto debited $917 to ROTHs, and payoff our $1,800 cruise and $800 allocated for new clothes. That should all feel really satisfying.
3. I love the crisp feeling in the air when we go on our nightly walks. We'll probably also visit a nearby cider factory.
1. How MM was your weekend?
Awful. Spent money and didn't really want to.
2. Any progress towards goals?
Not as much as I'd like, but I'm sure October will be better
3. October is coming! What fun activities will you be doing this month for fall/October?
!}
Getting my g1, hosting a tea party {through my steeped tea ... if you're curious, msg me!