Last Day!

The first things I'm going to do tomorrow?
1. Eat at McDonald's. Mmmm. I don't care.
2. Buy myself some new winter gloves. Brrr.
3. Work on finishing up my Christmas shopping. I didn't horde anything before November and I didn't plan to put off any purchases until after, but there were some things I simply could not buy locally.

Overall, I think it was a success, and I plan to do something similar, perhaps more extreme next November. My two ideas would be to either shop only *actually* locally - where the only things I would buy would include locally grown produce and meat and dairy and nothing else, OR to not buy food at all that month and eat only out of a well-stocked pantry/freezer. Both of those ideas would require that I stock up over the entire next year, I think, and would depend on my deciding to do a garden. We'll see what happens!

Budget History

I've been budgeting for a long time. A loooong time. I have a pretty Excel spreadsheet of our actual spending for November for the last six years, except for 2003, when I was apparently too busy being pregnant and eating ALL THE COOKIES to care. I don't have any idea how to import it here, because below is what happened. Anyway, you can actually see each category, with the corresponding years below, if anyone cares.

For what it's worth, this is a time period that includes going from two incomes in a small house to one income in a big house. Oh how I miss that $380 house payment. Except that we'd probably be living partially in the front yard now, since there's no way we'd still fit in that house.

November
2002
2004
2005
2006
2007
Income

$2,231.38
$2,728.08
$2,380.94
$2,642.12
Mortgage
$379.90
$457.01
$696.49
$690.41
$702.83
Student loan
$236.00
$236.00
$236.00
$189.55
$334.26
Car payment
$420.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
$0.00
Car insurance
$57.60
$97.76
$108.53
$98.83
$92.85
Utilities/car tags/water bill
$196.00
$159.00
$197.00
$270.00
$358.00
Cable/Phone/Internet
$96.74
$85.24
$89.35
$93.36
$92.50
Gifts
$227.05
$137.71
$35.00
$0.00
$105.00
Food/Home/Grooming
$575.98
$467.72
$783.12
$736.89
$559.55
Entertainment
$86.87
$59.34
$17.56
$22.56
$18.01
Books
$46.65
$23.15
$72.07
$8.13
$29.90
Clothes
$20.08
$52.47
$0.00
$15.36
$16.92
Gas
$155.47
$71.95
$136.83
$197.73
$95.39
Preschool
(only 2007) $70.00

You can see how the utilities are really killing us. We're doing what we can to weatherize, and this year we updated our air conditioners and fridge. We're keeping the thermostat at 68 degrees right now. We'll see what happens.

You can also see that having two kids didn't really affect our budget in any predictable way, except the added expense of moving to a bigger house.

Also, it may seem weird that our gas bill has gone down so far. It may have something to do with not buying pop and candy there three times a day. Maybe. People kvetch about gas prices, but, hello, soda per gallon? Ex-pen-sive!

I feel like we could be doing *so* much better than we are. But I don't know how to get there.

NoLoBuMo=Less Christmas Stress

Normally this time of year, I'm feeling pressured to spend and rush and plow through my Christmas shopping. The decorations have been up in the crowded stores for weeks, and usually I'm feeling like maybe I should have Christmas-themed plates and towels and bedspreads, and maybe my hodgepodge tree isn't good enough that maybe I should have an ALL GOLD tree this year, because Target makes it all...so...beautiful!

But not this year. I haven't even really been in a non-grocery store since Halloween. And this is the least amount of stress I've ever experienced before Christmas. I haven't at all felt the need to outspend my budget or exceed my planned shopping list. I've felt that my dishes and towels were quite good enough, thankyouverymuch. I'm worrying much less about what I could have, and having more gratitude for what I do have.

I think, so far, this has been the best benefit of all.

Gardening

My friends will laugh at me, but I'm actually considering planting a garden this spring. The temptation of local (really, really local) veggies is getting to me.

How does a person who hates being outside and touching yucky things learn about gardening? Useful gardening. Not for pretty. For food.

Actually, we attempted to maintain the ginormous garden that came with our last house, only to fail miserably. I cannot maintain a full-time-job type of garden. I'm talking a 5-minute-a-day garden? Possibly a container garden? Without spending a lot (or, um, any) money?

If anyone knows of any books on the topic, I'd love to hear about them!

Nearing the End

We're on our final days of the NoLoBuMo challenge. There is a ton of food that I'm craving right now, because I can't have it (mmm, psuedoMexican). My right glove has a giant hole in the index finger and I can't replace it. A few of my windows are still curtain-less because we haven't gotten around to making our own curtain rods. And I could *really* go for a McDonald's iced coffee.

But our budget is in really good shape, partially because of all of the stuff we didn't buy. I lost five pounds. I reacquainted myself with some local businesses I haven't bothered to support in awhile. And I've gotten lots of helpful advice and tips and ideas and lentils from people reading the blog.

Overall, I think it was a great success, and I really learned a lot. Really, for the first time, I had to stop and evaluate every single purchase. There was suddenly a speed bump between "I need new curtain rods" and handing over my check card at Wal-Mart. In that way, that level of thoughtfulness is very similar to beginning a gluten-free diet. Like there was no more mindless spending for us this month, someone on a gluten-free diet can't just eat mindlessly. Every bite, every package, even when it's an item you've bought a hundred times, must be checked and rechecked, because your health depends on it. Our finanical health depends on thoughtful spending in exactly the same way.

Mistake

I made a mistake. I forgot to write in a $53.18 grocery receipt. And then I continued as though we actually still had that money. Ouch.

We do have that money, in our Christmas savings category. But that will need to be repaid. Out of money that would have gone to pay down debt.

It's disappointing and it makes me feel like we keep taking steps backwards. Our tight budget gets tiring after awhile. What makes it liveable is focusing on that debt-free goal. I like to write out what our budget would look like if we had no debt. But every small step back puts that goal farther away. And that's frustrating.

Black Friday

I don't usually participate in "Black Friday." And I didn't this year, either. Except that we were out of town, and we needed a warm and safe place for the kids to play before we stuck them back in their car seats for the ride home. So we went to the mall's play area. Where we sat, in amazement, watching people push and shove and grab like lions at a fresh kill. What kind of behavior is this?

Then we went to Goodwill, to find some actual bargains. On things we actually need. And I wondered:

1. How many of the things purchased at such cost ("bargain") on Black Friday are actually needed in any way?
2. How many end up, unopened, a year later, at Goodwill?
3. How can people justify trampling all over one another in order to buy gift that's supposed to honor the birth of Christ?
4. Really, how many $5 t-shirts does a person really need? Just because you can get a DVD player for $15, does that mean you should have it? Yes, it's a great deal, but $15 worth of groceries can go a long way for a hungry family.
   

I understand that it's the hunt for the bargain that appeals to people, but if someone can sit back and watch this mindless consumerism from an outsider's viewpoint? Well, it sure looks a lot like gluttony to me.

Not to offend anyone, I'm just saying.

No Impact Man's one-year challenge is over. Read about it here.

We paid off $343 in debt this month. I'd love to see that number continue to increase every month (as it has for the last three), and I'm excited to have reached a milestone this month. Our total debt is now less than $100,000, including our house. Woo!

On the buying-locally front, we're doing fine. We're starting to get antsy for McDonald's. I look forward to heading right over there on December 1! I know, that's awful. Wal-Mart, though, I'm thinking I could live without. Target, maybe not. But Wal-Mart, for sure.

You may notice that I haven't posted any new recipes. We've had a limited budget to work within, and when I tried to plan to try new recipes, we ended up exceeding our budget limit. So, we've stuck with basics. If we could eke even an extra $20 a month out of the grocery budget, we'd be much more comfortable. Which is, coincidentally, about what we save by shopping at Wal-Mart. Ugh.

Perhaps it's time to return to the cloth diapers and wipes. Or not.

We also need to use some type of Get Out of Jail Free card, because we've had a couple of slip-ups. First was a pizza, delivered hot and fresh to our door late at night. And it was SO worth it. Sorry. Second, SuperDad bought me this book. Also, totally worth it.

I think what I'm finding is that there is balance to be found. I don't know that I can go to a "No Wal-Mart Ever" kind of lifestyle. I do know that I won't be relying on them for everything anymore.

Groceries

My budget worked out that I had $60 to buy groceries (which includes everything that we buy, other than gas) this week.

1. I went through my cupboards to see what I had, which was:

• Spaghetti sauce
• Ingredients to make bread
• Pasta and GF pasta
• Lentils
• Brown and white rice
• Cannellini beans
• Home-canned chili sauce
• Instant mashed potatoes
• Shredded cheese
• Baked beans
• Ingredients for waffles

So, I centered my menu for this week around that:

• Spaghetti and toast
• Lentil/rice chili
• Mashed potato pups
• Mac & Cheese and baked beans
• Waffles and fruit (carryover from last week)
• Breakfast sandwiches (ditto)

I spent $59.59 at the store last night. But we still need cat litter, which will put us about $5 over budget.

The budget-busters for this shopping trip were:

• Laundry detergent $4.07
• Diapers $10.99
• Baby wipes $5.19

These are things that are cheaper at Wal-Mart. Not a lot cheaper, but maybe enough that I could have bought the cat litter.

I also didn't realize that we're out of both GF waffles and GF cereal for the kiddos, so we'll have to figure something out for breakfast.

That's about it.