Month End Money Recap

Actually it's more like 2 months worth since I never did recap April :) Not that I even remember April any longer. I will say I know my numbers are off for May because I missed a few grocery charges. I got behind and it didn't happen.

Here's where I am halfway through the year:

1. Spend $100 or less on groceries each week. I hit this every month and generally squeak a few dollars over.

For May:

I spent: $415.66
And saved: $489.80
Savings 54%

That does include the large trip to BJ's so it's not so bad. Only problem is that I didn't record $26.49 in my total (but it does include the $30 I spent yesterday so I guess it evens out since I was going to include that in June). The only reason I didn't add in the other $26 is because it's actually a total of a large number of small charges and I have no idea what the savings was so to be fair I just left it out. I have a feeling I'm missing some CVS purchases too but I just didn't record as well this month as I had intended. I'm guessing June will be bad too since I won't be home but I will try.

2. Pay down debt and not acrue new debt. We did use the credit cards some but paid them off, however, after reading Randy Alcorn's book I have decided to not even do this just so I don't get myself into trouble. We have also done some balance transfering so we can pay debt down faster so I'm excited about that.

3. Budget, budget, budget. This I did. Not really a month to month but I planned out the whole summer so that we know what money we have for what. The harder part will be sticking to it but I did budget every penny.

4. Make a price point book. I did start but didn't finish. I found a great resource at Southern Savers for it though if you want to check that out HERE - of course this is what the Grocery Game does for you by telling you what is a good sale so I guess my motivation is just a tad lacking :)

5. Get rid of stuff. I did - at least another 100 things - I'd say 150 for the past 2 months. Just yesterday I organized my entire closet and filled a box of about 50 pieces of clothing that I don't need anymore. I think this puts my yearly total at around 320 things I've gotten rid of. Maybe more - I've really been getting stuff out and I'm excited about that :)

6. Organize. I didn't do a lot other than my closet yesterday and I won't have much time to do more in June since I won't be here. I will however have all the kids clothes organized before I go so when I get back I can sell their winter stuff and start preparing for the fall yard sales. I also hope to go through even more toys and other items to get rid of.

7. Make extra money. This month I didn't do so well at this :) I did get a number of rebate checks in the mail which I think totaled $20 and was about the overage I spent in grocery money. When I get back from FL I will be returning to my summer babysitting job so I guess that takes care of that, however, I still want to challenge myself by selling more of what I have around the house. Kirk has promised to get rid of some things while I'm gone in June so that will have to be the June extra money I guess.

8. Still buying good kids clothes. I only bought a few things this month just because they were necessities but paid cash and the few things I bought were from Gap so I guess that counts! I won't be buying any clothes in June unless it's a sale I can't pass up. I will begin buying fall clothes in July. I know, I can't believe it either - it finally got warm enough here to put away all the winter clothes and I'm already thinking about buying for next season! But that's the only way to get good deals and get ahead is to plan.

That's basically May - like I said I don't remember April. My brain is getting old...