Month End Money Recap

It's the last day of January which means it's the first chance I get to see how I'm doing on my new year's resolutions. Remember those? Did you make any? Have you already broken them? I have a little bit :) It's true - I'm human but I will try better in February.

Here they are:

1. Spend $100 or less in groceries each week. This I did. My final total expenditure on everything grocery related including diapers was $411.12. My total savings was $778.25 and I earned back $97 in extra care bucks and register Catalinas. It was a challenge but I certainly enjoyed keeping track of every penny saved and earned.

2. Pay down debt and keep from accruing new debt. For the most part we did this other than a few minor charges that will be paid off by March 1st. We'll be making some adjustments for February to do better.

3. Budget, budget, budget. Yes! We did this. We laid out a budget for each month and are sticking to it. Just as #2 we'll be making adjustments for February to do even better and save more money. I did keep exact notes of every penny we spent and earned.

4. Make a price point book. Haven't done this yet but I am still planning to. However, having a general idea I did shop at other stores to stock up on the best deals.

5. Get rid of stuff! We donated a good four or five bags of clothes and about 2 boxes of books. I also mailed out about 10 books for credit at PaperBackSwap - haven't ordered anything from them but I now have earned the ability to get 10 free books - not a bad deal and books I no longer need are out of my house.

6. Organize! Check out the picture - that's the girls while we're organizing Kaitlyn's room. This weekend we had some snow so we tackled all three kids rooms cleaning off their floors and throwing plenty away - we still have all the kids toys to organize and that's my biggest task for February. I have a March 5th deadline because of my moms of multiples yard sale so I have to get moving!

7. Make extra money. Didn't do as well on this one. I did receive a $10 rebate check from Kraft foods that I submitted last month. I'm expecting another $27.50 in the coming weeks so I guess that's something :) This month I'll be listing more on eBay - it's time to sell those spring clothes!

8. Still buying good kids clothes. Yep! Used my Gymbucks earlier this month to get $500 worth of kids clothes for $250 - a great start for the kids summer wardrobe. Though I will say for summer I won't buy nearly as many clothes because the kids play so much outside and get dirty that I have no desire to waste good clothes.

For February I plan to stick with these goals and refine them as I go. Still hoping to spend less than $400 instead of more than but I did enjoy some of the store hopping :) Call me weird but I like it. Though for this coming week my grocery budget will be $40 - we'll see how I do!