mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Anyone want to do this? I know we are halfway through the month, but I thought I would start this. Anyone is welcome to join. Whether you are frugal or not. Hoping everyone has a great 2023! How was January for you? Goals for 2023?? How is February going? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildflowerMom Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 I’ll do it as I’m able. I’ve been able to get my grocery bill down a little (except last week). I switched from Walmart to kroger and Kroger has sales and coupons you can clip online. You can use paper coupons, too, but I never have any. however!!!! 👈🏼👈🏼👈🏼 that’s excitement!! the week after next, I have a shipment from every plate coming! There was a deal but from what I can tell, even without a deal may be cheaper than the groceries for recipes I’ve been doing. So, we shall see. I’m excited. I hope everything tastes good. I’m wanting to get dh’s truck paid off this year. 🤞🏼 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 7 minutes ago, WildflowerMom said: I’ll do it as I’m able. I’ve been able to get my grocery bill down a little (except last week). I switched from Walmart to kroger and Kroger has sales and coupons you can clip online. You can use paper coupons, too, but I never have any. however!!!! 👈🏼👈🏼👈🏼 that’s excitement!! the week after next, I have a shipment from every plate coming! There was a deal but from what I can tell, even without a deal may be cheaper than the groceries for recipes I’ve been doing. So, we shall see. I’m excited. I hope everything tastes good. I’m wanting to get dh’s truck paid off this year. 🤞🏼 Let me know what you think of Every Plate. It is so nice to not have to think about what to make. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 We're meeting goals. The last bit of ds23's student loan was paid off this month! That'll save us quite a bit of interest (original projection from their office was 2035, ours was 2025 with high payments) and it's nice not to have that over our heads. Our bills will be going up. We may have ds's gf moving in. The situation isn't so great at her house and she's got a good head on her shoulders. She just needs a way out of there right now and we have room. She's over quite a bit anyway, so it won't make much difference except the slight increase in electric/gas. We are considering doing a meal box again. We've done Blue Apron (love!) and Hello Fresh (eh), but it does save us from having to spend time grocery shopping. Right now I've been alternating: one day at the massive store with great prices for staples and meat, two or three days later to Trader Joe's for snacks, veggies, and quick dinners (like their ravioli). BUT, I'm in school, I'm tutoring, I'm taking care of ds12 who has evening activities.....it's a lot. Cutting back trips would help. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 January was such an odd month, budgetarily. We went through our usual cycle of things breaking (dishwasher and clothes dryer were the big ones) and repair (yes to the dishwasher, no the dryer—we ended up ordering a new one). Groceries spiked enough in price that when I redid our price book, Costco has become competitive again. We spent in some ways we haven’t recently in the past—some activity classes for our homeschooled kid, and a box of soda syrup and hose bib for our soda stream. But mostly we just plugged away at our biggest “frugal” project of installing the hardwood floors. It’s been a lot of hours and a lot of trips up and down our stairs to rip boards or carry up more boxes of wood. We’ve finished off about 25 boxes of wood at this point….3 more rooms to go. We are taking a few weeks off to get our garden going and focus elsewhere for a bit. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 18 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: January was such an odd month, budgetarily. We went through our usual cycle of things breaking (dishwasher and clothes dryer were the big ones) and repair (yes to the dishwasher, no the dryer—we ended up ordering a new one). Groceries spiked enough in price that when I redid our price book, Costco has become competitive again. We spent in some ways we haven’t recently in the past—some activity classes for our homeschooled kid, and a box of soda syrup and hose bib for our soda stream. But mostly we just plugged away at our biggest “frugal” project of installing the hardwood floors. It’s been a lot of hours and a lot of trips up and down our stairs to rip boards or carry up more boxes of wood. We’ve finished off about 25 boxes of wood at this point….3 more rooms to go. We are taking a few weeks off to get our garden going and focus elsewhere for a bit. Oh sorry to hear about the appliances breaking. Awesome that you are putting in hardwood. I am thinking of having dh and the kids do that to our house. I hate hardwood, but with dogs our carpet has gotten trashed, and if I replace the carpet with more carpet the same thing is going to happen. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 January seems so long ago. Nothing broke that I remember which was a nice break since we had that happen from August to December. We had some pretty crappy holidays in December because of it. But we spent a ton on our older dog. She is in liver failure we found out. We were going to put her down, but decided to let her live a bit longer and wait for her to take another bad turn like she did in the start of January. We are not going to keep going with supplements, pain meds, and anti-nausea meds. The supplements didn't have any effect on her liver. Then we had a ton of auditions for ballet intensives. Gas, audition fees, parking, extra trips to audition sites that are 2-5 hours away. 1 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 On to this month. Need to do 2 returns tomorrow. need to deposit Christmas $. need to get taxes done need to sign up for all the ballet intensives for summer. Still waiting on more results and seeing how many more scholarships are going to come in. Use all the school funds move the trip dates plan a few little trips and use our credits Dh got a much larger bonus so that was a nice surprise, after are bad December and January. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 12, 2023 Author Share Posted February 12, 2023 4 hours ago, HomeAgain said: We're meeting goals. The last bit of ds23's student loan was paid off this month! That'll save us quite a bit of interest (original projection from their office was 2035, ours was 2025 with high payments) and it's nice not to have that over our heads. Our bills will be going up. We may have ds's gf moving in. The situation isn't so great at her house and she's got a good head on her shoulders. She just needs a way out of there right now and we have room. She's over quite a bit anyway, so it won't make much difference except the slight increase in electric/gas. We are considering doing a meal box again. We've done Blue Apron (love!) and Hello Fresh (eh), but it does save us from having to spend time grocery shopping. Right now I've been alternating: one day at the massive store with great prices for staples and meat, two or three days later to Trader Joe's for snacks, veggies, and quick dinners (like their ravioli). BUT, I'm in school, I'm tutoring, I'm taking care of ds12 who has evening activities.....it's a lot. Cutting back trips would help. Awesome about the loan!!! Congratulations So nice that you are able to do that for your ds's gf. A meal box sounds like it would be super helpful. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 12, 2023 Share Posted February 12, 2023 Sorry to hear about your dog, mommyoffive! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 I have been really working on keeping the our food costs down. We are going on a big trip in a few weeks and I want to come in under budget on groceries for the month to have some extra travel funds. I’ve been working out the actual cost per meal when possible to help me. Some meals are more or less frugal than I thought. Cajun sweet potato bowls came out to more than I had realized. One of our family favorites, madras lentils and naan, is only $6.25 to feed our family of seven. I tried my hand at making cheese today. I used reconstituted powdered milk plus a bit of leftover cream I had after using it in a couple recipes this week. I was very surprised at the quality of the result, considering it was made from powdered milk. It was a fresh mozzarella and turned out very nice, I’d say about the same quality as the nicer stuff at our grocery store. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 DD and I moved into our little hotel suite tonight. She starts at Mayo tomorrow. We went out to eat tonight (after driving I needed a break) and then hit the pool/hot tub. The hotel is old but clean. It'll work for our 3 1/2 weeks that we are here. It's like Tiny House living, right? It's going to be a weird month with me being in Minnesota - but both my offices have been more than accommodating. I have a work laptop for each - silly me travels with 3 laptops! But, honestly, there isn't a whole lot I'll do from here, but I'll get a few hours in here and there. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 13, 2023 Author Share Posted February 13, 2023 5 minutes ago, historically accurate said: DD and I moved into our little hotel suite tonight. She starts at Mayo tomorrow. We went out to eat tonight (after driving I needed a break) and then hit the pool/hot tub. The hotel is old but clean. It'll work for our 3 1/2 weeks that we are here. It's like Tiny House living, right? It's going to be a weird month with me being in Minnesota - but both my offices have been more than accommodating. I have a work laptop for each - silly me travels with 3 laptops! But, honestly, there isn't a whole lot I'll do from here, but I'll get a few hours in here and there. Glad you got there safe. I hope being there is something that helps your dd. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 2 hours ago, Condessa said: I have been really working on keeping the our food costs down. We are going on a big trip in a few weeks and I want to come in under budget on groceries for the month to have some extra travel funds. I’ve been working out the actual cost per meal when possible to help me. Some meals are more or less frugal than I thought. Cajun sweet potato bowls came out to more than I had realized. One of our family favorites, madras lentils and naan, is only $6.25 to feed our family of seven. I tried my hand at making cheese today. I used reconstituted powdered milk plus a bit of leftover cream I had after using it in a couple recipes this week. I was very surprised at the quality of the result, considering it was made from powdered milk. It was a fresh mozzarella and turned out very nice, I’d say about the same quality as the nicer stuff at our grocery store. DH and I have gotten interested in making our own cheese, too. I'm going to try making paneer tomorrow. I tried subbing in flax "eggs" for real eggs in a loaf of banana bread. It came out really good! I would not have guessed it didn't have real eggs in it. Flax eggs are a lot cheaper than real eggs right now, too. And no guilt about factory egg production! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 13, 2023 Share Posted February 13, 2023 I found shelf stable whipping cream at the bakery outlet store I buy bread from! Great for emergency preparation, and also it’s a couple dollars cheaper per quart than whipping cream from the grocery store. I’m especially excited to find this now since I am getting in to cheese making. I’m trying making ricotta from whey today. We’ll see how it goes. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 Got the returns done! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 9 hours ago, Condessa said: I found shelf stable whipping cream at the bakery outlet store I buy bread from! Great for emergency preparation, and also it’s a couple dollars cheaper per quart than whipping cream from the grocery store. I’m especially excited to find this now since I am getting in to cheese making. I’m trying making ricotta from whey today. We’ll see how it goes. Let us know how it turns out! I want to try that next. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 6 hours ago, Shoeless said: Let us know how it turns out! I want to try that next. It turned out very well, but not very much (I spilled some as I was pouring it in to strain. The recipe said it should yield a cup and a half and I got about a cup.) In the future I’ll probably just make mozzarella and ricotta together one after the other. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WildflowerMom Posted February 14, 2023 Share Posted February 14, 2023 I want so bad to get dh’s truck paid off. Then the house. That is all. Just stating that fact so maybe I’ll remember that when I try to spend money. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 14, 2023 Author Share Posted February 14, 2023 Got a large medical bill. I feel like this is the only time I have ever or will ever say this, insurance covered almost everything. Got a very large refund. Don't know how I feel about it yet. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 17, 2023 Share Posted February 17, 2023 Dh finally got reimbursed for a big work trip from last August, after he went in and informed them he would be refusing all out-of-county clients from now on until he started actually receiving the promised-but-eternally-delayed reimbursements. That was the biggest one at over $700, but he’s taken several other work trips since then that will hopefully also come through soon. I tried using the leftover ricotta whey instead of water to make broth from some chicken carcasses in the crock pot and it was so good! I made a gallon of yogurt, and strained some of it into Greek yogurt. I bought 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $59 and separated them out into bags and froze them. I have been trying to use up perishable items and stuff that is just taking up space in the pantry before we go on our trip. I had three boxes of dehydrated hash browns that my mil gave us years ago that I turned into Mexican hash brown haystacks with leftover chorizo for dinner. I was pretty pleased with that one. The plan for tonight is roasted spaghetti squash with leftover bolognaise sauce and homemade mozzarella cheese. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wisdomandtreasures Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 (edited) Last year was ROUGH. Between having to buy a new (to us) van in cash which has already needed over $4000 in repairs and new tires, 2 ER visits for head injuries, one child needing 5 teeth pulled (all babies that weren't budging), our mixer broke and I replaced it twice (wanted a Bosch, didn't want to pay Bosch's price, bought something else that broke after 2 weeks and the seller refused to refund, ended up getting a Bosch anyway so a bunch of money went out the window there...), a surprise baby on the way, a high deductible (so those ER visits and my prenatal visits have not been covered by insurance, and the new year started so we're starting over at $0 of the deductible 😑), food and gas prices more than double what they used to be, it was hard. I'd put money into savings only to pull all of it and more out to cover this or that bill... Laundry continues to be hung, even when it means I'm outside in 15-20 degrees (saved over $20 on our power bill in one month just by hanging the laundry instead of using the dryer, though!), whole milk is now diluted by 25% with water, I'm making all our bread, tortillas, and yogurt from scratch... Found a good deal on beans so canned an entire 20# bag over a couple of days. I've also been selling a lot of homeschool book lots and such on eBay. Amy Dacyczyn would be proud! On the plus side, my husband did the taxes this weekend and we will be getting enough back to completely cover our deductible and have some left over. His company also gave every employee stock, which he sold this week. Finally... I can breathe a little! Edited February 19, 2023 by wisdomandtreasures 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Well, it's been pricier than expected here in Rochester. DD has social group, aka "mandatory fun", daily with the other kids in the group, which often costs a little. She's gone through some $ on miscellaneous. They are 90% female, so a pedicure is on the table next weekend. They are doing free stuff today, but the location has a milkshake bar, so I expect at least one purchase there. It's a good program for her so far. She's learning lots and feeling ok physically, mentally it is a little tougher being away from home. Went to Walmart and bought misc stuff that I hadn't thought about - tupperware for leftover storage, paper towels, forgotten toiletries, dishcloths (hotel provides one, but only changes towels every 3-4 days). About $100 with some groceries thrown in. Cooking in my little baby kitchen here in the hotel is an adventure, but at least we have an apartment sized fridge which can hold quite a bit. We're within $200 of meeting health insurance deductible for the year already *sigh*. Trying not to think about the big bills we're incurring here. Gonna do the laundry today, I looked at the machines yesterday. It looks like it'll be about $12 a week to do laundry. I'm gonna need more quarters after today. Plus side: got the federal tax refund done and put away. DH worked extra this week since I am not working much at all. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 On 2/17/2023 at 10:02 AM, Condessa said: Dh finally got reimbursed for a big work trip from last August, after he went in and informed them he would be refusing all out-of-county clients from now on until he started actually receiving the promised-but-eternally-delayed reimbursements. That was the biggest one at over $700, but he’s taken several other work trips since then that will hopefully also come through soon. I tried using the leftover ricotta whey instead of water to make broth from some chicken carcasses in the crock pot and it was so good! I made a gallon of yogurt, and strained some of it into Greek yogurt. I bought 40 pounds of boneless skinless chicken breasts for $59 and separated them out into bags and froze them. I have been trying to use up perishable items and stuff that is just taking up space in the pantry before we go on our trip. I had three boxes of dehydrated hash browns that my mil gave us years ago that I turned into Mexican hash brown haystacks with leftover chorizo for dinner. I was pretty pleased with that one. The plan for tonight is roasted spaghetti squash with leftover bolognaise sauce and homemade mozzarella cheese. That's a long time for reimbursement - good for him for sticking up for himself! Way to work the grocery budget there! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 19 minutes ago, wisdomandtreasures said: Last year was ROUGH. Between having to buy a new (to us) van in cash which has already needed over $4000 in repairs and new tires, 2 ER visits for head injuries, one child needing 5 teeth pulled (all babies that weren't budging), a surprise baby on the way, a high deductible (so those ER visits and my prenatal visits have not been covered by insurance, and the new year started so we're starting over at $0 of the deductible 😑), food and gas prices more than double what they used to be, it was hard. I'd put money into savings only to pull all of it and more out to cover this or that bill... Laundry continues to be hung, even when it means I'm outside in 15-20 degrees (saved over $20 on our power bill in one month just by hanging the laundry instead of using the dryer, though!), whole milk is now diluted by 25% with water, I'm making all our bread, tortillas, and yogurt from scratch... Found a good deal on beans so canned an entire 20# bag over a couple of days. I've also been selling a lot of homeschool book lots and such on eBay. Amy Dacyczyn would be proud! On the plus side, my husband did the taxes this weekend and we will be getting enough back to completely cover our deductible and have some left over. His company also gave every employee stock, which he sold this week. Finally... I can breathe a little! Here's to a wonderful 2023 for you! Congrats on the baby! I never noticed a difference in power when I hung laundry. Our dryer broke one year - 2019? - and I hung everything for 6ish months before we got a new one; therefore, I went back to dryer with no qualms. Glad to hear yours makes a difference - here's hoping for an early spring for you though to make it easier. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brittany1116 Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 Hello. I commiserate with those who had a rough year or two; been there. We are back to cash for food and fun. So far, so good. I did get some killer deals on used curriculum swap a local CC group hosted recently. I need to spend about another 130$ to finish buying for next year's needs. I did budget in a standard savings line for each month instead of last year's plan of saving whatever was left (often 0). So having a few hundred already stocked away feels good. My work is slowing down, and I am considering a side hustle that I am not yet ready to share. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condessa Posted February 19, 2023 Share Posted February 19, 2023 We are in tax limbo here. They restructured the tax classification of dh’s firm last year, and he also became a junior partner last year. Apparently this means that he is both an employee with a W-2 and a part-owner who has to wait until the business’s taxes have been submitted to receive a new form we need to file. I always file our taxes right away, but we have to wait until late March or early April for that form, and some answers. We actually received two W-2s; they gave us an amended one that, unlike the first and all pay stubs last year, shows the cost of our insurance premiums as income. They said, “don’t worry, you can deduct it”, but if the deduction isn’t above-the-line, our kids are going to lose their secondary insurance through the state, as it’s based on AGI. It’s a difference of probably $14K+ for us. They might possibly lose it retroactively, as the new W-2 is showing that as income back to January of last year, so it’s possible they might come after us for repayment. The payroll people at work are saying they think it is deducted above-the-line, but we need to talk to the tax guy, who is unavailable until after the business taxes are completed in March. So after stressing out about it for a couple weeks, I am doing my best to just let it go for now. If the worst result comes, we will start the process to appeal the state insurance loss for ds8 based on his cancer diagnosis, and we will have a very tight year, but we’ll get through it. 1 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoeless Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I never got around to making paneer. Oh well! Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I've been hitting up the clearance section at the grocery and having good luck. I picked up several big containers of organic, grass-fed greek yogurt, cake mixes, squash, cauliflower, and apples, all for 50% off. The yogurt ended up being cheaper than the conventional stuff. We splurged and bought steaks for Valentine's day. The grocery gave me coupons for a free pre-made salad and a free take-and-bake cookie desert. My chickens have started laying eggs again! I thought my girls were too old, but I've gotten 3 eggs this week. It's not much, but I'll take it! I pulled the last of the Christmas turkey and broth from the freezer and made soup with it. There's still enough meat on the bones to make another batch of soup, plus boil the bones for more broth. Sold $50 worth of curriculum. Is it silly to feel a bit sad that Story of the World is leaving our house? *sigh* 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeAgain Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I have literally been too busy to shop, so I guess I'm saving money? LOL Or not. DS's hockey team got a last minute entry into the state tournament. The team that was supposed to go had something happen that made them have to drop, and they were the next highest team. So, that meant a rush to get hotel accommodations in a mid-sized town already hosting a bunch of teams. Instead of a regular room, we ended up with a suite just to have something. On the upside, breakfast is included, which is a decision I think the hotel might regret by Sunday. 😄 Meals in general are more relaxed this week. Dh and I are tag-teaming responsibilities, with me running a child back and forth and doing homework/going to class, and dh pulling 12 hour days at work and doing his homework/class when he gets done. I made a mess of meatballs and pasta yesterday to last for the next few days. There are sub rolls available for those who want to make it into a sandwich and salads ready to put together for those who want pasta as the main. I'm not going to spend more energy to feed anyone. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soror Posted February 20, 2023 Share Posted February 20, 2023 I'm settling into my new job. Dh and I went over priorities and goals for my income. First, we are paying off the HELOC. I'm putting our income tax toward it when we get it Wednesday. We'll have it entirely paid off by April. After that we are in no particular order: 1- saving money to finish the back of the shop- we won't have time to work on it until summer anyway so we've got time to get all we need so we don't have to take out money again- dh thinks we need x but I think it will be more like 1.5x so we're aiming for 1.5x-- if we happen to have extra then we'll work on the flooring for the interior upstairs- I don't think we'll have extra though 2- building sinking funds 3- retirement savings 4- helping ds with college 5- increasing the standard of living- keeping this to 10-15% of my income- Next year we'll reevaluate where things are and reassign and allocate accordingly. I did buy some convenience food this month that I don't normally get- chicken strips and some lunch supplies. Mostly we've had regular dinners I just have the kids helping cook more and doing prep when I can for the days I cook. Dd1 is cooking tonight, Dd2 on Wednesday. I prepped my food for Tuesday night yesterday so I just have to throw it together and put it in the oven. Thursday I'm making soup and will do most of the prep in the morning and just finish it in the evening and Friday we're doing leftovers. We're making things work and getting in a bit of a groove despite a very hectic schedule. Things are starting to settle down and we're getting acclimated. DD1 has Beta convention next weekend and then the following weekend she's leaving for spring break with friends. They are paying her food and lodging- she's bringing shopping money. She is saving her checks and sold some clothes so she will have more money. We are giving what we can afford. Dh wanted to give less, me more, we compromised. She is also getting a bump in allowance for helping more (as are all the girls). I still need to sell things. I've been so swamped that hasn't happened. I need to relist some things and list some things new. That might not happen until spring break until March. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brittany1116 Posted February 23, 2023 Share Posted February 23, 2023 Ulta has free ship no minimum. They also have the normal 3.50/15 coupon. My CC offers 10% cash back there this month. So I ordered my foundation, a sponge I needed to replace, and a body scrub to take advantage of all 3 offers. CC will be paid off as soon as the 10% hits in 7-10 days. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 There are a lot of winter coats on sale on Walmart.com starting at $6. The brands are Wonder Nation and Swiss Tech 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 Our car was officially totaled, so we bought a new-to-us one. I think we got a good price for it but this is a tight market and it was pricey. It is also the lowest mileage car we've ever bought and I appreciate that. That totally exhausted our Emergency funds, so we're building that back up. I'm taking the next few months off of retirement account contributions. The goal is that I at least don't have to take anything out of my Roth IRA but it is good to know that I could if push came to shove. Other big expenses recently: DS18's braces and DD14's violin. We also have a move coming up. We plan to rent out our house for a few years and then move back so we've made a list of things to fix or upgrade. We started some fixes this week. I've been decluttering and just started listing things online to sell. DH is in favor of getting a storage unit for things we don't take with us on our move but I'd rather sell anything we can live without for two to three years! So, the current goal is to postpone or skip any non-essentials until we do our home fixes and rebuild our emergency fund. I just made a 2-week menu plan based on sales, though we generally aren't tempted to eat out much. Emily 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted February 25, 2023 Author Share Posted February 25, 2023 I saw the price of eggs come way down at Walmart. Gas though is going up. 🙂 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 25, 2023 Share Posted February 25, 2023 I understand about being a bit sad to see SOTW leaving the house. We are finishing up year 4 here, 3rd complete cycle through. It’s been a daily part of our homeschool for 12 years running. We have had a fairly quiet February, budgetarily. I had some unplanned clothes spending—a new pair of shoes for a kid and then some Old Navy clearance (adult sized jeans, sweaters and coats for <$10 each!)—but I had already been saving for a spring wardrobe refresh. Medical bills should start hitting hard soon….new year, new deductible. Yuck. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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