March 2012 Budget Challenge

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Originally Posted by Abby5

good for you lekate!!!
I AM REALLY RACKING MY BRAIN to save my family more money!! my dh is sooo stressed!! I have not had a pay check now for over a year! and LTD denied my claim!! My dr is so arrogaint she says she will not do an appeal letter!! What the Hell!! Can they do that!! Well from everyone i talked ... yes! unless i want to hire a lawyer....but I have no money, so that will not be happening!! So I asked my GP for another referrel and this specialist is super nice >>>LTD sent him the huge paper work and he said give me a week and it will be done!! I was like OMG...my last dr had it for 5 months and i called 2x a week asking for it!! And in the end she just gave me the same letter LTD denied me with already!!


So,
1) I decided to make a list of all the foods and products we use and emailled the companies asking for coupons...in a nice way :)
2) go through the whole house and find things we don"t use/don"t want anymore ...a) sell on Kijiji b) what ever is left- have a yard sale beginning of May
3) hang out all the laundry
4)Costco 2 times a month---I love it---but i always spend to much :(
5)Keep going with my stock pile...which actually looks like a stock pile now...lol
6)On days that i feel ok I am going to do things that my DH usually does eg. sand and restain the decks and clean the eves
7)keep track of my coupon use and $$ spent on groceries and gifts and fun and clothes---find new ways and more ways to save on these without dh knowing!!
8)
9)
10)

I really wanted to figure out 10 ways but 7 is it for now...if anyone has anymore ideas (I know it is hard because you guys don"t know what I do already)it would be great!!

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I really need to do #2 in the worst way. Not only do I have a pile in my room that I need to get rid of but I have boxes of things in the garage that I should go through. I really don't like the idea of being bogged down so much by material possessions, so hopefully that can help me through this! I can't think of any others.

Yesterday I didn't spend much either, 1.80$ on my morning coffee, and about 20$ on groceries, around 8$ of which I used up last night to make lunches for the week! I need to get more fresh vegetables to cut up for snacks though, and fresh fruit....

Tonight I have to mosey on ovah to the Independent and pick up a prescription (already paid off on my MC, I broke it down into monthly 'payments' so it's already paid for when I get it, instead of one lump sum every three months!) and my bus pass (I put 50$ each pay week onto my MC to prepay this too). I find it's easier than lumping it into savings and I get Airmiles points on my MC this way...

I also need to decide whether to stay here in Ottawa or move to another city or country (I'm really unhappy with my work and other things right now...), and see if my bike is in working order, because if I can use that to get around in the summer I could save myself some coin on bus fare...

We only have 1 paycheck coming in here too and I have been thinking of ways to save more money too. I read a post in SC regarding the Zantac $3.00 coupon. Their receipt showed the purchase price being $2.22 with tax it would be $2.51. If I buy Zantac instead of Tums I will have an overage at Walmart of $10.29 which I am planning on using towards an Easter gift.
This idea worked great with the $1.50 Colgate Toothpaste coupon too as there was an overage of $.37 per coupon.

Just added up all my receipts for the month... dreadful. I haven't been so bad with money in like 6 months! Wake up call, that's for sure. It doesn't help that I just started having therapy appointments weekly (from none at all) which is 170$ per week. At least I get some of that back... Gotta find a way to bring in more, and spend less elsewhere. I updated page 1 with my new deets. *sigh*

Budget update:

DH received his annual profit sharing bonus last week which we used a portion of it to cover the overspending this month. The balance of DH's bonus will be deposited into the emergency fund. My income is really up in the air right now as I am still trying to build my daycare business. So for now we just feel more comfortable putting all of our extra money into our emergency savings account rather than paying off our debt faster. At least if something happens we'll have enough money saved that we do not need to borrow.

I went way over our grocery and gas budget because of March Break. I had already spent our budgeted amounts for groceries and gas but needed to have a full tank of gas and full fridge of groceries because I had 3 boys full days for the week. I will get paid extra for March break to compensate for the extra expenses but not until the end of April (I am always 1 month behind in pay because I get paid directly from the county for providing subsidized childcare). To make up for this, the plan is to spend less on groceries and gas spending next month. So we'll see how that goes. Staying within the grocery budget is very difficult for me...

I went out for dinner last night, which set me back 50$ and my morning coffee (1.80$), today is looking to be a no spend day, free coffee from Tim's and don't need to buy much lunch or dinner tonight at work!

I bought a bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups while at the grocery store today. Oopsies. Good cure for a headache and the crankies though!

Way to go, group!!! Nice to see everybody dealing with the issues; hang in there, and let's hope it's going to get sorted out and things will be better.
I've posted a short update on Pg.1, post 1. Will finish asap, and post the April Budget thread.
Will also consolidate my own Budget, so I can handle the postings easier; it's hard to keep track of the figures when I'm not at home with all my receipts.
April should be better, now that my internet and long distance are cancelled, as soon as the phone bill catches up, that is.
On the plus side, the potatoes are sprouting nicely, and have lots of little green leaves. I also have 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucs, morning glories, scarlet runner beans and basil growing. Three planted flats didn't sprout, the seed might be too old, so I can use the soil to transplant the other seedlings into small pots. Less is more when it comes to plants. 6 per flat, or just several in small pots, planted early enough to produce early in the season, and there is more to show for them than having lots of plants, planted later.
Lots of feathery snow fell a few days ago, extremely large feather clusters of snow, so the soil is invigorated again.

Made bread pudding, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pudding, chicken noodle soup a couple of days ago. Keeping a vigil eye on the refrigerator, so nothing gets wasted.

Have a good day, all! Bye for now!

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Originally Posted by bobbiegirl2010

Valiant: I am glad to hear that your neighbour moved her bbq. I hope that solves everything :) I am fortunate that I live far enough from all of my neighbours that they don't really bother me except for 3 little boys that live behind me whose parents do not supervise them (all under the age of 7). They constantly wander into our yard and "play" with the outdoor toys I have for the daycare. We can't afford a fence so I'm going to have to get a locked box to keep all of our outdoor toys in so they stop stealing and breaking them :rant:

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Just like you and Valiant, we have neighbour problems too. Yours is with children in the backyard. Ours is with unsupervised children in the front yard -- OUR front yard. Under our front window. Making a free throw shot with a basketball way, way away. The poor kids need a full court to play. We all live so close together, there isn't enough room.
Like you not a parent in sight to supervise the basketball.
Here's hoping that our garden, tree and car are not victims of basketball free throws.
Here's hoping for a pleasant summer for you, Valiant and us.

Had a little impromptu chat with the landlady and she is going to notify my neighbour to move her barbecue even further over, because it might melt the vinyl siding of the building as it is placed right now.
On the sorry side, my neighbour on the other side just chained their aggressive blue heeler attack dog to the hydro pole in the backyard beside the tenants' garden shed, and the chain is long enough for it to cross about 8 feet into my back yard garden...a very dangerous situation, which I will be complaining about on Monday. I was going to work in my backyard this afternoon and do some yard raking and cleanup, but now I can't because of the dog being able to get into my yard on its long chain. Right now, it will even be able to get into my patio area. Some neighbours don't seem to have the sense God gave a goose.

I have a few things to buy at the store today, so will do my final March budget update next week, when I can get back here to the library. I'll post the new April budget thread today.
Have a great weekend, everyone!

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Originally Posted by Valiant

One of my main goals for this spring:
- wardrobe organization, tailoring and alterations

Remember those basic wardrobe lists, years ago--the lists with 2-3 street dresses, 2 work dresses, 1 little black dress, etc.
We still need the very basics, well-fitted and well-suited to the occasion.
And then add the extras, if so desired.


Basic Women's Modern Wardrobe (Spring-Fall):
- coats: 1 (medium or medium-long)
- jackets: 2-3 (1 good-wear lightweight, 1 heavier fleece for warmth and/or 1 denim casual)
- suit jackets: 1-3, classic colours
- pants: 3 pr., classic colours
- summer shorts: 1-2 pr. (hot weather)
- skirts: 1-3, different lengths & colours
- dresses: 1-3, different styles & colours for occasion
- black dress: 1 (funerals, formal)
- blouses: 4-8 (wide range of colour & style)
- tops: 4-8 (wide range of colour & style)
- sweaters: 2-4 (basic colours & style)
- lingerie & socks: lots
- sleepwear/nightgowns: 4-7 (short & long)
- shoes: 5 prs = 1 pr. formal, 1 pr. semi-formal, 1 pr. casual, 1 pr. walking shoes, sandals for hot weather
- boots: 1 pr. rubber boots for wet weather/gardening
- slippers: 1-2 pr. (bedroom, house-slippers)
- raincoat & umbrella: 1 of each
- gloves: 2 pr. (1 for cool weather, 1 for gardening)
- hats: 2 (1 for cool weather, 1 sun-hat)
- bags/purses: 1-3 (dress, regular/casual)
- scarves and belts: various
- jewellery: 1-2 wristwatches (regular/casual, dress)
- sunglasses: 1 good pair UV shades)
- swimsuit
- bathrobe

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OMG!!! I just saw this I don't have half this stuff:(

Valiant - good news on the BBQ and the likely move even further away. :-)

I feel for you but I also feel for the dog chained up like that.

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Originally Posted by Shwa Girl

Just like you and Valiant, we have neighbour problems too. Yours is with children in the backyard. Ours is with unsupervised children in the front yard -- OUR front yard. Under our front window. Making a free throw shot with a basketball way, way away. The poor kids need a full court to play. We all live so close together, there isn't enough room.
Like you not a parent in sight to supervise the basketball.
Here's hoping that our garden, tree and car are not victims of basketball free throws.
Here's hoping for a pleasant summer for you, Valiant and us.

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I feel for you, Shwa Girl. Is there any way that you could plant some rose bushes in the vicinity of the basketball shenanigans? ;)

Valiant,
I wonder if a call to animal control wouldn't be better than alerting your landlord to the problem with the chained-up dog?

Updating my March budget on the OP now.
Hectic...doing this from the library computer these days.

PS: That dog is now acting strangely silent, while trying to dig between the fence and my my unit, seemingly intent on getting to me.