And then it was October. Well, almost.
It’s crazy how fast this year is flying by. It has been a really, really good year but I’m not ready to see it all end. Luckily, we are entering my favorite time of the year – the holidays! October, November, and December are just my favorite months. I am not excited for shorter days, but I am excited that we are getting tiny hints of cooler weather to come and there are just so many good things on the horizon that it’s hard to contain myself. I am a happy girl.
I’m trying to figure out a good format for recapping the month and talking about my goals so just bear with me as I figure it all out.
In September, I…
- Celebrated my brother’s (27!) and nephew’s (5!) birthdays. My brother and my nephew are September babies, my brother being the 15th and my nephew being the 25th so it’s always a big birthday month for us. We celebrated my brother’s with pizza, cake, and a very sad Sunday Night Football game. (He’s a die-hard Niners fan and they lost awfully to the Seahawks, their rival team.) For my nephew, my sister-in-law and brother threw a fun pool party for the little stinker that was a ton of fun.
- Took Dutch to the dog beach! I had a blast watching Dutch experience the dog beach for the first time. He was hesitant about the water, but we forced him in a few times. He was the perfect boy and I’m looking forward to going back another time or two before it gets too cold!
- Started trampoline fitness classes. My mom bought us a Groupon for 3 trampoline fitness classes and we put them to good use this month. Goodness, I think I underestimated how tough the workouts would be because they were hard. My legs felt like jelly after each one. I would say you would probably need some sort of fitness base to begin these types of classes because it’s high-intensity cardio. But still, very fun and I am hoping to find room in my budget to continue going.
- Spent five hours at book club! Our book club meetings are generally 5% talking about the book and 95% chit-chatting and catching up on one another’s lives. At September’s book club, the five of us who will be going on a cruise together in November were there and it was just the best time. We started at our favorite restaurant and then moseyed on over to a frozen yogurt spot right next door where we sat outside and talked and talked and talked until 11pm. We are going to have such a fun time on that cruise! (And I may have volunteered to sing karaoke with another girl. Uh.)
- Had a 30-day review at my job. My company likes to do a 30-day review to catch up with their new hires and make sure they’re settling in okay. It was basically a “Is this the job you thought you were getting?” sort of low-key discussion. It went well. My team leader is very happy with my performance so far and I am really happy with the job itself so good things all around.
Goals for September
- Try out a trampoline fitness class. Check! My mom and I attended all three sessions paid for via a Groupon and they were very fun. I am hoping to continue these!
- Go back to church. Ehh… sort of. I went one out of the four Sundays in September. Things just kept coming up that prevented me from going. Oh, well. Here’s hoping October will be better!
- Sit down and create a new budget. Yes! I did this! And it’s awesome. I’ll be helping my mom out WAY more than I was before, able to save and pay down my debts, and still have fun money left over. I love my new budget!
October Goals
- Don’t use my credit card. I really, really have to stop using my credit card for unnecessary purchases. My best bet is to take it out of my wallet and leave it at home.
- Go back to a cash budget system for extras. I was doing better at this earlier in the year but got off track in the summer. I think giving myself a set amount of cash to use for my extra fun expenses will help me to stop spending money so frequently. It’s not out of hand, but it has the potential of getting there.
- Take Dutch to his first 5K and second 3K Pet Walk! Dutch has a busy race season coming up and it all kicks off with the 3K Pet Walk put on by our local SPCA on October 12. We did this last year and it was so much fun, though the pet walk itself was a bit messy. Hopefully, it is more organized this year! We also may do a 5K Halloween run, too, since it allows dogs to participate and I think it would be fun. Gotta keep this old man active, you know?!
What’s one money-saving rule or budget tip you always keep in mind?
September was a great month for you! I can’t believe today is the last day… It was probably one of my best months of 2013, actually. I still have my tough days, but in general, I am doing so much better than I was a month ago.
Savings & budget rules I always follow is to contribute at least as much towards my 401(k) as my employer will match, set up auto-deposit so a certain amount of my paycheck goes to my ING account (well I guess now it is called Capital One 360), and to only put things on my credit card that I can pay off that month. I do use my credit card quite a bit as it is a way for me to earn miles, but I won’t let myself carry a balance. That is great that you are making progress towards making a budget, savings more, and paying down debt! I think November is going to be a ‘no extra spending’ kind of month for me in preparation for my Paris trip and the holidays!
I have been saying that bout my credit card since June and I’ll tell you leaving it at home is the thing that works WONDERS. That way I literally can’t use it for random, small, unnecessary and spur of the moment purchases. I managed to pay off one credit card completely doing that and will have the other one paid off after my next paycheque! They weren’t carrying huge balances but it still feels amazing to have them both paid off!
Budgets, cruises, book clubs! Exciting! I actually went to church yesterday, and it was a really good sermon. I liked it, but it was a good thirty minutes away from home, so I don’t know that it’ll e a regular place. But if I could find a church similar to that close by, I’d totally be down.
A cruise with the book club folks? Sounds like a great trip to me.
I always make sure to pay ourselves first in terms of savings, I have an auto deposit into my 401(k) each month, and from there I try to be sure that we aren’t too frivolous. There are nights were I loathe cooking thanks to work, but even if D makes himself a frozen pizza and I have a sandwich I consider that a win since we didn’t spend $40 out at a restaurant. I look for deals on things we need (grocery wise) and make sure to combine coupons when I can (though I’m not a big couponer, I just use the tools available to me!) We invest in good coffee at home rather than going to Starbucks, and we have “easy” dinners on hand for those nights no one wants to cook. I don’t know if I can think of anything else helpful at the moment!
Book club! I’ve always wanted to join a book club but have never got around to doing it. I’m getting lazier with reading and I don’t like it, so perhaps I should get the ball rolling on joining a book club once and for all! Especially if there are groups out there that become good enough friends to go on a cruise together 😛
Budget tip: automatically divert a percentage of your paycheck into a savings account (bypass the checking account) if you have direct deposit set up. You won’t miss what you didn’t have, right? 😉
My biggest success at saving money was setting up an auto transfer online so that the day after I get my paycheck, a chunk of it goes straight into savings. Also, I’m horrible with having cash on hand – I don’t track how I spend cash, so it goes rather quickly because I’m not holding myself accountable. When I use my credit card, I can see where every penny goes. I guess I could get back into the habit of tracking when I spend cash, but it’s easier to not carry it in the first place.
Oh! But the only time I DO have/use cash is for gas. It shaves a couple of cents off per gallon and makes me feel super awesome for saving money, even if it’s only a little bit at a time.
my biggest way of saving money is bringing my lunch daily and not grocery shopping on an empty stomach. i also really try and reason on something if i need to buy it or not.
good luck!
Anne of Green Gables! My favorite, favorite movie growing up. I always get a craving for it in the fall!
I create an excel spreadsheet for the entire year. It’s designed like a checkbook register and I plug in my all my expenses (weekly gas & groceries, monthly bills) and my income, etc., so I always know where I will stand in a month or two or five when I’m tempted to purchase something. Sometimes one month looks really good and I think I can afford to splurge on clothes but maybe two months down the road there is one less pay period so money will be tighter – seeing ahead helps me to make smarter choices.
You are doing so well with your goals & getting fun things done! I also really love Fall, but it depresses the heck out of me cause I know I have, like 5-6 months coming of snow. AGH! I just got depressed writing that down!
I track everything I buy. Yes, I know it sounds tedious, but once you do it for a while, you get used to it. After a week, I add up everything I spent into different categories listed in an Excel spreadsheet (gas, eating out, shopping, etc). Doing this weekly helps me figure out how much money I’m spending and where. I try not to go over $100 a month for each category. For example, if it’s the middle of the month and I’ve already spent $100+ on eating out, I make a note not to eat out for the rest of the month.