Groceries spending win!

While I've had a few falls in my quest for a spending fast, I have succeeded in one area this month! My food budget for groceries.

To start the year I allocated $225 for groceries. I hope to be lower than that, but my average spending last year was somewhere around $300 or so.

On this 4th Sunday of the month with only 9 more days to go (and a birthday dinner I promised to cook my dad next Saturday) I've only spent $121 on groceries! I'm about to go out and get provisions for the 9 days ahead, which are going to be pretty slim this week, and then later this week I need to get supplies to cook my dad a rocking dinner on Saturday. I think I can mark that as a win in the spending fast column!

New (free!) Desk!

A success!

I now realize that the blog I just posted rambled off a bit!

Anyways, point being is that I was up late getting frustrated over some Girl Scout stuff and woke up the next morning feeling like the living dead. It was enough justification to buy a chai tea.... But I bought more milk today so that impulse purchase won't happen again!

Also was super excited yesterday when taking out my recycling to discover a pretty good quality desk that someone had dropped off for the trash or for give-away. My apartment is awesome when it comes to freebes - in fact, the 'desk' I was using was a table I found in a similar fashion. It took a few minutes before I realized that a desk with drawers, even if not in top condition, was better than a table with no drawers and wobbly legs! So, after about 15 minutes, I wrangled the desk up stairs, the table downstairs, cleaned it up, and now have a very lovely desk! One expense I now don't have to plan for! WOO!

So this might be hard...

I did my weekly shopping today, and am disappointed that I didn't spend less money, but feeling pretty good that I managed to reduce my impulse spending. It is clear that my spending for groceries will be less this month than what had become my normal (TOO high!), but probably not as good as I'd like it to be.

I also had another misstep. I'd run out of milk, so did buy a chai from a coffee shop one morning last week because I was so tired after staying up too late reading about someone who is asking the US to boycott buying Girl Scout cookies this year because Girl Scouts of Colorado let in a transgender girl to be a part of a troop if she wants. See more here. Suffice to say, I was torn! Reality is Girl Scouts is an organization who works to help girls speak up for what they believe in... and perhaps that is just what this girl is doing. But then I did go to their website.... I feel more sorry for this young girl now... I'm doubtful that she did this all on her own initiative.

I bump up against this conundrum on occasion. I purport to be so open and accepting, but how to deal with those who are judgmental or hateful? Isn't it just as bad to hate on someone who is being hateful?

Anyways...

I'm so incredibly proud of Girl Scouts, an organization I've belonged to for 22 years, and one that I will belong to the rest of my life. We are open and accepting as an organization and are providing such great opportunities to girls. I don't know who I would be without the touch of this organization on my life.

So, buy Girl Scout cookies starting on Saturday! Girls will be coming around door to door with cookies in hand this year! The proceeds from this go in part to the troop itself, the local council, and a small portion to the national organization. Before you say no to a girl, remember that she has a goal and a dream and selling cookies will help her get there. That seems worth at least $3.50 to me!

** my Girl Scout troop sold enough cookies last year to finance a camping trip to Sand Dunes national park, and had enough left over to get all the girls their new vests and books as they bridged up a level! That's some serious moola folks! **

My sister and I sometimes get together in Boulder on Sundays after she's done working at her Sunday job. It has always included lunch out, as well as browsing on Pearl Street (and luckily infrequent purchases!). I'm not sure how to reconcile this in 2012 - and as evidence I did spend money for lunch out at our favorite "in the rear" pizza place.

On the other hand, I will be spending very little this week for my food supplies. I purchased some on sale vegetarian sausage on a splurge (it's so good and so very rarely on sale!) and these two box lunches that were intriguing. I also paid for part of the Saturday dinner supplies - but being with my sis on Friday-Sunday am meant that my meal planning for those two days last week just got moved to this week! All in all I probably spent about $20. Not bad!

This seems pretty easy so far. I just need to figure out how to deal with Sundays in Boulder....

the benefits of tidying up!

I have just a few more hours left till a three day weekend comes to and end, and with it the avoidance of certain tasks. UHG!

One thing I tend to do when I'm procrastinating is clean and tidy my desk, my apartment, whatever is at hand. Well, a huge benefit to doing this today was finding a partially used book of forever stamps! It looks like I'll be in stamps for a good while, since one of the last purchases of 2011 was a book of stamps, knowing the price will be increasing soon.

That doesn't help me with what has to be done.

I also saw The Artist today, using the birthday gift card from my dad. It was great - so cool to see a silent film on the big screen. I found myself very glad that I'd taken the class in college about film of the 1920s. It really was a huge transition to the talkies, and many didn't think they'd last. The movie uses this history as the background to the film, and it's true what the critics and news writers are saying - it feels very much a tribute to filmmaking and its past. Some great cinematography. One shot particularly reminded me of Citizen Kane (which I finally saw, feeling guilty it had taken this film minor so long to see it... I did not particularly enjoy it!) at the angle it was set (both askew and from a lower to the ground perspective). The camera certainly benefitted its actors.

Funniest of all, at one point something was occurring that in a 'talkie' would have made a sudden, loud noise. The moment was somewhat intense/suspenseful, and I found my hands moving up to cover my ears! In a silent film! It makes me wonder about what it would have been like to grow up with silent films and then see a talkie.

I suppose I should remind myself that it was a productive day - even if not in the way I'd hoped. I did lots of laundry (and no using the dryer either - it is all hanging up in the bathroom!), tidied a bit, saw a great movie, finished a good book. A great weekend, if it weren't for tasks I'd liked to have done hanging over my head. I hate how I can guilt myself with that.

Onwards to a new day! The only bad thing that has happened in 2012 is my toughness on myself. I've only talked to people I love, I've only spent money on things I need, and have had delicious food! A great year so far :)

One of the things I've been curious to find out more about, when reading the blogs of others on spending fasts, is how much they get paid a month. I do not get a bundle, and it is hard to imagine having as much success as others when I see what I get per month.

I know I'll be saving, and that is all that matters, but I'm wondering what my results will look like comparatively.

I'm excited to have started the fast because it reminds me of when I first got my job, 3.5 years ago. I was so excited by the thought that if I saved 1/2 my salary a year, I'd be able to pay off student loans within a few years. Well, I hadn't yet factored in the cost of living in my new town, not on a graduate school budget.

So while I might not be able to put 1/2 of my yearly earnings towards savings/loans, I look forward to figuring out exactly how much I can put towards debt. It might be something more like 1/8th of my salary, but it will be 1/8th more than I did before!