Christmas 2013 Budget/Spending Autopsy

Ok, so calling this an Autopsy is not very festive or cheerful.
So call it "The Post Where I Talk About What I Was Going to Spend for Christmas and What I Actually Spent for Christmas".
Whatever works for you.....

I budgeted $1650 for Christmas spending.  Except for what Hubs spends on gifts for me, this is our entire spending budget for Christmas.

$1650 in money we HAD already, so no putting Christmas spending on Credit Cards(no running a balance I mean)to pay off sometime in 2014, or 2015, or 2016.......

Here is where the funds were allocated at the start.....

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $20.00
Gifts for immediate family(includes any cash gifts)  $600.00

Gifts for extended family & friends  $100.00
Secret Santa Gift   $35.00

Electricity for lights   $5.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie   $80.00
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)   $800.00

Extra  $10 (the "just in case" cushion)

And here is where the money actually went.....


Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $37.05  Over by $17.05

Gifts for immediate family  $1041.07  Over

Gifts for extended family & friends  $105.00  Over by $5

Secret Santa Gift  $21.98  Under

Electricity for lights  $5  Even

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie  $76.15  Under
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)  $878.52   Over by $78.52
TOTAL SPENT...$2164.77  Over by $514.77

Here are the Spending Details....

$37.05  *Shipping/Mailing Holiday Cards & Gifts----
We sent out 25 cards and 3 gifts.  I got free photos to enclose in the cards.  Stamps cost $11.00 and the cards I had already from previous Christmases.  1 package mailed to Daughter, 2 boxes sent to friends cost $26.05 in postage.
We saved some postage this year, because I gave my brother and his wife their gifts when we saw them in person at the family reunion.  But I still didn't budget enough for shipping costs this year.

$1041.07  *Gifts for family----
Last year I spent $698.82 on gifts for family.  In 2012, this included $300 in cash and $398.82 in gifts.  This year I didn't give out any cash(unless you call gift cards cash)so I combined last year's gifting & cash for purposes of comparison to what I spent this year on gifts.  
I way over spent on this category by $342.25 from what I budgeted for.

I usually cash in points on my credit card for gift cards and gifts, but I didn't this year except for 1 gift.    I did shop sales, both in store and online.  In years past I've been known to start buying for Christmas if I find a deal, at any point in the year.  This year, I bought some booze in August for #1 Son's & his GF's gifts and some clothes on clearance in September online for Hubs and both Sons.  # 2 son's big gift was on sale but not as cheap as I would have wanted to get it for. 
I do cheat and buy things the kids need rather than want(like clothing)on sale and wait until Christmas to give it to them, so it's considered part of their Christmas loot. ;-)
But I just overspent on gifts this year and I own that. 8-(  Not thrilled with myself but we won't go hungry or get our lights shut off because of it so I am not going to stew over this.
 

$105  *Gifts for extended family---

Locally we give something to the nephew(a gift card and a jarred candle this year)and a food/toiletries box to his father/brother in-law.  I get deals on the food and always put a bag of Dunkin Donuts coffee that I buy at the Holidays on sale in his box.  I give my sister in-law homemade pepper relish(using my time and skill over spending a lot of money to purchase something ready made)and my brother got bottles of wine purchased on vacation, types of wine he can't get(regional)or deals on brands I find.

 

$21.98  *Secret Santa Gift----
I had Hubs' name this year.  He wanted books and gave a list with specific titles.  A quick trip to Amazon and that was done and I kept on budget for this.


$5  *Electricity for Lights----
Same stuff hung outside the house, same lights on the tree inside.  Hubs got the lights and tree lights up late this year so they didn't get turned on much, so we didn't give PP&L Electric much of a Christmas present. lol


$76.15  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----
We had our immediate family(only 3 that were here for Christmas this year)and took brother in-law and the nephew for dinner as well.  We took #1 Son and his GF out when we went to Pittsburgh but that is included under Travel expenses.

$878.52  * Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)----Gas was about $111.36, Lodging was $285(including 2 breakfasts we ate at the motel) and Meals out were $275.08(including generous tips-Hey! it's Christmas!!). #1 Son paid for 1 meal out plus a snack out and he cooked us dinner one evening, so our meal costs could have been higher.  We had .68¢ miscellaneous spending(don't ask! lol)and then we spent $206.40 on liquor.
Oh, yes we did! :-O
If we had stayed stone cold sober for the whole trip, we would have come in under budget for this category.  But who wants to spend a whole four days in Pittsburgh sober?  ;-)

Last year my Christmas budget was $1000.00 and I spent $1020.48.
This year I budgeted $1650.00(due to a vacation during the Holidays)but we spent $2164.77, $514.77 more than my budget.
I will have to pull from available cash in the checking account in January to cover the overage.

 If Hubs and I hadn't bought so much booze on our trip out to Pittsburgh, we would only have been about $300 over for Christmas.  But then again, 90% of that money spent on drinks was not "drinks out" but buying in bulk at the stores to drink at #1 Son's or in our room and 90% of that 90% was brought home with us to consume over the coming months.

All totaled the only category I am not happy with myself about is the gift spending on the immediate family.  Last year I had vowed to bring that one down since two of the "kids" are now 21 or older.
Big.
Fat.
Fail.

Oh well......Christmas 2014 we try, try again and hope to do better.

If you kept track of your spending for Christmas, how did you do?
Did you spend more. less or right about what you planned on spending?
Did you have any money epiphanies(epiphany? epiphani?)when you look back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2014?

Leave a comment and let us know how you did and what you learned about yourself & money this year!

Sluggy

Food for Thought

Sluggy

2013 Finances Review....Cars are Money Suckholes!

January is the month where I pull out all the receipts, paid bills and such from the year just ended and start going over and analyzing all the data.

I have started the Christmas 2013 Spending Autopsy(will post that later this weekend probably) and the Yearly Spending category totals to see where we need to do better in the coming year.

One of first categories was Car Spending.....Sonya Ann, you may want to cover your eyes while I talk about this one. ;-)

It was NOT a great year at Chez Sluggy for spending in the car category.....

Between a totaled car, buying another "new to us" used car, a rebuilt motor, expensive repair bills(four of them above $400 a pop-one was over $900!) and regular oil changes, parts replacements, we spent $7,186.86 on our "fleet" of automobiles.

Car insurance brought that total up to $10,267.00.

And that doesn't include any GAS purchased to fuel said cars.
bleh.

At least I take consolation in the fact that we got off rather cheaply with the totaled car and having to replace said car.
With what insurance gave us for the totaled one and what the new used car that replaced it cost us, we were only out $1363.42(plus new registration/tags).  Plus our insurance only went up just short of $69 per 6 months with that claim.
But I was sad to see that totaled car go, as it was a great deal and in really good shape, well....before it got hit, it was. lol

The car Hubs bought to replace it has been bad news.  It did fine for a few months but then it developed 2 leaks, one in the oil something or other and another in the transmission.  One is repairable and the other isn't, as it would cost more than what the car is worth. 
Ugh.
So Hubs is having to be vigilant about checking his fluid levels every week and carrying bottles of fluids in the trunk to top off levels or risk having something or other run dry and kill the car.
Don't you love my use of all these fancy technical mechanical auto terms? 8-))

Basically the replacement car has turned into a PITA car and he is making plans on how to get rid of it.  He wants to trade it in and get something else but once the dealer finds out what a fine driving machine*cough* this is, who in their right mind would want to take it?
I said we are probably better off just leaving the keys in the thing with a big sign on it "STEAL ME, PLEASE!" and then report it stolen.

To bad we don't live in a flood prone area, like someone I knew in my 20's who lived at the beach and had a POS old VOLVO.  It had been flooded during a hurricane so it started only running when it felt like it, which turned out to be every 3rd Tuesday and alternate weekends from 11am to 3:15pm. 

She got a phone call in the middle of the night a few months after the hurricane that her car was sitting in the middle of a major highway about 5 miles from her house, abandoned.
Seems someone had stolen her car that evening after she went to bed(who in their right mind, would want to steal an old, rusted Volvo station wagon?!?) but it stopped running 5 miles away and the thieves had just left it there at an intersection and fled.
True story.

But I digress....

If #2 Son goes away to college in the Fall we only need an extra car for 7 more months so Hubs may just limp along with this PITA car until then and then get rid of it, instead of replacing it soon.
I just don't know but personally I am not in a big hurry to throw more money into cars at this point.
As long as it is safe to drive if these issues are kept on top of, I say keep it on the road and keep the money in our pockets.

The fact is all of our cars are now becoming senior citizens of the car world.  My van, which was bought new, has barely 90K miles on it, but turned 10 years old last March.  I don't drive it much as I don't need to haul lots of kids anymore and I never go anywhere, so it should make it through 2014 without a lot of spending on repairs now that we had the rack & pinion work done.  I might need new tires but that's about it.  If it comes down to it, Hubs can use it for commuting, though it doesn't get great gas mileage. 
Should cars start to fall apart again!, we have options before we dig into our savings for expensive repairs.  #2 Son no longer has a part time job or extensive band commitments and I don't need a car to commute to a job, so between the three of us, one job and three cars(that all have issues of some kind), we should be able to limp along until at least the Summer.

The goal is to get to where we only need 1 car but that won't happen for at least a few years yet.

As far as car spending in 2014, I hope to keep it below $8K including insurance this year.

So how was 2013 for you and your vehicles?
Did you spend a little or a lot on cars last year?
(I expect Sonya Ann to leave me a long comment/rant on this post! lolz)

Sluggy

Using Up the +Ups

I went to Rite-Aid to use up the last of my +Up Rewards this week......

1 x Northern TP w/RAIN CHECK=$5.37
2 x Finish Dishwasher Tabs on sale $3.99=$7.98
2 x Dark Chocolate covered Cherries 75% off=$1.24(for 2)
2 x Wrigley's Gum Tin 75% off=$2.48 *1 not pictured*
Subtotal.....$17.07

Coupons Used
2 x $2.15/1 MQ Finish Dishwasher Tabs=$4.30
1 x .75/1 IPQ Northern TP=$.75
1 x $1/1 Load2Card came off, NO CLUE what it was for!=$1.00
Coupon Total.....$6.05

$17.07-$6.05=$11.02

I used my $10 in +Up Rewards and paid $1.02 OOP.
I go no new +Ups back.......sniff, sniff

So.....unless a really stupendous deal comes up in the next few months, I won't be spending any more money for awhile at Rite-Aid.

Dishwasher tabs and TP were needs......the chocolate covered cherries not so much.  But who can resist dark chocolate covered ones! lol

The gum tins were bought ahead for stocking stuffers for next Christmas.  I would NEVER shell out $4.99 for 3 packs of gum, unless it was 75% off or more.  And gum, unlike chocolate or some candies will keep until next December.  I have now bought 8 gifts for next Christmas and spent a total of $21.07 for all.  All items were on deep discount, at least 40% off, plus I used +Ups and Kohl's cash on 5 of them and on the online purchase I used a coupon code which paid for the shipping on 4 items plus gave an additional 10% off on my order(of items 40-70% off retail).

There are no toiletries we are out of or we need to stock up on at this point.  Thanks to buying those Home Improvement gift cards in Nov/Dec. at Rite-Aid and the +Ups they generated, we are loaded up on toilet paper for at least 6 months and shave cream/shampoo/toothpaste/toothbrushes for at least the next year.

Did you do any Rite-Aid shopping this week?  Did you find any great deals?

Sluggy

 

The Resolution We Can't Keep In This Country....Non-Consumption REDUX

My January 2013 Rant........dragging it out of the closet for another airing in 2014.
$12 A Day's post HERE reminded me to share this again.

Still timely advise and something to get you thinking.
Is this the year you break the cycle?

Enjoy.
***********************

When we start a new calendar year, we tend to want to start fresh in all areas of our lives.
One of the prominent thoughts at the new year is to get organized or get MORE organized.
Being organized is ALWAYS a worthwhile goal, isn't it?

This is when we see stores haul out big displays and sales on Storage Containers and Organizational Systems of all kinds: from filing systems for the paper in our lives, to the clothes in our closets, to the foodstuffs in our cabinets, to ?.  Every area of our homes is ripe for storage improvement.
And the retailers stand at the ready with shiny new stuff for us to buy to make our lives more contained and organized.

It's true that in order to live a life that's streamlined and functioning well, we need to stay on top of everything in our lives, especially our "stuff".  But do we need to pull out the credit card or bank card or money envelope every January to buy something to achieve a functioning home?
The retailers will tell you YES you DO!
I say not necessarily.

Personally I feel that we don't have an organizing problem in this country, we have a "stuff" problem.

Now think about this......
How many people start out the new year buying containers, spending more money, and either abandon the plan to organize or find that just buying pretty containers and dumping your things in them is not a real organizational plan.

How many do this and by the time next January rolls around, the plan is forgotten and they are again, seduced by all those pretty containers enough to part with more of their money and start the cycle of buying containers all over again?

Do you realize that a fair percentage of people who are clinically referred to as hoarders follow this pattern of wanting to organize their things, purchasing containers/systems, and never do the emotional/physical work to change their habits and organize?  The containers just add to the clutter of their stash and every time they return to this phase of the cycle, more containers are added to the chaos.

Most new year attempts at getting our "stuff" organized are much like those new year resolutions we all make and promptly break or forget by February.  They seem like a good idea at the time, but the follow-through is just not there.

And if after all this organizing and storing away we still can't fit all  the "stuff" into our abodes, there are always garages and storage sheds we can buy, build and utilize.

And if that isn't enough extra space, there is a whole industry that is growing at an alarmingly fast clip that would love to rent you space for all that stuff you have that you don't need access to as often.  Yes, I am talking about the Storage Facility business.....a Billion Dollar industry that has grown up around our inability to throw things away.

Our homes in the US now are on average double the size of the homes our grand and great grandparents lived their lives in.....and usually with fewer PEOPLE living in these homes to boot.

We have double the space for the stuff in our lives than they did, yet we still can't organize it all in such a way to fit into the space we have allocated for it.

We have more clothing & shoes, we have more furniture, we have more kitchen gadgets, we have more dishware, we have more food, we have more cars and related equipment.  And let's not forget all the electronic toys they never had, and all the hobby stuffs and sports stuffs.

And then there are the collections of every type, shape and size.  Most Americans collect something and a large percentage of those who collect have MORE THAN ONE COLLECTION of stuff.  And if you are stuck in a perpetual cycle of buying containers every year to corral your stuff, those containers ARE a collection themselves!

If you can no longer use a room in your house or apartment for it's intended purpose because your "stuff" has taken over that room, you may have a problem.

Sure, if your collecting brings you joy and you have the extra space for it, that is great!

But if your things are taking over the space in your home AND taking the place of people in your life and costing you money that you can't afford to be spending on it, perhaps it's time to take a good hard look at your life and the choices you are making.

If you bought less "stuff", would you have more room in your home?
If you bought less "stuff", would you have more time because you would have to organize and clean less?
If you bought less "stuff", would you have more money in your pocket to spend on needs and not be stressing out at the end of each month that your income would last?
If you bought less "stuff", could you spend that money on the people in your life instead?(And I don't mean buying THEM stuff instead.)

Make 2014 the year you break the cycle of spending on things that are NOT needs, and on this perpetual cycle of cluttering and decluttering.
Make every purchase you make an INTENTIONAL, well thought-out one that fills a need!

What do you think readers?

Sluggy