A New Year Doesn't Mean Spending More Money

Every year when January rolls around the corporations pull out their "New Year" tricks.
You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

The "You Need to Buy Containers/Etc. to Get Your Life Organized" mantra and they try to sell you shiny new containers, filings systems, storage boxes, etc.

But most people don't have an organizing problem, they have a "too much stuff" problem.  Ok, some folks have both a stuff problem AND and organizing problem. ;-)



Just organizing your stuff when you have too much of it will only solve your organization problem for a short time.
So let's not fall for the "if we buy more/new containers for our stuff it will solve our problem" trap.
Stop buying stuff AND containers!
Keep your money in your pocket.
And get rid of some of what you already have.
My original post about all this from Jan. 2013 is HERE if you'd like to read it.

The other New Year trick is the "You Need to Buy our Diet Product/Plan/Fitness Tracking/Equipment to Lose Weight" mantra.
All sorts of diet foods, vitamins, supplements, diet programs, gym memberships go on sale in January of each year without fail, luring folks into a better life with promises of being thinner and fitter.

Again, you don't need to buy special foods, equipment, join a club/gym/diet program to lose weight.
Find free ways to exercise(take a walk), hold yourself accountable(tell someone about your plans/goals or do your health plan with a friend or family member),eat differently of the foods you can and do already buy(or buy better foods to get you to your goals).
You shouldn't have to spend extra money to reduce your bulk/get healthier/get fitter.
And after all, these merchants are just selling you a set of "tools", tools you may not necessarily need to achieve a better health goal.  You probably already have what you need to achieve a lower weight/better health.  You just have to believe in your own power to reach those goals.

What things do retailers lure you into the stores in a new year that you fall victim to?


Sluggy

2017 Christmas 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 $850 for Christmas spending in 2017.  Except for what Hubs spends on gifts for me, this is our entire spending budget for Christmas.
Last year I budgeted $1600.00 and we spent $793.72.
So I based this year's Xmas budget on what was spent last year plus a little more.  Since we weren't traveling for Christmas again in 2017(couldn't travel Xmas 2016 as Hubs had a broken leg)I figured the amount spent should be well under $1K.

I have been tracking our Christmas spending since 2010--
2010.........$1000 planned/$881.64 spent
2011.........$1300 planned/$851.32 spent
2012.........$1000 planned/$1020.48 spent
2013.........$1650 planned/$2164.77 spent

2014.........$1900 planned/$1742.87 spent
2015.........$1800 planned/$1583.94 spent

2016.........$1600 planned/$793.72 spent


How do I arrive at a budget for Christmas?  Nowadays I look at what we spent the previous years(because I have a full accounting for the last 6 years or so on the blog)and see where we did well and where we did "not-so-well" with budgeting and add in any unusual things we plan to do and after some papers are balled up and thrown away and there is one sheet left with lots of writing on it(as well as writing scratched out on it), we have a plan and a budget. lolz

No, really.....I look at possible spending categories and what I think we will use in each one.

I generally use c/c points to get gift cards for free(to either give as presents or use to buy the presents to give)plus I buy a bit here and there during the year when a deal presents itself and those items are cash flowed from our regular monthly income.  I have been known to reserve blogging revenue, rolled coins and/or cash rebates from grocery purchases during the year to pay for Christmas expenses.
I generally don't set money aside each month throughout the year(like a Christmas club account or actual money in an envelope earmarked for Christmas spending)since we had a large cushion of cash in our checking and savings accounts and I can just pull from those sources when I need money to spend on Christmas stuff.  Since Hubs retired mid-2017 I will have to budget for Xmas better in the future.

But if you don't have extra cash lying around it is a good idea to take funds during the year and earmark them for the Holidays.
There are many ways to save ahead for Christmas.....make regular deposits to a dedicated account or a Christmas club at a bank, use a one-time windfall like a bonus or a tax refund, etc........so use whatever works for your situation.

The only unacceptable plan is to GO INTO DEBT for Christmas!
Better to not spend on Christmas than to endure the grief/angst/anguish/stress by going into debt buying crap at Christmas you can't afford and having to pay off the bills incurred sometime in 2018, or 2019 or beyond.

So we went into the Holidays with $850.00 budgeted to spend.

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

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $40.00
Gifts for immediate family(includes any cash gifts)  $600.00

Gifts for extended family & friends  $50.00

Electricity for lights   $10.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie   $150.00
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)   $0.00
Charity  $0.00

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

Shipping gifts/mailing Holiday Cards  $30.47

Gifts for immediate family  $567.99

Gifts for extended family & friends  $53.07

Electricity for lights  $10.00

A Christmas eve meal and show or movie  $184.09
Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze)  $0.00
Charity  $0.00
TOTAL SPENT...$845.62

Here are the Spending Details....

$30.47 *Shipping/Mailing Holiday Cards & Gifts----$9.53 UNDER budget
We sent out 23 cards(2 were put into packages and not mailed separately in envelopes) and mailed 1 package to my brother and his wife and 1 package to a friend.  Stamps cost $10.29 and the cards I had already from previous Christmases.   The postage for two packages was $20.18.

$567.99  *Gifts for family---- $32.01 UNDER budget
Last year I spent $542.45 on gifts for family so I spent $25.54 more this year on the family's gifts.  Family included 4 people--Hubs, 3 kids.  $350 of that $567.99 was cash gifts.  We had 2 less people to buy gifts for this holiday(Eldest no longer has a SO and Daughter's BF was not here for Xmas).

Here is how I kept the cost of gifts a bit lower than it could have been this year--
*  I cashed in points on my credit card and/or hotel program card for free gift cards to give or use to buy items to give. (I wasn't very successful at this strategy as in year's past but I still saved some by using it.)
*  I acquired a new back-up credit card and earned $70 in Amazon credit for that and used the credit for all but $14.67 on a coffee grinder for Hubs big gift.
*  Some clothing bought at Kohl's using Kohl's Cash/sales/discount codes.  I found some sneakers Daughter wanted in March and used discounts and Kohl's Cash to get them for under $10 OOP and hid them from her for 9 months. lolz
*  The last 20% off weekend at Big Lots in 2017(in October-they never run these near the Holidays) saw me get some items for cheap.....already low prices plus 20% more off when bought that weekend.
*  I picked up items/souvenirs on our road trip when I spied a "deal" and tucked those away for Xmas.
* Lots of stocking stuffers were items gotten at Rite-Aid over the course of the year for no money OOP.
Other stocking stuffers were gotten at the grocery store for free after coupons and others gotten as giveaways/freebies from companies.

$53.07  *Gifts for extended family---Over $50 Budgeted Amount by $3.07

We spent a bit more on the nephew's gift this year since I gave him a Rite-Aid procured gift card(so I got Plenti points but paid full price for the card)instead of using some credit card points to get a gift card for free.  His dad's food basket was foodstuffs I used sales/coupons to get.

$10.00  *Electricity for Lights----ON Budget
We used the smaller tree this year(less lights than a full size tree)and Hubs was able to do the outdoors lights too which was the same stuff we usually hang outside.

$184.09  *A Christmas eve meal and show or movie----OVER budget by $34.09
Dinner for 7 this year and 4 of them got booze(never cheap).  After tip we spent $184.09.

$0.00  *Charity----NO Spending After shelling out for the "rescue misson" expenses we were tapped out in the chairty department, and will be tapped out for some time to come.

$0.00  *Christmas travel expenses(lodging, food, gas, booze, cash incidentals)----NO Spending We didn't travel this year again as the Eldest came home for the Holidays for the first time in 3 years.


All totaled, this year I budgeted $850 and we spent $845.62, so $4.38 under budget overall.


Thoughts for 2018--
I think I'll keep our budget at $850.00 for next Christmas.  We aren't hurting for money but we are on a fixed income with Hubs retired now.  Plus all of our kids are 21 or older(and 1 is established in a career now)so I don't feel the need to spend so much on them as when they were younger.
For our income and our needs, I think this is just the right amount to splash out on Christmas celebrating.

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 when you look back at the Holiday plan?
Do you see anything you'll change about your spending for Christmas 2018?

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

Sluggy

Frugal Friday......the January 12th Edition

A few Frugal things that happened around here last week--

*  I received a $5 rebate in the mail for buying Chester's heart worm pills last year.

 

*  I was overcharged for a head of lettuce last week at Weis(PMITA)Markets by .10¢.
The lettuce was on sale for $1.49 a head but it rang up at $1.59.  I took the receipt and sales ad from that week in and got $1.59 cash back for my troubles.

*  When I went to Weis this week I only got credit for doing the Mix and Match Deal(Buy 6 items/Get $3 off Instantly)one time, when I had bought 12 items that qualified.  Before I left the store I brought this to the attention of the CS person.  I got $3 in cash.  This, along with the $1.59 for the overcharge on the lettuce, goes into the Post Coupon/Rebates envelope for 2018 to apply to the grocery bills at the end of the year.

The lesson here--It pays to check your store receipts!

*  Hubs and I went to the movies this week during a matinee. I tried to use my very old cinema gift card but when I whipped it out I found out that this theater is no longer affiliated with that company.  Good thing it was Bargain Tuesday though and the tickets are only $5 OOP(I used some of my WAM money to pay.)
Just some light comedy with filthy language and some accomplished actors-Glenn Close, JK Simmons and Christopher Walken being among my favs.  Worth the 5 bucks IMHO.

* I also received $3 in online Saving Star rebates from last week's shopping-$2 for buying 2 Maxwell House coffees and $1 for buying 4 Progresso soups.  I also earned .25¢ for buying anything at Rite-Aid last week.  These online rebate schemes haven't been panning out with large rebates for me in the last 6 months or so.  Seems they limit a purchase to a specific store(usually Walmart, where I don't shop), you can't use a coupon on the item and get the rebate too, the number of rebates available are quickly filled, or it's just for stuff I don't usually buy.  These all limit my participation.  Oh well.

*  We finally got over to the other side of downtown W-B to return a bag of puppy food we bought from the pet store we got Chester from.  He won't eat it anymore so we got a store credit since it's been 3 months since it was bought.  I am sure we can get some flea and tick or chewy bones with it in a couple of months from now.  It was worth the trip(we also hit Dollar Tree while we were in that neighborhood)instead of just throwing the puppy chow out or letting it sit in the garage.

*  Since it's my birthday month I received a $10 freebie offer from Kohl's in my email.  I'll hopefully combine this with some Holiday clearance deals there to pick up something needed for one of the folks living here(if not me)or for a gift to use later that costs as close to $10 as possible.  More on what I got before January is out.

What frugal things happened in your house this past week?

 Sluggy

How 2017--The Year of Austerity--Ended Up

Going into 2017 we were confronting financial difficulties.  Hubs broke his leg and was off work for 2 full months(including all of January and 2 weeks in February), which meant much lower disability income for the first month+ of 2017.

Due to this I adjusted my Savings Challenge for 2017 down $3K from $38K to $35K.

Then Hubs decided to retire in the middle of the year which changed up our finances yet again.

I ended my Savings Challenge when he left his job at the end of June.
The Savings Challenge, modified to 6 months worth of savings hit $21,100.42 when hitting $17,500 was the goal for that length of time.

Even with this, going into 2017, I had no clue how austere it would become around here by the end of the year. 8-(

I had a few action plans to try to cut expenses going into 2017(before the retirement thing happened).  They were--

* Dining Out  Consciously using the stockpile of restaurant gift cards.  

We did use them more but I still added to the pile of cards at the back end of the year. *sigh*

* Alcohol  Don't buy more booze, use up what is here.

I may have bought 8 bottles of liquor/wine(other than for cooking)total in 2017.  I also let the kids drink some of what I already had here since I don't drink much anymore(just special occasions really).  I don't think Hubs went lighter on alcohol buying however so just me reducing what I bought still helped our bottom line on that line item of spending.

*  Clothing  Don't buy new clothing unless it's a need.

I did spend a little on clothing in 2017(6 tops, a coat which was sorely needed, 2 dresses, some underwear which was also sorely needed)and I think Hubs only bought socks and two pair of shoes(more supportive footwear due to the leg break).  I bought no new shoes.  A few souvenir t-shirts were bought on our road trip for us.  The rest of the clothing was bought for the kids as souvenir items or for Xmas presents.

* Vacations/Trips  Do less trips/vacations.

We took 1 big road trip to Idaho in 2017 that's where most of the vacation $$ went this year. I went to VA to mother in-law sit for my brother for two weeks in May but my brother paid my gas/tolls and paid for some of my food while I was there.  I visited my Eldest son on the way home and paid for all gas/tolls on my return trip and stayed at his apartment so not many expenses on that trip other than some food out.  There was a trip to see Eldest son in the Fall which wasn't planned, but needed at the time. Hubs and I went to see College Boy's recital but that was a day trip, not an overnight.  So we did less trips in number but with retiring we took one very long trip.

* Stockpile  Reduce and use up some items.

I tightened up on the stockpile amounts.  Stopped buying certain items we were drowning in, gave some to the food bank, to the brother in-law who lives in town, took bags down to my brother to give out to various family and friends and then took a couple of boxes of toiletries on our road trip to hand out(much to the irritation of Hubs).
We did end up spending around $1K less on food/toiletries/paper goods compared to 2016 numbers.

With Hubs retiring suddenly mid-year it brought home the necessity of cutting expenses in 2017.  
The short term disability pay sort of prepared us to keep spending in check once he decided to retire in 2017.

Overall, we did end up spending less on "wants" in 2017.  I think not having to access the 401K the last 3 months of 2017 was a big win for us.  A few expenses came up-the rescue mission was the biggest but we also had college tuition and living expenses to cover in Fall 2017.  These but a small dent into our savings but we emerged from the year in good shape.

But sometimes it seemed like I had to drag Hubs kicking and screaming through the year.

I won't say it was pleasant at times as Hubs wasn't ready to stop spending so much on wants(WAM, alcohol and Eating Out mostly)so we did argue over finances for awhile.  By October we seemed to have settled down into a spending routine now that keeps up both happy and satisfied.

I am still working on him about having a Sinking Fund to fund each month.  He was surprised by how much we are committed to paying out on irregular but fixed bills.  Once you remove the chunk to fund the Sinking Account the annuity income each month looks quite sparse.    
While we "can" live on just the annuity income neither of us want to live that life if we don't have to.

Striking a balance between where the spending happens and how much to withdraw from the 401K in 2018 is our main goal financially we are working on at the moment.


Sluggy

January-the Expensive Month

This is the temperature outside from my car dashboard on Sunday morning when I went to Rite-Aid.
It was 3 degrees HIGHER than when Hubs went out at 8 am that same day.....WTF?!?!
Meanwhile in Alaska it was in the 40's?

January is kicking my ass in the expense department this year.
Between what everyone calls Murphy and a new medical insurance coverage year(yes, I'm looking at you high medical deductibles!)January can be expensive at Chez Sluggy.

* We had 14 days of being below freezing here, many of the nights were in the negative single digits(and that's BEFORE wind chill).  This means my electric/heating bill is going to be ridiculously high for January.  Not sure yet what it will turn out to be but it's trending toward $500+.  ick

* Last August, College Boy, had taken my car to work and returned it with a crack in the windshield.  It was small and down at the base of the windshield so didn't hinder my vision while driving said car so I just left it to repair later.
Over the next few months the crack grew and then "spider-ed" and by December the area involved was quite large, but still contained to the lower left side of  the windshield and still didn't impinge on my field of vision for driving.
But it needed to be fixed, so Hubs took it to the local glass place and our deductible for the complete new windshield was $100.
* $100

* Then Hubs car tire kept losing air.  This long subfreezing cold snap in NEPA has just exacerbated the problem.  He took the car up to the local tire/car repair shop and it was deemed that both front tires needed to be replaced.  So he came home with new rubber x two and a nice, new shiny bill for said tires.
* $208

* The day after New Year's we saw a big puddle on the kitchen floor in front of the dishwasher.  Sometimes this happens if someone opens said dishwasher after starting it(a bunch of water falls out when you open the door).  It was discovered that no one had opened said door while the dishwasher was cycling so it was thought something was leaking.  After another running of the dishwasher, just to make sure it wasn't just someone opening the door mid-cycle, it make another nice puddle.  Conclusion-the dishwasher needs a new gasket, is rusted out somewhere or ?  Whether it's a repair issue or a replacement issue is still to be determined.  Either way it's going to cost $$.
Personally, I am in no hurry to repair/replace the appliance and since Hubs is the kitchen cleaner-upper/dishwasher as long as he will hand wash the dishes I am good with being in status quo mode on this one.  I won't be calling a repairman and I'll wait for Hubs to get fed up doing dishes by hand.  This should buy us some time before we had to dump money into a repair or replacement.
* No $ spent(for now)

* With a new year for the medical insurance and a $3K deductible to pay before seeing any benefits on visits, tests or meds I had to refill a pricey Rx.  I try to time refills/visits/tests so we do all we can by December 31st but this maintenance drug comes up early each month unfortunately.
It's funny that the druggist calls the house in January to break the news that I owe hundreds of $s for the script every year and the cashier at the pharmacy counter also prepares me that I'll owe big bucks for it.  I've been on this drug for years now so I know what's coming but they don't remember and handle me with kid gloves. lolz  I'll be so glad when our deductible is met for the year......
* $306 for 1 month's worth of 1 drug

I am behind for the year already.  I still need to close out the December, Christmas and 2017 spending books.  It just seems like I have so much to deal with in January from the previous month/year.
I'll get there if I put up multiple postings per day for awhile.....if I can find the time to write them all. lolz


Sluggy