September monthly check in

Wowzers! How is it that a week has gone by again? I started writing this post a little over a week ago. 

Let's face it. I don't have a budget anymore. So much for my best laid plans of lowering our grocery budget & saving hard this year. The pandemic and global shortages have turned my life topsy turvy.

September was a seriously spendy month. I feel like I spent most of the month shopping. I have to remind myself that I've done Christmas shopping, so it's gonna feel like it does in November when I finish my holiday shopping (I still shop throughout the year, but not everything's available until the holidays).  So here's the good, the bad and the very ugly. An old couponing friend of mine told me that I should take inflation into consideration and that made me feel a teensy bit better. 

Groceries/HBA/Cleaning

Produce market : $91.62

Costco : 62.44

CVS : $9.83

Dollar Tree : $19.42

Kroger : $16.21

Meijer : 4.78

Ollies : 58.57

Sams : $337.68

Walmart : $292.13

Total OOP : $892.68

Earnings 

$3.25 Ibotta + $1 KCB

I just don't have time to chase any Ibotta deals.

My earned drugstore rewards are not included in this amount.I count them when I spend it. 

I almost fell off my chair once I've crunched the numbers. I have never in my life spent this much on groceries in one month. As in never ever! I've been stocking up like crazy. As you can see, the bulk was spent at Sams & Walmart. We're in great shape. I know I'm still missing a few things. I need to go through my pantry and make a list.

Can you believe that I haven't been able to find any dish cloths at Walmart? I finally found some at Meijer. 

I went to the produce market twice last month, hence the high amount. 

This month's grocery bill should be a whole lot less. I'm budgeting $100 per week. I'm hoping for $80 per week, but I'm giving myself some wiggle room. Who knows how much inflation will continue to bite us in the behind. 

I'm finally at the point where we don't need anything else. My stockpile is full. I don't even have any more room to store any more groceries. I guess that's a good problem to have. We only need  a few more things like cereal, molasses, mint chocolate chips, caramel (baking) & cooking spray. I finally feel like I can relax when it comes to stockpiling. I'm so happy, because it takes a lot of time & planning. 

MONEY EARNED (SIDE HUSTLE)

GCs Earned $110 ($50 Mypoints, $35 IGC, $10 Swagbucks, $10 PG, $5 Microsoft)

Personal items (things we've had listed for the past 2 years) : $74.97

2021 Closet cleanout : $14.60

Big goal : $0

Drugstore items : $14.67

Total earnings : $214.24

I also redeemed for some gcs through my CC. The PG is points that I've had forever and they finally added the coffee gcs again. Thankfully I was able to redeem for 2 gcs this time around. 

I listed zero personal items last month. I just didn't have the time. I'm trying to catch up on work, but that's also not so easy when I have to focus on making sure we're covered for any shortages. People have already started buying holiday gifts, so I need to get my butt in gear. I might have to consider getting up an hour earlier.

YTD Earnings :

GCs (point earning sites) : $560

Ibotta : $416.94

Personal items : $759.15

2021 Closet cleanout : $262.48

Big goal : $641.03

Drugstore items : $172.36

Total Earnings (excl Ibotta) : $2395.02

YTD EXPENSES (Clothing/shoes/accessories, Christmas gifts)

OOP  Shoes & bras (September) $184.82

Christmas gifts : $317.09

As I've mentioned before, I'm basically done with holiday shopping. The socks for DS (previous post) is an October expense since I bought it on the first. I actually didn't spend any other money on clothing last month, except for my athletic shoes and bras (both of which are needs). The rest of the expenses were all for Christmas gifts. I actually did pretty well on that front, because I utilized gcs to help offset the costs. I did buy electronics so I'm happy with my total. DH couldn't believe how little I paid for DS's main gift. I can breathe a huge sigh of relief that I I have Christmas taken care of. This is really early, even for me! The good news is that I don't have to think about holiday expenses come November/December.

Total OOP $501.91

What was it I said last month about getting out of the hole. Oy vey. I'll be very happy to get back to normal. I don't wanna spend any more money. I just want to get back to saving. 

YTD OOP (clothing/shoes/accessories, Christmas gifts) : $1343.96

YTD side hustle income (personal, closet cleanout, drugstore) : $1193.99

YTD clothing/christmas gifts expenses : $1845.87

YTD Balance ($651.88)

Now that stockpiling & Christmas shopping are done, I can get back to saving again. Savings this year was the plan after all. Time to get back to my original plan.