So here is how my NEW budget is going to look:
$40 per week (down from $60 in 2009) for our household consumables- groceries, hba, cleaning supplies and paper products for me, DH and 2 ds's (6yo and 3yo) 3 cats and one mini pin (dog, <15 lbs) I am also including costs for my newspapers, I typically buy 5-10 every week.
I also do surveys to earn Paypal credits, some occasional rebates and pay-to-click for gift cards. These funds are funnelled back into my budget.
Here's to my goal of $2010 in 2010!
$40 per week (down from $60 in 2009) for our household consumables- groceries, hba, cleaning supplies and paper products for me, DH and 2 ds's (6yo and 3yo) 3 cats and one mini pin (dog, <15 lbs) I am also including costs for my newspapers, I typically buy 5-10 every week.
I also do surveys to earn Paypal credits, some occasional rebates and pay-to-click for gift cards. These funds are funnelled back into my budget.
Here's to my goal of $2010 in 2010!
Christmas Budget Challenge
Posted 09-08-2009 at 06:27:33 AM by Cynthiabutterfly
I have also officially started my Christmas gift shopping, and for the second year I am sticking to a FIRM $10 per person budget, excluding DH and my kids. If I spend only $7, then I do NOT go over for anyone else, which was the mistake I made previously, and that caused me to keep going over for too many people.
I have accumulated lots of Mypoints this year too, plenty for me to get $10 gift cards for people that I don’t know what to buy for, or get gift cards and use them myself to buy the gifts. Because I don't want the GC to expire before they can be used, I'll wait until the end of Oct before I order any.
So I am using this to track my gifts and spending. for purposes of privacy, I will only use an initial for the recipients, and my DH and 2 DS are not listed.
Couples may or may not get a joint gift, gifts are only listed once they are purchased.
G: purse $1.99
D:
B&L:
M:
E&K:
F: blanket $5.99
G&E: Need bday and xmas gifts in the same week
J&A:
I have accumulated lots of Mypoints this year too, plenty for me to get $10 gift cards for people that I don’t know what to buy for, or get gift cards and use them myself to buy the gifts. Because I don't want the GC to expire before they can be used, I'll wait until the end of Oct before I order any.
So I am using this to track my gifts and spending. for purposes of privacy, I will only use an initial for the recipients, and my DH and 2 DS are not listed.
Couples may or may not get a joint gift, gifts are only listed once they are purchased.
G: purse $1.99
D:
B&L:
M:
E&K:
F: blanket $5.99
G&E: Need bday and xmas gifts in the same week
J&A:
Total Comments 6
Comments
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When I cleaned out the garage for my new freezer, I came across a box that had some crafts including a Christmas plan I had last year- Homemade crocheted potholders along with mason jars I planned to put hot cocoa, brownie or cookie mixes in (the layered kind that looks pretty).
So I have at least 2, possibly 3 names that I can cross off with these, but I have to put them together before I will cross off any names!
Oh, and I'll have to calculate the cost of the ingredients to make sure I don't go over $10!
I spent $3 on the jars (for a dozen) and the yarn was less than $2 for 3 potholders.Posted 10-02-2009 at 08:28:23 AM by Cynthiabutterfly
- I have been working on my crochet projects, while I wait for DS to get out of school, and in the evenings (when the kids and cats allow) I finished a 3-piece potholder set, and have 3 other sets (2-piece) already finished.
I am still planning on the 'cookie mix in a jar' idea, and also found a 'cocoa mix in a jar' which actually sounds better - my recipient won't have to bake, and I can customize them more. Marshmallows are cheap and make a great filler for the jar, cinnamon sticks I've seen at the $ store, peppermint sticks, nutmeg, instant coffee (for mocha instead of cocoa) and I can make these sugar-free more easily than cookies for the diabetics (including 3 immediate family members).Posted 10-07-2009 at 10:09:20 AM by Cynthiabutterfly - G: purse $1.99
D:
B&L:
M: Shirt $3.98
E&K: Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
F: blanket $5.99(realized I needed a bday gift too) so Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand) for Christmas, blanket for bday
G&E: Need bday and xmas gifts in the same week
Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
bday: Bath/spa set (including crocheted bath pouf and bodywash) $0
J&A: Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
For those with Potholders as a gift, they will also get a jar of homemade cocoa mix, once the holidays are closer I will purchase the ingredients and make these.Posted 10-09-2009 at 09:51:17 AM by Cynthiabutterfly - G: purse $1.99
D: GC from MyPoints
B&L: GC from MyPoints
Herb garden .75
M: Shirt $3.98
E&K: Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
F: blanket $5.99(realized I needed a bday gift too) so Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand) for Christmas, blanket for bday
G&E: Need bday and xmas gifts in the same week
Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
bday: Bath/spa set (including crocheted bath pouf and bodywash) $0
J&A: Homemade crochet potholders $0 (used yarn already on hand)
I found a great sale on marshmallows for my hot cocoa jars. I also found a great craft project to make the lids and tags on martha stewart's website. I still need some cocoa, powdered milk and powdered creamer, OR a good sale on bulk cocoa mix. Some instant coffee and cinnamon sticks would be good too.
I also finished shopping for gifts for my kids, and I got DH one thing, but I want to get him something special, I just don't know what that is yet.Posted 11-09-2009 at 02:24:12 PM by Cynthiabutterfly - I got the rest of the ingredients for my cocoa mix, and put them together yesterday.
Spent:
$2.69 dry non-dairy creamer (.33 per jar)
$4.13 dry milk (.68 per jar)
$1.70 cocoa powder (.21 per jar)
$1 cinnamon sticks
Used sugar already on hand (only used about 2 cups for 4 jars) and Splenda freebie left over from a House Party.
Including the cost of the jars $3.49 for 12. (.29 per jar)
and 1 bag marshmallows .38 (used about 1/2 bag for the 4 sugared jars) .05 per jar
I made 4 regular and 4 Sugar-Free, but ran out of dry milk for the last 2.
So my total cost was $13.39 not including sugar and sweetner, but I didn't use all the jars. Estimated about $1.60 per jar, including ribbon, tags and cinnamon stick.
Pairing these with the homemade potholders, these gifts are under $5 including wrapping.Posted 12-14-2009 at 09:22:31 AM by Cynthiabutterfly - My plan for 2010 is to establish my role as a loving tightwad. I plan to make my gifts, and everyone will get the same category, to make it easier on me, and so no one will get duplicates and I don't have to keep track of what I've given 20 people over the last 4 years.
Christmas 2010: Scarves for the men, hats for the ladies, all in crochet for now. I've got 2 scarves started, and finished my 3rd hat yesterday.
Next year? Slippers perhaps, along with tins of cookies. Then there could be bags for the ladies, and hats for the men, then mittens with more hot cocoa.
Within a few years, all the members of my family can have a nice collection of homemade wear.Posted 01-25-2010 at 02:33:32 PM by Cynthiabutterfly
