Birthday Budget Report

Days 6, 7, & 8 of 2022

Day 6

On day 6, I had hoped to keep up a daily blogging routine but was seriously derailed on the 6th.

I managed to get caught in the next town over in a snowstorm. It accumulated so fast that ever single way home quickly became blocked due to accidents. I had planned to be home around noon, before it got crazy, but the weather decided to shake things up a bit.

We didn’t make it home until midnight.

I ended up spending around $20 at a gas station to feed and hydrate myself and two of my kiddos. I would have spent more on a hotel if I could have got one before they were all booked.

I didn’t create an emergency category, but I’m realizing now that I should have.

Day 7

On day 7, I was so fatigued, from stress I think, that I did absolutely nothing but play in the snow with the babies.

Day 8

Was our oldest child’s 18th birthday. We celebrated with Dad’s usual birthday dinner of choice. She decided on Greek food. She opened her no spend gifts from me as well as her spend gifts. I’m pretty certain her favorites are her no spend spider plant baby and the spend planter and watering jar.

Her party with family was postponed due to the weather as well as my back. I am still unable to move well and cannot get the house lined out beforehand.

Birthday Budget: $100 – $23.88 = $76.12 Remaining

Day 5 of 2022

Today has been another good day for my no spending year, not so good for my body. Keeping it short and sweet again.

I did do a little spending for my teens upcoming birthday and grocery.

I spent $15.86 on groceries and $3.22 for a gift.

I’ll update the totals tomorrow hopefully. Sitting in a chair is pretty painful and I very much dislike typing this stuff out on my phone.

Day 1 of 2022

First day of the year and while I did do a bit of spending, it wasn’t unnecessary and I am well within my budget and right on track. My meal plan did get a bit derailed today, but it worked out in the end.

Overall…

Today has been a success!

Meal Plan Report

My meal plan didn’t go as planned, but I saved some overcooked tater tots by being flexible.

For breakfast, I fixed the ham and scrambled eggs as planned, and added tater tots and mandarin orange slices for sides. Unfortunately, I left the tater tots in the oven longer than needed. My bunch wasn’t thrilled about eating them.

I wasn’t feeling good about throwing them away on the first day of my no spend year. After a quick Google search, I found a solution!

Tater Tot Casserole!

Instead of vegetable soup as planned, I stuck this casserole in the fridge and popped it into the oven for dinner. We may do the vegetable soup tomorrow as there are no leftover from dinner.

Grocery Budget Report

I didn’t buy anything unnecessary, but I did buy some new flossers for the kids. I almost bought two packs, which is more than we need, and caught myself.

Technically, I did my grocery shopping for this week in 2021, but I will be counting it toward my budgeted amount for the week. I almost tried to cheat. I created my meal plan based of things I had on hand. I ended up spending $55.41 of my $100 grocery budget all together.

Grocery Budget: $100 – $55.41 – $1.96 = $42.63 Remaining

Our oldest kid’s birthday is the 8th of January. I spent a total of $23.88 out of her $100 budget so far. I looked at ordering a cake from our local grocery store, but it’s sort of expensive. I’m going to see if I can get or borrow a cupcake pan so that we can make our own to save costs.

Plus, I’ll get her and her siblings in the kitchen with me and we can make some memories for her 18th!

In the photo below, the copper basket, puzzle, embroidery set, and wrapping paper was free from a local free group! The baby spider plant I also picked up from my local free group! I’ll be repotting it into the white planter.

The planter and the watering jar were something I picked up for myself last year. While I didn’t purchase it this year, I’m still counting the cost. There is one other item coming.

She’s going to be super excited!

Birthday Budget: $100 – $23.88 = $76.12 Remaining

Holiday Budget Report

I got a jump on holiday gifts this year!

In a local free group I’m in, I was able to get 3 gorgeous matching photo frames. It was perfect timing because I had come across a code to get a free 8×10 from Walgreen’s. I had a photo printed out for my husband that will be part of his no spend Father’s Day gift. Each frame will eventually have a photo of him and each of our children.

Holiday Budget: $2,500 – $0 = $2,500 Remaining