Our Family's Finances - Weekly Wrap Up

Expenses – I went to a consignment sale and used book sale over the weekend. I spent $21 at the consignment sale and $6 at the book sale. Most of the things were clothes for my children – not much for resale, so I probably will only make a few dollars of it back. The books are for our use and for gifts. I did very well food shopping. I spent about $75 for food for the week. (We have $100 budgeted.) We didn’t eat out at all this week, but I did host a Moms Night Out at my house one evening for eight moms. I made food from ingredients I had on hand and bought some fruits, veggies, and drinks in my grocery shopping this past week. Each mom brought something as well.

Deals - I bought a couple of books/DVDs at the book sale for my husband for Father’s Day. He loves national parks and other historic sites. One is a DVD about the Wright Brothers. The other is a book on North Carolina trivia (he used to live in North Carolina). Total spent for Father’s Day gift - $3! I also bought my mom a gift of a book on tape. She likes those for when they drive to Florida - $1. I got a vintage tin dollhouse with furniture for $5 at the consignment sale. I’m debating keeping it or selling it on eBay/Craigslist. Oh and one of my mom friends brought over some clothes for my son that her son outgrew.

I got great deals food shopping. Harris Teeter had triple coupons plus I had a coupon in the mail for $10 off a purchase of $40! So with those deals combined, I did very well. I spent $36 after all was said and done and got lots of yogurts, cheeses, veggies, cereal, noodles, among other things. Giant also had a coupon in their circular for $5 off a purchase of $30. And they had some great loss leaders - grapes for 99 cents a pound, Breyers ice cream for $1.99, and turkey breast for $4.99 per pound. My last deal was a free roll of paper towels at CVS from a coupon I had received in my inbox. And I sent my mother-in-law a Hallmark card for free.

Investments/Savings – My husband received a $1,000 check from work that is going to be put toward our retirement for this year. I haven’t decided where it is going yet, so it is still in my wallet. I hope to invest this by next week. We should be putting $4000 per quarter into retirement ($5,000 Roth IRA for each of us) and college savings ($2000 Education Savings Account – ESA for each of our children). But we are new to doing this quarterly. So we need to catch up for the first quarter.

Income – I’ve continued to do well on income. My goal for my income is to make $400 per month, which is what I would have brought home if I worked part-time at my old company and paid for child-care. I sold $55 worth of dollhouse furniture on eBay (cost was essentially $0 since I sold the dollhouse for $20 the previous week, which is what I paid). One item didn’t sell so I will list it again. I only have a few things up there now, but hope to get more up after Easter. And my husband sold an old cell phone of his for $50. Sweet! On other fronts, I keep “earning” money in other ways. Little things here and there that add up nicely. A friend of mine gave me a gift card for $50 for doing baking classes with her two daughters for a few weeks in February. That was a very nice surprise! And another friend brought over a big loaf of wheat bread from a great bakery in town as a thank-you for helping her sell some items on Craigslist. I have nice friends! I received a couple of checks in the mail for doing surveys on the computer – one for $10 and one for $5. I “found” a check on my bedside table for $100 – it had been a present from my parents back in October – whoops! I did an online survey for CVS and got $5 put into my account there. They are small things for sure, but every bit helps while I stay at home with my children.

Giving (This is a new category I have added to our family’s weekly finances) – I made a donation of three bags of clothes and toys that we no longer use to the National Children’s Center. I gave $1 at the grocery store to a work program for the underprivileged. I passed along some outgrown boys’ clothes to a friend of mine whose son is 9 months younger than mine. And I invited a friend and her daughter over for lunch the day after my Moms party to enjoy some of our leftovers.

How was your week financially?