Our Family's Finance's - Weekly Wrap-Up

Expenses – First, I will say I have given up keeping track of my husband’s expenses. He likes to go in and out of stores on his way to work, during lunch, on his way home, etc. He stops at Home Depot, Aldi, Wal-Mart, and who knows where else? I do keep track of his Costco trips, though. I never did a big food shopping trip this week. My husband went to Costo ($13) and to an Asian grocery store ($22). I also went to the mall, which is about an every 2-3 month trip for me. I spent $15 on a haircut for my baby (I cannot cut boys’ hair). I also bought – with a gift card – a $25 muffin tin from Bloomingdale’s. No, I don’t usually shop there and I would never, ever spend that much on a tin, but I’ve been carrying around this gift card for almost 2 years and it was set to expire on June 30. I was in need of a new muffin tin so I bought it.

Now that it’s spring, the expenses are coming in fast and furious! I bought Dunkin’ Donuts as a treat for my daughter who had a friend sleep over for the night ($7). We went strawberry picking and bought 9 ½ pounds of strawberries at $2 per pound for a total of $19! We went to our Memorial Day festival in town and spent $35 for rides, games, food, etc. I went to two thrift stores and spent $15. I registered for preschool for next year ($50) and paid for “lunch bunch” for two days for my daughter ($8). I spent $65 for year-end costs related to dancing school – DVDs, recital fee, and trophies. Phew, I think that’s it.

Deals – I used a coupon for my son’s haircut so I saved a few dollars there. My husband had some gift tickets from a fair that his company sponsors so we were able to use those to get some free rides in, which is great since one ride costs $3 or more! While $2 per pound of strawberries may not be the best price ever for strawberries, there is nothing like fresh picked-from-the-plant strawberries. The ones at the market I get for $1.50 per pound sometimes don’t even come close. And I looked into different pick-your-own farms nearby, and some were charging as much as $3.99 per pound, so we got a good deal, I believe. I froze some for the winter and made jelly with some of them.

Income – I sold absolutely nothing. I have been very lazy about listing on eBay, but I do expect to do more in the coming week.

Investments – I invested $2,000 in my son’s ESA into a nice balance mutual fund! That’s half of what we need to do this quarter. To date, we’ve invested $6,000 of the $16,000 that we plan to invest this year in retirement and education savings.

Giving – I volunteered at my daughter’s school to set up for a tea that the first-grade class was having. I also made dinner for a friend of mine who sprained her ankle and watched her daughter one afternoon.