Week 1 Spending

Okay, I know I haven't even posted a budget or goals yet, but let's take a look at how our first week in the new year went.

We have decided to make January a "no spend" month. Which for us this time means that we won't have any frivolous spending. No eating out. No coffee. No little shopping trips. Nada.

Groceries - $50.78
Gas - $44.68
Misc - $13.77
Food Out/Entertainment - $15.45

It's sad, because as I'm doing this, it's the first time I'm looking at our Mint.com account. Which means it's the first time seeing my hubby's spending.
Let me just clarify that he's the one who said we needed to get our spending back on track...

I'm looking at Mint and I see a charge for $13.77 at Office Depot. That's odd...he no longer teaches in a classroom, so he doesn't have much of a need to be there. So I ask. And the answer I get "It was for the stuff for the thing for Young Life." If you are completely baffled by what that means, don't worry, you're not the only one. After trying to decipher man talk, I finally figure it out and he says that he will be reimbursed. I'll believe it when I see it. And by that, I mean, see the money go back into our account, not into a pocket or something.

After we get that all straightened out I look at the next item. Panera Bread $15.45. WHHAAATTT!!?!?! First of all, how do you spend $15 at Panera? Second of all, I thought we weren't spending? He had a meeting there, and thought that he had his gift card. He didn't. He also didn't have lunch and was hungry. He bought a soup, sandwich and drink. Not the half and half deal, a full sized soup AND a full sized sandwich. As you will see in our budget, there is no wriggle room right now for spending. So we now need to figure out where that money will be coming from. Time to take away hubby's credit cards... :-)

We forgot to get food for a family party we had this weekend, so our grocery bill is a bit on the high end, but hopefully it will be smaller this week since we still have some dinners leftover to make from last week.

Overall, this month doesn't seem to be off to a super great start, but it's time to crack down and stick through it. Numbers don't really matter until the 31st hits, right?

*Oh, and I got our electric bill which was $190!!! It's a bill, and it won't be paid till the end of the month so it doesn't count as spending, but whoa! Christmas lights maybe? Or heat? Or maybe the TV/computer since I'm home all day...