Monday Musings, Week 18

Here is this week's spending report.

Week 18 Spending
Groceries /Food	$112
Benevolence	$5
Piano Lessons	$10
Total	$127

April Spending Report

Category	Spent	Budgeted	Savings
Groceries*	$446	$700	$254
Miscellaneous	$16	$120	$104
School	$0	$50	$50
Entertainment	$0	$75	$75
Toiletries	$49	$50	$1
Piano Lessons	$40	$80	$40
Clothing	$11	$60	$49
Gifts	$47	$75	$28
Hair Care	$17	$30	$13
Benevolence	$5	$35	$30
Discretionary Cash	$25	$25	$0
Total	$656	$1300	$644

*Does not include 5/4/14 grocery shopping during week 18

Comparing percentages, this is my best month yet. All but $200 of my spending was for groceries, and I came in $254 under my grocery budget. I can definitely tell that we are using our supply of freezer items and canned goods. In the afternoons, some of the children wander around the kitchen moaning that there is nothing to eat. When I suggest that they make a sandwich or a burrito, or grab a boiled egg or some fruits or vegetables, they trudge off, mumbling about how there isn’t any “real food” in the house – you know the stuff – Cheese Nips and bags of chips and chicken nuggets and corn dogs and frozen pizza, etc., etc, ad nauseam. Literally.

Summer is time for the kiddos to pick up extra work, like mowing yards, moving hay, and helping neighbors with various projects. This should help cut down on the griping since they’ll have more pocket change. I’m hoping they’ll learn the value of money since they’ll have to spend their own.

Here is a common conversation at our house –

Child: Moooooooooom, I NEED you to buy me (fill in the blank).

Mom: Sorry, dearest child, but there’s not money in the budget for (fill in the blank). If you want it, you’ll have to save up and spend your own money.

Child: I don’t want to spend MY money. It costs too much. Can’t YOU buy it?

And so it goes and goes and goes. One thing I have noticed is that, as I have been consistent in requiring them to buy their own lego sets, fancy footwear, make-up, snacks-on-the-way-home-because-they-are starving-to-DEATH, etc., the requests are slowly, but surely, coming less often. When the kids are met with a denial, they accept it more readily, and we are able to have a sane discussion about needs and wants.

The same goes for the adults in this household. Instead of having an attitude of “’La-dee-da,’ I’ll just buy the stuff I want and hope everything works out at the end of the month,” we are much more intentional and conversational about our spending patterns and savings goals. This is a very good thing, as evidenced by the growing balance of our emergency fund and savings account.