Occupy My Wallet: Day 68

Wow!  What a day yesterday.  It was gorgeous.  I made the kids go out in the backyard at 10 and they stayed there until 11:30.  We then started walking up to the kid's school.  He rode his bike, but I and the brother walked.

My son's school has a "no bikes allowed" rule.  I think that's stupid.  So we ride bikes to the park next to the school, lock the bike up there and walk to school from the park (walking is allowed at school).  I just think it's a dumb rule.

After school, I splurged and got the kids mini Blizzards at the recently opened for the season Dairy Queen. $6.80 on ice cream.  A small price to pay for two happy children.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 67

Yesterday was rough:  Dropped $184 at BJ's.  Yikes.  It was all essential food:  Coffee, flour, sugar, eggs, milk, ground beef, vegetables, fruit, etc. etc.  It just adds up so darn fast there.

Besides that, that was it.  Doing good...

Occupy My Wallet: Day 66

My kids didn't have school yesterday - and we just hung out at home.  They made a fort out of the couch cushions and I did some creative crap.  I like creative crap.  Headed out to a meeting and to vote in the evening and "splurged" on a bottle of Diet Coke.  That was my only expenditure of the day.

Enjoying not bringing more crap into this house.  A lot.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 65

I started buying a few things for my son's birthday party coming up.  $10 at the Dollar Tree and I think $8 spent at Michaels.  I used a gift card for the Michael's purchase.  I also dropped $13 and some change at Staples, but I should be getting back about $23 in rebates - so I made money on that one (which in theory, can cover my Dollar Tree cost).  Holla!

Occupy My Wallet: Day 64

Day 64 rang in with a bang.  We hit up a birthday party on a boat because that's how we roll on the South Shore.  No money spent out of pocket.  Enjoyed the ocean breeze and some time in Boston, compliments of a little friend who turned 5.  Also snagged a free cupcake while partying.  Holla!

Doing really well not buying material crap in 2012.  Still waiting for the savings to actually increase with this little experiment of mine, but not working quite yet.  Everything essential is just so darn expensive!

Occupy My Wallet: Day 63

Well I finally did what I have always set out as a mother to do:  I was able to combine meat & school fundraising in one.  With the help of many, we had a meat raffle that helped contribute to my son's school.  When all was said and done - we sold $1299 in tickets.  Which is great, considering the price of tickets is a measly 3 for $2 (or roughly .66 cents each).  After the cost of the tickets ($26) and the cost of the meat ($373) - each organization walked away with $450 ($900 in profit total).  Not bad for 3 1/2 hours of meatastic fun.

So I did drop about $17 playing said meat raffle.  I didn't win anything.  That's okay though.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 62

Holla!  Dropped $25 at Lowe's yesterday for some paint remover and stain.  Working feverishly to redo this piece of furniture up in my attic.  Hopefully I'll be done this weekend so I can Pinterest the crap out of it.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 60 & 61

Oops.  Fell off the Occupy blogging wagon for two days.  Mostly because I didn't spend any money so it's kind of boring to just write about not spending money.  I just want to know why I'm still all poor seeing as I'm not spending any money.

On the 29th, I did drop $112 on groceries.  Woohoo!  I'm listening to J-Lo right now.  She's one inspiring broad.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 59

Got oil yesterday.  A basic essential for functioning.  $855 later, I was motivated to not spend any money.  With this winter, we should be good until about September or October without buying another tank.

Buying oil sucks.  I guess there is no way to get around spending money on heat for your home.  Most people I know talk about great credit plans or monthly payment plans they use with oil, but we've never done that.  We have a "discount" oil guy and he only accepts cash or check.  He's not shady - just small business.  No credit cards, no payment plans - but his rates are always really low compared to what's out there.  He's also really friendly and great about coming the next day when I call.  Which is good for me - because I always wait until that sucker is on Empty to call.  He knows me as "the girls who just fills the empty tank". That's so sweet that he remembers me.  Apparently, he told me, most people don't wait until the tank is almost all gone to call for oil.  Someday I'll become more responsible.  Today's not that day.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 58

Holla!  Spent way too much money yesterday.  About $55 at Lowe's and $16 at McDonald's.  I couldn't help it - I got a Big Mac Attack.  Spent most of the day cleaning up the yard, spray painting my ghetto fence and finally installing our new bathroom hardware.

Today's mission is to paint my sons' bedroom door.  It's already off the hinges - now I just have to get off this machine and get cracking.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 57

Another good day, another dollar not spent on crap.  Dropped $7 at Dunkin's for some coffee and much needed donuts.  Besides that, zilch.  Have to run to Lowe's today for some stuff.  Hoping to not spend more than $50.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 56

No money on crap yesterday.  The husband did drop some money at Lowe's - I'm not sure how much.  We came home after some birthday parties to find that our boiler sprung a leak.  Once again, making me thankful that I have no desire to finish off my basement.  Luckily, once the husband bought some things, he fixed it in less than an hour.  Just had to replace a tube and fitting or something.  Glad he has some sense about things because I'm sure it would have cost a good chunk to have a "professional" do it.

Should be able to make it through today without buying crap.  Holla!

Occupy My Wallet: Day 55

Holla for Michaels!  Had to go out and buy 3 birthday gifts.  2 for girls, 1 for a boy.  Hit up Marshall's and spent $15 on the boy.  Went to Michaels for the girls.  My son picked out two different jewelry kits.  When we got to the register, one of them rang up at 1 penny (it was suppose to be $14.99).  So the cashier overrode the penny to .50 cents because the register won't let her total out "penny items" - I was like "for real?"  And was like "for real!"  So then I was able to use my coupon on the other one and it made for really cheap birthday gifts.

Overall, $22 spent on 3 gifts.  Not bad.  Wanted to keep it at $50 or under.  Now off for lots of kiddy birthday fun.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 54

No money on crap yesterday.  I did run to the grocery store and drop $100.  Up to $379 for the month.  That seems high.  Oh well.  It is what it is.

Have to buy some birthday gifts today so I'll be on a mission to score some good ones for cheap.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 53

Good day yesterday.  Met up with some friends at a local park for some free fun.  Packed lunches and snacks so I didn't have to worry about stopping for food.  I did a ton of work on the house/yard yesterday so by dinner time, I was pooped and just opted for pizza.  I had a code for a free pizza in my Papa John's account - so we scored 2 pizzas for $13.  After tip, $16 dropped.  Not bad.  Not great, but not bad.  I love pizza.  So much.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 52

Another day, another dollar not spent.  I didn't even make it to Staples to get my "free crap after rebate".  That's okay - I probably didn't really need it in the first place.  Not buying crap is a very liberating experience.  It's like a mixture of being part of an "Occupy" movement and being Amish.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 51

Another day, another trip to Goodwill!  Holla!  Starting to make good on my decrapping mission.  Didn't buy anything materialistic in nature again.  I haven't bought anything materialistic so far in February - and that's good.  So I leave you with my words of wisdom:  "Love thy Earth.  Love thy Wallet.  Don't buy Crap."

Occupy My Wallet: Day 50

Holla for the 50th day of the year!  That was yesterday.  I'm always a day behind.

I did not buy any crap yesterday.  I'm getting good at not buying crap.  I'm going to have to scope out some deals because we have 3 (yes, THREE) birthday parties next weekend.  It's hard to be popular, but someone's got to do it.

Occupy My Wallet: Day 49

Didn't buy anything yesterday.  Worked a meat raffle and got $60 to play & divulge in a little Keno.  I left with $61!  Holla!  The husband took the kids up to eat chinese food - think the bill came to $35.  It's our tax refund celebration.  Got to really work on not going out/getting take out as much.  I had 6 pizza boxes in our recycling bin on Friday.  Recycling comes every 2 weeks.  Really?  Are we that dependent on pizza?  It's just so good though...

Occupy My Wallet: Day 48

Another day of being cheap.  I didn't spend any money.  The husband spent $10 at the grocery store.  Up to $279 spent on groceries this month.  I submitted the taxes a few days ago so we're anxiously awaiting to win the Uncle Sam Lottery over here.

February Vacation is in full swing here.  We kicked it off last night by teaching our 4 & 5 year-old how to play Risk.  The 5 year-old is hooked.  Loves the game.  Free, family fun - oh so wholesome!