Sunday, January 24, 2016

Darn money and spending and needing stuff!

Somewhere between Thursday and Friday spending went terribly awry. My budget for the month was (yes, past tense) $526.69. Spending as of right now is $549.90.

It all started out with the draino... the wash tub downstairs that our washing machine drains into had gotten clogged. I was refusing to buy draino and fighting with the darn thing for a week (I am not only frugal but very stubborn). When my husband insisted I wash his work shirts, the tub had completely stopped draining at this point and I spent over 30 minutes hauling buckets of really gross water upstairs while getting in a great workout of carrying buckets and climbing stairs I broke down and realized I'd better get to the store for draino. Yes, I am pathetic. I hate buying things like this, not only for the chemical aspect but $9 for something you dump down the drain. Gah!

It took a bit more work on my part but the tub is unclogged, running great now, AND I vastly enjoyed doing laundry Friday and Saturday. I really did. It felt like a privilege being able to just wash laundry and not have to worry about the tub possibly backing up into the washing machine drain pipe or hauling buckets of water up the stairs because it was getting really close to that point.

I picked up a few groceries on Thursday and a ton of groceries on Friday. As usual I was shocked to see that we needed dog food (a $27 expense). I thought we'd make it to February before needing more. I also bought a ton of dishwasher detergent and laundry soap on sale. I shouldn't neither either for months. I'm curious to see how long both bulk purchases will last.

I guess January has turned into stocking up month at our house. We have four to five months of toilet paper and probably as much dish soap and laundry detergent (fingers crossed). Those three expenses should bring next month's spending down but this month is shot. Not fretting, just accepting reality.

Yesterday and today go down as no spend days. Tomorrow darn well better be too. I'd like to squeak one more out with Tuesday but we already need cheese and butter so I'll purchase both either tomorrow or Tuesday and let the other day be a no spend. Gah, I hate reporting the average daily spending but it must be done, dun, dun, dun...

Average daily spending for 2016: $22.91

In other rather uneventful news today has been a splendid no spend day. The kiddo and I played in the snow again (snow forts and snowball fights). We spent a good deal of time on the living room floor playing with legos. We've read books. He played in the kitchen sink for a good long while. I made another batch of white chicken chili (so good!) And I have a fun activity planned for tonight if I can find the charger cord for the camcorder. I hope everyone else is having as delightful a Sunday as we are over here in our very chilly portion of The Mitten (that's a name us Michiganders call Michigan, The Mitten).




8 comments:

  1. Love the pictures- so much fun! He is so cute!! You should frame the one of you and your little man. :)

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    1. Thanks! I think I might frame it. I don't have very many photos of the two of us and I should print this one out.

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  2. Don't know if this would help you but I bought a $3 plastic tool at Home Depot for cleaning drains. It's called a ZIP IT. It worked well on my 2 bathroom sinks! Directions said to dispose of it but I wiped it off (who's afraid of a little gunk?) and kept it for another time. I don't like to use chemicals either.

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    1. That might help actually. Thanks. I'm not exactly sure why it clogged but my goodness it was stopped up! Thankfully it's running great now.

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  3. It'll get back on track Rivulet. And something to clear the drains is hardly an extravagance!

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    1. There are just certain things that I cannot stand buying. Like toilet paper, it's such a necessity that I would NOT want to live without but I cringe when having to spend money on it. This new stocking up on toilet paper approach has made that battle so much easier for me :) Only having to buy it a few times a year is fantastic and getting as good a deal on it as I possibly can, all the better.

      Drain cleaner is another despised purchase. I do not like chemicals and hate buying chemicals but fighting with a clogged drain... yuck!

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  4. I've been thinking. (It had to happen sometime!) I use borax to clear drains. It's a natural compound and much cheaper than commercial products. Could you get that to have as a just-in-case? Sure as eggs is eggs, drains will block! You could also use a cup of baking soda followed by a cup of vinegar. Just a thought.

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    1. You're right you know :) They do clog. The kitchen sink one I've learned to put Dawn dish soap and really hot water down when it starts to run slow and begins to clog. That's been doing the trick great for sometime. The bathroom tub I have to take the drain out and clear out the mess of yuck manually (not fun living in a house with two people who have extremely long hair). The tub downstairs hardly ever clogs but when it does I usually just plunge it like crazy and it clears up.

      ^I know, possibly the most boring paragraph every typed! But this time it was stopped up bad. I, being the very determined gal that I am probably spent an entire hour plunging the thing during the week that I was fighting the clog. I'm not sure that Borax or baking soda and vinegar would have been able to make their way through whatever was stopping it up (possibly backed up washing machine lint).

      I'm thankful for the suggestion though. I love borax. I've been using it to clean the floors and to spruce up the dishwasher and I just recently read that borax and vinegar kill mold. Oh, and last time we had a bad spill on the carpet (the dog may have played a part in that mess) I had nothing in the house except borax and dawn so I mixed the two together and it dig a top notch job of cleaning the stain and smell out of the carpet. Needless to say I was very impressed.

      Now, I also know it can be used on slow running drains! Fabulous!!! I like the stuff even more now. Thank-you.

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