Saturday, April 30, 2016

April Numbers are in

Catch 22, perfect storm, call it what you will the last two months have been very trying for me. Feel free to call me a wuss, or a weakling, or whatever you'd like but I know my limits and I have a very difficult time operating past them. I've worked extremely stressful and labor intensive jobs over the past 8 weeks, above and beyond the hours I have set as my availability. The good news, we've had extra income. The bad news, I'm terrible at sticking to a financial plan when I'm overworked (or any plan for that matter).

Budgeting, eating healthy, being healthy, maintaining my job, taking care of my home, raising my son, being a decent wife to my husband, and maintaining my sanity all take a lot of effort. I will be the first to tell you that often times I see hard working 40+ hour a week moms doing it all. I can't understand it and it makes me feel like I'm missing some sort of piece to the me puzzle. I can't do it all. Then you see the stay at home moms that are just as busy, just as tired, just as go, go, go as the 40+ hour a week moms. That at least gives me some perspective. When asked what I do I tell people sometimes that I'm a stay at home mom that works part time. That's what I'd like to believe. That's where my heart is. None the less, these past two months my job has been very demanding and I have not been a stay at home mom that works part time. I've been a mom trying to juggle all the same balls while working way more then I'm capable of and hardly seeing my husband at all.


I have not been exercising, or stretching, or drinking enough water. I have hardly been doing any extras with my son. I have not been eating great and have been rush, rush, go, go, go, getting poor sleep, stressed to the max. My body is screaming at me. I hadn't been blogging or reading. Again, I know my limits and I've exceeded them. My spending rundown for March and April fully demonstrate my exceeded limits. The other good news is that it looks like the huge storm of giant jobs at work has passed (fingers crossed). If not, and this pace keeps up I will have to drop stores though. But for now, I think the insanity is behind me. I'm looking forward to returning to life as normal.

All the sob story, is mostly for my own reflection. When I look back on March and April of this year and think, "how in the world did my spending get away like that," I'll remember the clip strip resets and the Goody hair accessory resets and the jumble of paint department and DIY dept. resets all at once. Plus this and that and every other thing that my office wanted done NOW.

I am SOOOOO happy that the long winter is behind us. I am SOOOOO happy that the spring rains keep falling and the buds on all the trees are blooming. I am SOOOOOO happy that these past two months of chaos are behind me. I'm looking forward to May flowers and fun challenges, challenges that I get to pick, not just demands that are beyond my limits.

Average Daily Spending for April: $19.02 a day

Groceries $417.32: that's an average of $13.91 a day
Food out $44.88: that's an average of $1.50 a day
Pets $37.27: that's an average of $1.24 a day
Stuff $12.15: that's an average of 41 cents a day
Toiletries $28.20: that's an average of 94 cents a day
Gifts $25.72: that's an average of 86 cents a day

Garden $4.99: avg. 17 cents a day

Average Daily Spending for 2016: $19.08

April 2016 Total: $570.53
NO SPEND day 36    4.30
School supplies $10.16    4.29
Dog bones $4.48    4.29
Groceries $34.55    4.29
Coffee $3.26    4.29
Groceries $36.55    4.28
Coffee $3.26    4.27
Groceries $8.98    4.26
NO SPEND day 35   4.25
NO SPEND day 34    4.24
lunch $2.44    4.23
Groceries $53.23    4.23
Groceries $2.66    4.22

Groceries $30.01    4.21
Vit. E $5.31    4.20
Yard waste bags $1.99    4.20
Groceries $3.64    4.20

Groceries $6.88    4.19
Groceries $39.48    4.18
Coffee $4.93    4.18
Coffee $2.95    4.17
NO SPEND day 33    4.16
Face scrub $5.79    4.15
Groceries $20.15   4.15
Groceries $24.45    4.14
NO SPEND day 32    4.13
NO SPEND day 31    4.12
Gift $25.72    4.11
Groceries $41.14    4.11

NO SPEND day 30    4.10
Soil $4.99    4.9
Groceries $18.69    4.9
Groceries $38.51    4.8
soap and face lotion $17.10    4.7
Groceries $9.17    4.7
Groceries $11.71    4.6
Ice cream outing $8.75    4.6
Groceries $21.81    4.4
Nail clipper $5.24    4.4
Dog food $27.55    4.3
Qdoba $19.29    4.3
NO SPEND day 29    4.2
Groceries $15.71    4.1

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