The first week, first ten days in-fact, of 2026 is in the past. Its only a ten day buffer between the wretched 2025 and the present but I am happy to have it there. Hip hip hooray for a new year!
During these first ten days I accomplished my goal of not buying anyTHING. I really only struggled once. The guys went away for two days on an amusement park trip (something they now do several times a year) while Wren and I stayed home and highly enjoyed the peace and calm. She decided she NEEDED a special toy since big brother was getting an entire vacation. I had already resolved to not buy anyTHING this month but I wavered, debating whether or not I should let her have a tiny shopping trip surely culminating in a squishy toy or a tin of putty.
I’m happy to announce that I found a work around. I explained to her that she’d just gotten loads of new stuff for Christmas (SO MUCH STUFF!!!), that I would not be adding anything new to this house before Valentines day, and then I gave her the ability to earn cash by doing odd jobs. Needless to say she was annoyed at me.
Afterwards we went to the store and she looked in her favorite toy area at present: slime, putty, and squishy toys. She found several things in the $7 range that she wanted. Then we returned home (not having purchased any of them) with a $7 goal in mind. She then earned $4 from doing odd jobs and the matter has not been discussed further. That would have been six days ago now.
That’s a win!
My spending for the first week of January is as follows:
Food Groceries $176.16
Food out $49.73 : from a small McDonals breakfast and one family dinner of subs from Jimmy Johns
Household consumables/ Toiletries $29.17 : I purchased bleach, two rolls of paper towel, and spent $10 on the dryers at the laundromat.NO Spend days: SIX
When I started $12 a day fifteen years ago we were a household of two with two small dogs and a cat, prior to the massive inflation of the last decade.
We’re now a household of four, with dogs double the size, two crested geckos, and a young red footed tortoise, post massive inflation. For my own mental gymnastics and arguments sake I think $12 a day would be a very reasonable budget for just me, or more practically a quarter of our household spending.
Thus $25.50 a day divided by four is a $6.36 a day spending average for the first ten days of the new year.
Smart mom! No doubt once she earns the $7 or more, she'll figure out the toy is not necessarily worth her hard earned money. Life has changed since you started blogging and I love reconnecting with your lovely family.
ReplyDeleteHello again ☺️ Thank-you
DeleteI think you’re probably right about her re-thinking actually spending her OWN money. But at the same time she loves getting new things so once she gets to her $7 goal we’ll see.