by Hope
Grocery shopping complete. I got some fresh produce and a few special items for Halloween night snacks. But with this shopping trip complete, the last one of the month, I’ve spent a total of $389 on groceries this month. And that’s without really scrimping. I’m just buying for less people and those people eat less and less often.
That leaves $111 extra in our food budget. Score!
I’m going to be working on my 2021 budget next month since lots of things have changed around here since I published my last one in July.
November Challenge
I may have already posted this intention, but frankly, haven’t been getting enough sleep to keep everything straight. But..my November challenge is going to be another no spend challenge. I am setting aside $30 per week for fresh produce as that is a key ingredient in much of our daily food. But other than that my goal is to spend $0 this month.
Oh, one other caveat, I’m going to have to pay for parking for our trip at Thanksgiving, so there will be that. But otherwise, the goal is to eat at home, entertain ourselves at home and work a lot before the holidays. Which is mostly driven by financial goals, but also by the fact that I committed to an extra 10 hours of works per week through the end of the year for a long term client.
I am stretching myself pretty thin, but decided to buckle down and just do it. (That week between Christmas and New Years, though…I’m taking off and reading a ton of just fun books! My birthday/Christmas/made it through 2020 gift to myself.)
Did you Get Your Christmas Shopping Done?
My October challenge was to complete my Christmas shopping and I’m excited to say I did just that. And on top of that, as I wrapped the twins’ birthday presents, I began (and almost finished) wrapping them. Score. I’ve already put the Texas bound gifts in my suitcase so they are ready to go in a couple of weeks.
Now to be honest, I have a couple more things I will get for Christmas presents for the kiddos…but it was too soon to buy them, ie candy and food related gifts. But it truly is minimal and I don’t have to worry about shipping those.
Goals for November
To summarize, my personal finance goals for November are threefold:
- Create a new budget to begin in January, 2021.
- Work my butt off to hit my end of 2020 goal of paying off my smaller student loan.
- No extra spending this month with the exception of $30 per week for fresh produce and paying for parking while we are out of town for Thanksgiving.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Will the extra $111 be put towards debt?
These are great goals! We paid of our first (and only) mortgage at warp speed. Only 13 months! And we found soooo many ways to save money and entertain ourselves at home. It actually became a game to see how much fun we could have for free! During that time, we cut back on grocery costs tremendously too. We saved SO much by cooking at home. Good luck in November!