Friday Fiscal Wellness Check

     

Photo by Photo By: Kaboompics.com: https://www.pexels.com/photo/person-counting-cash-money-4475523/

     I'm getting into a rhythm again with my blog. Sunday posts may be thinking pragmatically about the week ahead, tasks to accomplish, or a seasonally motivated topic. Wednesday posts for a while will be on planning for retirement. Friday makes sense to do a check on the past week's spending and fiscal well being, maybe other life check in. It will not be a frugality post necessarily, but more retrospective of opportunities, challenges, choices, and missteps. November is half over when today ends. As this is my first Friday check in, it's covering a couple weeks to the start of November. I'm trying to share in a way to be accountable to myself and perhaps share something I did that might give others an idea to try or avoid for their own well being. 

 Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs

• Paid all bills on time, including full credit card balance. If possible, bills are paid on my rewards Visa, but I double check there isn't a fee to do so. If yes, I use bank card, or for two bills that charge for debit too,  it's cheaper to send a check.
• Used remainder of frozen egg noodles, frozen tortellini, homemade chicken stock from two meals, and assorted veg to make two pots of soup, providing two dinners plus two lunches for my son and I. Soup is very forgiving in that if you get the broth right, you can tweak what goes in to whatever you have on hand. 
• Used the free cardboard recycling bins for the boxes that held the papers that were destroyed. This is a great resource in our community and I believe the Boy Scouts get a benefit from the effort. 
• My son did the shopping last Saturday and found a clearance on $1 bags of 3-4 serving frozen stuffed shells, and two ravioli. He also found $2 flat bread pizzas, he used for guys football watching. It's great splitting the chore and the costs and as he eats fairly healthy, I do too. 
• I walked to grocery store to top off a few fresh vegetables and hit a great meat reduction of two packs of marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts, and bought four. Drumsticks were on sale for 99¢ a pound so bought two packages of a bit over 3 pounds each. For $12, easily 8 meals of protein for the two of us, plus more broth to be made for soup. 
• Used cooled cooking water for plants which gave them a bit of extra nutrients. Water bills are estimated to go up 37% in my city due to a new water treatment system ( much needed) investment. Saving water makes sense economically and environmentally.

Spent Intentionally

• I ended up hiring a secure shredding company to get the paperwork clutter gone. The final cost was $100 lower than estimate, but still expensive. Peace of mind knowing it's both securely destroyed and out of my house is priceless. 
• My handy man neighbor used tiles I already had to create a backsplash in the fairly new remodeled (last December) upstairs bathroom. This was a win for us both as his work was quiet so helped him earn and I had a top notch job done at an affordable price. The result makes the bathroom look more finished, plus the wall is better protected from water splashing. It likely didn't save much money, but using the tiles I already had saved resources. (These were leftovers from the downstairs bathtub put in 33 years ago, replaced with the walk in shower.) 

Opportunities to add Funds

• Moved $5,0000 from my sinking fund account to a higher interest, 4 month CD
• My substitute teaching license was issued. I'm starting the process of applying for the local district. Because I only want a few days, may just start here before applying to the next nearest districts. 

     Then, there were other things that impacted my check book that weren't necessarily with intent. I don't see as wasteful, but were beyond my regular budget or impulsive.

• Two meals ( breakfast and late supper) plus early happy hour out with my sisters. Expensive and I didn't feel particularly well the next day. I plan for sister's day, but the second meal out was much more than our usual end of day wrap up playing cards and eating home made food and BYOB. 
• Splurged on vinegar and olive oil at a specialty shop. To be fair to myself, these will not go unused and compared to the price of nice salads in restaurants, I can make oodles of dressings for greens, grains, or bread dipping that elevate those dishes. Plus in the future, I know of a place for lovely gift giving for a few food lovers. (The salad I brought with cranberry-pear vinaigrette to a family gathering was devoured and raved about. The splurge was worth the outcome.)
• As I was out of commission in the summer, I hadn't even thought about a few family birthdays. I got caught up with gifts ( cash) for young family members, and gift card for a brother-in-law, but it meant tightening my cash belt until payday when I next take out a bit of spending money. It wasn't spending more, just the timing was off.
• I'm so far back on the library list for this months book club, I ended up having to buy it. I haven't bought a book in 8 months. It'll get read by several people before passed onto the library book sale or a Free Little Library.
• Made an emotional purchase off a registry for a specific food for a local cat rescue, who added three malnourished kittens found on a slushy wet Halloween. We're so thankful for Little Miss that I couldn't not do something for these little ones. 
• I meant to just get a couple favorites at Trader Joe's, on route home from physical therapy. $55 later and...All will be used but despite earlier bargains, I feel like we've spent an excessive amount on groceries and household supplies already. I have to do a tally. Things that I don't need to buy every month ran out so had a few restocks. With son doing some shopping, my daughter picking up things for me here and there and resting her, it's hard to always figure out the overall spending. 

     My cash flow isn't going to improve or be sustainable unless I intentionally figure out ways to bring more in or manage what goes out. I want to keep being generous though, and live by my values. These checks hopefully help me do this.