Friday Fiscal Wellness Check

     

     I apologize for not responding to comments yesterday. I was a bit overwhelmed with the kind words and also the firm words that I'm paraphrasing, telling me ( gently) I need to get on with it and learn these things. It was also a chaotic few days at work. I appreciate the community and you all taking the time to leave a comment. 

      I'll summarize Sunday, I attempted a low spend week. (Preview: epic fail) I want to keep on with my  Friday Fiscal Wellness Check so recapping here too.  

Avoiding Spending/ Saving on Needs

• Broke down the rest of the boxes from document destruction and took cardboard to the free recycling bins. They were nearly full again, but just managed to get them all there.
• Minimal groceries bought ( ok, this is a lie) and meal planned ( mostly) with what we have in the house. There were a few odds and ends needed. 
• My daughter brought her laundry and I sent her home with multiple ready to heat meals and baked goods. Her building laundry costs $4+ ( extra time needed depending on load) for wash and dry per load and she did two loads, plus her bedding. Bulking up some batch cooking cost hardly anything more to send home with her.
• In a sad and stressful moment, I played on the Orbitz app for last minute deals. I almost booked a one night get away at a Casino Hotel about 90 minutes away, just to " run away." My thinking is I'd treat myself to dinner, a drink in their club with live music, and maybe use the free slot credit that was part of the deal. I had in my cart ready to click in the cc numbers. I paused and decided while I needed a break, casinos in general to me are depressing places. I decided I might treat myself instead to using the cabin for a weekend with nothing but books and comfort foods, good walking shoes, and pup. He could use a break from all the young pets. 
• Consistently keeping furnace at 66, even down a couple degrees at night. I sleep better and during the day, use sweaters and also blankets on my lap. There's plenty of cozy places for the pets when they're not running around. 

Spent Intentionally

• I had one co-payment for PT, down to just one time per week. I'll be done completely by the end of November. 
• Went ahead and paid for a 20 day doggie daycare package, savings $7 session. I did not count in my low spend week as it's a shared cost with my daughter and not  really a discretionary spend. 

Opportunities to add Funds/Windfalls 

• Received a $10 Kohls cash voucher for my birthday month. I'll use towards Christmas, helping with my goal to preserve 10% or more of what was put away for gifts and other Christmas shopping. 
• I ended up not going to trivia as friends all had conflicts, but used  $4 CVS Extra Care bucks on two bags of on sale popcorn to bring along. No out of pocket cost and will use the next time. 
• Deposited the check received for medical reimbursement. It's easy to look at expense reimbursements as "extra" but I find it I deposit right away I remember it's just offsetting expense I already had and need to replace. 

     Then, there were other things that impacted my check book.

• I have a second trip of the week into the office today, increasing my gas consumption.
• I just really felt like pizza so impromptu went ahead and picked up the $12 Tuesday Papa Murphy's chicken bacon artichoke. Son had leftovers for lunch so three meals, so not too crazy. When you want pizza, you want pizza. 
• The boat storage invoice just happened to come this week, but that's a one off cost, set aside in my sinking funds. I paid it, and while a pleasant surprise, it was hundreds lower than they quoted me, it still was a chunk of money. Last year they waved the storage fee as mechanic was doing a major steering overhaul boat repair so kept in the shop so I hadn't really seen a charge before. While I'm planning to sell it, it still needs proper storage. 
• I had a work gathering very close to my daughter's. I decided to pick her up dinner and got an extra hour visit with her and her cat. She'll have leftovers for today's lunch, so that's good, if an additional spend I hadn't planned- in a supposedly low spend week. 

     This is just for my personal accountability of my cash flow. I'm trying to be intentional, but not restrictive. Periodically I'll do low spend weeks to both save a bit and also stretch my imagination of how to live well without compromise to my goals. Let's hope they work better than this last one.