Tell me, what do you like to know about other people’s spending habits?
I’m interested because a reader (and friend) commented on the link to last week’s budget recap on Facebook. Here is what Kristyn asked:
So where do you account for gas and toiletries, etc.? What does hubby spend?Just wondering what your true total is for spending each week, we are working on lowering ours and I’m curious what other people can do.
For over a year, I’ve only been accounting for my “weekly mom budget” in my What I Spent Wednesday posts. I gave myself a budget of $150 because that is what worked for us a year ago. If you follow those posts you see that I rarely stick to $150, I tend to go as high as $170-$200 each week. My “weekly mom budget” covers groceries, clothes for me and the kids, and anything I do with the kids (like visiting an indoor bounce place or museum).
Here is my question for you: are you actually interested in seeing what our entire family spends each week? Do you want to see how much we put towards savings, retirement, and debt? Do you even want to know the boring stuff like gas and utilities?
I ask because it takes a lot of time to look through our credit card statement, online bank account, and my personal PayPal account. However, if it’s something that you think you’d like to see, I’ll do it. Just how nosy are you?
I’m pretty nosy. I think the main reason I love to blog is because I love being nosy and reading all about other blogger’s lives. I certainly don’t mind sharing, but I don’t want to spend a ton of time doing this if no one is reading it. I’ll be honest, my Wednesday and Friday posts get the least amount of views. I’m not super motivated to put much into them if they aren’t helping people.
That being said, I think I do have a helpful tip that might help you save money. It worked for me this week:
Always, ALWAYS, call/ email/ live chat with companies to ask for a lower price.
[bctt tweet=”Always, ALWAYS, call/ email/ live chat with companies to ask for a lower price. #SaveMoney “]I did this with our cable company and Bluehost (my blog hosting service/ affiliate link) this week. We now pay $99 for internet and cable as opposed to over $200. My web hosting fee with Bluehost went down from $10.99 a month to $4.99! Yay!
Here is a little known fact about Bluehost– the advertised rate of $3.99 a month is only for an introductory period. Crazy, right? Luckily, Bluehost has amazing customer service and they will help you lower your bill once the introductory rate is over.
Now, onto my spending this week:
Walmart: $46.85
Chickfila: $6.47
Starbucks reload: $10
Walmart: $24.41
Publix: $111.71
Trader Joe’s: $56.31
The Fresh Market: $24.76
Total: $280.51
This is an atypical week because of the Walmart shopping. All of my purchases there went towards a sponsored post about my herb garden. Forty of it was already reimbursed, and I will get paid for that post. The purchase at Fresh Market was a meal and snacks for a friend who had a new baby.
Obviously I didn’t need the Starbucks or Chickfila purchases, but they sure were good. I wouldn’t be a #Chickfilamom if I didn’t eat there way too much!
Could I have done better this week? Totally. Was I happy to get the sponsored blog post to help support my shopping this week? Heck, yes.
Finally, I’m trying to do better with my meal planning. I’m hoping that will help keep my spending lower. Here is my menu this week:
How did you do this week? And please, tell me what you’d like to see for these posts! More info? Or keep it how it is?
I love the fish magnet! Korean beef sounds delicious!
I’m pretty nosy too :) I, for one, would love to see how your family accounts for all of those boring things. I follow another blog religiously for that reason…she is brutally honest about what they make and budget for and it really helps those of us that follow her apply practices to our budgeting problems. Of course, only share what you’re comfortable with :)
I’m looking forward to your herb garden post!
I do think I’m going to add more in my posts. I really do want to help others by showing them what I do. I think I’ll keep the monthly bills to once a month though.
I’m definitely a nosy girl, especially when it comes to all things financial! :) However, if writing the posts are cumbersome, I wouldn’t want you to do it. Would sharing some numbers monthly be an option? Or even just a one time post about the rest of your budget (everything, not just the mom stuff)?
I definitely like the monthly idea.
We currently have budgeted $250 a week for any spending outside of our bills. I’d like to see if I can get it down to $200 /week. So really what I am looking for is ways to lower what I spend on grocery, gas, diapers. pet food, etc. and cheap ideas for kid and family fun. Everyone’s household bills will differ so I don’t think I’d need that info. Are you still doing wine reviews? I’d love to find me a cheap white wine to enjoy without a headache too now that I’m not pregnant! Love your blog, keep sharing however you wish! :-)
Just what I wanted to know!
What kind of white wine do you like? I don’t know much about Chardonnay because it’s not my favorite. If you like Prosecco, you’ve got to get the Kirkland brand from Costco. So good!
I don’t like Chardonay either! A good Prosecco sounds great, thanks!!!
I’m pretty nosy. An average monthly finance sheet would probably be what people look for. I keep track of everything we spend every month. It’s really good to see where we can pinch here and there and makes us think twice when we start to spend spontaneously. It’s good to see how other families spend and save.
I like the idea of a monthly finance sheet. Great idea! Thank you!