What did you learn about December 2004 from your frugal notebook?

[QuilterMom]

Mine....


• I spent $2.20 at yard sales/thrift stores/library sales. Retail value for everything was $49.41 - that's a savings of $47.21 (or 95%).

• I used $64.10 in coupons (no doubles or triples).

• How much I saved over regular price by purchasing items on sale (this includes everything we bought): $408.43

• Amount put into our emergency fund: $35.75 (all spare silver change - paying in cash and not giving correct change really paid off!).

• Pennies saved: $1.66

• Income from 'found' money: $.70 (it is worth it to pick up change lying on the ground!)

• Retail value of all the library materials we used (dvd's, cd's, books, magazines): $864.51

Wow!

[homesteadmamma]

Very, very impressive Kim.

I didn't keep track - UGH. Now I regret it.

I've got my book for this year though and I'm keeping track right down to the last penny. I'm really excited about it because I know we can do better after the Dec. we just came through.

Hope its even better for you in 2005!!


btw - do you have seperate pages for each savings - like seperate page for pennie challenge, seperate page for $$ found, etc. Do you do it on a daily basis or monthly?

[QuilterMom]

I keep track of where every penny goes or comes in on a daily basis in a spiral ring notebook. I total up the categories twice (end of each pay period) to make the month-end totalling easier for me. I prefer not to do anything on the computer because I enjoy sitting down and writing it all out (quiet time and inspirational time for me). In addition I keep separate pages for...

- freebies from the month (I didn't list those in my post above, but things like one of dh's clients giving us a free dinner, another client giving him a mug, the free fruit popsicle from the health food store that ds got from an employee there that has him spoiled, etc.)

- emergency fund (any additions or subtractions get listed on a daily basis and then I do a "balance as of" at the end of the month)

- penny challenge (additions get listed on a daily basis and then I do a "balance as of" at the end of the month)

- library materials (I make an entry with a $ total each day we use any materials from the library - I knew we took great advantage of the system here, but I wanted to know to what extent so I started tracking it)

- coupons used (make daily entries whenever I use them and note what I used them for just so I can go back and look for myself)

- sale savings (make an entry every time we buy something that is on sale - this total for me includes every single thing we buy, not just groceries)

- a withholdings page (shows me what I need to set aside from each paycheck for what purpose - like a freedom account)

- my 2005 goals pages

- my wish list (and every time I get something I had on the list - like I needed socks for example and I bought some on sale the other day - I cross through the item so I know I no longer need it)

I intend to start a grocery page (even though I keep up with this in the spiral ring notebook as part of every penny spent) just so I can look at this total quickly on one page of it's own and know where I stand toward meeting my goal each month.



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[QuilterMom]

Anyone else game to participate?