September Spending Reflection

This is how it all went down for September.. eeek!

After spending some time with Excel and a calculator, I am able to share a bit about how the September Spending Freeze went in the Waltz household. I like to think we are fairly cautious with our money and try to sock away as much as we can to debt repayment (car, student loans, credit cards, the norm) and there has been such a shift in where our money is being spent since we moved to the East side of Portland and do not spend half what we used to on gas for the cars. In my cutesy pie chart below you can see where the majority of our monies went and compare it to what professionals say your pie of money should look like.

Debt Repayment - the largest piece on the pie! We are using the Dave Ramsey snowball method to clear off our debts one by one.So if it means buying less fun things to pay off previous purchases, then that is how we will roll for that day/week/month/year.

Living & Fixed - these are things like rent, utilities, car insurance, etc. Needless to say we love where we live but it definitely hits the checkbook a bit. But that in a way readies us for a mortgage payment one day too.

Food & Groceries - obviously this covers food and groceries... :)  So I combined our restaurant eating with groceries to make this simpler. It was tough to see that we didn't save what we could have if we had shopped a bit more at the market and skipped on the Subways, McMenamin's and food on the go opportunities. I did fairly well on sticking with 1 Starbucks a week and making a few lunches for work but was not able to achieve total success. I'd give myself a C+ in this area. 

Extras - it was interesting to see that many little things popped up throughout September that didn't happen in the months previous. A surprise car issue that needed to be tended to, a hotel stay purchase for our trip to LA later this month for a family situation and other purchases added up quickly in this area. 


Transportation - I am going to toot the horn here.. Toot! Only 6% of our spending went to gasoline. Had we still been in Beaverton that number would easily be in the double digits. AND we even had a trip to the other side of the state and back in September. Good planning and saving on our part. 


I will continue to personally keep track of our spending but it was good to make myself accountable to a small group of other freezers this past month and see how we all did. 


Maybe I will treat myself to a chai latte, new jeans and a dinner out.. or just sock away the $50 and cook at home with my hubs. Yes, a much better idea indeed. :)

100 Less Things

Well it's been about 5 months at our new place which we both love immensely - but I'm starting to get the "I want our own house" itch. There is a neighborhood a short walk away that we want to live in one day and the houses are within our imagined budget. 2 things first though.

1. Before we embark on our own piece of real estate I would love to have all debt be poof! gone. I imagine that Sallie Mae will still be next door at that time, but then she'll be outta there fairly soon after. 

2. I will also need to get over my house commitment phobia. Growing up I had the fortunate luck to live in the same house from baby life to leaving for college. I figured growing up that once you found a home - that was The Home for Life. Obviously now I see differently (moves are unavoidable at times or you need to expand your living quarters for a few other little beings). In the back of my mind though I still think "well if we did get a house - would we be there for 5 years? 10 years? 18+ years?"

The other aspect to this (and the title of this post) is that growing up my parents had a very clean, organized and still playful living environment for me and my sister. So, what I would want to do is maintain that type of lifestyle for T and I, but also for a future family. To get to that point you have to 'clear the clutter'. My folks were very big on if we don't need/use/have 2 of that - then out the door it went. However, don't ask me how my beloved stuffed toy dog ended up in the Goodwill pile one day. Yes mom I'm aware that she only had 1 eye that wasn't scratched out and had definitely been through the washer a time or ten, but I still remember that sweet little plushy pup 19 years later. Moving on ..

When Travis moved into my old apartment with me, he had lots of comic books (I still don't know how many large tupperwares he had of comics - my last count was 5 and he had well over 2,500 comics), movies, heavy furniture and a kitty. Mixing 2 people's things together (for life never the less) who are quite different can be a little challenging. Naturally I figured none of my 'stuff' would need to be minimized or simplified. Wrong-o! 

I had read an article about a guy who went to live with just 100 Things. Feeling ambitious and inspired, I let Travis know that I would be getting rid of 100 things (Lord knows I cannot just be with only 100 items.) So I started going through my closet, the kitchen, the den, kitty toys, movies, books, etc. Before we moved out of that apartment to our current spot I had already gotten rid of 82 things. Then once we moved here, we went through all our dvds and got rid of the cases to condense them all in this cute little guy. Go below and click on the Page Break to see the itemized list of what we got rid of! Clearing out things that aren't used anymore or worn anymore or just don't need anymore is something I love to do. I love a simple, clean and relaxing place to have as our home. =]

An update on the September Freeze Out.. I have been doing great on my Starbucks limit. I have improved on eating more lunches packed from home than going out to grab something fast and easy. Wait for this one.. wait .. wait .. This whole week we have eaten IN for dinner! That is huge for the Waltzes. By this point in the week we would typically have felt 'deserving' of a fun meal out. We have been able to put a little bit more money towards a few debts and the routine established is one that I feel we could maintain. One thing that would make this better for us is to plan out our week of dinners, grocery shop regularly (I'm thinking once a week) and get the debt monkey off our back. It is great seeing the numbers go down. I know I will be jumping for joy everywhere once my students loans are dunzo (remember that line from early Laguna Beach?).

I'm excited for a few blogs that are hanging out in the hopper waiting to be updated and posted.

One celebrating my Dad's birthday. (miss him so much everyday.)

One about friendship. And one that will be a video of me showing you a play by play on how to make this gorgeous wreath for fall time.

Want a break down of our 100+ things we were able to get rid of  ...??

Groupon, Gifts + Good Intentions

Groupon is not a friend of mine. Oh yes.. I went there. The G word is known to be heard in my home, my work life and even as an app on a mobile. (we need to bring back the word 'mobile' instead of cell phone - whatcha think?) Every morning it's fun to see 'new' messages in my gmail, but no more! Bye bye Groupon and Living Social. They were threatening to damage my September Spending Freeze. We are suckers for the 'gotta buy it now!! it's a discount!' overnight stays in Seattle, at the beach or trying out new places around Portland. However, if you weren't planning on spending the money at a certain place - why spend it at all? Allow me to hop on my soapbox for a moment. Companies like these among others make their money off of consumers getting into that "gotta have it! gotta have it now!" feeling. Sometimes the aftermath of this is thinking 'okay but I got it at a deal', but sometimes those deals were not things you thought of purchasing in the first place or worse - never get used. Eeeee. 

You know what is fun during a spending freeze though.. gift cards, gift certificates or registering for wedding gifts as seen below. 

Almost 2 months ago, we celebrated our 1 year of marriage. Travis surprised me with a gift certificate for a fabulous spa spot on the west side. I was finally able to use it yesterday with an amazing pedicure (love the parafin wax and cozy slippers they put your feet in) and a terrific massage. Fabulous! Gifts like those are great for people because if you are someone who does not want to spend a lot of money on a 'luxury' expense, someone gifting that is super thoughtful. Hear that guys? You're welcome lady friends. :)

Brief update on my spending lately with the Sept. Freeze: I haven't bought any clothes (good), sticking to my one Starbucks a week (except for buying a fun drink for nephew and niece.. so I'd say that is going 'fair'), but we ate out on our vacation. And I did for lunch most of last week too (yikes!). But it was vacation.. and Dairy Queen is something we do not frequent at all nor did we have time to go grocery shopping last week. I freely admit after I went to go grab a sandwich one of my co-workers promptly held me accountable.. "isn't it only Day 2?" Yes, and it was a moment of weakness and poor planning. I have found that I need to prepare a bit more for my days.. you don't even want to know how long I hit snooze before waking up to get ready for work! :)  Well that is all for the moment.. but I have lots of blog post ideas brewing in my curly-haired head.

I feel like this post was all kinds of all over the place. 

Many more posts will follow this suit I'm sure. :)

Saved by Turkey Burgers

a Couple Spot out in front of a shop on Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands

One day on our Honeymoon the pre-wedding/wedding day stress and festivities caught up with me and I wasn't feeling too fabulous.. I took an afternoon nap after a hike only to wake up and see that Travis had created a picnic inside our lodge room. The grocery stores and restaurants don't stay open too long into the evening on certain week days in the summer on the islands, so Trav had gone out and purchased some goodies so we'd be good to go for dinner. I loved that and that moment realizing what an incredible man I had as my husband who was taking care of us and being understanding of a not-so-perfect wife who does not know a lot about cooking. Where was I going with this..? Oh yes - in relation to the spending freeze!

So, I will admit I was ready to fess up that I would be picking us up some Red Robin or other to go dinner since we hadn't done a full on grocery trip in a while or meal planned at all lately. In talking tonight about what to do, I saw we had 2 turkey burgers in the freezer and some other side dish items that would work. Travis grilled up the burgers, steamed the veggies and used his extra curricular cooking skills once again tonight. A man who can cook and enjoys cooking! Love him so much. (I'm quite a good dish washer and cleaner upper, so yes I do my part too.. I don't get away from kitchen duties so easy, wink).

I (we) did not spend one cent on eating out today. Fist bump from me to you! 

Back in April, I started to log our spending daily and look at it at the beginning of the next month. I was shocked to see how much we had spend on eating out versus groceries. It was super eye opening for us. In months since we are progressively getting better with spending and saving.. but for birthdays, bbqs, trips to see family, vacations.. you can't always be saving and do as much without giving yourself a break or 2 or 7. For me it is much more tangible to set a goal instead of totally going cold turkey on something. As long as the debt goes down and our savings can grow - I'm happy as a clam (never understood that saying.. how can you tell a clam is happy??). We've been hitting our main goal: spend less than we earn. Kind of basic right? If you spend more than you make - you don't have anything to show for it. But so many of us do spend more and want to have more. While there is nothing wrong with wanting a great life for yourself (whether that's a vacation, nice home or Red Sox season tickets), you have to be willing to go without a few things every now and then to make up for the past or current experiences. Know what I mean?

Anyway - day 1 success.. but I can't make promises the next 6 days will be like that! We are visiting the husband's family this weekend and if I wanna treat our niece and nephew out to a fun lunch and too much ice cream - I just might. I mean it is hard to convince a 7 and 9 year old about the feast that is a turkey burger.

PS: 2 days until the first Duck game of the season!! Lets go Oregon!

Spending Freeze

Yes it's going to be a bit chilly with our monies in September. I decided to participate in the finance challenge over at Allison's blog. I enjoy learning more about our finances, saving, watching our debt go down and have been thinking of different ways to share and blog about how we're doing in this area. Little tidbit about me: I am a numbers nerd and could spend lots of time asking Dave, Suze and Gail a question or two. Another blog that I frequent started out with the blogger deciding to go on a spending freeze for an entire year! I am not sure I could do that, but I do have a few guidelines for my personal accountability.

$$ Limit myself to 1 Starbucks drink a week.
$$ Bring my lunch to work a goal of 4 out of 5 times a week to save money on going out to eat.

$$ More eating dinners in - instead of out (this will be the hardest for me!)

$$ No clothes shopping.. eeek. (this will be hard with all the fall sales starting up.. I might give in to 1 pair of jeans..)

$$ Anything else I should add ?? 

Want to join me on a September Spending Freeze? I will be participating in a Thursdays check in with a few other bloggers as a 'posting' accountability of how things are going. So lets see how this goes next month!

image via

JCrew's e-mails couldn't have better timing.. a discount any day September 1-30 .. hmmm. Maybe Trav can spend the money for me.. does that count??  ;)