The Ninth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $82.13

Food: $57.00

Entertainment: $20.41

Clothes/Gifts: $46.15

Everything else: $87.00

This week is going to fly by.  That will be good since that means we won’t have any time to be spending money.  At the beginning of next month we have a bit of a road trip ahead of us to attend the funeral of friend’s father.  It will be much better if we can spend as little money between then and now.  Hopefully, we will buy our tickets to California this week, or the beginning of next and that will be the biggest expense overcome.  Time is already running out on us for preparing for this trip but we’ll get it all done and paid for before we go.

End of Week 8

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $30.13

Food: $2.00

Entertainment: $0.41

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

We really are living close to the edge with our food budget lately.  This past week we spent most of the budget on day one.  But because we were wise with what we purchased we didn’t need to really do any more shopping for the rest of the week.  We even had enough money to do a beer and pizza night when it was too hot and I didn’t feel up to cooking.  Overall it feels like a fairly successful week.

The Eighth Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $87.08

Food: $58.37

Entertainment: $28.47

Clothes/Gifts: $36.15

Everything else: $64.00

This week should be a pretty dull week spending wise since we don’t have anything planned.  Not going anywhere and if we have anyone come over it will be simple and relaxed.  There are plenty of meals that are great to serve to company that don’t cost much.  Maybe next time I’ll do sliders.  Why do little burgers just taste so much better than the full sized ones?  Then we can have a huge assortment of toppings to make them amazing! 

End of Week 7

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $35.08

Food: $3.37

Entertainment: $8.47

Clothes/Gifts: $26.15

Everything else: $41.00

This week we kinda tapped all the jars except the “Everything else” one to put together a really nice dinner party.  It was worth it.  We still ended the week with money in all the jars and were able to entertain some friends.  Not being the type to do the dishes by hand (or even do them at all some days, domestic goddess I am not) we also had to lay out a big chunk of change for dishwasher pellets.  Having bought cheap detergent before I know that it is just another example of false economy since you end up having to wash them twice to get them looking half decent.  

The Seventh Week

Into the jars went $160.00 in cash for our variable expenses for the next week:

Transportation: $52.00

Food: $55.00

Entertainment: $20.00

Clothes/Gifts: $10.00

Everything else: $23.00

Added to the cash from last week the jars contain:

Transportation: $129.08

Food: $55.43

Entertainment: $30.27

Clothes/Gifts: $52.38

Everything else: $41.00

Deciding to live on the jars is probably the best financial decision we have ever made.  If only we had done this years ago!  But now when we look back ten years from now we’ll be so grateful that we started now.  You can’t change the past but you can definitely learn from it.  Love the jars!

End of Week 6

After a week of spending cash only this is what our jars look like:

Transportation: $77.08

Food: $0.43

Entertainment: $10.27

Clothes/Gifts: $42.38

Everything else: $18.00

It has been so revealing to see how we really spend our money.  Before we lived on cash we spent so much more but even though we are spending so much less we aren’t deprived of anything.  There is always food in the fridge, we have money to eat out whenever we want and we have more than enough for transportation.  Little by little we are saving up some gift money so that when we have a baby or wedding gift to buy we’ll already have the money set aside.