Monthly Update - October

The bottom line for October was good! I was able to make a sizeable extra payment on our mortgage at the start of November. My long term goal is to have the mortgage paid off in another five years, if not sooner!

Spending
Total groceries for the month was $217.90, while the goal was $180. That's almost $38 over... practically a full week of groceries! As I explained here, this was pretty much entirely due to having house guests with special dietary needs. I probably went overboard to accomodate them, but I rarely have guests over and its important to me to make them as comfortable as I can when they're here. So, this likely won't be a frequent problem for me, however I will try to remember in the future to plan for these things earlier so I can look for better deals on the special items I want to get, and hopefully spread it out over more shopping trips.

The good news is I was way under on "household" (spent about $20, budget is $75) so overall it worked out.

I spent $21 at the thrift store and got Ninja Hubz and I each a new pair of jeans and two shirts, plus a mixing bowl and extra measuring cup for the kitchen (for simplicity that all came out of the clothing budget). I'm really happy to have gotten that much for so little, and all in a single trip! Some thrift stores have a disappointing selection, but the one nearest my house rarely lets me down. I was actually finding even more clothing items I liked (a rarity indeed!) but decided to exercise some restraint.

The library and Paperback Swap have been fulfilling my reading and CD listening needs. Other than cable and NetFlix, we really don't have much in the way of entertainment related costs. We took a day trip out to the desert to explore, and packed a lunch to keep it cheap (and I found two aluminum cans to recycle!)

Extra Income
These little bits don't seem like much, but it all adds up:

• Swagbucks: $5 in Amazon gift cards
• Online surveys (like Surveyhead, Opinion Outpost, Pinecone Research, Inbox Dollars): $9.50 in checks received

I need to get back in to selling some of my old books on Amazon. Many of my books will not make a big enough profit there to bother with (Amazon takes a noticeable commission on sales), but I know I have a few that will be worth the time. I need to sort through them all, post the worthwhile ones, and donate or recycle the rest.

Around the House
I've been focusing on yard work, now that the weather is tolerable. I pruned one of the giant overgrown trees in the back yard, leaving two to be done. I've also been chipping away at the weeds in my plants in the front yard. I'm pretty sure I did some other stuff too, but now its been so long I forget. Anyway, yard work continues into November :)

See how others are doing with their financial goals at
Money Saving Mom