32 thousand dollars!
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| Sat, 05-30-2009 - 12:24pm |
That is how much Hubby and I have spent so far this year. And besides paying off our last credit card and keeping up to date with bills and our mortgage, we have nothing else to show for it! I've been playing around with Quicken Reports today just to see how much we've been spending on clothing and eating out and I am shocked! I have two categories for clothing...kids and adult. I've spent 532 dollars on my clothing and only 86 dollars on kids clothing. To defend myself though - I really needed the clothes this year and I've really been trying to cut back on clothing for the kids because in the past I have bought way too many clothes for them and it shows on laundry day. The eating out though...that is the biggest shocker! OK are you ready for this???
I have spent so far this year (in percentages)
Groceries %8.92
Dining %7.42
And just to add in here..I have spent %11.52 on credit card payments
OMG! EEK! Insert expletive! But this is why I got this Quicken Software. TO really show me, with no way to lie to myself, where our money is actually going. I almost spend the same amount on eating out that I do on groceries.
But I have been a changed woman these last few weeks. We have cut way back on eating out lately and I will continue this trend as if my life depended on it..which it does! When I think about all the money wasted because I was too lazy to cook dinner or too lazy to go grocery shopping. Although, it's not really laziness, it's more like exhaustion because of my thyroid. I'm feeling much, much better lately on this medication. Much less tired, so I'm back to cooking dinners and doing regular grocery trips.
I just wanted to share my shock! I knew I ate out a lot, but really!

I guess it is a little shocking, but then again, restaurants can be pricey.
Kate
Dear Abby
Isn't Quicken wonderful. I tell you right now I could not live without it. It can really show you stuff that you really do lie to yourself about.
When I first started all this I did a total of all the money I spent on Goodwill.com and that was a shocker for me. I was spending not much at a time but it really was adding up. When I stopped just going
Abbie:
Don't be so hard on yourself. Look at your debt ticker. Holy heck, you're almost debt free! You've caught your mistake and now you're ready to move forward. Go You!!
Dee
I can totally relate. We spend WAY too much money eating out. It's ridiculous. It's especially painful now that we're a family of 5 (our 15-month old eats more than our almost 4 year old). There's no such thing as a cheap meal out anymore, even with fast food. In my case, it's sometimes laziness, but more often it's a case of poor planning. It will get to be 7:00 and I won't have anything thawed, etc. Or I didn't get a chance to go grocery shopping (I avoid taking all 3 kids shopping like the plague).
Quicken has a really harsh way of showing you just how much you overspend!