It's Sunday... Where'd my money go?

When I first started thinking about this blog, I thought it would be a good idea to sit down every night and post about what money I spent that day. In practice, this is not a good idea, because it invites failure on my part. It would just be too easy to fall behind.

So, a happy compromise was found, and here's the inaugural post of this type. For me, Sunday is the end of the week. Monday is just around the corner, and another week of work is about to begin. It seemed only logical that I should post about my spending tonight. Also, posting about what I spent where and on what is an excellent way to keep tabs on myself. If I know that I'm going to have to justify a purchase to the blog, I may think a bit harder before I actually buy it. Plus, this will make Bill Day a lot easier, because I won't have a month's worth of receipts to enter into the Quicken, as long as I enter them on Sundays along with this post. So, without further ado...

It's Sunday. Where'd my money go? (June 1 - 7, 2009)

$32.97 - Amazon.com - Timecop, Blade - Trinity, and Repo! The Genetic Opera DVDs. Yes, it's a splurge, but they were all on sale and all cheaper than the equivalent at Best Buy or Target. Plus, I get free shipping, so it's there's no extra cost. However, I need to note that this is a splurge and should not become a habit. Typically, I'll limit myself to one "frivolous" Amazon.com purchase per month; it's just sad that it happened in the first week.

$14.50 - Snacks at the movies - A friend took me to see Star Trek this afternoon for my birthday. He paid for the movie, but I felt bad (he and his wife are just as poor as I am), so I offered to pay for snacks. He gave me $5 cash for sharing.

$5.56 - Groceries - No biggie.

$26.90 - Walgreens - I went to get a new inhaler and picked up some drinks and candy for my desk at work. So, it's $21 necessary and $7 junk.

$42.99 - Best Buy - Guitar Hero Metallica. Okay okay. Yes, bad idea. But it was a present for myself for my birthday. That's okay, right??

$27.84 - Target - Okay, Target is one of my weaknesses. I can easily spend hundreds of dollars at Target without blinking. I've gotten better over the years, and this trip wasn't too bad. Household items, shower supplies, and (of course) Toaster Strudel.

$5.48 - Dunkin Donuts - Breakfast before work on Friday. **sigh** It's hard to resist the ham, egg, and cheese croissant.

$12.57 - The Little Store - That's the nickname we have for the store under the parking garage at work. This was a totally avoidable expense. I spent $6+ on a pack of cigarettes, which will hopefully be my last. I just needed to get through the weekend and get a drink for me and my friend while we were working on Saturday. The cigarette spending will disappear this week, I promise.

CASH - My major cash expense for the week is lunch at work. It's difficult to keep track of, but we'll see how we do. I started the week with whatever cash was left from last week, plus $20 cash in a birthday card. Plus a $25 birthday check from my mother. And during the week, I withdrew $50 from the bank. That's roughly $100 cash to start (following Sundays will have a more accurate cash start count), and I ended today with $7. So, where the frak did that $93 go?? Approx $7/day for lunch at work ($42). Chipping in for dinner with friends on Friday ($14) and ice cream out afterwards ($3). That's only $69. My guess is that I ate the rest ($24) in snacks and drinks at work. Holy crap!

TOTAL MONEY IN: $45
TOTAL MONEY OUT: $150.17 OUCH!

Cash remaining to start next week: $7

Here's my promise to be more frugal this coming week. Shouldn't be too hard, my parents are coming for a visit this weekend, and they'll likely at least chip in for some expenses.