Budget Crash Diet: A couple lives on $500 for a month

Friday December 5:

Wow!  That is all I can say at this point right now.  Just a big shot of wow to the fact that the month is coming to a close.  It has been kind of exciting for us to get our first real taste of adult life working as two people toward one common goal.  I will be honest in saying that I didn't think this moment would come, but now that I see it I almost want to go out and have a big steak dinner to celebrate.   It's the end of the budget diet and I for one am happy to have been in this experience.  I think that it is refreshing to see exactly where all the funds are going per month, and in what places we can afford a trim within our lives together. 

The week started at the end of a holiday, so we were both stocked up with leftovers but almost in need for a break from the fridge.  I decided that since my half was doing a bit on the positive side, and since she was going out with friends anyway to arm Pam with some cash and a shopping list to refill a few things we had used this past month.  She found a great deal on some fresh veggies at the farmer's market in downtown St Pete ($15), and later made a Publix ($32.50) while I finished my week at work.  I almost feel bad giving my half of the spending total including that cash, seeing that these are expenses in which both of us would benefit.  I think that is one big thing that I saw, the amount of spending we do on food for each other.  In looking back over my expenses for the month, I saw that about half of my money going out was for groceries.  $100.25 which when put next to the $28.32 Pam spent at Publix this month on items seems like a lot even for two people to eat with.  $128.57 to be exact.  Definitely I want to go back and see how much of this balance we can split as cost we both could account for in later months.  Basically it would take out of both of our funds, maybe giving us new amounts that we would be allowed to spend per day, per person. 

I think our personal spending over this time has seen some really cool numbers also.  A big thing is that having me in the kitchen cut back on the amount of take-out we ate.  Honestly, we stopped for breakfast two a couple of mornings since we were up early (4.27 and 4.15), I had Taco Bell one day because I was out and didn't make anything (4.15) and another because I forgot to grab something that day and was at the mercy of Racetrac ($6).  Pam had McDonalds one afternoon while I made dinner for her that evening (5.13) and got a sundae for desert to go with the yummy meatloaf (1.07).  Oh and there was Monday...

Monday evening was kind of our date night, we went holiday window shopping.  That is where you go to the mall and take pictures of all the stuff you want to buy. Then later exchange pictures and info on the gifts we each want.  Though this project came right in the middle of the Black Friday/Cyber Monday time, I am hoping to still catch some great deals in the next few weeks on gifts. I did slip up though and buy a Christmas card for an old friend, so $2.77 at Spencer's isn't bad.  We both hit up the food court for dinner that night, with my gyro combo running 7.85 and her Chinese going for 8.30 that night.  Kind of a stretch but it wasn't a meal at California Pizza, which can get expensive.  Instead we left the mall down $18.92 but with ideas on how to blow all of the money we saved.

Let's talk about that for a second actually, since this is getting close to the end.  I went back over my own finances for the past few months and found that there has been a dramatic savings just in some of our work we have done outside of this diet.  I sold my old gas-drinker for a scooter and moved closer to work, away from a line of fast food places.  Had I not done that back in October, and had prices stayed the same at the pump, would this be possible?  Pam made a target of having her car paid off by the end of the year.  I am sure those extra funds could have been eaten up with more lunches out and less eating her man's leftovers.  Even our habits of spending have become more methodical.  Pam discovered that bringing home a receipt and shopping on the clearance rack, where planned my monthly treat which by the way may go up in price actually to $25 from $10.  Yes it seems that my copy of Amazing Spider-Man #573 with Stephen Colbert was not available from that internet seller.  At least he sent back the money order, though I am out the stamp price I guess.  I found a few bids on E-bay though and hope to have it in hand soon. 

Wow!  It is so shocking to see the final total that we have spent during this.  Yeah I know we still actually have a couple of days but final enough for the blog sake.  $372.90 from 11/11-12/04, with $127.10 remaining. I don't really know what to day other than I may have to convince Pam to keep this one going.  Well that and...  Wow!  

Friday November 28:

The week started Friday morning, when I was awaken by the

phone ringing with Pam on the other line saying she was just in a car

accident.  She's ok, just a little

sore.  The car though has some damage to

the rear and will need repairs.  Though

insurance will pick up the cost of everything including the rental, I see a

future gas bill heading our way along with extra trips to the

chiropractor. 

For now though the most

that it has cost us was a $2.14 breakfast one day due to running late for work

and $26 for a dress and shoes for her upcoming holiday party that she bought

while waiting on an appointment.  I was

not only impressed with the fact that she came home with change, but I would

say that keeping her under her half of the $250 may actually happen.

My spending this week though did take a bit of an

increase.  After ten straight days of not

only work but home cooked meals, I was ready for some excitement.  I decided to treat myself to the lunch shrimp

special at Crab Shack on Friday afternoon. 

Its $10 that I felt at the time I could afford.  I also had my eye on a special edition

Amazing Spider Man that after a little digging online found a dealer willing to

take a money order for $10 which included shipping.  Not just any comic though, this one has

Stephen Colbert featured in the issue. 

These expenses were expected, and one could even argue that I saved for

them.  What wasn't so expected though was

our Saturday adventure to the store to pick up a few items for what would be my

day off/holiday feast.  Sure the burgers

were already stored away, leaving a few supplies like buns and slaw

needed.  But the $26.83 looked like a

large heap of money flying out of my wallet seeing that I had maybe spent that

over the first ten days.  I would only

get worse on Sunday, when we found ourselves sticking around for the USF game

and realizing that dinner would have to come from the stadium food.  $21.75 later...and that was with a coupon...I was

ready for home cooked meals again. 

To add to our now spiraling out of control spending, we

welcomed a new addition to the family. 

This is kind of a funny story; I called my mom this weekend to tell her

that she was going to be a grandmother. 

I then broke the news once I got her to stop cheering that her new

grandson has four legs. 

Though Hulk

Hogan Kearney would be a lot cheaper to deal with than an actual child, there

will still be expenses.  Wasn't I just

complaining last week about the cost of pet food?  $43 to get this little man set up in his new

home with chow and litter.  

 Add in

2.86 spent at Racetrac on gas and breakfast for my running late day and my

grand total for the week was $95.44, which puts me at $113.16 for the total run

time of this project.   Pam, taking a

page out of my book for the week only spent 28.14, bringing her to a total of

$150.79 since Nov 11th.  Our grand total

right now is actually $263.95, leaving $236.05 for the reminding time.  Yeah, still slightly over budget but not by

much. 

Now I know what you are asking... how they could afford to not

spend any money this week and still eat. 

Well I am glad you asked. 

Remember back in week one when I made the trip to Sweetbay after leaving

my chiropractor?  Well I picked up a

whole chicken that and stored it in the freezer, since it was $3 off.  Since I have an ever-changing schedule and

thanks to this project access to a video camera, I thought I would introduce

you all to a wonderful little deal that I produced while working normal daytime

hours this week. This is a little project that I worked on for my Stuff Guys

Care About Blog that sits on our site also. 

Ladies and Gentlemen...BEER CAN CHICKEN! 

That, and a few other home cooked meals this week, has been kind of the

saving grace of the week.  After a bit of

fun I am looking to see that maybe the reigns may need to be tightened

though.  I think this weekend I may send

her to the market for some fresh veggies and make sure that like good little

squirrels we have nuts for the winter.

Friday November 21:

It's pretty easy to not spend money when you have already done all the shopping you need for a bit.  That was what we thought going into this second week, ready to give the full pantry and freezer a workout in the quest to not spend money.  Unfortunately things do not always work out the way we plan in life.

Our first test came over the weekend on Saturday.  I say weekend because it was actually the middle of my work week, and first of two days that we were up doing a little extra credit as some might call it with a super secret second job we both have.  Ok not that big of a secret; parking cars at football games.  We get free entry and usually a few perks, plus a couple of bucks per hour that goes into our own individual savings funds.  The bad of it though is that it is early mornings, so a stop by McDonalds was necessary since neither of us were going to make pancakes at 6AM.  $4.18 and $4.07 for Sunday later and we were fed for a few hours, with the cost split between the two of us and saving a few bucks by getting ice waters with our meals.  So far, so good...right?

Well this is where things kind of hit the first snag.  I come home to a receipt on that night for $9.27 at Target.  Honestly I can't tell you what that money was spent on other than to hear that Reese Witherspoon was on the cover of some magazine and that was "where I get all of my discount fashion ideas from" or something along those lines.  Already I see a line between Mars and Venus on what is actually important and what is just fun, but I guess I can't fault her too much considering that there is a copy of Amazing Spider-Man I plan to buy soon because it has Stephen Colbert on the cover.  With shipping it will be $10, and the guy is willing to take a money order meaning that I am still not going to be using cash this month.  I think that it is totally worth it in the long run compared to Allure or whatever it is she bought.    One will be worth something hopefully in twenty years, while the other could have been read and placed back on the rack in my opinion.  Still by the end of our weekend we were actually well under our target goals, saving $66.26 in the first seven days of the project. 

Now, remember my cold?  Seems it came on strong about mid-week, shutting down my kitchen.  Though a large crock pot of beer stew, leftover spaghetti sauce and homemade cookies by Pam have kept us alive, we can't live off of those items alone.  So when I saw my boss, Darren, leaving with a camera to do Great American Teach-In stuff the next morning, he saw me coming in with lunch from the Racetrac next door to our station.  I was good honestly, spending a total of $5.32 on my lunch that day. I didn't have a lot of other spending over the week honestly, putting another dollar into the snack fund (which by the way as of today has $3.05 available) and also a fee to Wal-Mart for $4.68 to add cash onto their card.  I added it from my personal cash reserves; you know the money outside of $500 that I have, to pay for the wedding limo reservations.   Sorry, some things are just going to be off the table this month.

My cold, and the cold weather, also affected Pam a bit.  With me not well enough to cook for me, it means I can't cook for her either.  This was evident by the fact that I got a little note with McDonalds and $2.14 written on it.  Above that was written Starbucks $6.29 (did you buy the whole store?) and CVS $7.49 for girl stuff.  I have no clue what girl stuff would be other than health and beauty aids for women that I would have maybe picked up while at Target getting the magazine personally.  I found out it was for the no-baby-daddy drugs after the insurance company picks up their share. Still I am sure that it is some product men would rather not know about so I would include that as an expense not included in our budget as well, considering that she gets the prescription version.  The biggest though was yet to come. 

The next couple of days hit our pockets like a hurricane.  Along with things that we have to spend money on individually, there are also expenses that in a way affect and would be somewhat budgeted for both of us.  For the most part we do a good job of sharing responsibility, often picking up the tab for one in exchange for another.  For example Saturday she paid for breakfast where Sunday it was on my wallet.  There are also some things that are bought by one person which may be needed and last for two week to a month of usage.  This is how I can defend buying meat in bulk for the freezer or keeping a work snack fund.  Keep that in mind as I tell you the story of Wednesday night.

So Pam calls just as I am about to warm up spaghetti to ask if I had eaten yet, saying she had to run some errands and wanted to meet for dinner.  My lunch, her dinner, we actually went out for breakfast.  $20 at Village Inn later she leaves with the camera to hit up Pet Smart for dog food.  $28.88 later she needs to get gas for the car.  $33.58 later all from her envelope.  It's a good thing almost that she had exactly $120 in there to last her two weeks, because this way when I give her the bad news on what she spend she spent $111.83 in the past week then she shouldn't be too mad, right?   I mean, she still has 8.17 left to spend for the next week plus...

Women!

Ok I can take credit for half of the Village Inn bill, and part of the gas too.  My pet, Bubba, cost about $5 a month to feed.  Ball pythons are not that expensive honestly.  Plus I was told that we caught her at the point each month were she needs to do all of her shopping.  Still I have a feeling that even my uber-frugal ways will not balance spending spree she has been on this week.  For the seven days since the last blog was calculated, our total spending was $129.10 which is just above the $125/wk that our budget calls for. 

Once I started typing though, I was greeted with a phone call saying that she had made a run to Publix for only God and Pam knows what, returning with $18.31 on a receipt for me to pick up later.  I want to say bread, milk, carrots for the dog, and I am sure something for her dinner tonight since I still am not well enough to play chef.  Considering that I had just done the entire math to write this, it would mean a few sleepless moments on my part to come up with our easy math totals. 

Turns out after adding in the latest Publix trip, and subtracting CVS which actually was for no-baby-daddy drugs, we had a grand total on both sides of $140.37 spent over the week, and $177.69 spent since the beginning of the experiment.  Ouch!  With twenty-one days to go, we are left with only $322.31, or $7.67 per person per day.  Right now being $3.77 over budget doesn't sound like a lot, and honestly before doing this project I would not have even noticed or cared about the amount. It is kind of crazy considering that I have only spent $33.55 per day since the start of this project.

I can relate though to her shopping spree, since there are some expenses that I will be going through on my next check outside of the normal rent and bills.  Things like it's my turn to buy toilet paper, Bubba looks hungry, and I still need to pay for the copy of Spider Man and my traditional "I was good saving this check and need a break from eating home cooked meals" payday lunch at Crab Shack tomorrow.  That will be $10 including tip, which part of me says I can afford.  Plus I am sure I had a bit of a shopping spree at some point prior to the start of the budget like most people do once getting paid and settling out their monthly bills and such. 

The other half of me looks at the whopping $139.07 spent by Pam between 11/11 and 11/20 and wonders where does it all go?  How doomed am I to repeat the same mistakes, already with a wish list of items to purchase.  Things that could easily be left behind in the store or substituted for items at home we already own.  I remember also that a couple of friends are coming by to see our new place this weekend.  This will at least mean dinner which even if made at home will be a trip to the store for some item not already in the fridge.  I think maybe while I am out I better put on the list to buy more cough medicine...

Friday November 14:

Well, I am not exactly sure what to say about this experiment.  Like anyone I was shocked to find out exactly what I had signed up for.  One month of combined finances with my fiancé, total amount available to spend comes out to $500.  Granted I can find ways to spend that per check, it was going to be tough to put both of us on this type of crash diet. 

The first thing I needed to do was an inventory of what was available in the home (and needed) to last for the next month.  We each kind of have our own systems for cash, and the tips given out by the advisor were on point with many things that we had heard in the past from others.  Still it would be interesting to see how exactly all of this would break down.

Let's do a little math here for a second folks; $500 over a month would give us $125 per week that we both could spend.  Now since will not be spending this money together having separate incomes, expenses, and schedules, it was important for me to figure out exactly what each person would be allowed.  

Back to $500, which split in half would equal $250 each person for the month, or $62.50 per week.  Already this is less that what the single person got to spend, though she doesn't have anyone (to my knowledge) splitting rent and utilities with her. 

Still of course better than the mini-football team I would say had to spend per person over there, and I am sure more than what many people live off of per week in this country.  The daily amount projected per day that each of us can spend is $8.29, which actually is what I lived with some weeks back in my younger days.  Still a trip to Taco Bell could easily wipe that out so I know we will have to be careful. 

One thing that I developed from my single days was the notion of cooking meals at home for lunch. I usually will try to make up one or two meals, each having enough leftovers to have a second time. 

This week I chose baked pork chops with rice and veggies as meal one, and lasagna as meal two.  All of the meats I normally buy from Sweetbay after they have been marked down.  From there they go to the freezer and are taken out at a later time for whatever meals I have separated them out to serve.  The ice box is stacked with beef, chicken, different frozen vegetables, and a few surprises that can be easily transformed into a number of different creations.  Maybe I will share a recipe or two with you this month. 

Anyway on Wednesday I had my monthly chiropractor appointment and stopped on the way back to check for sale items.  $13.69 later I walked out with a whole chicken and enough ground beef for meatloaf and another round of my award winning tomato meat sauce...

Also while out on Wednesday I made a couple of other purchases.  Since the chiropractor is an early appointment, the calling to stop at Chic-Fill-A for a chicken biscuit was pretty loud.  That was 2.19 since I didn't pop for the drink.  I can tell you being someone who has worked in restaurants that the money there is made from beverage purchases.  At least this was true years ago when I was in that industry.  Take a 16oz drink at most places which is $1.50 roughly.  The company spends a fraction of that to produce this.  Maybe twelve cents for a soda, pennies for sweet tea.  Still skipping out for the free water is not always going to be an option, especially for me at work wanting something cold for my new lunches that I planned to eat at work. 

Lucky for me there was change at the bank.  Quarters, dimes, and nickels totally $6.75 that I had collected over the past week or so from my own spending.  I decided to trade out a fresh crispy bill for the change and bring it to work as my "work snack and drink fund" this week.  This kind of works like the cup holder in your car from all the times getting take out used to.  My goal is that I will only put away just enough change to last though my work week.  Though this seems kind of high for one person, I will justify this with the fact that filling my scooter with gas on the way into work cost a whole ninety-five cents.  Let's say that the total I spent over the past few days comes to 21.38, which considering that I spent Tuesday at home making lunch for the first few days of my work week has me spending 7.13 over the three day period per day. 

Of course if I was to back this budget up to my last payday, I would be way behind.  It's a good thing we started this when we did. 

Now let's look at what Pam spent.  Now we can take into consideration that we are on opposite schedules and she does have a way more expensive commute.  Not everyone can live less than two miles from work and ride a scooter that gets almost 100mpg.  Still she was very good to only have meals from home for the first few days.  I am sure this will all change just as soon as I can type these words, with her work week ending, her payday coming, and the temptation to go out with co-workers for lunch or happy hour.  I guess that is what professionals with real jobs and normal hours do.  Still her expenses over the past few days haven't been much.  Her office even pops for free sodas as a part of their budget, cutting out her need for a work snack fund. 

How we have split groceries in the past includes her buying smaller items while out that maybe will need to be replaced more often and can not go into the freezer.  So when she called saying that she was stopping by Target to price some crazy wedding ideal, I suggested that she grab bananas and maybe some sort of snack for the dog.  Apparently those two items were not available at that store, but in the same shopping area was Pet Smart ($6.41) and Publix (10.01) which also had a few other items she swore were needed.

The total spent by the both of us since the beginning date of this budget is 35.25, which breaks down to 11.75 per day or 5.87 per person.    $5.88 depending on your math of course.  Mine was never that great, in fact I would say this was my worst subject in school.  I am sure things will explode over the weekend with us both being out and about due to different engagements such as work.  I think it will get interesting down the line when we maybe are somewhere together and need to eat.  Honestly our last meal out together was like $40 and that was with both of us having tea to drink.  I know, I know... restaurant mark-up! 

One more piece of math to leave you with, and for this I will include a few letters to help me out with explaining.  I - O = $0 Or in everyday terms Income minus Outgoing equals Zero dollars.  The idea is actually pretty simple as a way to at least stay afloat, and can be applied to daily spending as well as monthly household budget planning.  Take the amount you have, subtract what you spend, and figure out what the remaining balance is.  If you hit zero then you are at least able to keep the lights on, where if you get a negative number then it may be time for you to pull back a bit on what you are spending.  If there is some money left over after the time you set for your budget then that becomes your savings.  Isn't the idea to save?  This simple figure can be applied to any financial plan no matter if you have to feed one, two plus dog, or six.