Project 2011: Buy Less, Give More - January Spending Recap

Hello there friends.  I hope you all had a fun Super Bowl Weekend.  We sure did.  We got a few more little projects done around the house, mainly hanging curtains in the kid's rooms and we hung a gallery style wall of pictures in the hallway.  On Sunday we hosted my whole family for Super Bowl and I got to snuggle and hold a 5 day old baby boy that my sister is fostering.  Not good for the ovaries I tell ya.  You should have seen Art's eyes when he was holding him watching the football game.  He kept calling me over and saying "look at him."  He sure was adorable. I think I just might have to put a restraining order on my sister while she's fostering that little lump of love.

But we didn't come here today to talk about cute newborn babies did we?  Let's move on to January spending shall we.  I have found the key to not spending money and it's quite simple.
Step 1: Become so busy at work that at your lunch hour while you sit at your desk, you work and don't browse the internet.
Step 2: On the weekends, fill your time with family activities and/or house projects so that you don't have time to go to the mall or browse the internet.
Easy-peasy right?  If only it was that simple.  

I did make a few purchases last month so let's recap.  Keep in mind that while I am trying to control our spending in all categories of our life including eating out, grocery shopping and household items, I have only put strict budgets on 'luxury' items, that is items that are not deemed necessities. 
Category 1 - Beauty Supplies

Foundation purchased with Groupon I bought in December - FREE!
Nail Polishes - Buy 2 Get 1 Free (3rd was a top coat) - $16
Budget was $40 for miscellaneous beauty supplies - $24 under budget

Category 2 - Home Improvement

Item's for Syd's Room: Wainscoting, baseboards, chair rail, door casings and paint: $285
Budget was $250 so we went over budget by $35

Category 3 - Craft Supplies

 Glitter, heart hole punch, new markers, paper & miscellaneous supplies for kid's: $38
Budget was $40 (readjusted from $20 after I realized kids were running out of some art supplies)

Category 4 - Clothes
Purchased: NOTHING, NADA, ZIP, ZILCH
Budget: $100 - $100 under budget!

TOTAL BUDGET BREAKDOWN: 
$430 Budget/$339 Actual = 79% to Budget!

I didn't buy a single clothing item for any of us last month and for that I am very proud of myself.  I don't know the last time I have done that, which come to think of it is quite shameful.  But since this project is not to get me down, but to encourage me, I have to focus on how positive of a step that is for me. 

The last day we were in NY I took an hour to browse some Soho shops by myself.  I went into Intermix, J Crew, Anthropologie, Scoop NYC, Muji and I didn't buy a single thing and it was such a good feeling to not want anything.  It was downright liberating.  That's not to say that this will always be the case, but for now it is a step in the right direction.  And you want to know something else?

We got our monthly credit card statement on Saturday and it was the lowest bill we have had in over 5 years!  I am making progress and it is tangible and I can see the fruits of my labors.  But for the first time in my life as an adult, saving money and being more conscious about spending doesn't feel like labor.  I wish I could articulate exactly what is different this time around, but instead of feeling like I'm "sacrificing", it feels I don't know, normal.  It feels great.

Throughout the month I constantly tried to remind myself of the pitfalls I usually fall into:

• I did in fact use cash and/or my ATM card a lot more, especially when I went to the craft store and Target to buy our usual household items.
• I planned ahead and made my lists and stuck to those lists
• We could have done better at the convenience factor, which is why we ended up going over budget on Syd's room.  We bought expensive paint (Benjamin Moore) at the local hardware store where we went to get the baseboard.  They are the only ones that carry 6" baseboards, so while we were there we bought the paint instead of making another trip to Lowe's that day to buy more affordable paint.  We definitely fell into the old rut of "we don't want to make another trip, let's just buy it here", even though paint was twice as much. 
• I did find one pair of shoes I want for Spring at Bloomingdale's, but they are still full price.  I don't need them yet since it's still not sandal weather, and being the savvy shopper that I am, I know they will go on sale before the weather turns warm.  It's still very much a buyers environment out there in the retail world.

It's January and I have a long way to go, but I'm happy to have started off on such a good foot.  I'm hopeful that the successes of January will help pull me through the next couple of months as we head into spring, because March tends to be a large spending month for me (damn Quicken books do not lie).  I am going to need a whole lot of self control in the next couple of months.  I am also going to need to be realistic though and carefully strategize and plan my spending so that I put my budgeted money to good use. 

To end this post, if you recall, my January service project was organizing the One Warm Coat Drive.  I had a chance to count up all the coats, sweaters and sweatshirts that people so generously donated and we were able to round up just over 200 items to help families in need stay a bit warmer.  200 coats, sweaters and sweatshirts will be passed out to those in need for FREE!  If you want to organize your own coat drive in your city, go here.  I'll be sharing my February service project soon.  I'm really excited about this month as it's a charity I have worked with before.

So did anyone play along and try to control spending habits this past month?  What were your results?  Were there challenges and struggles or did you find it easy to control spending after the holidays?  I'd love to know how your spending habits in January trend because a) I am nosey and b) I am curious.  Please share.  And again, if there's enough interest next month, I think it would be fun and productive to share our successes and struggles through a Linky party.  Those Linkys can be used for more than just DIY and craft projects :)

Project 2011: Buy Less, Give More - One Warm Coat Drive

Remember when I said a couple posts back that the One Warm Coat drive was going great?  Well, I thought I'd just show you a little peek at what our guest bedroom currently looks like.  I have lost count of how many coats we've gathered at this point.  Nicole has just as many, if not more at her house.  I am simply overjoyed.

And it's not just the results that have me in awe, but the spirit of community that has surrounded with this one simple project.  I sent out a mass email to friends, and then they forwarded it on.  I posted a link on Facebook, and within hours other friends are sharing links and complete strangers are commenting and telling their friend they'll drop off some coats this week.  I've got coats coming in from Syd's preschool, Taylor's Kindergarten classmates, workmates, friends and family.  It is just awesome.  It's also almost shameful how easy this project has been.  You can visit the site here and learn how you can organize a coat drive in your town.

In other related news, the budget is going fine.  I took a trip to Michael's to get a few Valentine's Day craft supplies and paid with cash, staying well within my budget.  Then I came home Saturday night and visited Flower Patch Farmgirl and saw this heart garland. 

Ridiculous right?  The hearts are made of sheets from a catalog.  Genius.

And so if I was going to go out and blow my craft supply budget on a heart paper punch, I better get some use out of it.  Luckily Shannan also made a book wreath using that same punch last year, so now I've just about recouped my costs of that heart paper punch when you factor in what it would cost to buy some garland and a wreath.  It's almost a no-brainer right?

 both images from Flower Patch Farmgirl

So back to Michael's I went to buy that punch and the Styrofoam wreath, armed with two 40% off coupons in hand.  I am now $8 over my $20 craft budget for the month.  Thanks a lot Flower Patch Farmgirl with your inexplicable love for Valentine's Day crafts and cute heart paper punch.  I will now have to cut back in other areas this month to make my overall goal.

That's okay though.  It's going to take a lot of punching to get all those hearts.  Perfect excuse to sit my butt down on the coach and eat chips and watch Conan. 

Are you all making anything sweet for V-Day?

Goodnight all, off to punch and laugh I go.

p.s. A huge thank you to all of you that took the time to leave a comment with some feedback and/or advice, or simply just some encouragement on where to take Playgrounds & Lollipops.  I am working on responding to your comments via email, as well as dreaming up some new posts, and possibly a new series.  Think 'Feel Good, Look Good' type of content. I have so many ideas swirling in my head, but I just need a couple of weeks to get organized and think things through.  I am excited, but don't want to disappoint!  Stay tuned...