Despendber

[Zaga]

Well November was a tad rough, but we still managed to put $416 in savings above our regularly scheduled 401-K contributions and debt paydown.

December is looking like it will be tight as well, because of planning ahead for take home pay to decrease come January (changed withholding, different medical plan with HSA withdrawals).  However I still think we will be able to put over $300 into savings above what is already planned for 401-K and debt paydown.

Well this did not and will not happen, the car repair that should have cost $400 ended up over $700 because of excessive rust under the car.  Ugh.  But still cheaper than replacing the car just yet.

However, we did not take anything OUT of savings, so I'm going to call December a break even month.  And regular 401-K investments plus over $1K in debt paydown as usual.  Not break even then, but not as good as hoped.

[pachnik]

I'm in (I am scared, but I am in).  Not scared of you guys, but scared of the holidays.

Goals: 
Send in usual RRSP cheque.  I will do this on Dec 3 since I get paid on Dec 4.  Plus it gets it out of the way.
Keep an eye on the miscellaneous column on my tracking spreadsheet.   Needs vs. wants is the thing.

Disadvantages:
Mr. Pachnik and I are going to buy a TV.  We've been without one now for a year and a half.  What has changed, is that in Canada the cable providers must provide a basis cable package that costs no more than $25.00/month starting March 1, 2016.  Mr. Pachnik missed watching hockey and NFL and I did like watching the local news.   He's going to research which TV we buy.  Probably won't buy it until January though?
Holiday season.  Enough said.  But I do have a Christmas budget and my Christmas is pretty basic compared to lots of peoples.

Advantages:
Group support here.

Well, I forgot to put "alcohol" into the Christmas budget.  Came out to about $80.00 (for my half).  Considering we're hosting 10 adults on Christmas Day + using 2 bottles of wine as "Secret Santa" gifts, it probably isn't so bad. 

Had a few little Starbucks visits last week which wasn't great.  But I get paid on January 1, so will send in my January RRSP contribution the day before to keep myself honest.

So a mixed bag. 

[snacky]

This month ended up expensive, but very little of the surprise costs were frivolous spending. so the numbers are nothing to cheer about, but it could have been so much worse if I hadn't been trying to be mindful about where my dollars go. so... yay me?
next month will be better.

and yes, I KNOW I bought a Roomba halfway through the month, $150 that I absolutely didn't need to spend. but I love it! my housework is significantly cut down, and it seems to deliberately chase the dog, which is excellent entertainment. so great! stupid spending that makes me very happy is... still stupid spending. :)

[Bracken_Joy]

While I won't break our 70% SR goal (quite the opposite, we will be lower than previous months), we did pay $500 to student loans and put $2,200 into the house downpayment fund.

Ended up spending more overall than anticipated. However, if we do get gas paid back from my parents for the drive to visit them, our SR should be about 65%, which isn't too shabby, actually.

Not our most frugal month, by any stretch, but a decent way to end the year!

[I'm a red panda]

Still doing well.
Have only spent gift cards all month. Pretty happy about that.

In a fit of depression I signed up for Postcrossing (which is way frivolous)- so I need to buy some international postage, but I can move it to January to artificially meet this goal. I made the postcards using craft supplies though, so that is a bonus, as I need to use up a lot of those supplies to declutter!

depression and sleeplessness are responsible for the vast majority of my stupid spending. I need to get a Breathalyzer - style control on my money that evaluates my emotional wellbeing and level of restedness before I can buy things.
I hope you're feeling better.

Well thankfully this will only add like $5 to the budget to get the cards mailed out. I think I might keep doing it though. It's been fun making the postcards, and it means I'll get mail too.

I'm doing okay. I don't think I'm clinically depressed, so that's good; but life got really hard. I don't know if it ever gets all the way better, but already over the past month it's gotten a bit better, so I expect it will keep doing so.

I did have to spend some non-gift card money though. I had to buy my in-laws a christmas gift and couldn't use money lying around the house in plastic, so that's $30.
I have shopped a good amount on gift cards (but the purpose of this was to heft the savings account back up), and have that $4.80 in postage to buy on the first :)

We did however find out the $15k procedure that insurance wouldn't cover they MIGHT cover as out-of-network, so maybe I'll get a few dollars back... I'm sure once they put in all the adjustments though its like ten bucks; but hey- money I didn't have before. So I'm going to see what I can get.

[Bracken_Joy]

I don't do anything by part measures. When I lose a challenge, I LOSE A CHALLENGE.

Spending for December 2015: $22,754

We bought a car ($15.5k) and paid off a huge student loan ($3,250) that was 6.8%. Amazing how you can feel poor and rich, all at the same time!

[pachnik]

Mixed results here:

Good side:
- made regular investment beginning of December
- will make regular January investment tomorrow (but a slightly smaller amount than usual)
- miscellaneous stuff was barely okay

Bad side:
- spent too much on eating out - especially stupid stuff like coffee at Starbucks

Thanks fellow challenge members!

[Faraday]

More like a yearly/quarterly report, but here goes:

Successes:
- Exceeded 65% savings rate in December.
- 15 y.o. Honda Insight, getting close to 250,000 miles at 58 avg mpg.
- Less than $60 spend on gasoline for December.
- DW has taken up bike riding with me and is making phenomenal progress
- My first 40 mile ride in cold rain. Bike and chain cleaned/re-lubed just fine
- We are using bikes about 50% for local and short errands
- Increase in crock pot usage has lowered our per-meal cost while improving the YUM FACTOR
- January mortgage payment in December for added interest deduction
- Reinstalled new Linux software on old WinXP system, $0 PC spend.
- Homebrewed beer for 95% of typical beer supply, under 55 cents/bottle.
- Made my second under-50-cents-bottle IPA beer batch. Quality is EXCELLENT.
- One side gig will break even and go into the black this year.

2016 Challenges:
- Total Christmas spend reached $500:
     $45 on purchased ales (That's the 5% gap above...)
     $160 on new gifts for six people. (DW wants to hit $0 in future!)
     We hosted, $235 for food. (Leftovers for 2 weeks now...so this may turn into a success)
- Bike trailer not finished yet. This is a major goal for 2016
- Make the majority of commuting with the ebike in 2016
- Still a 2-car family, not yet 1-car. Arrrg!