Saturday, April 30, 2011

April Savings Report

This month has flown by! We did go on our San Diego trip and I'll report on that later. First I want to write down what I was able to save this month.

  • I was able to set aside $25 from last month's grocery budget to spend on groceries for our trip. I also put aside $40 from this month's budget, giving me $65 to spend. That was definitely a big help!
  • I reduced the amount of my grocery budget by $10 this month, bringing it down to $470 for our family of 5. I was able to do it! That is $10 extra in my savings fund.
  • I cashed in my coins from March: $31.82. That's a little bit high because I found a piggy bank with a bunch of coins in there. : ) I got a gift card to Amazon for that amount, used it to buy diapers and wipes, and then put the cash from my envelope into my savings jar. I rounded it up to $32.
  • I came in $10 under budget in groceries in March and added that to my savings fund.
  • My rebate check for $3 came from Rite Aid.
  • I found a dollar in my pocket. : )
That adds $56 to my savings fund, which brings my total up to $503.05 saved since February 1, 2011! Only $100 more to go!

We seemed to have some extra expenses this month: the girls needed new church shoes and some new clothes for the trip, my newspaper subscription was paid, which I wasn't planning on, our housecleaners cashed the checks for March and April in the same month...anyway, I don't have any extra money to funnel into next month's grocery fund. : ( Oh well. But it feels really good to come in right on target for our budget, though. In fact, we didn't have to take any money from our vacation fund to cover the cost of gas for our trip or our meals on the road. That is such a blessing!

Speaking of blessings, I have been amazed at the blessings that come from being a good steward over the money and goodness that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with. He is aware of us, even when the things we want/need seem insignificant. As an example, last week I was at the store and really wanted to buy some strawberries. They were a little bit expensive but I was just craving those sweet juicy fruits! I decided that if I had enough money when we got back from the trip, then I could buy some strawberries.

The next day, my parents came over and my dad brought me some strawberries that he had gotten earlier in the day. I was speechless. Those strawberries didn't mean that much to my dad (he was just being thoughtful). But he couldn't have known what they meant to me. : ) Have you had any experiences like that as you've tried to save your money?