In January, both girls were sick at the same time, as was I, and they accompanied me to Harps to pick up some basic supplies for our group convalescence, and they had the stuffed animals out for Valentine's Day. Both girls begged to have one, and the animals were $3.99. In my weakened state, I caved and spent $7.98 un-budgeted dollars. It was totally worth it. They love the little bears, and for the duration of their illness, we sequestered all their normal toys away from the sick bed, and a nice, hot vinegar wash after sickness had gone from our home made it possible to integrate their new fuzzy friends into their every day menagerie. :-)
In February, we went to Little Rock because Thing1 had been invited to act as a page in the Arkansas State Legislature. This is a pretty big deal, and we were not going to have her miss out on the opportunity. The trip, including gas, Hotel, and four meals out for four people totaled $400.00 even. Thing1 had a friend/classmate that was also invited. Our case of strep had migrated from my child to her friend, and ultimately the mother of her friend. It hit Friend's Mom over the weekend before our trip, so I wound up taking three little girls with me, and we had quite a good time. Both girls that acted as pages learned a lot about how laws are passed, and how hard our local representatives work. Both girls were chattering like magpies all the way home.
So, total expenditures not in my original budget for January and February of 2013? $407.98
All things considered, I am okay with my end result for the first two months of my financial challenge.
I think I will will also be including my grocery totals for each month, along with my un-budgeted expenditures. My goal is to maintain our Paleo adjacent eating and to keep it under the SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) guidelines each month. For our state, for a family of 4, the full benefit amount is $668.00.
January's grocery total = $583.84 ($84.16 rollover to February)
February's grocery total = $506.65 ($181.35 rollover in February, $265.51 total rollover 2013)
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