No-Spend Month {Round 2}: Week 3 Check-In

 

IS IT MARCH YET?!!! Hahaha kidding….sorta.

I have to be honest, this week was made a LOT easier by some gift cards and birthday/Christmas gifts that finally arrived.  Meaning…it *felt* like I got to spend money but I really didn’t.  Ummm…love it when that happens! :)

After a super long wait and lots of issues with getting lost in the mail, I finally got two monogrammed items I’d bought back in December and January with birthday and Christmas money: a monogrammed straw drinking tumbler and my custom Otterbox case for my phone.  Hooray!  I am in LOVE with them!

 

 

I also mentioned last week that I’d bought a Thirty-One bag for Olivia for use as a diaper bag because it was such a great deal this month I couldn’t pass it up.  How cute is this?!  {It’s the new zip-top organizing utility tote.} I love that she can use it on our road trips to PA long after she’s outgrown the need for a diaper bag. 

 

To pay for it I sold a print from Kohl’s I’d bought for our room but never used {$8), $5 worth of Luke’s old clothes, and used $5 of a PayPal refund I received after my tumbler got lost in the mail and the seller very kindly refunded me shipping costs.  Love that I have a brand new bag for Liv and it didn’t cost my family anything! :)

 

 

We also finally got to use our Christmas gift from my in-laws: a Cheesecake Factory gift card!  We meant to go last week for Valentine’s but we got snowed out so we went up this week.  We had a great time {KID FREE, HALLELUJAH!} and spent some time eating and then walking around the mall a little bit.  Although we did get stuck in about 30 minutes of traffic on the way up, which was a little depressing…apparently this blurry selfie in bumper-to-bumper traffic is how we feel about being stuck in the car when we’re hungry.  lol

 

 

 

I also used a gift card to Francesca’s I’d had in my purse for over a year!  I love that store but it is so hard to get in there with kids so I never get a chance to pop in alone.  I had  bought jewelry for a friend’s wedding and didn’t love it and got merchandise credit forever ago.  I got this beautiful scarf and yes, a fall print.  In February. And no, it wasn’t even on clearance!!  Do you guys understand my obsession with the fall now?!  LOL But how could I pass it up for “free?”  I mean…it has orange, polka dots, and fall words.  I mean really. ;)

 

 

I also managed to stay in the grocery budget {whoo hoo!}.  usually I take out cash but last week I didn’t have the chance to go to the bank….so we just kept a careful tally of the grocery budget on the debit card.  I could have sworn Chris told me I had $6.97 left for the week, and when I did a desperate grocery run on Wednesday I was so excited I literally took a photo of my self-checkout screen…only to find out from him later that we actually only had $6.93 left….so technically I *did* go over by three cents.  HAHA!  Oh well!

 

 

Oh and while I was there I happened to run into Katie – our families went to the same church when we were kids and she happens to read my blog now.  She stopped me in the store and gave me this Starbucks card since she had some money left on it and knows from reading my blog how much I love me some Starbucks!  Thanks again, Katie!!!  See, apparently it pays to mention once or twice or a hundred times the things you’re obsessed with on your blog! ;)

I immediately went home and transferred it to my gold card so I can keep earning rewards on it.  So fun!!

 

 

I haven’t had much luck selling kids’ clothes on Facebook {I think because we’re in a weird month of the year where nobody’s really buying summer or winter right now.}  So the kids’ Consignment Fund tally is still the same…but I’m hoping after I call the shop next week they’ll tell me I’ve earned some money over the month!

 

Recap:

Grocery/Household budget: – $.03 {Does that really even count?!}
Consignment Fund tally: $58 {$42 left to fund}

 

ONE MORE WEEK!  I CAN DO THIS!!! :)