2023 Week 1 Recap: what I spent, cooked, ate and did this week

The first week of the new year has already come and gone and it was a good one over here!!

I forced myself not to open my email last Monday even though I really wanted to. Since I worked at the boutique on Saturday, December 31st I was able to clean out all the “junk” mail from the holidays so it wouldn’t be as crazy on Tuesday. While I was a the boutique, a friend popped by and we were talking about budgets, meal planning, and goals. I told her I was kinda craving these pork chops and had most of what I needed and she told me that Publix had pork loin GOGO until Sunday. So on Sunday, I rushed right over to get my $4.99 pork loin and price checked a few items to see if driving a little further to the Walmart Neighborhood Market was as worth it as I thought. And I was right - when Publix doesn’t have things on sale, Walmart Market is definitely a better deal.

Don’t forget to grab your Basic Budget Breakdown to help you track your finances!

INCOME: $1,080.97

KMW/Client: $1,000.97

I’ve only billed one client for this month for hours worked in December, and this number only includes what I pay myself after taxes and processing fees. The other client I’ll bill this week or next because of how the project falls. I think this will also help with those end of month payments coming due. From KMW (my wedding planning/bridal boutique), I just paid myself enough to get rent and one insurance amount paid.

I’ve got a few planning client payments coming due and so are my credit card payments, so hopefully, prayerfully, we’ll have a very successful month so I can up my income a bit this month.

Extra: $80

Whoo hoo! I finished one bouquet and got it off in the mail! And I was given a sweet cash tip from my last wedding family. That was perfect for having grocery cash at the beginning of the year!

Expenses: $993.52

Groceries: $42.44 -Food / $9.12 - House stuff

Sunday, Jan 1 - $10ish dollars - cash - ($4.99 - pork loin and Advil. I know it was about $10, and I thought I saved the receipt, but I can’t find it.
Monday, Jan 2 - $22.42 - this was $18.51 for food and $4.11 for command hooks to hang some pictures on my wall. I was so proud to be under budget for the week ($18.51+4.99=$23.5!)
Friday, Jan 6 - $8.94 for coffee and a frozen pizza. A friend came over for dinner and I had misportioned my pork loin from earlier in the week, so after she and I ate, I was all out of dinner food. She brought me my favorite tacos from Atlanta, so I ate it for lunch on Friday and should have eaten my salad for dinner, but I was just craving something else. I knew I had a little wiggle room left (which could have gone to debt or savings), but I needed to get coffee and a few things for the bridal shop, so I let myself get a frozen pizza. It was good but it didn’t hit the spot and going $2.44 over my grocery budget didn’t taste worth it hahah! Now I know.

Eating Out: $3.25

On Monday, a friend was in town so we grabbed lunch. Thankfully I had $15 in gift cards and my meal was $15.25. I left a quarter and a few bucks as tip on the table. The cash was from my $1 jar* so I felt pretty good about spending that for a free lunch and time with a friend.

Bills: $938.71

The biggest bulk of my regular bills comes due within the first 3 days of the month - rent, car insurance, water, health insurance . I paid a late fee on my water, because it’s not on auto-payment. I need to see if our city has that, and then my insurance was up $30. I don’t know why, so I’m gonna ask an keep an eye on next months bill. This is the amount that I want to get to always having before the first of the month so I don’t have to worry about over drafting my bills account. I got this idea for an auto-draft “bills account” from my friend Jess. It is such a great way to see where all the rest of your money goes when the things you must pay are auto-drafted out of a separate account. I’m working on setting this up in my business, because those little subscriptions can sneak up on you!

What I ate:

Breakfast: 1-2 eggs scrambled, mixed with cheese and bacon. Microwaved in a mug for 2 minutes.
Snack: Banana
Lunch: Spinach, ham, cheese, ranch salad with avocado
Snack: pretzel chips, hummus
Dinner: Maple bacon wrapped pork loin and a frozen pizza
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookie (dough)