our personal check-in for april on how we are meeting our goals this year.
for january through march, i have made sure to admit to all the items we have bought new, regardless of whether or not they fell into our "acceptable bought new" category (most have!). but i have only written a little bit about what we have acquired used. i thought it would be fun to make a list this month.
acquired used:
- carpet remnants (free, new, neutral color. we cut up and are using as door mats in the spots i have been wanting rag rugs for. used rag rugs are impossible to find!)
- leap frog leap pad cartridge
- buggy board for stroller (most expensive item on this list.)
- 3 adult sweaters
- 2 adult pairs jeans
- toddler sleep sack
- toddler shirt
- 1 basket
- 1 DVD
- 4 kids books
- 1 toy
- 2 pairs kids snow boots
- 6 pairs jammies for lala
- 1 large sheet (aka "vintage cotton fabric" for sewing)
- 1 skirt for me
- 1 infant sweatshirt
- 2 pairs kids rubber boots
- 4 pairs tights
- piece of fleece for sewing
- toddler slide
- climbing structure
- bouncy ball
- shoes for lala
- crocs for finn
- blow dryer
- 4 tank tops
- cotton bedding to be used for sewing
- 2 snack cups
- kid swim goggles
- adult swim goggles
- child sized chair
- 2 pr kid pants
- coat for lala
- sandals for finn
- 2 toys
- leather bag for me
- drum
- keyboard
- pillowcase
- 3 board books
- cotton crib bumper
- gifted to us new: an outdoor shirt for me, 2 pr tights and a set of hair bands for lala, as well as a plethora of easter basket goodies from granny, grandma and nonno, and aunt K and uncle B. (the only new goodies from us were wooden toy foods, which i bought and admitted to last month!)
a lot of these items were free. (thank you, thank you, oh generous people!)
many of the items i bought used were brand names and actually new, with the tags still on.
wow, honestly, that is way more stuff brought into our home than i realized (although very little spent given the items listed). perhaps i should also keep a list of all the items given away?! that list was significant as well. i have a box under our bed that is used to collect all items to be freecycled or donated. it is full....again.
bought new:
- another work-at-home-mamma made cloth diaper for finn at night time
- klean kanteen (why do they use K instead of C? drives me crazy!) water bottles for the kids and one for me (since i seem to decant mine into theirs quite often). we decided we ought to try the stainless steel route when 1) lala kept asking for one like her friends and it has a pop top, finally moving her away from sippy cups, and 2) water bottles make a frequent entry in our childrens' mouths, and while our current cups are theoretically BPA and pthalate-free, they are still plastic. (i go back and forth on my worry about this. a whole other topic i have already dipped into, but i don't think plastics are evil.) anyway...these were bought using christmas gift cards. thanks, nonna A!
- a replacement part for the used buggy board we bought (and that thing is great! we are loving it!)
- underwear
- sewing items: a pattern and some wool felt (wish i had remembered to buy needles for my serger!)
well, of course april hosts earth day, so this often serves as my barometer of how far we have come. so far, so good! see my april 22nd post!
grocery budget:
as mentioned before, i would love to get this down to $350 per month for the 4 of us, but i budget $400 per month, on average. this really is more realistic since we eat out very little and are unwilling to give up expensive items such as some organics, nuts, salmon, and occasionally wine. this month we came in at $522. last month was $326.27, so we are slightly above average budgeted. oops. must make next month lower again to bring my average back down.
exercise
still working on this. i am inconsistent. mike has been better, despite a stressful work schedule. the new gym is helping and he has his bike back on the road part of the week.
