I recently wrote a post about how I’m trying to save money since we’re having another baby in October. I decided to give you an update on our progress. Unfortunately, lack of progress is a better way to describe things.
Chuck E. Cheese birthday parties are expensive
Olivia turned three years old a little over a week ago, and we decided to have a birthday party for her at Chuck E. Cheese. You know, that place with the overpriced pizza and tons of screaming kids (and parents) running around everywhere? Yep, that’s the place.
It turned out to be a fun time, but we decided to pay for everything. So we paid for the party and some extra pizza and drinks for the adults. Also the nearest Chuck E. Cheese is over an hour’s drive, so we had to spend on gas. Then there was the obligatory after-party shopping for the moms…
Don’t get me wrong, it was a great day and I’m glad we did it. It just didn’t help us in our quest to save money.
Flowers and plants aren’t cheap either
I live in the Great Plains part of the country. So we have four distinct seasons: almost-winter, winter, still-winter, and road construction. All kidding aside, we’re having a really nice spring this year, so last weekend we decided to do some minor landscaping. Nothing much, we just wanted to get six pots to plant some flowers and greenery, so we could place them on the landscaping rock around our house.
The pots were around $15-20 each. Then the flowers and plants cost anywhere from $1-3 each, and as it turns out, you need a lot of them to fill six large pots. At the end of the day, we easily spent a couple hundred dollars or more on this project. Then there’s the maintenance on the lawnmower, paying Scott’s Lawn Service to keep the lawn green and weed-free. It all adds up fast.
Vanilla lattes at McDonald’s are delicious
Yeah, I went and got myself addicted to vanilla lattes at McDonald’s. And since I’m most definitely not a morning person, I usually opt for the $3.60 large size. I don’t even want to do the math for what that adds up to in a month. I’m already depressed enough as it is.
Oh, did I mention we bought a minivan?
In my last post about saving money, I said that one of the reasons (besides having another kid) was that we needed a larger vehicle. Well a few weeks ago I was reading the newspaper, and I saw an ad for the local car dealership that had a used 2008 Chrysler Town & Country for a decent price. I looked up the vehicle at cars.com and e-mailed the dealer with an offer. They replied back that it was a fair offer, and asked us to come in for a test drive. Sure enough, we loved the minivan and ended up purchasing it.
Now while I’m sure others could have gotten the dealer to come down another couple hundred dollars, we still got one heck of a deal, and the payments are affordable. It’s just that I was hoping to have enacted some budget savings before we purchased a second vehicle. Instead, we’ve been spending more money recently! That’s not how I planned it.
Oh well, I guess that’s how life goes. At least despite using it for a down payment, tax & license, we still have money in our savings account. And we still have plenty of time to find those budget savings before the baby comes in late October.
I just need to kick that vanilla latte habit before then…
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3.60 a day, 5 days a week, 48 weeks = 864bucks.. now cut it out!
@Cindy,
I knew there was a reason I didn’t want to do that math! Does it help that I don’t drink alcohol, go out to the bars, gamble, or anything like that?
Truthfully, I’ve only had 2 lattes in the past couple weeks. I also purchased a $25 Mr. Coffee espresso machine from Wal-Mart that makes great cafe mochas. I just need to find a local store that sells vanilla syrup so I can make my lattes. Then I’ll be all set and saving money again.
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