Day 73: No Spend Day!

Posted on | November 14, 2007 |

Yipee! Today was a triple-good-day.

First, quite unexpectedly, it was a no spend day.

Normally I would have spent, at the very least, about $3.50 at Wendy’s buying The Son a bite to eat between his cello lesson and orchestra rehearsal. But he’s still fighting this cold so after the cello lesson we packed it in and just headed for home. Tonight was his first absence from rehearsals so I don’t feel too bad about him missing it.

The Son, relieved to be heading straight home, was sorely disappointed when he realized that this meant missing out on this weekly Jr. Bacon Cheeseburger and Vanilla Frosty ritual. But I stayed tough and said “no rehearsal, no Wendy’s.” Then, in true motherly fashion, I proceeded to tell him how lucky he has it. “Just think,” I said, “instead of buying you Wendy’s each week, I could pack a brown bag dinner for you to eat in the car.” That gave him pause. Then I promised to fix a box of Annie’s Penne pasta w/Alfredo sauce and everything was good again.

In addition to the expected Wendy’s expense, I had planned to call The Daughter’s school and buy a few more grocery cards (I buy them from the school, the school gets 8% of the price, I use them just like cash to buy groceries) but I forgot to make the call. More money not spent.

And I’d planned to run a few errands during The Son’s rehearsals: 1) to Marshalls to return the “swish” pants purchased for the nephew; 2) return the frames bought at Target; and 3) pick up a bottle of hardwood cleaner if the floor store was still open. None of that happened, of course, because the rehearsal was skipped. More money not spent today.

The second part of the triple-good-day happened when The Daughter returned home from her day’s activities bearing the roll of Sally Foster wrapping paper that had been missing from my order last month. It was a $7.00 roll of wrapping paper in a rather elegant non-holiday-specific pattern that I’d really wanted.

And the third, and possibly most exciting, event in my triple-good-day was the copy of my latest credit card statement. It was the lowest it’s been in a very long time. Years, I’d guess. I can’t remember the last time it was under $1,000. This month it was under $700! The Husband was impressed and I was proud.

In case you haven’t been following my story from the very beginning or in case I only think I’ve explained this but really haven’t, I make almost every single purchase on a credit card. That’s simply the way we work our monthly expenses. I purchase everything needed for the house and the kids on one credit card, all of our groceries and dining expenses on a different card, and all of our Costco and Costco gas purchases on a third card. Every month The Husband pays the bills in full. For the few things that can’t be charged, I write a check. I almost without exception, I don’t handle cash. So this month the household expenses including clothes, gifts, Netflix, HBA, home improvement materials, instrument rental, books, non-Costco gas, etc. — less some returns — totalled less than $700.

I can’t tell you how psyched I am!

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