I’m posting this a bit late because over the past weekend, we spend some time at my mom and stepdad’s house in our hometown. As summer is winding down and we are away on our honeymoon in just a couple of weeks for the better part of a month, we wanted to take the opportunity to spend some time with them.
It was a nice, short trip and I’m just now settling down and getting some work done. The (small) cost of this trip will show up on next week’s spending report.
Last week, we broke the seal on our spending and enjoyed ourselves a little more.
We have been very fortunate in that we haven’t had any unexpected or emergent expenses come up, so we’ve been able to save a significant amount of our take home pay over the past month or so. We feel a bit more freedom as a result, so we have loosened up the purse strings and enjoyed a date night out and some ice cream.
Eating Out
This included a fun date night with J, an awesome dinner with Cait, and a couple of other smaller food purchases.We don’t have much of an entertainment budget besides eating out, so I’m fine with this number.
Gas & Groceries
These are both fairly standard; we’ve been trying to eat what is in our cupboards recently, so our grocery bill has been a bit lower than we might expect it to be. This isn’t reflective of what J spent on groceries; we ended up going at different times throughout the week.
On Friday, I bought some munchies for the road at the dollar store so they are included in the figure.
Financial Wins
The financial fortune continues!
Blackberries
We live in this amazing corner of the world that has so much to offer, including: blackberries!
This time of year is a forager’s dream. The blackberry bushes were all bearing fruit, and on Sunday, J and I took our bikes over to a local park which has a walkway lined with blackberry bushes and scored five pounds of sweet goodness.
This is a financial win because every morning, I have a smoothie with a fruit in it. Usually, we buy fruit from farmers markets and freeze it, or just buy frozen fruit if whatever I want isn’t in season. These bags of fruit usually cost upward of $6, and over the past week I have been able to use the blackberries in my smoothies. Score!
More Price Adjustments
I incurred another business expense and while this doesn’t have an effect on our personal finances, I still scored by getting three more price adjustments due to the store’s price match policy.
The adjustments were to the tune of $78.
Vouchers and Freebies
As part of the orientation at my new job, which didn’t happen until this week, I got a voucher for a free lunch at a local cafe and a free workout at a local facility. I love freebies so I will definitely take advantage.
I’ve also been scoring Swagbucks like crazy lately, thanks to a few people I’ve referred. Referrals are the best way to earn Swagbucks, so if you are wondering how to ramp it up and earn a lot more, get some of your friends, family members, or followers to sign up. You get more Swagbucks, they earn Swagbucks, everybody gets free stuff. Referral link here if you haven’t already signed up.
Let the wins continue!
Daisy – what exactly are swagbucks and are they good in Canada?
They sure are! I’m Canadian. Swagbucks is a website that earns you “Swagbucks” for doing things, that you can then turn into gift cards and products. You can use the search function instead of Google’s search and earn Swagbucks, and there are other ways to earn them too. Check it out!
How great to have access to free fruit! I’ve never had public access, but my grandma used to have abundant raspberry bushes. That was always a treat!
Have so much fun on your honeymoon!!
I wish there would be a blueberry farm nearby so that I could have a smoothie everyday. You’re very fortunate because you can buy it cheaper than in local markets. Hope you could post your spendings on your honeymoon.
My last weekend was pretty expensive. During on Saturday, we went to swimming with my family and on Sunday, after we went to church, I also treat them to a barbecue house. 🙂
Ahhh fresh berries are the best! You’re really lucky to have those available nearby.
I had a pretty regular week of spending so can’t complain. I’ve reeled it back in after a really expensive start to the summer which feels nice to have a bit more of a buffer for my savings.
Hope you enjoy the freebies from work!
The week-end was pretty inexpensive as my DH was working and I stayed in for most of the week-end. I’m sure you’re getting excited about your upcoming honeymoon!
Thanks for the Blackberry reminder, I need to go out foraging soon – nothing beats free fruit 🙂
I’m doing this new thing where I don’t go out to bars/clubs on the weekend but instead do fun things at home with friends! I’ve actually been doing that for awhile so it isn’t that new. =)